Zuckerkorn

Over our past coach searches (oh, I hate using the plural form of that word) I recall various rival schools mocking us for not wooing a big-name, established coach - as if any of them would have ever left their current teams. At those times several of us speculated about just who or how the current elite teams would replace their legendary coaches.  Now we're seeing that none of them thus far have pulled in the Stevens', Donovans or poached a coach from any other perennial contender.

Nope, it's a passing of the guard for multiple blue blood type teams.  History has shown that the failure rate is pretty high for coaches who directly succeed HOF coaches.  It will be interesting to see how much sway Duke/UNC will have going forward based solely on past reputation.

People, especially young people, don't realize how high the cost of a punch thrown in anger can be.  Uwe Blab's son died in such a tragic way.

https://www.hoosiersportsreport.com/2010/01/blabs-son-killed-in-altercation/

I had no idea of the origin, but that article makes perfect sense - Doc Counsilman was an innovator and way ahead of his time.  I was told in the mid-70's that some of his training techniques were adopted by coach Knight (a relative who has no direct connection to IU told me, so IDK if it's true).

On a semi-related note, several years ago I found out about the origins of "Indiana, our Indiana" - kind of disappointed that the music was not original.  You'd think with such a distinguished school of music that someone would have composed it specifically for the school.

Just a few thoughts on CAM:

- Maybe with a guaranteed handsome income, coming off what had to be a stressful tenure at IU, he might decide to just spend time with his family for a while.  I believe his daughter is in her teens and they have no other kids - couldn't fault the guy for wanting to make up for lost opportunities to spend time with her and his wife while he can.

- I don't know if we'll ever know to what extent any constraints were placed on him when he took over.  If they they were significant, I could see them (along with some bad luck injuries) preventing him from building a national contender. But, even with whatever hand he was dealt, his teams still under performed and failed to develop and compete at an acceptable level - not only at IU, but any B10 program.

- In retrospect, I just don't think Archie was as passionate about being at IU as we would hope or expect.  Certainly his predecessor and successor showed/show much more enthusiasm for the job.  Someone said that it might have been a case of the opportunity being too good to pass up, but not a "dream job".  I really think that was true.

Realizing that we're all totally biased, and new coaching hires always bring optimism, I have to remind myself that the proof is always in the actual pudding - but this time seems very different.  It's almost like we've been trying to build our house by ourselves for the last couple decades and finally hired a reputable construction crew.

In a sense I'm enjoying the fact that it seems the rest of the B10 and CBB world have already discounted this overhaul of the program.

12 hours ago, mrflynn03 said:

 

Wasn't the Holiday Bowl win against BYU that same year?  Fun times.

2 hours ago, IowaHoosierFan said:

GET OFF MY LAWN DAGNABIT.  GOSH DANG LONG HAIRED HIPPIES ALWYAS ON MY LAWN.  NEVER HEARD OF A RAZOR OR SEEN A COMB.  WELL, BACK IN MY DAY, WE SHAVED 3 TIMES A DAY AND WENT TO THE BABER, WALKING UP HILL BOTH WAYS MIND YOU, TO GET OUR HAIR CUT EVERY DAY AND TWICE ON SUNDAY.  MUBBLE MUBLE MUMBLE HIPPIES LOOKING LIKE JUSTINE BEAVERSON.

I wonder what percentage of posters in this thread have ADD? 🤪

4 hours ago, DC2345 said:

Crean has like 7 guys coming in already and still chasing transfers. He's going to end up finding a way to improve the team enough to make the tournament and his agents going to get him a nice extension lol 

It is quite rare to see a recruit or transfer that doesn't have GA listed as "interested".  Some things never change, I guess.

1 hour ago, dgambill said:

Everyone will NOT play this year. I look at a couple guys like Galloway and Leal and they will have to work very very hard to carve out a role on this team. Heck they might even should think red shirting if there minutes get soaked up. That said I'm not interested in losing either one of them. If a change happens it happens...but I think they still have a lot to bring to the future of IU basketball. Maybe it isn't this year but perhaps next year. Competition is great...especially in practice. It will also force kids to figure out what they have to improve to see the court. The deficiencies in our offense looked very much addressed. It's funny all the things we have been crying for 4 seasons got fixed in one off season. We just added dynamic back court that will play much more aggressive and fast. We added shooting! We added veteran players. It's like someone has been reading our game threads for the past two years and said....ok..I'll go get that! Love it!

I have to wonder.  Does Woodson, after viewing video and/or workouts, sit down with some players and say "You have potential and I know we can improve your game, but you probably will never be in the NBA.  So it may be in your best interest to redshirt for a year to improve your game and body."?  I presume every player dreams of playing professionally and it may be hard to accept being told it is very unlikely to come to fruition, but a kid can play on a competitive team, and carve out a special role as opposed to sitting with the walkons.

