JF87

LOL. I think you've been right on every point so far. Wishful thinking on my part that this team might progress.

Okay, I want to be optimistic. Ohio State is also in a slump, so this game is winnable. We have the talent to win. I'll be watching for these improvements: Defense. Is everyone locked in? Are we communicating on switches? Who seems lost? Does anyone get pulled for poor defense? Rebounding. Is everyone rebounding? Who's leaking out early? Key is an excellent offensive rebounder for Ohio State. Who is focusing on boxing him out? Turnovers. We must maximize our offensive opportunities. Are guys being pulled for bad decisions? We need to keep turnovers around 8 or fewer. Three-point shooting. We can't let Battle go off. Who accepts the challenge of making it difficult on Battle? We need to hit no fewer than 2 less threes than Ohio State. If they hit 8, we need at least 6. Offensive strategy. Are we playing through Malik in the post? Will Malik pass out of double and triple teams? Are we riding the hot hand? Body language and effort. Is this a determined team or will they break if things go poorly? Lineup. Does anyone get benched after the Penn State debacle or do we run out the same 5 (Johnson or Cupps depending on health)?

Do we get Queen too? If so, we'll have a talented squad that plays two posts and doesn't run anything for shooters. Woodson can win with talent, he just doesn't maximize the talent. We will underperform against good teams again.

I apologize if this isn't the right forum, but are there any sons of former IU players that could be potential recruits? Other schools seem to get legacy recruits. This doesn't seem to happen at IU.

I worry that IU wouldn't want to pay the buyout.

My fear is that Larranaga at Miami or Leonard Hamilton at Florida State will retire after this season. If one of those universities would offer Dusty, we could end up missing out. I don't think we can assume that Dusty would be willing to wait another year on the IU job.

IU 70 OSU 68 We're too talented not to bounce back.

I agree completely. If an entire rebuild is necessary, no reason to have a coach with at the most 2 years left do it. Why would a freshman come to IU if you know the coach is 1-2 years away from retirement? Cut ties with Woodson now and let a younger and better coach do the rebuild. We need to start building a program, not just a team for next year.

The problem with an article like this is it helps set a low bar. If we go 4-5 down the stretch some people will think that we improved.

Please! Please! Stop with the Beard to IU talk. It is not going to happen. He is a great basketball coach, no doubt about it. But IU is a university first and will not and should not consider a coach that allegedly hit and choked his girlfriend. She may have recanted, but the University of Texas felt there was enough evidence to move on from him. There's no reason for IU to hire someone with this baggage. The reputation of the university is more important and it should be that way.

I've been on the Dusty May bandwagon, but I'm really starting to warm up to the idea of Schertz. Schertz has winning background, albeit at a lower level and he runs a modern style offense. Schertz also has been recruiting the state of Indiana. All positives in my mind.

My complaint is that as crappy as we played, we will roll out the same starting lineup on Tuesday.

I don't remember Archie smiling. He always seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. I have seen Dusty smiling on the sideline. I have no idea what his off-court demeanor is like. The next coach should have a confident and positive personality, but not as manic as Tom Crean.

Without Johnson, they would include Galloway, Gunn, Cupps, Walker, and Banks. Try playing 4 of those and Ware. This would have possibly made switching on defense more effective and spread the floor on offense. Not saying this would have won the game, but what we were doing was getting our a$$ kicked.

Penn State was quicker all game. Woodson played Ware, Reneau, and Mgbako at the same time for too many minutes. Sure, they are our best players, but that lineup was too slow against Penn State. We should have tried playing small even without Johnson. They were dictating the pace and we needed to adjust. Why not try a zone just to give PSU a different look on a couple of possessions? Why no adjustments? Very frustrating loss!

Initially former players appeared to be happy. Then Mike Roberts wasn't retained as a coach. Then a year later Dane Fife was shown the door. So much for healing and bringing the "family" together. I do think the Jordan and Calbert additions have been positive. If bringing the family together was the goal of hiring Woodson, the treatment of Roberts and Fife ended that honeymoon with many fans and players fairly quickly.

Woodson is going to get a minimum of 4 years. Heck, the administration just gave him a raise. I personally don't think he's the right guy, but I have to acknowledge a beloved former player is going to be given time. Woodson's situation is different than a former player like Kenny Payne at Louisville because Woodson has displayed some success (although I believe that we have underperformed). Payne's tenure has been a complete disaster. I hope that we've seen Woodson willing to adapt in the last couple of games. He seems to have shortened the bench and stopped the hockey line shifts. The last few games, there seems to be more of an emphasis on defending 3-point shooters. Last game we even shot 22 threes. If these are anomalies or strategic changes remains to be seen? While we ride out Woodson's time, we are going to have to hope he continues to improve as a college coach.

247 Sports predicts Queen to Maryland. This is just a projection. Hopefully, we can win this battle.

Last year, Randy Wittman was serving as a consultant. Anyone know if Wittman is serving in that role again this year?

Unless he retires for some health reason, Woody is most likely back next year. That could change if the season tailspins, but I don't see that happening. We have enough talent to compete with anyone. However, imo Woody's system keeps us from getting over the hump. Focusing too much on post play to the detriment of three-point shooting makes our margin for error exceptionally slim. Fourth or fifth place in the Big Ten is possible especially if we incorporate three-point offense into our game like we did Tuesday.

Crean leftover

Sure, then we can stick him in a corner like Miller Kopp and never run anything for him.

Happy with the win. Happy for Leal that he was able to contribute to the win. Happy that Ware dominated inside. Happy we shot and made three-point shots. But I fully expected to win. We should always win at home.

I'm glad we could crowdsource defensive changes for Woodson.

Indiana 75 Penn State 70