HoosierHoopster

But why? Never mind though, it's all in the past....

Yeah I'm just unclear at this point on what the root cause of our low shooting was. Agree Stewart did not fit last year. On the other hand, Kopp took a really low number of shots, and last time I checked we shot on volume from outside comparable to what we shot under CAM, which goes directly against why we brought in outside shooters in the first place. I'm not meaning to critique Woodson/Staff's offense directly, we used the front court / TJD well and he's outstanding, but, yeah, why continue to start Stewart if he's having virtually no positive impact, and we can't be a one-dimensional team offensively and expect to run deep, and generally why bring in 3-point shooters to stand around and not shoot? I don't buy that we create spacing by the 'threat' of having them out there, when they barely shoot -- that's easy scouting. I do think having JHS this season, together with X, is going to make a real difference in how we use the perimeter, and inside-out play. If we don't, I would have a real problem with running a one-dimensional offense this year (but again don't expect it). Related, wing play should be better, though still not deep, I expect Bates is going make a significantly better impact, and with JHS, guys like Galloway and JG (who has already shown he can shoot from deep and I'd bank on seeing better outside shooting from him to go along with attacking the rim) I think are going to vamp up their impact as well.

That’s an interesting note — B1G is down some but it will still be a tough conference, IU, Illinois, UM etc will be good

I also think our roster has us set up well, particularly with JHS's addition, along with Bates' and JG's growth and increased usage, to justify the pre-season rankings and expectations. I am in a wait and see mode though on the extent to which, or how, Woodson and staff will adjust the offense to use perimeter shooting and wing play. I'm really hoping we see much better use of the outside and wing game to open up the floor, and won't see defensive slug fests with pounding the ball in to TJD as the norm. We have the front court to win 'ugly,' but even with just OK outside shooting we can do a lot better than that, imo.

Can you blame her?

Cool, looking forward to embarrassing Cal, again

I'm in the camp that's enjoying the entertainment of this thread. So... we just got back into the tourney in Woodson's first year, and we have 2 five-star level frosh his staff brought in together with other promising players and our already noted host of ranked returning players to go along with the somewhat overlooked high-impact players (JG, Galloway) and are projected to with the B1G, and both NIL and the whole transfer thing are in full swing. And we just had that Pro Day with what, 25 NBA teams in attendance? So, the team has to do well this year, whether or not it wins the B1G, it has to perform / run deep in conf and move forward in the NCAA tourney (I think it will check all boxes). The recruiting will continue on the heels of team success, the natural pull of Pro Day and the vibe the revamped Hoosier Hysteria just provided, and we should be returning at least Bates, Ren, JG, Galloway, Duncomb, Banks, Gunn and just maybe JHS. Not. Worried.

Yeah I don’t mean to dis Kopp, his positional D is solid, and he can shoot, but Woodson didn’t bring him to IU for his defense, he was brought here to add to / build our nonexistent perimeter game from what CAM left us with, and he barely shoots, his role was to add shooting, and where was it? He scored at the bottom of the team, we shot, and he shot, at the bottom of the B1G. So if Woodson continues to play him in the area of 20 minutes, I hope it’s bc he’s doing what he was brought here to do, shooting and forcing defenses to extend, he has the shooting ability to do that, maybe now with JHS and X we’ll see it. But regardless we’ll be a more dangerous team come March if Bates is playing with that Soph jump and showing the level of talent we know he has, he’s an attacking 3 level scorer, we need that to run deep (and JG’s growth as well)

You may be right re ton of minutes, he was playing basically 21-22 min a game to close out the season with some 30-plus minute game (mostly bc of player injuries iirc correctly). But he was shooting like 1-3 shots a game and our perimeter game was almost non-existent. Agree guys like Bates have to show improved D (tend to think Woodson's continuing high praise wouldn't be there if it wasn't but we'll see). Woodson's comments do show he's a D-first guy, but we need a perimeter game to run deep. Hopefully Kopp shoots more with the anticipated ball movement from JHS/X.

Kind of similar to Polyphia, also been listening to David Maxim Micic lately - rock guitar with some fusion, trance, 'art rock' -- the guitar solo at about 3:00 is really sweet, drum work is excellent as well This one's got a nice melodic soft feel

Used to love Foreigner, and gotta like the long coats.

True, and there wasn't much wing depth last season. What we have in actual wing depth (and by that I'm including starting-level talent) this season remains to be seen -- but, Bates seems to me like the most likely candidate to play more heavy minutes on the wing. Man, though, I hope to see lineups with JG and Bates and/or JG and Gallo and/or JG and Ren (the latter is, to me, straight up scary on potential).

Agree, and would say at least one other guy WILL close

Chasing

It's good except the rebounding part, he does not rebound well at all. I've said I think he'll be better with JHS and X in the backcourt so he'll get those open looks, the question though then is whether he'll take them. It wasn't so much his shooting last season as his LACK of shooting. Sure, he brings some weak side D (though his lateral movement isn't great) and he does communicate well, but his primary role out there should be drilling open shots, it's most definitely not rebounding. I'd also bet on his minutes averaging significantly less than 20. Bates is going to get a lot of minutes, along with JG (more so in the frontcourt).

