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DLG3

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Posts posted by DLG3

  2. Posted

    Dusty to OSU will be the final nail in the coffin of my fandom. 

    Agreed. I know a lot of people threaten this, but I’m all the way out if we run it back with Woodson and Dusty goes to OSU. I’ve been a faithful fan and hardly missed a game since I was 7 or 8. I’m 32 now. Not to be dramatic, but why would I continue to help and support a program that refuses to help itself?


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  6. Posted

    Wonder if anyone with a say is having second thoughts about last night’s vote of confidence given the McNeeley shocker.
    No reason to believe they know ball enough to get it, alas. But the narrow but interesting path to being okay next year just about dried up.
    Seems like the plan could’ve waited, even if the goal was to get ahead of portal concerns, there was no need for the timing we got.
    Iu’s gonna have a miserable roster next year and a Dusty May presser in April 2025.

    I wish. Really no reason for Dusty to wait to jump. You also have to wonder if he would “walk from Florida to Columbus” and wave at Bloomington on the way by.


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  8. Posted

    It’s insane that we’re going to do things like hire a “GM” so that Woody can work even less than he already does when there are guys we could hire like Dusty May who would pour everything they have into the job. 

    Mark my words: we will look back 5 years from now and regret not hiring May when he would have “walked to Bloomington.” I just hope he’s with someone like a WVU and not another team in conference.


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  9. Posted

    Jerod is definitely a safe space, words hurt so bad type. On their show I agree with his calmer approach, but with Ryan’s opinions. Tonsoni is a good listen as well. 

    Agreed. I really enjoy the show and generally think the analysis is fair, with all aspects covered between all the hosts. But miss me with the whole “not lazy” thing. It’s really just semantics. What are we supposed to call it if a big part of Woodson’s issue is that he isn’t putting in the extra mileage with recruits or the extra time needed for all the offensive woes, etc? Yeah, to me, thats the definition of lazy.


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  10. Posted

    That is, I see what you’re saying about Woody getting good talent, I just put more stock into player development than talent or player rankings. Sorry to be confusing.


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  11. Posted

    Gotta be a good recruiter at HS level and the portal. I care less about player development. Get talent and a lot of it. Even Mike Davis could make a NC game with a deep talented roster. Crean and Woody have both been pretty decent with talent. We haven’t been able to consistently bring in enough talent since the mid 90s.

    I respectfully disagree. There have been years where there is not enough talent, but this year’s team ought to be able to win with the talent on the floor. They aren’t being utilized well and maybe not enough talent at the 1&2, but 3-5 should be able to stack up with anyone.


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  12. Posted

    Watch a bit of their game the other day.  They apparently reincarnated Dr. Brian Sloan.  Big guy simply sits top of the lane and sets as many screens in 30 seconds as he can.  Oh the memories -- just missing Dickie V.  :)  

    Wait, he runs offense with more than 1 screen per possession? I’m out…


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  13. Posted

    A Case for Dusty May

     

    There are no sure things in coaching hires but I think we can approach things with more nuance than hand-waving him into a pile with coaches who’ve had one good March run and flamed out later. (Also I think lots of the coaches being dismissed that way have had pretty good careers if they ended up getting a high-major chance anyway.)

     

    In his first HC job, he is the best coach in FAU’s history by many orders of magnitude. Even setting aside weighing last year’s F4 run too heavily, the team’s best ever Torvik finish before May was 184th, back in 2011. May arrived in ‘19 and has been higher than that EVERY YEAR.

     

    FAU has been D-1 since ‘93 and he’s the third longest-tenured coach in their history. He already has 115 of their 378 all-time D-1 wins. His career win% is 64.2%, FAU before him was 35.5%.

     

    Second, even setting aside the F4 run, last year’s team was 31-3 before the tournament, with strong predictive/performance numbers. They were quite underseeded at 9. Again, at FAU. He’s cruising to an at-large, and they would’ve been so last year…at FAU. That’s not Dayton, or VCU, Gonzaga, or Wichita State, someplace with a strong hoops culture and history.

     

    Third, the manner in which his FAU roster last year and this have been built bodes well for his ability to identify and develop players. Boyd, Martin, and Davis are homegrown, and each from a different region of the country. Goldin, Gaffney, and Greenlee were down-transfers from high majors, but none of the three was an established difference maker, and 2 of the 3 had very little college game tape. As far as I can tell those are the only transfers — nothing wrong with TRs but it speaks to his ability to find and build players, not just work with top ### guys. At IU you can get in the door with those guys. If he can build some guys who’ll get NBA looks with what was available to him at FAU, he can win at IU. Occasionally I see folks suggest they’re concerned about his recruiting but that misses how the sausage is made: you are only getting top guys at FAU if you 1) parent them, 2) their parents work there, or 3) some other absurd thing like 1 or 2. If he can compete like this without obvious HS talent, he’ll be fine, and IU has had dudes under every 21st century coach.

