cthomas

I certainly understand the argument. But have we seen the ceiling with that frontcourt? I'm not smart enough to know. I do think we are better with X coming back. I thought he grew more than anyone else during the course of the season. The personnel decisions are way above my pay grade. I'm just not sure, as much as I like our players, that most of them coming back gets IU to the next level in the conference. Some combination of the best of what we have and an influx of better talent seems to be the best way forward. Tough choices all around.

Anyone doing that kind of thing in my office would have been gone asap.

I think this may be a generational conversation. I was thinking about Woodson's reputation as a well respected player. I am an old guy here and Fife is way down my list of former players. If Fife has the coaching chops, he will be fine. I hope he finds a better fit. CMW signed on to restore IU basketball to the elite level. If he fails to do that, then yes, I think he takes the bigger hit.

What I meant was that CMW has the most to lose if he can't restore the IU brand. He had very little to gain by taking the job. He can only tarnish his reputation by failing here. And, for the record, I don't think he will.

The internal politics don't really matter. Basketball is a business and this sort of thing happens in the business world all the time. Dane Fife was never, in my opinion, ever going to be the savior of the IU program. I'm shocked that so many people seem to be upset about this. It's just an organizational change. Nothing more. I don't care what Dakich, or anyone else, thinks about this decision. What matters is what CMW does going forward. He has more skin in this game than anyone else. Have a little faith. If CMW is wrong, he is the one who will suffer the consequences.

CMW will have more to say about who is on the roster next year than the guys currently on the team. He knows what he wants the team to look like and how he wants to play. The team wasn't that last season. It was make shift at best. I love the kids we have, but we need more talent. There will be changes in that direction, both on the staff and the players.

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about assistant coaches and don't know specifically what each one does. I pay attention to the product on the floor. I liked Fife as a player, anyone who will bite an opposing players leg is alright by me. But as an assistant coach, I have no idea. When I hired people, outside of their technical skill, their potential fit within my team was most important. If I didn't think they would fit, I didn't hire them. Right now, the most important thing is for CMW to find those people. It's his ship and the only thing that matters is that he has people around him who are on the same page.

I'm sure he has someone at home to ease his pain.

Probably would have left the court on a stretcher.

I believe we are going to love this young man at IU. We can talk about wings and bigs all day long, but all of our best teams have had a great point guard. Cupps could be the one who attracts the talent that leads us to the promised land.

I believe that CMW knows what needs to happen with our roster. He has been around basketball for to long not to. I don't want to kick anyone to the curb because I like these kids and how they have represented the program. But this is a business. And talent wins games. I feel confident that coach Woodson has a good feel now for what he needs to win in our conference. I believe he will make the decisions necessary to move the program forward.

The team was obviously pressing most of that half. Kept them out of sync. Need to take a breath and just play.

Fair enough. There is plenty of room to interpret the results. While I think when taken as a whole, the team looked much improved over the last couple of years. The glaring exception was the three point shooting. That deficiency alone cost several wins including Iowa. The way they were nearly always competitive, for me, was a significant step forward.

Without a doubt he was the best and the worst. Like I have said before, I have followed IU basketball since the late '50's and have seen it all, the great and the bad. Coach Knight was and is a complicated man from a different time. It's possible to appreciate what he accomplished and to not want to go back to those times. I try to not hold people to standards that did not apply to their time. Hopefully, we have learned a better way to treat people and are moving forward. One of the things that I really like about Coach Woodson is that he embraces his history with Coach Knight without being the second coming of him.

I was there for all of Coach Knight's years at IU. He was a great coach, no question. I loved and hated him at different times. I believe he was a bully and an incredible a**. But those were different times and a lot of that was acceptable back then. I had coaches who were just as bad. It didn't hurt me in the least. I think, as with a lot of things these days, you have to view him within the context of the times and not judge him by today's standards. I hope he is at peace with his history and can accept the appreciation that so many have for him. I also hope he can also accept the pain he caused to some who were not able to deal with his style of coaching. I will always enjoy the memories of those great teams and will keep those memories within the context of the time.

I saw it and thought it was unnecessary at best and possibly costly. He's not 100% there yet but I like how he is playing. Sometimes you have to take a little bit of that to get the edge and passion you want. He has come a long way and I hope he is back for another year. He can be a top point guard next year.

The good news is that they have played as many games as we have so conditioning shouldn't be a factor. If we continue with the same level of defense, we have a puncher's chance. Iowa's defense is not good enough to be the difference.

Personally, I think CMW has done a good job with this team. When was the last time that IU has been playing really good basketball at this time of year? He has kept them engaged during trying times and has them securely in the dance. And, he has done it while maintaining control of the program. For all the second guessing he received for the suspensions before the Northwestern game, the bigger picture is more important than any one win or game. The culture is changing. I, for one, am glad to see it.

We have made a lot of fun of Kofi Cockburn in his time at Illinois, hopefully all in good fun, but he is an easy young man to root for. He just plays without acting crazy or complaining about calls. I hate that he plays for them, but I have tremendous respect for him.

I'm really proud of the growth that XJ has shown over the course of the year. He has turned into the point guard we have needed. These last few games we are getting about as much out of this team as they have to give. Win or lose, can't really ask for more.

The future of coaching. For what it's worth, my wife is convinced I'm an alien.

I've been a closet follower of the women's team for a few years. Glad to see that we have replaced Purdue and Notre Dame as the best in state. Hopefully, we are building a sustainable dynasty.

Say what you want, and I know this is a bottom line world, but this team with all of its warts has, maddeningly at times, taken us to the very last second. We have been right there in nearly every game. That's more than you could say in recent years and, if I look at it objectively, that feels like progress. Maybe the comparative talent isn't there yet, but these kids haven't quit. They deserve, regardless of the results, more credit than criticism from us. There is at least one more game. Hopefully, more. I will be there to support them until the end.

I really like this young man and that he has an outstanding family is just a bonus.

He was an idiot. Part of being good at anything is understanding where you are and what is expected. Sampson clearly either didn't understand or didn't care. The team he put together, outside of a few guys, was hard for me to root for. He definitely knows how to coach, I'll give him that. But the other nonsense was unnecessary and unacceptable.