IUBB vs Army - Sunday, 11.12.23 @ 7:00 on BTN

[WayneFleekHoosier 48,544]

I would like to see a film breakdown of our defense and a P5 team with an average perimeter defense. There seems to be so much chaos going on and it all starts with the over helping IMO. Is this Woodsons defense or the players we have? Giving up an open mid range is still better than a wide open on 3. 

Yep. Seems overly complicated and rarely if ever executed properly. It’s been bad for over a year. Any coach can watch Penn state slice us up twice last year and copy. Granted you have to hit shots but they are open. Idk. I hate our defense aside from the rim protection.


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[JerryYeagley23 3,686]

12 minutes ago, MikeRoberts said:

You play the best lineup, the one that will get the most wins, stars be damned.

 

it’s not great for recruiting if MM doesn’t play much but UK, Duke, KU etc all have had 5* kids sit their bench and it hasn’t hurt them

 

winning matters - it’s the most visible thing anyone can point to regarding a program

I personally feel the same way, but respectfully have to disagree. 
 

Duke, UK, Kansas have 5 * guys on their bench because you only get five starting spots and they’ve got 7-8 five star guys on the squad every year. 
 

And winning does matter - to the fan bases. To these 16-18 year old top 10-20 recruits, if you want the truth, it isn’t in the top five of their priorities. NIL, exposure/system to get drafted, relationship with the coaching staff and players so they’re treated well and are comfortable, facilities… I could go on. Yes, they’re likely competitive to have gotten this good at their craft. But winning isn’t what you point to these days to recruit. It’s a nice to have. I don’t like it, you don’t like it, but it’s how the world works these days. You have to play the game. And that game requires starting a Mackenzie Mbagko if you get him. 

[gfeltner28 134]

Not trying to be completely negative but our perimeter ball movement and offense is so hard to watch. I haven't seen hardly any ball fakes or pump fakes this year. Everybody looks too uptight. They're def pressing.  Hopefully they settle down and have some fun. There is a lot of talent out there. 

You guys and gals might hear from me a little more this year. Dad passed away this year. And we talked before and after every IU game. Love this site. Been a daily reader for quite few years. Go Hoosiers! 

[HoosierHoopster 7,154]

12 minutes ago, gfeltner28 said:

Not trying to be completely negative but our perimeter ball movement and offense is so hard to watch. I haven't seen hardly any ball fakes or pump fakes this year. Everybody looks too uptight. They're def pressing.  Hopefully they settle down and have some fun. There is a lot of talent out there. 

You guys and gals might hear from me a little more this year. Dad passed away this year. And we talked before and after every IU game. Love this site. Been a daily reader for quite few years. Go Hoosiers! 

Sorry for your loss, that is hard. Glad you had that to share with him, and am sure he was as well

[RaceToTheTop 26,188]

Re:

On 'not playing MM'......

He's averaging 17 minutes/game.  It's not like he has stuck with him overly long.  But I also fully believe that in practice he has shown that he is a guy that should be starting.  Having it not go well for the first two games of career doesn't change his talent level.  I'm not sure who you think should be getting minutes and burying him on the bench....Cupps is getting 20+ minutes per game so far.  Woodson has had to patchwork plays at the three by either playing three guards or by having Banks there temporarily.  

MM is going to be good.  Gotta be patient.

[RaceToTheTop 26,188]

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Yep. Seems overly complicated and rarely if ever executed properly. It’s been bad for over a year. Any coach can watch Penn state slice us up twice last year and copy. Granted you have to hit shots but they are open. Idk. I hate our defense aside from the rim protection.


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It definitely seems that Reneau and MM are having the most trouble on the perimeter switches.  Ware isn't other than the one occasion tonight when he should have switched to X's man.  Ware has closed on the perimeter well..

[Trish 11,630]

2 hours ago, HoosierFan1994 said:

Watched this one on delay due to football. Man what a rough game. I'm starting to get really worried with this team. 

1) Woodson's rotations are becoming extremely questionable. I get he is trying things out. But it wasn't working tonight. Think it was 11-11 when the entire second unit came in. Army went on an 8-0 run and that gave them confidence. That can't happen anymore. 

2) Listening to Assembly Call...they reported X said practice effort has not been great. That HAS to change. 

3) I am probably saying what most of you are already saying..Mackenzie Mgbako has to get involved. Right now it's looking like either he isn't a fit or he isn't comfortable. Or both. I give him credit he isn't pouting at all. But they have to get something out of him for many reasons. This is an NIT team if he doesn't live up to expectations somewhat. Also, would be used against Woodson. 

4) I feel bad for picking on him, but CJ Gunn isn't doing anything to show he deserves any minutes right now. It is starting to look more and more like this staff failed on getting another guard in the portal. 

5) Galloway...he can't be too Jekyll and Hyde with scoring. Scores 16 the other night, 5 tonight. 

What is really upsetting is I expected a better effort tonight. Instead, they took a step back. I get they won, but it feels like a loss. I trust the staff to figure this out. Just lots of negatives right now. 

Honestly, I don’t believe Indiana has any true threat off the bench. They bring some small value on one side of the floor, but I wouldn’t be worried about any player coming off the bench if I’m playing Indiana. 
 

That has to change. 

