Lebowski

At McCollum's current pace and if he continues to succeed like he is, every point guard on the planet will consider playing for him. He already coached a point guard that was fortunate enough to play in the NBA for one season and is currently professionally playing in France. His current point guard is a junior D2 transfer and folks will learn about him in the tournament. His system is centered around the point guard. The last three national titles (76, 81, 87) IU won had arguably the best point guards in the country on the court. All three of those point guards were smart, played solid defense, made free throws, and came to play every single game. Also, it's safe to say every national champion had one of the best point guards in the country on the team. This dates as far back to Wooden to Izzo to Coach K to Wright etc. College basketball is a point guard game and has been for decades. If he were at a school like IU he will have his fair share of choices on who he wants to run his system. Because folks like Isiah Thomas call these recruits. NIL will help along the way. IU has resources college coaches desire. Recruiting players will not be an issue for this coach if he were at IU.

That's interesting man. That's effin interesting.

Can someone educate me about the 'Goodman' drops? I'm clueless to this reference.

Comparing McCollum to D1 coaches like Dusty and Archie isn't really a fair comparison and is disingenuous. The guy is just getting started at this level. It would be nice to find some sort of stat where we see an established D2 coach's first year coaching stats in D1. I'm sure there's such a thing but I'm betting it's extremely difficult to find because it's so rare. I think maybe Bruce Pearl is a really good comparison but Pearl had some sort of D1 experience prior to his 9 year stint in D2. Both of them were really good coaches in D2. Pearl didn't win multiple championships while at USI and didn't have a start like McCollum did during his first year in D1. But again, both of them were really good D2 coaches. I've said this once already but this guy is a unicorn. I'm not sure if he'll make any noise in the tournament this year because the talent level is a dramatic shift compared to the MVC. But his team will at least get the chance to compete. And next year he'll be coaching D1 basketball, most likely will have a winning season, and a team prepared to play every night.

Not as good as McCollum's. This guy is a unicorn. But I get it. He hasn't been at the big boy table long enough for folks. I completely understand that concern.

For me it's about his resume. He has rings, wins, and doesn't have any down years. It's way more impressive than Archie and believe it or not, Coach Cig as well. His point guard production from his system reminds me of the three titles Knight won. It's still a point guard game in college. Has been for decades. Wherever he ends up, point guards will consider playing for him. I was at the UE v Drake this year and his team had an off night but they were still the most cerebral team on the court. Each player knew their role. They didn't take dumb shots and played as a team. I haven't seen team basketball out of Bloomington in a long long time. The next IUBB won't need years to get a winning product on the court because a coach can build his team through transfers on year one. Having said all of this, I still think IU is a job coveted among the coaching circles. The resources alone is extremely attractive for a coach. So I don't think he will get hired here. But I do think he'll be a successful coach wherever he ends up. He's already successfully proving he can quickly transition into D1 by recoding the most wins in the entire country.

Another championship on his resume. I just hope he doesn't end up in the Big Ten, unless he's in Bloomington of course. Eventually, every point guard on the planet will consider playing for this coach.

I have him as a possible sleeper pick for the later rounds. Myles Price being the other. Rourke, West, and Wedig are all probably going to get drafted. Might see 5 getting picked. All 5 will for sure be signed by a team.

Thanks for sharing. Conventional wisdom basically says we'll see a nice SEC representation in the later rounds. If you had to guess what is the conference behind them?

Serious question, is the SEC overrated much like it has been in football for the last two years? I'm seeing a ton of schools ranked and wondering if it's the same issue in basketball like it is in football.

I wish they would interview Coach Haines.

Pro Day today. At least three on this list have a very good chance to get drafted. All of them are my dawgs!!! I'm extremely thankful for their hard work and success during the 2024 season. A season for the ages that I'll never forget and will always cherish. Best of luck to them as they pursue the dream.

Yeah I think they might of got his DOB year incorrect. https://x.com/HSEAthletics/status/1896275536378487110?t=PxxGpEK1txPd6gIw2lBZfg&s=19

Tragic news out of Fishers, Indiana. Mason was a 4 star that made an IU OV during the summer last year.

Wisconsin D2 215 pound state champ.

Yeah that's all documented. The toxic part is the shady shtuff of actually doing it. Coaches didn't want to have any association with him whatsoever because of it. I don't recall the specifics, but I do recall his name being brought up with questionable shtuff regarding IU as well. I could be wrong though. My memory isn't as sharp as it was. Regardless, it doesn't really matter at this point. He won one title in 95. Almost did it in 94. Stan Gouard was a man among boys those two years and Pearl played a big part in his success. The guy can coach.

Fast. Physical. Relentless. CJ West outweighed every DT faster than him by 10-30lbs. His stock is moving up.

It was a very short lived stint. I transferred out of there the following year. USI's current coach Stan Gouard was an absolute beast. He was fun to watch back in the day. But man, Pearl was toxic. And it was all still kind of fresh when I was on campus. I think I recall IU kind of being involved with that mess as well. I could be wrong. It's all documented about him being blackballed and that being the reason he was coaching at USI. Took him close to a decade to get out of Evansville. To be fair, I do recall him being jovial walking around campus. Like he was just thankful to have a coaching job, if that makes sense. I suppose I wouldn't mind if Pearl ended up at IU now that I think about it.

Thanks for sharing. I didn't feel like going through this thread to find this kind info. Appreciate it.

So, I guess the whole Brad Stevens done deal stuff was just hearsay?

My number one and only criteria of hiring the next IUBB coach is hiring a coach who has championship experience. So that means... McCollum over Otz Drew over McCollum McCollum over Devries Pitino over Pearl and McCollum. I personally avoid Pearl as much as possible because of personal experience when I was on the USI campus when he won the 95 natty. But that doesn't mean I won't support IUBB if he's the next coach.

I completely understand your concerns. I also don't have any worry about those kind of things (except maybe the NIL aspect). I'm not too worried about it because all of those things on your list is part of being a head coach at the college level. The "high-level" stuff doesn't concern me. Because when a coach wins, the talent gravitates to the coach, not the other way around. (Winning takes care of a lot of your concerns to be frank. The fundraising, the NIL, etc. etc.) He knows what kind of talent he wants and what kind of assistants coaching his team. Good coaches have been doing this since the begging of sport. I know D2 isn't really the type of national attention you're talking about but he's been able to handle the 'national' media relations at least 4 times and doing just fine this year. Dolson should go after a coach like Rick Pitino first and foremost but I will be absolutely comfortable if IUBB hires this guy. This kind of hire isn't really taking a chance in my opinion. Whoever hires him, because a blue blood or P4 will, will be getting a really good coach. Coaching matters. If McCollum ends up being a bust and it doesn't work, I will gladly eat crow.

Good coaching doesn't need a majority of the team to be multi-year players. They just need buy-in and the right guys on the team. They build chemistry in the locker room. They get every bit of talent out of their players regardless the talent level. And they win. They always win. This guy has the juice. I'll be fine with IUBB hiring this guy. I would also like to see if IUBB can try to land someone like Rick Pitino. But again, I'll be A OK if Dolson hires this guy.

I was there brother. Drake wasn't hitting wide open threes and UE looked to be the more 'talented' team on the floor. But make no mistake, UE was out coached and got beat by lesser talent (for that night at least). Drake was in control the entire game. Their defense is really good and a breath of fresh air to watch. They are a disciplined basketball team. Not the most talented but a complete team on the same page.