Silat Player

Sure. He is responsible for making the play-in game, and then getting blown out, with a bunch of experienced players and one of the best big men in the history of the program (who he didn't recruit, BTW). He's also responsible for last year, when he made the tournament in a terrible year for the B1G, and then again got easily beaten in his 2nd game of the tournament. And this time with a first team all-american and a high first round draft choice. What does the rest of this season have to do with his retention? Are you telling me that a few meaningless games at the end of a terrible season should determine whether he should be retained? LOL HIs issues are far deeper than that...

I think the problem is that some people view any criticism of the coach of a terribly underachieving team & program as "attacks on Woody." Personal attacks shouldn't happen, but anything regarding his coaching is absolutely fair game. And this is a message board of an awful team. Anyone who doesn't believe that Woody is going to be criticized in the "Fire Coach Woodson" thread is delusional. LOL The fundamental problem is that Woody isn't just losing this year. There are fundamental problems in the structure of the program which are more than just a one year issue. The fact that he has only one recruit for 2024 and zero verbal commits for 2025 shows absymal recruiting, which was supposed to be his strength given his NBA experience. He's coaching and recruiting like a guy who has never been an NCAA coach at any level prior to IU. He doesn't know how to build a program that will consistently be good. He always seems to be scrambling and reacting...

This is so stupid. There are a lot of people who work at very good jobs and still read and comment here. You do know that when you become an executive, you don't have to enter your hours into a timeclock or anything. Do you know that? It's all about the bottom line and bringing value to your company. That's how you're judged at work. And your obsessive defense of a coach doing a horrible job is just getting embarrassing at this point...

Especially when Woody hasn't successfully recruited any Indiana HS talent in his 3 years at IU. Not going out to sectionals ain't going to help that stat.

Crean's problem was consistency. He was unable to field consistently competitive teams. The fluctuations in the program were massive. Just look at his finishes in the league: 11, t-9, 11, 5, 1, t-8, t-7, 1, t-10 He was obviously not good at maintaining a program. LOL

Honestly, I think there would be less angst among the fanbase if the HS recruiting looked a little more solid. Bates looked good on paper, but obviously was overrated. Reneau and JHS were obviously good recruits. The problem is that the 2023 was underwhelming (at least on paper). It included two guys who were (at best) rated in the 80s or 90s. It also didn't include any big guys even though we knew that we'd be losing Davis, Race and Kopp - our entire starting front line. Add a 2024 class that doesn't have any commits in it yet, and you've got some fans who aren't feeling great about the status of the program right now. I think Woody needs to make a pretty big splash in the 2024 class to get things moving again.

I would guess Indiana will be interested in anyone who can put the ball in the hoop at this point. The current roster is going to have trouble scoring the ball unless there is some amazing player development that occurs over the summer. Where is the scoring going to come from? Last year, even with TJD, Kopp, JHS, etc... IU still went through pretty bad offensive stretches. They haven't added anyone in the portal yet who is a big time scorer and neither of their HS recruits were prolific scorers in HS. So again I ask, who is going to score the ball next year? I can't believe they can't find a player or two who want to come because the shots should be there for the taking.

Davis was basically our Kevin Ollie. He was lucky to hit on one talented, cohesive group of players who had a great run in the tournament. After that, he showed that he was incapable of sustaining a program on his own, though.

I've got to disagree with the "I blame fans for turning on coaches to [sic] early which i believe effects [sic] recruiting." I think you're overestimating the power and significance of the fans. Every major program has a slew of overzealous fans. UK, Duke, UNC, Kansas. They all have them. It doesn't seem to negatively impact their recruiting at all. Do you think that UK fans have been happy with how Calipari has done over the past few years? They have the number 1 recruiting class coming in. They had a top 5 class the two years before that. I didn't check the years before that, but you see what I'm saying. And there are no fans who complain more than UK fans when the team underachieves. Don't blame fans for lack of recruiting. It's a crazy argument. LOL

No. Just no. We're not using the "Indiana doesn't win because we're the only school who is moral and does things the right way" argument. Everyone pays players now. We also currently have assistants who have gotten their hands "dirty" at other schools. You can take both of those statements however you want, but no, Indiana isn't "cleaner" than other schools. If we lose out on a recruit, we lose out on a recruit. If our program isn't as successful as nother school, it's just not as successful as another school. That's a worn-out excuse that Purdue fans have used for 40 years to explain the lack of their NCAA tourney success. Let's not use it here...

This is something that Woodson should understand well. I'm guessing that he has coached a player or two in the NBA after they got paid a pretty big contract. He should be able to get good performances out of some players regardless of whether they are looking for money or not. And let's face it - ALL of the players in the portal are looking to get paid. Don't kid yourself.

