IUBB vs Auburn (Atlanta, GA) | 12/9/2023 @ 2:00pm on ESPN2

[spe317 452]

Honest question from someone with no valid experience. Is blocking out a point of focus any more? AAU doesn’t give a crap about defense and I guess boxing out now falls into that category. 
 

Shot goes up and everyone’s mouth opens as they watch the ball and hope it lands in their lap. 

[Golfman25 5,004]

28 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

I don’t think with Woodsons track record he is going to get guards.  Purdue is out recruiting us despite our NiL because at the end of the day players know they have a chance to win some basketball. 
 

It’s pretty clear that JHS was the exception not the rule for Woodson with guards. 

That's kind of the problem with focusing on the "one and done" types.  How do you build any core?  They definitely need to up their recruiting game -- one/two portal guards and a couple of incoming freshmen.  

[cbp4iu 1,388]

49 minutes ago, spe317 said:

I am currently fantasizing about some Jay Wright era Villanova guards. 

I’m just fantasizing over Yogi Ferrell Matt Roth and Nick Ziesloft

[cbp4iu 1,388]

1 hour ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Idk why the staff would’ve ever had any faith in Gunn. He was unplayable last season and shot 8% from 3. I’m at the point where I have zero faith in our players developing. At least bench players, I mean. If they come in as freshmen and can’t contribute, I don’t expect that to ever change. Very rarely do we see legitimate growth in our players. 

Part of the problem is we don’t have good depth at guard and no one push him for minutes. Like Bates last year… If you don’t have it after 2 years then chances are you may never have it.

[cbp4iu 1,388]

55 minutes ago, maharkn said:

Guards, guards, guards. Need them and need tough ones. Galloway needs to not take a fifth year so we can find someone else. He a sixth man, energy guy off the bench nothing more

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk
 

Galloway should take his 5th year. He’s a great ball handler and good when he has weapons around him. When he has to be the man… He can’t. Also hate to say this who exactly next year would be better them him…. X is gone.  Gunn??? He’s shown nothing and chances are he might not. Leal??? Personally I hope he’s gone after the year…. Barely makes the rotation after 4 years. Every year we always have the “oh we should be deep this year.” If we want to be “deep” Galloway is a good 7-8th player on your team. 

[Hoosier987 1,062]

17 minutes ago, cbp4iu said:

Part of the problem is we don’t have good depth at guard and no one push him for minutes. Like Bates last year… If you don’t have it after 2 years then chances are you may never have it.

Gunn has shown little to nothing in his 2 years here. Think about it, he makes 2 threes against Michigan and we have people calling it his “flu game.” Problem is, we have nobody else. Hell, I would’ve preferred to have kept Bates if I knew the roster was going to be constructed this way. 

[BGleas 7,880]

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I think our faith in Galloway, X, and Gunn cost us any legitimate chance at being great this year.

Granted I thought they’d all be better too. Galloway has negative confidence on his 3 point shot right now.

We also targeted Ledlum as a top target who is terrible and Timberlake who most thought was really good and couldn’t get traction with, who is also bad right now.

Caleb Love is playing well for Arizona. Anyway, our faith in our homegrown guards put a cap on things.

Mgbako still had awful defense instincts and very little fluidity in his movements. I like him fine but he’s much more rigid than I was expecting.


Sent from my iPad using BtownBanners

This is spot-on post. Anybody that watched the NCAA Tournament last season could see that IU was way behind the real contenders in tes of guard and wing play. 

These teams going deep in March almost all have dynamic, shotmaking, playmaking guards and wings, and not just one but multiple. 

We've lacked in that aspect since 2016. 

[HoosierHoopster 6,801]

9 minutes ago, BGleas said:

This is spot-on post. Anybody that watched the NCAA Tournament last season could see that IU was way behind the real contenders in tes of guard and wing play. 

These teams going deep in March almost all have dynamic, shotmaking, playmaking guards and wings, and not just one but multiple. 

