AH1971

Yep said this exact thing yesterday. Plan on Reneau playing 20-25 mpg at the 5, more if fouls permit, and target a defensive big who you can trust playing 15 mpg comfortably. Don't care what offensive skill set he posses so long as he can set screens, crash the glass, and rim run.

He absolutely can play the 5 and would be better off by it, especially on offense. Reneau needs room to work and that's done through proper spacing. Playing two bigs clogs the lane and allows for easier double teams. Reneau cannot dribble or pass out of a double team effectively. Reneau is not a 4 no matter what anyone thinks, Woodson and staff included.

Bradshaw doesn't shoot 3's and neither does Malik

If that is the case, I hope Reneau moves on. Both for his sake and the teams sake. It's just not a fit or conducive to run two big man together.

He's a cancer on the Rivals board and that place is a cesspool to begin with.

Scour the all-American and all-conference teams and there’s dozens of recipients who started out at the lower level who kill it at the P5 level.

He plays much more like a guard than a 4 but he’s worth a take nonetheless.

There’s projected to be close to 1500 players in the portal. Assuming half those guys fit your criteria for #2, I like IU’s chances of landing 2-3 quality guards.

$$$, opportunity to play in a big time conference, etc Don’t misinterpret my comments to mean that I think IU is going to win the B10 next year, that’s not at all what I’ve said or even implied.

Who said it wasn’t? But the idea that the portal is slim pickens is absurd, case in point with comment above. I like the fact that IU is likely to return two players who have legitimate all-conference potential and a 5th year glue guy who has shown to be effective when not asked to carry the load. You need two high end guards and some front court depth and next seasons outlook isn’t nearly as tumultuous as it sounds.

Literally preposterous. Of the 15 AP All-American’s named earlier today, 10 of them were at one point portal transfers, most of them from smaller programs.

Reneau isn’t an elite defender, agreed. But he was guarding out of position most of the year this last season. He was still an underclassman last year getting extended run for the first time collegiately. He’s an emotional player still developing. I wouldn’t give up hope that Reneau can’t one day become a serviceable interior defender. Much like Reneau, Mgbako guarded mostly out of position all year. He was used almost exclusively as a perimeter player, that isn’t his game. Given his defensive struggles to start the year and subsequent short leash, I believe his lack of confidence carried over offensively. He was almost unplayable the first 7-8 games of the season. But as his defense improved, so did his playing time and the offense came alive. By the end of the year I thought MM became a serviceable defender despite playing out of position. My hope is that MM plays primarily as a 4 man next season. Another year in the weight room will certainly help. Hitting on 2-3 high caliber guards will define next season and ultimately Woodson’s employment. He HAS to understand that by now. I used Small, Conwell, and Blackmon because a) they are players that I’ve watched and b)kids with local ties who I think would be incentivized to play in Bloomington. Reality is that there will be close to 700-800 guards in the portal by the time it’s all said and done. You’d have to literally try to not upgrade from last year’s production. If the NIL numbers being thrown out are true, I find it really hard to believe IU doesn’t land a couple high quality guards regardless of how bad Woodson’s system is negatively used against him.

He was a top ~50ish recruit prior to his injury but I agree with your premise.

It’s definitely a coaching issue, but it’s also a massive personnel issue. You can’t run two bigs if you don’t have shot makers from the perimeter. It’s as simple as that.

It’s hard to run an effective or efficient offense when you condense the court by playing two bigs for nearly the entire game. The proposed portal haul I gave eliminates any idea of playing two bigs simultaneously for an extended period of time.

For how talented JHS was, he was horrifically inefficient. Teams who play two bigs and don’t shoot a lot of 3’s, let alone make them, tend to be. Conwell was one of the most efficient guards in the country and Small is a high volume shot maker. Add Reneau who is very good in single coverage and Mgbako who improved every month, that’s the most potent offense Woodson will have had to date.

Totally disagree. Guessing you haven’t seen many of those kids play. That’s a top 25 KenPom team offensively with a chance of being decent defensively. Small and Conwell rebound extremely well for guards and Galloway is + defender when not tasked with guarding smaller, quicker opponents. Reneau and Mgbako guarding their natural positions only helps.

I’d feel much more comfortable with Malik guarding a traditional big as opposed to chasing a 4 all around the court like he did this season.

Again, don’t need 3 top 50 or whatever barometer you’re using. -Fully expect an upperclassman Reneau to be an all-B10 caliber performer, especially offensively. -it’s natural to expect MM to take a big leap and become a go to threat -offer Javon Small, Ryan Conwell, and Jalen Blackmon whatever they want and take commitments from the first two. That becomes your starting backcourt. All three would be even better and allow you to bring Galloway off the bench -identify a rim protector who you feel comfortable playing 15 mpg and out to 20 in case of foul trouble. Don’t care what he can do on offense so long as he can set a screen, crash the glass, and rim run. -add 7th/8th man sharp shooting type (Connor Hickman) and bouncy wing similar to Anthony Walker to shore up the front court. I could 100% get behind this roster next year.

Team definitely needs a rim protector in the portal. He doesn’t need to play 30 mpg alongside Reneau however.

Houston doesn’t play a single person over 6’8 and Iowa St has one 6’10 kid who comes off the bench. Easily the two best defensive teams in the country. Their guards are elite defenders and rebound exceptionally well.

The chance of getting any good guards significantly decreases if we commit to play two big men…again. Good guards want spacing. They want to push and run out in transition. They want freedom of movement and the ability to make plays for themselves. None of this happens playing two bigs. It’s bewildering to see the same posters who have complained all season about lack of guard play advocate for getting another elite big. We already have an elite offensive scoring big in Reneau. And he’ll be that much more effective being the only big on the floor. It’s a whole lot tougher for teams to double and dig (aspects where Malik struggles) when you have perimeter firepower. I get it, he’s not a great rebounder or rim protecting, that isn’t the end be all though to constructing a competitive roster.

No we don’t. We immediately lower our floor the second we commit to playing two traditional big men. Reneau is not a modern 4 in any sense of the word. He’s a small ball 5 who you can protect with good perimeter defense and guards that can rebound. The less minutes Reneau plays alongside a 5, the better chance this team has. It was painfully obvious watching this team try and play two bigs at all times last year. And the two years before with Trayce and Race. IT DOESN’T WORK.

Totally agree

We were a bad rebounding team last year, especially defensively, because we gave up a ton of 3 point attempts (which lead to long misses). Having slower guys like Mgbako and Reneau guard out to the 3 point line makes for ineffective rebounding.