IUCrazy2

That kind of fan support is a blessing when things are going well and a curse when it isn't. In basketball we are like 1980's and 90's and early 2000's Alabama. Just kind of mediocre for the most part. They had their title in 1992 and we had a run in 2001. Other than that, they were kind of meh from 1980 to 2009. Sure there were seasons here and there that were good but nothing huge to write home about. Then they got their guy and things took off. That is Indiana. This place is hard to coach at if you are just kind of mediocre. People want to win. The fan support is awesome if people feel like things are progressing forward. When things start to turn south though, the patience isn't there. I think as a coach you have to embrace that reality. You cannot go into a bunker here and you cannot look like you are treating this like a hobby. If you aren't winning, you have to be as honest as you can be with why. "My guys aren't getting it..." OK, so what are you doing about that? If things are going well though, this place is magical. There are few that can compare.

We are going to be upset if he piddles away the in state 2025 class....

All of this. I think at least Hunter needs to go (who was the last guy he was the lead recruiter for that we actually got?) and I would almost send Rosemond packing as well. Walsh has been the main recruiter for the majority of the guys we have actually landed lately. Mgbako fell in our lap. Not sure who was on Ware. However, it was my understanding that Hulls was the person identifying who we should be talking to in the portal last year (he didn't do the talking though). Woodson will be here next year. I am 100% convinced of that. I still don't think he is the solution but he can be the bridge still. We need him to put together 1-3 more good years after this and then step aside. I think in order to do that, he is going to have to shake up his staff and bring in some assistants who actually coach to the college game. At least 1 of the 3 assistants he has now has to go IMO.

Rivalry games can lead to strange results. Iowa lost today so being in a tie for first is a pretty good place to be when they have to come play us in Bloomington still. We have to travel to Ohio State still but they have to play at Iowa too.

Disagree. He wouldn't be my first choice but if you were going to pick the most "ready" IU guy, he would have been it. "But, but, but he is an a-hole and failed at the last big programs he was at." We would all kill for his "failure" at UCLA right now. He had a .663 winning percentage and went to 3 Sweet 16's in 5 years. He has proven more as a Coach than Mike Woodson. Come on. People just don't like him because of the arrogance thing but I bet he would have done better than Woodson. I don't think we had to hire an Indiana guy, but if we did, he was a better choice.

Yes, and reportedly Woodson did not like the idea that he needed help and he barely listened to Matta...if you believe the rumor mill.

He finally turned into the guy we thought he was going to be when he was here. I still believe it is the system.

Not only that, why is Florida involved? The collectives are supposed to be separate from the schools. The NCAA and the institution have nothing in that. The kid would have to get himself a lawyer and sue the collective for breach of contract.

If any AD at Indiana accepts an invite to that garbage they should be fired. I think they have had to accept NIT in the past. Back in the day you could make an argument that the extra time for that was worthwhile but not in today's environment. Players coming and going too often at this level to think you are getting any development there. The extra time ends up being to the benefit of some other program in most cases.

At the end of the year you can come back and ask me what all that one in a million talk was about.

I think that is because we try and win the press conference too much as opposed to finding the right guy. We have money to spend and you can hire dynamic recruiters. Sometimes the best hire is going to appear really boring in the press conference. You just have to have someone in place doing the choosing who knows what they are looking for and has a plan. I don't know how true all the Brad Stevens stuff was the last go around but not having a solid Plan B before swinging for the fences was stupid and I know he isn't Mr. Popular with a bunch of fans but if you were going to go and hire an "IU guy" to be the bridge, it should have been Alford. I don't think that was best available but it would have been better than Woodson IMO.

I wouldn't even bet a dollar that we could do it but there is technically a chance.

So this is all predicated on having to fix some things. That being said, we have 6 home games left and then away games against Penn St., Maryland, Minnesota, and Ohio St. (we aren't going to beat Illinois or Purdue on the road). It is a long shot but we do play better at home and outside of Wisconsin there really isn't anything that impressive about the rest of our home slate. So win out at home and split on the road against the 4 mediocre teams left on the schedule and it you could do it. I think we have the players that could do it but it would likely require a whole host of changes from the top down over this bye week to get done. All that being said, do I expect that at this point? No, not at all. However, the schedule from here on out isn't terrible if you were looking to stack wins and even if they were to win 8 more that isn't going to get them in the tournament. Right now Woodson has to be building his case for portal players that there is a reason to come here and for current players to stay invested.

