DChoosier

I hope, and think, the guy is wrong. That being said, aside from 2019 and 2020, when we surprised the nation and pre-season “experts”, there have been many many years in which the cycle has been: 1) posters predict enough wins to squeeze into a bowl game 2) “experts” predict we will win less than 6 games and come in last, or next to last, in the division 3) posters call the “experts” idiots 4) “experts” end up being correct. I am optimistic that won’t happen this year but we will see.

I forget, which of those three have a career scoring average of 14 ppg ??

In the off- season I think we have now had an incredibly deep team approximately 6 of the last 7 off-seasons. Sure looks good on paper but……….

You make sh!te up and then use that as your argument. NO ONE said that Woodson was a GREAT player in the NBA. The initial post regarding his playing career called Woodson a journeyman, which without question was dismissive of his playing days, which to me implies a 5-6 point a game guy. To my surprise (I didn’t follow the NBA when he played) he averaged 14 points a game and scored nearly 11,000 points which is a far cry from being great but to last that long in the NBA, while scoring 14 a game, is a very solid career and certainly not one to be bashed. I get calling out his college coaching, roster construction etc but to dismiss/denigrate everything else…..Just brutal (but it’s the fire Woodson thread so carry on ).

I never paid attention to the NBA when Woody played but your post made me want to check out his playing career. He played for more teams than I realized but he did average 14 a game for his career and just missed scoring11,000 points by 19. In the current era he would have made a ton of cash (as an example Cody has averaged 7.9 ppg, scored 4,376 points but has earned nearly 79,000,000…yowza)

That’s three guys Knight got from up there, during our absolute heyday when IU was a huge draw, in 29 years. Were there many more? I don’t think so but I’m too lazy to look it up.

Even Banks played 26% more minutes than Sparks and I can barely visualize Banks playing at all this year.

Ware went from 6 minutes at Oregon to 32 at IU. Who knows how many minutes Ballo gets but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him at 28-30 with MR getting 10-12 at the five. If the Ballo-MR split was 28-12 at the five, and MR averages 30 a game, it would mean MR and Ballo would only be on the floor together for 18 minutes which I would like to see. EDIT/Correction: Ware played 16 minutes and scored 6 a game at Oregon. At IU Ware was at 32 minutes and 16 points per game. It still illustrates that a players minutes can change quite a bit at the new school.

Sparks played 177 minutes all season which was the least of any scholarship player on the team and that is somehow considered “playing him no matter what the on-court failures are telling you” ???? I think the opposite happened. The former MAC freshman of the year, and second team all-MAC player, barely played because his on-court failures were indeed recognized.

I’d guess that is pretty typical, and a good idea, for most coaches. Good way to see how guys people considered to be 8-12th perform under the lights to help decide who to run with in the conference games. That being said, I don’t think any of us liked it when Woody would give guys early season minutes using hockey line substitutions rather than seeing how a couple of backups would play with a few starters. He seemed to mix in subs a little bit better this past season.

In regards to Woody wanting to play 10. Gunn didn’t play all that much (373 minutes) yet had the 8th most minutes on the team (ie, I don’t see a big push by Woody to give 10 guys meaningful minutes) I looked at most of the Elite 8 teams and Gunns minutes would have also ranked 8th on most of them ( ie Woodys distribution of minutes is rather “typical”). I agree with you in regards to not being hung up on getting a 13th guy as the 10,11,12 guys aren’t going to see much time anyway. Sparks only had 177 minutes all year (11th) even though Ware missed multiple games.

IU has never done particularly well up there. Lots to complain about, in regards to the program, but I’d rank not attending the Fort Wayne Boys and Girls Club gala as the 15,000,000th most important item.

The depth Bama recruits is just crazy. This kid was a top 100 recruit, redshirts a season and then the following season only gets into one game (Middle Tennessee) with no stats. They just stack up the talent.

True but yet many continue to act as though we lost to UE that night. The tall Cuse guards shut down smaller guards all year and we featured 5’11”/6’0 Yogi and injured shoulder Hulls who combined for a total of 0-8 from the field. And in the following game Syracuse held 3 seed Marquette to 39 points. They were on a roll. Yes, Crean was not good (sucked) vs zones but it was a terrible match-up which is one of the challenges of the tourney.

The back up big we are looking for would essentially replace Sparks who only played 177 minutes all season even though Ware missed games. I am not saying we don’t need a back-up big (we do) but if I’m a recruit I would have concerns about getting decent minutes which is why I think we get a relatively low caliber guy.

I’m excited simply because I want to see if he does indeed adjust the types of lineups he puts on the floor. Would I bet on that happening? No. On a side note the 3 guys on the podcast didn’t mention Tucker and he gets less mentions from posters than any 5 star I can recall. Almost kind of odd. Going to be interesting to see what he can do.

Yes , I know. That was my point. We are not going to land a “savior” with the remaining schollys. PS: even though no one plays their 10th 11,12,13th guys in conference the odds are roughly 100% that the forum will have a TON of posts questioning why Woody isn’t playing x/y/z more so they can “develop”.

Aside from the 22 games he has already started I agree with you…..LOL That being said I do agree that he basically brought the ball up the court and then laterally passed the ball to someone and presented almost zero threat. That is, to say the least, not optimal but the guy was a young freshman that no one expected to contribute much his first year. Will he work out ? I don’t know but it seems like some (I don’t know your take) want us to have 4 year guys that develop but if they are not immediately great some want to throw them overboard.

Why would a guy testing the NBA go to a school in which his minutes would go down? Once conference season starts (any conference) there are virtually no 11,12,13th guys that get meaningful minutes. Posters will complain about one or two of our last recruits but we are not landing Larry Bird for the 12 slot.

Why do you think he, of all people, would leave? He gets the ball a TON, is integral at both the 4 and 5, and I assume is making a ton of $$$$.

I’d like to see how we would perform with some minutes with MR at the 5, MM at the 4 with some combo of Tucker and guards.

Most on here aren’t Woody fans but why are you so compelled to infect every thread? Due to your thousand “Woody sucks” posts I believe even the slowest of us have somewhat of an idea where you stand. It would be great if you could post the same take, another thousand times, on the “Fire Woody” thread rather then here.

In a podcast with Coyle he mentioned offering to help with shooting but the staff wasn’t interested. Leary has said MM has by far the best stroke on the team and that it was apparent the very first time he saw MM take a single jumper. Called it perfect form. Claimed he could have quickly helped Gunn and Cupps as they each have, according to Leary, minor, easy to fix issues with their shots.

There are now multiple ways to win these days. UCONN’s three guards crushed PU’s guards. One of their three guards is a one and done 5* freshman while the other two guards both arrived at UCONN via the portal. All three are projected to be drafted in the 1st or second round.

I agree with that as our greatest need now, which is the exact same need we had this time last year, is to upgrade the perimeter. I really like both Gallo and Cupps but ideally they would be our 6th and 9th guys.