OKHOOSIER

Wow travel maybe, no way that’s a foul.

Real three point clinic by both teams lol

Zero movement on offense.

Ballo switching to left handed on free throws is maybe the best piece of coaching we’ve seen in four seasons.

They’re not calling them. Ballo has gotten hacked at least twice by my count and no call.

That miss makes him 1-13 on the season.

Interior defense still nonexistent

Nice start!

We should play an exhibition game in the HPER every year.

I like this lineup.

That’s such a cool arena. I’m peanut butter and jealous.

Anything further on Ballo yet? Saw he was questionable earlier.

I’ve thought we often play better with Malik on the bench unless he’s playing the 5 which is pretty rare in his career. His inability to guard without fouling and poor rebounding for his size IMO are usually a net negative compared to his scoring. He is the quintessential ball stopper on offense. He either scores/gets fouled or turns it over. Are there times he’s the only person who can seem to get the ball to go through the basket? Absolutely. Probably an unpopular opinion but I don’t think that fact changes that he doesn’t make winning basketball plays. He’s 6-10 and has never averaged more than 6 rebounds a game. Now an argument could be made that’s because he never plays as much as he should since he averages close to 3 fouls per game. Either way, it’s bad. He averages more turnovers than assists. Now an argument could be made that’s because we can’t shoot so he loses potential assists from bricks. I dunno what my point is here, he’s just not a player I enjoy watching lol

Providence is not a good team and isn’t going to make the tournament. SC also is not good, but may sneak in by virtue of the SEC. IMO, 10-10 isn’t gonna get it done for IU. We need 11-9 or 12-8 to be on the bubble, and it’s hard to look at our schedule left and see 10 wins left. With how soft our non-conference schedule was we had to have competent play in the Bahamas. I said it before but Mike Woodson has 5 wins against teams that finished in the AP Poll and three of those are Purdue. Only one of the five is on the road, also Purdue when they shot 21% from 3 and JHS went unconscious. Point being, Mike Woodson’s teams don’t win games as an underdog. It’s a hallmark of his tenure. There’s no reason to think that changes and we win games we shouldn’t with this team. We aren’t making the tournament. Beating Rutgers at home without their best player and letting their other best player drop 39 in AH is hardly cause for celebration. I’ve come around to believe it doesn’t matter if we sneak in the tournament, and he’s most likely gone either way. Time will tell.

Kittens- 82 Team True Fans- 68

Not good

Let’s clear it out and let rice drive.

Goode is not good.

IU- 83 Rutger- 76

Yea we are due to hit some threes at better clip (which for us is like 25+%) which at home should be enough for us to get by Rutgers. That being said, Rutgers has given us fits before when they shouldn’t have. Pikiel seems to find a way to gum up games, so a loss is 100% possible and anyone saying otherwise hasn’t watched us play Rutgers basketball. If the team that shows up is the IU that’s played the last three games we are going to get dog walked out of our building. If they come out and build a solid lead I think we can get a win. Penn State is a loss. I’d be shocked if we go on the road and win that one. The big problem IMO, is we have to hope the other teams lay an egg. We can’t rely on IU to be better and win close against a team playing well. Woodsons teams collapse (or quit if you’re so inclined, but I think it’s more lack of coaching leadership) when they face adversity. It’s the reason he’s got an absurd number of double digit losses and a couple of ties for worst losses in IU history. Our games have gotten more about what the other teams do versus what IU does or causes (defense) the other teams to do. It’s a recipe for mediocre to bad basketball.

Yea as much as I love those two, this whole staff needs to be rebuilt from the ground up by the next coach. Our players don’t get better during the season, I put a lot of that on the assistants. Whether I like or think Woodys defense can be effective is immaterial to the fact no one is or can teach it. Again, I put a lot of that on the assistants. We are poorly coached in basically every facet, and Calbert and Jordy don’t get to be immune from that criticism IMO

Yea I’m with you here. @Home Jersey said it a while back as well. I’m becoming more convinced this will be an ugly divorce. For the sake of the program and any remaining good will for Mike Woodson the player I hope it isn’t, but one need only look at how the last season ended. MW has already shown himself to be petty and vindictive. I have a really hard time believing he graciously bows out. His ego will not allow it. FFS the guy has repeatedly referred to himself in the third person unironically. Nobody with an ounce of self awareness would act as he does. It certainly doesn’t bode well for how this ends. I’m guessing he has to be fired and he’s not going to go quietly. And the MW twitter burner group will be in full revolt against the program.. I almost hope he does the self aggrandizement on the way out, it would be less toxic than what I think is coming.

Really good point here, which I didn’t really consider beyond it being a bad look. Says a couple things really— either the players don’t care the light it paints Woody despite being instructed to watch their actions. Or, they haven’t been instructed anything and they (team, Woody, et. al.) think they are somehow deserving of acting however they want. Given the team and Woodys reactions to criticism last year and acting like they just won the Larry O’Brian after stringing together a couple wins over bad teams I tend toward the latter. It reeks of entitlement and lack of introspection. Zero chance Ballo is benched if that picture doesn’t surface and trying to paint it as an injury is pathetic. Just say it’s a violation of team rules. I’d have respected that.

When I was in college the entire team was at sports the night after we beat the Drew Neitzel MSU team. That was the most fun I’ve ever had at an IU game. My ears were ringing after. It was hilarious because only like half the team was 21 and EJ was barely 18 I think. But they were winning and this was pre instant social media pics. The Stone Age of needing a digital camera. My point being, it’s happened forever, it’s just more visible now. It’s a bad look considering this team stinks, but had we won by 30 no one would care. Even then I don’t care. We wouldn’t have been 20 points better with Ballo in the lineup.

Sigh…. 1. You kick the tires on BS and make sure he knows this will most likely be the last time. He’s already been out of college a long time. IMO, he says no this time, that’s it. 2. Make Dusty say no. 3. Hope McCollum doesn’t stay in Iowa and follow Fran. 4/5. If it gets this far down the list, I’d consider us cooked. I like Huss, I think Micah could be good, still think Shertz could be good too. 6. Anyone but Woody.