NashvilleHoosier

This is a great question and honestly one of the bigger reasons I'm ready to move on this year. If he comes back, we're likely looking at a big amount of roster turnover. The portal can fill holes quickly. But didn't we see recently that all teams with at least 7 portal additions this season are not going to make the tournament? We could be in the position to take on that much roster turnover. A huge rebuild in year 4 at his age is concerning. As well, my opinion is not just based on this season. The last 2 were a step in the right direction but I would say I was only pretty content, not thrilled. There have been flaws with Woody's team each season that have not been addressed. He doesn't play modern basketball. We got destroyed in all of our marquee OOC games. Plenty more to point out. I'm nowhere near convinced that changes. So, we look at how recruiting is stacking up. He's a coach on the hottest of hot seats and that will not change any time soon. If 2025s don't want to play for him now, what changes next season? Do we believe things turn around enough to change minds? But, let's say they do.... In which case, back to your original question. It's hard to put a number on W/L's and a specific finish in the conference. I'd like to say top 4? Making the tournament is the minimum. But I truly believe that last season was the ceiling for a Mike Woodson team. Round of 32. This season we got to see what the floor of a Mike Woodson team is (though we might get to see the actual floor next year). And even if he pulls a rabbit out of a hat and gets us back to the tourney and advances to the 2nd round.....does he even want to stick around past that? There's as good a chance that he just retires after getting things "back on track" as there is we fire him. If I truly believe there are way too many things that have to go right for next season to go well, and even in the unlikely event that happens I also truly believe there is still a significant chance we have a coaching change next season anyway......well I'm dusting off the open letter I posted several days ago highlightng why Mike Woodson deserves to enjoy an early retirement starting now (end of season). Sorry....I really hate super long posts. I generally skip all of them. I don't know why I'm making it longer right now.

I got my appropriate smart@$$ response out of the way, but I'll also take you up on the gracious offer to answer honestly. And this has been my answer since the Kansas game. This is a bad team. It's been the case since game one, as evidenced by it having nothing but unimpressive wins and a bunch of embarrassing losses. They are nothing if not consistent, but have been, all season, a bad team. Even bad teams have the ability to get up for a big game at home here and there (see: Kansas, Wisconsin). But hey, what do I know. The extent of my bb knowledge is just plain ol' watching.

What a gracious and sincere offer. Dripping with humility. MODS....please move to the appropriate paid premium thread. This wisdom is not meant for us freebie peasants.

Not a single joke about the dumpster fire finally being out of control? Disappointing!

Exactly. We'd have a ton of $10 and $20 contributions, and plenty scratch a check for $1000. I'm confident we could have the $12M by the weekend.

You must also guarantee my son as successor and we have a deal. He's 6.

This is blatant copyright infringement Christopher and I won't have it!!

I'll preface this by saying I fully understand this is NOT a reasonable or logical path to buy out money. But talking about getting the right donors involved had me do some quick math. If only 20% of our alumni base contributed an average of an $80 donation, we'd raise $12M. That's only alumni, and only 20%. Probably even more non-alumni fans who would contribute. Open up the GoFundMe, Scotty!

Young Brucie would arrive at 64, feeling 46, with a pep in his step like never before from landing the dream job he thought no longer possible. He’ll frequent Turkauz and Samira daily, the Mediterranean diet reversing the aging effects. What we thought would be a 7-8 year run of stability and consistent success turns into a 15 year reign glory the likes of which we’ve could have never imagined. Can’t you just picture it now?

This has to be something Dolson has a pulse on as well if he's actually considering the trajectory of the program. I believe it was posted not long ago where of all the teams that had 7+ additions via the transfer portal exactly none of them were projected in the tourney field (at least at that time). Among so many other things, he's already seen that we don't play modern basketball. He has to see the hesitancy with 2025 recruits, and if he knows that a larger roster overhaul is coming, he can't allow it go on. If he does, he's directly contradicting the logic he used in moving on from Tom Allen.

Eh, agree to disagree I suppose. I'm not the one who said goalposts were moved. But saying he's never won anywhere immediately (he has), and saying we wouldn't be happy that it took him 5 years to get past the S16 (requires far more context that just that one point) are two entirely separate points, not really consistent points at all. Unless your "win immediately" is as simple as having one a title immediately, in which case, yes, consistent points, of which we'll be able to compile a candidate list of ZERO coaches. And hey, I don't mean it personally. I don't know anyone on here personally, so I don't mean anything I say here personally. But if somebody counters something you post here instead of just agreeing with you and your response is "you just love to argue" and we "think we know the future", sorry....pretty soft.

I agree with you there, pluses and minuses to both. I wasn’t responding to that. I was responding to your posts about him not winning immediately anywhere and us not being happy if it took him 5 years to get past the S16. Some ppl on here love to argue, sure. But someone countering a point you make instead of just agreeing isn’t just loving to argue. Pretty soft to think so. No one thinks they know the future. Not a single coach is a guarantee. It’s discussion. In a discussion topic. On a free message board of which its sole purpose of existing is to….discuss.