This is huge for recruiting going forward as well.

Definitely more interested than usual this year in the 3-point contest, looking forward to seeing who competes and how they look, along with the other activities, to get first looks at JHS and Ren with the others.

Agreed but it's a far cry from some 'grey' area stuff that is not coach/assistant-coach driven and doesn't involve paying players, etc. to the type of historical dirty-program stuff we've seen from programs like UK (the most sanctioned program ever), Louisville (oh sure, let's have IU setting up strippers for recruits), UNC (decades of fake classes, yeah, count me out), etc. The NCAA doesn't care stuff doesn't fly with me either. Cal left not one but two programs behind with forfeited season records, because of NCAA infractions. Of course programs have been banned from NCAA tourney play, etc. The NCAA has largely been a joke, I've been probably one of the most vocal 'haters' on the NCAA, but not because it doesn't care and ignores infractions, it's because it's been an inept, inconsistent association that has basically zero enforcement authority without the cooperation of the school involved. UNC fought tooth and nail despite all kinds of proof of its fake classes for basketball and football players, the NCAA had no actual power to do anything. It did go after Ville, however, etc. IU in contrast to the UNC's of the world self-sanctioned in the face of those silly Sampson 'phone gate' but 'major' infractions, while the NCAA went hard against Sampson because he'd escaped them when they went after Okla. In the 'grey' for recruiting etc., with an active compliance program, and being a dirty program are two entirely different things. Count me out of the let's play dirty mantra. We have NIL now, so most of this is irrelevant now anyway (though the lack of consistent NIL regs / requirements across the field is a problem).

But you’re only talking about IU under CAM, that’s not representative. As Scott pointed out we were beating UK (and the tourney game we lost with Vic was when they hit almost every free throw and iirc Vic fouled out). We were bad on all fronts under CAM, that’s over.

Fully agree until the last sentence! The only real challenge I see going forward is getting the little chicken to play IU when we’re good. He wants to control the scheduling so it favors him/UK. Pathetic really

Wimp and a chicken

Good article, and it's the defensive side of the ball and defensive schemes that are going to determine how much he plays -- I like that one of the comments was significant minutes. We'll see, but he's going to be a good one regardless.

I agree with this in part Aloha. I was really frustrated with Kopp's shooting last season, but more so for the lack of attempts and the way Woodson used him. I'm a believer in Woodson, but I was really surprised we shot around the same number of outside shots that we did under CAM, that's just mind boggling. We did not use the perimeter. We leaned way to heavily on the frontcourt. What I hope to see this season is guys like Bates, Kopp, JHS, X and yes JG taking those outside shots with the space that I think JHS and X will create with the inside dominance of TJD and Race and some Ren. Not having an inside-out game with these guys on the floor makes no sense, and Kopp can shoot, if he actually takes the dang shots. One thing I liked in Ren's interview from ITH, he talked kick-outs.

Naah. Kopp, after starting all last year and returning as a vet wing and one of the few who can shoot will certainly play through the year. And from everything we hear about Ren, he'll certainly play, some thought he'd start, I'd bank on him coming off the bench behind Race and TJD but playing pretty good minutes by mid-season to end. What those minutes are I have no idea at this point, anywhere from 10-18 maybe. But either of these guys not play? No, don't see it.

Honestly as good as TJD is - excellent- I’m one who strongly believes in matchups and using actual depth when you have it. We beat PU back then with TJD on the bench bc he was getting owned by PU’s bigs and we went to guard play and had a field day. That’s clearly not a reflection of last season with TJD, I don’t mean to say it is, but it is a reflection of the need to use depth and this season is the first we’ve had with legit, experienced m, talented depth and highly skilled frosh with at least 2 who are college ready likely to play real minutes while one starts, in a long @$$ time. Plenty of very good teams use this kind of good depth when they have it, not many would leave the level of players we now have on the bench for the sake of running 7-8, and for our team this year i see no good reason to think or hope we’re playing 7-8 by late. Who exactly, of at least 9 expected good minute players on this team should be left on the bench? X JHS TJD Race Bates JG Ren Trey Kopp then we have Duncomb, who by several accounts is ready to contribute spelling TJD and with some attitude, could be no. 10 Leal, who has shown solid play and may be ready to contribute more Banks who’s getting some hype and Gunn, who seems likely to be largely outside minutes while he acclimates but has good potential i see 9 for sure and hope we have 10. My opinion, Kopp has to show much more than last season, he has to be shooting, but with JHS together with X I think he will, though i also hope Bates is as ready as Woodson seems to be suggesting and takes that starting spot at some point (i do think Kopp will start for his experience but i’d love to see Bates come out on fire and grab it).