Stromboli

I’m really stealing this from Demo, but Braden is exactly the kind of kid you want to see play in the big AAU circuits. That’s what Archie had communicated to him, and I’m fairly certain that’s what Woodson has communicated as well. The dude can ball! No doubt. But let’s see him play against the other D-1 kids. AAU is not a dunk contest. It is a valuable chance to see these kids go up against one another. The best kids are very easy to spot, they are simply better. They control the action on the floor. If Braden is 4* level, then he needs to show he can do it in that environment. Frankly guards have it way easier in AAU because they get the ball so often. And what’s wrong with a dunk? They’re awesome. Getting one is a big deal, as the other team is trying very hard to prevent it. It generally means you exposed or created a weakness to get right to the basket. That matters. TJD would love to dunk every possession. Turns out getting there is pretty difficult. Then everyone gets rewarded with an athletic emphatic slam. In the words of LeBron, 2 points is not 2 points. If there’s some dude able to consistently get dunks over the best of the best? Yeah I want him. Anyway, Painter took a gamble and offered without the benefit of AAU tape. Maybe it pays off? I’m cheering for Braden either way, he’s a local kid and I like his play.

I really like him too. He seems to have so many of the tools to really succeed. And I just like the kid. I’ll say, he’s going to have to push the effort up a notch. Explode out of his cuts and get to his spots for this system to work. Of course that goes for everyone, and our roster looks to be much deeper and improved. A little more effort and activity on defense. He looks the part of an NBA player with his loping style, but his skills haven’t caught up to that. When you compare to a Geronimo, who isn’t always in the right spot but easily makes up for it with high activity and go-go gadget arms, Hunter will have to step it up. Something I think has been underutilized is his post-up game. In HS he had a nice little bag of tricks, and I’d love to see some match-up hunting to use that. Even in the 3 guard line-ups, we won’t be undersized, and I could see him being guarded by opposing 3s that can’t match up.

It was Al. He gone.

Having Matta and Fife here means a lot. We seem to be maintaining and reloading more than the rest of the B1G. Having guys that want to play for their coach will matter. Having guard depth will matter. Having a junior TJD matters. This team was snakebit last year. Archie wasn’t working out. These kids never got to benefit from an energized Assembly Hall. And frankly the other teams in the conference were better. A lot of our talent is new, but not young. Stewart and XJ have already shown they are plus players. Our success really isn’t counting on unrealized potential. The players have already played well. Now let’s see what they do with a better coach. And it’s not just Woody, it’s an entire team of coaches that feel better suited to succeed. I’d put 20 wins as a floor next year. I hold back on tournament expectations, but again I think a 4 or 5 seed needs to be the floor. Ideally Woody will condition these guys to be professionals about it and not be surprised when they play winning basketball.

Give us your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning for playing time, the wretched refuse of your teeming bench.

Terrible news. He was a big part of my basketball experience for a long time. RIP.

Blah. Major loss. We move on! Let’s see what we’ve got in Parker and Xavier.

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So the thing about Race is that his play is very good in the Big Ten. And he’s already good, unlike some of the younger guys where we’re just banking on development. BUT, with the return of TJD, Race’s return isn’t as important. And to your point, if Woodson is bringing a 4-1 type offense, Race isn’t prototypical for the offense. But still, the kid is good and if he stayed I’m sure he’d continue to be good. If he doesn’t come back, are we going to replace him with someone better?

This is so awesome. Really hoping good things for these kids. Great work, Coach Woodson!!

Yeah it’s a little obnoxious we’re giving him this much attention. IU basketball is way bigger than Jeff Goodman. He’s using us as a stepping stone.

