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Want to make the uniforms and swag look better? Fill them with players who can hit from three at a 40%+ pace, bigs that dominate other bigs, point guards that can point guard, and wings that can do it all. They’ll be some mighty fine looking uniforms.

IU's handling of the small things like uniforms, the shop at Assembly hall, adidas sponsorship et al. are indicative of a systemic failure to hold the program accountable to a championship level standard. Its a narrative that IU doesn't care about being an elite program. It starts at the top and is a slippery slope which gives way for coaches and players to be held at a standard below what is required to win a national championship. When I say we need new uniforms - I'm not saying changing the lettering of Indiana will lead to a championship. What I am saying is Indiana taking small things seriously, like getting uniforms that compete with the other top programs (via cut, design, material, alts, names on back) would create a narrative that we are competitive in today's CBB landscape. It's a growth mindset that all of the other top programs have and we don't. If you want to win at the highest level you have to take EVERYTHING into consideration. You need to be uncommon amongst uncommon people. I knew someone who focused on all the small things leading up to little 5... slept in an oxygen tent every night, read books, you name it. Sounds like most of the people on this board would think that is stupid and is such a small impact etc. Well he won the Lil 500 by being the anchor leg of the race. This stuff matters.

As much as I hate Purdue, Matt Painter is a top ten coach in the nation. He takes kids that usually we don't want and turns them into a team that is very successful. We can joke about them not having won a national championship, but if he keeps putting the type of teams he has the last few years on the floor, the championship is coming. We think we can't be elite until we have elite talent. Who on Purdue's roster was considered elite coming out of high school? It can be done without five star kids. I'm sick of seeing Purdue do it when we can't.

Little anecdote from yesterday…after starting lineups and while waiting for TV to give the go-ahead for tipoff, they played this scene on the video board. Granny drops the hammer on the guy from Indiana and the entire gym goes friggin’ BANANAS. I’ve only seen a crowd like that in Assembly Hall, personally. Wife and I and the IU fans around us were all dying laughing; just an excellent moment. Kudos again to KU for being awesome hosts and being the only gym I’ve been in that can be mentioned in the same breath as AH. If you have the chance, make the trip. You won’t regret it.

I’m my mind we are the next coach away assuming whoever makes that hire doesn’t completely botch it. I think Woodson is the best coach we’ve had since Sampson and is installing the right culture. I’m pretty confident that we were dangerously close to hiring Brad Stevens last time. If Woody can get this program to compete at the top half of the B1G for the remaining time he has here, I think our next coach gets us over the hump. That’s my hunch anyways. I will say that I think Gabe Cupps is going to lead us to a Final Four in his 4 years here.

There's no need for apologies. I'm trying to figure out how old fans are responsible for the program because they were fans when we won championships and went to FFs but aren't responsible for the mess of the last couple decades and the program will be gone when they're gone but younger fans should make the program better.

What was it that made IU great? Was it localized recruiting, keeping same uniforms, Martha the Mop Lady, any # of anecdotal things you want to point at? Or was it possibly having an elite coach who had installed a winning culture by winning? In college basketball you need either an elite coach with good/great talent or elite talent with a good/great coach. I hear "what made IU great" and "bridge to the past" a lot but what does that even mean? And how does that help on court success now exactly? Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

He had 2 losing seasons to start out and didn’t make they tourney in his first 3 years. Finished. 13th, 13th and 11th in the sec in his first 3 years.

I don't mind change if it makes things better. I actually think it would have been best to put money on a new arena instead of renovating AH. I think we need to have the student section all together going all the way around the first 10 rows. I just found it odd people thinking uniforms are a reason for us not being elite

It feels unimaginable that some are talking about TJD as an all-timer but he's never been on a team with a winning conference record heading into his senior season. Wow, reading that is baffling. He's top 10 or close in how many categories and he's never had a winning conference record and I'd imagine will leave IU with a losing conference record overall.

IU’s NET Sos is 31 and IU’s Non con Sos is 36 according to the team sheet today. Playing at Kansas must be viewed as a heck of bump in their formula unless that’s a typo. Interesting how much it changed after that game

Play him. See what we’ve got against lesser competition. With 20 mpg the kid is gonna be an excellent distance shooter, and he feels like he could be the chippy player we need. Play Gallo too.

No surprise but IU fell to 23 (from 16) in the NET after they were humbled at Kansas. IU in the Non con big 4 went 2-2 with losses on the road and Neutral court to 6 and 8 in the NET. Road and home wins against the 37and 27 teams. IU showed that they can compete with tournament quality teams but they are not at a level where they can compete with programs that have shown to be elite and are #1 seed worthy. Zona and Kansas were 1 seeds last year and both are well on their way to a 1 seed again. I’m a believer in teams and programs having to take steps and not skipping steps to get to where they want to get. Everyone agrees IU needs to be playing in these types of games but for me it’s just a reminder of how far they still have to go to get to where everyone wants them. Before the year if I told you they would go 2-2 against top 40 teams with one of those wins on the road everyone would take it but it doesn’t work that way once people saw how they got rolled against top 8 teams they other 2 wins become a foot note. IU is still at a point to where they need all hands on deck when they are playing the elite and still might not be enough. Still a lot of season left to figure some things out and get healthy. IU is a solid tourney team in my opinion just not national title contenders liked we hoped would happen

I watched it closely. The defender dove at his legs and feet but I don’t believe any contact was made. His foot/ankle did twist a little funny as it appeared X was trying to avoid the contact. It’s always hard to judge but I’ve seen far worse, and the injury itself didn’t look terrible, but the reaction was clearly extreme necessitating the concerns. Sent from my iPad using BtownBanners

I just think some of these young guys think sports didn't start until they started watching and have no clue about the history of the game. They think they invented the game and think all changes are good for the sports. In basketball the changes in style and the overuse of analytics is killing the game of basketball. Then we have this guy who actually thinks your uniforms make a difference in you being elite or not.

