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Trish

Is Indiana just UCLA at this point?

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Late night panic post in attribute to this afternoon's news regarding Brad ******* Stevens!

Are we just UCLA? 

Living in the past. Living off championships kids hardly know or care about. Thinking of our facilities, recruiting hotbed, name and venue makes us a top job? 

It has me thinking. UCLA was in the same boat in 2019 when they hired their 5th option. Why does UCLA need a 5th option? They have more championships than anyone! They are in one of the most desirable living locations in America. They have a training facility, they have the arena, they have the history, they have the banners, they have the NAME!

IT'S UCLA! UC ***** LA! 

 But yet.. they take 100 days to hire a coach that wasn't initially on the top of the list? I don't remember the hot names in 2019, but Mike Cronin wasn't the sexy / homerun hire.

Why is Indiana no different? We hired a mid-major guy four years ago, hot name yes, but it didn't work out. But it's ******* Indiana! (Copyright - Tom Crean). Coaches should be lining up to take this job yes? 

https://www.si.com/college/2019/04/15/ucla-coach-search-hire-mick-cronin

This article is old obviously. They mention Indiana as a great like UCLA. But yet.. they struggled in a search.

Sure they botched it with leaks and whatnot. We have a one man, first year AD in charge of the search. They expect greatness at UCLA and so does Indiana of course, even Scott mentioned it in the presser on Monday.

But why will Indiana strike gold this time around? 

This is more of a rant I guess. I'm just typing. No need to mention candidates names in here.

Does anyone else feel similar that we're over hyping "Indiana". Maybe I'm more on the side of the national media and question whether Indiana is still a great job. UCLA struggled two years ago. We hired a mid-major four years ago. 

Can Indiana seriously land a big fish still if UCLA can't even land one? Obviously it doesn't take a big fish to win a championship.. but come on.. It's Indiana right? 

Rant over

Also, If Brad Stevens is announced as the next head coach then I want all the credit**

 

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No and we're not Nebraska football either, despite the lack of recent success and a focus on our past. The main difference between us and them is the combination of continuing cultural significance of the program and having resources in our own backyard. UCLA has a lot of talent to pull from on the west coast, but college basketball doesn't mean nearly as much to its city or state the way IU basketball still means to Indiana fans. Nebraska on the other hand still means a lot to its fanbase and state, but the regional talent to pull from is sparse and therefore they need to appeal nationally as a now regional brand. The pipelines they had under Osbourne are gone, and a lot of the factors that went into their success no longer exist (shady admission standards to draw California and Texas talent, a massive walk-on program and "strength and conditioning" that was unparalleled at the time. 

Like Nebraska, we're a regional brand at this point. You're not going to walk around a Dick's Sporting Goods in Philadelphia or Miami or Houston and see IU apparel the way you see Duke bball, Notre Dame, Michigan, etc. But our region is strong, unlike Nebraska.  

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Maybe. Honestly, UCLA is usually an afterthought to me because they play on the west coast and their games start late. They also play in a super crappy conference. The Big 10 is seen as a much better conference than the PAC-12. LA is a nice place to live but with everything going on there, UCLA basketball just isn’t that important. It’s different from IU basketball in that regard.

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7 minutes ago, Treesh said:

Does anyone else feel similar that we're over hyping "Indiana". Maybe I'm more on the side of the national media and question whether Indiana is still a great job. UCLA struggled two years ago. We hired a mid-major four years ago. 

 

Without a doubt we are. We shouldn't be focusing on hanging banners at this point. We're far away. We need to focus on having a solid coach who can change the culture around the fanbase because it's toxic. Not saying the fanbase is the reason for a subpar product but it doesn't really help.

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8 hours ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Maybe. Honestly, UCLA is usually an afterthought to me because they play on the west coast and their games start late. They also play in a super crappy conference. The Big 10 is seen as a much better conference than the PAC-12. LA is a nice place to live but with everything going on there, UCLA basketball just isn’t that important. It’s different from IU basketball in that regard.