Totally agree, Stu. Trayce has always been a great Hoosier. He encourages other recruits to get here. Is absolutely pro-IU in his comments. I’m a huge fan of this kid. This is one of the very few times I think coming back is in the best interests of the athlete. If Archie were here, I would not think so. And it’s one of those times where I don’t necessarily think it reflects poorly on Trayce’s development so far. He hasn’t underperformed by any means. He’s been an incredible college player. But, with the new coach, this works. Maaaan. Even the way Trayce made his announcement, it’s done in a way that builds up the new coach. The kid is a leader. I hope he sees some good growth with Woodson and this pays off for him.

I think we’ve all made our points on the dogs/techs/trash talking issue. Move along!!

So I was stepping into this thread wondering how I’d justify it in the mod thread. Noooope! Stu started it!! Awesome. Archie’s time here was bad. Real bad. Just 4 straight years of lowlights. Truly the most fun we had was watching Romeo at New Albany and then enjoying his commitment. Too bad Archie has no idea how to run an offense. The thing is, there were times when we’d be winning a little bit, but everyone with eyes could tell this offense just straight up didn’t work. Getting worked by IPFW and ISU. We made Jon Kuchar look like Lebron. The no show game against Duke. The complete fold any time a game mattered, be it RMK in the house or OSU for a tourney bid. Then this year the guys straight gave up. At some point as a fan it didn’t seem fair to go through 5 years of this. But yeah, the cake goes to the RMK game. Haarms celebrating in front of our packed SSAH. Archie with another somber postgame interview. It was bad. Real bad.

There were times last year when Armaan was our best player. After some of those games he had some NBA buzz. I want him back. I’d love to see him and TJD star together, under a new coach with some excitement around the program again. I’m still a believer in Jerome Hunter. Of course there’s no indication that he’s leaving so no issue there. Khristian didn’t have a great year, but he’s the kind of asset you leave in your portfolio. The entire team needed a sports psychologist to get them past the Archie Yips. Hoping CMW can cure that. We don’t know what we have in Parker Stewart. I forget he’s there sometimes, but the truth is that he was a very good player before. Parker, Armaan, and Jerome out there together?? Let it flyyyyy!

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You’ve been a Cooley fan for awhile, right? Good luck to Al! Providence has a great program, passionate little fan base.

After a day of consideration and learning about Coach Woody, I’m a big fan of the hire. Very different from Archie’s energy, for sure. Hearing Dolson talk about the three main concerns of the players was telling: relationship with coach, skill development, overall style of play. I’d say this is in line with what we all suspected. I agree with the sentiment that Woodson will be a players’ coach. Personally I view that as a great thing. Woodson is calm and self-assured and large and accomplished. He’s got some swag about him, has so much more to his resume than a Lewis or Fife or even Cheaney. And I think he’s going to have real rapport with these guys having come from Indy and succeeded and has awesome pics with the hair and records that still hold up. And the dude wants to bring our offense and defense current! Yeah. The more I think about him the more I like it. My reservations before were really just ignorance. Oh, lastly, his reverence for IU ball. Hard to imagine many more qualified to connect and instill that in young players. The announcement of Matta simultaneous to Woodson was an interesting choice. We’ve talked about making a splash with the hire, and this I think was an effort towards that, which could be seen as a recognition that Woodson himself doesn’t make that splash. Hard to imagine a fiery guy like Matta can sit back and not try to take some ownership along the way. Regardless, he has to be viewed as an asset. As for transfers vs retention, I’m nearing ambiguity. I do like our players, but will like the new ones, too. Let Coach build his own team.

Jordan, Khristian, Leal, and Al all “liked” the Instagram announcement, for whatever that’s worth.

I’d prefer these guys enter the portal before a new coach is named. 1) It’s a bad look if they enter the portal only after he is named, 2) if the new coach communicates to a player he should seek playing time elsewhere, it smooths out the process on both sides. That said, I want to keep every player (excluding senior Al) that has entered the portal.

I tooootally agree with you. He’s one of my 4 guys that can carry this thing in the future (assuming TJD leaves). Let’s hope this wasn’t preemptive to anything...

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