AH1971

****-stirrer or not, I still don't see where he is wrong whether or not you want to agree with it.

I don't think so but stranger things have happened. Road win at Maryland dropped to Q2 with the Terps dropping from 72-77 in the NET, need them to beat Rutgers and hope they creep back below 75. 6-9 Q1 would look ok from a resume standpoint considering many have multiple teams as locks who won't have anywhere close to 6 Q1 wins. Our NET needs to be in the 70's for IU to even be considered I would think. It's at 93 now.

I think that’s what got us in trouble last year in the portal and what has killed us in recruiting this last cycle; shooting (and missing) for the stars. We could do a lot worse than a knock down 3 point shooter in Luke Goode.

I posted this in the other thread as well, but would agree it probably belongs here. Along with Galloway and Leal who have already announced they’re coming back, I think Reneau, Cupps, Sparks, and Newton are definitely coming back. Mgbako is the wild card here and while I don’t think he’s a first round pick, he’s definitely played well enough the last couple of weeks to go through the draft process and really get honest feedback. From a monetary standpoint, if he returns to school he’s not going to have it any better than here. For argument sake, say MM does return, that gives you 7 returning players with 6 available scholarships. Jalen Blackmon needs to be priority #1. I’d take a long hard look at Luke Goode as well who went through senior day at Illinois with the expectation of entering the portal. A backcourt of Blackmon, Goode, and Galloway is a good start and MM being able to slide over the 4 finally gives IU and Woodson their 1 in/4 out lineup combo (I’ll believe it when I see it). Get a rim protector to come off the bench that can play 20-25 mpg and another forward with athletic versatility and you at least have a competitive roster for next season.

Along with Galloway and Leal who have already announced they’re coming back, I think Reneau, Cupps, Sparks, and Newton are definitely coming back. Mgbako is the wild card here and while I don’t think he’s a first round pick, he’s definitely played well enough the last couple of weeks to go through the draft process and really get honest feedback. From a monetary standpoint, if he returns to school he’s not going to have it any better than here. For argument sake, say MM does return, that gives you 7 returning players with 6 available scholarships. Jalen Blackmon needs to be priority #1. I’d take a long hard look at Luke Goode as well who went through senior day at Illinois with the expectation of entering the portal. A backcourt of Blackmon, Goode, and Galloway is a good start and MM being able to slide over the 4 finally gives IU and Woodson their 1 in/4 out lineup combo (I’ll believe it when I see it). Get a rim protector to come off the bench that can play 20-25 mpg and another forward with athletic versatility and you at least have a competitive roster for next season.

I still firmly believe IU needs to win the BTT to get in, but things are shaping up for a nice draw. If Illinois hangs on, IU gets the 6th seed and avoids playing red hot Ohio State in the 7/10 game and wouldn’t see Illinois until Saturday. If the Illinois/Iowa results holds here is the likely draw: Thursday: winner of 11 Maryland/Penn St vs Michigan Friday: 3 Nebraska Get to the weekend and anything can happen. If IU were to pick up Q1 wins on Friday and Saturday against Nebraska and Illinois….well who knows.

If I recall, McRobbie hired Dolson after Glass campaigned hard for his understudy. But I could be off base there.

Agreed. But that would require competency from the administration.

From the business aspect of things, he’s fine. But he’s never been in the position to evaluate and lead a proper and thorough coaching search.

Purdue’s attitude and recognition towards varsity athletics being more than just a hobby directly coincides with Berghoff and Mitch Daniels being named to leadership roles. Berghoff is a former Purdue football player and the first of his kind to be named chairman of the board in decades.

Jalen Blackmon just scored 43 points to send Stetson to the dance. He’s a must get in the portal.

Correct. IU doesn’t have a talent problem. They have a coach with a bad system who is bad at constructing a roster problem. There’s little doubt in my mind that IU will get dudes from the portal. The biggest question now is what kind of dudes and how many give a s*** about the name on the front of their chest? I see a bunch of mercenaries collecting a work check next year.

I still want to know what the end game with Woodson is? I keep coming back to the whole “Archie got 4 years so Woodson gets 4 years” narrative. Is there a legitimate plan? Or are we just simply delaying the inevitable? You have to either fire/force retirement or extend Woodson after the next season. Are we letting Woodson coach in hopes he can step down on a higher note? Are we going to extend him so he actually has a prayer recruiting the class of 25 and beyond? I think it’s pretty clear the administration has no clue or plan going forward. The further and further Woodson sinks this program the harder it is to climb out of and harder to attract a quality replacement. Dolson needs to say something.

