AKHoosier

Plenty of players regress from year to year too. Remember, "It's not my job to get Miller Kopp shots." Kopp was a good shooter too. A player can have the confidence of his coach, but what if his coach is Mike Woodson and would rather he throw it into the post? For the record I do like Carlyle, think he would be a good one to add. But he's not inspiring a ton of confidence that he'll fix our outside shooting woes.

Only one of those schools is close to home (IU) so he certainly seems ok with not coming back to Indiana anytime soon. Thought that might have been something to tip the scales in our favor.

I've always felt that we could only have portal success for players with only 1 year of eligibility remaining. There is no good way to do this. How do you extend Woodson at this point, but at the same time, how do you not extend him and expect to recruit well? This is so dire. Right now I'm clinging to Barrel Rick's bombs in the Mullins thread, and hope that a foundation can be set for 2025 regardless of who the coach is.

You forgot the whole "while Purdue is within reach of a national title" aspect to all of this too. I could stomach that if we were a nationally relevant program coming off our own Final 4 appearance.

In fairness I heard Woodson's birthday party was off the chains.

Totally agree. I'm just thinking maybe Woodson watches that, and thinks he can build a team like theirs. (He can't).

Just to play devil's advocate though - doesn't Purdue getting to a Final 4 put that belief to bed? Edey touches the ball every possession and either shoots it or passes it back out after getting double teamed in the post. At the end of the day, you just need a really good team.

Probably not many, if any. But that's the problem with attempting to build a team through the portal. You're at the mercy of who declares. Perhaps someone like Bruce Thornton will declare.

Yeah, we need to be swinging way higher than Tony Perkins. He doesn't move the needle for me at all unless we pair him with an even better PG. Don't get me wrong, he's a good player. But not a commanding, definitive answer to our team's primary 3pt shooting problems.

Mike Woodson needs to be fired. Fire Mike Woodson! Get rid of him now. Our future could start tomorrow if we fired Mike Woodson today. FIRE MIKE WOODSON!

I choose to only see the bright side here: Lurch is done after this year. I'm so tired of this dude running the B1G. Purdue will still be very good because they always seem to retool, but I'm just so eager to move past the Edey era.

Dude I'm 38 and I'm not convinced I'll see another IU Final 4 in my lifetime. Oh well I'll always have 2002.

If by chess you mean hungry hungry hippos then possibly.

Since the 2015-2016 B1G champ year, we've had one season where we've finished over .500 in conference. I'd imagine the other school is also upset about going 0-18. Sure we are upset about .500 in conference but most seasons after the Zeller years, .500 would be an improvement. We are not a winning program right now.

If he's visiting Indiana and Missouri I think that's pretty clear.

Neat.

When watching Houston I'm just left thinking that could have been us the last 15 years.

Yeah, something to be said for that. For me, I just don't care enough to worry about what our rival is doing. I'm focused on our own house. We have our own massive problems to deal with. We are so, so far from where we need to be as a team and as a program, I don't have enough room left in my heart to wish ill upon Purdue. Most of that is directed inwardly.

I actually have them losing to Creighton in the Elite 8. So naturally I'm rooting for Creighton tonight, also because 0% chance Rick Barnes beats Painter. Painter has beaten them I think 3 times in recent years, plus he's awful in the tournament as a high seed.

No one is beating Purdue other than UConn. Sucks..

And yet at the same time, I don't understand how they weren't 17-14 this year. I honestly don't.

This is the first year in forever I didn't pick Arizona to go far, so glad that paid off. Every March I pick them to go to the Final 4 it seems like, and they always let me down. Glad I didn't let myself make that mistake again this year.

Disclaimer: not a feel good post. Sucks that this is where I'm at as a fan, can't even feel a modicum of excitement when a 5* McDonald's All American commits. Yet here we are. Tucker's game is clearly in the interior, and excels in the midrange more than perimeter. I foresee more clogged lanes given our front court situation. Has Woodson ever watched this kid play in person? Or did he just notice there's a 5 star kid that hasn't committed, and threw a bunch of other people's money at him? Feels like it would help to know what the player is like in a game situation, but that would require putting in time to be a recruiter. Regardless, seems like a good player, and should definitely raise our floor next year. Just having a hard time with the whole 3 high schools in 4 years kind of thing, and doubt he's the answer we're looking for.

Helps when you've got a boatload of cash and his preferred route of the G League Ignite folds at just the right time.

Get ready for IU's NIL war chest to be dwarfed by UK's. They'll probably get whoever they want in the portal. Pressure has never been higher for Calipari.