AKHoosier

I called this before the season even started, pretty sure I got the exact record right of 19-12 and said we'd be a bubble team. Gary Parrish and Norlander's podcast previewed Indiana before the season began and they both took the over on 22.5 regular season wins. I immediately took the under on it. You're right though. I sure hope the next coach starts to exceed expectations around here. When was the last time we surpassed pre-season expectations? How many times in the last 10 years?

Not only did it make me turn on the coach even more, it caused me to dislike some of the players I'm supposed to adore. Senior Day 2024 is when all my feelings toward Woodson and the team felt validated. There was so turning back after that.

What I worry about with McCollum is how quickly he could lose the fan base once the losing starts. Basically what happened with Archie imo. I don't think Archie ever truly recovered after we got drilled at home by IPFW and Indiana State in in his first nonconference season. Those losses were reality checks for a lot of fans, just seemed like any sort of expectations people had of him taking us where Crean couldn't instantly evaporated. One or two of those type of losses, people will be thinking oh boy what did we do hiring a guy who just 2 years ago was coaching against schools like Rogers State, Ft Hays State, and Pittsburg State in DII.

I've been fairly opposed to hiring Chris Beard for a while, but reading some of these posts this morning is pushing me quickly into the camp of hoping he's a candidate. I could not care less what a bunch of college professors think. I hope it's Brad though. He's the only one who can truly unite the fan base, and I do want us all excited about the hire and optimistic about our future.

He's also born and raised in the Connecticut area too. Went to high school and college in Connecticut, and spent a few years coaching elsewhere in the state too. I'd have to think that's worth an extra $250K to him but I could be wrong.

Mark Few?

If we hire Brad Brownell to replace 8 years of Archie Miller and Mike Woodson.... IU is basically imploring all of us to get a new hobby.

Nothing will ever top the search in 2018 on the old Scout board. A poster named BTownInsider shows up a few days after Crean was fired and claimed Billy Donovan was essentially a done deal. People were hanging on his every word. Rode that right up until Archie was announced and then disappeared as quickly as he appeared. There's a greater than 0% chance Isaac is the same guy.

You don't really mean Woody is better than Cal do you? Sometimes sarcasm is tough to detect.

Auburn hasn't won at Kentucky since 1988. Wow. Kind of want UK to win so our losing streak at UW doesn't look so bad.

Resources = NIL We can legally pay players now.

McDermott seems like another version of Crean. He has averaged 11.8 losses per year ever since Creighton joined the Big East in 2013-2014. Crean averaged 11 losses/yr at Marquette if I remember correctly. Not as a slight to either, but I'm saying there will be highs and lows for sure rather than the consistency we're looking for.

I swear we used to be the only school that did it. Now it seems like everyone does. At least our state silhouette is painted white with a red logo in it. I'm not a fan of the two toned wood stain that most courts have.

Reneau is probably the only one I want back next year. The rest of them I could not care less. Goode I would definitely welcome back, but there's no way he gets granted an additional year so I'm not really including him. I doubt Newton ever plays meaningful minutes, but I wouldn't mind keeping him around in case he does fully heal and get his chance.

Right. Now that anyone can pay players, it's clear some schools are going to have increased legal advantages over others. IU beats Gonzaga in every conceivable metric from a job attractiveness standpoint. Still see it as unlikely but I definitely wouldn't rule it out.

Sounds like a person who knows he has peaked there, and might be ready for a new challenge while he still has the passion and fire to coach.

Well we've got the time, and we're trying to get this to 2000+ pages so let's hear one.

Didn't realize he's only 54. He seems older, probably because he's been at Baylor forever. I would be good with Drew, plenty of good years left in him. Only thing I worry about is if he's still got that fire and energy to win a championship now that he's won one. Does he feel like he has something to prove still? Maybe he feels like he needs a change of scenery now? He did seriously consider UK last year so he's clearly not against leaving.

I don't think I could bring myself to root for us if we hired Will Wade.

Oregon went on a 16-2 run to force overtime in Madison. Wisconsin also helped them by appearing to be trying to throw the game away.

There's no way Dolson pushed this hard to get rid of Woodson just to pry Brownell away from Clemson. Think of the risk he would be taking. Of course I said essentially the same thing about Woodson when Archie was fired.

Tony Bennett should be on the list if some of those other guys are.

Yeah that's what I've always felt with Beard. We just can't hire a guy who is essentially already on strike 2. You'd have to fire him if he does something like come to a rolling stop, gets pulled over at 3 AM, and blows a .12. If his incident at UT had occurred 10+ years ago and he had stayed completely clean since then, yeah you can make the call if you're IU because he's demonstrated he can stay out of trouble. But we're just not at that point yet. More time needs to pass to determine if you can trust him.

What Dusty May has done at FAU and now Michigan is more impressive than what Stevens did at Butler. Don't get me wrong, I'll be ecstatic if we end up with Brad. My voice will become hoarse from all the enthusiastic yelling I'll do. It's just that Dusty took a total nothing FAU program, and used what resources he had to build a team that made the Final Four and another NCAAT appearance. FAU had nothing. No fan support. High school sized gym. No history. No tradition of winning. Butler had always been a solid program long before Stevens got there. The year before Stevens got to Butler, they went to the Sweet 16. In the prior 11 seasons before Stevens, Butler made the NCAAT 6 times, including 2 Sweet 16 appearances. Now compare that to what Dusty had to work with. In the prior 10 seasons before he arrived, the only postseason FAU had was an NIT berth in 2010-2011. FAU averaged 11.5 wins per season. Then under Dusty they average 21 wins per season. And oh by the way, he's taken over an 8-win UM team and now has them on track to win the B1G.

For the life of me, I can't figure out how someone wouldn't be ecstatic over Dusty May. Built a totally nonexistent program into 2 NCAAT appearances including a Final 4 run. Then takes over a team that won 8 games last year and is now on track to win the B1G conference. Primed for a deep tournament run. The fact he's an Indiana native and was a student manager under Knight is just the cherry on top.