And even if you do get 5-6 decent players: a) they’ve never played with each other before b) they’ve never played in this system c) and most importantly, at the end of the day they are still being coached by Mike Woodson

Not Chris but the only possible way I could see May staying at FAU another year is if he has reassurance that his core is coming back to use their Covid years. I know what Dusty has done the last few years building FAU is remarkable, but he's pretty much done it with the same 5-6 guys the last 4 years. He's not a miracle worker. If Dusty loses 7-8 guys at FAU and stays put, his stock has the potential to drop significantly.

Even if IU wanted to fire Archie after year 3....COVID literally changed everything. Nobody knew anything or if there would even be college sports played the following year. I believe there was only one college coach from a major program fired after the season was abruptly cancelled and that was Danny Manning at Wake Forest who was complete s*** for 6 seasons. The Archie got 4 years so Mike Woodson is going to get 4 years is in my opinion the most inept line of thought possibly ever from the administration. Completely different scenarios.

So…. Any chance that big important board meeting is still scheduled for Tuesday?

If you can get Thornton (ties to Yasir), one of Blackmon(legacy connection)/Pope, and a shooter like Luke Goode (legacy connection).....you're in pretty good shape. Would need to add front court depth as well. And if you can get Reneau, Galloway, MM, and Cupps on board with Liam sticking to his commitment, the only thing in your way next year is the head coach. That's a whole different story though.

I don't think Mgbako is going to transfer, better chance of him going pro in my opinion. He's not going to get more money elsewhere if that is what they are after. Now I definitely expect him to declare and go through the NBA draft process as it stands right now, but I think it's 70/30 he comes back to college and if that's the route he chooses I would have to think it's 80/20 he's back at IU.

Goodman suggested it last night

I don't think he's alluding to those 3 in the present day: Matta circa 2003-04 Beilein 2006 Stevens 2011 or 2014-15

Figured this was common practice at most universities, at least at the ones who care anyway, still shocking to hear once you realize it's amateur hour at the university we all love and support.

I didn't feel like typing this last night, but I don't have a busy day today and figure I'd share an encounter I had a few weeks ago with someone who I feel is qualified to say what they had to say. So a few weeks ago I ran into Mike Berghoff at a Pacers game. For those who don't know, Mike is head of the Board of Trustees at Purdue. Mike and I go way back. Lived in the same neighborhood for many years and attended the same parish/school where some of our kids ran in the same circles. Hadn't seen him in awhile but small talk quickly turned into a conversation about IU/PU and the direction of both programs. After about 30 seconds of rambling on about Woodson he politely cut me off and said this: "The problem isn't Woodson, look at your leadership. Look at who has been running your athletic department the last 10-15 years. Fred Glass? He's a lawyer. Scott Dolson? He's a fundraising guy. Who qualifications do either of those guys have in evaluating and conducting a coaching search?" Of course I couldn't disagree with him and he went even further. Went on tell me that after being appointed chairman, his first big athletic task was naming a successor to Morgan Burke who had just announced his retirement. He said he along with the rest of the board, Mitch Daniels, and a small advisory group consisting of former Purdue athletes identified 5-6 candidates. He said the one qualification each candidate must possess was prior experience as an AD (shocking). Said Mike Bobinski was easily the most impressive interview despite not being the most qualified candidate and that was with Mike Bobinski already holding the title of AD at two other universities. He said only one time in nearly 10 years has Mike Bobinski come to him for permission to do something and that was firing Darrell Hazell mid-season. He simply said, "can't believe you didn't ask me sooner". He went on to tell me that during the search for Hazzell's replacement he gave 2 order to Bobinski: 1) This is your budget 2) Use your head He wanted no part of stepping on Bobinski's toes because at the end of the day that was why they hired Bobinski in the first place. Just thought it was interesting to hear a perspective from a rival school from someone so close to the situation. Just goes to show how dysfunctional the leadership at Indiana has gotten.

Wish it didn’t take Woodson 4 months into the season to figure that out.

Despite all the disheartening news earlier this evening, this team hasn’t quit amidst all the wild rumors and speculation. Hats off to them.