100% agree. The lack of a go-to wing in the upcoming class is a concern as it is with the present team. I’m repeating myself, as we all do LOL, but we are limited against top tier teams when virtually our only go-to, when we need a bucket, is feeding a 6’9” left handed only center that doesn’t shoot beyond 4 feet (don’t take that wrong. I’m a big TJD fan but let’s face it…left hand only and shooting within 4 feet is his game). TJD has been double and triple teamed and stopped from going to his left while teams have dared our other players to beat them. We need a multi dimensional offensive wing as an alternative option, and to relieve defensive pressure in the paint, in the worst way. The Big Ten coaches can put together their defensive plans against us in their sleep.

What would happen is that we would win and we wouldn’t learn much because Elon really stinks. Without X and with Leal and Logan out of the rotation Gunn and Banks are now in the top ten on the team. If Gunn is gonna play it’ll be because Gallo turns into the backup PG and he’s splitting with Bates. Banks is gonna have to take minutes from Kopp, who has played very well lately, including against Arizona.

To TheWatShots point... Do you think Disney built the castle, and then went out and got crappy hot dog vendors and said "eh, this is good enough"? No they took a look at EVERYTHING, even the paint in their parks, EVERYTHING is held to a very high standard. Thats why people pay top $ to take their families there. IU Admin is the best at claiming their "Elite" and then cutting every conceivable corner to get there.

3 of most historic changes that have affected how quickly you can turn a team around have been semi recent developments. 1. 1 n done era. Kentucky and more recently Duke lived on this strategy. Others have tried to varying success. 2. Transfer portal without having to sit a year. 3. NIL Comparing coaches prior to these changes vs post these changes is literally night and day. 3-4 year rebuilds made sense before these changes. 1-2 year rebuilds are achievable nowadays. I can guarantee you Woodson isn’t viewing this year as a rebuilding year. They expect to compete with this roster. Hopefully they can turn it around/get it on track. With Woody’s age, we don’t need a rebuild anyway. We need to win big and set up for hopefully a nice 5 year run then have a plan in place to compete at the top. We need NIL to be a step above to regain our footing. Better players/coaching/scouting/training/gameplanning would help. Sent from my iPad using BtownBanners

Jay Edwards left early as well

A couple of them started out when freshman were ineligible. I’m not sure that’s real applicable to today’s landscape. Also, we know Wooden didn’t develop anything that turned his program around but an affection for Sam Gilbert. I’ve never figured out where the Coach K stuff came from. Maybe it’s a folksy quip he likes to tell at alumni functions.The problem is that it is almost entirely untrue.* The fans and alumni were antsy but his AD wasn’t going to fire him. Coach K was 3rd in the ACC his 4th year and made the tournament when they only took 32 teams. And in his 3rd year—when all the fans/alumni were mad— he had already recruited the class that would take him to his first title game in what was only his 6th year. Coach K came out of the gate strong despite a couple of rebuilding seasons and didn’t look back. And if he had any naysayers along the way, he was still the 30-something wunderkind and protégé of his former coach and current toast of the college coaching world….RMK. You’d think an administration might give a guy like that a little time to develop. They would, but he didn’t really need it. If IU lands the next coach K, it won’t take said coach 6-8 years of building up recruiting and mini-milestones of proving we’re worthy. He’ll be working on landing the class that takes us back final four on day 1. * here’s the article. Coach K was almost fired… But somehow got a contract extension instead. /s https://www.wsj.com/articles/mike-krzyzewski-duke-north-carolina-11649079772

Kind of old but go back to the style of play where you have more ball movement and player movement. I hate the offense in basketball today and don't like all the pick in roll and isolation plays. If you don't have NBA talent players it doesn't work. This is why the product we see today is so bad compared to the past. Having college players running pro offense is a disaster.

Right... But rather than look at from your old geezer eyes, look at it from an 18 year olds perspective. Let's face it, Adidas is garbage. It has been for a long time. And he's right, "swag" is important. Or I think kids nowadays use the word "drip" or something like that. Gotta cater to them. Catering to 60 year olds... Not gonna get you anywhere. It could definitely help IU to throw out some news unis and have alternates. It never hurts... Unless you're sponsored by Adidas... And you get pink highlighter unis like Louisville did.

IU will always be relevant within Indiana. Doesn’t matter if old fans are gone or young fans become uninterested IU basketball will always be a staple of the state. That place will still have a waiting list for tickets regardless of the product. Fans don’t have as much influence as they think they have whether it’s recruiting or anything to do with the program

I believe CTA is a good man. I'm not going to make fun of him because of the product on the field. I have 60+ years of IU football behind me and most of it is ugly. I remember Corso starting a season talking about how good we were going to look in the new uniforms. We are a crappy program. If past performance really is a predictor of future performance, then we are always going to be a crappy program. It's been my experience. Criticize the product all you want. I'm right there with you. I'm just not comfortable with personal attacks against the people who are trying to do an impossible job.