Mike Woodson to return as coach next season

[DWB]

12 hours ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Will IU be fundamentally sound and play with a high bball IQ? Will they have good shot selection? Will they have a high assist/TO ratio? Will they get to the FT line and convert at a high %? Will they defend the 3 point line? These are all indicators of a well coached team. 

What really remains to be seen is how this coaching staff adapts to its personnel. The UConn staff was highly innovative in designing a system that was dominant with a good, but not historically talented roster. If IU plays the same system it has the past three years, that will be very disappointing. 

IMO, our "fundamentals" stunk last year, particularly blocking out on rebounds. Yeah, we got a lot of rebounds, but how many times did the game thread blow up because MR, Ware, or whoever didn't block out their man, and the guy gets right under the bucket for an easy put back.

Fundamentals should be a GIVEN before you even start practice. At this level, adjustments to your defense and offense for the upcoming game shows how well you're coaching your team. How to take away the best opposing players offense, tendencies of opponents, zone vs man, and on and on. FT% is on the players not the coach. Yes, there needs to be time allotted for FT in practice, but form, and reps need to happen before and after practice in 1:1 sessions.

If we have to devote significant practice time to fundamentals at this level, we're all gonna be frustrated, and I'm afraid disappointed this upcoming season.

[Tom White]

2 hours ago, iuswingman said:

You just seem interested in silencing one side of the debate.

That makes no difference when the negative side only wants to hear their own voice.

Let's face it. Nothing said here is going to change anyone's mind, so why keep repeating yourself?

 

[Tom White]

1 hour ago, iuswingman said:

I'm not the one repeating myself......

Seriously?

[13th&Jackson]

1 hour ago, DWB said:

IMO, our "fundamentals" stunk last year, particularly blocking out on rebounds. Yeah, we got a lot of rebounds, but how many times did the game thread blow up because MR, Ware, or whoever didn't block out their man, and the guy gets right under the bucket for an easy put back.

Fundamentals should be a GIVEN before you even start practice. At this level, adjustments to your defense and offense for the upcoming game shows how well you're coaching your team. How to take away the best opposing players offense, tendencies of opponents, zone vs man, and on and on. FT% is on the players not the coach. Yes, there needs to be time allotted for FT in practice, but form, and reps need to happen before and after practice in 1:1 sessions.

If we have to devote significant practice time to fundamentals at this level, we're all gonna be frustrated, and I'm afraid disappointed this upcoming season.

Disagree. Fundamentals are an integral part of a well coached team. Few players arrive in college from the aau circuit with solid fundamentals. You see it all the time watching CBB. The coaching staff gives direction on proper technique and the players should work on it on their own time. There should be accountability if they don’t improve 

[DWB]

1 hour ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Disagree. Fundamentals are an integral part of a well coached team. Few players arrive in college from the aau circuit with solid fundamentals. You see it all the time watching CBB. The coaching staff gives direction on proper technique and the players should work on it on their own time. There should be accountability if they don’t improve 

Do not disagree that fundamentals are integral at all. But not even knowing how to block out your man on defensive boards is inexcusable at this level. Technique improvement, yes. That's the tweaks I was talking about on offense & defense. But just because a kid can shoot doesn't check all the boxes for a great recruit in my mind.

Not taking aim at you, just used your post to insert my opinion on our severe lack of fundamentals as a team, which lead to too many turnovers, and easy opponent's baskets.

Like many of you, I'm just frustrated with where we're at. Certainly not convinced next year will be better. Hope so, but not convinced yet.

[iuswingman]

1 hour ago, Tom White said:

Seriously?

He asked why people were criticizing woodson during the offseason and commenting about buying teams..so i responded..he apparently missed the point, so I responded.

Ok, i repeated myself hoping he would get the point.   But that was based on him repeatedly failing to comprehend an opposing view. 

now are you going to question his post or are you just responding to me because you can't stand opposing views either?

[iuswingman]

1 hour ago, Tom White said:

That makes no difference when the negative side only wants to hear their own voice.

Let's face it. Nothing said here is going to change anyone's mind, so why keep repeating yourself?

 

The critics aren't telling the other side to stop posting in the offseason.

Could easily say the woodson defenders just want to hear the own voice given how they act towards those they disagree with.

[iuswingman]

3 hours ago, ledies22 said:

Bluegrass go ahead and delete these posts. I’m done responding to him. But when you do and divvy out your lashings just remember…. He started it.

my first response to you was civil.  nice try.  I never forced you to act like a clown after that.

Edited May 3 by iuswingman

[IU Scott]

I think most on here agreed that Woodson shouldn't have gotten this 4th year. The thing is he is going to be back so why the need to keep trashing him and his coaching. Why don't we try something different around here and get behind the program. That means the coach as well as the players and see if that actually is better than tearing the program down 

Some on here act like IU is the only program out there that is using the NIL to their advantage. It is written that Arkansas has a boat line as of money and is using it.