I want to hang onto him if he learns how to pass out of the post. We had a play last night that actually went into Sparks. Wisconsin brought the double and he passed to a wide open and ready to shoot Galloway who buried the shot. That is something Malik needs to learn. I think Cupps can and will be good if given the right direction. Still have Newton sitting over there. Keep McNeeley as your 3 and maybe even bring Galloway back for another year and you have pieces to build around. Cupps, Galloway, Mgbako, Reneau, and Ware are one of the most efficient line ups in the country. We have pieces, we just need a new systemic approach. Now I would want to add some guys still obviously but you could probably make some hay with Cupps, Galloway, McNeeley, a stretch 4, and Reneau. Go in the portal and get a veteran guard to take over and bring Gabe off the bench to develop more and even better. Get 2 guards and have Gabe and Galloway be bench guys and you are really cooking. That is going to take Woodson getting his butt out there this summer though.

I mean...at least we are good at something right? Ya gotta laugh at this point KoB2011. Either that or get way too upset about something we really have no control of. I have been trying to tell myself all year that it is stupid for me to care about this more than the people with the closest investment to it all appear to be.

There is quite a bit of garbage left on the schedule. Not saying I expect it but it isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility if Woodson starts feeling the heat enough to make some of the very clear and easy changes available to him.

It is turning into the worst case scenario worry that people had about the hire. It will be turned into another instance of "fan expectations are just too high there, look how quick they turned on one of their own..." That will be the narrative that gets played out and that is what most people who aren't paying attention will hear. At best this was a bridge hire. You hoped for some stability and then a passing of the torch to the next guy. You looked to reestablish a connection to that past culture. You hoped to make this a place that was attractive to big recruits with NIL and exciting "NBA style" play. We got none of that. Whether to retain or not is going to depend on how big of a disaster this ends up being. Do they right the ship enough to get to 20 wins? That probably buys him some time. If the wheels completely fall off, I think you see players heading for the exits and then you HAVE to make a change. You can't have a lame duck, with one signed recruit, going into the transfer portal trying to build a whole team. You just can't.

The fans have been the only thing keeping this place appealing for a long while.

I don't think these guys want to lose. I think they have been set up to lose because their coaching staff isn't doing their job. At a certain point they know the definition of insanity too. Bates left our program and suddenly became a better player. The system holds them back and that has to get frustrating. Heck, the reaction from Gunn is at least some emotion. I would have lost my sh** about the state of things awhile ago.

My last words on it. I disagree. I have seen the play several times and I don't agree with the ejection. We aren't going to change each other's minds. Which is fine. You feel you are right and I can live with tthat. I just disagree. We get another chance at these guys in Bloomington. I hope Gunn is ready to talk with his play on the return trip.

See above, I don't want to go around and around on it. I just disagree on the severity of the punishment given what was going on.

No, a guy kept putting his body on his and he shook him off and made contact with the head because that is what the guy was hitting him with. We aren't going to agree. I hear your point and just disagree. I think it should have been an F1 and the Wisconsin player should have got a technical.

They do interpret it all the time. I could make the argument it wasn't intentional contact with the head.

We will just have to agree to disagree on that. I think Wisconsin gets away with that sh** all the time. Gunn got caught on the reaction and it wasn't malicious. It is the type of movement you do if someone licks their finger and keeps sticking it on your upper arm. You shake your arm to get it off. Was it smart? No. Malicious? Nah.

I think it should have been a flagrant 1. The kid kept putting his head on him and CJ moved the body part he was on to get him off. Next time he just needs to walk into the kid when he is doing something like that to establish his personal space as well. The Gunn thing was the least of my complaints. It wasn't smart to get baited like that but I think the ejection wasn't warranted.