tdhoosier

7 minutes ago, btownqb said:

2. You have to sub, they get tired. Sometimes that happens during a run, but why does that sub have to effect momentum? The sub should continue the good play. 

This has happened a lot in Woody's 3 years. And the old 'tired' excuse is old and tired. Yes, give guys rest but rotate through your bench more strategically. 

You and I have been debating this for 3 years. it's one of the few things we disagree on. 

I wish I could find the post i made to you about this back in 2022, but I'm too lazy to look it up. In the first year I looked up all our close losses....because there were a lot of them. Woody was making these bad substitutions deep into February, and to make my point I recorded the point swing when the first major substitution (3 or more bench players subbed in) happened. Usually around the 10 minute mark. If I recall correctly, in every one of those losses, except one, the negative point swing was greater than our margin of defeat. I think you shrugged it off and said 'players need rest'....which side steps the greater issue that Woody can rotate players in differently (IDK, 1 or 2 at a time over a 6 minute stretch) and keep some semblance of momentum going. 

Yes, last year we sucked. So the substitution patterns, while still odd in the first half of the season, didn't effect the outcome of as many games because we lost by big margins. We would've maybe lost by 15 instead of 20. Big whoop.

I'm just saying if Woody thinks we are deep enough to mass sub players in at the 10 minute mark, that is fine. Try it and see how it goes. If it yields successful results then continue to do it. But IF it doesn't work then stop trying to jam that square peg into a round hole. Please don't wait until January and blow up our analytics up testing something out that is proving not to work. 

This is my main complaint about Woody. it's like the light goes on in his head a month or a year too late. "Oh, we should tighten up the rotation". "Oh, maybe we should use TJD in the PnR". "Oh, we should be deep at the guard position".

The man knows what to do. It just seems to me that he holds on to his stubborn ways a little too long. We will hopefully be playing for a protected seed next year, and i don't want the 'shoulda been blowouts' to mess it up. This is not the NBA. Like it or not, college is not solely based on wins and losses. It's about capitalizing on big wins and limiting bad losses. So, if he's going to 'test' a strategy out in lieu of a  negative 10 point swing, please do it sparingly. 

I will say one thing. (I actually said it last week, but will repeat):

From an outsider's perspective: in comparison to last year it is obvious that a fire was lit under the staff's collective ass. Money or not, players still need to be identified and they still need to be recruited. We are showing interest in a LOT more players this year, getting meetings and getting them on campus. It appears they had a plan A, B and C. 

I don't know if it was being lazy last year, or simply not prepared, but I will credit the entire staff for turning it around this off-season and getting it done. 

6 minutes ago, btownqb said:

So what teams did we lose to that we were better than? 

Rutgers. Penn St. twice.

But you know that it's not all about wins and losses when being evaluated for the tournament. We could've won those 3 games and still wouldn't have made it in.

The greater point is that when we play at an analytical disadvantage there is small room for error. This is the way Woody seemingly likes to play. It's also a main reason why when we won, it was typically by a small margin and when we lost it was typically by a big margin. 

I hope I'm proven wrong next season, but I don't think the way Woody has played the last 3 years is conducive to reaching our ceiling when we have talent and why we fall through the floor when we have average talent. 

If we were going to be a team with an identity of being highly efficient on 2 point field goals (like Kansas, for example), then we needed a greater emphasis in at least a few of these areas

1. rebounding
2. reducing turnovers
3. solid defense (top 50ish)
4. making our free throws. 

That's the only way the math works when making up the difference against teams who are going to shoot 10+ more 3 pointers than we do. More second chance points for us. Less second chance points for them. Capitalize on FTs.

This is something we didn't not do last year. Lack of talent has something to do with it. But I think the team could've used a better defensive system to match their abilities/cover their liabilities. Rebounding is about emphasis (from coaching staff) and effort (from players).....and we lacked both. AND I have no idea why this program is curse when it comes to FT shooting. 

I don't think we reached our ceiling, but our ceiling wasn't that high anyway. 

1 hour ago, IUfaninIllinois said:

I just saw an article where the person wrote our last two signings will be AH and Baba Miller. I haven’t heard his name discussed once in here. Thoughts everyone?

seems like wishful thinking. 

I will say that we bought our team and there's nothing wrong with it. I will also say that Woody deserved much of the the criticism for the play on the court and bad roster construction last season. I will also say that the false rumors flying around and leaks were straight up trash and an unnecessary low blow. 

So, it's time to put up or shut up for the coaching staff. Somebody put up a graph in another thread that said: as our roster stands right now, we have more returning power 6 production than ANY other team in the country. If Hurley had this roster I think many would be projecting us to be National Championship contenders.

But here we are. Many are debating whether we have enough to make the 2nd weekend. I think that says a lot about how much faith fans and CBB analyst's have in Woody's ability to coach at a high level. 

I will be rooting for Woody to prove all the naysayers wrong, but he's going to need to accomplish a lot next year to silence all the noise. I don't want to hear any excuses about talent, depth, experience, lack of fundamentals, etc if we underperform, because at that point, the answer should be pretty clear. 

We have the pieces. Now we need results. 

4 minutes ago, OGIUAndy said:

Won't be hard for me. 

I get it. I'll feel dirty. 

I just really like Dusty. Listen to his Hoosier Hysterics interview, it's hard not to like the man. I hope he does well at UM and when the time comes he'll have proven enough to be our next coach. 

