Home Jersey

One of the other photos he posted in his announcement tweet... yes, get the best players you can wherever they're from... but, I do love having players on the roster who grew up as fans of IUBB, who wearing the jersey means just a liiiitttle bit more to... Can't tell me that's not a positive for the locker room/program culture.

Looks a hell of a lot more comfortable on the court than he did at the end of the year even. I'm inclined to think after a, hopefully, healthy summer of conditioning work... he will look even better. The knee stuff he has been working through is no joke. The missteps along the way have really set back his timeline. I'm very happy that he took his RS year here and is seemingly not portal-ing. I think that says a lot about his character and patience/competitiveness after we're bringing in two guards + others ahead of him. I'm not credible enough to say whether the knee issue will limit his athleticism for the rest of his career or not... But given where he's starting from... sometimes God just has to nerf uber talented people to keep things fair. And besides, there is more to being a good basketball player than just being an ultra athletic specimen. Seems he will still have at least a sufficient amount of athleticism... these young guys bounce back a lot easier with rehab than us older guys (ah to be 19/20). He's had the right resources since coming to IU it seems. And that patience he has developed will no doubt serve him well over the course of his career. Perhaps he ends up becoming a very well rounded, skilled basketball player. Maybe we roll out the 3 GA guard rotation at times next year and it turns out to be everyone's favorite... I'm not writing Jakai off but I don't want to have unfair expectations of him. Hopefully next season is the start of a great IU career. And if anyone calls me a sunshine pumper for this take...kick rocks! :)

He's definitely the dark horse / sleeper factor for next year's team. Easy to root for the kid, especially after all he's persevered through injury wise.

If Purdue can't scrape together 7500 per kid to go abroad, maybe they should... go get a job instead of begging :) Lol

Hate to hear this LCS. You are in my prayers. Looking forward to the update where you've kicked this things a$$! Sending you positive energy. My DMs are always open.

Probably an 8 give or take .5 because of the B10 title ... FF a 9, NC a 10. I don't love 1-10 scales though I'm bad at math lol

Win the B10 title. Make at least the S16. That'd be a "good" year. Should be 100% doable with the projected rotation. What do I expect? To be underwhelmed... Happy to get talented players, but until we see the team blow out cupcakes in buy games I feel more hopeful than optimistic per se. I think the team will be better, but being better than last year is not enough (obviously).

Luke Goode is a transfer portal prospect from Indiana so the tweet is relevant. You're putting words in peoples' mouths with your "second" point and don't seem familiar with the concept of symbolism.

Your comment said nothing about winning the offseason, only suggested that we may be "locked out" of in-state recruiting (at a time when we are involved with multiple in-state prospects). People are tired of digs from fellow fans and that goes both ways, not sure why you're surprised your joke did not land. Nobody wants to get flak for rooting for their team, whatever that looks like to them. Virtually all of us feel the same way you do (show me first) yet do not feel the need to reduce every conversation to "bUt MiKe WoOdSoN" There is a thread for tempering optimism or even downright negativity, not this one though. Stuhoo has already unpacked how you're "misreading the room" with your "tempering optimism" ... but yeah, some of all the other posters are the insane ones (just like some of all the college professors ;)

If we average 22+ 3 point attempts per game next year I will get a tramp stamp tattoo of Mike Woodson's face

Mods, feel free to delete/apologies if this breaks any rules, but since this is the de facto politics thread, figured I'd share here: If like me, you find blanket terms like "far left" or "far right" etc. to be a lazy way of describing the political spectrum (in the US or anywhere else), and ultimately more harmful than helpful in the way of bipartisan collaboration (you know, what those ghouls in DC are supposed to actually be doing... finding ways to get **** done for all us Americans) you may find the Political Compass of moderate interest. It's been around since 2001 and is not specific to any country's political parties or elections, strictly about describing politics in more meaningful terms and pointing out the error of some common, but sloppy, political definitions. "Our essential point is that Left and Right, although far from obsolete, are essentially a measure of economics. As political establishments adopt either enthusiastically or reluctantly the prevailing economic orthodoxy — the neo-liberal strain of capitalism — the Left-Right division between mainstream parties becomes increasingly blurred. Instead, party differences tend to be more about identity issues. In the narrowing debate, our social scale is more crucial than ever. Nevertheless, the more nationalistic and authoritarian a party or individual is, the more ‘right-wing’ they’re still labelled. This, of course, is absurd. Taken to its logical conclusion, it means that the further left a country sits, the more socially liberal its attitudes are. on that basis, North Korea must be a shining model of human rights and social freedoms! Conversely, a country may be very right wing (ie libertarian) in its economics, and be authoritarian at the same time. Singapore is a perfect example." Brief instructions/explainer below + link to the very short "test" (there are no correct/incorrect answers, only called a test so as to not be confused with an election survey or personality quiz). Some are surprised by their results, others not so much. Before taking the test: Please note that this isn’t a survey, and these aren’t questions. They’re propositions. To question the logic of individual ones that irritate you is to miss the point. Some propositions are extreme, and some are moderate. That’s how we can show you whether you lean towards extremism or moderation on the Compass. Your responses should not be overthought. Some of them are intentionally vague. Their purpose is to trigger reactions in the mind, measuring feelings and prejudices rather than detailed opinions on policy.

