AH1971

I've been pretty adamant that Pearl is my #1 choice with someone like Dusty May being a distant 2nd, if not 3rd and beyond. But seeing as he's likely one of the two logical choices this cycle, I would take May for the sake of Woodson being gone. And the more that I think about it, if you're going to hire Dusty May, you almost have to do it this offseason and for a couple reasons. 1. May has a good core of players at FAU with a Covid year remaining. Davis, Goldin, Martin, Boyd, and Rosado all have a year left if they want it and not out of the question to think 3 or 4 of them come with him. If you fire Woodson, LM most likely de-commits and I think guys like MM, Reneau, Gunn, and Banks are all hitting the portal along with the players that we already expect are gone. I do think May could convince guys like Galloway, Cupps, and Sparks to come back and if he could bring over Davis, Martin, Boyd, and Goldin and you'd have a nucleus good enough to make the tournament in year 1. 2. Momentum. Momentum is huge in this business and this relates to point #1. Being able to field a roster with those 7 names above + a few portal guys should set the expectations early. Win early with that group and the bigger May's name gets. Giving Woody a 4th year and hiring May for the 25-26 season when his FAU guys are out of eligibility makes year 1 practically a start from scratch type rebuild. That's no bueno at this level for somebody like Dusty May. I don't think Dusty May can afford to go 2-3 seasons with average results and keep the fan base. 3. 2025 recruiting. Too many local guys to squander in this class with a lame duck coach. I think Dusty May would land a few.

And Michigan State

See I take these comments differently. To me it seems almost like a plea for his job. He knows he's in deep water with his employer, just keep hammering home the excuses anyway you can and beg. X was the worst player on the floor last night for IU by a country mile.

There’s zero reasoning behind this logic. What’s the difference between going 14-17 and 15-16? Absolutely nothing. There’s nothing that’s going to salvage this season outside winning 4 (or 5) consecutive games in the BTT. Until I see the proverbial vote of confidence from Dolson, I don’t think anything has changed in the last 2 hours.

It’s not a 1 to 1 comparison. No coach has ever been evaluated on a single game. Beating Wisconsin tonight doesn’t change the fact that season is still effectively over (barring winning the BTT), has been a massive disappointment nor does it change the outlook or optics surrounding next season.

Correct. And if that is the stance Dolson takes, he was never really serious about making a move any way.

What is the difference between going 1-8 and 0-9 to end the year? Is winning 15 games instead of 14 the threshold to stay employed? Winning this game doesn’t change the fact that a mass exodus is still coming, we have one recruit coming in next year, and key 2025 recruits are still hanging in the balance.

Still don’t think a single game changes much in the grand scheme of things. If winning a single game (after the tournament is out of reach) is all that keeps Woodson employed, this administration was never going to hire someone like Pearl any way. Making a move at this point is all about the forward trajectory and momentum of the program, winning this game changes very little in that regard.

Sounds like he was in a better position to land Flory than Woodson. Bruce Pearl is a name that every kid in the country knows. I think Bruce Pearl understands the history of Indiana High School basketball and the amount of talent it has produced over the years. I also believe that Bruce Pearl has total belief in the system he runs and the kinds of players that fit and is going to recruit the best fits regardless of geography.

I said it earlier this week, I've engaged with Bruce Pearl on multiple occasions dating back to his days at USI and "bad guy" is the last thing in the world you would use to describe Bruce Pearl. He is as real and genuine as it gets, almost to a fault.

IU has been relegated to a mid-level B10 program the last 20 years. If Pearl's fingerprint means getting us out of mediocrity just tell me where to sign.

Will be interesting to watch how Auburn plays out the rest of this year. If there's serious smoke around Pearl leaving Auburn and it's currently being discussed, his current players will know about it before anyone else, regardless if it isn't relayed directly from the horses mouth. Auburn has the parts to win it all this year, college basketball as a whole is down. A slip in play could potentially be a tell tale sign.

That's how I interpret it as well. And not just any coach though, but a steady and proven coach. I think Buckner can man up and admit he made a mistake if we're replacing Woodson with someone like Bruce Pearl.

I don't get the sense that Buckner is opposed to moving on from Woodson. I think he is vehemently opposed to moving on from Woodson after one bad year without any kind of contingency plan in place. Firing Woodson is one thing, but it's still only half the battle. I think the last thing in the world Buckner wants is to shell out a bunch of money to make Woodson go away while not having any kind of plan in place and the new coaching search ends in a national media charade where the job is publicly turned down multiple times and IU is stuck with a tier 3 or 4 candidate.

I believe Cuban takes care of the big time donations and steers the rest of the Jimmies and Joes (every other donor not named Cook or Simon-Skjodt) to donate towards athletics or other small project endeavors.

You've said the same thing literally 50 times in the same thread. Give it a rest why don't ya?

Dusty isn't my #1 or even #2 choice, but I would take him over Woodson at this point. I struggle seeing the admin move on from Woodson this early just to hire Dusty May. Personally, I think it's Pearl or bust and if not Woodson gets another year. If Dusty goes on another deep run this March you could probably convince me that he deserves the job after the 24-25 season.

Wouldn't you feel better about hiring Dusty May after seeing him coach and recruit in major college basketball first? If he takes the Miami job and flames out in 4 years aren't you going to be happy it was down there and not up here? If IU is Dusty May's "dream job" he'll take it whenever it's offered. Why not get as much experience as possible beforehand?

Understanding the kind of person Pearl is, I don't think he'd wish the Indiana job for a first time head coach on even his worst enemies, let alone his son. I think taking the Indiana job is in large part to pave the way for his son taking over at Auburn.

I've seen a lot worse looking 64 year olds....

Sorry missed the stop Fife talk before I responded, hadn't read through the warning. I am done as well.

So no? You just looked at his stats? Fife was never asked nor needed to be a scorer. Played with Guyton and Recker as an underclassmen and with Haston and Jeffries as an upperclassmen. The one year he was asked to shoot more he hit a very high clip, all while being named the B10 DPOY.

He was a tremendous leader, a great defender, accepted his role, and played hard every game. We'd be in a lot better position today if we had more Dane Fife's on our team.

Are you old enough to have seen/remember Dane Fife play?

I'd take Greg McDermott as a 3rd or 4th option. I think Randy Bennett is perfectly content in the Bay Area and I may be in the minority, but I believe the game of basketball has simply passed by Tony Bennett. If I wanted to watch a team with a poor, antiquated offense who doesn't defend the 3 point line I'd simply revert to watching Mike Woodson.