Yeah their arena usually seems empty even before COVID.

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Nobody can take away IU history.  Does it matter to today’s kids?  Not all, but some.  It’s just a matter of getting the right coach who has a vision and can execute that vision.  A guy who knows his strengths and weaknesses and accounts for them.  And anyone who thinks the Duke or UNC job will be better is fooling themselves.  Following a legend is almost impossible.  Wait and see. 

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2 hours ago, Feathery said:

College basketball is about the head coach. Get a top coach who can build relationships and recruit then you have an elite program. If you hire people over their head, socially weird, etc you will struggle. 

I keep trying to figure out which guys are the next top coaches-in-waiting?  It's difficult because so much of college bb looks like crap to me.  That makes me wonder about the men teaching the game...at all levels, frankly.  

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34 minutes ago, HoosierHoopster said:

College ball is about the landing the right coach AND with the right recruiting. 

We are in a way UCLA right now. Storied program, fading significance. 

But as recently as under Crean we had the nation's longest #1 ranking, B1G championships in what was still then as now one of the toughest conferences, SW16s, we just couldn't get over the hump in March and Crean couldn't build roster stability for consistent conf success, and usually couldn't coach solid D so he wore out his welcome at IU -- but we were very much relevant again under Crean.

We can clearly be relevant nationally again with the right coach. We all know if we had somehow landed the unicorn of Brad S we would've been immediately relevant and a national power again soon. We all know IU has a great recruiting base in IN and the Midwest. We know we have facilities and culture.

But you can't do squat with any of that without the HC and staff being top flight in coaching and recruiting and at IU it has to be clean, has to fit the culture of Indiana basketball -- a lot of programs don't have that limitation - and it is a limitation, not saying at all that it's wrong, very much a believer in the clean program that IU has established over decades, but the UNC's, Kansas's, Syracuses, Kensucky's etc. built themselves up to the top on ignoring or falsifying academics, recruiting ineligible players, paying players and families, creating false academic records, etc., and to compete against that clean means you really have to land an outstanding winning coach that excels consistently in both on court strategy and recruiting. Falls into the no kidding category, but merits recognizing when comparing us to other programs, it's just not all apples to apples.

Great post HH.

And I will add this...UCLA was dirty under Wooden.  

Carry on...

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20 hours ago, ThePaulieWalnuts said:

More Georgetown/Oklahoma State/St. Johns than UCLA.

That be a negative.  Those schools haven't won championships in 4 different decades.  Add to it that we dominated the early part of another and made a title game in a 6th.

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5 hours ago, DoddsHouse said:

Just???

UCLA still regularly makes the tournament and has NBA prospects going through it. They made a bunch of Final 4s in the late 2000s. We would be lucky to consider ourselves on the level of UCLA.

True, right now...we are worse than they are.

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On 3/19/2021 at 11:23 PM, Magnanimous said:

No and we're not Nebraska football either, despite the lack of recent success and a focus on our past. The main difference between us and them is the combination of continuing cultural significance of the program and having resources in our own backyard. UCLA has a lot of talent to pull from on the west coast, but college basketball doesn't mean nearly as much to its city or state the way IU basketball still means to Indiana fans. Nebraska on the other hand still means a lot to its fanbase and state, but the regional talent to pull from is sparse and therefore they need to appeal nationally as a now regional brand. The pipelines they had under Osbourne are gone, and a lot of the factors that went into their success no longer exist (shady admission standards to draw California and Texas talent, a massive walk-on program and "strength and conditioning" that was unparalleled at the time. 

Like Nebraska, we're a regional brand at this point. You're not going to walk around a Dick's Sporting Goods in Philadelphia or Miami or Houston and see IU apparel the way you see Duke bball, Notre Dame, Michigan, etc. But our region is strong, unlike Nebraska.  

You don't see our swag in Dicks Sporting goods because Adidas merch doesn't sell. Terrible for IU to stick with Adidas a few years ago. 

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