You certainly appear to have a very thorough understanding of the substance and issues at hand based on the one or two newspaper articles you've read. Keep practicing and eventually those reading comprehension scores will come up little buddy You can immediately see there is no attempt at having a legitimate conversation about politics here. It's not "shying away" to not engage with someone foaming at the mouth to make what they perceive to be "a good point" politically. If someone can't understand the distinction between people having an issue with both the outcome AND the process to reach that outcome, the convo is not going to go anywhere because they're just looking to bark about the outcome. Personally I don't expect nuanced dialogue on a message board like this so I'm not going to sweat the opinions of others. I will laugh at the righteous indignation though, because it is funny.

The best political and social commentary always comes from internet message boards about college sports.

Lol

I don't know about 40% from three, definitely not on any high volume, but I'd take 33%+ on enough volume to keep defenses honest. I don't think we see a ton of typical 4 out 1 in next year but would be nice to be wrong I guess. He's great around the rim though, that's where I want most of his looks. Maybe if/when Malik slides over to play the 5 for a few segments we see more 4 out 1 in. Would love to be a fly on the wall during staff meetings these days

I agree, my post was more geared toward fans that are not excited by the idea of adding Essegian. I think the staff pretty clearly values him based on the timing of the visit/smoke of things going well. In my post I mentioned a few reasons why I think he'd be sold on IU whereas a comparable role/pitch that we made to Hickman was not enough for him. IMO, more minutes would not necessarily benefit Essegian. No matter what level he plays at professionally, it's going to be in a sharpshooting role and he's probably never going to get significantly better on defense because of his limited athleticism/measurables. He's better off playing the politics of basketball by playing for a coach like Woody who is super connected and able to play him in the same role he would play professionally. If Essegian can play it at a high level and contribute to winning, all the better and he'll eventually have an opportunity to play more minutes. Go somewhere else trying to be the man/play in a featured role then not performing well, just harms his stock with pro teams/overseas leagues. Yes he's a competitor and wants to bet on himself but IMO if he's smart enough to make the right bet and position himself for the NBA, coming here makes the most sense. Because I don't think he's ever going to play himself into being an NBA draft pick and regardless of how much he plays or how well he does, if he works hard for a coach like Woody, he will get an invite to a Summer League team just like Race Thompson did or Miller Kopp did and the rest is in his hands. He can't get that at most other P5 schools. And he can also get paid probably more to do it here than elsewhere.

