tdhoosier

And this is the trap we keep falling into as we tip toe around the coaching. We talk about one situation in the game. To your first point, we didn’t get an open shot other than the ones the defense baited us into. The defense was controlling that situation. So no, the coaching staff didn’t do it’s job. Especially when the only open shot we get out of the last timeout was P-Stew hoisting up a contested shot 5 feet beyond the 3 point line. Poor execution at this point in the season (again with veteran players) is not a fluke when it happens over and over - it’s a habit. Good habits and bad habits are a result of coaching. But beyond that, many bad calls from the bench were made that helped guide us into these close situations, which I highlighted in my original post. I’m not calling for Woody’s head. I like Woody and want him to succeed. But @IUFLA, can you honestly say the in game coaching has been close to ‘good’ lately? Does coaching not have anything to do with our loses?

I said it was who took the shots…especially in crunch time. I believe on that last open 3, XJ could’ve swung it to an open Kopp in the corner which is a higher percentage shot. It doesn’t seem like the team is prepared for the situations they find themselves in. And it keeps happening. Is the coaching staff completely absolved from these situations? I see a team on the floor (made up mostly of veteran players) that doesn’t know what to do in close games.

I’m sorry, but we don’t need to tip toe around the criticism for the coaching staff and keep blaming a lack of talent. Yes, we could use more talent. 90% of teams could use more talent, but we are playing below our talent level. The same problems keep plaguing us and a lot of the problems fall on the coaching staff. We didn’t lose this game because we can’t shoot. It’s WHO took those shots. It was the empty possessions that happened after we had momentum and even the empty possessions we had after timeouts. It was putting in that same damn lineup that loses our leads. (Yes, players can rest, but they don’t need to all rest at the same time). It was the defensive assignments. We had nice movement in the first half. We were using cuts and had some motion. And then it disappeared when we desperately need it. We had enough talent to win this game. A disciplined team should have won that game. This team isn’t that. This doesn’t squarely fall on a lack of talent. We can criticize Woody and not want him fired. Woody and this ‘all-star’ staff have to get better.

That’s the play you get out of a timeout???

🤮

Race really needs to be on the floor. He’s probably at a +7

…….Too good looking for that.

I love Geronimo but I am getting tired of him acting confused after obvious fouls.

Nooooo. Texas game is tied with 28 seconds left and I can’t get the game working on the ESPN app!!!!

I don’t even see it on the app yet. Maybe they pushed back the tip.

I was listening to a podcast that pointed out the piano loop in this outro. I never took the time to appreciate it - just very disconcerting and beautiful.

It certainly is frustrating and I hope we find ourselves out of this funk (or whatever we're in). I think the thing that gets me is that our adjusted offensive rank on KenPom right now is 111. Last year under Archie it was 70. We have better talent and better shooters this year, IMO. The same problems plague us. And I thought we were getting a fun, free-flowing offense. Perhaps I should have managed my expectations better. I haven't lost faith in the program as a whole, but if we don't make the tournament this year AGIAN, it is going to hurt.

I did notice that the refs seemed to start evening up the ticky tack foul calls on the perimeter, but it was too late at that point. The early calls forced us to bench players and altered our lineups.

Oh, for some reason I thought it was XJ who was fouled.

It’s also troubling when we can put any player on the floor on the line to shoot the free throw from a technical. Something’s not right when the best player on the floor shoots 60%. (Now 52%) That said, also need to give partial credit to the Izzone for rattling P Stew.

At least Woody tells it like it is. He did acknowledge the stagnation when we post Trayce. Teams haven’t been biting on the cuts and TJD needs to make faster decisions. But again, if we can’t make this work and and the open shots being kicked out aren’t going down…what do we do? Perhaps it’s too late in the season to change, but I really hope our personnel in the future does not force us into this type of offense. It’s been the plan going all the way back to Morgan and I’m just tired of watching it.

