Aaron

Good recovery from bad loss on first day. 4-1 is not a bad weekend.

100% accurate and this year is exactly like 2018-2019 as I posted. It starts with getting a Big Ten level starting center in portal. Lily Meister not making the step forward everyone thought is biggest culprit but there are some other minor things as well. Moren's system relies on a center drawing attention to spring shooters open. She has the shooters but not the post player to draw attention. The fact Moren has them two non-Purdue wins from a sixth straight NCAA bid is actually fairly impressive given she is essentially trying to run an offense with a hand tied behind her back. I thought Lily would make leap forward to be a starting level center and just has not happened which is no one's fault and Moren has been really hard on her for good reason if you watch her postgame pressers online.

This was an all systems failure today on both ends of court. Minnesota is much improved this year and very likely heading to NCAA Tournament. However, IU made them look far better then they are today. Every time you think this Indiana team is better or worse than a 9-11 seed in NCAA Tourney they have a game to show you they are just that. Don't be surprised if this starts four losses in five games with at Michigan, Purdue (This is 99% likely a win but not helpful) OSU, at MSU. Will make them 16-11 and 8-8 heading into the final couple of conference games. This is identical to 2018-2019 when IU sat on the bubble and had to beat a very solid Iowa squad at home and pick up an additional win against a bad Purdue team + win first Big Ten Tourney game to punch ticket to NCAA's. Team will almost certainly be in same spot now needing to beat Maryland who is very similar to Iowa, a bad Purdue squad, and first game of Big Ten Tourney to secure a March Madness bid. This athletic season at IU feels like 2018-2019 in almost every way with volleyball being pretty mediocre, women's soccer being awful, men's soccer winning Big Ten (although that soccer squad was much more a contender nationally), men's basketball having a long losing streak, women's basketball squeaking into tourney, baseball winning Big Ten, and softball having a really nice spring, All of these things have either happened or feel like they are very likely to occur. There might be similarities in some of the other sports as well but only looked at the major ones. Big difference is the struggle in men's basketball this time will lead to a new coach and for that we can all be thankful:).

Good response after the disaster in the first game of the season. Dominated since including killing a power-5 squad. Veteran team responded like I hoped to see.

That's ok. The neutral site wins over Baylor and Columbia have aged well and the victories at Iowa and Washington as well as at home vs. Nebraska are all against likely tourney teams. The Harvard loss has aged fine as well with them likely headed to NCAA's and also a NET in 30's similar to IU. Only Butler loss is aging poorly and one bad loss doesn't kill you with Indiana's resume. At this point you are about two more wins against good teams (as well as not slipping up against Purdue) from punching your ticket to March Madness. Anything else is a bonus and just for seeding after that.

I won't overreact to one loss especially in a sport like softball which has a lot more randomness. However, that is a terrible loss to a team that has been uncompetitive the last few seasons and well below .500. This team returns almost everyone from the back-to--back 40 wins seasons that saw NCAA Tourney appearances and should get there again. Can't make many judgements from one game but that is a ridiculously bad way to start the season for a very veteran squad with expectations. Hopefully this was a fluke.

The ability 'protect home court the rest of the season' isn't as important as getting five more wins in the regular season regardless of where they are at. Really they need two games from the bucket of Nebraska, Ohio State, Maryland, at Minnesota, at Michigan, at Michigan St, as well as sweeping Purdue and beating Rutgers. That would put them at 10-8 and 18-11 and in about the same nine seed range they are now. With that said, Nebraska is maybe the most important game so far this season because it is the most winnable of the six versus tournament teams and is at home. Also the Cornhuskers are built in a way where the matchup is decent. Alexis Markowski is best center in the league and will kill the Hoosiers inside similar to Kendall Bostic of Illinois. However, outside of her, they are not particularly athletic and rely on making a lot of threes similar to IU rather than the ability to drive like the Illini which was what really did Indiana in. Basically this game will be much more about who is making their shots then about talent or athleticism which is a better bet given Indiana's deficiency against speed and athletic players.

