tdhoosier

I'd rather have Timberlake on the bench than an empty chair. Regardless, I think that pigeon holing us into a reality where Knecht, Timberlake and Love were our only options is not accurate. That's just who we went after. There were hundreds of guards in the portal. But if you want to use Timberlake as an example: we were never really in good shape with him anyway. He made his decision relatively early, and we had a ton of time to identify more guards to plug into this roster. We didn't. It's just the cold hard truth. I just hope the lesson was learned.

My theory, even though I don't know anything.... I truly think that Woody wanted to delegate tasks, similar to how you would in the NBA - thinking it'd be more efficient. I don't think it was laziness....maybe naive, but not lazy. I think how he utilized the transfer portal last year again was not laziness, but a huge error in judgement (I'm sure this is something that he'd HAVE to admit privately). The mistake was big enough to possibly bring him down. The question is: can he dig himself out of the hole he finds himself in? This spring will tell us all we need to know...his back is against the wall.

back on subject..... I didn't get to see the game until last last night. I think that run in the second half was the most fun I had watching IU play this season. It looked like out guards were hunting for shots, rather than hunting feeds into the post. XJ, Gallo and MM had 33 shot attempts Ware and Malik had 16 shot attempts I like that balance.

I think that this is a loaded topic. To your point it's better to be analyzing minutes played vs. how many years they were on a college roster. However, this can also be easy to cherry pick teams to fit a narrative. Teams like Purdue and Wisconsin who don't recruit highly ranked player and have great development will rarely have an inexperienced roster. Teams like Kentucky and Duke who are able to get 5 star recruits every year will naturally have inexperienced rosters (for most seasons). I'd think as a coach, there is a risk/reward when you go big game hunting, you'll have to deal with the woes of having a younger roster. If you're not going after 5 stars then you may need to deal with a lack of athleticism that can create mismatches in March. Bottom line though: you need to build your roster accordingly. I'm not advocating one strategy over another. I will say if you want to have a roster with 300+ starts, you better be developing the underclassmen you recruit straight from high school. If you're going to constantly be working with an inexperienced roster, you better consistently be recruiting high school players and transfers who can come in, and are ready to play on day 1. All that said, if the goal is to play experienced players with starts under their belt, is the future that bright for us? Banks and Gunn are likely transfer candidates who have no starts under their belt. Jakai is obviously injured this season. I'm excited about Cupps, but he has a long way to go still and I can't imagine him starting over a portal PG (fingers crossed). And we only have ONE high school recruit coming in so far. If Mgbako stays, we may eclipse that 300 starts mark late next season, but what about the year after that when Gallo is gone and MM is most likely gone? I know you and I disagree...and that's okay...I enjoy the debate. You put more importance (than me) on what Woody has done when he has an experienced roster. I think it's a fair point, but I just don't know how he's going to get back to that success. I personally am unable to see the path, when I factor what we have coming in next year (so far). I also have concerns about if another systematically inexperienced roster can run Woody's system the way he envisions it being ran. I mean, this is one of the main reason we aren't playing well this year, right? To me, it looks like the house is being built on stilts right now.

And I think this is exactly why the whole sectional game is being talked about. The timing is just horrific.....Woody isn't doing himself any favors when his back is getting closer to being against the wall. From what I understand, the staff wasn't' there either. It just feeds the narrative that when it comes to game planning, roster construction, recruiting, etc., Woody just keeps tripping over these smaller things. The mistakes are compounding and it's effecting the larger picture. It's like the analogy I heard on a podcast yesterday: "the hump is becoming a mountain"....and every mistake is making that mountain bigger.

Sorry it was the 2022 title game. AND it is his home state....his main recruiting base. You get guys by putting in the work. We have one recruit coming in next year. If we had more and/or the roster looked more structurally sound, then sure it could be an unfair criticism. This is not the case. But, by all means, let's overlook the roster construction as a whole and let it distract us from a huge problem on the horizon. Do you honestly feel comfortable about next year?