[BADGERVOL]

2 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

I think most on here agreed that Woodson shouldn't have gotten this 4th year. The thing is he is going to be back so why the need to keep trashing him and his coaching. Why don't we try something different around here and get behind the program. That means the coach as well as the players and see if that actually is better than tearing the program down 

Some on here act like IU is the only program out there that is using the NIL to their advantage. It is written that Arkansas has a boat line as of money and is using it.

I’ve got no problem using the NIL if we got it we’d be stupid not to. Don’t hold it against him and think he’s smart to use anything to get the talent here to be successful.

Now it’s up to HIM to make it work. If he doesn’t and this gets crappy again there will absolutely no excuses. And this fan base will turn on a dime fast.

Ive been so critical but he’s got the year so best of luck. I’m zipping my lips and sitting back and watching.

[ledies22]

28 minutes ago, iuswingman said:

my first response to you was civil.  nice try.  I never forced you to act like a clown after that.

Talk to the hand 

[iuswingman]

Just now, ledies22 said:

Talk to the hand 

thought you weren't going to respond to me... lol

[btownqb]

21 hours ago, Kdug said:

Maybe the record wasn’t too far off what it should’ve been, but we massively underperformed in a lot of games which is why we were nowhere near the bubble.

The end of season run showed that we could have solid performances, and XJ was still playing poorly in that stretch. We weren’t good enough to be elite or anything, but we were good enough to blow out army and FGCU. We were good enough to not get blown out by bad Penn State or Rutgers teams, remain somewhat competitive in games against good competition, or not need a crazy run to sneak by Morehead state.

 

Those are just our "worst" games. If no team is allowed to play poorly, to reach their ceiling, there were probably only 3-4 teams all year that did that. If that is the criteria 1. That's fine 2. Of course, our shit team didn't reach their ceiling, no teams did, essentially. 

Respectfully, the bold, no we weren't. Not at the beginning of November, hell no. Did you watch the exhibitions? For real, I would totally understand if you didn't watch those lol... just didn't know if you were able to check them out... we didn't blow out two D2 schools. We weren't just going to somehow fix those issues within a week and start blowing people out. In fact, UIndy made us play an entire 40-minute game... 

Maybe Army. 🤷‍♂️

Ultimately-- it seems you, and some others valued our talent more than I did. Which is fine, maybe that's where differences lie and explains our difference of opinion. Lack of talent, lack of experience, and poor guard play is how I saw our team. That's a disgusting combination. 

Should have been vs. the reality of where we actually were? 

[tdhoosier]

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. 

Edited May 3 by tdhoosier

[13th&Jackson]

33 minutes ago, tdhoosier said:

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. 

They had a setback last spring when CMW had his knee surgery during the portal season and then had health complications during his recovery (back in hospital, etc.) They were caught a bit offside and he wasn't available to meet with some potential recruits, although he made it clear he was still working at the time. As we've seen, the portal season is very competitive and things happen very quickly. 

[Kdug]

29 minutes ago, btownqb said:

Those are just our "worst" games. If no team is allowed to play poorly, to reach their ceiling, there were probably only 3-4 teams all year that did that. If that is the criteria 1. That's fine 2. Of course, our shit team didn't reach their ceiling, no teams did, essentially. 

Respectfully, the bold, no we weren't. Not at the beginning of November, hell no. Did you watch the exhibitions? For real, I would totally understand if you didn't watch those lol... just didn't know if you were able to check them out... we didn't blow out two D2 schools. We weren't just going to somehow fix those issues within a week and start blowing people out. In fact, UIndy made us play an entire 40-minute game... 

Maybe Army. 🤷‍♂️

Ultimately-- it seems you, and some others valued our talent more than I did. Which is fine, maybe that's where differences lie and explains our difference of opinion. Lack of talent, lack of experience, and poor guard play is how I saw our team. That's a disgusting combination. 

Should have been vs. the reality of where we actually were? 

With regards to the part you bolded, idk how you can say we weren’t talented enough to blow those two teams in particular out. Army lost by double digits to Stonehill, Marist, Central Connecticut, American (twice), Bucknell (twice), Colgate, and Holy Cross. Respectfully, all of those teams suck. The FGCU list isn’t quite as bad, but they were also missing one of their best players.

I think I agree that we just see the level of talent differently, which as you said is just a difference of opinion. Most rankings had us in the 80-100 range, which was near the bottom of P6 teams. Imo we were “talented” enough to be in the 40-50 range. Not good, but not as bad as we were.

[btownqb]

1 minute ago, Kdug said:

With regards to the part you bolded, idk how you can say we weren’t talented enough to blow those two teams in particular out. Army lost by double digits to Stonehill, Marist, Central Connecticut, American (twice), Bucknell (twice), Colgate, and Holy Cross. Respectfully, all of those teams suck. The FGCU list isn’t quite as bad, but they were also missing one of their best players.

I think I agree that we just see the level of talent differently, which as you said is just a difference of opinion. Most rankings had us in the 80-100 range, which was near the bottom of P6 teams. Imo we were “talented” enough to be in the 40-50 range. Not good, but not as bad as we were.

I find the difference in those teams to be next to nothing. Iowa was in that range, they sucked. But, Wisconsin ended up Top 20 in KenPom makes me have serious reservations about whether I care about KenPom at all. Wisconsin SUCKED and gave up 53 to us in a half. We also watched UW get absolutely BULLIED by JMU. 

