IUCrazy2

He won't get that long. I know that pisses you guys off and fans need to reset expectations and blah, blah, blah....but if he misses the tournament the first two years he is toast. I don't think we will have to worry about that but just dealing with reality.

Did I miss something? Did someone say fire him after one year if he doesn't make it? I think people are saying that with Indiana's resources we SHOULD expect him to make the tournament. Failure to do that should be viewed negatively. That doesn't mean fire him after one year, but it is not a good start. Not with a bunch of senior transfers which means you have to do the recruit thing again and at that point the honeymoon period for players is kind of over. He should make the tournament (and as of right now I think he will) and we shouldn't expect anything less. At a certain point this program needs to start living up to the expectations that the amount of money pumped into it should demand. If it can't, then stop wasting that money and invest it elsewhere.

He said he wanted to make the tournament. That is a Top 40ish type of team. That should be doable.

Saw that one of the Twitter accounts said B. Tucker is meeting with coaching staff at Cook today.

Yeah, today was boring. They messed up and had all those guys commit all at once. Should have spread it out. ;)

In that case: ;) Next commitment coming.

Move Devries to PF, get a wing, and then get a rim runner. You could play Bailey at PF too since he can shoot. I would try and go about 8 deep for most of the minutes. Bailey/Devries/another big rotating around as the PF and C and maybe even have Sisley at PF too. Wilkerson/Conerway?/Enright/and then a nice 6'6"-6'8" wing with some length to work that SF position. I don't think you want Devries having to guard Big Ten/P5 wings out around the perimeter. That is begging to put one of your better scorers in foul trouble more often than not.

Seems like he is good between the ears. That always helps. On the court the shooting is a Godsend for us given the past 8 years. Be nice to have a few spots on the floor where you expect the shot to go down. Good pickup, hopefully the start to some momentum now.

Yeah, that makes it even worse.

Where do you live?

No, just no. Mike Woodson was in the Top half of the BIG. The Top half is 9th place or better now. You don't fire a guy for those results after 4 years and hire a guy you think will take 3 to 5 to get back there. If you want to say 3 to 5 to regularly compete at the top 25% of the conference, I can buy that. Top half? No f-ing way.

No, it would be awesome.

If that is true, he is already a failure and he should probably drop down to D2. Like it or not, money is going to be THE biggest factor in recruiting in D1. This is a job for these guys now, not wanting to emphasize money is as stupid as corporations that post they want a person with a degree and 10 years of experience and when you go to the interview they are at average or below market for a new hire. "We are looking for people passionate about the job, asking about money is so uncouth." Nah dude, I am here to make money while pursuing my passion. If you want to hire big boy employees you have to pay big boy salaries. This is professional sports. Professionals go where the money is. They may be willing to take a little cut to chase a championship but you can't be skimpy with the purse if you aren't at that level. That isn't to say that all the intangibles after that don't play a role, but if we roll out the midmajor white boy "lunch bucket" team every year because we won't take on anybody with money as a motivation, we are going to remain a 20-12 bubble program. (Thank the Lord we got Kenny Johnson on staff because there is a narrative building up here that we need to break like yesterday.)

That is sales 101. The minute you leave, the likelihood you will buy from that person drops dramatically. It doesn't drop to zero but it makes closing the deal more difficult.

If we were all being honest, having this stuff attached to Universities is a complete joke. I would be lying if there wasn't a certain part of me that kind of hopes this all implodes.

Mike Woodson sucked and he could.

He is such an @$$.

Guys like Gabe Cupps are getting several hundred thousand dollars now. I honestly can't be bothered by this small ball junk anymore. $1300 and car rides? Phbbt. Any "name" coach in the past 25 years you can think of was neck deep in worse. These assistants were just the fall guys so Pitino and Coach K and Bill Self didn't take the heat.

Yeah, it means when people say the fans are the problem with this program, they are !@#$ing stupid.

Feeling better. Still like to see a defensive enforcer down low.

Hope that is the case. Get our assistants filled out this week and then start filling in some more pieces. I would like to see a rim protecting and rebounding 5.

Now that Duke is out, I don't care who wins. I always root against the other teams who are around or ahead of us in Title count. I haven't liked Duke since 1992. One of the dirtiest programs in college sports and ACCSPN always whitewashed for them.

Former Illinois players tend to be *******.

I mean that is all well and good, but at a certain point the Jims and Joes matter too. That was part of what lead to the downturn at the end of Knight's career too. Yeah, his worst was as good as some other guy's best in that he was still delivering about 19-22 wins a year and making the tournament, but running out Larry Richardson, William Gladness, Lynn Washington, etc. in the middle to late 90's was definitely an anchor on the program. I want a well oiled team but I also want a talented team. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive. Running out a D2 All Star team every year that wins 20 games isn't going to be enough long term. He has a chance to fill out his team and he will get a little latitude since the decision was made that not one Woodson guy was apparently good enough to stay around, but if the past week ends up being the norm, then we aren't a program that is attempting to win a title. Hopefully some things start shaking out here quickly.

Tournament or bust for me. 68 teams make it and we are one of the biggest spenders on basketball in one of the richest conferences. Barring a big unforeseen loss on the roster, that should be the expectation.