FW_Hoosier

Rabjohns is saying Rosemond is a done deal.  Interesting hire, I like it.

3 hours ago, FritzIam4IU said:

I believe this is the player who is connected/close with Yasir...

https://247sports.com/Player/Jabari-Smith-46058607/

Interesting... If Mike Wood$on brings in this kid and another guard who can shoot, we may just be able to compete for a conference championship next year.

29 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

This tweet fits his third person speaking style.

 

CMW: "Mike Woodson isn't done with the transfer portal, says Mike Woodson."

Glad other people are picking up on this, lmao.  I’ve made it my mission to include at least one full “Mike Woodson” in every post I make from here on out.

This guy has to have some sort of pull if Mike Wood$$$on is looking at him as the third assistant, but it looks like he didn’t bring in any big time recruits at his last two stops at UGA and Bama.  C’mon Mike, step up your bag man game.

38 minutes ago, Zuckerkorn said:

I'd certainly liked for him to return but having watched several highlight videos of X. Johnson, AF would have been a distant second on that count.  

My point was that Franklin was going to be the only guard that could reliably create his own shot AND reliably shoot from deep.  Johnson can definitely create his own shot and looks to be a more explosive scorer, but he’s never shot the three as well as Franklin did last season, and his percentages have frankly been pretty bad the last two seasons.  It’s the three point shooting I’m concerned about now — losing Franklin is a big hit in that regard.

Archie gave the poor kid Stockholm syndrome... Needed to get back to a trash offense and the packline defense, lol.  I’m not part of the classy “wishing him well” crowd.  Hope the move to UVA works out terribly for him, to be quite honest.

But this does suck... Losing Franklin just lowers the ceiling for next year.  He was going to be the only guard on the roster that could reliably create his own shot and shoot from deep.  Probably not going to be able to get a better all-around guard than him in the portal, but Mike Woodson needs to find another shooter.  That will be our Achilles heel again next year... Right now, Stewart, Hunter, and Leal are the only pure shooters on the roster.  Can’t really count on all of our subpar shooters (Lander, Phinisee, Johnson, Galloway) to magically turn into snipers just because they have a new coach.

29 minutes ago, ledies22 said:

peegs has an article about a new name to add to the list of potential assistant coach candidates. I wasnt aware there was an actual list floating around? Is lewis still an option? who are the others? Mike Roberts is still on staff, i would like to believe we could get a more "valuable" assistant to take his place...?

The name added to the list is Yasir Rosemond, whose last two stops have been Alabama and Georgia (before Crean got there).  Apparently his name came up in the FBI investigation, but he was “cleared of any wrongdoing.”  I love it... Start dropping those bags Mike Woodson!!!

1 hour ago, Between2Halls said:

Instantly followed, lmao.  Fife is coming in with a lot of swag.

If Franklin comes back, we should have enough talent to be a ranked team with good coaching.  Even more so if we’re able to upgrade Thompson with an athletic shot blocker in the portal — are we in on anyone like that?

Bring Franklin back, announce Lewis as the third assistant, bring in another forward, and let’s roll.  Couldn’t ask for anything more than this thus far.

Looks like he’s not a great three point shooter, but a pretty good scorer.  Good assist numbers, but turns the ball over a lot as well.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/xavier-johnson-2.html

52 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

The key is to avoid recruiting knuckleheads.  A team full of kids who have a good head on their shoulder will have more success than a team full of knuckleheads that may have more natural talent.  

I think we’ve had this conversation before, but I disagree.  We’ve been getting our ass kicked with nice kids who have good heads on their shoulders for most of the past decade.  I’m ready for Woodson to start recruiting knuckleheads who won’t get pushed around.

3 minutes ago, Indykev said:

Is anyone at all concerned about Mike's close friendship with World Wide Wes and the talk that Wes can get IU into a lot of doors? or are you ok with it? myself i'm ok with it.

Love it.  Hiring Matta and Brown as Co-Directors of Cheating could end up being the best thing Indiana has done for its basketball program since it hired Bobby Knight.

9 minutes ago, BobSaccamanno said:

One of my first reactions was we had some of the money ready for Matta too.  I assume he’s in seven figures.  Maybe I am wrong.  

Looks like he’s only at $400k per year, so the total is just slightly more than $4M per year between them.

1 hour ago, dbmhoosier said:

6 years/$22M..yikes

So it looks like they did cheap out.  Midmajor coaches and IU guys were the only options if this was all they were willing to pay... None of the Power 6 guys we were talking about would’ve come to IU for $3.5M per year.

4 minutes ago, HoosierDom said:

Who can you point to to back that up? I can't think if too many NBA guys that failed in college. Whom am I forgetting?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.detroitnews.com/amp/3766698002

Here’s a list of guys, all of whom have pretty much sucked.  I think the jury’s still out on Penny (hasn’t lived up to the hype, but I guess they just won the NIT today), and it remains to be seen whether Howard can keep this going.

