Zuckerkorn

You have to admit that Purdue defines what a "Chancre School" is...😄

Can't speak for 5F but, it seems more common with higher ranked out of state recruits. I assume we have a baked-in advantage on Indiana kids (or should). Of course the competition for elite players is always going to be stiffer and our percent of success will be lower. It's one of Archies failures that he didn't bring in much talent from beyond the state line - Dawson Garcia was the epitome of that lack of success.

Your assessment seems spot on to me. I can't explain why it seems to happen so often though.

I fully agree that CMW has the program on an upward trjectory. Maybe the slope is a little flatter than we'd prefer, but the steady improvement has been there. We saw this past season we weren't ready to push teams like KU or AZ. I think the concern is if we take a step or two back next season - not that it doesn't happen to most teams, but there's a deja vu feeling to it.

Absolutely. Kopp was really left as the only threat without XJ. I don't mean to denigrate Miller by any means - loved his effort and attitude. He played darn good D despite not being overly athletic. Ultimately, I believe, Woodson wants to spread things out and have threats inside, midrange, and on the perimeter (wouldn't every coach?). To this point we've replaced Race & Trayce with Ware/Reneau/Sparks. JHS with XJ. And TBD on Kopp. Likely TJD won't be replaced with equal production. How things shake out roster-wise, style of play-wise, and individual player improvement-wise is yet to be determined. Thus far I'm not overly excited - lots of work to be done.

Semantics aside, the issue is scoring. Preferrably via multiple "prongs". I agree about catch & shoot, easily guardable shooting specialists. I greatly appreciate what Miller Kopp brought, but there were times I wanted to pull my hair out when he'd go to "his corner" and wait for the ball - it felt like playing 4 against 5 at times. Multi-dimensional scorers are ideal, for sure. But, there will be times when we'll need to get 3's and currently only XJ and Gallo have shown any real ability to do that.

Call 'em whatever you want - sharpshooters, creators, or magicians. All I know is we lost the lion's share of our offense from last season (and really weren't a high-pwered offense then). It has to be made up for somehow. I'd guess Kopp, Thompson, and Bates accounted for a huge chunk of our 3-pt makes. We need some threat from outside to keep defenders "honest". Freshman major contributors are rare. Hoping a returning player makes huge strides is a bit of a gamble. The portal is a prime resource for bolstering areas of need and has thus far failed to bear fruit for us in the much needed area of scoring. There's time left for sure and the roster is still a work in progress but feeling no concern or sense of urgency seems like "whistling past the graveyard".

So, as things stand today, who's that gonna be? XJ? TG? Those are the closest I can think of.

You may be correct. If the one additional guy doesn't bring reliable shooting ability, I'll be borderline PO'd. Hoping that a returning player miraculously becomes that sharpshooter over the off season does not bring me much joy (or confidence).

I hope we're focused on s-h-o-o-t-i-n-g for the time being.

From reading various (non-IU) message boards, Knecht's name is mentioned a lot. It appears he's very much a hot commodity, at least among fans. He's the player I'm most wishful for.

When FB has a 53 point, 31 rebound game he can then be mentioned in the same breath Big George.... That's rarified air.

No, I misread and thought you were characterizing all changes as the same. I overlooked the part about "fired their previos coach".

I struggled with an alternative to the term "mess", but recruiting was in the toilet and the offense and especially defense he had been using were a flop. Woodson had to completely wipe that packline crap out of the returning players' heads. Mess is probably too strong but it seems everything about the program (except behavior problems and academics) was off-track. Coaching changes aren't all the same. Replacing a coach that resigned to go to another school is much different than replacing a guy who failed.

Big brother didn't inherit little brother's "mess"....

Hell, get off our NUTS!

Like Scott, I went from reluctant to supportive of bringing in CL. If he's off our board, OK. It's possible MW made his pitch/offer and asked for a decision and the player wasn't willing to commit, so we bowed out not wanting to play the limbo game.

HSN posters sitting quietly with a posey in hand, slowly pulling off petals while whispering "he loves me....he loves me not...."

I did notice that GC seems to have a significant wingspan. That and he wipes the bottom of his shoes a lot - maybe the two are related.?

Now with NIL, citing interest from many other schools is a wise business/negotiating tactic....

Agree. I had to chuckle when the announcers brought up Damon Bailey when speaking about Cupps, but to their credit they did acknowedge he might not be the scorer Damon was...lol.

I believe an additional year would have been beneficial, but they call it professional basketball for a reason. Get wealthy, young man. Now that another roster spot is officially available, let's get a solid replacement!

Last evening was the first time I've seen GC play and it was a "split decision" for me. The good part is that it's clear he's active on both ends and has that "floor general" vibe about him. It's also pretty obvious that he's had good coaching and learned from it. Obviously his shooting performance was unimpressive. Maybe just an off night or perhaps the result of playing against a highly athletic opposing team. It made me think of the only time I ever saw Perea play before suiting up in C&C - it was a similar HS national tournament. That was when I realized the guy (HP) was an extraordinary athletic with little basketball skill (likely due to subpar coaching). GC is kind of the opposite but will likely need time to adjust and get stronger.

These are very good observations, IMO.