Hoosierfan2017

Us pesky fans and our expectations. We should instead be pumped up about our big 1 point home victory over mighty Morehead State.

Worst half of basketball… so far.

No. Team is on the upswing and it’s unrealistic to expect more in only year 3. He’s still dealing with Archie players this year which holds him back.

Brilliant decision by Woodson to put together a 2023 roster with zero shooters.

Same thing we were told last spring whenever we’d express concerns. I’d be fine firing Woodson tomorrow, honestly. I never liked the hire. It wasn’t a serious blueblood move. It was a Hail Mary to pleases the “we need an IU guy” crowd. We’re mediocre and not at all fun to watch. Unfortunately, we have several more seasons with him and the next guy probably won’t be much better.

It’ll take a perfect storm for IU to become elite again. We basically will need to find a GOAT-level coach, but we’ll have to find him before he’s GOAT-level because a coach already at that level will never come to IU and deal with our restrictions. I don’t think Woodson is terrible, but he’s not elite either. He’s not a good enough coach to win at an elite level with the rosters he recruits. And the rosters we bring in are, in part, because the IU administration throws roadblocks in our coaches’ way. We intentionally handicap ourselves and then wonder why it’s such a struggle to be a consistent winner. But hey, even though we lose, at least we can boast about how we lose the right way.

The Archie Miller debacle should’ve been the big wake up call.. Instead they went out and hired Mike Woodson. IU lacks the institutional desire to be an elite basketball program. Moral preening is too important. College basketball isn’t rocket science. The solution is quite simple. The SEC went from a joke of a bball conference to a powerhouse. We all know how that happened. Iu could turn things around overnight, but IU refuses to play ball. Because of that refusal, we’ll never get back to where we were with Bob Knight. Ain’t happening. We’ll have good seasons here and there like we have over the past 20+ years, but nothing consistent. It is what it is.

I mean, we were criticized all off-season whenever we’d say that the team was losing a lot and that Woodson wasn’t bringing in enough to make up for it. A backslide in year 3 is a great way to lose any momentum you’ve built up, and year 4 isn’t projecting to be great either right now. We’re going to be relying, once again, on big portal hits. Hopefully they do better than last year.

Scotty R is the same guy who made hundreds of posts last spring calling anyone concerned with our roster impatient. Fast forward 8 months and guess what, people’s concerns are playing out in real time. I have no doubt he’ll be doing the same thing this spring.

Only IU fans think it takes years and years and years to win. Musselman went to the Elite 8 in years 2 and 3, and went to the sweet 16 in year 4. With the transfer portal and NIL you can transform your program overnight. Woodson turns 66 in March. It’s not like he has a whole lot of time to win big.

If simply making the tournament is meeting expectations at IU then what a sad state the program is in.

“Just hating to hate” get real dude. We just played a freshman Gabe Cupps 37 minutes against the #2 team in the country because we don’t have serviceable guards. Woodson chose to leave a scholarship open and not bring in another guard. Gunn and Leal are unplayable. Xavier is frequently injured. When our lack of guards blows up in his face, that’s on Woodson.

IU shoots 28.5% from 3 as a team, has bad guard play, but criticizing the man in charge of constructing the roster is “complaining to complain.” Got it, Billy. Please let us know when we’re allowed to start criticizing Woodson for the team he puts on the floor. Apparently the one Archie Miller guy left in the rotation means it’s too soon.

Guess what, now we don’t even have serviceable. Gabe Cupps was out there doing cardio for 37 minutes yesterday. Woodson knew we needed guards and failed to deliver. He knew we needed shooting and failed to deliver. Bottom line. If you want to incessantly defend his failures, that’s your prerogative.

And Woodson chose to leave a scholarship open, so we can’t blame the other Miller player for taking up a scholarship. Woodson built this roster, flaws and all.

TJD averaged 19/9 as a sophomore and had this resume. In what world was he a “meh player” under Archie? 2020-21 (Sophomore) • Third Team All-American (Sporting News, NABC, USBWA) • Honorable Mention All-American (AP) • All-Big Ten (First Team by Media and AP; Second Team by Coaches) • Wooden Award Finalist • Karl Malone Award Finalist • 2x Big Ten Player of the Week (Dec. 7, Jan. 11) • All-Maui Invitational

No clue why you’d consider Banks part of the “Archie crew” when he committed to IU after Archie was long gone. And Gunn never played a second for Archie. Woodson chose to keep his commitment. That’s a Woodson player. I want Woodson to be able to go out and land guard contributors in the portal. I mean, let’s not pretend that there were zero guards in the portal. Woodson just couldn’t get any of them to come to IU. That’s on him. It’s literally his job to build the roster. He has utterly failed to build a roster that fits 2023 basketball. We’re 345th in the country in 3pt percentage and 361st in the country in 3pt attempts. It’s inexcusable, yet some make all the excuses in the world for him.

There are two Archie players left on the roster, and one of them had 28 points today. Archie is no longer an excuse in year 3. Woodson turns 66 years old in March. He’s not a spring chicken. The bottom line is the team isn’t where it needs to be in year 3. The roster has glaring holes that still haven’t been addressed. Despite the glaring holes, he chose to leave a scholarship open. 2024 recruiting doesn’t look great either. Once again we’re going to be in a position where Woodson has to hit a home run in the portal to field an an above average team next year.

I don’t gamble. If I did, it certainly wouldn’t be on this IU team against a blue blood.

Yet we lost. Save the moral victories for IUFB.

Yeah, this. We’re not a disaster like we were under Archie. But he’s not knocking it out of the park either. People will say we’re just being negative, but it’s true. It’s year 3 and we’re looking like a fringe tournament team. Three point shooting is non-existent. Weaknesses haven’t been addressed in the portal. In-game coaching is still shaky.

My very lazy comparison for Edey is Boban Marjanović. That would be his ceiling, imo. And I say that without knowing much about either of them other than both are 7’4. Maybe Edey can be a situational guy playing spot minutes but other than that his game does not fit 2023 NBA basketball.

I’m a little concerned too when you add in the fact that most of our staff is going to be made up of JMU guys too. Like, look, I understand the benefits of continuity and working with guys you’ve worked with in the past. But the Big 10 is multiple steps up from the Sun Belt and we were the worst team in the conference last year, so we need some big improvements.

5th ring for the King!

Idk why the staff would’ve ever had any faith in Gunn. He was unplayable last season and shot 8% from 3. I’m at the point where I have zero faith in our players developing. At least bench players, I mean. If they come in as freshmen and can’t contribute, I don’t expect that to ever change. Very rarely do we see legitimate growth in our players.