IU878176

1 hour ago, Coach1K said:

For some reason I thought it was in the title game.

It was the Duke game. Jay Williams made the 3 and then, thankfully, choked the free throw.

35 minutes ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Yes, second in ACC in assists. Too many TOs. Coming out of HS was described as a Ferrari with no brakes. Not a great shooting %, but 79% FTs, which is always good to see from a primary ball handler 

Last year he had 5.7 assists to 3.3 to’s

Shot 32% from the three, 50% from the two and 79% from FT.

Averaged 14.2 a game in a season in which most games were ACC (few cupcakes). Good to see that he proved himself in the ACC vs hoping a transfer can successfully move up from a poor conference to the BT.

2 hours ago, tdhoosier said:

mean TWat? haha

So even if he had gone to IU, T-wat never would have hooked up with Woody.

29 minutes ago, Between2Halls said:

He is from Newark NJ. Mom wants him closer to home. Surprised Rutgers hasn’t reached out as the RAC is only 30 minutes from Newark.

1 hour ago, Jackson Kellogs said:

If I’m Woodson, I’m saying see ya later to Franklin! Stewart will have more of an impact in my opinion. 

Franklin seems to be a great kid and he really improved between his freshman and sophomore year due to all the off season work he put in.

I really hope he stays.

2 hours ago, Euroclydon said:

I can't imagine this is what the NCAA wanted from the transfer portal but it seemed an obvious result once it got going. Then they amplified it this season with the one year wild wild west option to move anytime and  without sitting. 

It makes me wonder if they intended the portal as an appeasement for the growing push for player payment and ownership of their image/likeness.

Either way it's reeking havoc on programs and coaches. There has to be some sort of compromise that works better.

The portal barn door is wide open and it’s also looking as though the Supreme Court is going to rule in favor of the players in regards to them owning their images, compensation etc.  The college basketball landscape has changed a lot in the last 20 years but it’s going to change to an even greater degree in the  next 3-5 years. Regardless of wether it’s a good or bad thing it is happening.

PS: In the spirit of saving you the time it takes to type a reply, IU Scott,       I will add that you are against the changes :).

21 minutes ago, BADGERVOL said:

Why is he worth a measly 6 years 22million?

To me with him not being on anyone’s radar besides many people saying “NO WAY” it’s hard not to take this as “We just went with our boy for a bargain price...that’ll do the job if not oh well.”

I’d actually have felt a bit better if they had over paid him even just to show “this is how confident we are that we have OUR man.” Because that’s what’s being sold...no most programs wouldn’t hire him but he’s perfect for IU...”

Well if he’s so good for us why is he worth peanuts?

 

Peanuts?
According to this link his contract would have made him the 18th highest coach in the country this year and the 4th highest in the Big Ten. At 3.667 a year he is close to Bill Self, Bennett and Huggins money without having coached a single college game. 

https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/mens-basketball/coach/

1 minute ago, BobSaccamanno said:

One of my first reactions was we had some of the money ready for Matta too.  I assume he’s in seven figures.  Maybe I am wrong.  

400k for Matta

No buyout had to be paid to get Woodson

Woodson is probably 3mm or so less a year than BS.

In two years IU won’t have to pay Woodsons health care.

Sounds like a good value play.

19 minutes ago, dbmhoosier said:

Jay Williams said this morning that recruiting won't be a problem as WWW would be a huge help.  Not sure how I feel about that.

I don’t know what might have happened in the past but Jay Williams likes taking shots at IU. Even when Crean had good teams Williams had a way of making some jabs.

I hope I’m correct in my assumption that WWW doesn’t get within 20 area codes of Bloomington. Would be a really bad look.

5 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

.  I understand if you are younger or wasn't around IU basketball all of your lives not understanding what these players mean to IU.  

In my own mind I am young...very young,

Others might disagree that I’m young as I was a freshman in Bloomington during the undefeated 75-76 season and in Bloomington for grad school for the ‘81 championship (ie. very lucky/spoiled). I even saw Woodson in person when he had hair...LOL.

3 minutes ago, BobSaccamanno said:

With the premium on shooting and Woody’s NBA background, he’s an ideal fit.  

I agree.
99% of the talented recruits (I might be 1% low, LOL) want to be in the NBA. I agree with the sentiments that his age, and lack of college experience, are not ideal but I also question why a Midwest recruit would be more excited sitting across their kitchen table from Muss/Oats versus NBA guy Woodson.
 If you are a recruit being told you need to develop x,y,z to get to the next level would it mean more from Woody or Muss (not to mention that I think Mussleman would view each win as being one step closer to his NBA coaching dream)?  
Before the announcement I preferred Oats, and maybe Mussleman, over Woodson but have flipped that today. Might be wishful thinking on my part but regardless I hope this works out as the program can’t continue to sink for another 4-5 years.
 

15 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

I think if former players are at the game and come talk to the current team it helps immensely.   They can tell them what IU means to them and how playing at IU made them the people they are today.  they can show them what it takes to be great at IU and what it takes to win here.  You want guys coming back and not just RMK guys but IU guys who are playing in the NBA right now showing that playing at IU you can make it to the NBA.  You don't think it helps recruiting when they see former all time greats at the game or in the locker room.  I look at UNC and duke who always have a lot of former players hanging around the program.  I think having MJ coming back to UNC helps in many ways.

