IUBB vs Chicago State - Saturday, 12.20.25 @ 1:00 on B1G+

[Scotty R]

33 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Pretty Woodson-ey of you, no?

FWIW, if we had anyone that could score near the rim our numbers wouldn’t be so skewed. But it looks like we don’t.

I hate to tell you our offense under RMK didn't look anything like the Woodson's offense. We never played through the post or posted guys up much at all. It was 5 guys moving and screaning to get the best open shot possible. The game back then was way more free flowing and more entertaining to watch.

[Hovadipo]

80 posts in a game thread is insane, BTN+ or not. Had late-stage Tom Allen IUFB threads with 5 times this activity. 

[RaceToTheTop]

5 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

80 posts in a game thread is insane, BTN+ or not. Had late-stage Tom Allen IUFB threads with 5 times this activity. 

still had two more posts than points IU scored.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

6 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

80 posts in a game thread is insane, BTN+ or not. Had late-stage Tom Allen IUFB threads with 5 times this activity. 

Apathy continues to set in.  The chance to rejuvenate the fanbase came and went, time and time again.  Sad to see what it’s become.  
 

DeVries gets a real chance to rebuild this with expectations at a bare minimum.  
 

But he needs to build some momentum very soon because the money, fanbase, and stage have been the only selling points for the program for quite some time.  Continue to lose selling points as Assembly Hall has been embarrassing this season.  

[Golfman25]

3 hours ago, ronzo4IU said:

Bailey looking like our best player today :)

Used to call those guys -- Gym Class All Stars.  :) 

[Golfman25]

3 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Call it like you see it. New play style is different. And better. But not excellent until played excellently, which we don’t do. We aren’t good. And that’s sad.  My expectations are always too high.  Would just enjoy a good roster and team one of these years. 

So do you think it is more roster construction (which certainly has it's issues) or coaching issues (roster aside). 

Meaning, next year, when we have ample time to put a roster together, we should see improvement.  Unlike years past where the hump was coaching.    

[Golfman25]

So there are a couple of 6-5, 6-6, 250+lb guys on the football team.  Think Cig can lend us one or two when we finish Jan 19?   :) 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Just now, Golfman25 said:

So do you think it is more roster construction (which certainly has it's issues) or coaching issues (roster aside). 

Meaning, next year, when we have ample time to put a roster together, we should see improvement.  Unlike years past where the hump was coaching.    

No glaring coaching deficiencies to me besides his roster construction which is almost everything, though.  Failure to see and execute your vision and knowing the level to scout is everything.  This alone worries me deeply.  Most people who analyze rosters would have had all the same concerns and did.  Fans refuse to believe it until they see it.  But the staff needs to prove their assessments right.  So far, they are not.

 

Woody had a plethora of issues with scouting and roster construction among them.  Woodys guard scout was genuinely poor.   
With Woody, he for years wanted to run platoon type subs like the NBA and stuck with this moronic idea for years.  Woodys on the court system would have worked with the right guards and shooters.  And it did at times with the wrong guys.  If Woody would played to analytics (abandoned the mid range), recruited better shooters, played his starters, simplified and modernized his defense, recruited team guys, etc, etc, etc.  

Despite all these deficiencies Woody and DeVries are going to have similar seasons because of talent.

Talent/Physical skills are always #1 difference maker.  (If chemistry is neutral at worst). 
 

I think DeVries can be great in his system with great talent.  But can he identify it and get it?

He choose to ride with Enright and his 2 bigs of Alexis/Bailey despite not even having a 4 that offsets the weaknesses of his 5.  
 

So, idk.  Roster construction this season blows my mind.  

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, Hovadipo said:

80 posts in a game thread is insane, BTN+ or not. Had late-stage Tom Allen IUFB threads with 5 times this activity. 

I was thinking about this in another thread and don’t think I posted anything. But…

 

Theres a good chance the 1/4 century of crap the basketball program produced didn’t sink the program because there was nothing to take its place. Now with IU football’s ridiculous success, I think basketball can almost be killed off for good absent some real success. 
 

The monied alumni seem to already have made that decision. The common fan will follow. There’s a time I wouldn’t have missed this game. I honestly almost forgot it was on. But I made time to watch our football opponent last night.   
 

Had Cig came ten years ago basketball would be an afterthought. 

