BGleas

He's pretty plugged in. Played at Michigan and is tied into the Big Ten. His content is a mix of analysis, some recruiting type stuff and entertainment type stuff mostly again focused on the Big Ten.

There is buzz and there's winning. If they're both at IU, I'd bet Ledlum has a bigger impact on IU winning game than Ware. Ware wins you the offseason, I'd bet Ledlum wins you more games in-season.

Is it realistic though? I don't mean to go at Wayne, he's a great, longtime poster of course. But is it realistic to act like recruiting is in the tank and next season is already going to be bad when the roster isn't set and literally not a single portal player that the staff is recruiting has committed anywhere, other than the one that already committed to IU? Wayne of course brings up some real questions and concerns, I'm not debating that. But, we're a long, long way from recruiting and next season already being in the tank.

Honestly, at this point I'd rather we recruit like Texas, UConn, Houston, Baylor, Miami, SDSU, Villanova from a few years ago, Michigan under Beilein, etc. Multi-skilled, multidimensional guys that are tough and athletic. We need to find guys like that in the portal, and while they need work and development I think/hope that Banks, Gunn, Newton and Cupps fit that mold. We don't need to recruit like Duke, Kansas and UK.

That's why I said people have different definitions. My definition, and many others, of hit it out of the park is what I said in my post. Finding pieces that fit. Getting at least 2 more guard/wings that fit the culture and are multi-skilled playmakers. Also, landing your main targets and not having to go to option 3, 4, 5, etc., to get players. Others think we need too land massive recruits from UNC, Kansas, etc., that are former top 30 recruits with ever portal transfer or else it's a failure. But, not everyone means that when they say "hit it out of the park".

Elite or not, that's just semantics. I look at XJ and say, which Big Ten point guard on another team would you trade XJ for straight up? I'm not completely up to speed on who all is coming back on the other teams, but I'd guess the list of point guards that you trade XJ for in the conference is pretty small. On top of that, we weren't even supposed to really have him back. It's almost like a portal win in and of itself.

I think people have different definitions of "hit it out of the park". IMO hitting it out of the park isn't necessarily getting 3 former 5* burger boys that are in the portal. To me, Woodson hitting it out of the park would be IU landing 3 of the top 5 or so guys we're targeting. Getting 2 more guard/wing playmakers and scorers that are ready to start and/or play 20mpg. Its about getting guys that fit what Woodson is trying to do, that help us move to a more perimeter oriented system and fit the culture that's being built.

You're not wrong. The prospects of next season are going to rely heavily on who Indiana gets in the portal, while also on improvement from guys like Banks, Reneau and Gunn. With that said, again I agree that Woodson needs to hit the portal out of the park (though I think we disagree a bit on what that actually means), but your stance that he hasn't yet is a bit dooms day. Nothing has happened yet. Nobody IU is targeting has made a decision yet. Woodson hasn't lost anybody that he's targeted yet. Maybe we reserve the dooms day until that happens? It doesn't matter that we get the highest rated guys, it matters that we get the guys Woodson is targeting and all of them are still in play.

I've been mixes on Caleb Love. As Wayne said, we NEED more guard and wing scorers and playmakers. Like, really bad. With that said, my UNC fan friends were jumping for joy when Love announced his transfer. They've also all been laughing at me since it was announced that Indiana was interested. They all think it's hilarious, and this isn't a group-think text chain or anything. They're all unrelated friends I've talked to separately.

I have a ton of respect for high school coaches, as I'm sure everyone here does. They give their blood, sweat and tears to the game and the develop of kids for very little in return in terms of money. With that said, this take that average high school coaches are better than NBA coaches is one of the most ludicrous takes I've ever read in something like 15 years of posting on these various message boards.

Exactly, and like we were saying yesterday, even Woodson has said he hasn't run his NBA style due to his personnel since getting to Indiana. This isn't some NBA system that Woodson has run here.

Bro, not only watch it, worked in the league for 5 years. Been on the team planes, been in the locker rooms during games. That's one example, rarely works. There's a reason there was a big article about it rare.

I wasn't talking about execution, never mentioned execution. I was speaking on the actions and designs that NBA coaches run. They're way more sophisticated and it's not remotely close. I never mentioned anything about JHS. We ran some high ball screen action for him, mostly against Purdue and other defenses that played drop coverage, but there were times Woodson did run some very well designed sets to get JHS to that open mid range. What's your point?

It depends on what you mean by less varied? Are you referring to junk defenses like a triangle and 2 that high school coaches sometimes run? Ok, sure varied, but only because you'd get absolutely torched running garbage defense in the NBA. NBA defenses schematically are light-years more sophisticated and complicated than any HS defense. It's laughable to suggest otherwise. Same for offense. The actions NBA coaches develop to create specific mismatches are also infinitely more sophisticated than any HS offense.

Honestly, I've been posting on these various boards since 2008 and you're take on this is one of the widlest, craziest I've ever seen. The offenses in the NBA are infinitely better, the actions they run are infinitely better, the ATO's are infinitely better than anything in college or high school, and defenses are way more sophisticated.

Right! NBA defenses are way more sophisticated than anything in college and certainly high school.

I watch a ton of NBA, and have my entire life, also worked for an NBA team for 5 years. The idea that even the best Indiana HS coaches are as good as NBA coaches with X's and O's is ludicrous.

Don't mean to speak for @btownqb but I think the confusion is that he's referring to stylistically I don't think he's saying Cupps should have been a 5* burger boy, and hes not saying Cupps is coming in and starting with 25mpg. He's saying that several people have compared Cupps game to Hulls which isnt very accurate. Cupps game stylistically and the attributes he he has are more like how Yogi played.

Yeah, my thing coming into the season was I was hoping the offense would look more like it did during BTT last season when we ran much more PnR with XJ and TJD, as opposed to running through the post. It happened some this season in certain matchups (ie against Purdue both times), but not as much as I was anticipating. In Woodson's defense, I think the offense would have looked different if XJ and JHS had been healthy at the same time. We only saw that for a handful of games.

Wait, wait, did you actually say Indiana HS coaches are better then NBA coaches? Please tell me I misread that?

Sure there are always exceptions and guys at each level that stand out, but generally speaking NBA coaches are way more sophisticated in terms of X's and O's. Much better with ATO's and especially defensively.

I haven't seen Cupps enough to know, but everything I've read and heard says he's a much better athlete than Hulls. Not much really of a comparison between the two. Also in terms of style, Hulls, who was great, was a shooting guard in a point guards body. Cupps is a point guard.

NBA guys are excellent with X's and O's. Way more advanced then college coaches.

Agree. Just saying if he did go to Maryland, while certainly a great pull for Willard, you never know how the pieces are going to actually fit together. While Dickinson can hit 3's, he's still best around the paint, same with Reece, and how does that impact Young's ability to penetrate. I'd be surprised if Dickinson stays in the Big Ten too though.

And who knows? If Maryland gets Dickinson, it could flop. Young, Dickinson and Reece sounds like a great group, but how well do Reece and Dickinson play together? How does that work offensively. You just never know. Remember that Maryland team that had Trimble, Stone, the Suluiman (sp?) and Layman? They were really good with Layman at the 4 and that core group. The next year they added that transfer at the 4, I think from Georgia Tech maybe? But, that pushed Layman to the wing, taking away his advantage of being defended by 4's the previous season, and the transfer 4 and Stone didn't really mesh. They had a decent season, but weren't close to being National Title contenders that they were touted to be. Long story, short, the pieces don't always fit.