8bucks

The tiredness comes not just from the day we fire a coach but also from the 2 - 3 years of turbulence before we fire that coach. Over the last 20 + years it seems we have been more in doubt that we are going in the right direction vs being convinced we are.

Just about everyone is a risk for points 1 - 11 at the P5 level except guys that have some issues with #12. If you assume any of the AI guys above as realistic then maybe those guys could get you all 12 but I think we have to take a guy who had 1 - 11 at a lower level or take a guy who has had 1 - 11 at a P5 school but also has some issues with #12 (Drew to a lesser extent, Pearl and Beard come to mind)

If he left MSU in good standing, Izzo would be able to give a good recommendation. Hopefully he can get back at it if that is what he wants

Possibly. I could also have been borderline and he just needed to be able to spend some time in a similiar role to show he was able to get around reasonably. After showing he could do some of that Butler may have been willing to bet on him and his health.

If he considers the prior hires he may consider himself better than the likely replacements. Crean may have had 2 sweet 16s but he also had some really down years. Archie was meh, Sampson was not the right culture guy so he may look at those 3 and say, well if they likely hire from that same tree it is better if I stay around.

Well, Thad may have been brought in for more than just to help Woody. I think it was Goodman who said That would have had the job had he not failed a physical. No hard facts on that one but I know someone very close to Woody (sits behind the bench for all home games and some road games). It seemed like things were moving for Woody after Brad then this Thad thing pops up so I texted my friend to ask if he knew anything. It was clear from his response that Woody was not happy about "this" and it seemed that the "this" was that Thad was being considered for the HC position. Not sure if this helps, hurts anything but if they went after Brad, then Thad it seemed he was swinging for guys we would have liked first.

I am not sure RMKs approach would translate to today to the extent that it did when he was here. However, we have strayed from the idea of having a coach that is somewhat controversial. RMK was controversial and then we hooked up with Sampson and when he quickly went rogue, we quicky regretted it. It seems now we have decided to stay firmly in the squeaky-clean camp. That i think is what has kept us free of NCAA sanctions but also NCAA success. Beard, Pearl, Drew are a few guys that have the background to show they would have consistent success here. Izzo and Self have their share of controversy. Roy Williams and even Coach K had some question their recruiting purity. As long as we are insistent on staying in the squeaky clean camp we are hoping to get lucky with an up and comer. If this season turn sour I would prefer to move on to Beard, Pearl or Drew as my first options.

How do you define badly?

I fortunately had a dinner to attend and missed the game. Noticed that Gabe and X played about the same amount of time but Gabe had a better stat line. Did X not play as much because Woody was still sending a message, Gabe was just better or was X hurt?

Very cool that the lions won. Gutsy call to throw on 2nd down but it worked and looks great now. Love going for the win. Comparing Campbell to Steichen based on one play is interesting. Campbell won 3 games his first year with his QB healthy whereas Steichen won 9, mostly with a backup. Hopefully both end up as great coaches.

If Gallo were our primary PG teams should press us. If they did I really don’t think he could handle the press without Gabe or X on the court with him. Right now he does OK when teams press because teams focus on taking away our PGs so if they have to pass to Gallo he does not have as challenging an assignment as our PGs. If Gallo were the primary focus of another teams press I don’t think he could handle that.

Any idea what Adam Howard’s tweet is referencing?

I was just thinking last night that Cupps shot might be easier to fix. His energy on the shot is less and if he could concentrate on getting set better before going up it should yield to much better results.

Minn had a better record than I thought they would. Had not followed them and they are not world beaters but certainly have done better than I expected. They have some talent too. Will be a team to watch

Without knowing what he does that is too strong.

I think Gunn struggles with confidence. Even though he shoots a lot I am pretty sure coaches may want him shooting in games hopefully to overcome that. During practices it is not uncommon for him to be off by himself shooting. Which probably does not sound odd but to a friend of mine who has been at practices he thought it was odd. I think was even told it was confidence with him by the staff but not positive on this part. Would have loved to see him play more in high school to know what his game looked like when he was on.

His improvement came during Covid right. He pleaded with his mom to buy a portable hoop and he shot on his own outside

Shooting wasnt his thing in HS? This is a review of one of his IU years and mentions how he was primarily a shooter in HS but that has not transitioned to IU https://www.insidethehall.com/2023/10/24/2023-24-indiana-basketball-player-profile-anthony-leal/ this one talks about his commitment and how he is best known as a shooter also talks about how he has been trying to transition into a complete player https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-basketball-recruiting-bloomington-native-anthony-leal-commits-to-hoosiers/

Definitely, which is why this Rant page is active. I am fine with a few athletes, and fine with a few basketball players but the "non-athletes" really need to excel at something. Shooting, running the offense, passing, defense, sweet talking the ref, etc... Leal does not offer those consistently whereas the athletes are generally always athletic. However, we are spending a lot of time talking about players 7 - 12 and while they play a role, I tend to think all these players play too much. We usually do well when starters are in but when these bench players all come in together they are not a productive unit.

Well isnt that exactly how CJ and Banks get minutes? CJ's shot is terribly inconsistent, but he has surprisingly been better at applying ball pressure and using his athleticism and length to be a better defender than Leal. Banks, is a little better shooter but what does he do to help. He has a knack for getting offensive rebounds and putbacks. He can also use his speed and drive to the bucket. Geronimo was much the same his first year here. Geronimo and Banks were better 3 point shooters than Leal and still added some other things based mostly on athleticism. Leal is a great kid. Very enthusiastic and encouraging on the bench and does not pout about the lack of playing time. When he is in, he has some moments where he adds value prrimarily because he is a veteran player. But it is not enough to sit X, Cupps, Gallo. Perhaps he could displace Gunn if Gunn decides not to play D or Banks occasionally.

How so? If you are not a great skills player you can sometimes overcome that by being a great athlete.

Leal's superpower coming in was being a shooter. That never materialized. He does not have the physical traits to add much and is veteranship is limited by his lack of experience playing in games. He needed to develop that superpower but whether that was lack of individual practice or lack of being a gamer I am not sure but that was how he would earn minutes. Otherwise, he is Pat Knight. Been around long enough that he can do some things and can help fill in when players are injured, foul issues or just playing bad. But like Pat, and like the backup QB comparison, he just does not have enough weapons to be a consistent player.

Before we added anyone we did. We then chose to go with 2 bigs and one 3/4. Is Payton going to help us more than a guard? Since we did not get one it does not really matter whether a second guard would have been more help than Sparks will be but we did have space at during that recruiting period.

There can be some kids change their minds in the spring and the portal might help but Woody did swing a miss with guards in the portal last year. We really could have used 1 for sure and maybe 2. If we find a way to go on a run like last year then that will really help especially as it would require winning games against some of the better teams in the BT. But if we really struggle down the stretch his portal magic will likely fade

Sure that might be an issue. Auburn had not been good since the 99 season really before he got there. He was coming off a very good run at TN and that would probably earn him more street cred than Woody has. Also hard to tell how things were going during those 3 years. It seemed in year 3 the team turned a corner and perhaps they had a bevy of recruits coming in. Maybe he would start off here with more talent and could get going quicker. Certainly something to consider though. We are an impatient lot to some extent. We are also willing to extend more grace when you can see that "help is coming" and/or the teams younger players are making big jumps. Had Woody secured the 3 2024 recruits he was chasing that would have helped. One more is out there but I think the most important one got away (Fland) given the roster makeup but would be willing to agree that we needed a shooter in a big way too.