Hoosierfan2017

Yeah we’re gonna have to lunch pail our way out of the hole we dug ourselves. Didn’t have to be this way, but alas. Hope Devries Is up to the task.

Coach Cig didn’t need time to turn the worst P5 program in the country into a playoff team. Dusty May didn’t need time at Michigan to turn a 8-24 team into a 27-10. It didn’t take Pat Kelsey time to turn a 8-24 team into a Pre-portal/NIL comparisons are null. It’s not 2008 anymore. A great coach can come into a situation like IU and win immediately. DD has everything he needs from a resource standpoint to make the tournament next season. If that doesn’t happen then it’s on him as the coach.

That bridge was obliterated months ago.

I’m with ya. Imagine how off the rails last season would’ve went if Trey and Leal’s lockers had stayed next to each other.

I’m not being negative on this. Folks are saying we have a top 10 NIL budget, I’ve also seen top 5 thrown around. Our roster isn’t a top 10 roster on paper. Or even a top 20 roster. Doesn’t mean we can’t win a lot of games next year. Like I said earlier this week, games aren’t played on paper. Coaching matters. Hopefully we have a good one now. But our roster as it stands today is underwhelming for an alleged top 10 NIL budget. I’m far from the only one saying it. Based on the conversion rate of the guys they got on campus, it doesn’t seem like DD was striking out on guys left and right. He seems to have largely gotten the guys he wanted. I have some questions, but I hope it works out.

Before last year we weren’t top 10ish in NIL from what I remember, but then Woody’s buddies ponied up more money to try to save his job. Maybe this year we reverted back to the prior years of good but not elite NIL. The roster DD put together doesn’t scream top 10 NIL, unless he overspent on a bunch of guys. His approach would make a lot of sense if the budget wasn’t actually what it was reported to be.

I just don’t want to see it as adding a 12 or 13 to the roster. It’s only adding a 12 or 13 to the roster if we can’t land someone better than the 1-11 we currently have. Ideally we’d add a 7 or 8 (or better, of course). And if we’re not adding a 7 or 8, I’d rather add a freshman 12 or 13 who could develop into a 1-8 rather than a sixth year senior one.

I’m not a Goode fan, but I dislike him a lot less than I dislike Leal. Goode played 3 years at a good program, played 20 mpg on an elite 8 team, and then joined the mess that was Mike Woodson’s basketball program. He probably didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Leal has been at IU for 5 unremarkable years. We have plenty of other guards. If you’re keeping one of them, keep Goode and then get a big with the other spot.

I’d rather have players who don’t get blown out by 25 points at home and then throw shots at the fanbase during the postgame presser/get into spats with IU media personalities on Twitter. The program’s culture desperately needs a 180 and I really don’t think Leal/Goode are the guys who will contribute to that.

The roster is underwhelming on paper given IU’s alleged budget, but fortunately games aren’t played on paper. Hope DD is up for the challenge.

Sure, we want players who don’t just come to IU for the money. We also don’t want players who trash the fanbase in exchange for more money. When a guy starts out as the first and then becomes the second? Well that’s no longer a guy I want on the team.

Are there? If DD, with the way the roster is currently constructed, brought in identical players to Leal and Goode from the portal, would people be happy about that? I don’t think they would be at all. They’re very redundant. We have better players at their positions and a need at the 5 defensively. We’d also ideally get players with multiple years of eligibility left so we’re not rebuilding the entire team next year too. Neither Leal nor Goode fill any needs.

To each their own. Beyond all the “culture” talk, the roster spots can be better used elsewhere.

I would’ve lost a lot of money on a “Will Mike Woodson ever work again” bet. I guess he feels well rested after his part-time job the past four years.

I simply want a team of guys I like and enjoy watching. Leal and Goode do not fall into those categories. Goode was only here for a hot minute and bought hook line and sinker into the Woodson persecution complex. My feelings about Leal are clear. A breakup between the Woodson era and the new era is needed. If Leal wants a third senior year of college, hopefully it happens elsewhere.

The victim mentality consists of things like losing at home by 25 points and then using your postgame press conference to dump on the fanbase a la Luke Goode. And lol, did you live through the past two years? Woodson driving a wedge was obvious in multiple facets. The Twitter burner accounts, giving players NIL bumps to hate on the fans during senior night speeches, Woodson’s actions. It was very transparent. Anthony Leal neither plays a position of need nor is good enough to warrant bringing that mentality back into a brand new locker room. Leave the Woodson era and the Woodson guys in the rearview.

No one forced him to say anything about it at all during his first (of apparently 3) senior night speeches. He didn’t have to choose between dumping on the fanbase and dumping on his coach. He chose to dump on the fanbase to support his coach, which he was free to do. Same as I’m free to not like him for it and hope he’s not back next year. Mike Woodson intentionally drove a wedge between the players and the fanbase. Leal was one of the most vocal. I don’t want anyone from Woodson’s program around next year.

If he comes back, which I really hope is he doesn’t, here’s to hoping DD doesn’t allow the Mike Woodson victim mentality to spread to the rest of the team.

Yuck

Are we supposed to thank him for that? Leal received far more than IU received in return. The idea that he’s some kind of martyr for staying at IU is complete nonsense.

Yep, bash the fanbase. ”Adversity is part of sports, and for those of you who are so quick to give up and call for quits and everything, there's a reason that you guys aren't coaches. So relax. There's no other coach in the country that I would trust with anything in my life than coach Woodson, and there's no other university I'd want to represent. So we're gonna run it back, but you guys gotta chill." Thanks so much for “running it back” chill guy Leal, the missed tournament and regular blowout losses sure proved the fanbase wrong.

Leal showed his loyalties when he took a payday to bash the fanbase (that was completely correct) for his crappy coach. He’s a Woody guy through and through.

The last thing this team needs is one of the ringleaders of the Mike Woodson grievance committee. DD seems to have brought in a bunch of guys with the opposite kind of mentality. Let’s stick to that and not start the new era off on the wrong foot.

Absolutely zero interest in seeing Leal back on the team. Let’s not keep guys who take money to bash the fans. And that’s before you get into the fact that he doesn’t fill any positions of need at all.