tdhoosier

There are different ways to weight train. Just because an athlete lifts doesn’t mean that they’ll turn out like a linebacker. First, linebackers have a certain body type and basketball players have a body type. They are completely different from each other. 9 times out of 10, no matter how much a 6’7” basketball player lifts they’ll never look like a linebacker. Without steroids, it’s pretty much impossible. Secondly, there’s a way to lift for ‘show’ and there’s a way to lift for strength. Bodybuilders lift for show. They purposely put on mass and bulk; they lift until failure with much heavier heavier weights and lower rep counts. You’ll also notice that they tend to be more stiff/less mobile. Typically athletes are lifting for strength. Yes they’ll put on mass but it doesn’t come at an expense of their mobility. They don’t lift until failure and do higher rep counts. They also weight train with specificity - do exercises specific to the movements in their sport. And there’s most likely a whole bunch of more boring recovery/mobility exercises that aren’t cool enough to brag about on TikTok. I coach swimming. An efficient stroke requires a high degree of mobility. You do no want much mass on a swimmer or it will slow them down. YET, weight training is a major part of pretty much every single division I program and every Olympic athlete’s training regimen. Trust me, if it’s safe for swimmers to lift, it’s definitely safe for basketball players to lift. This is not knowledge I’ve gotten any certification or degree for - it’s just science. And I’m sure Cliff Marshall, with all his education and accolades, understands the difference between lifting for football and lifting for basketball.

I’m listening to Hoosier hysterics places and they said a national guy (can’t remember who) was saying that Queen wanted playing time and it was actually the possible return of Ware that helped sway him towards Maryland. Not sure if I believe it, but interesting.

I think Queen will be a great player, but he was going to force us into more two man buddy ball. We need to break the cycle. This is a blessing in disguise for our program. Again, this is not sour grapes - I’ve been saying this for the last few months. All my respect to Queen and his decision.

Is Jared lurking on here?

I don't understand why your reply is relevant to my post. I was specifically replying to the post about free throws, not overall development. Everybody you mentioned is shooting free throws at a lower percentage when compared to last season. And in the case of Galloway:

for sure. But in the beginning of the season you can count on him making both FT's on most trips to the line. Now I expect him to go 1 of 1. And after hitting 20 something in a row to start off the season, hit percentage has slipped to 82% (he's 76% in conference play).

I think this is why people get frustrated with Woody's comments. The replies people want to hear are: "from one reason or another, we aren't performing well in this area. Rather make excuses, our staff needs to find new ways to remedy our free throw shooting woes, and we will. We won't rest until we get this improved.' At this point, this is not a 'throw your hands up in the air' issue. They are FREE throws. It can't generally be chalked up to a bad mindset. I'm going to paste here what i posted in another thread: I have no idea what IU does at practice, but I don’t buy we just happen to be bad at free throws years after year and other programs just happen to be good at free throws year after year. Yes, the players share responsibility, but when each player is not improving, or in most cases getting worse, the problem is systemic. Malik and Ware have a worse FT% this year than they did last year. Gallo has progressively gotten worse every single year he’s been here. Mgbako has progressively gotten worse as the season has progressed. Cupps shot 77% in high school - he’s shooting 61% this season. That, folks, is our starting line up, our top 5 in minutes played and they account for 87% of the free throws attempted on this team. Everybody in the starting lineup magically lost their mindset when they got to IU? If they did, then the issue is much, much deeper.

I don’t coach basketball, but a coach for any sport would probably agree that reps are reps unless you do them with specificity, you do them with focus, and you do them until the little things become good habits. On even the most basic of fundamentals you try to mimic competition settings. Maybe in the case of free throws (again, I’m not a basketball coach), do them fresh, do them tired, do them when something is on the line (create a consequence if they don’t make x number of FT’s in a row), etc. I have no idea what IU does at practice, but I don’t buy we just happen to be bad at free throws years after year and other programs just happen to be good at free throws year after year. Yes, the players share responsibility, but when each player is not improving, or in some cases getting worse, the problem is systemic. Malik and Ware have a worse FT% this year than they did last year. Gallo has progressively gotten worse every single year he’s been here. Mgbako has progressively gotten worse as the season has progressed. Cupps shot 77% in high school - he’s shooting 61% this season. That, folks, is our starting line up, our top 5 in minutes played and they account for 87% of the free throws attempted on this team.

I get it. But if Woody does focus on getting more shots for everybody not name Malik, then you do have two 3 point threats (MM and McNeely) along side Gallo. Gallo had too much responsibility this year. He shot better last year because his role was to solely shoot open shots and drive the ball. This year he's also the point guard, distributor and playmaker. If we let him play the role he thrives in, lessen his responsibility, and MM/McNeely open up the floor for him to drive, I think he could settle into the 2 just fine. But that's a WHOLE lot of IF's.

That is definitely true. However, my fear is that if we get somebody like Queen and Mgbako stays, we are going to be forced into..... Malik playing the 4 when he should be a 5. Mgbako playing the 3 when he should be a 4 McNeely playing the 2 when he should be a 3 I don't know. I just don't see a quick way out of this for Woody. Our statistical best player in Malik pushes everybody out of their natural position because somebody thinks he's a 4 when he's really just a poor rebounding 5.

Just curious to see what everybody thinks... IF our starting line-up next year consists of.... Malik Mgbako McNeely Gallo high end PG transfer On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you that we will run something that resembles more of a 4 out 1 in scheme? I think I'm at a 4.