It will be close but I expect them to get to exactly 20. 10-8 in league (wins over Purdue x2, Rutgers, Neb, at Minny) and 18-11 heading into Big Ten Tourney. Win Thu and lose Fri in Big Ten Tourney 19-12, 8 or 9 seed in NCAA's. Win first game, fall to one seed in second round. At this point, I had team 13-7 and 5-4 which is what they are. However, I had wins over Harvard, Butler, and Illinois but losses to Stanford, Baylor, and Iowa. IU getting to that 10-8 and getting the two wins to get there between the six tourney teams they face (Neb, Minny, Mich, MSU, OSU, Maryland) to close could be slightly different. However they are right on schedule. Needed to go 6-0 vs. bottom five of league and are 3-0 so far and I fully expect them to get the other three with two of them at home (Rutgers, Purdue once) and the one on the road (Purdue again). Also 2-4 vs. the tourney teams so far (wins over Iowa and Washington and losses to UCLA, USC, Ill, Maryland). 5-4 at halfway point. In other words right on schedule, no more or less then that as they have been all year. Every time we think they are better or worse than 20-13 and second round NCAA team as 8 or 9 seed they remind you they are exactly that. Deeply flawed with lack of post play, rebounds, and to many turnovers, but gritty enough and good enough shooters to be exactly that 20-13 team. It might be a bit circuitous to get there in terms of who they beat and lose to. However, in end they are who I thought they were preseason and will end up exactly that. Also Shay has been far more inconsistent then I thought but Striplin has been better than I assumed despite her flaws. Everyone else exactly what I figured. This team is similar to 2014-2015 Crean team for men. Maddingly inconsistent with a few wins and losses no one expected. However, in end they were just good enough for NCAA Tournament because their shooting was strong. Also, that team had issues with post play as Perea was starting big and didn't make the leap everyone expected similar to Lily. However, they worked around it by making shots more often than not just as women are now and finished at exactly 20 wins with 14 losses. Another similarity is pre-conference. One loss to a good mid-major (Harvard vs. Eastern Washington), one blowout loss to top team (UNC vs. Louisville). One basically road loss that should not have happened with more IU fans there (Butler vs. Georgetown). One top win over tourney team on neutral floor (Baylor vs. SMU), one solid home win vs. power 5 (Stanford vs. Pitt) and otherwise drumming the rest of the pre-conference teams as everyone expected. Also both got of to strong start in league play (4-1 women vs. 5-1 men). Men treaded water rest of year to squeak into tourney with just enough wins over expected teams and fully expect same from women. If women follow men for next season as they have this one, its back to competing for Big Ten title next season. If Yarden makes same similar leap Yogi did and you find a quality center somewhere in portal or via late signee (for men it was some guy everyone may have heard of who still plays in Indiana up the road named Thomas Bryant;)), that jump back to near top of league is well within the reach. Pre 2018, anyone would kill for this but expectations are rightly raised now. However, lets treat this for what it is as rebuilding year after losing best player in program history and still very likely to make postseason despite all the flaws.

Who knows? Mackenzie Holmes was pretty much on that level and was ranked 54th out of school. Until someone gets to campus really hard to know how great they will be. This team absolutely needs a better center than they have now to compete at the level they want in Big Ten given they way Moren runs her system. Given Moren has been extremely critical of the post play all year, i expect this will be addressed. I want to see what happens in portal before I make any judgements gong forward. This team with a starting level Big Ten center is on Maryland and Ohio State's level probably at moment. Moren likes a system where the sum is greater than the parts and until I see who is anchoring the middle next year to effectively run it, I have a really hard time saying what will happen in future years. Moren is essentially coaching with a hand tied behind her back and has them in tournament contention. Give this roster to a lesser coach and they are essentially Purdue at very bottom. It is really hard for me to make grand judgements on future of program and next year until I see how the huge missing ingredient at center is handled.

Wrong. Maya Makalusky is highest ranked recruit in program history for next year at no. 39 (beating Grace Berger by four spots). Also Navaeh Caffey is just outside of top-50 and is a more athletic guard fans have been begging for who can shoot and drive to basket.

Its down to a math problem for a tourney bid. Need to get to 10-8 in league. Have three near sure wins against bottom of league to get to 8. Can you find two more between Washington, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan St, Maryland, and Ohio State? So far team has two wins against tourney teams in Baylor and Iowa and the game against Hawkeyes they really tried to give it away. It all comes down to having better composure down stretch against decent to great teams and better leadership from the upperclassmen.

