BGleas

I dont really think that's it. They were horrible at the charge/block call before the semi circle was introduced in the college game. College refs reward the defense way too much for crappy defense. The benefit of the doubt should always go to the offensive player on those bang-bang block/charge calls. But college refs love to call charges.

There is no worse officiating in sports than a college basketball ref calling a charge. They're absolutely horrendous at it. It's worse than NFL refs trying to figure out what a catch is.

I mean, they're pretty educated guesses, not just random guesses. There's a reason Trey Galloway started 25 games last season and averaged 28mpg. There's a reason CJ Gunn only played in 20 games last season and only averaged 7.5mpg. Can CJ Gunn improve? Absolutely. But, we also know he's starting with a pretty wide gap between he and Trey Galloway. We also know that Woodson tends to lean toward veterans in these cases and that Woodson definitely believes in and trusts Galloway. Things can change for sure with improvement, but we know heading into the offseason that the coaching staff thinks Galloway is clearly ahead of Gunn. If not, Gunn would have been in the rotation last season and Galloway wouldn't have played 28mpg. By your posting standards on this topic then we can't project any starters for next season. I guess we can't project or assume that XJ will start at PG? He and Gabe Cupps are starting at a level playing field? We can't assume Mgbako will start? We can't project anything?

Agree as well. He's very skilled and had good footwork, and while not always a willing passer he showed strong skills there, especially out of the high post. Agree with him being strong as a small ball 5 as well, sort of what I meant by the square peg, round hole thing since he'll most likely spend most of his time at the 4. But, with his handle and passing when he does it, he can be a great player if he also comes back and can confidently knock down shots in the pick and pop. A ton of potential and value with development.

My thought on all of this that the lineups are going to be interesting. Completely agree Woodson wants to run a more open, guard oriented offense, as he's directly said. I'd imagine a lot of the sets you've mentioned will be in play or similar. The player I'm most curious about at this point is Reneau. Great talent and I'm a fan, but I also think he's a bit of a square peg in a round hole in terms of what Woodson wants to do. He's still more of a post-up, paint big. He showed some flashes of a perimeter shot early last season, but if I'm Reneau I'm making 300-500 3pt shots everyday this offseason. I see us running a lot of ball screen action with Ware, and Ware is not a post-up, paint big, he's more of a rim-runner, which is great but you also don't want Reneau standing in the paint while that's happening, so would be great if he can knock down spot up 3's while that is happening. I think Woodson prefers 4's like Mgbako (not saying he's playing the 4), Anthony Walker, previous IU guys like Troy Williams and Watford, or like how he deployed Josh Smith and Carmelo in Atlanta and NYC. Again, if I'm Reneau I'm spending all summer becoming a reliable spot-up 3pt shooter. If I'm Kaleb Banks I'm working my butt off all summer with the mentality that I'm beating out Reneau for that 4 spot so we have an ultra-athletiic, interchangeable lineup of Ware, Banks, Mgbako, Galloway and XJ. Not saying Banks starts, just saying if I'm him then that's my mentality this summer. But again, a very wordy, long way of saying Reneau is the wildcard here in my opinion in terms of style of play.

I wouldn't categorize Ware as an "under the basket big". He's not a post player. He's a long, athletic PnR big that can pick/pop as well as rim run. This isn't a dump into the post 7-footer. He'll be out on the perimeter setting ball screens, flaring and rolling to the basket for lobs and put backs.

Yup, and I'd be selling that hard to MM right now. It doesn't even have to be 100% accurate to sell it. At IU, we've got 4 guys at the 4 and 5, you're a straight up wing here.

If I'm Woodson I would have called MM right after that Kansas player announced his transfer to remind him he's absolutely a wing at IU and looks like he'll be playing in the paint and defending 4's and 5's at Kansas.

