Adillac

I'll tell them.

I'm not declaring next year's team is going to be a disaster nor am I declaring anything other than having a 4 with ball handling and shooting skills is better than having a 4 who can't dribble or shoot well. The fact that you're taking that and saying it is a stupid narrative is....stupid.

I never said it was a recipe for a ton of losses. In today's game, having two players on the floor who can't shoot or dribble in space confidently is not ideal. How is that anything other than logical? If you scroll up and read I said that a team could still win a lot of games with two bigs on the floor but that my point is it isn't ideal. Having two bigs on the floor but one of them can shoot and slash, well that's different now isn't it? My point isn't that tall players are bad. My point is having 2 players on the floor who aren't quick and also can't shoot or dribble to create is not ideal.

I just don't think 2 bigs who aren't shooters or playmakers off the dribble is ideal playing together. You are arguing that my position is totally without reason.

No, the difference was they had a 7'4" generational behemoth in the post. Put any other post player in the country on that team and they are no longer a top 10 team. Lots of teams shot better than us from 3pt land and none of them had a 7'4" monster on their team and none of them made the finals, except Uconn.

Oh are we talking about Rice and Carlyle now? I thought we were talking about this: "This idea that two "big" men, aka non-40% 3pt shooters, can't co-exist on the floor together is the single worst argument on this forum. Just so mind-numbingly dumb any and every time I hear somebody say it. " I'm super glad we got an upgrade in guards. I think it will help.

It's hyperbolic to say that wanting a quicker, more versatile roster is mind numbingly dumb.

Maybe improved guard options this year will make the difference.

It will be painful to watch 2 bigs on the floor when you know we have 3 guys (Mgbako, Tucker, Goode) who can legitimately spread the floor at the 4 spot and who are big enough to hang on defense. I'm hopeful for the upcoming season- we have a really nice roster....we shall see but like most on here, I really hope Woody can be flexible when it becomes apparent that 2 true bigs on the floor will get you beat by most top 25 teams.

I think 6 wins is a reasonable expectation.

this^

I hope Cupps stays.

we will have arguably one of the most solid backcourts in the country imo- Rice, Carlyle, Galloway one of the best frontcourt combos too- Malik, Ballo. on top of that we have some other nice pieces- Tucker, Mgbako, (Goode?) On paper this is a top 25 team easily. What JHS was able to do here I think Rice and Carlyle can produce something similar and with more depth and athleticism than that team...I would think a S16 appearance or E8 shouldn't be a surprise here if things break our way as they always need to to some degree for tourney success. Top 3 finish in B1G would be my expectation certainly with this roster talent.

family ties to IU + couple hundred thousand dollars + chance to play on a team that wins big..? its plausible that he'd consider IU. He might not have any delusions of grandeur about having starters minutes and being a star somewhere.

I don't see why a 6'7 guy couldn't play some spot minutes at the 4 spot and also some at the 3 spot.

agreed....I don't think there is much talent at guard that would willingly walk into this melee of minutes. Gallo, Rice, Tucker, Carlyle are all going to be hard to beat for minutes.

If we get him that'd be great.

I was a little down on Rice at first but after educating myself about his game and watching him....he really could change the way our team looks on offense and Malik would probably benefit from that too.

I don't think he has to be as explosive as TJD to run offense through, but to be option #1 he is lacking in ball-handling and athleticism imo.

100% agreed...the idea that he's going to develop an off the dribble game is a little far fetched. Every time he is in an open court situation or facing up on someone, I know there's a decent chance he either travels, gets the ball stolen or somehow loses the ball. Like you said, he is crafty as heck when he's 1 on 1 back to the basket searching for a bucket. He's one of the best out there at that actually...but it becomes a bit of a blackhole for efficiency and very easy to defend. Now, maybe with some better guards out there we can make it less attractive to just double the post. If this team needs Malik to be option #1 or #2 then that probably means our ceiling isn't that high as a ballclub. Hoping Rice and MM are the offensive engine for this team. With the talent we have we ought to have 4-5 guys avg double figures: Rice, MM, Malik, Ballo, Gallo all are capable of avg 10-12ppg imo.

I get that...would love Malik on this team as the #2-3 option on offense, not #1. He's a very good player but he's not dynamic or explosive enough like TJD to be the #1 option.

lol, the info and disinfo in these things is funny

would rather pick up 2 capable but avg bigs for depth and one more really good guard and then I think we'd be just fine. We don't *need* a 7ft rebounder who can't shoot FTs. Don't get me wrong I would love to see him commit though. Let's get Carlyle and the big from Minny.

some of these transfers will come just for the bag and if they play a minor role, so be it. Most of these guys aren't goin to make as much money playing basketball anywhere else in their lives. Not saying it's a bad thing...but I don't think Woody has to guarantee starter minutes to some of these guys to get them to come. Some of them should have an idea of whether or not they are pro basketball material or not and come get life changing bags at 19y old.

I think with these guys getting bags now, it actually makes it easier to not promise playing time or feel that pressure. “you’re getting paid, son. I don’t get paid if you don’t produce. Sit.”