[Old Friend]

It's sad to me that Indiana has become a team and program which relies exclusively on shooting well from deep to give itself a chance to win against decent teams.  We are going to get absolutely destroyed in the Big Ten.  DeVries right now, with this team is in way over his head, and i am sorry to say that.    We just got out-scored in the second half....at home...by Chicago State.  By 2-10 Chicago State.  I thought we got out-hustled.  I thought our shot selection was bad and our kids looked more interested in setting a 3 point record than playing good basketball.

DeVries did have a chance to really fire up his fan base, but playing this style and consistently playing down to competition and getting out-hustled is not the way to do it.

Indiana basketball's brand is "too big to fail."  In 2024 it was STILL the 3rd highest grossing program in NCAA D1 basketball, believe it or not.  Indiana needs the right coach....and one or two terrific recruiting classes/portal classes and we'll be just fine.  I give DeVries a one season pass, but a good coach can get a fat kid in flip flops to play hard, and Indiana just doesn't.  They're so frequently lazy, slow, weak, and deliberate or they're quick and selfish.  GOD how I want to root for this team and this program, but too many years of tolerating bullsh*t from Davis, Sampson, Crean (about half the time), Archie, and my goodness how pathetically bad was Woodson....have really flattened our fan base and it's obvious.  

[Hoosierfan2017]

3 hours ago, str8baller said:

I was thinking about this in another thread and don’t think I posted anything. But…

 

Theres a good chance the 1/4 century of crap the basketball program produced didn’t sink the program because there was nothing to take its place. Now with IU football’s ridiculous success, I think basketball can almost be killed off for good absent some real success. 
 

The monied alumni seem to already have made that decision. The common fan will follow. There’s a time I wouldn’t have missed this game. I honestly almost forgot it was on. But I made time to watch our football opponent last night.   
 

Had Cig came ten years ago basketball would be an afterthought. 

Apathy is the worst thing for a program, and that’s exactly where the basketball program is at this point. The Woodson hire showed IU wasn’t serious about basketball, and the Devries hire showed that no one was coming to save the program from itself. Maybe he’ll do well, maybe he won’t. So far his roster construction stinks, his high school recruiting is meh, and the team on the court is even more underwhelming. 

And honestly, oh well. He seems like a nice enough guy (and isn’t a raging a** like the last guy), so that’s an improvement. I’ve largely given up on IU basketball ever being anything more than a middling program. I like football a lot more than basketball as a sport anyway, so IU football’s success makes it so much easier to get over IU basketball’s mediocrity. You could throw more money at basketball to try to solve the problem, but that seems foolish to do when every dollar put toward basketball would be better off going to Cignetti. 

I don’t think we’ll see a pissed off IU basketball fan base like we saw with Woodson. Fans just won’t show up and we’ll keep seeing a quiet, half empty Assembly Hall. It stinks, but you can only keep enthusiasm for a dead program going for so long. Kind of ironic that IU football’s success dealt the final blow to the basketball program. Who woulda thought. 

[Rico]

7 hours ago, Scotty R said:

 

What did you say?

[WayneFleekHoosier]

I listen to the coach and player interviews here and there.  
 

I don’t think they see the writing on the wall.  No panic at all.  
 

That’s great in a sense.  “Ignorance is bliss” until it becomes obvious.  
 

Hoping they have another level they can reach, but they are so limited I just can’t see it, besides getting ungodly hot from 3.  
 

Would like to hear some answers to some of the losses and problems but I’m not sure they think there are issues yet. 
 

Similar to the lack of recognition in roster construction.

 

Rubber meets road here really soon to figure it out.  

[Dave from Dayton]

12 hours ago, Hovadipo said:

80 posts in a game thread is insane, BTN+ or not. Had late-stage Tom Allen IUFB threads with 5 times this activity. 

I did not listen to the game.  I did not watch it.  It was hours after it was over that I looked for the score of the guaranteed win game.  

The writing is on the wall for this team if they do not hustle in the close games.  With little inside shot blocker, rebounding and getting second-chance shots...

One needs an excellent PG and a glue guy and a show-stopping Jared Jeffries type getting double-doubles in the box score on the baseline or underneath.  

And a coach that knows how to take advantage of what the opposition gives.

Recently we moved to a one-story house.  Got lots of chores to complete before the holidays.  Got them done Saturday listening to loud rock music.

I used to search out games at local sports bars if I didn't have access to the games at home.  Not any longer.  BTN+ can go suck an egg.  Debating on Peacock.