[dgambill]

I apologize for starting the back and forth. My point was with all the talent that has been acquired for Woody…he really doesn’t have an excuse next year. He has a top 10 roster with size, shooting, guards/wings…youth/seniors.  I mean our only question will be will he utilize them effectively. I really hope to see the offense change up. We will see. 

[Kdug]

5 hours ago, btownqb said:

I find the difference in those teams to be next to nothing. Iowa was in that range, they sucked. But, Wisconsin ended up Top 20 in KenPom makes me have serious reservations about whether I care about KenPom at all. Wisconsin SUCKED and gave up 53 to us in a half. We also watched UW get absolutely BULLIED by JMU. 

Wisconsin also scored 91 in that game and cruised to an easy win. They also beat Marquette and Purdue so they had elite wins. I don’t think Wisconsin sucked, they just peaked too early.

And the difference between an 80-100 ranked team and a 40-50 ranked team is the difference between a bubble team, and a team that’s on the NIT bubble. I don’t get how you can say there’s not that big of a difference there. And kenpom certainly isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty damn good since the Vegas lines almost always line up with it unless there’s injury considerations.

[IUFLA]

On 5/2/2024 at 8:03 PM, bluegrassIU said:

To be fair, I am thinking some feel we would not have recruited well this off season if there was no NIL.

Whereas KU, UNC, Kansas etc would. Our strong NIL helped us. 

Pre-NIL those schools were engaged in GIL..."Giving Illegal Loot."

[Seeking6]

On 5/3/2024 at 9:20 AM, btownqb said:

Where are the Pro-Woodson posters!?!?! 

Right here. Didn't see the need to jump in.

Not only did I think Woodson deserved a 4th year so far this offseason he and his staff and his bond with current, past players is strong as ever. 

One other note on the subject of buying teams. I think the powers at be finally woke up and realized what is necessary to compete in today's NIL world. Double Win for the offseason. 

[IUFLA]

Good article "That’s A Wrap: Mike Woodson" at Inside the Hall

I agree with the vast majority of this...Particularly this part...

"Woodson didn’t recruit over Johnson in the transfer portal and bet on the best version of him. Injuries took their toll on the sixth-year senior and he was unable to stay on the court. When he did play, the results didn’t measure up. Johnson’s addition to the Hoosiers was always a gamble after he flamed out at Pitt. In his final season, things came up snake eyes."

I think Mike Woodson is loyal to a fault...Not only with XJ, but Gunn, Banks, and to an extent, Galloway and Leal...

Anthony and Trey paid him back by speaking up for him on Senior Day, staying on, and encouraging recruitment of guys (Carlyle and Rice) that would take a starters spot away from one (sorry, @tdhoosier, but while in most cases concerning Woody and his penchant for not replacing starters I would agree, I think it happens here) and minutes from the other...

Really good read with some solid explanations on where we're headed...

 

Edited May 4 by IUFLA

[13th&Jackson]

1 hour ago, IUFLA said:

Good article "That’s A Wrap: Mike Woodson" at Inside the Hall

I agree with the vast majority of this...Particularly this part...

"Woodson didn’t recruit over Johnson in the transfer portal and bet on the best version of him. Injuries took their toll on the sixth-year senior and he was unable to stay on the court. When he did play, the results didn’t measure up. Johnson’s addition to the Hoosiers was always a gamble after he flamed out at Pitt. In his final season, things came up snake eyes."

I think Mike Woodson is loyal to a fault...Not only with XJ, but Gunn, Banks, and to an extent, Galloway and Leal...

Anthony and Trey paid him back by speaking up for him on Senior Day, staying on, and encouraging recruitment of guys (Carlyle and Rice) that would take a starters spot away from one (sorry, @tdhoosier, but while in most cases concerning Woody and his penchant for not replacing starters I would agree, I think it happens here) and minutes from the other...

Really good read with some solid explanations on where we're headed...

 

That article is a bit of revisionist history.

“When we knew Jalen was leaving, we desperately tried to find a backup point guard, starting point guard, to go along with Xavier and Gallo,” Woodson said. “So we explored, we talked to different guys, and guys went other places based on they thought that was a better fit.”

[IUFLA]

23 minutes ago, 13th&Jackson said:

That article is a bit of revisionist history.

“When we knew Jalen was leaving, we desperately tried to find a backup point guard, starting point guard, to go along with Xavier and Gallo,” Woodson said. “So we explored, we talked to different guys, and guys went other places based on they thought that was a better fit.”

I can name 3 our insiders said the staff was talking with...Dingle, Dennis, and Caleb Love (CG)...and that's without looking anything up...

So I'm not sure of the point you're trying to make...

[13th&Jackson]

17 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

I can name 3 our insiders said the staff was talking with...Dingle, Dennis, and Caleb Love (CG)...and that's without looking anything up...

So I'm not sure of the point you're trying to make...

The article stated that they didn't recruit over XJ and bet on the best version of him. Woodson's quote indicates they would have recruited a starting pg if they could have.