lillurk

That struck me as odd, too. Maybe nothing, but maybe a wink, or even just an indicator that either way his subconscious hadn’t let it go

If this all comes to pass he’ll be delusional. But I wonder if the spiking last week was partially driven by him — he was the most prominent public voice about this. I know Rabby and various other IU-adjacent journos mentioned the possibility. It got spiked Friday, he let it go, story died down. Mission accomplished?

I’d agree and say: be realistic and curious, let it be fun, and root for the next coach even if it’s not your top pick

I have no source(s) for things but the grapevine has been good before the optimism started showing up tonight. Nothing that isn’t out there.

The collective insider optimism! Whooooaaa boy

Their hot board changes every day to get folks to read it, not literally because the horse race changes every day

My premise is that the extension to stay at Providence is the reason Cooley was interested in the first place. Not that he wouldn’t have taken the UM job, I guess, but his I’d assume his preferred outcome was to stay and UM’s was Howard.

By “I don’t think,” I mean the best UM coverage was clear that it was Copley’s side pushing his candidacy.

I got some pushback for bringing it up but UM was not interested, I don’t think. It worked out for everyone: Cooley got a raise and UM got their coach.

Oats REALLY should’ve waited to sign an extension even if he wanted to stay

I like the way you’re thinking.

None of the former players are near the top of my list and I stand by my Beard/Muss guess...but it’s not terribly hard to imagine Woody, Fife, or even Calbert being a good college coach.

I do think all this strum und drang is fun/funny and even occasionally informative, but it’s all just biding time for Beard or Musselman.

In addition, do you really think they’ll hire Woodson/Fife/Beilein NOW instead of talking to Beard/Muss/Oats?

I will be shocked if it’s Woody. But if it is, I won’t be shocked if he does well for awhile. I’m sick of winning press conferences and losing games.

A list of names recruits would recognize that Mike Woodson probably has in his phone: Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson, Dell Curry (“Steph’s dad”), Sam Cassell, Shawn Kemp, Andre Miller, Allen Iverson, Ben Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, Ty Lue, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, J.R. Smith, Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Baron Davis, Jason Kidd, Rasheed Wallace, Tim Hardaway Jr., Tyson Chandler, Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, Paul Pierce, Chris Paul, J.J. Redick, Lou Williams, DeAndre Jordan, Tobias Harris, Montrezl Harrell, Blake Griffin, Danilo Gallinari, Doc Rivers, Julius Randle, Kenny Smith, Hakeem Olajuwon, Steve Kerr. Woody played with or coached everyone above.

Thank you, exactly this. You probably couldn’t interview any of the current HCs any earlier than maybe Beard sometime this week? So instead of sitting on your hands you talk to some other folks, even coaches you almost certainly wouldn’t hire at this point. Matta makes sense as a high choice IF he’s healthy, as has been said pretty frequently. Not at all crazy. If he’s not, well. Franklin and Stewart would be nice to keep, but they’re both going to hear out the new coach, whoever and whenever that happens. Everyone relax. M

I think he’s a good player evaluator but my guess is his best connections at IU re: bball all lost their jobs last week.

I believe he posted it in good faith but might not have been following journalistic best practices (two or more sources). And/or his source(s) are bad. I don’t believe it’s true. It sure seems like Dolson or intermediaries have talked to lots of folks, more folks than I would imagine are actually on his shortlist. Biding time until Beard and later Muss can talk, I’d guess.

This, exactly this. Yes the Waltons absolutely COULD throw money at the program and its coaches but they haven’t really tried that up to now. Musselman’s transience is not a problem. He immediately made Nevada better than it had been IN ITS HISTORY, then left for a better job. He has gotten Arkansas near its historic peak, 1994 notwithstanding, in two years. Indiana is a better job than Arkansas. What’s a better job than Indiana? To Muss, probably the NBA. But two issues there: 1. If he leaves for a pro job, it probably means he did very well at IU, and 2. The NBA tried him twice already, so he’d be a retread who would probably not get tons of interest at that level unless he REALLY crushed it for awhile in college.

It seems most likely to me that the person who should be embarrassed is the guy at Rivals who printed the rumor, not IU

Yeah Smith was always good but flawed, as is every player. It’s not his fault he was deployed incorrectly at IU. Also, if he’d played here for the coach who originally recruited him, he probably would’ve canned 35% of his 3s

I think Matta and Beilein are a bit different due to age. If we knew Matta was perfectly healthy he’d be near the top of the list for most, I think. Now, we’re in no position to know that. Scott Dolson is, we’d hope.

Curious for an expert to weigh in and in this specific case it’s moot since it’s been denied by far better reporters than initially reported the wrong thing. I have two guesses: 1. You’re right and it’s not strictly legal, OR 2. it’s permissible if both parties consent to it

I’m sure they’re saying this but it’s a crazy take. You don’t get a title for being a top ten or top five team. How many times has UNC even had the most talent in the ACC in that time? Once or less IMHO.