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I wouldn't be surprised if Liam shoots similarly to how Mack did this year. He is a very, very good 3 point shooter but I would not say he is elite in the same way Grady **** was as a freshman (just my opinion from looking at some of the box scores/handful of games) I do think he is going to impress in terms of his playmaking and I think he will be solid for a freshman on defense. Those two would be a hell of a duo. EDIT: Lol, Grady "Richard" (who plays for the Raptors)

If somehow by the grace of God they land the GOAT portal haul... open up the checkbook and put together a monster ... sure it could be a really good year. Hope we maintain that level of commitment/investment once Woody moves on though. Because if we don't land basically the best class of transfers ever assembled, the likelihood of next year being worse than this season is IMO very real. And man, would a year like that be toxic. Especially when it's the elephant in the room before this year is even over. Just brutal.

Mrs. Mgbako is determined to singlehandedly salvage Mike Woodson's IU legacy. Lol Initiated his recruitment. If he does come back for year 2, she will undoubtedly be one of the main factors in that decision (as will his father). They are the type of family that I could believe the parents saying no to a transfer... you made a commitment... see it out. That is the vibe I get from 2nd and 3rd hand stories of them, no personal experiences with them. Let's hope! My gut says 50/50 right now. I will be very pleasantly surprised if he comes back here. I fully expect he will go through the draft process and maybe even enter the portal but end up withdrawing. Who knows. Gonna be an interesting next month!

Operating a sports franchise (in the professional entertainment industry, btw) is entirely different from having expertise / background / strong understanding in the strategic aspects of a sport itself.

Sadly it seems IMO the cesspool of internal politics at IU is a hereditary trait, considering multiple administrations made up of entirely different individuals have operated in the same way over the past ~25 years+. Appears to be a feature, not a bug, of the IU system. Engrained in the institutional culture you may say. The Board should not interfere with an AD making a sports decision aside from where the usual financial and ethical scrutiny is applied. It seems that is how we operate though. Now... that is not to say that the Board has not delivered many good things (it has) from an academic and research perspective. It's just that they should stay focused on that and not stick their nose where it doesn't belong. Of course a lot of the blame does not IMO rest on the Board, at least not alone. The mega donors were equally part of this call. Make of that, what you will in terms of what it means for our ability to field a competitive basketball team anytime soon.

I'm not saying we necessarily "missed" on all those coaches because I didn't follow that stuff so closely at the time. However, with all due respect, this "stat" does seem sort of disingenuous based on Beilein and Stevens having not coached in college during that time. The stat is really just comparing Woody to Matta, so it's fair IMO to say he shouldn't have been included on Hornsby's original list. I recognize it's been a long time since those guys have coached college basketball and it's no guarantee they would have been more successful than Woody here. But they had done it before, Woody hadn't. Not sure I'd say we "missed out" on them but would find it fair to put them in the category of stud coaches who aren't employed here. Where you place the blame for that (administration or elsewhere) is probably up for interpretation - who knows how realistic they actually were at the time? Apparently not very... Would they have done a better job? I definitely think so. I do agree with your last point 100%. Realizing I'm more negative than usual at the moment but yesterday's news is hard to swallow. Wound is still fresh and people are venting, little bit of hyperbole (some of which I am also guilty of) going on. Woody is our guy, I'm rooting for them to figure it out and finish strong/have a great year next year. Just wishing I could see a more realistic path toward that happening... with so much going on this month and next, I'm looking forward to the news cycle giving us more reasons to be hopeful/optimistic/excited.

But then it's not "cool" anymore because he doesn't have the cache of being IUBB's HC. Lol

Maybe I should have used another word than skillset. Maybe "utilized him in a different way" is a better way to put it. I don't dispute Ware has improved leaps and bounds in terms of his motor/production, etc. What I'm getting at is we had a perfect stretch 5 man to play a 4 out, 1 in offense with. I don't think we necessarily played to his strengths in that sense and would have liked to see more DHOs with Gallo. Just my two cents

Plus, this year we can more hopeful than usual for football!