Why?  Apathy is too broad a category.  There are more and more games.  There are other things that compete for our attention.  Like life, reality, other sports, other forms of entertainment.  

And almost a lifetime of mismanagement of the basketball program...

Clearly, if the team is really flawed, the coach is not getting them to click, the PG, SF, others don't perform, and they play the little sisters of the poor, and there is doom and gloom about the B1G challenges, and it is a foregone conclusion that there will be a letdown in the 2nd half...do not blame the fans for 80 clicks on this site.   

Besides, if the administration doesn't care enough to go after the best fit coaching prospect, then should I be watching because of loyalty or something?

I'll be back, though.  Just maybe not on Monday.

 

[str8baller]

I wonder if they publish viewership numbers. Playing one of the worst teams in the country behind a paywall at B1G+ on a college football Saturday with a “meh” team—you could probably measure that viewership in the thousands.

 None of the above, besides the team, is Devries fault. It’s just a really poorly scheduled game. It didn’t sound like they played all that great either. 

[Uspshoosier]

9 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I don’t think they see the writing on the wall.  No panic at all.  

Only my opinion but I wouldn’t see a reason to panic until they start losing home games to teams they will be fighting for a tourney spot with.   Before the season the national college basketball media and most on here  felt making the tourney would be a good first year for DeVries.  Listen to the national media yesterday nothing has changed most feel IU is flawed team but still will be in that second tier of B1G teams that will be fighting each other for a tourney spot.   I didn’t watch the game but if I only went by what happen in this place I would have thought they lost the game.   Watching the highlights on the different stations however they actually pointed out IU taking care of business and doing what was necessary getting through the last game before break.   Unless you thought they were going to be the cream of the crop of the B1G in his first year then I guess you can panic because they won’t be close to the top teams in the league.  They will have a tough time with the Purdues, Michigans and Michigan States of the world this year however that leaves 14 other teams they will competing with for a tourney spot and my opinion only they will have chances against all the remaining B1G teams.  They are not going to win all those games however from watching those other teams play they are far from dominating teams where IU wouldn’t have a chance.   They will either win enough to be a tourney team or they won’t 

[eddy4iu]

1 hour ago, str8baller said:

I wonder if they publish viewership numbers. Playing one of the worst teams in the country behind a paywall at B1G+ on a college football Saturday with a “meh” team—you could probably measure that viewership in the thousands.

 None of the above, besides the team, is Devries fault. It’s just a really poorly scheduled game. It didn’t sound like they played all that great either. 

I was at a friend's house watching the Miami/A&M game on his enclosed porch. He has large TVs at both ends of the porch and had the IU game on at one end. I was concentrating on the football game and honestly don't think that I looked over my shoulder to check basketball score out more than 3 times the entire game and I wasn't alone with that  sentiment.  Never would have thunk it!

[Rico]

1 hour ago, eddy4iu said:

I was at a friend's house watching the Miami/A&M game on his enclosed porch. He has large TVs at both ends of the porch and had the IU game on at one end. I was concentrating on the football game and honestly don't think that I looked over my shoulder to check basketball score out more than 3 times the entire game and I wasn't alone with that  sentiment.  Never would have thunk it!

I hear ya.  I must admit I am in full football mode.  IU basketball is way in the back of my mind.  

[HoosierHoopster]

You guys with the apathy thing just crack me up. 
IU was the losingest team in college football. The worst. To say there was no excitement about IU football would be an understatement. 2 years later with real success there’s great excitement.
There was excitement during the Crean years in bball when we were winning B1G championships and making SW 16 runs despite mediocre coaching.

The attendance numbers for IU basketball even during the horrible Woodson years were top 10. Apathy? Here, sure, and students don’t care about the weak team we just played, but as IU ball gets its feet under itself going forward (it will, whether this season or next) the enthusiasm level will grow.
 

You’d think you guys live in the age of immediate gratification and social media. Oh wait 

[TheWatShot]

16 minutes ago, HoosierHoopster said:

You’d think you guys live in the age of immediate gratification and social media. Oh wait 

Immediate gratification because the coach isn't over-performing after 12 games is one thing. I think it has more to do with being told, yet again, to be patient. We were patient with Crean. We were patient with Miller. We were patient with Woodson (even though he said he wanted to win right away). Now we're being told to be patient with DeVries. Eventually most fans are going to look at that and say "what's the use? it's not getting fixed, no matter how patient we are or how many times we're told to be." That's what leads to apathy.