He provided the evidence that he’s won immediately nearly everywhere. Your counter that we wouldn’t be happy that it took him 5 years to get past the S16 is pretty short-sighted. His teams finished 1st in the SEC East 3 of those years, he had UT consistently ranked in the top 25 and as high as #1. You can find several huge games he won during those seasons. 2 of his tourney losses in those 5 years were by 1 point. And most importantly he was in the tourney ALL FIVE years. He had them in the mix every year and gave his teams a chance to go deep all of those seasons. He BOTH won immediately AND we would be absolutely thrilled if he came here and gave us that in the first 5 years.

I had to google his highlights to make sure I was correct. I'm not knocking the kid, but this just feel like a microcosm of this season.

He's also.....not left handed. Deep 2's with your non-shooting hand.

I already solved this problem in the positivity thread :-). It doesn't have to be ugly. Here's Scotty D's message to Woody, and hell, make it a press release. Coach - tough season, but let's take a look at the larger picture. You united the old and new amongst the fanbase. You made Coach Knight a regular presence around the program before his unfortunate passing. You took us to 2 straight tournaments after a 6 year drought, including a protected seed. You pushed a kid that wasn't on draft boards to a lottery pick in one season, and put TJD in a position to be drafted. You brought Ware in for one season and have him in a position to be a first round pick as well. You've opened up a recruiting line to Monteverde. You swept Purdue in a season everyone expected them to be soundly better than us. You've significantly improved our schedule and have us playing in games against Kansas, Arizona, UConn, and the Kentucky series is back on the books. You've got us playing in a premier non-conference event like the Battle for Atlantis, where we usually only played in the Maui every 5 years or so. You know Indiana is a brand in college hoops that belongs in big time games and events like that, and you made it happen. We can't thank you enough for the position Mike Woodson has put this program in. When we set out on this journey, we both knew the timeline would be fluid. I think we both know that now is the right time to take the next step as a program, and we're well positioned to do that with the foundation you've built. Here's a check for what we've agreed on. Here's a bottle of the finest Italian Tempernillo Big Red sells. I've already booked your tee time for one hour from now. Enjoy retirement, Coach!

You left something out. I've added it here.

Oh we're playing close games. On the flip side, 9 of our 14 wins have been by less than 10 points. Most of the time we're either barely winning or getting blown out. Wasn't there a stat somewhere a few weeks back showing that we were one of the luckiest teams in college hoops based on record/results so far? We're going to end up with a losing record and be fairly lucky that it wasn't worse. Now, I get college hoops is crazy. Many teams have unexpected losses and wins closer than they would have expected, and wins they never expected to get. Our entire resume this season is full of unimpressive wins and embarrassing losses.

I'd put it more like: 1 Final Four (lost by 1pt on a controversial ending) 1 Elite 8 (lost by 1pt) 4 Sweet 16s (another 1pt loss, and took a mid major 12 seed) Division 2 National Championship It's his dream job Young Brucie would take us on one helluva ride for 8-10 years.

Maybe this goes in the firing thread, but I'm putting it here b/c this what I'm doing if I'm Scotty D to ensure the right thing happens. Coach - tough season, but let's take a look at the larger picture. You united the old and new amongst the fanbase. You made Coach Knight a regular presence around the program before his unfortunate passing. You took us to 2 straight tournaments after a 6 year drought, including a protected seed. You pushed a kid that wasn't on draft boards to a lottery pick in one season, and put TJD in a position to be drafted. You brought Ware in for one season and have him in a position to be a first round pick as well. You've opened up a recruiting line to Monteverde. You swept Purdue in a season everyone expected them to be soundly better than us. You've significantly improved our schedule and have us playing in games against Kansas, Arizona, UConn, and the Kentucky series is back on the books. You've got us playing in a premier non-conference event like the Battle for Atlantis, where we usually only played in the Maui every 5 years or so. You know Indiana is a brand in college hoops that belongs in big time games and events like that, and you made it happen. We can't thank you enough for the position Mike Woodson has put this program in. When we set out on this journey, we both knew the timeline would be fluid. I think we both know that now is the right time to take the next step as a program, and we're well positioned to do that with the foundation you've built. Here's a check for what we've agreed on. Here's a bottle of the finest Italian Tempernillo Big Red sells. I've already booked your tee time for one hour from now. Enjoy retirement, Coach! (feel free to add more fluff)

Young Brucie is a spry 63. He’s got a solid 8-10 years left and he could ignite one helluva ride pretty quickly. Even if we got 6 or so good years of a Young Brucie ride, we’d be primed for a 52 year old Dusty May who has 6 years of power 5 coaching under his belt if we wanted him.

Young Brucie is a spry 63. A solid 15 years younger than Ol’ Woody.

Boooo. C’mon, this helps nothing. I’m not always crazy about the vibe @Ngw7183 posts give off, and I sometimes respond in a smarta$$ way…matching pace and all. But I for one appreciate the banter, and if you can look past the odd vibes, I appreciate the perspective. Oh, and just setting an example here, tag the person in a post like this or it’s super lame.

Once again, hard yes please.

But was he ABSOLUTE-ly guaranteed a spot? :-)