Spring roster posted to website: https://iuhoosiers.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster?sort=name

Agreed. Definitely need to get a starting more athletic big in middle given Moren's system that relies on that + shooters. The shooters are there and they are bringing in a more athletic guard who can shoot next season (Nevaeh Caffey). Moren doing best she can playing her system this year with hand tied behind back. Everyone assumed (I was in this boat) Lily Meister would make a huge jump and it just has not happened. Knew they were in trouble there when I saw her get owned in post by mediocre Butler bigs. What has pleasantly surprised me is how much Moren has figured out how to work around this since to a pretty good degree. Moren knows its a huge issue as well and been extremely hard on Lily during her postgame pressers that have been posted online.

My two questions are: 1. Is this a Cem Dinc situation (old Mike Davis reference) or a Kasparas Jakucionis and Tomislav Ivisic situation like Illinois finds themselves in right now with legit good foreign older players? 2. Will this guy want to play for the (presumed) new coach next season or will the new coach even want him?

With women they started adding priority points to it when they got good which pissed people off. While the actual fee or what is being charged may be a little different, it is the same idea of people complaining they want a better team and then complaining again when the team is good and prices go up or other fees or enticements are added.

Its exactly the same thing. People complain when prices are increased yet complain they want a better product. The two go hand in hand in the world of economics. Can't have one without the other.

Agreed. It blew my mind when people complained about the same thing when women's basketball got good and prices went up and you could not get a GA ticket to sit near the court five minutes before tipoff anymore. Yet these same people complained the program deserved more attention. It all goes hand and hand and can't have one without the other. Some people fail to grasp this for some reason and I don't get it.

Are we sure Cheaney would not get a look if he took over and had decent finish? IU has not exactly been smart with coaching decisions recently. Better to not have temptation there if you ask me. No one thought Diebler had any chance and then he got it full time.

To anyone who wants Woodson fired midseason for interim see OSU. Want no part of a dead cat bounce from an interim who then gets job full time completely screwing program as has happened to Buckeyes. Woodson needs to go but after season. An interim now could do way more damage to program long term if they do well and are kept which could absolutely happen. Want no part of Jake Diebler Ohio St situation.

I would agree Striplin is probably the better player but neither her or Lily is really a starting level center in this league as you said. Based on her comments, I think Moren's patience with Lily is wearing thin and we will see if a change is made.

Shea and Lex still have eligibility left. Its only Chloe's that expires

The issues are not about stars or talent but Lily Meister not taking the leap everyone hoped and assumed. Moren's system relies on a good post player with shooters. I was all in favor of giving Lily the chance to be the featured big, but she has not been what was hoped and Moren knows it and has been particularly hard on her in post game presser. Moren is doing a great job working around what is essentially two back up bigs. However, there is a ceiling of about a 7 seed and second round NCAA exit at the moment. Finding a player like Mackenzie Holmes is very unlikely, but I fully expect Moren to go portal hunting for a solid starting level big ten center in offseason similar to Bostic last night. The post problems are no ones fault but just a reality of Lily not taking the step up everyone had hoped. However, certain matchups like this one with a good center and athleticism are going to be a really tough putt the rest of the year.

One note. Makira Cook who has been a designated IU killer is out for the year as is fellow starter Gretchen Dolan. Their rotation is very shallow but still has top players in Indiana's own Kendall Bostic along with Genesis Bryant, Adalia Mackenzie, and Jasmine Brown-Hagger. This still won't be easy, but the fact that the designated killer Cook is out is a huge help (not that you wish injury on anyone).

This doesn't sound like someone who needs more NIL money or doesn't have the resources to get the players she wants as some on here seem to think. This strikes me more as getting players that fit her system by design. This is kind of what I suspected but to me this kind of confirms it. As many coaches previously have taught us, going against your system just for top talent is more detrimental then helpful (see Steve Pikiell this year). I would like to see them get a starting level big ten center (and I had zero issues giving Lily that chance this season but she has shown she is better suited for back up role which is no ones fault). You don't need someone on Mackenzie Holmes' level. However, an upgrade in talent here is needed unless Faith Wiseman is the answer once she develops which is possible. Guards are presumably fine for now and with Lenee back next year that is three backcourt players in Yarden, Shay, and Lenee who are all starting level big ten guards. Just a small upgrade in the frontcourt should be sufficient moving forward.

This is women's soccer. Not volleyball:).