lillurk

Yeah I had the same thoughts.

Make the call! But he turned down the Lakers and UK last offseason so he likely will not be very interested.

I’d recommend today’s episode of Mind Your Banners if you’d like an optimistic look at why the job is attractive, and todays episode of CrimsonCast for Evan’s of Cronin, Drew, Brownell, and McCollum.

DeCourcey and some other national writer both wrote up TB-to-IU stories in relatively short time recently and I saw a keen observer who said hmmmmm: that seems like it might reflect real interest from Tony’s side. I don’t love how he left the team this fall, even assuming he was trying to get his assistant the job. If he can convince Dolson he’s passionate enough to do it, he can probably be great at IU, though I have some concerns. The defense is excellent. It would be what everyone thought we were getting by hiring Archie. The offense doesn’t worry me much; his best teams, culminating in the title team, were frankly awesome at running efficient offense. It wasn’t always what I’d like to see, but when he had talent, he had great offenses. After the title, he hasn’t had the dynamic guard/wing talent he did during the peak. As I say all the time, talent is never the issue at IU. You can chalk up the lack of talent after the title to a few things: natural erosion from a team built for that period, COVID-era recruiting weirdness, UVa’s strict academic standards making transfer-ins tough (a la UM), a dearth of NIL there(?). But other than the above, what would really worry me is pace. Not because I don’t want to watch slower games (though I’d rather watch faster ones) but because slow teams are more susceptible to upset losses. If you have more talent, then you want more possessions to fade the random noise. (E.g. I can get lucky and win a one shot 3-pt contest vs. Steph Curry if he misses and I hit, but I’ll never beat him across more than like a best-of-5). He was consistently among the slowest in basketball at UVa. I will add that slow defensive possessions are good; but on offense, earlier shots tend to be higher %age looks.

Yeah I don’t follow this one

Either is an A+ hire IMHO. i keep thinking about actually feeling like IU has both good players and a good coach, going up against the other teams in the conference who can say the same. Would be nice after the last too many years.

Jerry’s timing has been consistent — after the regular season, broadly. Isaac seems like he may actually have connection(s) based on the March ‘24 post, among others, but his timing post has always been an outlier.

I think it’s mostly downstream from big money donors. If the leakage is on the IU side (as seems to be the case) there are only a small number of possibilities, the others being whatever small number of athletic department staffers are fully informed and/or board/president and their staffs. But I don’t know that, it’s speculation based on how universities work.

For reference, that’s what we were this year. Right behind Arkansas (splashy name new hire coach, totally new roster), right above Marquette, and UK was 23 (less splashy new hire coach, totally new roster). So maybe I’m low!

What’s IU’s preseason AP rank next year? I’ll say 17.

I did! The case is even stronger now that he’s leading a good B1G team that was very bad last year. Maybe some of us around here know ball :)

He’s 62 and his last two years are well below his historical standard, the chance he’s washed or retiring is wayyyyyyyyyy greater than the chance he’s gonna move to Bloomington and reestablish what he’s got at KU

Also, sincerely, Cronin going off last night is not some secret message but man, if he wants the IU job I think he bites his tongue there.

If Self is checked out at a place where the established floor is so high, there’s no way he’s gonna work to get there at a new place. I was making this point before they got whooped in their last two games.

Once again going to recommend Curry Hicks Sage’s latest: https://x.com/curryhickssage/status/1891678860279742968?s=46 They get into some small northeastern school stuff later but he talks about IU about a half hour in and then again when a Michigan fan gets on the mic to ask about the chances Dusty leaves. Of interest, though I’m sure I’m forgetting some things 1. he buys the Goodman/Brad story but acknowledges some IU connected folks seem to think there’s more there. 2. asks why Dusty didn’t get the job a year ago and kinda answers his own question. It lines up with the folks on the board here who didn’t see the vision until he turned around UM. 3. His guess is that IU can/will throw more $ at May than UM would match. 4. he says don’t get too hung up on in-season extension talks (in context of May but he says it generally) 5. Wondered aloud if IU would end up with a Buzz/Cronin type. 6. Also said he thought IU could maybe lure Otz if it’s really willing to pay up, while acknowledging that everyone says he’s happy in Ames. In sum, what I’ve numbered 3 above gives me some confidence that IU probably can (will?) get May if the money folks will line up for someone who isn’t BS.

I think they might. They certainly can afford it, so in some respect it’s probably up to him, assuming the IU job is still there when his team’s done.

He’s not a journalist but he’s also not just making things up. People post lots of obviously meaningless tweets in here and I don’t say anything, you could try that! This one isn’t even meaningless ;)

Optimally he might lose on the first weekend of the tourney if he’s gonna be IU’s next coach, anything before that, he can win for all I care

Couldn’t tell you, hosts the Twitter spaces “state of the program” which is kinda a lark for the sweater profile pic crew, not a guy who’s like posting cryptic baloney for clout all the time though like some accounts.

Not unless it’s his second one

https://twitter.com/chrisdaplant/status/1891198949723148537?s=46 ^^not some rumor monger. Not sure it’s some done deal but it’s not just folks around here who think IU is really gonna shoot its shot.

The one thing that might really help in pursuit of McCasland, Otz, and Drew is the increasing financial chasm between the B1G, SEC, and everyone else. All 3 appear to be long shots for a variety of different reasons but if, e.g. Otz is on the podium at AH on 3/26 or whenever, I’ll bet the football TV contracts are a big part of why, whether he says so or not.

For what it’s worth no one actually seems to be in the know and I’m not sure those who know are talking. So it’s mostly hypotheticals.

I think this is virtually a lock NOT to happen if the hire is a sitting head coach. We may have a strong idea who it’ll be — no May extension, coupled with a search that stays quiet, for example, would be a pretty serious sign. However, if it’s a Stevens, Jay Wright, Tony Bennett thing, if the Bulls hit a skid and send Billy Donovan out, then it could happen. These are all much less likely, of course, than the first paragraph. The fact Woody is “retiring” and it’s not an outright firing gives you some cover here that differs from a more traditional situation.

Baylor has big time cash, not sure UCLA does.