IUCrazy2

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.

None of that matters anymore except to make a point. The season is done. No tournament. Just a slog through the rest of these games to see what we decide to do in the next off-season. Yay Hoosiers.

You don't keep around 3rd year coaches who are 65 because of room for growth. Growth was year 1 and 2. He has to win now. I don't care who Indiana brings into this job. They. Have. To. Win. Now. The last time we beat Wisconsin in Wisconsin, I was a Freshman at IU. I am 45 flipping years old now. Patience is gone. "Well that isn't fair to the new guy." I am well beyond giving a sh*t about fair. You can walk out and buy a new team every year now. I won't hear it anymore. This school demands and uses more resources than about any other program in the country and it keeps on walking out the same stupid crap year after year after year after year. "Well those folks just aren't patient over there." My ass. We have been beyond patient. The problem this school has is that we the fans aren't stupid. Everybody and their grandma can tell you the things that have been wrong about the current program and you haven't seen one step to address any of it. Not one. Same stupid sh*t game after game. Woodson being a former great is the only thing saving his butt right now. I think a whole bunch of people have been biting their tongue and trying to give the benefit of the doubt but he has been anything but what people were selling him on when he was inexplicably chosen for the job to begin with. His program is about as detached from Knight in one respect and from NBA modernity in the other as one could be. He'll get a 4th year and I bet he does just enough to save his job. After that, how many more do we really want to waste on a short termer who isn't the answer? That's the question.

Same crap, different day. I said the season was basically already over a few games ago. We are just going through the motions now. The game was a microcosm of everything that hasn't gone right with this program for years and those problems go back before Woodson.

That was Kelvin Sampson's last year wasn't it? What a fall from grace from there.

I want to win. If they do to, their money hasn't been getting them that.

That definitely needs to happen but we need a change in more than just the players. A whole bunch of our issues lay at the feet of Woodson and his staff that have next to nothing to do with recruiting.

At the time. I mean, I guess I don't understand the mentality of super rich people because I have never been there, but the school coming to ask me to light a few million on fire every few years would get really old, really quick for me.

I would be mad if I was a guy who kicked in for that Archie buyout only to feel like we are heading back there after 3 years...

Why wouldn't they? Everyone on a pro team gets paid and this isn't true NIL where companies are reaching out for them to do advertising. This is almost all just alumni collectives acting as cash conduits from alums to players. Everybody seems to think this lasts forever, maybe it does. I have to say that this is all becoming less entertaining for me. We aren't winning, you don't see teams grow, and the effort just isn't there like it has been in the past.

I hate to respond to myself but building on this point, we were one competent guard away from being competitive this year. With a short bench and an experience ball handler this team probably would have done much better. At the very least I expect our margin of victory against the crappy teams and our margin of loss against the better would have been more in our favor. Having X stay around for another year and/or coming up short on adding a guard in the transfer portal was absolutely devastating to the year. I think Cupps is going to develop into a player we all like but this was too early to hand him the keys. That being said, having him in the lineup just not messing up (even though he isn't adding much either) has our starting 5 in the Top 10 most efficient lineups in the country. In the history of bad bets, putting all the eggs in the Xavier Johnson basket was a colossal mistake.

I wouldn't even play X in my scenario above. Not until he has demonstrated he has his head back on again. It would be Cupps for 33+ minutes and short bursts of Leal or Gunn when he needs a rest. I am either rewarding the 4 year guy or trying to develop the sophomore. I am frankly done with the 24 year old head case. He doesn't help us win now and he won't be here later.

Yes, to me it is the 3 simplest things to work on. One, I shorten the bench way up and 3 of Galloway, Mgbako, Ware, and Reneau are on the floor at all times. Quite a bit of practice would be spent on revisiting the fundamentals of rebounding. Additionally, I tell the guards to follow their shots and stick around for boards. No more leaking out or back. There were several instances against Purdue where we put up a 3 and the ball rebounded back to almost exactly where the shooter was at. Problem being our shooter was already half way down the court back to the defensive side. Follow your shots guards. Finally, like you said, all the step in the arc 2's should be 3's. Stop shot faking into worse shots. Just put up what is there when you receive the ball.

