OKHOOSIER

I tend to agree about Tucker, but at what spot? Is this assuming Tucker at the 3 or 2? This is the big sticking point for me. Do we land a 5 and have three dudes out of position again? Or a high level 2 and backup 5 and really change the offense? I know what I think Woody will do, but the next few gets will be telling as to whether the offense is getting opened up, or more of the same with two centers and feeding the post.

I don't care how much we spend as long as it is on players that fit a need and fill a hole in our roster. You absolutely make a high-major FOTY who fills a very specific need on this roster a massive offer. I had not watched any of his highlights until recently and this is a must get, and that is before the personal story. Wondering your opinion on if this would have any affect on Conwell? The thought of those two in the backcourt is beyond exciting to me. Just wonder if the skill set overlap would prevent one or the other. If Woody landed Rice and Conwell, I would go on record as Mike Woodson: Cookin'

I think the main problem with this is Ware. His presence consistently gave MR an option out of double teams, but with Ware on the court it was typically more of a dig down by the wing as opposed to a true double. Teams couldn't leave Ware open or covered by a guard or wing on the other block. This accounted for a lot of MR assists, it was much less about his vision and passing to the perimeter as it was the pressure Ware put on defenses. If you squint there was potential for a pretty electric offense last year if we had just added consistent shooting/guard play. When Ware sat and we continued pounding the ball to MR and he was doubled it was not great. But I do not put that on MR, I put that on scheme. They opened it up a little more at the tail end of the season, but there were long stretches where MR was the only option on offense. MM was not shooting well, gallo looked like a shell of the shooter he was in 22, and Cupps offered no offensive creativity at all. I may be in the minority, and while obviously we need MR and he is an excellent scorer, we often looked and played better basketball when he was on the bench in foul trouble (with Ware and MM in, not Sparks/Walker).. Sometimes good players are a net negative when it comes to winning (Love at UNC vs AZ) in a certain scheme. MR should not be a focal point on offense the way TJD was, and on a good team would play much fewer minutes. Sorry for the long ramble, the short version is the scheme, roster, and playing people out of natural positions is a huge problem for this offseason, and another Kelel Ware is not walking through the door.

I still tell my wife “Hey, watch the leather man” anytime we take my car.

Well that takes Muss off the board and probably Beard. I have friend pretty tied to UA AD and beard is probably the favorite.

Well I mostly agree, but XJ was hurt 2/3s of the year and Gallo started like 25 games.

And in case anyone else was holding on to the farce that our NIL was special compared to other huge programs, Kansas offered AJ Storr 750K. Which he turned down because he wants 1mm. Storr and his handlers being idiots aside, I say that because it proves we are swimming in a pool where proven high major dudes can get huge money from the bluest of the blue bloods. And AJ Storr is just an example who I don’t think is even worth 750k much less a million. Without a solid plan to change the offense and/or a new basketball coach, money is not going to buy the team our administration seems to think it will when the root of the problem is the coaching staff and their schemes. This will be overpaid mercenaries seeking money Kansas won’t even offer— we can hope Indiana ties helps, though I doubt it does to the extent many believe. Relieve Mike Woodson of his coaching duties.

Sky Clark to UCLA. Not sure how in on him we were or weren’t, but high level guards are moving off the board daily now.

Watched a couple recorded ISU games I had saved this week, and the word enamored does not do justice to how much I like Conwell. Thats a must get if he doesn’t follow Shertz to the Saint Louis Pigs.

Are grad transfers easier for Michigan? Is there admittance issues an undergraduate problem?

I wonder if it’s less about that, and more he simply didn’t want to participate in the farce of attending school but Ignite folding forced his hand to Europe or school. It seems like generally speaking, NIL funds are relatively finite for freshmen and would be more limited if you wait until you’re the last Top-50 player on the board. I think that’s probably why we got him. Our coffer is still full. I dunno, just my thoughts on it.