15 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

This isn't true. We have no idea what anyone coaching this weekend, which made up most of the targets people seemed to want, thought of the job. 

It seems like we could have made this hire in two weeks. 

Hence why I said Indiana either isn’t interested in or able to bring in one of those guys.  I would’ve also preferred we go after Beard or one of the guys still coaching, but obviously they either already said no or Dolson just decided he wanted Woodson instead.

Either way, this route is still far better than bringing back Archie for another year.  The process would have played out the same way next year as it did this year, so there was no point in waiting or giving Archie another chance to save himself with a mediocre season.

3 minutes ago, GaloisGroupe said:

I think this WAS this was the #1 or #2 choice. 

Given how complicated hiring both Matta AND Woodson and to keep it quiet and announce it simultaneously, this has been in the works for awhile...

Personally, I find it really exciting - good coaches can coach. I don't care if he has not coached in college. 

Just imagine what he will do with TJD if he comes back one more year...

If this was the #1 or #2 choice, then Dolson isn’t very smart.  “Good coaches can coach” just really isn’t true when it comes to NBA guys going to college.  I don’t expect him to light the world on fire next year even if TJD does come back, but he can surely do better than Archie.

And that’s basically where IU is at.  It’s not about getting the program back to blue blood status, it’s about getting the program back to not being a joke.

1 minute ago, KoB2011 said:

Before we fired Archie, who I was ready to see go, I said there were scenarios that I thought it would've made more sense to keep Archie. 

This is one of those scenarios. I hope I'm wrong, but I'd have much preferred one more year of Archie to this. 

No way.  I’m not super stoked on Woodson either, but bringing in an NBA guy with Matta playing some kind of prominent role in the program is infinitely better than running it back with Archie for one more horrible year and firing him in 2022.  It’s apparent now that Indiana isn’t interested in or able to bring in the type of coach we’ve all been hoping for since Crean was fired (Donovan, Stevens, Beard, Oats, Musselman, etc.), so this is at least a new start.  My expectations aren’t very high, but I’m at least intrigued to see how it will go.  And it’s finally put up or shut up time for the “hire an IU guy” crowd.

Well, we’ll get a preview very shortly on how recruits will view the new hire.  Is Woodson/Matta enough to keep everyone in Bloomington?

Durham and Geronimo are likely gone.  Personally, I don’t really care whether Thompson and Stewart leave — they should be easily replaceable in the transfer portal.  But they’ve gotta convince Lander and Franklin to stay... And maybe Woodson can convince TJD he can get him into the first round of the draft if he comes back for one last go round. 

9 minutes ago, btownqb said:

This changes things for me. 

I agree.  Woodson on his own is a “meh” hire, but bringing in Matta makes it more interesting.  As with most NBA guys, it comes down to the assistants, and having Matta, regardless of the weird title, is a pretty good to place to start... Have to think that won’t be a bad tag team in recruiting.  Wonder if they’ll bring in Fife or Lewis as well.

Hmmmm... this is interesting.

Smh

Edit: At least it’s not Moser.  Mods feel free to merge with the other Woodson threads.

1 hour ago, iuthruandthru said:

I would also lump the students into this.  I dont think many have any idea what IU basketball truly was and what it should be.  The whole atmosphere around IU basketball needs a revamp for them as well and most of what you listed above would help to educate and excite them as well.  But i think it all starts with the coaching hire and can he be that key cog for all of this.

This was the saddest part of the Archie era to me.  I was on campus from 2010—2017.  While there were too many ups and downs, it was generally pretty damn fun to be an IU basketball fan in Bloomington over that period of time — I saw three Sweet 16s, two conference championships, and another tournament appearance.  The team was explosive offensively, and say what you will about how weird he was, but Crean was a showman who created a lot of energy around the program.

But there wasn’t enough consistency, so we fired him with the hope that we could do better.  Then Archie showed up and completely sucked the life out of the program in every facet.  I cut class to go to his introductory press conference in Assembly Hall, and there was zero excitement.  He treated every single interview like a trip to the dentist, turned Hoosier Hysteria into a snooze fest, wrecked his players’ confidence, and instituted a style of play that was just horrible to watch on both ends of the floor.

He completely killed all the momentum Crean had created around the program, and now we have to try and pick up the pieces.  Winning is the most important thing, obviously, but we also need a coach that’s equipped to sell the program.  Archie was a total disaster in both respects.

6 minutes ago, Steubenhoosier said:

Kelvin Sampson was the worst coach in IU history, hands down.

Dude, when does the piling on stop?

Hilarious.  The best IU coach this century is coaching a 2 seed right now, and the worst coach in IU history is headed back to a midmajor with $10M in his back pocket.

We need to hang two banners in Assembly Hall:

BILLY DONOVAN

INDIANA COACH MARCH — APRIL 2017

BRAD STEVENS

INDIANA COACH MARCH 2021