We've lacked in that aspect since 2016. 

Yeah, we need to move to more of a guard/wing team again, the play through the front court will win some games, and we again have a tremendous player up front, but we badly need more wing play and dynamic guards with depth. 

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,607]

Just going to keep watching James Madison I guess.

[BGleas 7,880]

14 minutes ago, HoosierHoopster said:

Yeah, we need to move to more of a guard/wing team again, the play through the front court will win some games, and we again have a tremendous player up front, but we badly need more wing play and dynamic guards with depth. 

Yeah, our frontcourt is obviously strong, but we need to surround them with equally as talented guards and wings. 

While I love Reneau and Ware, my personal preference is to have one guy like that with 4's more like Watford, Troy Williams and OG, and then stellar guards and wings. 

[JSHoosier 19,819]

On one hand Woodson schedules some tougher teams, on the other hand we get boat raced by said teams.

[Crimson and Cream 5,777]

52 minutes ago, Hoosier987 said:

Gunn has shown little to nothing in his 2 years here. Think about it, he makes 2 threes against Michigan and we have people calling it his “flu game.” Problem is, we have nobody else. Hell, I would’ve preferred to have kept Bates if I knew the roster was going to be constructed this way. 

Aside from just being another body I don't think you would feel this way if he was still here

[MikeRoberts 6,920]

13 minutes ago, Crimson and Cream said:

Aside from just being another body I don't think you would feel this way if he was still here

He is better than Gunn and Leal so he would be an upgrade

[ronzo4IU 104]

57 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Yeah, our frontcourt is obviously strong, but we need to surround them with equally as talented guards and wings. 

While I love Reneau and Ware, my personal preference is to have one guy like that with 4's more like Watford, Troy Williams and OG, and then stellar guards and wings. 

I find it bizarre that Woody after all these years would not understand this already..

[Hornsby 1,651]

He is better than Gunn and Leal so he would be an upgrade

I didn't like bates but he is certainly better than gunn.

Sent from my SM-A146U using Tapatalk

[Hoosier987 1,062]

1 hour ago, Crimson and Cream said:

Aside from just being another body I don't think you would feel this way if he was still here

He had a lot of faults but he’s upgrade over Gunn. Gunn isn’t a high major player. 

[Adillac 953]

Not saying it would have changed the outcome (though it certainly could have) but not having the two most athletic guards out there due to injury- X and Jakai…I mean, you take the the two most athletic guards from Auburns rotation and see where they end up today. 
 

just saying….our roster is actually more athletic than what played today..

[Golfman25 5,004]

46 minutes ago, ronzo4IU said:

I find it bizarre that Woody after all these years would not understand this already..

I am sure he does.  But some people think these players just fall in your lap.  IU has been so down on recruiting for quite some time.  Crean was up and down.  Archie just flat-out sucked.  So it takes a lot to build that back up.  Imagine where we would be without Ware this year.  

Coach Knight summed it up best

 

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,607]

1 hour ago, MikeRoberts said:

He is better than Gunn and Leal so he would be an upgrade

Nah. Leal is better. Leal should play more. Period.

[Hoosier987 1,062]

40 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

I am sure he does.  But some people think these players just fall in your lap.  IU has been so down on recruiting for quite some time.  Crean was up and down.  Archie just flat-out sucked.  So it takes a lot to build that back up.  Imagine where we would be without Ware this year.  

Coach Knight summed it up best

 

Did Archie really do a bad job at recruiting? I think this is one of the most common misconceptions regarding Archie. When we look back at his recruiting, it actually wasn’t bad. Think about it.
 

- Had a top 10 recruiting class in the country his first year 

- recruited a 5 star in each of his classes (Romeo, TJD - depending on the service, Lander)

- recruited 3 straight “Indiana Mr. Basketballs”

I’m certainly not advocating for Archie, just simply stating that I think a lot of us forget that he recruited a lot better here than we give him credit for. Unfortunately it didn’t translate to wins and Lander was obviously way way off.