Yep, this is where I'm at right now. First of all, let me assure you, I have no bias here (wink wink to a few of you) My initial reaction to an Essegian transfer was totally unmoved. If he couldn't crack the rotation at Wiscy, why should we want him. To a degree I still think there's a tiny bit of merit in that. At the same time, we're talking about someone who'd be playing 8 or 9th man. So what was he able to achieve playing in the same conference as us? Big 10 All Freshman team honors. 27 MIN, 11.7 PTS, 3.7 REB, 0.7 AST, 40% FG, 36% 3PT as a freshman Would have loved to land Hickman, who is a hometown kid, as 3rd/4th guard in the rotation but it was probably never gonna happen because he wants to play bigger of a role than we could give him. Essegian is realistically probably the best you could hope for in that part of your rotation IMO... if he's willing to accept having a relatively limited, but very clearly defined role, with modest potential to earn more minutes in exchange for the other benefits that come along with being at Indiana. I assume all these guys want to play and/or have a very clearly defined role, with the goal of playing professional basketball. I also assume that, to varying degrees, people and their circles are realistic with themselves about how likely that is / what they need to get there + do what's best for their immediate financial interest. The pitch was probably fairly different for Hickman, but not what he ultimately wanted. Essegian's situation has some pretty important differences, though. 1) Coming off a season he fell out of the rotation 2) He's not transferring "up" a conference if he comes here (or down) 3) Multiple years of eligibility left. For a kid like Essegian, who's best bet at the NBA (no matter where he goes IMO) is probably being an UDFA and catching on with a team that's willing to have a cup of coffee with you ... can't imagine there's a better coach than Woody. Even if that ultimately doesn't work out, he's got two years of being paid handsomely at his home state's flagship university while being developed by a former NBA coach who will make a referral to get you a shot with a team. All you can ask for as a player. And by staying in the B10, his overseas prospects would probably look better than transferring down, where he'd have more tape, but against worse competition and presumably lesser development in the eyes of foreign leagues. For a guy like Hickman, he's coming from a smaller school/conference and needs tape against high level competition to have an outside shot at playing professionally here/in the higher level leagues overseas. So for him, the math is a little different. At the end of the day, they're two different people so they'll prioritize things differently. TL;DR: If we can sell Essegian on a very clearly defined role because he places enough value on all the other factors IU has to offer, that would be ideal, because you're unlikely to find a better end of the rotation player willing to take on limited minutes, but capable of playing more and doing so at a level that earned freshman all-conference honors. Great shooter, fills a huge need skillset wise, and you're not asking too much of him... so he's unlikely to single handedly lose you games, but can very readily contribute to winning, and any big performances are just gravy. Sign me up. IMO close to a homerun pick up in that sort of role.

Interestingly, a lot of the accounts on Twitter defending Woodson now, were also complaining about Gallo (allegedly) hitting the bars frequently during the season

Really tough blow for SHU/Shaheen. The assumption was he'd go somewhere closer to home to be near his daughter (believe he is from Indy). Seems like he is cashing in on one of his best opportunities to do so by playing ball, good for him. But to not be able to retain a guy like that because they just don't have the means to pay him as a small Catholic school is sad. Shaheen has a tall order in front of him with that program especially because of the financial factors. I hope it works out for him there. He would be scary at a place with real resources.

Would he get less minutes here than at Illinois? Genuinely asking, not sure what they have coming in/returning next year. Maybe if he thinks he will play adequate minutes, he'd buy that the stage at IU could give him better visibility/interest from pro scouts than a mid-major where he plays a ton. Other than Illinois haven't heard of big programs linked with him but certainly could've missed it... I find him most interesting at the moment but that may be because he's the biggest "unknown" to me as a prospect/what we could realistically expect from him on next year's team. I like him better than Elijah Malone, but I assume everyone else does too. Humrichous and Essegian (+ Carlyle becoming official) would be great IMO. Fill the 13th spot with a lotto ticket and let's roll

Not sure how accurate so TIFWIW

After a season like we just had... probably a good category to be #1 in :)

Not making an argument one way or the other... Just unpacking why I think some people have grievances with "NIL" / collectives in their current form.

I mean we're getting pretty deep into semantics at this point... part of what makes a players NIL valuable is how good they are. But they're usually mostly compensated in the form of a collective's cash payment, not a company's marketing budget for example. Which IMO is why some people have grievances with "NIL" pay... it's mostly collective payments which are more similar to a company payroll. When people think of NIL, they think about players who have made CBB nationally relevant being able to reap the rewards for their success via their NIL deals with local and national organizations, which is a good deal for everybody. Instead, we see universities basically paying players for performance. Collectives can bring with them a world of political headaches (maybe that's part of the offseason drama we've seen play out at IU). Adding a 3rd party to your organization/program is always troublesome IMO. Therefore I hope we get to a point where the collectives go away, universities manage funds in house like a company payroll with a salary cap, and we go back to basketball being the primary focus with NIL as a nice bonus for doing well.

Yep, this is where the discrepancy is IMO for why people feel so differently about "NIL." Name, Image, and Likeness deals like the ones you described where you'd see a guest appearance, sponsorship/commercial, etc. There are also collectives, which provide direct cash payments as I understand it. That is where it's less about marketability/being paid for your own name and likeness, and more about being semi-pro sports with smaller budgets and no salary cap. As a concept, players getting paid is fine. They basically always have been. The devil is in the detail... and the collectives are problematic for sustainable success, not to mention the long-term feasibility of smaller schools being competitive/eventually, even fielding teams. Seems like the inevitable conclusion is revenue sharing/unionization, collective bargaining, etc.