I think this should’ve been phrased who is more responsible. Each can take responsibility, but….. I will say that Malik and Ware would start on just about all rosters in the B1G. I think that Mgbako and Galloway would start on most rosters, given that they play their nature positions/fill roles. That says a lot, IMO. Also…. If the issues of not rebounding, not hitting free throws and turning the ball over are still an issue over a 3 year span, then I’m sorry: these aspects of the game are not being emphasized by the coaching staff and/or not being practiced to the degree that other teams who are good in these areas practice them. And/or we are not recruiting players who demonstrate these fundamentals. AND IF we are going to be playing an inside/out style that doesn’t shoot 3s at a high volume, we are going to be playing from an analytical disadvantage that will require us to be efficient with our possessions. HENCE we need to rebound, capitalize on free throws and not turn the ball over! SO OBVIOUSLY, the style we play requires us to be very good at the exact same aspects we are very bad at. I’m giving a good 75% of the blame to the coaching staff. I’m not saying this team should be a world beater by any means. BUT I think a proven college basketball coach with above average career results, would have this team on the bubble (at the very least).

Is ‘it eats’ good or bad? And did she say that about the uniforms? Haha.

Haha. Nothing like a bunch of middle aged dudes debating fashion on a sports forum. We’re hip on all the trends. I believe we are the ones that, what the kids say, have RIZZ. Did i use that term right? 😆 Yeah, it’s probably a good sign that these uniforms are getting bad reviews from the 40-60 year old demographic.

No doubt it's a bit of both. In general though, we make a lot of mistakes that have nothing to do with the point of attack. Too many times i see un-needed help in the post, guys standing in the middle of nowhere (between the help and the shooter), leaving wide open passing lanes and not boxing out. I'm sure this is not what was intended, but it continues to happen. We constantly look confused. I have to wonder, if the defense is so hard to grasp, and in this day and age of high roster turnover, should Woody continue to run it as is? Can he modify it to better suit a personnel that will constantly be changing? Can there be the option of a zone or another look he can use to disrupt the opponents flow? The defense did not look good last year, and this year mid-majors are picking apart, even with their inferior athleticism. My question: what was unique about year 1 that allowed for Woody to successfully implement his defense when everybody was learning the system for the first time? The roster was pretty much the same in year 1 and year 2. I don't completely buy that it was the presence of Matta and Fife. Maybe opponents learned how to game plan for it???

Who's going to be the defensive coordinator? lol I go back and fourth on which end of the floor is worse. We don't switch and leave 3 point shooters open, we don't box out on rebounds, and in the last 3 years we have committed more fouls than any other team in the B1G.

I'd have to think if Dusty May is scooped up this off-season, there is going to be a clause in his contract that would make it really expensive for IU to poach him in the future.

Very much disagree with this paragraph. This is kind of like saying you need 3 things to make the best chocolate chip cookie in the world: eggs, brown sugar and chocolate chips. Sure, you need those items, but you also need other ingredients, measurements, oven temperature and most importantly: the baker. Good coaches can do more with less. Plain and simple.

IF it comes to that. Both. I think the point that others are making is that they don't THINK that this program has a path forward to success if the SYSTEM does not change. I think it's more than fair to say: "Yes, we had some success last year, but I don't like our overall system and do not believe it's conducive to winning in the future." or "We had a good amount of talent and veteran leadership last year to disguise the same issues that plagued us in year 1, year 2, and now are on full display." Nobody can see the future. Everything is opinions. You don't need to be the martyr against pessimism....it's okay to debate an opinion without calling people's views 'absurd'. I get that you do not agree with the above sentiments and you do think Woody can turn it around. You may be right in the end. I HOPE you are right in the end. I think he should get one more year too, but I want to see MAJOR changes (which I have posted about ad nauseam) . I also respect the opinions of those who don't think he deserves another year.

Dang. I'm just realizing how beneficial out upcoming schedule is. It'd be nice if this team could put a few wins together. Wisconsin is in a mini slump and MSU at home. However, I will predict we go 3-4. Unfortunately, I think we only win one of our remaining home games (Nebraska). NW will suffocate our guards per usual and Wiscy/MSU are just better teams. On the road I just don't think we have the discipline to win back to back games. 2/18/2024, Sun Northwestern FS1 3:00 PM Bloomington, Ind. H 2/21/2024, Wed Nebraska BTN 8:30 PM Bloomington, Ind. H 2/24/2024, Sat Penn State BTN 12:00 PM University Park, Pa. A 2/27/2024, Tue Wisconsin Peacock 7:00 PM Bloomington, Ind. H 3/3/2024, Sun Maryland CBS 2:00 PM College Park, Md. A 3/6/2024, Wed Minnesota BTN 9:00 PM Minneapolis, Minn. A 3/10/2024, Sun Michigan State CBS 4:30 PM Bloomington, Ind. H

I’d imagine everybody is sworn to secrecy. Neither party wants that info getting out. Could you imagine the reaction of our fanbase if, for example, Woody was our 4th choice? Or, for example, how Alabama fans/players/recruits would react if they knew Oates was open to having a conversation about another coaching job? In my experience ‘big boosters’ talk a lot to make themselves feel important. I think boosters ‘close to the program’ start 90% of these rumors. When it comes to something important as coaching searches when reputations and careers are on the line, I don’t think anybody knows other than a small group of people whose lips are zipped (aka not boosters. Not players. Not the media).

Oh man. I went back 2 more season and we ranked first in both of them for opponent FT attempts. .....add another thing to the list for us to clean up

It felt kinda dirty. And not to be the bearer of bad news, but below is FT attempts by opponent so far this season. 😬 I think half of our fouls came on 3 pt attempts too! lol. 🤦‍♂️

I think Collins and Pikiell are worse than those 3. Gard has a slow tempo, but Wiscy does not foul all that much.

I factor that in. you literally just did in the previous sentence. Sure there is. It happens every year. Didn’t know we needed permission. This is a message board we assess everything……to death. I respect your opinion, but I’m not sure why you want shut down the conversation. Just don’t read the thread if it bothers you.