We need to massively shorten the bench. The starters should be playing about 35 minutes each the rest of the way.

Sorry, that was me. I say bad words sometimes when I am miffed.

See this is what I am talking about. If I am an Indiana player that little sh$/ saying stuff like that would piss me off. Them yapping at our fans would piss me off. We just have guys with no fight.

If that is the case you have to make the move now. If they want him then you send Quin to Woody and tell him it is time to hang it up and we'll throw you a big retirement party. May still has buzz and to take advantage of that buzz you have to act now. A good job at his school is not going to generate buzz. So if you wait a few years and he is mostly winning his conference and even making a tournament appearance here and there but getting bounced early, all that buzz dries up. If they think he is our guy they need to make it happen now.

Your experience is why I stopped giving money to the school. Even the measley license plate money. I cut everything. My main attachment has been my memories from the time there and my (decreasing) interest in the sports teams. Indiana U. doesn't reflect my values on most things. It just is what it is on that front and like you said, I don't see it changing any time soon. Enjoy life and hopefully the people who make decisions get their head out of their (expletive deleted) enough for you to feel it worthwhile to come back.

Exactly. I assume you were just doubling down on my point?

Soft team that is more about style than substance.

I expect to lose the next two in ugly fashion. We'll see how we look against Iowa. I think the "give a fuuu-uh-fudge" meter on this team bottoms out when it becomes apparent that the tournament is out of the question. You think guys might be mailing it in now, wait until they are almost certain that the only thing they are playing for is the loser tournament that no one gives a crap about. There are a few guys I see shutting it down at that point. Whether that be a business decision or just realizing it is over and I am done listening to people because I am a grown man at this point.

I think you touched on a major one for me. I have felt far too often the past decade or so that I care about the outcomes of these games more than the players do. The Purdue guys were clowning us last night and our guys were kind of like "whatever..." We feel like a team of mostly paid mercenaries. These guys have all sorts of Indiana legacy around them on a daily basis and I feel they still don't get "it". There are some fans that are willing to put up with about anything, but I am not one of them. I have my own bills to pay and having people come to me asking for money to pay guys a six figure salary who look like Ware did on that floor dive play by Edey is laughable. I would be embarrassed to even ask. I just have had the feeling that the IU players enjoy too much of the fun and not enough of the work that was put in to build the foundation they are cracking. I don't know, the irritation has been building for me all year and I have been trying to remain positive and give the benefit of the doubt but my well has dried up.

Yep. We have never seen our potential take hold and I don't think it is going to. I expect to lose the next two and then the Iowa game becomes a pivot point. Either they turn it around and put together a respectable conclusion to the year, or it goes down the tubes. Either way, we have 4 more good opportunities for a Q1 win. 3 of those 4 are on the road. At the beginning of the year, my baseline goal is always the NCAA tournament. If we are not capable of being 1 of the 68 teams that makes that tournament, the year is an automatic fail for me. This year is looking like it is already a failure. It is mid January. That is no bueno.

Don't attribute to a conspiracy what is more likely explained by incompetence. We throw more money at our basketball program than almost any school in the country. The problem we have is that we are perennially stuck in 1987. From my POV, all that "getting in the shoe game is cheating" was for us suckered. Everyone was doing it, the NCAA only "cared" when it was forced to, even then they did nothing. The dumbest thing we ever did was burn down our program over phone calls. And everyone involved with the program is living off the vapors of a coach who has passed away and had not coached a game at IU since I was a junior in college (I am 45 now.) I am f---ing tired of listening to the radio and getting clowned the day after these rivalry games. And yeah, we swept them last year but we have been on the wrong end of these way too often. Just f---ing tired of it. And no, I am not going anywhere. I have been mostly biting my tongue all year. Woodson better put away the f---ing cigars and do some damn coaching.