hoosierbgh

Ware can do a few things that TJD didn't but there's absolutely no way that Ware is going to have the kind of season that TJD did. TJD's season this year was generational, we won't see anything like that again for a long, long time. That is not to say Ware can't or won't have a very good season but I'd be ecstatic for a Jeff Newton as an upperclassman level of performance.

That's pretty much the realistic side in a nut shell. Form an opinion with little or no info, then ignore anything that doesn't fit the opinion.

If someone were adamant that IU was going to make the Final Four next year would you find that realistic? I think that would be considered to be unbridled and unwarranted optimism and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that would think that is a realistic opinion. Even an extremely optimistic person would struggle to make that leap with an incomplete roster that is missing almost 1/3 of eventual team. Yet, without a single shred of additional evidence, the opinion that IU will definitely be terrible next year is realistic? I could see that being an honest opinion if the team were actually complete and things went as bad as predicted. To consider that a realistic position now though, you have to make some pretty big assumptions based on facts not in evidence. You would pretty much have to assume that IU is A) not going to land players from the portal, B) any portal players IU lands won't be any good, C) no one currently on the team improves significantly, or D) some combination of all of the above. With absolutely no insider information, I can confidently say that situation A won't be the case. IU will fill the roster spots or at least most of them with players. They may not all be players that fans love at first sight but the spots will be filled. How likely is it that all or most of those players do not contribute? I'd say pretty unlikely. It is no more reasonable to assume that all of the players we do get will be misses than it is to assume they will be hits. In fact the data is heavily trending toward transfers being more likely contributors than all but the most talented recruits. Nor is C much more likely considering that even under Archie we had players improve during the off season, if only by accident and despite the coaching staff.

Don't worry, any optimism generated by zoom calls to recruits or even commitments from those recruits will only be temporary and short lived. We will return to the regularly scheduled pessimism and anticipatory b****ing shortly.

Depending on how things play out, it could be a big miss... or it could be a big dodge. Way too early to tell at this point.

I don't know, Reese and the faster centers may be a problem but I think Sparks will handle Edey better than anyone IU had on the team this year. He's strong enough and gets low enough on defense that he can force Edey farther out and prevent him from getting the positioning that makes him hard to stop.

Yes, are you new here or something, LOL? After 4 more commits in fairly rapid succession, it's only going to get worse. We all be addicts by that point and gnashing our teeth for the 24's, 25's and 26's to quit screwing around and commit already!

I think you touched upon an important distinction here. I don't recall ever hearing Woody promote playing 4 out 1 in. Modern basketball, definitely. Position less basketball, sure. The 4 out 1 in is, IMO, a product of the fans more than Woody. The only comments I have seen from Woody about playing a different style, were about not being post focused on offense. I think what we will see from Woody will vary some by personnel but will typically consist of 1-3 on the perimeter, a 5 in the post but not the focus of the offense normally, and a 4 as a hybrid that spends time on the perimeter and in the post depending on the situation/play and their strengths/skill set.

Reneau wasn't that far behind Race, a 5th year senior, by the end of the year in being able to guard 4s and other perimeter players this past season as a freshman. It is reasonable that he will improve in this area next season. How often do we play Miami or a Murray type player exactly? IMO, we're recruiting Ledlum/Battle in part for those situations. It will be nice to have more speed available to play at the 4 if/when we need it but we're not likely to need it all that often. Most of the time we will need size, both to get through the B1G and in case of injury. Reneau is serviceable at the 5 but he is a 4. I doubt he was recruited to IU to be pigeonholed into the 5 exclusively and it might be slightly important for Woody to stick to his word where Reneau is concerned.

The thought of Love together with X in the backcourt probably gives them FDU flashbacks so I'd imagine they are quite nervous!

IMO, this is a high risk, high reward option. If IU is taking 4-5 from the portal as it seems is likely, then I think they can take a flyer on one "developmental" type guard and/or a big. I can see the appeal of having a player that talented as the "developmental" guard. I haven't seen much from Woody to indicate that he would put up with nonsense or fail to bench him/kick him to the curb if he doesn't live up to the standard. I'd also think that part of the recruiting pitch would be similar to that Woody used on TJD, ie. focusing on the areas of improvement. If Love commits after such a pitch and Woody feels like it has a chance of working, then I'm onboard.

Judging by what I saw of her, I'd say it is more likely that she's extremely PO'ed that she not only didn't win all 4 but that others were even considered.

OOF, that was a legacy commit who I would have thought had at least some chance of sticking after the coaching change. Penn State may be competing with Minnesota for the absolute bottom of the conference.