It’s wild we are in a world where dudes are putting out top-6 transfer lists lol

This. Normally, winning cures all is a pretty easy blanket to throw and it is true. I am not sure it does for me in one year short of a FF (lol). I’ll enjoy the wins and be rooting for the next players, but I simply don’t see him stepping down or getting fired with a tournament team next season, early blowout or otherwise. He is not the coach of the future, and our program is being held hostage. And that’s before you start the nightmare that would be Kentucky and IU opening at the same time. Really want the gulf between what we are and what Kentucky is on display nationally? Wait until they run Cal off next year. It’s nauseating to me to think about because they will aggressively pursue every top 5 coach in college. And we won’t because the IU administration won’t be aggressive. Tucking tail after BS and hiring Woodson was as clear an indication of that as I need.

Maybe the dominoes start dropping and fall quickly, but I am still a little surprised we have landed zero from the transfer portal. We need depth in addition to some impact players, I would have thought we would have scored a couple bench players by now. It is sorta why I understood pre-emptively turning down the NIT (lol) so we could spread the staff thin to fill the 5-7 scholarships. I do not care to look, but there cannot be too many teams needing as much as we do, and one would think offering top dollar for role players would cause some snap decisions to commit like Tucker. There are tons of what I would consider fringe high major/role player types we need that probably understand they will not start if P4 money is what they want, that could be easy gets to start filling the roster while chasing the stars. I would say I am mildly concerned by the lack of any commits.

It was a little tongue in cheek, and you are probably right-- but how hilarious would having that psycho on an NBA bench be?

Yea the only place I could see him going to is the Knicks.

Now this is pretty surprising to me, with our development of big guys, and apparent access to Scrooge McDuck money I thought this one might be a slam dunk (pun absolutely intended). Don’t know what this signals, whether disaster brewing or maybe an offensive change, or he simply preferred the ACC and NC State, but we certainly can outbid those bozos, so money appears to not be everything. Shocker.

Thats what makes Tucker such a weird fit to me. You obviously take a MCD AA all day and twice on sunday but he is a more athletic version of Gallo. That is what makes me wonder if he wants to be a 2 and we end up with three players playing out of position. Or we do not end up adding a PG and Gallo slides over or comes off the bench. I just have a hard time believing we landed him by projecting him as backup to MM or TG. MCD AAs do not come to IU to come off the bench. The roster is so flawed. I agree with you it would be out of character for Woody to have Gallo not starting.

it is definitely odd, but I am of the opinion if you're going to stack talent, you stack guards that can score. He was ball dominant at EMU, probably won't have to shoulder that, and a small ball lineup with all three would be super interesting.

Acuff to Rutgers, thats a bummer for me, I really like his game. He is a straight up scorer.

I am a huge proponent of the theory if you are shooting over 40% from 3, you are not taking enough. MK should have been getting 5-10 a game, every game.

Would he listen? There were several games where CC and Walsh looked visibly disgusted lol. I know CC is not a coach per se, but it would seem like if anybody could get in Woody's ear it would be him. There were some subtle changes during the late win streak, whether they were permanent remains to be seen and personnel for next year. I have said before do not be shocked if he lands a high level center. When he does, the question of offensive scheme is pretty much answered IMO.

I know this is a safe space, so I will just go ahead and self-report I had to google it before I realized the same thing.

Seems a little odd we haven't landed one transfer yet given our money situation and minutes available. I know it is still "early" but there are plenty of good players who could help our roster at the guard position.

When the shots are falling it is tolerable. That said, Edey-ball is an abomination to watch. If he were officiated correctly and averaged say 3-4 fouls a game, Purdue is like a 22 win team. A 7-4 guy who is slow and plays exclusively on the block averaging under 2 fouls a game at like 35 minutes a game is absurd. Not much you can do about the foul parade at he offensive end, but if he simply had fouls called at even a reasonable rate and couldn't play 40 minutes a game Purdue looks completely different. Purdue people love to argue he gets fouled every play, and he probably does, but he also commits a foul almost every possession and they simply do not get called. I don't blame painter for riding him, he is a college cheat code since he never gets called for fouls. TL;DR: I hate watching Purdue's offense.