HoosierHuddle

I am holding out like 1% hope that the following scenario plays out: -Anthony Leal goes through Senior Day and announces he is done playing. -IU loses on Thursday of the Big Ten Tournament -Mgbako announces he's exploring his professional options -The transfer portal opens on March 18 and Trey Galloway, Malik Reneau, Gabe Cupps, Gunn and Banks all announce they are leaving. -That leaves IU with a remaining roster of Jakai Newton who may never play and Payton Sparks who...tries. Would that scenario force Mike Woodson to look around and come to a realization that he's doomed? Would it force the Simon family to realize there is no hope for 2024-2025 to be anything other than ugly? Would that force to Scott Dolson to actually take a stand publicly? I know the answer is most likely no so I'm hoping things don't implode because it wouldn't accomplish anything anyway but who knows? Maybe that changes things?

It was unbelievable that Indiana was debating whether or not give Woodson a fourth season, it was unbelievable they announced he was coming back (or, leaked to the Indy Star that he was coming back...sources say), it is no longer unbelievable that Mike Woodson is getting a chance for a fourth season. It should be but it is not. I keep reading, both on here and on Peegs, "Indiana has to make a move on Woodson", "IU has to get him to retire"...they do not feel they have to and therefore they will not. The Simon family (possibly the Cook family too, I don't know..."big donors" plural continues to get referenced so maybe it's more than just the Simon family) wants to give Woodson another year so he is getting another year. The status of the program does not matter, the trajectory does not matter, the data that says rebounding from this season to have a good 2024-2025 season would be historically unprecedented does not matter, the fact that Trey Galloway and Malik Reneau (who has absolutely no reason on paper to be unhappy...he's getting paid well, he's fed the ball in the post over and over and will continue to be, he plays until he's foul trouble...but if he leaves, it will be for one reason: he does not like or believe in Mike Woodson) might leave makes the hump/mountain all the harder to climb and does not matter. All that written, this is what is in front of us and I'm the type that has to attempt to make the best of something while wallowing in misery. This piece of information was brought up by a poster on Peegs, credit to him or her, and got me looking into it. So, it seems likely Kenny Payne gets canned from Louisville. He was a disaster as a head coach but was an accomplished recruiter in the past. As we know, Mike Woodson loves working with his friends and we think a new position that has to do with recruiting is being made to help Mike Woodson well, do his job. For his lack of coaching accumen, Payne actually puts effort into recruiting. Maybe Kenny Payne takes that job. If he does, Louisville is considered a potential leader for a guy IU was in on at one time: Joson Sanon. Sanon is a small forward, much like Liam McNeeley. He's a borderline 5-star prospect and is probably reclassing to 2024 (his natural class). He is a really good scorer. If he were to reclass and Payne came to Bloomington, maybe IU makes him some ridiculous offer to come to IU for a season and fill a spot on the roster. That'd be one down and like...8 or 9 to go ha.

All of that plus...the bar is so low that we'd for at least a couple of seasons, we'd be thrilled with even the slightest signs of life and competency. Finish in the top half of the Big Ten, actually attempt to recruit, sign two (gasp!) high school recruits and play something resembling modern basketball and IU fans would be very happy. Do more than that and you might get a statue and a fat extension. Things are dark right now, no question. But there are still very good reasons for good candidates to want this job and it could turn around very quickly.

Well see what happened was...hoh boy. I try to stay positive when possible and I'll continue that but I think I'd pull a muscle stretching to find anything remotely positive about losing the only freshman in the class. That would really indicate he's aware of likely roster changes OR he's seen that Woodson is not remotely interested in having freshmen. I guess the NIL war chest just got larger? Yay?

Ah, that's right...we go to the Bahamas as that is one of Woody's preferred vacation spots (I remember that from the preseason exhibition trip the team did and IU fans travelled so well they immediately tried to get us to join). At least the weather should be nice there...

