BobSaccamanno

I don’t agree that our talent is good enough. Our 1-3 positions collectively are subpar. We have 3 five-star recruits but it’s imbalanced. We lack team quickness and shooting. Don’t get me wrong, it’s on the staff and there are alot of issues with the adjustments but I am not buying the talent issue. Next year I’d like to see three capable guards added to the mix, a big guy and maybe another 2/3 to go with McNeely. That’s assuming we don’t lose someone good that is unexpected. If you assume Woody doesn’t walk away and that Dusty doesn’t make another final four run, then Woody would be back but you’d have to look hard at the staff, with assistants but all those bodies hovering around the bench.

100%. It’s the mixture of having 5 star athletes and savvy, tough, skilled players. From the beginning of time, that tough “Indiana boy” player gets churned out by the state. Some states are full of urban areas and they spit out the Lew Alcindors. Indiana has the stereotype of the hoop stuck on a barn or garage and some kid shoveling snow so he can shoot outside. We produce that kid like California produces fake boobs on a bleached blonde. It would be idiotic not to take advantage of our strengths, in-state. A big issue is talent evaluation, makeup, character, effort, motor, competitiveness. We need a blend of some of those guys. Gabe Cupps has it. The kid who wants to put up hundreds of shots, gets in the weight room, studies, can’t get enough, instead of the kid who looks great getting off the bus, wants to get high all the time, can’t hit a free throw to save his life but on paper looks theoretically good. We have lost track of that analysis. Bob Knight had it. He was pulling in Tom Coverdale and Kirk Haston.

It’s the inevitable end-game. It’s just a matter of when. At some point, leadership at the schools who make the real money aren’t going to want to share it.

I have an eight year old and that's basically him lol.

I have heard a couple of interviews with our DC Haines. Very bright guy, super articulate and energetic. I can see why CCC's touts him so much.

46-8 is unjustifiable. Something like 35-15 would have still been a big discrepancy and more realistic. The difference between IU fans and other fans is there is a hell of a lot more realism and self-awareness here, not just blind endorsement of your school. It's a cultural thing. Indiana fans grew up this way.

Little before my time. My earliest memories from college basketball would be 1975….wish there was better footage of games from the 1960s and early 1970s

Great call!

Very happy for Leal tonight. Hopefully he keeps going. He was SOLID

I get that X is public enemy number one for the refs but this is pathetic to even be reviewed.

I like Reneau a lot. He’s pretty brilliant scoring in the post. He’s got rare talent in that respect. Having said that, I do think he makes up his mind that he’s going to shoot sometimes and turns off reading the defense. That shows up in rebounding too. Yes he got 7 yesterday, but you have to anticipate, read angles, block out. I think he can still get a lot better by seeing the floor better and reading/anticipating.

You have a bakery in the mountains? What an idyllic life!

Wow MM with 9 boards

Is that a foul call on IU every time Illinois is in half court?

From a matchup standpoint, they’ve got guys on the perimeter who can really go off the bounce. We just gave up 91 to team with plodding guys who we couldn’t stop. The matchup sure doesn’t look good on paper. Marcus Domask. I don’t see how we match up there at all the way we play. They really played the portal well. As much heat as Woody is rightfully getting, he does have a staff too. The magnifying glass needs pointed that way. We need a guy like Felling who made Coach look at Cheaney and Evans. We found an unheralded guy in Kirk Haston. On and on. There’s more to recruiting than opening the Indy Star and seeing who they rate. Go find the next Jake LaRavia or Desmond Bane or Bryant McIntosh or Barnhizer or Davis from Gary playing for Dusty or even the two guards from 17-3 Indiana State. Those are just in-state guys. I’d love a job where I got paid well to go evaluate players. Aside from Walsh, this should be a very good discussion going forward.

The way the sports landscape is trending, college football is erupting and college basketball may become a niche sport. A lot of people will tell you that it’s a March Madness event only. College basketball has a lot of existential issues IMO….

Yeah unless I misread something, I think they are 25 in the NET and we are 98

I think we go one more year with some assumptions. Let Woody get 3 veteran guards in the portal who can shoot and defend, and let’s change our approach on the court. Let’s get the three ball going and get perimeter defense (both on the shot and the drive) drastically improved. Giving up 91 points in a Big Ten game is absurd. Maybe 1-2 assistants get swapped out. No more ejections. Get the 2025 class lined up. Then hopefully we are back on track. If there’s not a drastic change with style of play and success, then next year all bets will be off.

My use of “buzz” might have been inadvertently unfortunate lol

Exactly, McNeely very openly has said he wants to be a one and done. So, according to script, the plan is he wouldn’t even be on the roster with Sisley. McNeely also plays a lot of 2 guard in high school. They roll out Queen, Flagg, Newell and McNeely together. All four over 6’8. A bit positionless but McNeely looked like the shooting guard.

Seems like a very smart idea to get some buzz and to coordinate with Little 5. That is a huge advantage on our campus that is smart to tap into.

Ultimately he will be judged on his performance. Accountability is a good thing in all professions. Any criticism or praise that he gets will be based on how he performs. Criticism here is hardly unwarranted. There are a lot of issues. If he performs well, I assure you that he will do well on accountability. As for comparing him with the likes of K, that’s not a good analogy at many levels. There is a lot that goes into a program’s trajectory. K and Woody are in two entirely different circumstances. It is up to Woody to correct the course. He will get his shot between now and next year. He either will do it or he won’t. The outcome is in his hands’ not the fans. The fans will merely hold his feet to the fire. And they haven’t been wrong on anybody yet.

Blaming the fans is madness. Who have the fans fired? Who did IU fire that proved the fans wrong? I am not talking about some imbecile on Twitter but the overall fan base. You can cherry pick idiots and morons in every fan base so that’s a futile effort. The IU fan base is more principled, on and off the court, than other fan bases. It’s part of the culture we all grew up in. We can self examine in a way that eludes other fan bases. Ultimately the fan base will demand accountability. Any coach who is afraid of that doesn’t belong here. The one thing you can never do here is be wrong about something the fans were right about all along. If you are the smartest man in the room, you damn well better be right.

100%. Would be a colossal error. If that new point guard gets hurt, you’re back to where you are this year and he would get fired. Can’t do that.

Agree with your point. Other sports don’t let you bring in outside players after the regular season ends. With a 53 man roster and larger practice squad than before, you should be able to survive the playoffs with what you have in house. Roster maneuvering before the playoffs should be part of the strategy. IMO