tdhoosier

Dennis was on campus today. McNeil is coming this weekend. Woody is still actively recruiting, so he has a departure in mind. I have a hard time believing he kicks somebody to the curb this late in the transfer process. Nobody wants to hear it, but all signs point to TJD.

Movin’ on up….

Weren't Hanner and Yogi both 5 stars?

This all hinges on if TJD comes back. I will say that to your point about size: Malik seems to be a 5 star player who will stay here for a while, potentially 3-4 years. This makes him even more valuable as a college player. He can be a force in college, but appears undersized for his position and skillset in the NBA. Perhaps we can call this the 'Yogi' or the 'Trayce' effect. disclaimer - I'm no scout; I've just read scouting reports that say he's a 'below the rim, back to the basket player'.

Point being...there's a log jam there. You are talking hypotheticals. I'm talking math. The recruitment of Malik and DD was never an 'either/or' situation. Malik just announced his commitment. It's very likely the staff knew this yesterday. Yet, they are still recruiting DD who is on campus right now even though all scholarships are taken. Thus, someone on the current roster may not be coming back. Most logical departure still seems to be TJD. Then perhaps JG. Then perhaps Logan?

I hope you're right. But let's not kid ourselves, top 30 guys typically don't walk into a scenario where they are the 4th guy in a 4 guy rotation for 2 spots. It's possible, but that just doesn't happen these days unless you are Duke or Kentucky. I really hope I'm wrong, but the chances of Race, TJD, JG and Reneau all on the roster next year are extremely low, IMO.

But we don't need an upgrade in that position if TJD stays. It's arguably our deepest position next year. Does a 5 star recruit realistically show this much interest in IU if TJD is believed to be coming back? The freshman year minutes wouldn't be there for a recruit of his caliber. Now, if a lower rated guy, willing to develop on the bench for his first season was coming in then I'd say you have a point. If we were actively recruiting 2 wings, then I'd also say you have a point. But it's Reneau.

I truly don't believe we are looking at an 'either/or' situation. I said this earlier, but I believe more and more everyday that TJD is not coming back. This writing is on the wall: we are actively recruiting 2 players for 2 different positions. Two campus visits in two days. Only one open scholarship if TJD stays. #math

I’m not sure we’ll have many other options until somebody can prove they can hit an open 3 pointer with consistency.

In my gut, I thought TJD is going to come back. Now, my gut says he’s not. I don’t know, after last year I just don’t think he has anything to gain by coming back. And I can’t imagine Reneau would be on campus right now if another 6’8” lefty that would be ahead of him in the rotations is a shoe-in to get 30+ minutes a night. It just seems like the writing is on the wall. …and I think we’ll be okay if that happens. Especially if we get Reneau and DD.

Now that would be a strong defensive line-up.

It sounds like the Fife is a guy who I'd like to hang out with, but I appreciate the company of weird people. I think that is a compliment and I'd like to think that he'd take that as a compliment. That said, from his very first press conference as and assistant so odd, entertaining and off the cuff. And then you have Woody who was all business and calculated with the Media. I remember thinking two things then: 1) Him and Woody seem to be polar opposites. 2) How many head coaches do you see go out there and crack jokes with the media? ....and then there was the Hoosier Hysterics episode where they snuck into they golf outing at French Lick. The morning of the golf outing they saw Dane walking out of the hotel after everybody else was at their holes for the shotgun start. They gave him a ride to the club house after he slept in. I don't know, it just seemed like such an important alumni event (to which Bob Knight showed up the night prior) and he was late?? A Bob Knight disciple amongst other Bob Knights disciples and he's late? I'd think being on the coaching staff that he'd be considered a host. I definitely don't know the details but I couldn't help but thinking that it wasn't a good look. ...then you see him completely detached on the bench. ...and then you hear other players on the team talking glowingly about Ya and Hunter in interviews, but not mention much about Dane unless prodded.....and they give an answer like 'oh yeah, Dane. He's an interesting guy' This is completely from an outsiders perspective (obviously), but is also why I wasn't exactly surprised when this was announced.

I'd love to see a team with shooters have them hoist shots up 3-5 feet behind the 3 point line. Some kids are plenty strong to get those shots in a decent clip if practiced. Look what the addition of Trae Young did for Oklahoma - until he was triple teamed when he crossed half court.

I know this is the TV thread, but I just finished a book and thought: 'Billingsley would like this'. If you are into non-fiction check out The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado. It's the first part of a series about a BAU team and is included on Kindle Unlimited if you have it. It definitely won't win any Pulitzers, but it was a super fast read and really entertaining. I just saw it's being picked up for a movie and I got excited - then I saw the main character is going to be played by Jennifer Lopez and then the excitement wained. haha.

I think Miller Kopp’s issue was that he had played along side another Miller Kopp. Both him and Stewart were very similar players with very similar skill sets. Catch and shoot guys with limited ability to put it on the floor. Subpar rebounders. Fine defensive players within the system, but not defensive stoppers. Neither of them were hard to guard. It gave opponents the freedom to put in 2 players that normally may been considered to be defense liabilities without fear of consequences. Although I have criticized Woody for line-ups, he did seem pretty hand cuffed by the timing of injuries and having to play both MK and PS at the same time. Ideally I think he wanted to play Gallo (a guy who moves well without the ball) along side MK in the starting lineup. Put an athletic guard/wing next to Kopp and I think we see another player next year because it’s a better opportunity for the offense to create mismatches off screens and movement. The guy can shoot, but unfortunately so many times we couldn’t pass the ball into his shooting pocket, taking him out of rhythm. Perhaps (hoping) with JHS and XJ on the floor we’ll have 2 guys that can create and pass accurately. I think the staff sees Dexter Dennis as a guy who can defend, but more importantly as a guy who can move without the ball, make those baseline cuts, and can keep the defense honest with the ability to knock down a 3. Some keep comparing DD to P-Stew, but to me he seems more like a Galloway who can hit the 3 and defend without fouling.

