Hoosierfan2017

Pearl has a third of Auburn’s tournament appearances (also would’ve made it in 2020 when Auburn went 25-6 and T-2nd in the SEC) and 40% of their conference championships. He’s 16-2 this year and 5-0 in the SEC. He went to a school with virtually zero history and turned them into a very good program. Tge guy you’re responding to talks about “year 7,” but in the three years before Pearl’s “year 7,” he went 81-24, 36-18 on the conference, and made a final four. Pretty sure they would’ve bought some good graces from a fan base that hasn’t seen a final four in over 20 years. Ultimately it doesn’t matter because there’s zero chance Pearl leaves Auburn for IU. He makes $5.4 million at a school that lets him do his thing in the recruiting world.

Picking Bronny at #30 would be a no brainer, frankly. Players picked in the late first round are wild cards anyway. This wildcard comes with LeBron James.

I mean, Woodson wasn’t a good head coach in the NBA. He won 46% of his games during the regular season. 39% in the playoffs. The idea that he was going to come take the college basketball world by storm in his mid-60s after never coaching in college a day or his life was always wishful thinking. The NBA recycles coaches yet no one gave him a head coaching job for almost a decade. Until big brain Scott Dolson came along, that is.

It still means something to the fanbase. But nationally? IU basketball means less and less each year. It’s definitely just another program to the 16-17 year old recruits out there. Even Indiana kids have grown up during a time that Purdue has been the dominant program in the state.

Honestly, at some point it stops being “the state of the program” and just becomes “the program.” Maybe we’re approaching that point. 11 tournaments in the past 22 seasons.

This is me. I’m in my late 20s. I didn’t become a fan until after the 2002 run, so I’ve never watched IU play a game past the Sweet 16. And heck, they’ve only played a Sweet 16 game four times during my lifetime. Crean, Archie, and Woodson have been the vast majority of my fan hood. I went to IU and loved my time there, but I moved away from Indiana and feel less connected to the school nowadays, in large part because sports have been in the gutter in recent years. I’m sure a wise guy will chime in with “you don’t care yet you’re still here posting.” Yes, I still post, but that’s about all I do. I like to ‘complain’ on here because I do still care, but I’m quickly losing hope. I rarely watch the games anymore. This team’s style of basketball is so ugly. The Empire Classic against UConn was a marquee matchup in MSG, but I didn’t bother making the quick trip into the city because I anticipated a blowout. That’s where the apathy sinks in. 30-40 years from now my generation will be the “donor class.” Will likely be harder to get donations from people who never experienced the ‘good ole days.’ It’s just very hard to see this program ever being anything more than what it’s been during my lifetime. A Coach Knight isn’t walking through the door to take over the program.

People swore up and down that Woodson didn’t want to play two traditional bigs but had to because we had TJD and Race. Yet here we are. Woodson is absolutely clueless when it comes to running a 2024 offense.

Would people want Dusty May if he didn’t have IU history? Because he really seems like the latest mid major flavor of the month. Would be hard to get excited about the hire and little reason to believe we’d be competitive immediately with him.

Does anyone really trust the genius who hired Mike Woodson to do any better with the next hire?

Woody’s gotta go. Program is in the pits.

Lmao man you were repeating this verbatim all last offseason. It was always too early to be concerned because “look at Kansas State!” Yet here we are - all our concerns came true.

Those fans have less of a reason to be ‘intolerant.’ Give them 11 tournaments in 22 seasons and see just how tolerant they are…

Really no excuse for this with the transfer portal and NIL. You now have the ability to transform your roster in one year. TJD largely carried Woodson the past two seasons and without him this year we’re seriously struggling. We went hard after a lot of top 2024 recruits and we have one player to show for it. Woodson and his staff isn’t getting it done either on or off the court.

Don’t want to sidetrack the thread, but we all know they won’t be willing to do that. And that’s the program’s biggest obstacle. So, we’re stuck chasing a miracle. Might have to kiss a lot of frogs before we find our prince.

Count me out on Dusty May. He had a great season last year without question. The other four years he went 17-18, 17-15, 13-10, and 19-15. We tried the mid-major flavor of the month before and it was a disaster. Not saying he’s Archie Miller, but he’s still a big risk. Realistically, though, he’s probably the best we can do. The IU administration won’t be able to poach a top dog. Taking a risk on Dusty may be their best option.

He’s just old, and not a high energy old guy. If we had hired him a decade earlier maybe things would’ve been different. But he’s nearly 66 years old and doesn’t have the motor anymore, imo.

Yep. It’d be one thing if we had a loaded class coming in or if Woodson has shown that he’s a wizard in the portal. Instead, we’re a bad team with one recruit signed. A very good recruit, certainly, but he’s one guy. Woodson has largely flopped in the portal. There’s little reason to think next year will be better short of blind hope.

Some top program a few years from now will declare Beard rehabilitated, hire him, and win big with him. 0% chance that it’s IU. We’re nearly 25 years into the post-Knight era. It’s very clear now that he was the reason for IU’s success and it won’t be replicated short of hiring another Knight. We aren’t a great program, we just hired a great coach. Multiple iterations of IU administration have shown that they only want to win by doing things their way. Unfortunately, their way of doing things is not conducive to 21st century college basketball success. Woodson should be fired after this season, but even if he is, there’s little reason to expect the next coach will fare better.

As I said.. convincing win against Minnesota and then a disgrace a few days later against Purdue. I have no disillusions about Woody being fired after this season, but we’ve seen enough during his tenure to know he’s not the answer.

Btownbanners after dark

Lol that’s really downplaying who TJD was. “As a sophomore during the 2020–21 season, Jackson-Davis averaged 19.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Jackson-Davis garnered several awards at the close of the season. He was named a third team All-American by the Sporting News, NABC and USBWA; an honorable mention All-American (AP); All-Big Ten (First Team by media and AP; Second Team by coaches); and a Wooden Award Finalist.”

Woody’s personality, at least what we see from him in the media and such, does seem a little grating/arrogant. He also seems to be a little lazy from the stories we’ve heard. He doesn’t come across as an high energy guy. Almost like he likes having the IU head coaching title but doesn’t care for the day to day grind. And hey, I don’t blame him. He turns 66 in two months. Nearing retirement age. A year-round like the IU job doesn’t give you the relaxation you may want after a long career. Not all 65 year olds are the same. Some love to work and will grind until they die (or close to it). Others want to kick back and relax. Neither is “wrong,” but only one matches the P5 head coach job description.

Lmao “the Chicago 5” made me chuckle and makes it seem far more nefarious than it was.

They’re consistently good at doing just enough to make the pitchfork fans look slightly overeager. They’ll have stinkers like Nebraska and tonight but then they’ll have games like OSU to quell the grumbling. Personally I don’t really watch the games anymore. Even when we win it’s usually ugly. Woody coaches a system straight out of 2003. It’s brutal to watch. At least Crean’s teams were fun.

Tonight’s result was incredibly predictable, honestly. It’s what we all should’ve expected.