Stromboli

Haaaaaaaaaaaaa California is one of my favorite places on earth. More in that state than most countries can boast. Beaches. Vineyards. Cities. Nightlife. Incredible hiking. Adventure sports. Amazing outdoor parks. I love it all. And yes, some interesting, accepting, vibrant people, too.

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!

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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My people! Settle down!! You're all being very undude...

Then the guy you’re thinking of is not the guy.

Ummm...

I want to be clear I was staunchly against this.

Exactly. “It’s been an amazing challenge and opportunity the last 8 years” is exactly how you’d break up with them if you’re a nice young man.

Oooooooookay that presser was something. He was using that as an opportunity to explain himself. Definitely has referred to his time with the Celtics in the past tense a few times today. No reason to bring in his dad and his upbringing. And no reason to be that effusive about IU in that moment. I’m jumping on board the hype train!!

I don’t disagree that he should have played more, but I watched the games. Opposing guards would take it straight at/through Lander. He was targeted. That alone will mess with confidence. We’d also all see Lander scan the defense, draw some attention and whip a pass to a man he just got open. Or take the in-bound pass in a sprint and immediately look up the floor. There’s a lot of exciting basketball left in that guy that is the opposite of whatever it was Archie was trying to do.

This is that 2 days after PowerBall hits over $300 million so you put down $6 and spend a couple days before the drawing dreaming of the possibilities and completely ignoring the odds and reality. I’ll say this. Let’s not put ourselves down. We are a Blue Blood. You cannot fake our history. We are prepared to pay actual money, so it’s not like we’re asking for a favor here. We do have relatively low expectations here, and no pending disciplinary junk. And guys, this fan base is freaking incredible. The Twitter trolls are one side of the coin, and the other side is a passionate, knowledgeable, caring fan base that just wants to celebrate their team. Just give us a reason to cheer, and we’ll explode.

I don't understand the Fife talk. I just don't get it. MSU fans don't even want him as the heir to their program, they want one of the other assistant coaches. He had hustle as a player, but I wouldn't say the kind of chutzpah that you'll typically see in a coach. Will all due respect to Dane, Indiana, as a program, has earned the right to aim much, much higher than this. Based on the biases of my own desires, I'm predicting Brad Stevens to IU. The facts/circumstances I'm cherry-picking to support this argument are as follows: Indiana University is the best basketball program ever, Brad is ready for a change, and also it just feels right to me. Based on the wording of the Press Release and what is out there right now, I do not believe we're going to be looking at any up-and-comers. Sorry, Stuhoo. So realistically only about 5 candidates, and supposedly at least 1 of them has indicated high interest in the position. The Texas guys seem pretty happy. I'd love for it to be Oats. I'm going to predict it is Beilienieniblien. Huge upgrade regardless.

I don't know. All his interviews about coming to Indiana, he was impressed by the school and town, not so many mentions of the coaching. I think after this year, almost everybody will expect that the next coach will do a better job of developing these guys. But I totally agree. He's one of the 4 guys I want to build around (assuming TJD jets). Franklin, Lander, Race, for those inquiring minds.