cthomas

CMW seems to have a really good handle on what he wants. This coming year may be the worst team he puts on the floor and, right now, it looks pretty good. The next class is shaping up to be very good. What he has done in such a short period of time is incredible. I love his demeanor and the way he relates to the kids. If he can't restore IU to greatness, then it can't be done. I loved him as a player and I love him even more as a coach.

That's the kind of statement a leader makes. If the leader is the point guard, so much the better.

Given the limited amount of practice time they've had and the number of new players, this went extremely well. Effort was there and more importantly, they seemed to enjoy playing together. This coach knows what he is doing and the team seems to believe in him. I'm expecting an enjoyable season.

Nice to see we getting back into form. I've read in a couple of places some criticism about a win that probably very few expected. Maybe I am blind, but beating a professional European team in the first time several of these kids played together should be a very positive sign. Of course there's work to do. We have time to put that work in. I, for one, am very encouraged by the start of the CMW era of Indiana basketball.

Kid is going to be a monster sooner than later. What a great job by CMW in landing him. If we build from this, we fans will be very happy going forward.

I never want to criticize kids, but everything has to be earned at every level. Entitlement, and I have no information about that, will never make you popular with your teammates. The best kids need to be the hardest workers. That's how a program is built.

I know we all get excited, but this team has potential. Let's give them time to figure things out and settle on who the main guys are going to be. Once roles are established and accepted, look out.

I think, at least for a while, we will need to make a living in the portal to round out classes or fill specific needs. I don't necessarily like it, but this is the new landscape of college basketball. High school kids are the first priority, but experienced older kids are right behind. The days of having a team of kids that we get to watch for four years are more or less over.

The Pacers are always going to be the Pacers. I enjoyed the ABA years and a bit of Reggie Miller days. After the brawl, I pretty much checked out.

You got that right. I always hate narratives that are based on one side of the story. I have no love for Wisconsin, but one sided stories are the opposite of journalistic responsibility.

Sounds like tapering and I'm sure things are going to get messy. Like wild, wild west messy. Given the current state of the NCAA, there's really no incentive not to get down in the dirt.

Couldn't agree more. I posted something similar in the another thread. No doubt someone on staff is responsible for monitoring and researching guys in the portal.

I have no doubt we will get some guys out of our '22 targets. But possibly not everything we want. The portal will be a familiar and and nice tool to fill out the roster, especially for a coach who used something very similar in the NBA.

If we fail to find what we want in the recruiting cycle, expect CMW to hit the portal. I think that will be plan B going forward. Coach is well versed in the free agent market and I expect him to exploit it.

Sounds like someone has finally gotten serous about basketball.

All things considered, I'll take our hire over UNC's or Duke's. I think the NBA connection is the way forward for college coaches wanting the best talent available.

Age does seem to compress people. Over the last 65 years I've lost about an inch and a half. I think I'm going to like young Mr Bates quite a bit.

Great to see an almost normal 500. And a very deserving winner.

I think we hired an upfront, honest, soft spoken coach who is also a hard @$$. It's about time!

I wonder how much of that contributed to Dane Fife wanting to get out of there. I'm hoping a lot. I don't want to think that we hired someone who was OK with what was going on in that athletic department. For the record, I don't think we did. Time will tell.

Just from reading these recruiting threads, we seem to be playing in the big boy pool now. CMW and staff are not messing around.

CMW seems all about development. This is a chance to show his chops.

It's fun for us to speculate about where guys will play and what their role will be. I really think that CMW is going to push players out of their comfort zone and expand what they do. I expect to see a lot of growth take place as the year goes on. After a summer and fall of work, Durr may surprise us. He may also allow TJD to spend more time out of the paint to show off his expanded game. AND, if CMW has anything to say about it, TJD will have an expanded game.

This is a problem with a lot of coaches. The ego is too big to consider that someone else might have something to offer. That same ego will not allow them to accept responsibility when something goes wrong. We have seen that, I believe, with our last four coaches to varying degrees. I get a sense that is not the case with CMW. I think we have our guy.

YIkes! Didn't care for his coaching style or the weird kind of vibe about him, but hoped he would do well at his next stop.