BankShot

If he had caught it with his hands instead of his face...non-issue. : )

It's like everyone on this team always misses their first free throw. We got much worse at free throws a few years ago and have never returned to good enough. I don't understand it.

Here’s a different way to come at it… How does one rationally and realistically explain the difference between HOW we are playing, and how well we OUGHT to be able to play? Sure, there are roster and talent problems, but this group should not be this dysfunctional. This team has too much talent to be this bad. So, why? - coaching? - effort? - leadership? - softness? What is the problem? (It’s hard for me to not think it’s coaching.)

I would agree. The job of a major AD is probably very difficult. Which is exactly why you should only hire proven, ADs who’ve actually done the job and done it well. Something IU did not do the last two times at least.

Agree with this too. I should have said above that roster failures are ONE reason why many have concluded that this staff isn't the answer. There are other reasons too...rebounding, playing hard, playing smart, free throws, etc.

Assuming this is accurate, and it seems like it probably is, this is why so many (I believe) are done, or close to done with this staff. I think some/many have concluded that, if you could not see or properly assess the glaringly obvious roster need for guards (or could not land them) then, either way, you're not the answer going forward for this program.

Thanks for sharing that, I had not seen it. Good read.

Completely agree with this… it’s what Indiana used to do. Back when we were good and successful. It’s also what Butler and Purdue began to do.

As far as I’m concerned, I’m ready to call the Woodson experiment a failure. It’s like he didn’t learn a $&@!&@#* thing from Bob Knight. Like he was never even taught the game. We suck at free throws. We suck at boxing out. We suck at rebounding on both ends. We suck at valuing the ball and intelligent passing. We suck at shooting. We suck at defense, substitution, roster building, energy, and mental toughness. We are neither good nor consistent at any of those things. We are not even an adequately functioning division one team. This isn’t the most balanced or talented roster we’ve ever had but there’s too much talent here to explain these guys being this bad. I have to conclude that its a coaching/system problem. Tell Mike to go home, give the keys to Calbert for the rest of the season and then hire Michael Lewis or Dusty May or someone with proven success at the end of the season. This is worse than bad.

Hard to see how you don’t give Walker more playing time over Banks. He’s just more consistent and more productive….on both ends.

Here’s stab at a summary (of the perspective of some, apparently)… Even though Woodson‘s only been here for two seasons, he successfully re-recruited our entire roster (including TJD) and made positive adjustments for the first two seasons, brought in JHS and Reneau, got us to the tournament two years in a row, has now brought in two new players of need already from the portal for ‘23/‘24 (one of them ranked number two in the portal), and it’s only April 20th, our staff is lazy and incompetent, and we’re going to have a horrible year because Ledlum (#53 in the portal?) committed to Tennessee. And this assessment of the demeanor and performance of our staff, as well as the future forecast of the success of the program, has been done prior to the next roster being completed, and without any real knowledge or information whatsoever.

And it's the Bloomington campus in the Spring. I'm liking this.

So, technically, right now we're 1 for 1 on portal recruits (Sparks). One hit, no "official" misses (until Love or another target would commit somewhere else). Understand that we need to get some players. Not understanding the "panic".

My thoughts are very similar to these. I think we're in a good and much better place, especially given the depleted roster for most of the season, and the fact that Woodson has been here for less than 2 seasons. One fairly serious negative for this particular team IMO has been consistency. If they had more consistently played at the level they should be capable of playing, they would have realized even more success (success favors the team making the fewest mistakes?). I view consistently playing to your potential as a sign or indicator of culture, maturity, effort, and execution...things difficult to turn fully around in less than 2 years, but feel we're headed in the right direction. This team should be able to win at least two games in the tournament...less than that will be a bit of a disappointment.

Good thoughts. In addition to these motivations, “proven”, but might still come to IU, could also mean ‘proven at a lower level and ready to move up’ (or someone just ready to move). Some examples might be a Bill Mallory or a Terry Hoeppner, or like Randy Walker when he went to Northwestern.

Ok, thanks. Yes, I can see that and do agree with it.

Can you share a bit more on that? I'm interested in more than just my perspective. Thanks.

Coach Dinardo's success as a head coach was a bit mixed I think. Time at Vanderbilt not stellar? LSU was a mixed bag? Maybe he was 'semi-successful'? My main point being that we should stop rolling the dice and hire someone as clearly proven as possible.

Yes, agree on Coach Hep who I believe did fit the mold of a proven head coach. His tenure was just cut short and not able to bear the fruit it probably would have.

In my opinion, none of Indiana's last six head coaching hires have been proven head coaches with demonstrated previous success, and none of them have had real success here after being hired. Seems like the last true success we had was after hiring a proven coach in Bill Mallory, which is also the last time we didn't hired someone unproven, or someone who was hired basically because they were already living in Bloomington. Stop the stupid experimenting and do what successful programs do....hire a proven coach who can get the damn job done.

Agree.

Proven. Experienced. Successful. Head Coach. Period. Faaaarrrr beyond time for IU to stop making the same stupid hiring mistakes.

Is it time to change this forum’s subtitle to something other than “A program on the upswing”? Asking for a friend. 🧐

Too spicy?

Or UCLA 🙂