Remind me of how Woody didn't make effort to go to the Indiana state tournament last year because he was on vacation when 20 other college coaches were there. And then remind me of how Woody has one recruit signed for next year. And then remind me of how we maybe....mayyybe....have 4 guys from this roster coming back next year. I guess we'll just rebuild through the portal and act shocked when the players just can't get over the hump because they can't pick up the defense....or the offense because this staff has pieced together a systematically inexperienced roster once again. You may view it as an isolated event that we are over-reacting about, but to me this a continuing trend of this staff not doing what they need to do in order to build a strong and sustainable program. I think that I've officially gone to the dark side. I just don't see a light at the end of this tunnel.

Maybe. Maybe not. But IMO, that story isn’t a negatively reflection on what he can and can not handle. If anything, it shows grit and perseverance. It shows that he built a final four team at a school with horrible facilities and resources.

I heard Woodson called the meeting to find out what’s going on because he read that Trilly tweet about Pearl. 😎

the old zig zag....never fails.

In the comments it appears fans from opposing fan cases are thrilled by this news.

I saw that Trilly's info is supposedly coming from the Pearl camp. Not IU. Even if this were true, Pearl has a team that is capable of getting to the final four - does he want this info getting out? It'd seem like a huge distraction. Logically it doesn't make sense that there is so much smoke, this early. Sure, crazier things have happened, but I'm still a skeptic.

This was not the way I needed to start my morning!

I will just use this time to say that I hate peacock. No option to record. No option to start the game from the beginning. The only option I got after getting home at 9:00 is to rewind the game as far as they’ll let me. The problem with this is that when I do this, the stupid screen freezes and then kicks me out. seriously, this is a major company streaming service that the B1G partnered with. Get your shit together Peacock. Thanks for making games harder to watch. Scott, will you write a letter for me?

I don’t think Indiana had DLS until around 2017. Haha. It happened right after they allowed liquor sales on a Sunday. 😎

message boards were around in 96??? Did you have to dial in on AOL?

In the post you can only see the top of his head. I thought it was Bruce Weber! lol

I'll preface this by I'm not sure what to personally think about Pearl's past. My opinion on the issue is not relevant. But, If there's one thing that we know: it's the desire for IU (especially the basketball program) to hold an ethical high ground. Virtually every decision they made in the past 25 years has been navigated through the path of the least ethical resistance. (except for Sampson, which they go burned for and as a result are even more hesitant to dabble in these waters). If history is an indicator of future decisions at all.....I just don't think the powers that be think Pearl is a good fit at IU. I don't think they make that move. I also appreciate the inside info, but these rumors are coming from the same sources that got it wrong last time. I honestly think this is all wish-casting projected as inside info.

Well, if there's one way the fans can steer the decision to fire Woody, it's to not attend games. An empty assembly hall for a pre-season game is embarrassing, let alone a conference game.

Well, that one answers my question in regards to why IU steered clear for the last 3 searches. The Deon Thomas story is wild....I always knew IL fans hated him, but didn't know the details.

To be clear, I'm not saying I agree or don't agree with their previous decision to not go after him. I'm just wondering out loud: what has changed? Yeah. I love Cig. The football program needed a shot of confidence.

Pearl's name has come up before the Crean hire, the Archie hire and the Woody hire. I always assumed that the school thought there were instances he flirted too close to the line (regarding NCAA rules). But I can't remember the details that surrounded narrative. You do have to wonder if Pearl's a good enough candidate now, then why wasn't he the 3 previous times?

What was Eric saying?

And ten pop up ads every time you click on a new page.

That's an interesting stat for Cupps. I do believe that he has a very low usage rate because he doesn't get used in the offense. He dribbles the ball up court, passes it and rarely gets it back. So, I'll concede. Regarding Trey, it depends on the role he's playing on a team. Put 2 shooters next to him and he's going create a lot mis-matches for the opponent. He'd find a LOT of minutes no matter the system. Find the right system and I believe he's a second or third team all Big Ten. But that's hypotheticals. I'm getting into the weed's though. The overall point is that WE HAVE TALENT. It's not put together nicely, but it's enough talent to be WAY more competitive. We're not dealing with a team of walk-ons here. Two players could make it to the NBA. A few more could be pros in Europe. And we are sitting at the bottom of the B1G and are getting blown out by PSU.