Southside

While I'm watching the game, thought I'd test the new limits of our polls (thanks @Hovadipo). So how are you feeling right now after some of the dust has started to settle? PS - Go Baylor Staff Hired HC Woodson - x-IU player, underrated NBA coaching career, this is his dream job. Associate AD Matta - Was a great HC at Butler, Xavier, and OSU. Great development, and great shooting were his hallmarks. Knows the MW. Assistant Dane Fife - x-IU player, known for strong D, mentored by Izzo, and was ranked a top 10 recruiter by 247 in 2021. Coach in waiting? Note - 1 assistant coach spot remains open Staff Retained Kenya Hunter - experience from Ucon, Georgetown, Duquesne, Nebraska, and NC State. Great coach of bigs. Recruiting ties to the DC area and NE in general. 2021 and 2022 Commits retained - both/all Players confirmed returning (or re-recruited) Jackson Davis - huge re-recruitment win. Instant centerpiece. His comments about the program finally having some excitement was, well, exciting. Lander - Our prized 5 star PG recruit from last year, back in the fold Geronimo - 4 star SF from last year's class. Momma lost this battle. Leal - probably our best future pure shooter from last years class Stewart - competent combo guard who shoots well. Should play a big role next season. Galloway - high energy guy from last year's class. In the Portal or gone Franklin - TBD - IL? Thompson - TBD - MN? Henderson - TBD Durham - Gone - Providence Hasn't commented Brunk - likely coming back, or retire. Hunter - assuming he'll stay Phinisee - assuming he'll stay Note - Apologies if I've got any of the above wrong. With all the moving pieces, not sure I've read everything.

Yup. To me, it's two things. 1) the Indiana ties/history 2) the combo package of all the hires, and our best guys re-committing with a higher level of excitement it seams. I was optimistic about Archie, excited for a new start, but not really excited about Archie himself. I wasn't a huge fan of Crean, but I wasn't down on him like some were either. Archie just didn't seem like much of an upgrade, but I was willing to give it a chance.

thank you. good read. Here are some quotes. Woodson on Race and TJD On D On Lander

I think that might be expecting too much. 20% 3pt, and 60% FT. I'd love to see him develop though if he can.

One has to think Woodson knows had to deal with personalities, so not really worried about that stuff. IMO, he does feel a need at the 4, especially if we're running a real 41 O, and TJD is the "in" or 5. Brooks would absolutely be an upgrade to Race at 4.

Maybe TJD is making some headway with his buddy.

With Parker and Johnson coming in, one would hope that we improve shooting in general, but also will have a lot of penetration opportunities if they are playing the wings. If Race is playing the 4, that would worry me a bit cause it seems like the opposing D could sag and clog the lanes though.

From what I know, and what I've read on 41, it can have a lot of variation. Assuming TJD plays the "in", I'm starting to think we have Parker and Johnson on the wings, Lander/Phin at 1, and Geronimo/Hunter at 4. TJD playing primarily weakside to keep the lanes open. Just not sure where I'd put Race unless he's subbing in for TJD. I didn't think Archie played a 4-1?? Like you said, no where near the correct spacing.

IDK. I was pretty meh about Archie, and pretty excited about the stuff overall that's happening now.

Hunter and Geronimo at 4 is OK situationally against some teams, but I'd prefer some additional prototypical bigs. Our roster is overloaded with tweeners IMO. Give me a roster like Baylor. They have 6 guys at 6-8 or more.4 of those 6 are 6-9 or more. They use two of those guys as flex G/Fs.

IDK. We're pretty thin in terms of bigs. Brunk, TJD, Race, and Duncomb. We don't even know if Brunk will be back, and if he is, can he stay healthy. Total wildcard. Not sure how much we can count on Duncomb year 1. So as far as 4 and 5, you're left with 2 guys you can depend on. TJD and Race. And it sounds like Woodson might like TJD to be more of a 4. I do agree it would be nice to pick up wing/shooter.