8 minutes ago, Drroogh said:

I’ve posted a few times that the programs with established runners and bag men still have advantages. However, their advantages disappear when players don’t have the baggage around them. AAU coaches and promoters, family and people all holding out their hands. I like the recruits IU has been landing because of that. MgBako’s mom calling coach, Newton saying he wouldn’t transfer because he made a commitment, Tucker’s dad saying he wanted a Pro Coach. Those players 👍👍👍

I’d think that handlers looking to sell access to a player are mostly a thing of the past because players can now have legit, licensed agents. NIL or not, people who surround these kids will always be looking for handouts. However, I’d imagine that players are better protected now from that dark world of recruiting than what used to exist. 

Sure, I like that parents of our players are heavily involved in their well-being, but I don’t think our players are all that different from players you’ll find in many other programs. 

Michigan may be a dark horse. Dusty is pulling in some good transfers and it will be hard to root against him. I’ll definitely be interested to see some their games next season. 

Just going to leave this here because the conclusion they reach is because of NIL. Like it or hate it, our program will benefit from it. 
 

I’m celebrating with a hazy IPA. Thanks for giving me an excuse to drink, Luke. 

I really like this pick up. A piece that we needed to round out the roster. 

Now that Goode is on board, I’d say we have a pretty good idea of our roster. 

Our floor should be high. Our ceiling should be high. 

I will be disappointed if we are even flirting with the tournament next year; we should be solidly in. With the amount of talent we have on paper, I think we should be a top 25 team all year. Those expectations should not be considered out of line unless we have something like 3 major injuries. Agree?

Also, 3 Body Problem on Netflix is awesome. I couldn’t stop watching a few weekends ago. I tried reading the book a few years ago, but the translation to English (from Chinese) and the in depth science content made it a very hard read. 

The TV show, produced by the creators of Game of Thrones, dumbed is down (in a good way). Highly, highly recommend. 

I know some were fans and didn’t know if it was coming back. We’ll, it is!

52 minutes ago, Piston Honda said:

Hearing Boise State.

whoa. he lives. 

5 hours ago, Drroogh said:

Going to be fun watching Smith and Loyer try and stay in front of these two!

I just want our opponents to pay if they sag off of our guards on the perimeter and go under screens. Move the ball and keep the defenders honest. That's all i'm asking.

1 minute ago, FKIM01 said:

I'm the same.  Someone mentioned ND as competition but has he even scheduled a visit there?

Not that i've seen. On the Insiders podcast they were saying ND is a possibility because he'll get a lot of shots in Shrew's offense and they also have a great Business School. But they both seemed to think it's going to be IU.

2 minutes ago, FKIM01 said:

Has he scheduled any visit beyond IU this Thursday and Friday?  That would indicate something...

I'm not the one to ask. i'm just sharing info I've seen in other places. My feelings should hold no weight. 

3 minutes ago, Hoosier4Life53 said:

How confident are we that Goode is coming? For some reason I don’t feel good about this…we’ve been fooled by the portal before. Just a few days ago Essegian was a done deal, and look how that turned out.

I only feel better about Goode than Essegian because of the big family connections to IU. His dad and uncle played FB at IU. His brother attends IU right now. His parents apparently have season tix for basketball. And most importantly he wants to attend a business grad school. 

But other than that I know nothing - I'm just sitting back and eating popcorn like the rest of us.  

13 minutes ago, DWB said:

I still think we need to find a true point guard. Rice may be an OK part time at the 1, Cupps isn't even close to being a true PG (yet), and I'd rather have Gallo @ 2-3.

We've got the opening, just need to fill it. Seems like most of the attention in the portal is 2-5 positions. (we needed those as well, but I'd like a knock down shooter point guard)

We have 4 players who can play the 1: Carlyle, Cupps, Gallo and Rice. Granted that you ideally don't want Gallo to play PG for long stretches, but he can help out in a pinch. 

I think that if we get Goode, the next main priority would be a 4/5 guy who can get rebounds and protect the rim. I don't think we'd need him to score much. 

Overall, I like the potential versatility. We have a lot of multi-positional players. The question on everybody's mind is how versatile Woody will get and what combos will work defensively. 

Gallo 1-2-3
Carylle 1-2
MM 3-4
Malik 4-5
Tucker 2-3
Goode (fingers crossed) 3-4

Ballo will probably only play the 5. And while Rice may be able to play off the ball, I'd imagine he'd be the primary ball handler at the 1 when he's on the court. 

We always say we hav a lot of depth at this time of year, but at least on paper, it seems that we can show the opposition a lot of different looks. 

16 minutes ago, Indykev said:

Is Goode, Goode enough to play 20 -25 mins when MR goes on a hack attack 5 mins in?

He averaged 20 minutes on a top 20 team last year. I’d think so. 

11 minutes ago, FKIM01 said:

How do you know that staff wasn't?  It's not like they didn't TRY to get more quality guards...?

I don't think they tried as hard as they could have. At least not compared to this year. I see a huge turn around in their organization and effort this year. Plans. Back-up plans. On-campus visits. It seems like we've at least reached out to more than half of the 'gets' in the portal. 

Credit to the staff this year for learning from their mis-steps and seemingly turning it around. 

20 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

If you remember, Joey Hart was a name to know at one time...Does anybody really think he would have made much of a difference last season?

Love ya man, but at this point you're trying to argue that elephant dung don't stink. 

Can you not see the urgency from the staff in the transfer portal this year vs. last year? Woody didn't get any guards and Mgbako fell into his lap. Last year there was room to get a guy BETTER than one who'd accept a 13th spot. So if you want to use Joey Hart as an example, I'll still say yes (to what degree, I don't know). But I'll also say we should've have had 10 prospects better than Joey Hart on the radar. 

And it's not true we didn't know about Newton until August. Maybe officially, but there was uncertainty in April on whether or not he'd play because the procedure he had is really tough to recover from.

Iron sharpens iron. 13 is better than 12.