NashvilleHoosier

What is the appeal of Wes Miller? The only thing I really know about him is when UNC-G was left out of the tourney a couple years ago as what many though was the biggest snub. But a look at this resume shows 1 tourney appearance in 9 years and it took until year 6 before he had a winning record. He's a Tar Heel that wrote a book about his time there. He'd pull a Roy Williams and bolt for UNC in a heartbeat, and that job will be open in the not so distant future.

So Belmont is now 24-2 instead of 24-1 and you're just throwing Alexander out the window? Tough crowd you are, Stu.

Chris’ post was a joke. I jokingly responded.

Just an all out assault of IU guys. You want an IU guy? HUH? HOW ABOUT ALL THE IU GUYS??!?!?! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW??? Love it.

If Fife were hired, who he has on the bench would be equally as important. I'd like to see him do the same thing Howard did with Martelli, though I don't know how many Martelli's are out there ready to take an assistant coaching position. Maybe the Lansing guy from ISU? I know nothing about him. But I keep hearing that ISU will dread letting him go.

So you care about this stuff if it's a coach you don't want? Just pretend it's a coach you think would do well and take your own advice.....time to move on.

I don’t know what’s wrong with you guys, I won more money. This emotional hedge is working out well.

Damn he looks sexy in red.

Right, and I'm not necessarily buying into the administration holding IU hoops back theory. But it does seem to be a theory many buy into, and if that impression is really out there, high level coaches will know it, and that could turn them off.

To be honest, if you're gonna make him be a IU basketball fan at this early of an age, you may as well let him drink while doing it. (yes this is a joke for anyone who needed clarification)

Trying to talk IU basketball at home is the reason I come to this board. So, ya know, someone will actually talk to me. Yet my wife, an IU grad as well, thinks I'm ridiculous for coming to talk to a bunch of people I don't know on a message board about IU basketball. It's a catch-22 really.

I'm doing everything I can to resist making a joke that I'm actually your wife, finally revealing my online persona and that I follow you around the message boards to proofread and polish up what you're trying to say.....b/c that would just be weird. Or would it....

I think you're right in that if IU football can find success, there is no reason IU basketball cannot. Where I don't think there is a direct correlation is that we don't want a Tom Allen for basketball (not the man and coach we currently know, I mean the equivalent of what Tom Allen was before he was our head football coach). He wasn't a known commodity that had a track record of high level head coaching success before we hired him. We want the hoops version of a Nick Saban, a Ryan Day, a Dabo Swinney. A Tom Allen in the college basketball world is a well respected assistant coach who specializes in defense. Are those out there? Sure. Can they have a Tom Allen affect on the basketball program? Sure. But they are all names we would scoff at as our next head coach. I could be wrong but I think Chris's point is more that our list of Nick Saban's, Ryan Day's and Dabo Swinney's in college hoops aren't viewing this job as very attractive. The Tom Allen's of college hoops probably would, and wouldn't bat an eye at whatever the perceived administration issues are.

I think a lot of people, likely Matta included, would contribute the decline in results directly to the decline in his health. That his back issues got so bad that he was not able to fight the recruiting battles like he used to, he had to sit at practice a lot and even outside of that he was a very active guy who was forced to be much less active. In a job that requires a LOT to perform at a high level, that will take it's toll on anyone. This is also the reason I'm a no on Matta until there is some sort of definitive proof that his health will no longer hold him back, which is likely something we won't have until he goes and actually coaches somewhere for several years. We can't be that guinea pig. Even if there are claims that his health has improved, you have to wonder how much of that improvement is simply b/c he's not trying to perform an incredibly demanding job every day anymore. Edit: *Attribute*, not contribute. I must have typed that with my disposable thumbs.

I sat through every game of a 6 win season. I watch nearly every IU football game possible and have for many years. I’ll be back.

If it didn't immediately turn off recruits, you can bet every single coach recruiting against him will try to make sure it does.

A quick glance back and this appears to only be true of 2015 and 2016. Two straight years of being upset in the first round as heavy favorites is very easy to remember. In 2017 they lost in the sweet 16 to a lower seeded South Carolina who advanced to the FF, and as a 3 seed, I would not say being eliminated in the sweet 16 was getting bounced early. In his 2 elite 8 appearances they were beaten by #1 seeds who went on to win it all. Even in down years he has a NIT championship and NIT runner up. Even Kansas and Duke have plenty of first round flops. Drew, of course, does not have any championships or even final fours to offset those. I'm not advocating for Drew, but we also have to recognize that we won't be hiring any coach that has a banner under his/her belt already. Big picture, I'll take a team that is consistently really good, is in the tourney almost always, seeded consistently high, is advancing to the 2nd weekend where anything can happen from there, but also mixes in some early exits. Not ideal on that last point, but it's gonna happen. That March track record is something I could totally deal with at this point. Again, i'm not advocating for him, just disputing that his March record is terrible.

We would likely see some transfers but this is the one year a new coach could bring just as many transfers in that are immediately eligible. Lots of roster turnover isn't a great formula for immediate success, but you are right, the focus would not be on the short term. I've been wondering if the free agency thing would make it an even more appealing job if we were to make a change this offseason.

Yeah, without thinking too much about it, it would be like comparing IU football with...maybe Texas? IU football has no football history and a muuuuuuch larger football brand in state and everywhere surrounding it. That’s Baylor basketball pre Drew. So yeah, much harder to be successful there. I suppose Tom Allen is our Scott Drew.

Hard pill to swallow but unfortunately he was indeed way better. The normal trajectory for Crean would have been maybe 2 more tourney appearances and one sweet 16 in the last 4 years mixed in with 2 sub par years. I can't believe I would take that in a heartbeat.

Nah. But, Bloomington Van Kilroy's? That would work too.

Is Danny Hurley interesting? I haven't seen his name mentioned. First glance for me is probably a no. But a solid run at Rhode Island (yes, I know what conference they are in and that it's the same conference Dayton is in and that our current coach came from that conference). UConn, with Bouknight, looks like they could make a run.

To be fair, the name Brad Stevens is pretty boring. If we can find a guy named Prince Fastbreak Van Boat-Race to roam the sidelines? That's a sexy hire.

Easy money!!

I got in at Michigan -8.5. Which means we will be down 11 and make a meaningless 27 foot 3 pointer at the buzzer. It’s officially the most likely outcome.