Shooter

Agree. We absolutely have to get some portal guys with multiple years left, and/or a couple of spring signee freshmen. Otherwise we'll be in an even worse spot after next season.

I think Florida is probably a realistic best case scenario for us if we do well in the portal. A 7 seed, good not great squad. Their rotation is nine guys: - 2 returning contributors - 1 returning player who didn't play much the prior year, but developed - 4 first year transfers - 2 freshmen

Positive thought on Galloway I've been thinking about for a while. Trey shot 58% on 2PT FGs this season. That's downright elite finishing for a guard. Think of other guards who are known for driving - Terrence Shannon shot 57% on slightly more attempts. Domask 53%. Bruce Thornton 50%. Buie, Jahmir Young, Braden Smith in the 45-46% range. He came a long way as a playmaker this season too. Surround him with shooters, and he could have a really nice season. I'm also hopeful his perimeter shooting will rebound a bit once we aren't asking so much of him. That 46% from two years ago was a fluke, but somewhere in the mid-30s would be acceptable given his other strengths.

I think we are talking about different things. I'm talking about IU's chances of having a good team next season. We need half or more of our rotation to be first-year portal guys. That's why I'm making a distinction between multi-year guys and first-year transfers. Somebody else said that there aren't many good players in the portal, that wasn't me.

Only 3 of those 10 were in their first year at their new schools. Two of those were proven studs going from high major to high major - Dickinson and Love. Then there's Knecht, who stepped up a level and joined a core of guys who had already been very successful. Even in the portal era, college basketball is still about building teams over multiple seasons.

Misleading in terms of IU's chances for next season. Those teams were not built with 7 transfers in one season, like we will be attempting. Agree that there are many talented players who transfer in the modern game. The teams who already have a good roster in place will be in pole position to get them. IU's money will help, but we aren't the only ones who have it.

It's a bit misleading to lump anyone who ever transfered in together as "portal guys". UCONN added just one portal guy to this year's team, Spencer. The others have been there multiple seasons. Arizona does have two first-year transfers in their top 4 guys. The others you reference have been at Arizona for three years now. Only two of Iowa State's top 7 are first year transfers. Most of these examples are good, established programs adding one or two key transfers per season.

Purdue is a good example. They start two bigs, Edey and Kaufmann-Renn. But: 1. They are surrounded by three guards who shoot it well, and 2. They stagger minutes, so while they do start together, they both see a lot of time at center along a "stretch 4" in Gillis

Agree. I'm not writing him off. But with the injuries, I just think it's wise to consider him scholarship #13 at this point, and not to count on him contributing until proven otherwise. We basically have five returning players. Three that are proven Big Ten quality, one veteran that can be a deep bench role player, and one young guy who we are hoping makes the leap.

Not arguing that at all. Just feel that Ware was pretty clearly our best player this season, and agreed with prior post that he is underrated because of how bad our team was. Diminishing his role to just "rim protection" is an example of that. Brice Williams and Domask are good players, but would not have transformed us into a 3 pt shooting machine. Domask was sort of a better version of Galloway - big physical guard, good finisher in the paint, sub-30% from deep. Anyway, in 2022-23 IU had shooters on the roster. We finished 3rd in the Big Ten in 3PT percentage, yet still dead last in attempts. Unfortunately I don't see this changing much until we have a new coach.

Agree. Of our late five game winning streak, 3 of the 5 were basically Ware putting us on his back like TJD used to. 27 pts, 11 reb, 5 blk on 11-12 FG (1-1 3PT) 26 pts, 11 reb, 3 ast, 3 blk on 12-16 FG (2-3 3PT) 28 pts, 12 reb, 2 blk on 13-19 FG (1-1 3PT) Those are first team All American numbers.

With all due respect, Mike Woodson (the coach) has not earned the right to dictate his own terms. He's accomplished very little as the head coach of Indiana - one trip to the second round. This is not a Jim Boeheim situation, with a coach slipping off at the end of a Hall of Fame career. It feels like Woodson will be retained as the IU head coach because he was a great player here 45 years ago. The same reason he was hired in the first place.

Are we sure he is the guy? Of course not, impossible to be sure. But Florida Atlantic was an absolute garbage program prior to Dusty. Like a southern IUPUI. Before Dusty, they never had a team finish above #180 in Kenpom. Having that program in the top 25 at all is an absolute miracle.

In all honesty, yes I think if we make the tournament next year Woodson will coach a 5th season.

I hope not. He was not very good this year, but neither was Trey Galloway as a freshman. We need to be able to develop kids like him into contributors as upperclassmen.

Almost. 3-5 without, 8-5 with. Through Feb 27 we were 3-5 in Big Ten without him, and 3-5 in Big Ten with him. Identical. Since his latest return we have run off 5 in a row. I completely agree that his return is one of the reasons why we have improved, but not that it is the only reason or even the main reason.

Not sure if you are referring to me, but if so you are completely misunderstanding what I'm saying. We are definitely a better team with a healthy Xavier Johnson.

That is definitely not true, since we started the conference season 2-0 without him

The disingenuous part is that we had X for the first 6 games of the season, and we were terrible. We initially got better after his first injury - the first two games without him were a blowout over Maryland, and a road win at Michigan (a quad 1 or 2 win at the time). Then he came back and we still stunk... he got hurt again and we continued to stink. I am happy we are playing well over the last 5. X has been part of it - his defense helps, and he was very good in the comeback vs Maryland. The other four games, he has a total of 14 points, 15 assists, and 16 turnovers. Let's just be honest about his impact.

True, but only 2 of them are new transfers in their first seasons at that school. The others are multi-year guys. I think poaching good underclassmen from mid majors is a very viable strategy, and not the same as pulling 6-7 dudes from the portal every year.

I'm seeing a bunch of people lump Trey and Leal together. What did Trey say that was controversial? I listened to his speech, and it was basically a normal senior day speech. Maybe I missed something.

I'm sure it is frustrating, and I'm sure it feels good to run off 4 in a row. Despite that - it's not a good look for him to be taking a victory lap calling out the haters when his team still isn't even on the bubble, and he doesn't have a single recruit lined up for next season.

Not that it matters that much, but Woodson went 9-11 in the league his first season. He's 31-29 in the Big Ten through three years.

Galloway didn't say anything of the sort. He gave a standard senior day speech, then at the end said he's coming back for next year. Thanked the IU fans, called them the best in the country. Leal gave a short speech, said he was coming back, and told the fans to "chill". It was a little aggressive, but I have no problem with him supporting his coach. Woodson's comments rubbed me the wrong way for sure. I got the vibe that Mike Woodson thinks Mike Woodson IS Indiana basketball. So if you criticize or question anything Mike Woodson does, you're not a "true fan" of IU.

I'm not going to go through every team you mentioned, but your examples appear to be misleading. UConn did have 4 transfers in their 9 man rotation. But only one was a key guy, Tristen Newton. The others were role players getting <20 min per game. Their core guys were mostly homegrown. San Diego St's leading scorer was Matt Bradley, who did transfer in. But last year was his second year in the program. Multi-year transfers are kind of a different deal. Also, two of their top 5 scorers were homegrown SDSU guys so I don't know where you got 4 out of their top 5 from. It was only 2 of their top 5 that were new to the team last year. I'll concede K State was an example of a mostly transfer team having success. I think they are the exception rather than the rule.