It's not a possibility though, it's a certainty. It might not be Mgbako, but Woodson has made no secret that he's looking for minimum 1 and most likely 2 guards/wings that are starter caliber. Gunn and Banks both know this. They've had 6 weeks+ to enter the portal if they were uncomfortable with that. Friday's decision is sort of irrelevant to it, those spots are getting filled.

Why? Those players know IU is recruiting Mgbako. They knew we were recruiting Ledlum and others. They know Woodson is trying to fill at least one, if not both, open scholarships with wings/guards. They've known filling those spots was not only possible, but probable, and they've had 6'ish weeks to enter the portal. These aren't secrets.

The most likely scenario is that he actually has no real information.

Matt Carlino's response...

First, the staff is capable of multi-tasking. Because Walker is visiting and if he commits it doesn't mean the staff thinks that is the #1 priority. It's just the timing. But, do agree we need to address those guard/wing issues. On your 2nd point, I'd rather have this guy than a freshmen. It's the equivalent of an NBA team getting a vet minimum guy as their 10th guy vs an undrafted free agent. I'd rather have a kid who, albeit in limited minutes, has played at Duke, at UNC, in the Final Four, etc., etc. to replace Reneau when he inevitably gets in foul trouble on the road in the Big Ten as opposed to some freshmen big ranked 147th in his class.

Funny. I played bball in the same conference as Slippery Rock. Played them twice each season.

Yeah, the program I coach in (my team is 13U) all of our older/HS level teams are at a live period even in Pittsburgh this weekend.

It's also a really big AAU weekend, so while that doesn't impact transfer visits, it does impact hs recruit visits and also probably has our staff on the road and not on campus.

We actually got better after he went down but I get what you're doing.

And having 5 future NBA players around you that the defense is focused on. That team had way more talent than this years, it's not really close.

It's about overall talent and guard play really. Zeisloft was surrounded by 5 guys that eventually played in the NBA, and that doesn't even include Robert Johnson and JBJ. That team was pretty stacked, making a guy like Zeisloft even more valuable. That team had multiple guys that could break a defense down and get a bucket. While we certainly need guys like Zeisloft, we need those other pieces (guards and wings that can create and score) much more.

I would lean more towards nothing really changed and "every person who seemed to know anything" didn't really know that much, if anything.

A little different, Indiana had 2 McDonald's AA's on its 2013-14, along with the 7th rank 2012 class returning and 4th ranked 2013 class coming in. Not remotely the same thing. With Furst (5.5ppg and Loyer (11ppg) as our best returning players people would be going nuts with negativity.

Huh? If Indiana was returning a team with Furst and Loyer as their best players, this board would be jumping off the ledge and demanding Woodson be fired.

The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards the idea that both Reneau and Ware might not start together. A lot of that depends on who else we get in the portal of course. Say we get Ledlum and Knecht, I'd say there's a decent chance both Reneau and Ware don't start. Both guys only averaged 15mpg last season. I don't see a guy like Galloway in that scenario going from 28mpg to 6th man, especially when also given Woodson's expressed desire to play a more perimeter oriented style. You'd go XJ, Galloway, Knecht, Ledlum, Ware/Reneau. Then you have a bench of Ware/Reneau, Banks, Cupps, Newton/Gunn and Sparks.

Right, and I think Ware fits that style really well.

We did some with TJD, but once XJ went down we largely ran the offense through the post. We did PnR heavy when JHS had a clear mismatch (ie Purdue with Edey playing drop coverage). With TJD and Race both of their best attributes was posting up. Ware has almost no post-game at all, that's not his strength. Ware also can shoot a bit and I think Reneau can develop that too. Reneau hit some perimeter shots early in the season. Beyond that, I'm not 100% convinced they both start. Not saying they won't both start, I just think there's a chance they don't both start. With Ware, I'd envision his game his PnR, catching lobs and almost crashing the boards from the perimeter after setting screens. I don't really see him in the paint that often, I see him way more active in terms of movement in the halfcourt compared to TJD.