LSU, Houston, Michigan, Mizzou, Cal, Providence, Nebraska have all had 2 or more commits. I'm sure there are more than that. A lot of teams have already had 2 or more committed portal guys. There has been a lot of movement.

Did I miss something? When did we add Ledlum?

This. We've just not had a team that could stick with other teams when they got really hot. That's a necessity in 2023. I"m not saying defense isn't important, because obviously it is. But with the widespread use of the 3-pt shot, and spread offenses with bigs who can step out and the shot clock, teams can really get on a roll. We just didn't have the capacity to score with teams (on a regular basis) when they got on a roll. Hence, we got blown out in some games. We need more offense. Period. If you look at the teams that advanced in the tourney this year, they all had guys who could go get tough buckets and score. They also had junkyard dogs on D. I agree with the folks who said that we really missed XJ for that reason. Love him or hate him, but he brings that attitude. I hope that Newton and Cupps bring that going forward. Could use a lot more of that attitude. But, the bottom line is that you can't have too much offense if you want to advance in the NCAA tournament. It's been that way for a long time. You have to. Think back to our last title. We don't get past Auburn in 1987 if we couldn't outscore them, and that was in the 2nd round. Or, obviously UNLV. We weren't going to hold them to 60 pts. LOL.

It's not like we're sunk or anything, and I'm certain that we'll hear some "sky is falling messages," but Bama still being in play changes the odds a bit here. They're obviously going to be a very big player. It went from sounding like a commitment to he's going to go visit Bama. Ouch. EDIT: I forgot the "not" in the first sentence. LOL

If IU gets both Reneau and Dennis, I'm not sure that I see JG staying. I obviously have no inside knowledge, but you've just added a 4/5 and a 3 to the roster. I would see Dennis especially being an issue if JG was given any promises about being given opportunities to play the 3. Obviously, who knows. But if any of the rumors about JG considering moving closer to home the last 2 years have been true, you've got to wonder if he is considering pulling the trigger this year before May 1st if Dennis commits. Certainly something to look for.

Symbiotic relationship? I guess that kid DID go to N'Western...

Well, it's not like the BIG Ten teams were world-beaters in the NCAA tourney. I like that CMW is trying to immediately change the roster. I'm sure that he'll do his best with the team this year, but it's been encouraging that he immediately identified that this team couldn't win with its current pieces. The NBA is such a shooter's league, that's obviously what CMW is immediately trying to do with this team. I'm still stunned that Miller didn't try to add shooting like this over the last 2 years. It's like he was the only guy in the world who didn't realize that IU was never going to do anything until they added some serious shooters. And let's face it - it won't truly be a team full of Woody's guys for a couple of years. But instead of just doing his best with who IU already had, he made some key additions and seemingly let our slowest big guy go.

Yep. There seems to be such a preoccupation with players being great from the moment that they step on the floor that people don't seem to think that many players need a couple of years to get better. I honestly wish that IU would be a bit more like Purdue in that respect. The Boilers still redshirt a number of guys in their program, and those players don't waste a Frosh year not playing. Players like Leal, Phin and Galloway are important to be there and be leaders in their upperclassman years.

If Trey could fix his shot, he will be an exceptionally important to this team going forward. He has a high basketball IQ and makes the team better overall when he's on the floor. He's definitely an intangibles kind of guy that you need to win. Heck, if he can just become a decent mid-range shooter, he will be very valuable.

I see this team as possibly starting slow, but really picking up steam as the season progresses. CMW has definitely upgraded the talent a bit (short of the need for another big body, Dammit Brunk). I hope that a lot of fan's expectations aren't too high at the start of the season. A lot of new pieces and a presumably new offensive and defensive system for all players to adapt to. I'd like to think that this team will look hugely different in March than they will in November. I think that middle-of-the-pack Big Ten finish and a spot in the NCAA tournament would be a good first year for Woody.

Same here. I used to be such a megafan that I planned my schedule around IU games and taped every game. The last couple of years, I tried to catch all the games; but didn't really get upset if I missed one. Let's hope CMW brings back excitement.

Lander needs to camp out in the weight room this summer, and only leave it to shoot a thousand jumpers a day. He desperately needs some strength.

Yep, and that's why IU sucked the last couple of years, because they couldn't hit an open shot. I'm skeptical that they will become much better over a single offseason. IU needs to recruit a couple of shooters. Hopefully Parker is one of those guys, but whether or not Aarman comes back, CMW needs to find another shooter.

You mean we have a coach who will tailor his scheme based on the strengths or weaknesses of his team? That's crazy talk at IU!