Hoosierfan2017

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.

You still need to get through the Big 10 season. We’re not going to play through the post like a Mike Woodson team, but you still need big men who can hit the boards and provide interior defense. “Modern roster” doesn’t mean no bigs. You want a versatile roster that can play multiple ways. We won’t need defensive bigs for every game. Sometimes we’ll be fine with Bailey at the 5. But there will be matchups throughout the season that we’ll want big men for. And it’s not even solely about guarding other teams’ post players. You also want bigs for rim protection against guards/wings coming into the paint.

Players can tweet whatever they want, but I’d prefer to leave the Mike Woodson “woe is us, it’s the fans fault” mentality in the rearview mirror, and Goode was a part of that. We don’t need him with the guys DD has brought in.

That’s the reality of college basketball with the transfer portal. Every team has to deal with players coming and going every year. Baylor just lost every player on its roster. DD is choosing how to spend his allotment of money. If he does so in a way that doesn’t result in a tournament appearance, why shouldn’t the blame fall on him? If an NBA GM blows money on bad players, the team doesn’t say “it’s ok, it’s not your fault the players you picked didn’t play well.”

If IU “way overspent” and brought in guys who can’t perform at the Big 10 level then that’s on the coach. He didn’t walk into the situation and get told “here’s your team, go win with them.” He’s chosen every player on the team with a budget larger than that of nearly every other team in the country. Missing the tournament next season would be a failure of a year.

Lol I didn’t “declare” anything. This is what I said: “Then why shouldn’t a tournament appearance his first season be the expectation? 68 teams make the tournament. A fraction of them have bigger budgets than IU. Unless DD isn’t a top 50-60 coach, making the tournament should be entirely doable.” Which part do you disagree with? The only reason one would think making the tournament next year isn’t “entirely doable” is, absent extraordinary circumstances, if DD is a bad coach. If DD is the coach that many on here believe him to be, then making the tournament next season shouldn’t be an issue. Just last year he was the first team out at a P5 school while missing two of his three best players. IU was the second team out and we got destroyed in the non conference and went .500 in conference. Making the tournament isn’t hard. We’ve struggled to do so recently because of coaching. A top budget + above average coaching should equal a tournament appearance at minimum. Like, geez, IU football just made the playoff in Coach Cig’s first season and some are really going to act like making the tournament shouldn’t be the expectation for IU basketball this season. WVU is a pretty solid basketball school, especially this century. DD left because he wanted more. More resources, more “brand,” more money. With those things come more expectations. He knows that has been working his tail off in the portal.

At what point should a coach be coaching for his job? Archie arguably should’ve been canned after going 19-16 and having a conference stretch where he lost 12 of 13 games. In hindsight, IU would’ve been better off. Woodson should’ve been canned after year 3. Sometimes “giving a coach time” pays off, other times it only prolongs the inevitable. I think we’ll have a decent idea on DD at this point next year, but he’ll get 3-4 years from IU regardless of what his first season looks like.

Did St. John’s have top 10 money Pitino’s first year? They do now, but I’m guessing they didn’t his first season. It’s also easier to make the tournament from the Big 10 than the Big East because your margin for error is higher. 20-13, 11-9 and 5th in the conference didn’t get him a tournament spot from the Big East. Do you think Pitino would make the tournament this upcoming year if he was IU’s coach instead of DD? Because I certainly do.

The portal launched in 2018, but the regulations allowing players to transfer and play immediately weren’t passed until 2021. No one is saying that you absolutely need top NIL resources to succeed, but if you have top resources and don’t succeed then that’s a problem. If you have top resources and don’t make the tournament, barring extraordinary circumstances, it’s concerning at the least. Making the tournament isn’t a Herculean feat. IU was a bad team last year and was the second team out. A decent out of conference showing and a .500 Big 10 record gives you a good shot at getting in. There’s no reason DD can’t deliver that next year.

Luckily for DD, there’s a 0.00% chance of him being fired for missing the tournament next season. He’ll get 3-4 years at a minimum. I think he’s an above average coach. How far above average, I don’t know. We’ll find out. The easiest way to lay groundwork for the future is with a strong first season. Do that and the next portal season becomes much easier. As for the budget, sure, it doesn’t guarantee anything. But let’s not pretend that it isn’t a huge advantage for a brand new coach. The Whiz kid at Iowa has a much steeper hill to climb to the top than DD does at IU because of the huge differences in budgets. The IU brand + budget gets DD’s foot in doors for players that aren’t picking up the phone for BM.

NIL didn’t exist when Hurley started at UConn. Did Golden have a top 10 NIL budget his first year at Florida? It’s ok to have standards as a program. When you’re spending top 10 money it’s ok to have top 50-60 expectations.

Then why shouldn’t a tournament appearance his first season be the expectation? 68 teams make the tournament. A fraction of them have bigger budgets than IU. Unless DD isn’t a top 50-60 coach, making the tournament should be entirely doable.

Mike Woodson is a terrible coach and he made the tournament his first year. We’re one of a dozen teams or so with $10+ million to spend. With a high budget comes high expectations. A good coach should be able to come into this situation and comfortably make the tournament in year 1. DD had much less in resources at WVU, lost his best player early in the season, and was still the first team out and should’ve made the tournament. If IU’s sitting on the outside looking in next March then something went drastically wrong.

“Between that duo, they combined for 7.7 made 3s a game last year. Indiana basketball as a team averaged 6.3 a game.“

What spots do we have left to fill on the staff?

Will Sisley be someone capable of playing 10 mpg next year? I’m feeling pretty good about the team now that we’ve got 7, possibly 8 guys. Coach can be selective (not that he wasn’t before) and fill in the gaps because a good percentage of next year’s minutes are accounted for.

Gotta see his hands. Is he tapping away on Gmail?

The IDS running a puff piece for Zrno against DD is wild to me, but I don’t exactly have the highest level of respect for that publication. Zrno is very clearly a bag chaser. You don’t commit to a school you know little to nothing about for a coach on a flaming hot seat if you’re interested in anything other than a bag. Maybe he’s good, maybe he’s not. I know nothing about his game, but IU will be just fine without him.

Cmon now I’m not that old, lol. I’ve just seen it so much over the last year or so with Woodson that he’s the first thing that pops into my head when I hear it now. Woody’s cooking always ended up looking like this once the season got here.

We need a new saying to replace “cooking.” That will unfortunately forever be associated with Mike Woodson in my brain.

I’ll forever be impatient, but DD is having a helluva week. Team is shaping up to be very solid. Now time to get a big or two

Hell yeah!! Double D’s been putting in work.

I’ve been critical of/concerned with DD’s start, so I’m very happy to see this news. A strong first season is critical, and players like Wilkerson will be a big help in making that happen. Hope we have several more following him shortly.

Outstanding news!! Exactly the kind of player we needed.

Virtually no one bought an IU basketball ticket last year because they wanted to watch Ballo or Reneau play basketball. They bought a ticket to watch Indiana University play basketball. This will because even more the case as we get deeper into the transfer portal era and players continue cycling in and out every year. A Bloomington Bears semi-pro game with the same players might get 1,000 fans in the seats. Players are “worth” whatever someone is willing to pay them, but they aren’t being paid for their NIL. I disagree with the “players are making schools so much money and weren’t getting paid anything for it” stance that I see from so many. The schools are the brands. The schools are why people watch the games. Every now and then there are players who buck that trend such as CC at Iowa last year. But the average run of the mill D1 player is an interchangeable cog in the wheel.