str8baller

What about high efficiency and low volume? Can you defend Woodson on that one?

I think I would bet against that first point. First, coaches tend to gravitate to what they're comfortable with when things get tight. And secondly, Ballo will be one of our best defenders/rebounders and Reneau could easily be our most reliable scorer. It'll be hard for Woody to keep them on the bench at the end of games. If he staggers to go small (and I think he has to) I'm betting it's mostly mins 5 thru 35 of games. On the last point, I'm curious as to what happens with Galloway. Everything points to him being a super-sub, Lazikowski "6th starter", 25mpg guy who plays backup pg and the primary backup to the other 2 perimeters. That would still represent about a 9min reduction in minutes for your team captain. The problem there is all of those guys you listed are being paid for and likely expecting some of those mins. Also, historically Woody has liked to use a broader platoon sub pattern shifting guys in and out position for position. I say I'm interested in it because a lot of these issues are solvable in theory but represent a departure from Woodys usual approach. You're either going to have a team full of talented players taking on some drastically different roles or a 65ish yr old coach reinventing his approach on the fly.

Staggered lineup is the only way to make the minutes work. The interesting part is that Woody has almost refused to do that in the past, especially if we're talking staggering the bigs to play smaller (4 perimeters) to get a guy like Goode in. It's the number 1 thing I'm most interested in this season. As far as aggregate talent or talent down the bench, I tend to think that's overrated in a sport where your best players rest a couple mins or so a half. There are some exceptions if you play uptempo and have a deep bench. Pitino's UK teams famously played that way. Again, this doesn't really seem to be anything Woody has had an inclination towards in the past. My prediction is that Woody ultimately makes it mostly work his way, or a modified version of his system, but that 1 or more players don't get the playing time they expect.

I don't think roster matters at all in that regard anymore. Stability will mainly be in the form of admin structure and NIL funds. If Woody leaves and him and Buckner have set things so that the Simon's are giving $2mil in NIL every year, that could be a big part of his legacy. Otoh, if he leaves and him and him and Buckner do so in a manner that poisons that well where that money is no longer available, that would be part of their legacy too. But if I'm the next coach that's the stability I'm interested in.

I don't get their obsession with woodland basketball.

I would prefer going back to 32 than expanding any further. Ideally they should at least go back to 64.

Hardwood83 needs to get his game face on if Indiana is going to ever make it back to the top

Comes up as a dead link to their page for me. Maybe it expired already?

And still got toasted on defense by any other team with good guards who could shoot and play with pace. Are these new guards better on defense too? Better then XJ and Gallo whom they replace? We know Woody can make the tourney and get run out the gym in the first weekend. Are we expecting better than that?

Certainly could be. I'm not against the spend this year. I just get the sense from some IU fans online that they think this represents a turning of a corner with regards to being dominant players in the talent acquisition game. I just get the sense there's a little more ebb and flow to it than that. Ideally you'd like to see everyone on the same page but I don't even know whose responsibility that would be? Collective, AD, BoT....?

A program’s budget can change year to year as well. A new coach can lead to an influx of cash, with John Calipari’s arrival at Arkansas a prime example. A losing season, or a coach falling out of favor with prominent donors, might cause the well to dry up. This is something I suspect, as well. I think there is some risk in having our first major donor spend tied up in a Mike Woodson job save effort. If this experiment does not go well, I could see IU falling back to the pack in NIL and some major donors being reluctant to pony up large amounts of cash feeling burned.

Seems like a solid backcourt, at least. I think Hepburn is a good player. His numbers took a dip last year because of Storr and Klesmit. He could have a really nice year for them.

I think that's pretty much where expectations will be.

Lol… I remember going to a local alumni event when he was first hired and he was making the rounds. I took my father who knows a little something about sales having done it for several decades at a F400 company. Afterwards I remember my dad saying, “I have no idea if he can coach basketball but he has a future in sales if he wants it.” I throw Crean in with Davis: maddening when they’re the coach which makes them hard to like in the moment. But as more time passes I can’t help but sort of like them as people. It’s not a sin to take on a job bigger than you and come up a little short. Crean specifically seems like he still supports the program to a degree.

Jared Odle, Luke Recker, Jay Edwards...