Just imagine if we used the full extent of Ware's skillset this year. That's one of the things about this year that most upsets me. He should be putting on a show in the tournament.

Not sure about that personally, but, a moral victory (something all too familiar for us IU fans)... will help me cope for now. I want to be more positive but I have very little reason for optimism right now. I will feel better if we get some big fish in the portal, early in portal season. Two starting caliber guards shortly after portal szn begins would boost morale a lot, for me anyway. Let's see how this works out...

Is there any doubt if Crean had the portal and NIL, we'd be way more competitive than we are today? Lol Maybe he was the hero we needed, but never wanted... (mostly said in jest... but knowing what we do now about how Woody was treated when Archie was hired... may have spared us all some headaches if Crean was still coaching the team today). JFC

Hopefully "better portal connections" mean we've done enough back channeling to have a really good idea about who we are going to get. Hopefully some of them will announce shortly after the portal opens. If they are big enough gets, that would reinvigorate some optimism.

If I've come to understand anything over the past 24 hours / the general discourse on Woody in recent weeks ... it's that this board will see some seriously unhinged content posted leading up to / shortly after the first Tuesday in November lol

I would too man, but it's not happening... gotta let go of the dream (for now) :(

I'd be very surprised if Cupps and Gallo's fathers who are great coaches allow their sons to endure another year of this.

No shot 90% of them have much of an idea about who he is unless they grew up around the NYC area. Most of these recruits barely remember the 2013 team. Sure hope those portal connections come through this year better than last.... not that it'll make a difference

What's one more useless position on the staff to help shift blame and do enough work so that Woody just literally has to show up when they roll the balls out. I hope like hell they pull off whatever their "strategy" is for next year... but right now... it's a lot easier to envision a scenario where Mike Woodson is missing games with knee/back problems than us competing for a B10 or national title... you know, his stated goals (that he's not willing to work toward)

You're not being dramatic, it most certainly will for at LEAST 2 or 3 years

Am I supposed to feel better because Woodson apparently isn't as atrocious as Tom friggin Allen? It's very hard to interpret this all as anything other than internal dysfunction, lack of direction, etc... frankly it looks like there is a total absence of "having a clue" among our administration. I'll definitely cheer for the team next year but I expect the same results and won't invest my time, money and energy into a program that's apparently controlled by good old boys from the glory days who want to act like a middle school posse at the expense of the program. Sure Dolson may not have generated all that smoke but somebody did. Whatever you believe happened, there is no way around the fact it's been "messy" over there. For years, but this is the latest milestone on our journey to restoring the glory of Old IU....................

I am processing my emotions, but it's no coincidence my laptop broke last night lol. Here is the thing... if IU wins, I don't really care if Woody, Pearl, Dusty is the coach... or if Stuhoo and Demo are going to be co-head coaches. I do not care as long as IU wins and holds the coach to a standard. I just don't think this decision helps put us on a path to do that sustainably. I will watch and cheer for the team but I will not give my money to the program via NIL or tickets any time soon. The stench of what all has transpired will linger in the air, for me, anyway. Since he's back regardless, I hope we win out and go to the tournament. Crush it in the portal and hang banner 6. I also hope I wake up with $100M in my bank account and this was all just a fever dream.

I am willing to do the job.

It is very disturbing after reading that, recalling all the times he has said things like "I assure you next year will get VERY ugly" and saying it would be worse than what Davis went through. Almost as if it were a threat.

If rumors are to be given any credence anymore, 3 of the actual 4 names you've penciled in supposedly won't be here next year. I hope we can keep them.

The recruiting pitch for Mgbako is hopefully already ongoing... up the NIL, make you the feature piece of the offense, and after another year of hard work... way better draft position. Hope we can sell him on it.