madmax

Another tidbit I noticed. Fife sitting next to CMW for the first game in a while. Generally he’s the farthest away and sitting next to two players. 
 

Probably doesn’t mean anything significant, but I am genuinely curious as to why and how CMW makes the decision on who sits next to him because I’m positive it’s not random. Is it dependent on who did the scouting report? Who is most familiar with the opposing coach? Who has the best smelling breath? 

All in all I’m pleased. Choppy game which would generally favor the home team but we stuck it out. I don’t think we ever trailed-spent probably 90% of the game with a 6-10 point lead. There truly is no easy road win in the Big Ten- just look at what Nebraska has done with Illinois, Ohio State, etc. Would love to find a way to get Parker 3-4 more shots a game. 

Small thing, but it drives me nuts:

When X doesn’t get a foul call that he expects he tends to stop playing. Happened twice today when he was tripped with no whistle. Instead of looking to pass the ball he looks at the refs to complain as the defender is grabbing the ball for a tie up. Play through the whistle!! It’s taught in 1st grade hoops.

Just an egregious travel

My guess?

He’s a sounding board for advice. I doubt he’s grinding watching 5 hours of film a day and I don’t think he can be involved in practice. I think he follows the team, obviously watches games, probably watches practices, and let’s the coaches know his observations and ideas. Beyond that I wouldn’t have any idea.

This is a really big week. These types of road games would go a long way towards getting an NCAA bid and you absolutely have to have if you want to be near the top of the conference at the end of the year.

I’m on record here and elsewhere questioning Trey’s ability and fit with this team. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Great win!

Love subbing Leal for XJ. XJ’s green light should be changed to the most vibrant shade of red.

Hell of a comeback. Wasn’t pretty but the team showed a ton of grit. Love to see it. Now let’s take it out on Nebraska on Saturday.

These might have been the WORST announcers I have ever heard cover a basketball game. Completely emotionless and boring. Not to mention obviously Syracuse fans.

I would rather have Bardo than either of these schmucks that we have tonight.

First game I’ve attended under Woody… better than my first game under Archie which was Indiana State. A couple of observations:

-Durr offers little to this team. He’s basically a black hole with the basketball unless he’s dunking it. I guess he’ll be useful in the Big Ten especially against Purdue and Illinois to eat minutes and time and fouls guarding their bigs, but beyond that I don’t expect much.

-Xavier played his best game at IU tonight. Was under control and picked his spots of when to attack really well, I thought.

-What a difference having players hit down shots when TJD is doubled makes.

Few random thoughts:

It will be interesting to see what happens to Landers minutes when Trey and Rob come back from injury. I certainly think he’s earned continued run with his play. Obviously he didn’t light it up tonight, but I think he runs the offense well and has shown flashes of making passes on the fast break that I’m not sure many other players on our team can make.

Xavier has the ability to create a bucket for himself in a way that we have desperately needed over the past several years. I think this will be huge in combating the scoring droughts that we’ve suffered from for the past 4 years.

Loved the defense we saw tonight. Loved seeing 3’s go through the net. 

Time will tell if this was an aberration or a sign of things to come. Hoping for the former but preparing for the latter.

1 minute ago, kyhoosier29 said:

Eh, we have a totally different, rebuilt team this year. We still can’t shoot. CAM’s fault? 

Early signs aren’t promising… but I don’t think it’s fair to say we “still can’t shoot”. Give it 5 or 10 games and we’re still this bad? Sure. 

Shon Morris might be my least favorite announcer from any sport of all time.

Wildly hot take 20 minutes into the season with not enough evidence to support:

Not sure I understand Galloway getting the minutes that he has. Just don’t really get what he offers that others don’t, and his capabilities seem limited(no outside shot, can often play out of control).

….lander??

Woodson not a fan of Jordan’s shot selection

Don’t know that there’s a player I’ve wanted to have a good season more than Rob this year. Early returns are promising!

I love it

Concerning but the reality is that what was uncovered a few years ago is far more widespread then the schools that were caught. I have zero doubt that many of the assistants, coaches, and players who we have wanted over the past month have been involved in this stuff to some degree. 

I trust Woodson, a Bob Knight disciple, to run a clean program. 

FWIW, if you look through some of Fife’s older tweets, he has poked at Goodman before in a playful manner. This combined with the way he talked about him on Dakich the other day tells me they’re almost certainly friends or at least friendly and this is just banter(if that wasn’t clear).

Even still... I love it.

6 minutes ago, dgambill said:

Ok...we are just talking in circles. You just said these guys won’t have contact with players, won’t be on the bench, won’t be recruiting...this is nothing like Alabama where they hire ex head coaches to be an OC, DC or position coach to rebrand themselves. Also football has like 100 kids to work with. I understand it’s nice to bounce ideas off guys but I just don’t think these guys will serve much purpose at all if they are sitting behind a desk in the ADs office. Anyways we will see how it turns out. Hope Mike great success because I’m sick of losing...first test will be the recruiting arena.

Bill Comar, who served in the same role under Archie, sat on the bench during games. Your point stands-who knows what all he can or can’t do, or whether or not Matta will sit with the coaches, but Comar was right there. Shown here to the left of the assistants.

10 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

Because it is a new position they just created for Thad and probably using some of that money from the donor to create this position.  It allows them to have Thad on the staff without taking one of the assistant positions.  I have no idea why anyone would be freaking out over something like this because it is a good thing.  Also neither would be involved with recruiting at all or be going on the road to recruit.

This is not true.

Bill Comar held this same position under Archie. 
 

https://iuhoosiers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/bill-comar/2771