IUCrazy2

This season is already about over. We have dug a deep hole and, while there are still opportunities to dig out, I don't have faith that we will be able to take advantage of enough of them to matter. I know metrics and stats are for losers and that the games are won or lost on the floor, however, we are currently only favored to win 2 more games on our schedule. I don't think we are going to do that poorly but I also think that is indicative of the hill we would have to climb in order to get where we need to be. NCAA or bust to me. I don't think we can turn down an NIT invite but that tournament in today's world is absolutely useless. In the past you could make an argument that if you had a young team it was extra practice and games to try and develop. That world doesn't exist for a P5 team like Indiana anymore. Most of the guys you would be developing are more likely to leave after the year than stay. On another note, the way this team plays is why I won't give a dime to NIL. It is just another way that system has f-d up college athletics.

They are paid a decent amount of money to say "Yes sir".

I think that is fairly likely.

I don't even see the point in press conferences. How often do you hear anything that isn't typical say nothing coach speak? The press won't ask pointed questions because they don't want to lose access and the coaches aren't usually going to offer up how bad they sucked...kind of a waste of time.

Your email had nothing to do with Tom Allen getting fired. Don't kid yourself.

The Big Ten is pretty awful this year. I think we can get to .500 but really at that point, who cares.

Isn't he like 25 now? Like at a certain point you kind of think maturity would kick in...

We won't be dead last, we are going to be that around .500 type of "meh" team that we have been for most of the past 20 years. The type that gets an invite to the NIT and then gets soundly beaten by a team we should be better than in the first or second round because nobody but nobody at Indiana gives a rat's hind end about being in that loser tournament. Then we get to the most exciting part of our season where we get all excited about the portal and delude ourselves into thinking that next year we get things turned around.

Whatever floats your boat, but unless you have a couple million to spare, he won't care.

There have been worse but tonight wasn't very good. I know this is the optimistic part of our fanbase as far as online presence goes, so I have been treading lightly this year because I know people didn't want to hear it, but tonight wasn't a surprise. We haven't played very well all year. We are on life support and are going to need to see a miracle to make the NCAA tournament this year. I think the thing that is most frustrating is that our team and staff has done the definition of insanity for 3 years now. It is the same mistakes and from year to year and game to game. Woodson isn't going anywhere next year but some of the assistants need to go. Something needs a shake up. (And I am not talking guys like Calbert and Jordy, I mean actual named bench assistants. They need to bring in a teacher instead of having 3 recruiters.)

We are in trouble. There have been a few people saying that for awhile. Our problem is we have been on the wrong side of "blow out" games. We have been blown out by the Q1's and we failed to blow out the Q4's and that has put us in a really bad hole.

I was at that game as a student. We all thought Knight was going to deck him in the middle of the court. I haven't seen a crowd that hostile since.

They are the least natural fit in the Big Ten (currently). The only comparable is Maryland until the west coast teams show up.

So, I am not and have never been a coach, but.... I think this type of team build is our best lineups to put on the floor and if guys bought in, you could really pressure teams. For instance, start XJ, Galloway, CJ, Mgbako, and Reneau. Have Cupps in the guard rotation, Walker and Banks rotating in with Mgbako and CJ, and Ware for Reneau. That is a potential 9 man rotation and you could bring in Sparks and Leal if foul trouble pops up or you just want to try and light a fire. The main person to convince would be Ware.

I don't get why Michigan is in front of us in NET and Kenpom. They really haven't done much to earn it. If you compare us to some of the teams in conference that are ahead of us (like an Iowa), the difference in rating all comes down to us not beating up on the lesser teams we have played. We have no losses outside of Q1 (Iowa has a Q3 loss) but we also have no Q1 wins and our Q3 and Q4 wins weren't blowouts.

We have shooters, we don't get them the ball. Reneau had a good game yesterday (well there was that rebounding thing....) but there were several occasions where he had a wide open shooter behind the arc on, his side of the court, that he looked away from and chose to drive into 2 or 3 defenders instead. It is difficult because he is a pretty gifted offensive player and Ware is a talent as well. However, I think they sometimes get to forcing things too much instead of trusting their teammates.

If we go 10-10 in conference we won't be on any bubble. We will be firmly out.

Beating Ohio State improved our NET from 111 to 98. I believe that Rutgers would be another Q2 win. So we would probably get ourselves into the 80's with another win. Our goal has to be winning the winnable road games (and this should be one) while also stealing wins against better teams at home. If we win the next two, I think how we perform in that following 4 game stretch is going to make or break the season. Purdue, @Wisconsin, @Illinois, and Iowa. That is 3 top 20 NET teams and another in the 60's. We need to play well in the two away games and win the two at home and we will have given ourselves a chance. That all starts Tuesday. It is a must win for post season chances IMO.

Needed that one. Good W.

I agree and disagree with this. I don't think you can pass judgment on a year until it is complete, but you can continuously evaluate. Also, on time, yes there is plenty of season to go but we don't have all that time to figure things out. If our goal is the tournament, we need to start putting quality wins on the board right now.

Reneau and Ware both play alright for their position, the problem is that with the way the game is played today and with the switching we do on defense, you can't have a 5 out on the perimeter chasing a quicker guy or trying to close all that distance to get to a shooter. On offense, both of them are really more comfortable in the same crowded spot on the court. Why? Because we compound our problem by playing 4's at the 3. Walker, Banks, and Mgbako are modern 4's. We try and shoehorn them in as 3's. Which again has them scrambling and fouling quicker guys out on the perimeter on D. The offense is to get the ball into the 2 centers at almost all costs and then they dominate the ball. We value them putting up heavily contested 2's more than we do kicking it out for relatively open 3's. So much so that I watched players like Mgbako pass up some shots last night that were better than trying to force the ball into the paint that they chose (which led to bad shots or turnovers). You cannot have 2 centers that are going demand a bunch of minutes on the same team. Ware and Reneau are both good players but I would argue that if one of them could not handle coming off the bench, we would have been better off to trade their scholarship for a guy like Battle who transferred to Ohio State from Minnesota and is doing exactly the kind of stuff we are missing.

I think we can win some on the road. Our problem is likely going to be that the road wins we currently appear capable of winning aren't going to move the dial much at all in helping build an NCAA resume. The other problem we have is that we are getting absolutely punked against almost every NCAA capable team we are playing. Our best win is Michigan (6-7) and maybe Maryland (9-5). Maryland is a Q3 win though so no help there. We played Kansas tight. Auburn, Connecticut, and Nebraska all murdered us. I have been trying to stay optimistic but even most of our wins have been a red flag. Things could still turn around but we are in massive trouble.

It gets us closer to a modern offense.

The problem is constructing the team around having 2 5's on the floor. Galloway should be the 3 and Mgbako the 4.

If we go 2-6 or 3-5 over that stretch the season is over. There aren't enough quality wins left on the schedule after that to dig out of that kind of hole and those that are left look like almost certain losses at this point. The way we are playing right now we will be lucky to get an NIT invite which usually equals an early exit as well. Nobody in this program wants to play in that thing.