HoosierHoopster

@Stuhoo :

You left out Bates, we'll have to wait and see (of course) what he does in the games but he was a strong HS shooter, the talk from staff and players is that he's shooting very well, his shot looked very good at HH, and I'd bank on him shooting and scoring at a significantly improved level this season. Also, JG can shoot and in big moments, I'd bank on his low 30's percentage getting up to the 35% or so range, and I'm hoping he shoots more, he nailed a number of big moment - clutch shots last season.

Ha, touche

I'm thinking 2-2. UNC is a beast but I think we pull it out at home, probably lose away at X (but have the talent to win), we'll definitely lose @KU imo, and I think we take down AZ on the neutral floor. But I can see either 1-3 or 3-1. I suppose 1-3 would be acceptable, but imo not if we're laying claim to our pre-season ranking. Time to step up!

I'm not sure I'm ready to say we can be a national contender, but I think we should and will contend for top of the B1G, and depending on the draw, health etc. that we should have a good showing in the NCAA tourney. I can't tell yet what our outside shooting is going to look like -- how much Woodson/staff will use it. With this team, we have scoring and playmaking we didn't have or we're just starting to grow last season, I don't see 3-point shooting as holding us back from contending in the B1G, but I am in a wait and see mode on how Woodson / staff utilize the arc -- and really how often -- guys like Kopp and Bates are shooting deep. Kopp is a set shooter, he's not going to be creating his own shots, but he should have lots of open shot looks, here's to hoping he's taking them, unlike last year, and that Bates -- and JG -- are taking and making more -- if that comes together, sky's the limit, imo.

For me it's just hard to say at this point -- what's "realistic?" One way to look at it, we are a veteran-loaded team that last season was missing a stud-level guard/on-ball play, now there in JHS who the NBA scouts are raving about and who looks fully ready to be dominant, and another impact player, gained, minimally in Ren, who is at least very good, both major upgrades over who they're effectively replacing, and with the vets comes expected growth in Bates, JG and Galloway, JG having significantly improved his play at the end of season into NCAA tourney play (but whose continuing growth remains to be seen), Bates who got the summer props and we haven't seen him live due to injury, and Galloway who just maybe is now shooting better, and TJD is clearly primed for a big season and with less competition up front in the B1G. So we need the pieces to all come together and shine to take a major step up from the fringe tourney team we were last year, but the pieces are there.

Didn’t say it was unusual, that’s common

Great example - the JImi Hendrix Experience album, Are You Experienced. It was produced at a then new studio in London with then new recording technology, had a major impact going forward. If you get a chance, listen to the guitar solos in the song Are You Experienced -- they are all recorded backwards, and Hendrix dubbed them over in perfect placement, so that unless you're listening to the wild sort of fade in guitar work you wouldn't know it's backwards. Or Winds Cries Mary, recorded in just 20 minutes, which is just nuts, all instruments other than a softly played rhythm by Hendrix while he sings the tune, are over-dubbed. Btw, I recently worked through Hey Joe on my guitar, such a sweet song to play (built around pentatonic scale).

In yet another stupid, senseless shooting, rapper Takeoff of Migos was killed here in Houston early this morning, at a party held at a bowling alley. Houston has become a dangerous city, but it's just a microcosm of all of this senseless gun violence that has spread across the country. Maybe one day people will wake up and realize how incredibly stupid all of this is and actually do something about it.

He was pretty good from deep in HS iirc, good to see him expanding his college game

If only you’d do a little research :)

Lol who are you talking about

Nope. Premature

CJ will learn and grow into the defensive side of the ball / schemes, he's not going to take over any Kopp minutes, and you really can't take one game against an incredibly weak opponent at the start of the year and draw any season conclusions, let alone moving X off ball because he had one off game. X proved himself in multiple games across a B1G season, his game improved majorly over the season and he was a primary reason we got as far as we did. I'd say the same thing about JG, the overreactions on his one game despite what he showed at the end of last season and through our 2 NCAA tourney games, not to mention his rebounding and blocking dominance and interior D) is just funny to me. so it's a message board, we're all going to post our thoughts and make conclusions, all good, but we're going to know a heck of a lot more as we get into the real non-con schedule against real opponents. It starts with Xavier, then we get to the UNC game, then start into con play, etc. I'm interested to see where these conversations are then.

But no one could put away a Diet Coke like that man

I remember when i could play with my hair

Duncomb plays with a chip on his shoulder — a lot to like in that attitude

Definitely going to be interesting -- and fun. Boatloads of offensive talent, excellent footwork and positioning. But this is a cake walk game, remember how good Bates looked last year pre-season. Ren's conditioning looked a bit off to me, and hard to get a feel for how he'll play against B1G level bigs, but no question he''s really good. Looking forward to watching him continue to grow his impact.

I'd love to see run given to a Ren / JG front court. Ah the athleticism...

Fair, but Bates came in a borderline 5 star and an excellent shooter, he was largely held back this past season bc of his D, that limited his play, we’ll see

Ok I get all that and agree there’s often off-season talk and hype that’s overdone, and yeah the proof is in the pudding. Bates was an excellent shooter coming in though and a borderline 5 star, and he has shown flashes. Then there’s Woodson talking him up, and other players. And yeah we haven’t seen him in games yet this season but his stroke looked really good at HH. So, we’ll see

We’ve seen him shoot at HH, we’ve heard and read multiple reports about him including his shooting from the practices and scrimmages, no need to be snarky of course we haven’t seen it in games yet, I’m betting we will

I think you'll be ecstatic

Think you're referring to my comments -- no question that Bates came to IU as a three level scorer, that was all over the scouting reports and that's what he showed at the HS level, agree he didn't demonstrate that (consistently) as a frosh, but I'd bet on his showing it this season, he absolutely has three level scoring ability -- and we've already seen some of his outside shooting improvements to start this year -- he was a strong outside shooter coming to IU, he's found his range.

Agree with both of you -- we dug ourselves into holes in various games while always starting both PS and MK regardless of matchups, whether they were playing well or poorly, regardless of how well others played in preceding games or who was playing well together. I'm a big believer in Woodson and where we're headed and think we're going to shine this season, but I'm not a fan of just sitting back and supporting bad coaching decisions because it's Woodson/former IU guy etc., he's been adjusting to coaching college kids and he favors vets (which I understand and don't really fault) but he was adjusting/learning and starting and playing the MK/PS combo irrespective of anything was just not a good coaching decision. And finishing to me is at least as important as starting. The games ebb and flow and when we see adjustment and the guys finishing reflect who should be on the floor for O or D or to match up with the other guys or who are playing well together, etc., that tends to bring more W's. In any event, this roster has better fit, Kopp may score at a higher level (he needs to justify starting, imo) with the spacing, movement and much better all around play we can expect to see with JHS/X. He's a good set shot shooter, he can help open the floor if -- and it's an if -- he's getting and taking shots while the ball moves, inside out etc. Bates brings scoring at 3 levels, and JG brings much faster play and athleticism, high level rebounding and D (perimeter D his growth area) with shooting (I think we'll see his outside shooting grow into the 35% range) at big moments. And Gallo brings just about everything but demonstrated shooting. Now you add in Ren too? I'm pretty stoked for this season.