PritchardPutBack

14 minutes ago, FW_Hoosier said:

Dane Fife, in regard to last year’s team:

“That was an NCAA tournament team.  We can look at the players and look at the coaches, but I think this is a culture issue not just with the program itself, but with the fans, the media, the whole state.  I’m sorry to hold you accountable and say that you’re responsible Alex [Bozich], but you’re part of it.”

I took that as blaming the fans and the media for what happened last year just as much as the players and coaches, which I don’t buy.  I also don’t really get the point about the media being too harsh — with the exception of a few idiots like Dakich, the IU basketball beat is overwhelmingly made up of people carrying water for the program to maintain access.

When I heard it I took it as he was just saying media/what fans say online plays a role (wouldn't say a gigantic role, but would agree, a role), not that it was a 50/50 split in terms of blame like you took it. As much as we might hate the whole "reputation for IU fans" (especially since schools like Kentucky can be even worse when they're losing as well), at the end of the day it is there and even Osterman even said it affected recruiting when he was talking to Galen from the media school after Archie was fired. Winning probably cures everything and I don't think it has been that bad of an issue on this board for example, but if a guy like Fife who has been around the Big Ten for a decade is even saying it, feel like it's harder to argue it's just some completely made up narrative by a Goodman or Bilas. 

That being said, don't think anyone is saying you can't ever say one negative thing about IU and obviously everyone's passion is what makes Indiana Basketball. Like you said to end the post also, he's sticking up for his players and whether you think the reputation is fair or not, that's always a great thing to see

20 hours ago, BobSaccamanno said:

I have gotten behind Crean and Archie as they came in. I also gave them the benefit of the doubt for years.  At the end of the day, Crean ended up being a different coach than I expected and I overestimated Archie at this time and place.  But I was optimistic on both because I’m a fan and what is the point otherwise?

But I have to say, I’m on another level of optimistic this time as compared with the last two.  Woodson has been impressive in his approach. I believe he’s working hard already based on the film he’s already broken down and all his meetings with players and coaches.  He’s got the right priorities.  But it’s more than that.  We have an AD with a background in sports now.  We have hired people like Matta and Fife which gives us a very smart and talented brain trust.  So this feels different. Maybe it’s in part that we were burned and beaten around a bit and then we had Brad calling himself a Masshole.  

Another reason I think it makes a bunch of sense to be optimistic, we have most of the players coming back. Everyone knew with Crean it would take several years and with Archie people might have disagreed about when he should start winning but that first year he was coaching a team losing it's best three players in Thomas Bryant, OG, and James Blackmon.

If Armaan does actually come back, we're returning our best two players along with whoever we can snag in the portal

A look at the transfer portal numbers based on last year and by conference as of this morning. Not ideal to have us making up about 1/6 of the Big Ten but at least if only a few guys decide to come back there should be a bunch of options out there 

On 3/20/2021 at 9:20 PM, BGleas said:

It's just a guess of where I could see this going. I've brought it up here too. 

But Ainge is getting a tad older, has had some health issues and has a ton of grandkids. 

I could see him mutually agreeing to retire at some point and Stevens moving into a President of BBall Ops/Coach role. 

The Celtics GM (not sure if that his title. We actually used to share a cubicle) is one of the smartest cap guys in the NBA (he's an MIT guy) so that piece would be covered. 

Stevens could be like a sort of Popvich. I could completely see him in that role. 

Are you talking about Mike Zarren?? I'm a loser that watches the videos from the MIT Sloan Conference on Youtube and love it when he appears on a panel

8 minutes ago, Bustout said:

I don’t see Archie going right back into B1G personally.   I could see him at Marquette or Cincy.   Build them back up.  Build up his resume again.  Cincy is probably an easier conference. 

Didn't even think about Cincy, even though that program does seem like a mess at the current moment.

Sorry for bringing up the ex btw, back to the Stevens Hype Train

25 minutes ago, BobSaccamanno said:

How about Archie to Marquette? 

I wonder if Ostrom/Archie+Ostrom are going to get looked at for the Minnesota job. Minnesota missed out on a bunch of in-state recruits and Ostrom got Race/is supposed to have a good Minnesota pipeline , right?

From TDH Q&A link

Quote

Coach Miller and Coach (Tom) Ostrom, and particular with Coach Miller, that relationship that he was able to build with CJ directly, when I would talk to CJ about the different colleges, the way he would describe the relationship he built with Coach Miller directly stood out.  At one point CJ made a comment that he was talking to Coach Miller as much as he was talking to the assistant coaches at the other universities.

This is promising after all the speculation that our assistant coaches were doing too much of the talking with the recruits and Archie wasn't getting in early enough

Haven't seen anything claiming which school tested positive or any additional postponements for either school yet, but both are upcoming on the schedule. Play Nebraska Sunday and Purdue next Thursday (1/14)

1 hour ago, go_iu_bb said:

It does, but if purple want to use the excuse of "IU had no shooters" they could maybe explain why they didn't. It wasn't a secret going into last year that it would be a poor shooting team. Yet no shooters were added even with 2 available scholarships. That's a coaching decision so at least part of the blame belongs to Miller.

Saying no shooters were added is a little dramatic because Armaan came in and Jerome was a redshirt freshman that was supposed to a shooter/perimeter guy the previous year. Armaan and Jerome both started slow which affected their season 3pt% big time (Jerome 30.2% Armaan 26.6%), but in the last 15 games Hunter had the best 3pt% on the team and Armaan was tied with Al for 2nd (Jerome 42.86% Armaan 40.91%)

The fact that both Jerome and Armaan are likely to get more minutes/shots this year without Justin/Damezi/Devonte, as well as the fact that we're bringing in Leal to be another shooter and Lander to help space the floor, I find it a little weird to act like Archie hasn't done anything to bring in shooters

32 minutes ago, KDB said:

ESPN is the service that's been high on Pack. They have him at #86 while Rivals has him at #124 and 247 has him at #171.

I tend to think that 247's own rankings are usually more accurate than the composite. They have Leal at 2 and Galloway at 3. 

Leal was #99 in the composite yesterday but dropped 30 spots because ESPN's updated rankings have Leal a 3-star and ranked 7th in the state.. Lol. 

ESPN rankings are just garbage. 

ESPN giveth and ESPN taketh away

Would be nice if they still updated it once Lander for sure reclassifies but know that it's supposed to be their final rankings

3 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Are we expecting a commit later this week? When other places start advertising discounts for VIP membership it tells me some info is coming. 

I was wondering the same thing. I know it could just be an iu football thing or really nothing in general, but Rabjohns tweeting this made me curious

I know this is super early to be thinking about, but I'm curious what everyone's feeling like about the '21 class so far. I know tons can change on how in/out we are on someone or a new name could pop up, but want to know what you think the '21 class would be if signing day were tomorrow or this week. What would you say the perfect recruiting class would look like and what would you say your actually expected class would look like?

For the perfect one, I mean perfect among guys we're actually in the hunt for and not just the top 4 of the top 100 rankings. Myself, I think perfect would be Lander, Mohammad, Furst, Wesley and the expected would be Lander, Kaufman, Wesley, and Duncomb. Just my gut from stuff here and who we are competing with on 24/7, expected may be a little too hopeful but idk