How so? Sparks gives IU a post option without requiring the touches or the offense to be run through him as TJD did. We're never going to be completely devoid of post play, barring massive recruiting failures.

That's not necessarily a bad thing for next year. The first and foremost goal for next year is to make the tournament and not take a step back. IMO, you don't risk taking a step back next year based primarily on a knee jerk reaction to the ending of this year. You have to balance the transition to a team better suited to a deep NCAA run with the need to make the tournament. That transition begins this year but is not completed until the talent in the 24' class arrives.

If Galloway is coming off the bench, then this team is going to be a whole lot better than people are predicting next year.

But he delivers and his range is endless.

I'm more concerned with the volume of 3s shot than the percentage made. IU had two high percentage shooters from 3 this past season both of which were prone to pass up shots and often afraid to shoot. IMO, this staff has shown that they can improve shooting percentages for those willing to do the work, it's a lot harder to get shooters to shoot a much higher volume of 3s and to do so confidently.

I could understand this comment better and somewhat agree if it weren't coming from the president of the Fletcher F'ing Loyer fan club.

Odd, apparently the optimism referenced in the title has more to do with Purdue and Fletcher Loyer than IU.

We're talking about all of the above. You said X was inconsistent, I pointed out that he consistently brought effort and energy, which you so frequently complained about the rest of team lacking. No, one has said that X was a cure all for this team's issues but he certainly would have helped some if not many of them. He went out before fully settling into his role but even so he was more consistent than at the beginning of the previous season. He also never really got to play with a fully healthy TJD this year or the JHS we saw later in the season. I'd agree that our depth was overrated. However, the loss of X contributed to that lack of depth by shifting every guard/wing up a rung and many of them weren't ready for it. I'm not sure how anyone could have watched IU this year and concluded that X wouldn't have helped the perimeter defense, especially at the wing. Without X, instead of having a fresh Galloway coming off the bench to either replace X or play along side him on the opponents best wing, we had Galloway playing almost the whole game, usually on the opponents best perimeter player and hoping JHS/Kopp/Bates wouldn't get beat too badly on their man. Instead of having both X and Galloway to close (our best defensive lineup) we had Galloway and Kopp. IMO, this showed pretty clearly in the drop off between the defense this year and last.. Considering that X was 2nd on the team in rebounds from the guard spot, its not much of stretch that he might have helped with the rebounding as well. His quickness would have helped with the long rebounds certainly. He was also the best on the team at getting to the rim and running the PnR. Again, no one is saying he would have cured all the problems or any one of them fully but he certainly would have reduced several of the problems. There is no reason to pretend like it wasn't a significant loss for this season or that he won't be a big help next year if he gets a waiver.

Are you new here? Or to the internet? It's always "Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me" all the time. No optimism is allowed. Ever.

I thought the men's game was bad on officiating travels but after watching several women's games this year, I'm not sure I even know what a travel is. Case in point, during the first quarter last night Miami hops, skips, and jumps around the lane before scoring without a single dribble for most of it. The very next play Garzon is called for a travel for taking off on a drive before the ball hit the ground. Garzon probably traveled, the Miami player clearly did but only one was called.

I'm not sure I buy that ND had tons of cash relative to IU but I'm pretty sure if they do football is option 1, option 2, and option 3 of where to spend it. That is certainly not the case with IU. Also, if the rumors are true, ND is reluctant to spend it on recruiting.

Actually, you proved my point. You're really shorting a guy that consistently brought energy and effort every game, rather ironically considering the constant harping on it in every game thread. Was it perfect or consistent? Of course not. I'm not sure why anyone would expect flawless teams or players at the college level. As great as TJD was, and I'm not sure many of us will see anything like his performance again in our lifetimes, he was far from flawless. X isn't on the same level as TJD and yet, he was often the only one or the only other one besides TJD trying to make something happen in many games in the 21-22 season. When everyone else shutdown and played scared he was the one, often the only one, trying to make something happen. I don't recall him starting out looking for shots or forcing the issue in those games, only after others failed to step up did he assert himself. Then, this year pre-injury he took a step back into less of a focal point and more of facilitator role and we criticize him for not scoring enough. As for fouling, I don't recall him jumping into and fouling 3 point shooters like Tamar, Miller, Race, and JHS did on a depressing number of occasions. Nor do I recall his man blowing by him on nearly every possession or leisurely running the offense without noticeable impediment. This IU team would have been better with a healthy X, mistakes and all. We say we want players with some dog in them, that hate to lose more than they love to win. We say we want shooters that aren't afraid to shoot. Then we can't wait to tear down those players when they make mistakes or miss shots or get called for fouls. We say we want "modern basketball" and then we cling to old notions.