I'd take WALKER KESSLER, C, NORTH CAROLINA TIMMY ALLEN, SF, UTAH TRE MITCHELL, F, UMASS CHRISTIAN BISHOP, F, CREIGHTON STANLEY UMUDE, F, SOUTH DAKOTA LIAM ROBBINS, C, MINNESOTA

Right now I don't what to think lol. I guess I need to learn more about Woodson's O. All the highlights I've seen on Stewart seemed to be mostly at the 2 and some at the 1. Just hard for me to envision him as a primary 3 in the Big 10 right now. If he can manage the 3 with his handle, that would be awesome. It's going to be interesting to see how things shake out. I'm just going off of his film from the 2019-2020 season and in general, prototypical SF size. 6-5 / 200 is still on the very low end for 3.

Is Stewart a little slight, I think I like him staying in the 1-2 range.

I think you have 3 good choices at PG right now. Johnson's assist rate last year can't be ignored. Stewart played the point at UT-M a decent amount of time. My gut says Johnson and Lander will split time at PG. I think Johnson simply floats between 1 and 2. Stewart could do the same if needed. My biggest hope is Lander develops, and we have 3 guys how can push the ball, with 2 of them being able to float and be be productive at 2 along with some of the other youth. Not sure how Phin fits right now. At the end of the day, I just want the 5 best guys on the court. I think we're more than fine at PG. If anything, we need a quality big from the portal, maybe a situational sniper for the 2.

I searched the internet (perhaps someone has better info), and all I could find is he can't travel on recruiting trips, and can't coach on the sideline. I think it's very gray, but I'd bet he can participate at minimum during practice, which is all I care about.

I have no ill will, but I also don't have "best wishes" for him. I'm fine with players leaving who got passed over and wish them well in finding a place they can play more......, but any player that leaves when they're a starter or primary contributor, well, that's another question. Again, no ill well, but he's no longer a Hoosier.

Overall, I think our back court will be better. And with hopefully Woodson's scheme tweaks, and Matta's history of good shooting teams (you have to think Matta will do more than sit behind a desk), any personnel losses won't be a thing. Getting Race back IMO is probably better than Franklin coming back if we look at need. Now we just need some contributors at the 3, 4, and/or 5, to help round out the roster.

Johnson, Stewart, plus our youth. I like it.

I'm a little surprised Race is coming back, and a little surprised Franklin is leaving. After thinking about it, we should be fine with Stewart and Johnson on top of our youth, and probably need Race back more than Franklin. I appreciate Franklin's contributions to IU, but he's gone, and no longer a Hoosier. Buh bye.

It would have been interesting if we had the same type poll from when Archie was hired, to compare.

It's hilarious, but I was being serious lol. About 8ish years ago, was camping at a park on the water about an hour out of town. Me and the girl brought the dog, and were in a 10x10 pop up / flex tent. The family next site over was there for the water park. Woke up at the crack of dawn to the ceiling of the tent being pushed down to face level, the dog going crazy, and the skies were literally green. We got up and ran to my X5. The storm blew threw in 15-20 minutes, but it seemed like hours. We all got really drunk that night lol. That was after the family went to the water park and we both put our camp sites back together. I cracked a Corona early that morning with my new neighbor buddy. He wanted to stay at the site when the wife and kids went to the water park, and I tried to send my girl lol. Neither were having it.

I've heard it before. There was a tornado involved though.

You can call it whatever. Internet experts. Talk show jocks. Podcast folks. etc.. But the national media and vegas had pretty much the same list. I guess the fact we hired 3 guys off those lists, the internet experts weren't all that wrong. Or we go back to looking at flight schedules.

I'm putting my rose colored glasses on.... 5 - Brunk/TJD/Duncomb 4 - TJD/Thompson/Hunter/Duncomb 3- Geronimo/Hunter/ Leal (if we go small and if he keeps growing) 2- Stewart or Leal or Galloway 1- Landers or Stewart or Phin Throw in Franklin at 2 if he comes back. IMO, just with a better scheme, improvements in shooting (Matta has a plan), and a few transfers in, and I really like how things are shaping up. I think Stewart will be big next season.