The former UNC and Duke players happen to be hanging around a lot of current players that are primarily 4 and 5 star players (ie are the former players “inspiring” the current players or do those programs tend to have good teams because they have really good players ? I think it’s the later).

I’ve stated before that while I think it’s “nice” if former players feel welcomed, and are around the program,  I’ve questioned if it translates on the court. The RMK return to the Hall was billed as the third most important event in the history of mankind and the players performed as if they would have rather taken naps than play PU that day. I also don’t think players mindsets change because a guy that played in the glory days, possibly older than their dad, hung around and watched them practice for a hour.

On the other hand......after listening to Woody I’m being sold on the possibility that the IU ties, being all-in on IU, making it clear this is one of the best places to be etc etc might resonate when it is coming directly from the head coach (as opposed to past players that float in and out to say hello).  We will see but the possibility of this working is really growing on me. 

1 hour ago, Seeking6 said:

Interesting that Woodson suggested Thad Matta. Shows confidence and an understanding that a total team effort is needed from people who know basketball.

Would love to know that list someday that Dolson has referenced. Haha.

 

  

From a chemistry perspective I’m very glad to hear that Matta was Woodsons idea. Many considered Matta a candidate and it could have caused some potential issues if Matta had been “imposed” on Woody.

Also says a lot about Woodsons confidence in that he is not threatened by Matta, input from others etc.

On 3/27/2021 at 12:10 AM, IU Scott said:

Those Grove Brothers were good

They are good and are natives of Spokane. Be interesting to see if the Zags have interest/room for them.

10 minutes ago, rico said:

The guy they signed was a PG...I imagine Rocket Watts just lost his job?

It’s going to be interesting to see how the dominos fall. Will MSU signing a PG lead to Watts going into the portal as an example?

6 hours ago, IU Scott said:

That is what you get when you try to get so many put of state kids to come to IU.  Kids growing up in New York or Japan has no clue what IU basketball is all about.

Out of state kids would flock to games if we had decent teams. I’m related to kids that went to Duke, Alabama, Michigan, etc and NONE of them were from those states and they loved going to those schools basketball or football games. 

When I was at IU, in the “golden era” Stone Age, I knew a lot of out of state students (including New Yorkers) that LOVED going to the games and some of them admitted they partially went to IU because of the basketball program.  Out of state and in-state kids will still support the program but we need to win more. IU has not been one of the premier programs in the country during the lifetime of current freshman born in 2002 and we royally stunk the entire time those kids were in high school (how fired up would you be as a kid if the Archie era was during your entire time in high school?) If we are competitive it will be a thing to go to games again for both in-state and out of state students but coming in 9th and 10th the last few years just doesn’t cut it. I can’t blame them for not sharing your excitement.
 

29 minutes ago, jefftheref said:

Justin and Damezi make the tournament. I reckon they knew if they wanted post season play they had to get away from Archie and his non-offensive strategy. 

But at least we got a lot better when Smith left, or were we getting better after Green left, on second thought maybe it was after Davis left that we were going to dramatically improve.....

2 hours ago, IU Scott said:

Can't believe UI is playing this way without Ayo

I agree. Based on how good Michigan looked against us (in retrospect that doesn’t mean much) I thought they would take care of the Illini without Ayo.

3 hours ago, IUFLA said:

Hope so...but no gimmes in our league...

I hope so too as we will obviously be in good shape for the tourney if we win the next two.
I think MSU’s only decent win was against Rutgers. I’m not sure if injured players, Covid,etc were a factor/reason but MSU beat Rutgers by 23 and then lost to them by 30 a few weeks later.  Kind of crazy.

1 hour ago, IUwins0708 said:

Reminds me of a Greg Graham type of player coming in.  Let’s hope he turns out like him!

Congrats to Gunn and IU for landing him. I don’t know Gunn’s game but I really enjoyed watching Graham. The comparison (I realize you are saying same type of player, not necessarily as good of a player) is high praise for Gunn as Graham was a burger boy coming out of high school.

I figured 75/25 Fry would be gone. Great news. If Whop also comes back our “brand/mojo” will continue to improve as we should have a nationally discussed receiver corp.  We have another fun year on the way!!

6 hours ago, Hoosierfan1901 said:

Wisconsin might win the Big 10 again

Kudos to Gard. A lot of people thought they would go down the tubes when the Grinch left.

2 hours ago, jv1972iu said:

And continued belief that Ketchup is going to REALLY help once he is back.  Guess there were some classroom issues to clean up, so he won't be back for a few more weeks.  That's what some RR members were stating this AM.

I honestly thought that a UK player having issues in the classroom was an impossibility. Just assumed their report cards were filled out before the semester started.

3 hours ago, IU Scott said:

Not a good start for MSU at Duke with 10 minutes to go in the half

3-15 from the floor and 6 turnovers down 16-7 and luckily for them Duke is shooting 28%

It’s really a weird year with covid.

Have to wonder how, or if, MSU would have responded, after starting 3-15 with 6 to’s, if Cameron was packed with students going nuts

8 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

Since they have went to the one and done model they won one championship.

And they were in the Elite 8 each of last two years.
In the last 5 years of one and done they have a sweet 16, two elite 8’s and a national championship.  Is that failure? “Only” one national championship......we are on year 37 and hoping for a 6-12 seed.