I had it recorded and didn’t watch the last ten minutes because I’ve seen this show before. I didn’t expect to win the game because MSU was also on the verge of a 3 game losing streak. Izzo was going to bring it. The Izzone was going to bring it. And they both did. Refs suck. Free throws suck. All the technicals and flagrants (not blaming the refs for those) killed out momentum. We needed Rob back yesterday. Side note about refs: The game was beyond physical and then they call these stupid chippy fouls. The players don’t know how to adjust to this crap when there are no whistles for tackling each other and then get a whistle for fighting through a screen.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. I'm not pleased that in these situations, when TJD is playing bad, that we continue to play through him. He's not an effective back to the basket guy against defenders bigger than him. So why continue to put him in these situations IF they aren't working? If they are working then great - keep feeding it to him until the opposition stops us. I do agree that we need more talent. You are 100% correct there. That said, i think that this current roster still does have room to grow. one line-up that we can put on the floor tomorrow is easy: TJD, Race, (either Kopp or Stewart), Gallo, XJ. Just one substitution to give the offense a little more movement and make us stronger defensively. I think Kopp and Stewart need to alternate minutes at the very least and not be on the floor at the same time. Then let's work around that. I'm totally fine with that because your pulling his defender away from the basket and making the defense expend energy. Again, this is all situational (when plan A - going through TJD - isn't working)

So, are you suggestion it's impossible to improve with our available roster? Because we don't have the talent, we just pack it in and call it a day? Continue to do the same thing? That's the way it's coming off. Galloway has been able to play in a majority of the games against top 150 opponents. And while he might be thee answer he is an answer (give him more minutes). XJ has also cleaned up his foul trouble.

TJD was a black hole against MI and IL in crucial parts of the game. And I disagree. We have areas to improve. I'm not suggesting a complete overhaul, but we need contingency plans for when certain players are playing poorly. Also, I'm not sure if you watched the video I posted above but improvement may come fro the rotation. Analytics says that we are worse with Stewart, Kopp and TJD on the floor at the same time. We are better when Galloway, XJ, Race and Rob are on the floor. I know that stats and analytics need to be taken with a grain of salt but they can't be completely ignored and do provide context to what we have been seeing with our own eyes.

.....sometimes (mostly credit to XJ), but you have to admit that we fall into the habit of forcing it through Trayce when it clearly isn't working. Those times when it seems like the offense is paralyzed and is afraid to do anything else. It happens a lot and that's typically in the midst of scoring droughts. It's those droughts that take us out of and ultimately lose games. Edit: it's also easy to say that this team does would it should 70% of the time. It's the 30% that needs to be improved upon. I know that's easier said than done. but the 70% doesn't make up for the 30%. The 30% bad needs to be decreased to 20%; perhaps recognizing and stopping these lapses can get us on that path, whether that falls on the coaches, players, or both. .....Take this from a guy who knows what he's talking about 60% of the time, all the time.

You'd be surprised at how little most albums are worth on vinyl. The ones that fetch a lot of money are certain pressings from date x to date y. My Dad was even an audiophile who went out of his way to get the British imports because they sounded better. He thought he had a rare pressing of The White Album that he kept in a plastic jacket and it only ended of being valued around $25. The most valuable one that I found was the Axis Bold as Love BackTrack 11 (with green cover) and it probably fetched only $50 when all is said and done. Sellers ask a lot for it, but don't necessarily get what they are listing it at. Another interesting thing I found in my research is the the Sticky Fingers with out the real zipper is pretty valuable, which is funny because many think that zipper makes it rare, but that's how they were all sold.

As I re-listened, I think the main (and best) point Coach brings up is spacing can only do so much with 2 spot up shooters on the floor. This strategy will not work well when the opposition has a center bigger than TJD and doesn't need to double him, which is a majority of the teams in the B1G. We need movement. Coach states simply "when the offense moves, the defense moves" and it gives you a better chance of catching the defense out of position, but also makes them have to work. I know (and the AC guys get into this later) that Woody is not going to completely change up his system and there may be legit reasons for that. BUT there are obvious times when TJD is outmatched and not drawing doubles. When this happens we can't keep forcing it in and wait for something to happen. TJD is awesome, but we do need to remember he's only 6'9" and is often having to shoot over somebody that is bigger than him and hugging the right shoulder he like to turn to. We saw this against Michigan, Purdue, Northwestern, Penn St., Illinois, etc. - times when you see the offense not being able to score unless it comes off of a fast break or an offensive rebound. When this happens, can't we do something a bit differently?

Great segment on Assembly Hall last night comparing the offensive efficiency of players - specifically TJD, Kopp and Stewart. The players of hot debate lately. I time stamped the video below. Give it a listen; there's some really interesting data that's followed up with some X's and O's analysis.

I inherited a bunch of his vinyls from my Dad.....along with the Traffic and Spencer Davis albums.