14 hours ago, IU Scott said:

Tonight for the Pacers there is no Turner, out indefinitely, Sabonis and Lamb.  They gave up 36 first quarter points against the Spurs.  I think it might be time to blow up the front office and the team.  I think the hiring of the new Nate has been a disaster as well.  They have no depth at the 4 or 5 spot besides Goga and that is on Pritchard.

I no longer pay any attention to the NBA, but I did for a long enough period to recognize one thing about the Pacers (which I began following in 1970): The Simons are, first and foremost, business people.  Their primary interest is to have a profitable franchise.  Sure, they want to win, but they aren't going to overpay for success.  It's their team and they have every right to do so - and they've been quite successful at it.

5 minutes ago, Indykev said:

 

"Mike effin' Woodson!" 

So far it's difficult to point to a single failure from the new coaching staff.  It's pretty rearkable IMO.

Woodson and his assistants have definitely hit the ground running!  It seemed Archie was never able to quickly close the deal with recruits - even the ones who came.  It was almost like we were rarely their first choice.  I believe it all comes down to trust, vision and personality of the head coach.

3 hours ago, Hoosierfan1901 said:

She is a major sports fan from the looks of it, goes to all the football games at KSU

As long as by "football" you don't mean "Australian Rules football", it IS encouraging....😄

11 hours ago, BobSaccamanno said:

It would have been so easy for Rob to just leave and he hasn’t.  I give him respect for that.   

If Fife can get Rob back on track, that will be a huge feather in his cap as a coach.  You’d have to stand up and notice that.  

When I think back to how Rob was active in helping to convince Romeo to come to IU, I have to think he wants to be a Hoosier.  Unfortunately, he chose IU sight unseen and was done no favors by a staff that was not good at player development.

2 hours ago, 5fouls said:

When I was 10 years old, my Little League coach decided to play with 8 instead of putting me in Right Field, but that's another story.  

I empathize as a fellow right-fielder who once committed an error before our pitcher ever threw the first pitch of the inning...

23 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

Dead period ends June 1st. I hope we make hiring official on June 2nd. If that's the way this thing is going. Although that coach would be missing out on 45 days of compensation. He and his family might take issue with that.

Agree.  And I'm sure something can be worked out in regard to the delay in salary....

1 hour ago, Bowhunter said:

I’m okay with grey area as long as it is on par with all the other schools. I don’t want to cheat to win, but I don’t know if a school can consistently be good without some connections. At first I didn’t like the hire, but I’m going to trust the coaching staff. We should have the recruiting map covered pretty well with this staff. 

Same here.  Let's face it - some schools have advantages others don't have.  Duke with tons of free publicity from ESPN is a blatant recruiting advantage.  Some schools have great geographical attraction.  Some have great facilities because of wealthy alumni.

Certainly I don't condone payoffs or other extreme rules violations, but you have to take advantage of loopholes in the rules if you want to be among the top dogs.

The concept of having an agreement with an assistant, but not hiring him so that he can continue to have contact with potential recruits is a "loophole" and an advantage.  Does anybody suggest we NOT exploit that situation?  I hope not!

9 hours ago, FW_Hoosier said:

.......

He was going to be the only guard on the roster that could reliably create his own shot and shoot from deep.  .....

I'd certainly liked for him to return but having watched several highlight videos of X. Johnson, AF would have been a distant second on that count.  

1 hour ago, dgambill said:

Whats the emoji if it isn't just gas....just asking for a friend! lol

💩

3 hours ago, IU/Butler/Notre Dame said:

It’s free on Ihsaatv.org as well

I didn't even think to try it via the website (doh!).  I've watched via the IHSAA roku app for a number of years.  I have no idea why the regional games required registration and payment via the app a couple of weeks ago.  Perhaps it was because of whoever was supplying the feed?

1 hour ago, rico said:

I am watching it on regular TV.  Channel 46 out of South Bend/Elkhart.  

No OTA here in central Indiana.  However, the IHSAA app on roku is carrying the games (at least the 1A game was on - hopefully the other classes will be too).  So I'm happy about that.  I don't know why the regional games required subscription to some service.

So if you don't have cable or pay tv, you can't watch?  That kind of sucks.  I tried to watch some of the games a couple of weeks ago on the IHSAA roku app, but now you have to pay a subscription (smh).  For taxpayer funded activities that they pay considerable money to advertise on tv and radio, they don't do much to encourage maximum exposure.

Maybe a bunch of these guys will be deciding or narrowing their lists after this weekend.  Being a holiday they'll likely be with family and friends and have the opportunity to talk with them.  Once the dominoes begin to fall, you don't want to be the "he who hesitates is lost" guy.