Hoosierfan2017

Oh absolutely. Just look at UCLA back in the day with Coach Wooden. Sam Gilbert was giving players cars, cash, and clothes at every turn. I think it is probably more rampant now, but it’s been a part of college sports for a long time.

And if you’re good at it, the fans never know. Take Villanova, for example. Lots of people think they’re ‘clean,’ but I’d bet money that they’re operating in the gray area. Even Crean had a few questionable recruits during his time here. We gotta be willing to play on a level playing field if we want IU basketball to be where he wants it to be. I’m sure Larry Brown has told Woody a thing or two, lol. Maybe we’ll have him operating back channels.

Sounds like the man is good at what he does then, lol. By all accounts we’re trying to make IU a modern-day program. Maybe this is the last step for that. Even if he’s not about that life he sounds like a good pick up.

We've got a lot of playing time up for grabs. We have potentially the best player in the Big 10 on our team. We have a head coach with 20+ years of NBA experience who was coaching for the New York Knicks a couple weeks ago. We have a ton of tradition and a giant fan base to play in front of. Sure we were a 12-15 team last year, but I still think we're an attractive destination for transfers out there. We're bringing back most of our team and we brought in two new starting guards. We're not going to be in a rebuilding year. Woody is in win now mode, and recruits can see that.

Is that something that’s common for college coaches to do? Because no offense to managers and grad assistants, they’re valuable people, but they aren’t the people I’d necessarily pick to develop D1 basketball players.

Austin Boucher have any eligibility left?

I just don’t really see the point, honestly. I don’t know Armaan personally. Never met the guy. I rooted for him because he played for the team I rooted for. Now he doesn’t play for them anymore. I didn’t pay attention to Justin Smith after he left, and I won’t pay attention to Franklin now either.

I feel the exact same way but didn’t want to say it, lol. I wish Armaan good health at Virginia but that’s it.

Oh well, he didn’t want to be here. You’re either with us or you’re against us, and we got a squad full of guys who want to be Hoosiers. Time for them to get to work!

Depends on how you look at it, imo. I don't think we need a significant jump to be a tournament team next year. In 2020 we went 20-12 and were pretty close to a lock for the NCAA tournament before it got canceled. With six games left in this past season, we were 12-9 while playing one of the hardest schedules in the country before collapsing over the last 6 games. We would've been a tournament team in 2020, and we should've been one in 2021. With a junior TJD and improved guard play in Stewart and Johnson, I think being a tournament team is a really reasonable goal for next season. I'm not sure if you were meaning higher expectations than just being a tournament team, though.

I’m not sure if Woody is going to start three guards. I think it really comes down to player development over the summer and fall, though. If Thompson can consistently shoot jumpers then I could see a Johnson/Stewart/Hunter/Thompson/TJD starting lineup. One good thing is I think he will adjust his system to the players on our team instead of pigeon holing players like a certain IU coach we had a month ago.

Maybe Brooks would come in and be our starting 3? He can’t really shoot so that’s be a problem. But unless Woody is going to have a three guard starting lineup, Hunter is really the only 3 on our roster. Geronimo is that size too but not sure on his wing skills at this point.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I want players who want to be at IU. I want Armaan to want to be at IU, but if he doesn't then I'm not going to lose any sleep over his decision. Coach Woodson has been operating at a very high level since he took over the job and I have complete faith that he'll be able to replace Franklin's production.

Your initial post on this said nothing about high volume compared to the rest of the team. You stated “He also averaged 43% from 3 on high volume. That's not easy to replace.” It wasn’t until I said that 3.9 a game isn’t high volume that you compared him to the rest of the team. IU didn’t shoot threes last year. 90% of college teams took more than us last year. Like I said, shooting the most threes on a team that rarely shoots threes doesn’t make you a high volume three point shooter. But, ultimately it doesn’t matter. If you think 3.9 a game is high volume, go right ahead. I think Parker Stewart is going to come in and show us what a high volume three point shooter looks like.