lillurk

I do genuinely wonder if that moves the needle. Wishful thinking for me too, I suppose.

Ehhh maybe, I’m not even totally sure of that, given he’d need a new multi year contract. There are other options.

They should be! I’d be surprised if they had the juice to get to the end of the line even if the $ is there, just clearly a much worse job than these by like two orders of magnitude

Please please please let us be “mystery team,” not sure who the other candidates would even be to get his attention? Like if you can choose UL or UM who else is even getting to the table? https://x.com/rickbozich/status/1770592931918893560?s=42&t=amyLA-ibyLT69zYMzsU5bA

As a person who was in high school 20 years ago, I don’t think he would’ve been some special recruiter. My classmates and teammates hadn’t watched him play. He would’ve made our parents happy, I guess.

I just think you can aim higher, even within that archetype. We should be wiser than to assume he’ll be amazing just because he went to IU, that’s not some secret sauce.

I think the quick answer is something like 1. He got a shot at a blue blood and didn’t get past the S16, and 2. he’s not at an age where he’s a long term upside play. There’s more too. Mishandled at least one player misconduct situation egregiously, doesn’t move the needle with recruits, so on. At least when IU hired CMW you could say he had some NBA guys in his corner, league connections would appeal to recruits, he had some theoretical pluses. Alford doesn’t even have that juice.

Since it’s basically an open secret that Dusty’s close to going to UL, why couldn’t Scotty just swoop in and match their offer? Let’s quit goofin’ around.

Tend to agree. Who knows, he could turn out. Think it’s a huge boon for IU’s chances to get Dusty on down the line, honestly: not sure IU could pry him away from the OSU $ if he got it rolling there. Conversely, IU’s big ten money should make it possible to peel him away from Louisville or WVU. Michigan has $ but I think you could probably steal him out of there if he wanted to be at IU given the football/NIL/transfer stuff/program interest

Mine is too so I think I’m qualified to say that @mamasa is safe in the spoonerism technicality

Really hope for this, would be best for all. If he so much as hints that he’s feeling this way in the end-of-season “exit interview,” Scotty should consider a sweetheart job offer where he gets a decent chunk of his buyout as salary for a athletic department job he doesn’t need to show up for too often.

Per Torvik, the only two teams better since 2/8 are UConn and Houston. They’re good. Not saying they’ll go the final 4, but based on Nebraska’s level as a program, that’s very good.

Also Nebraska is legitimately good. But that’s even further reason IU should be better

Not to make every thread the Fire Mike Woodson thread but Nebraska (and somewhat Northwestern) show that you don’t need NBA-level talent to succeed in the league. There are thousands of good guards and IU doesn’t have enough of them because they simply didn’t try hard enough to get them. For some reason IU hired the last two guys on earth to yet realize that you don’t have to play two slow bigs at once the last two times it hired coaches.

Idk, no inside info but people who know things have suggested he was probably up for a 4-5 year commitment. And hey, maybe it works well enough, they do some work with ‘25s, but there’s a transition he doesn’t choose.

I share the concerns about a portal-heavy strategy. One caveat is if you shop at the top of the market, you often know what you’re going to get. I haven’t scrolled this whole list but the top ~20 or so last year are mostly sure things: https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/top/basketball/2023/ So if, in fact, you go get a half-time rim protector, a couple guards and a wing, and you can afford some of the best available, you’re maybe confident in talent and production. Fit and scheme and cohesion matter too. But Alabama this year has a team with a lot of high-level transfer pieces complementing some returners, just to pick a rosy version of what next year could look like. And maybe they give Woody a nice swan song to ride off into retirement.

One silver lining to the end of the season is there are probably fewer holes than the mass exodus we feared, and the vibes should be better and thus more attractive to potential transfers etc.

Yeah Reneau/MM/senior guards/Cupps/2 impact transfers at wing/guard is interesting.

You don’t pay to play in the NIT. Glass said this about the CBI. IU has participated in the NIT when asked

With a couple exceptions, we have almost 700 pages of evidence that we’re almost all on the same page about Woody’s ability to be the long-term solution. However, I think everyone probably needs to get used to the idea he’ll be around next year — gonna be hard to get over the optics of firing a guy who’s 10-10 in conference, team getting better at the end of the year, and did miss his starting PG for much of the year. X can be frustrating but he really does change the defense. Now, Woody needs to work on optics too. Too defensive for a guy who’s walked a pretty fine line every year and still doesn’t seem to get the job, recruiting, what it takes to make the tournament, etc. But the idea that he’s didnt have a case for the job when he got it, or hasn’t done any good things? Just doesn’t hold any water. I’m still gonna crow for Dusty and if he wins big at OSU(?) I’ll be super bummed. Long term, we’re gonna need a new guy. But let’s bring back some hoopers and add some wings and guards.

Somebody want to give me a little more context here?

Jalen Blackmon and Isaiah Swope come on over to Bloomington fellas

Same. It was just much easier to squint and see a good outcome with McNeeley, and even that would’ve needed lots to go right.

Thought about this. Might as well throw in Greg Gumbel, Clark Kellogg, Seth Davis etc. agog at halftime (FAU up 22) and discussing a report from Osterman that May’s expected to take the IU job.

My dream timeline is something like: 1. [whatever happens and IU‘s season ends unceremonious, disappointing, and sad] 2. OSU hires Sean Miller or keeps Diebler, who cares 3. We get a “thank you Coach Woodson” memo, whether he’s retiring or relieved 4. Rumors abound during the FAU tournament championship that May will leave FAU for IU after the season. He brushes it off that he’s coaching his team in the presser after they win the conference tournament title. 5. FAU plays great and wins in a 7/10 or 8/9 game, then gives, say, UConn or Tennessee all they can handle but falls in OT. (Good luck to them but I’d like him on the job soon, selfishly.) 6. IU announces the hire the next day after he tells his team. Surely some of them will join him in Bloomington. 7. May brings Abernathy’s son, keeps Walsh, grabs that guy on the ND staff who played at SIU, let’s rock.