     

    It’s also noteworthy that he kept the squad together this year. Even after last year’s success, I’m sure there were tantalizing opportunities for many (most?) of his roster. I think that level of buy-in and relationship scales up. They tend to spread minutes around, too, which isn’t always the answer but suggests mutual trust. This isn’t just a couple diamond-in-the-rough studs.

    I’m sure we all figured they’d be pretty good this year, but I’ve been impressed that they’ve actually met or outperformed computer projections, which thought they’d be good but could be more “bubble team” than top 25.

     

    I would rather win ugly than lose pretty, but FAU plays modern, attractive hoops and competes on defense. By % of minutes played their top 5 most-used players this year are wings or guards. They play one true big about 90% of the time…and the 10% that’s not true are minutes with no big or a hybrid forward at the 5, not plodding two big lineups. They’ve been well-rounded on both sides of the ball, i.e. their success isn’t JUST dependent on dominating the turnover battle or strong shooting or something else that’s gonna graduate with one particular class.

     

    Finally, I love his quiet confidence. He thought he could stay and win at FAU. People know he wants the IU job, even though he knows what expectations that means. Arrogance gets in the way of self-improvement, but to win at a high level some confidence is a must.

     

    I hope to watch the track record get longer, but what’s there is already really impressive, and makes me think he could jump somewhere like Louisville, Michigan, etc. and succeed quickly and for awhile. Let’s hope he does so at IU eventually. (Cc [mention=7329]DLG3[/mention])


    Awesome case for him and thanks for posting. I agree on the points you’ve made. I think he would be a massive step up in player development, which if you boil it all down, has been IU’s biggest problem for years. Each coach has had talent. The best IU teams of the last 20+ years are because of individuals that took huge steps forward Ie Victor, Yogi, TJD. We need more of that. Look at the team up north. They freakin develop guys year after year.

    I thought it spoke volumes that Dusty was able to keep Davis and Martin. Those guys could have gone anywhere for their “brand,” etc, and to make more NIL, but they stayed with the culture-building coach that they also knew would make them even better. Just my opinion, but give me that at IU. We have like 1 player this year that took the next step forward, and that’s not enough.


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  14. Posted

    I get the impulse to be leery of low- and mid-major coaches making the step up but I think Schertz and May are both worth a long look. I think a deeper, more nuanced evaluation of those type of candidates typically gives you a good idea of what job is a good match, what to expect when they level up, etc.
    To give an example that probably hits too close to home, when we hired Miller I was worried that too much of his case for the job rested on 1) name/family recognition, 2) one single tournament run that hinged on winning some close ones. I didn’t even consider one of the issues we’ve seen since, which is that Dayton’s a darn good program across multiple coaches. But he hadn’t really popped on efficiency metrics, with the exception of one really good defense.
    And, well, we all know how that went. He didn’t really have anything that said he’d scale up well, and he moved up right about the time teams started bombing more 3s and really exposing pack line defenses.
    Anyway, I’ve got a note outlining why May’s a really good candidate for SOME high major job, but idk if anyone wants to read that right now.

    I would like to read your note about May. I’m legitimately curious about how good of a fit he would be at IU. I’m pretty biased towards him and find him so easy to root for because we went to the same school, I know some of his family, and I just generally really like the style of basketball they play at FAU. All that said, I’m torn on how he would fit at IU. My gut says he’s the kind of guy that is a rare breed and would find some level of success anywhere. But Archie has me gun-shy.


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  18. Posted

    I haven't checked the stats but my memory of Newton was he was money from the elbow.  Is my mind playing tricks on me?  Loved Newton and JJ.  

    No, that’s what I remember, too. I’ll never forget him showing out in Atlanta against Oklahoma, in front of his “home crowd.” It was so cool to see him put it all together. Man, I wish that team had finished off the next game!


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  19. Posted

    Interesting (at least, I thought so) tidbit from today. My brother-in-law ran into Pat Graham and talked with him for awhile today. He said he went to visit Coach Knight in the hospital and ran into Woody. Pat said Woodson told him if he had been coaching for very long and then NIL came into the picture, he would have just retired. Sure left the impression with Pat that it’s just driving him closer to retirement.

    Anyway, they talked about Dusty, and Pat seems to think he or Lewis will be the next man up, like others have talked about. My brother-in-law and I trap shoot every week with Dusty’s dad. I wanted to ask him more last night about Dusty’s interest in the (possible future) IU job, but I don’t want to hound him.

    Not much of anything anyone didn’t know, but just wanted to share.


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