You said the Woody doesn’t use those lineups. I demonstrated that he does. And he consistently does. And if these lineups consistently have negative swings, even in wins, than the use of them in loses is highlighted even more. Heck, the negative swings I used as examples were when we playing pretty well. I can only imagine how bad these swings were during our losing streaks. Again, we lost many games by less than 5 points. If we’re throwing our hands up and putting in a completely ineffective lineup mid way thought he first half, opponents are going to take advantage of it. They did - almost every single time. Those 2-4 minutes stretches probably cost us a few games.

Are you deliberately missing the point? No where did I suggest that I want guys playing more than 10 minutes in the first half. Why do we have to rest all 3 of our best players ten minutes into the game at the same time? Are you saying there’s no way to have them rotate through getting rest? I mean, virtually other other CBB team does this effectively. You’re acting like this is a radical strategy.

What's not being debated (for the most part): -Players need rest (check) -According to the 'macro numbers', our starters played a lot of minutes (check) What I continue to debate: -It's not that bench players received too many minutes, it's that Woody took all the productive players out at ONE TIME. Whether this came with one substitution or a few substitutions: there were many times that a bad line up was on the floor and cost us momentum, lost the lead, let our opponents back into the game. Because @btownqb said I needed to go back and watch the games. I did. I realized I still have them on my DVR. It wasn't really that hard because this 'bad line up' always is in around the 10.00 mark in the first half. A 'bad lineup' is defined as one without one of our 3 best players on the floor: Race, TJD and X. Below are the games still available on my DVR..... -Woody had the 'bad lineup' on the floor every game except once. -The bad line up was always used around the ten minute mark -In every situation there was a point swing not in our favor. And many of the times that line-up killed the momentum that we had gained prior to it going in. St. Mary's *We were up 18-14 when the bad lineup went in. When one of TJD, Race or XJ came back in we were down 21-26 *Result: -9 point swing Wyoming *Bad line up enters at 10.18 with IU up 11-8. IU is only up 13-12 when TJD and XJ sub back in at 6.48 *Result: -3 point swing. We only score 2 points in 3 and a half minutes. Iowa One of our Big 3 (TJD, XJ, Race) remained in the lined up at all times during the first half. Illinois *Bad line up enters at 11.57 with IU up 15-10. IU is only up 15-14 when TJD and subs back in at 9.56 *Result: -4 point swing. Michigan *Bad line up in at 9.05 with IU down 10-19. IU is down 14-25 when TJD subs bak in at 7.04 *Result: -2 point swing Purdue The early game on ESPN ran late, so the IU game cut in on my DVR with 8.00 left in the first half. The lineup was at full strength at this point, but PU was coming off a 10-0 run. Perhaps somebody can remember who was in the game around the 10.00 mark. Based on a pattern you see forming, I'm betting that lineup didn't contain one of our best 3. Rutgers *Bad line up in at 8.44 with IU up 21-16. Race checks in at 6.06; IU is only up 18-21 *result -2 point swing

X was definitely shooting a lot better down the stretch. That said, I'm not exactly confident it will go in because his shot just looks so weird. haha. He also needs to be set. I have high expectations for him next year because he'll be ready to play in that system from day 1. Side note, as much as we love and appreciate Yogi, I still think he's under-rated. He is the perfect college point guard. 4 year player. 17 points a game. 2 to 1 A/TO. He could score. He could create. Yeah, he was a little shorter than you'd like but he was really strong and became a great defender. He was one of those players that opposing fanbases though was at IU for 5 years, when he was only a junior. Guys like him don't come around often.

and more specifically, when Yogi hit that jump stop 3 in transition. Man, he was good.

Senior Yogi: 79 of 188 for 42% on the season Just imagine having that last year.

Today Scott has become the thing he hates: a troll. Tomorrow he’ll be back to his normal role: the self proclaimed ‘poster with integrity’, telling other trolls to go to the Rivals board. Just another week here at HSN. 😆

I think the staff knows which way he is leaning so they can prepare properly and/or have a contingency in place. This comes at no surprise. TJD needs to take this step. With that NIL deal I’m guessing that he comes back unless he receives some unexpected promises from NBA teams.

But it is about +/- Let’s forget about the term ‘mass substitution’ for a second. A ‘bad’ line up to me is one without one of TJD, Race and XJ on the floor. And whether this lineup came to fruition with one substitution or a few substitution (in the matter of a few minutes), we had a line up without 1 of our 3 best players on the floor. And this consistently happened 10 minutes into the first half. Did it not, or am I imagining that? Now IF, this ‘bad’ line up was consistently on the wrong side of a +/-, wouldn’t you want to find a way to avoid putting it on the floor? There are other ways to get these 3 guys rest. They don’t all have to get rest at the same time.

I will say that I listen to the postgame podcasts, the next day recaps, etc., but I don’t watch the games multiple times. Especially ones that we lose. If you’ve gone back and analyzed the +/- of the lineups without all 3 of our best players (TJD, Race and XJ) in them, and those lineups were even or better, then I guess I will refer to you.