[southernindianahoosier2 902]

At this point I’m 100% convinced the team’s struggling because of our how we’re playing Reneau with Ware.
. It’s just my observation but Reneau seems to be clogging the lane. He can’t really play a 4, so it’s too many bigs in the lane and there’s not enough cutting and slashing…. My gut feeling tells me that our best lineup is Cupps at the point, Xavier Johnson and Galloway at the wings, and Ware and anyone other than Reneau. I love Reneau but IMO he takes away from Ware when they are both playing at the same time… and it’s not his fault it seems to be the way the offense is designed. I think MM off the bench for either Galloway or X.

[tyappleg 3,170]

4 minutes ago, southernindianahoosier2 said:

At this point I’m 100% convinced the team’s struggling because of our how we’re playing Reneau with Ware.
. It’s just my observation but Reneau seems to be clogging the lane. He can’t really play a 4, so it’s too many bigs in the lane and there’s not enough cutting and slashing…. My gut feeling tells me that our best lineup is Cupps at the point, Xavier Johnson and Galloway at the wings, and Ware and anyone other than Reneau. I love Reneau but IMO he takes away from Ware when they are both playing at the same time… and it’s not his fault it seems to be the way the offense is designed. I think MM off the bench for either Galloway or X.

A Cupps-X-Galloway-MM-Ware line up seems so obvious to me. Trot it out there for 5 min and see what it looks like. 

[rcbowla 7,138]

Ware is good. X was good. Rest was not good. Defense is an absolute nightmare. Moving on.

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[southernindianahoosier2 902]

14 minutes ago, tyappleg said:

A Cupps-X-Galloway-MM-Ware line up seems so obvious to me. Trot it out there for 5 min and see what it looks like. 

Is Ware our best player? Yes

Is Reneau a threat from deep, great passer, or a driving threat? No

Does Reneau occupy the lane preventing Ware from being more effective? Yes

Does MM struggle with offensive identity when Reneau is in the lane? Yes

I love Reneau but I feel like we’d be better with him out of the game as Ware has more space, wing players have more space to drive, etc.

i’m praying this isn’t the case but seems like we only have 1-2 pieces and not a cohesive team / unit. Could be coaching/ could be talent

ideal line up 

1. cupps
2. xj
3. Galloway -> these 3 subbed by our other guards
4. MM -> reneau
5. Ware -> sparks

 

[IUHoosier5 1,692]

Watched Woody’s postgame comments and it’s clear that he is emphasizing defense leading to offense more than anything. Half-court offense isn’t what he wants to run a lot, but when they do have to run it, it sounds like it’s going to be a lot of PnRs and somewhat of a motion offense. Based off his comments, the guys are not comfortable with one another/don’t trust one another yet. He has a good pulse on his team IMO. That being said, how he gets them to display more tenacity on D and togetherness on offense is yet to be seen. The pieces *can* work, but right now they’re not. It stinks because I do not believe any of us could imagine *this* kind of start. Please get going! 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 85,182]

9 hours ago, Napleshoosier said:

Cups in again down the stretch.  He’s on the top of Woodys list.  

It's as a certain poster on here frequently says, it's not who starts, it's who finishes.   

[RaceToTheTop 26,188]

Re:  playing Cupps, X, and Galloway together

We have four guards.   One of them is C.J. Gunn.  If Cupps, X and Galloway are playing together, the only guard sub is C.J. Gunn.  I'm not wild on having him as the only option as that means he's playing significant minutes.  I'm also not wild thinking about when we start playing P5 teams having Cupps defend.

[RaceToTheTop 26,188]

I know that we are pounding on Reneau here....he did have 5 assists last night.  But there were so many plays ran through him that he was kind of put in the TJD role last night.  This is a game where last year TJD would have had double digit assists.

[JSHoosier 20,321]

Our best offense is a lob to Ware.

We hit FTs.

This team has a long way to go.

Oh, and Curry just hit another 3.

[8bucks 6,477]

Hoping we can get old Gallo back.  

[str8baller 5,406]

I think out of all the poor play, the one that drives me the most nuts is the poor rebounding. There’s no way a front line of Ware, Reneau and MM should be giving up double digit offensive rebounds to one of the smallest and least athletic teams in Div 1.  
 

This seems like a trend with Woody, too. We’ve had great rebounders in his time here so our numbers can’t be awful, but we seem to rebound below our talent level pretty consistently. 

[Uspshoosier 46,144]

26-72 > 8-24

you don’t even need to watch the games to  know that in todays game if this trend continues IU is going to struggle.   When you opponents have made more 3s then your team has even attempted it’s going to be a struggle.   If you choose to go that route then your defense has to be elite.   It’s a simple game.  Until that stat changes and  in my opinion IU is going to have problems especially with more talented teams 

[str8baller 5,406]

4 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

Hoping we can get old Gallo back.  

Yea, not only does he look like he didn’t add much in the off-season he seems a little tentative out there (minus the last 10min of FGCU). I’ll chalk it up to a veteran trying to be passive to get the new guys involved.  
 

He passed up a couple chances at spot up 3’s to try and drive and presumably make things happen for others. That’s a nice thought but he’s a 45% 3pt shooter on a team with very little ability to make 3’s. He should never pass up a look from 3 if his feet are set. Even if it is going to be contested, if he can get it off clean he needs to be firing it, imo.