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Anyone know if this fella was able to survive? I worry about every once in awhile but every time he pops up he still seems to be hanging on. I really feel like I should click on it to help him in some way but I am to eager to see if someone committed so I hit the X too quickly. If anyone knows how he is doing let us know.

To me it looks like he is humping the hump.

He just can’t ever quite get over the hump anytime I see him.

I am not laughing at anybody. But it's split personality -- optimist vs. pessimist. Reasons for optimism: 1) The fact is we have a top, if not the top, portal class. 2) The fact is we have 3 players ranked within the top 25 of portal players (a rarity in and of itself). 3) The "core" of Gallo, Malik, MM return. 4) Replaced a de-comitted 5* with another 5*. So, giving Woodson all the benefit of the doubt, that is what my expectations are based on. Those are all facts and pieces in place. Is that not a Big10 Championship team? As I asked above, who beats us? But then the pessimism: 1) Guards have to make the jump to 35%+ from 3. 2) Have we solved the 3-point defensive problems? Is that personnel or systemic? 3) Does the middle get clogged up with Malik and Ballo (a la Race and Trace), not giving the new dynamic guards driving lanes? 4) Can this new and young team learn to play together and gel in the short time they have before the season starts? 5) Will the Woodson offensive/defensive systems really work at the college level? 6) Why did we have a de-commit -- Is there an underlying problem? 7) Are some of these dudes just here to get paid, or will they give it their all to represent the name on the front? These are unknowns right now. If the answers to these are positive, then the sky is the limit. We should be unstoppable, should we not? So why aren't we Big10 Champions?

I kind of think he is attacking the hump. Determined to kill that hump.

Those were fun seasons to follow however the 6 other seasons where Crean didn’t have a winning conference record kind of stunk. Going to take more than 1 season of portal haul to be a consistently good program. Crean had some good years but only 1 time did he have 2 years in a row where he had a winning conference record.

Not meaning to derail the thread but all the program needs at this point is the right coach. I’ll take a slight issue with the idea the program has been down for 25 years. It hasn’t. The program righted ship under Crean and won B1G championships and had multiple SW16 runs - that’s not down. It wasn’t competing for NC’s but it absolutely was one of the better teams in the country with Cody, Vic et al and the OG team - but Crean wasn’t right to keep the rebuild back to consistent contender. Where the program flat out blew it was the CAM hire — the program was right the on the cusp of being consistently elite if the right guy had been hired. Then they hired Woodson, no need to flog that dead horse, he’s doing great in the portal right now but nothing in 3 years says he’s the guy - but again, just considering the guys committing and the usual talent in the region, right guy and the program would almost immediately be back to NC competing.

Not just consistent but our BEST players. This whole style of play narrative is really kind of taken a life of it's own. Some based in reality, some based on fantasy. IU needs to shoot more 3's. But they don't have to be Alabama. Statistically speaking, of the teams with the highest % of points from 3's, BYU, Creighton, Charleston, and Dayton were in the tourney. I agree that IU needs to play more interchangeable/smaller lineups with our best "shooters" but not at the expense of our best players. We weren't beating anyone with the three with the roster we had. We just needed (and have gotten) better guard talent. I think this will help a lot. I also think the team is pointed in the right direction and I am not some Woody apologist. He needs to do better. The roster needed to be better.

I’d rather we run a 4-guard lineup than see buddy ball.

From his basketball perspective I'm not sure I see the fit for him. Would assume the kid's last year he'd be looking for an expanded role and that doesn't look likely here. But if the kid sees the value going forward he's probably an easy take. The kid I've talked myself into for that role, and this is evidence-free wish casting, is Baye Fall from Arkansas. MCDAA in '23 who got nicked up in the preseason and then barely played. I mean, at all. Not sure what happened there. But he's 6'11", though thin, and a great athlete. A back of the rotation/niche role would be an increase in minutes. And selling a kid like him along the lines of, "Hey, you'll be backing up the 3rd NBA center we've produced in 3 years" and pitching the physical and development piece with the probability of taking on a spotlight role in '25 feels to me like potentially a big win/win. I really like the idea of buying low, so to speak, on talent like that. If it doesn't work you move on. But if they're looking for a surer thing for that role I get it.

Just a reminder there's still a full week left for undergrads to enter the portal and a grad transfer can enter at any time so still opportunity to land a backup 5.

He may have started Sparks and Reneau together (and who cares) but he certainly didn’t play them together for long stretches. Sparks logged double digit minutes 5 times last season and played 20+ minutes once. He certainly isn’t married to the idea. Reneau and Ware played a lot together because they were easily the two most consistent players last year by a wide margin.

Hey, Chris, how many bases are you using? I wouldn't mind seeing a layout of your diamond, if you get the chance. Thanks! Edit: I guess the game isn't over just because someone ran all the bases.

No, I’m saying 100110011101.

No COVID year for Coleman Hawkins.

Piece of advice: always label your bottles lest you use the wrong one.

you're just full of piss and vinegar

Officially on board.

So then you posted to complain about it so others will have to read about you reading and adding to the 71 new posts. :-) Just messing with you

Boy, I wasted a half hour reading through this thread when I saw there were 70 new posts in the hour I was at the dentist thinking someone committed. Instead it was a p***ing contest about expectations and Woody. Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

Big fan. Watched my HS beat them in the final 4. She can play, though. She was in shambles after the game, I respected it. It meant something to her.

Is the bold sarcasm?

Or it means we are locked out of the state????

Dominate the bottom two in the conference. Win the Wednesday game and get hammered on the 2nd day. Refuse the CBI or NIT invite. Blame the non-true fans for continued losing. Give Woodson another big raise and extension. You can buy all the talent in the world but if you don't have the right leadership and system you ain't going anywhere.