JF87

He knew a lot of high school and AAU coaches in the state. He would have done well recruiting Indiana.

I think you're mostly right about Alford. That window is now closed. I don't think Alford would have attracted out-of-state top 30 guys like Woodson has. However, I do think about 20 years ago, he would have dominated in-state recruiting. Alford would have been a consistent winner at IU, but the Sweet 16 is about his ceiling.

Sign him up. There's our new rim protector.

Why not offer Painter? We've got the money. Even if he doesn't come, Purdue will have to pony up big bucks.

From what I've read, I think they are too close of friends. Won't happen.

This is my biggest concern. What are the expectations that Woodson needs to meet? Is the bar so low that just making the tournament is good enough? You have to move on or extend him after next year and I'm worried about the wrong decision from this administration.

The more I look at portal players, the more I become concerned how many are willing to be that 10th-13th player on the team. I assume that next year will be a rehab year for Jakai Newton, so maybe he fills one of those spots. That still means that we need three players willing to come and not be in the rotation next year. In years past, those were typically filled by freshmen that were considered projects. Woodson didn't recruit anyone like that. Are any of these lower division kids willing to come and sit for a year if the dollar amount is right or are they going to be looking for playing time? Starters should be easy to get, non-rotation players may be more difficult.

Just tell Dusty to stay away from West Virginia. Huggins still wants to coach and there are fans that want Huggy back. That's going to be a bad situation for whoever takes that job.

I don't think that's a fair assessment. Sure, Gunn hasn't developed as quickly as we hoped. He did improve his three-point shooting to 34% this year. I also believe that he led our team on steals per minutes played this year. Gunn is athletic so there is definitely potential. Maybe if Gunn's minutes early in the year had been with 3 or 4 starters, instead of the hockey shift he would have developed better.

I laughed, but in all seriousness, I think Woodson didn't want to add another loss to his record this year.

The sad thing is that a good coach could probably take Gunn, Banks, and Sparks; add two quality guards and beat us.

I don't think Cupps came to start from day 1. He will be a contributor next year and compete to start his junior and senior years.

And Alabama plays a fun and exciting brand of offense which happens to be analytically sound.

Chill people! Coach has it covered. DWS

Today starts the 1 week a year that I watch TruTV.

This was from 4 days ago. Wisconsin guard Connor Essegian said he does not plan to enter the transfer portal after the Badgers season finishes, instead opting to return to Madison for his junior season, according to a report from Rivals' BadgerBlitz.

I would be concerned with Reneau and MgBako wanting to play in the NCAA Tourney. I could see both leaving if a winning program was to offer similar money.

The previous posts about "bridging the gap" piqued my interest in what Dolson said at the introductory press conference for Woodson. Three items stuck out to me. Dolson and staff created a vision document for IU basketball's future prior to hiring Mike Woodson. I would love to see that document. I doubt that we are anywhere close to that vision today. Dolson commented that NBA people said that Woodson was an X's and O's guy. Dolson discussed Woodson using a 1 in, 4 out offense. In hindsight, I think some people blew smoke up Dolson's a$$. Dolson mentioned that when Woodson was coach of the Knicks that he had a partnership with Knick's executive Glen Grunwald that Woodson used to bounce ideas off of. Dolson was not going to have the time to dedicate to Woodson, so this is why Matta was hired. I assume this is also why Randy Wittman was hired as a consultant. My guess is the GM role to lessen Woodson's workload is coming to IU soon.

You could be correct. However, I think it may have to do with the bench players realizing that they are going to take a pay cut if they leave. My guess is that every player that stays received a NIL bump. The players are in the real world now and have to decide if money makes them happy or playing time is their priority.

This is what Google says the Director of Player Development does. I believe this is Calbert's role. Monitor and advise on players’ academic performance and off-field conduct, implementing support systems where necessary to maintain eligibility and personal development. Establish and maintain relationships with external development resources, including sports psychologists, nutritionists, and specialized skills coaches.

Man, I love Brian Evans.

If we lose a coach, I hope the new coach is a "shot doctor" and can improve our shooting issues. However, my guess would be that Woodson wants another recruiter.

As we put together our new team in free agency, should we add a true center or do we want a more mobile 5 and play position less basketball?

I don't know if I would agree on "talented enough". For whatever reason they haven't developed. It could be talent, but it also could be coaching or scheme.