BGleas

Tough to say. I think it's on Woodson, and I mean that both positively and negatively. Positively because it's a great move IMO, and he's changing/adapting the offensive sets. Negatively because what took so long and why did we spend the first 5 or so games with 2 bigs on the block and just throwing it to them while everyone stood around watching? I don't think that has anything to do with XJ. I mean, these sets aren't the players gelling, these are schemati, purposeful changes. I'd also expect XJ to play very well in this style (assuming it stays) when healthy.

Absolutely! Love it and really, really hoping it stays.

Yeah, that's where I'm at too. With the actions IU has been running the ladt few games, Galloway has almost reminded me of XJ when he went on that run the end of the season in his first year here. If we can keep running this stuff for Galloway and get XJ back healthy and have them both running this stuff, then we may have a pretty good team here. I know XJ wasn't playing great early before his injury, but remember Galloway wasn't playing great either, and that was when the offense was essentially dump it to the post with 2 bigs down there and everyone stand around and watch. We could have a pretty good team with Galloway and XJ the head of the snake so to speak, running DHO's, ball screen actions with Ware, and creating space for Galloway and XJ to play with pace and space.

I just really hope we keep playing offense the way we have the last few games. The offense is much different the last few games and I pray that it stays. While we're still playing two bigs together largely, we're not just dumping into two bigs on the block while everyone stands around. We're running more chin action, horns action, Galloway curling on pin down DHO's, etc., etc. We're playing with more pace and space and using Galloway as the engine instead of running everything through bigs on the block. I don't expect us to shoot that well again from deep, but it wasn't just luck. Many of us that have been calling for more 3's have also been calling for a different offensive system that would create more rhythm 3's, and last night, and really the last couple of games we've seen that. We need to be using our bigs in DHO's, ball screens, etc., to get guys like Galloway and XJ (when he gets back), and even guys like Cupps and Walker going downhill. Our guards still aren't super great, but we need to play with pace and space, and it just creates more action for everyone, including the bigs.

Sounds like it. I only read 1-2 pages of this thread.

Admittedly, I haven't come across a great clip of that last play yet, but in what I've seen I don't see anything even close to a foul?

Yeah, Bates or not, the biggest issue is that we didn't replace that production whatsoever.

That's why I put the second part of my sentence in there. Woodson is the one that said he had to get there quick. Also, let's be real here, college basketball is almost a completely different sport today than when Coach K took over at Duke. There's really no comparing those situations. Just to be clear though, I'm not saying Woodson's expectations are really realistic, but he is the one who set them publicly.

Let's give Woodson some credit though. He's been in the coaching game for 40 years at the highest level. He was a head coach in the largest media market in the world. He's plenty PR savvy. He knows what happens when you say publicly that your expectations are Big Ten and National Titles. There's other ways to convey confidence and belief in your program than publicly saying that. Mike Woodson has been around long enough to know that.

He didn't only tell the players that. He told the fans and the media. He set the expectations publicly.

Prettt sure Mike Woodson said his expectations are Big Ten and National titles, and he said that under the backdrop of admitting he didn't have a lot of time to get there.

What coaches used to do is completely irrelevant. They do infinitely more than what other current Big Ten coaches get away with.

That's fine and well, but Izzo and Fran acting like whiny babies, while other coaches and players get T'd up for essentially nothing isn't the answer.

Agree to disagree.

Always been one of my gripes, among others, with Izzo (Fran too). He's allowed to act like a raving, petulant child on the sideline and nothing happens. Then another coach calmly complains and they get T'd up.

In fairness, Ware is averaging 30mpg and Reneau is at 28mpg (also important to note he's in foul trouble sometimes so that impacts his minutes at times).

Yeah, our frontcourt is obviously strong, but we need to surround them with equally as talented guards and wings. While I love Reneau and Ware, my personal preference is to have one guy like that with 4's more like Watford, Troy Williams and OG, and then stellar guards and wings.

This is spot-on post. Anybody that watched the NCAA Tournament last season could see that IU was way behind the real contenders in tes of guard and wing play. These teams going deep in March almost all have dynamic, shotmaking, playmaking guards and wings, and not just one but multiple. We've lacked in that aspect since 2016.

I'm a fan! I'd maybe go "Hoosiers" in the script lettering instead of Bloomington though.

This!

The Maryland guy touched the ball before any contact, and my view was the PSU guy actually dozed through the Maryland player. The pass was coming right at the UMD player and the PSU player came flying sideways into him.

Really questionable call.

Ugh, my bad! I was reading too fast.

Largely agree with you here, really good points. But I do want to ask a clarifying question. When you say you want Gunn to shoot more, do you mean from the perimeter? I'd agree that Gunn needs to use his athleticism to get more shots slashing and at the rim. We need more of that and so far Galloway is really the only guy we have that can do that. Gunn using his athleticism to get easy shots at the basket and as you said get some assists and playmaking going by attacking could really help. But, his perimeter shot is historically bad to this point in his career. I want him taking less perimeter shots, far less, not more. He's been really bad from the outside, like shooting multiple airballs bad. Not even close on his shots.

Just going to assume I'm in the "half the fans", which isn't really accurate. Just making my position crystal clear. I haven't said Cupps is playing well. He's not. We can't have a starting point guard play 20 minutes and basically put up all zeros in the boxscore. That's losing basketball against good teams. With that said, he makes less mistakes than Gunn right now. Gunn is a mess on both ends right now. Cupps clearly has more trust from the coaches, it's crystal clear. If Gunn had so much potential then it really should be super easy to take minutes from Cupps. Gunn isn't doing it and hasn't shown it. So with two guys struggling a coach is going to go with the one that takes less off the table, even if the other guy maybe has the potential to put more on the table. But again, to be crystal clear, my stance is NOT that Cupps is playing really well.