Heck if I know how any of that works. There don't really appear to be rules for much of anything anymore when it comes to recruiting so I'm sure you could get creative with it. Given the relationship with Kenny Payne, Payne's previous success as a recruiter (which may or may not be relevant in today's NIL world) and his relationship already with Yasir Rosemond...I would not be shocked to see Payne be involved. Perhaps as a replacement for whatever it is that Armond Hill is doing. I know that will get laughed at but we could probably do worse if the job is strictly recruiting related.

I don't know about screwed...I mean, the window for success is barely cracked open and even though IU has as much money as likely any team this offseason is going to be offering it is still going to be a very difficult thing for Woodson and staff to build for 2024-2025. In regards to the schedule though, there is a way to play like two marquee games and don't get obliterated, merely lose by normal margins (I think we play Kansas again next year don't we? Does Kentucky start up?) and then play a bunch of teams that will fall between 100-200 in the NET. The Big 12 did a great job with their scheduling this season. If you play teams in that range and actually handle your business and win by 10-20+ points, you can set up a good NET ranking going into conference play instead of being at 100. You'd give yourself a chance to make the tournament at least. On a side note, is there a thread to post about and discuss the transfer portal and potential options? I guess that's what our program depends on for now and I watch more collegiate basketball than I probably should so I kinda know of some of the guys we might pursue.

I also think it was mentioned in vague terms by Eric on the Spaces thing he did last night. He kinda alluded to all three assistants being back but the staff being somewhat different with an addition. I don't know if the term "GM" was used by him and he was not sure what all the role would entail but it would be primarily recruiting based.

Long-time, first time. This is a cool community and I figured I'd start posting...I won't add much, if any, in the way of intelligent conversation but I probably won't anger too many either. To paraphrase, "I gotta lot of thoughts and now, you people are going to hear about them". I am not in a position to hear things that are interesting like Chris007 does or know people (maybe?) like KathywithaC does but I do have information from time to time...typically about football, a program that should have prepared us for having blind hope with no rational expectation for success! I'm not at all happy Woodson is back, no need to rehash any of the reasons. It's an illogical decision made on the basis of faulty thinking and people in power flexing their privilege to keep a man employed for selfish reasons. The head coach at Indiana University, in any sport, should be a position of merit. Not one kept because of connections to donors and past accomplishments (not as a coach though). That horse has been beaten to death. Moving on... -Given the extremely large war chest of NIL funds that Mike Woodson and his staff (whoever that may be...I think it's likely all three assistants stay and a recruiting GM type, perhaps a Kenny Payne?, gets added to the staff. Armond Hill might be done, who knows) are being handed by the collectives plus more funds from the Simon family, Indiana will be a very attractive option for guys like Mackenzie Mgbako, Malik Reneau and Trey Galloway. They might not love everything about the system Woodson runs but it does not appear to me that they despise the man and the effort is certainly on the floor right now. If we add a good rim-protecting center that can move and play out of the paint on offense and then pair him with Malik (who really needs to become a better rebounder and stop fouling so much), convince Mgbako to come back and add Liam McNeeley...that's a good start. Find 2-3 difference-making guards with a huge offer of NIL funds and we'd be cooking. My hope would be it would be good enough to get like a 7-seed in the tournament. Maybe we win a round or two and Woody feels good enough about things to "gracefully retire" feeling he has stabilized IU basketball. That's best case scenario, obviously. Much guff will be given about needing to acquire a rim protecting center but if Malik is in the lineup, it's kind of a must. He's not big enough and not a good enough defender or rebounder to play him at center. He'd foul out in 15 minutes per game. -How does everyone think Woodson will want to handle the non-conference schedule next season? I could see him wanting to rack up 9 or 10 wins in guarantee games instead of making it a really challenging non-conference slate. It'll be a lot of new pieces and I could see him justifying an easy non-conference schedule (we'd have to actually thump those teams to not tank our NET rating this time around) by pointing out all of the new players. I just don't see him wanting to go play a bunch of high-profile games again with the pressure on.