2026-27 Roster/Portal/how to fix the roster?

[Uspshoosier]

2 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

The only thing I am worried about is CDDv admission that he misjudged the Big10.  That is simply an epic fail.  I just don't know how you do that.  Hopefully he gets it right this time with the help of Ryan Carr.  

 

2 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

The only thing I am worried about is CDDv admission that he misjudged the Big10.  That is simply an epic fail.  I just don't know how you do that.  Hopefully he gets it right this time with the help of Ryan Carr.  

I think a lot of coaches can misjudge the B1G when they first coach in it.   The physicality and especially the center play is different than most others.   Underwood brought his overplaying defense that worked before at SF Austin and his 1 stop at Oklahoma st and had terrible results and admitted he had to change the way he coached and recruited.   Next year or the year after he land Cockburn and switched his defense.  Willard hated coaching in the B1G and couldn’t get out of the league fast enough.    B1G isn’t for everyone 

[Stuhoo]

4 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

The only thing I am worried about is CDDv admission that he misjudged the Big10.  That is simply an epic fail.  I just don't know how you do that.  Hopefully he gets it right this time with the help of Ryan Carr.  

Bad leaders:

1. Acknowledge when they make mistakes, and
2. It's merely lip service to keep the barking dogs at bay.

Good leaders:

1. Acknowledge when they make mistakes, and
2. Make appropriate changes to improve based on what they've learned.

Archie and Woody fell squarely into the first category; hopefully CDD will fall into the second category.

[Golfman25]

5 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Bad leaders:

1. Acknowledge when they make mistakes, and
2. It's merely lip service to keep the barking dogs at bay.

Good leaders:

1. Acknowledge when they make mistakes, and
2. Make appropriate changes to improve based on what they've learned.

Archie and Woody fell squarely into the first category; hopefully CDD will fall into the second category.

Great leaders don't make the mistake in the first place.  :)  

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, Stuhoo said:

I was more focused on offense, which has sucked for eight years.

Basketball is like that though. Pull on one string and another one appears. “Reactionary” is probably the one word I’d use to describe IU basketball the last 25yrs, I guess it’s all apropos .

 

Fwiw, at our best you can see why Devries was a valued assistant at a place like Creighton. And a better roster should unlock some of that Xs and Os magic for the exact reasons you describe.  
 

If I wanted to be positive, I could say give credit to CDD for not just selling out and running a Fran/Crean type offense that cared very little about defense at all. We tried to do both. The end result was we weren’t really good at anything though. As of today, Woodys ‘23 squad would actually out rank us on offense eff on Kenpom (relative to each individual season).   
 

So to bring it full circle back to this thread: We put a defense first PG out there and it brought the offense way down, so I’m guessing a top scoring PG will be need #1.  We’ve stunk guarding the 3, but I’m guessing they’ll just go for a shot blocking C (and extend the D out) as priority 2 in the portal. Then all we have to do is recreate the shooting of Wilkerson and Devries somehow. :)

[Uspshoosier]

10 minutes ago, str8baller said:

We’ve stunk guarding the 3, but I’m guessing they’ll just go for a shot blocking C (and extend the D out) as priority 2 in the portal.

Just got to hope the defense can get close to the top 15 defense he had at West Virginia.   Don’t need to worry about looking at the offensive efficiency though……

not great 134 

[str8baller]

37 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

The only thing I am worried about is CDDv admission that he misjudged the Big10.  That is simply an epic fail.  I just don't know how you do that.  Hopefully he gets it right this time with the help of Ryan Carr.  

PR 101 - give the excuse everyone will be comfortable with and forgive you for, even if it isn’t true . 
 

My problem is, reality doesn’t necessarily back him up. Go through our conf losses. Which center led their team in scoring?  
 

I’ll give you the answer: None of them. It was all guards and 4’s (Tuckers man). Why doesn’t he say our guards can’t guard or my son can’t guard his own shadow in the B1G. Those are equally as true statements and just as much to blame for our losses. 
 

I guess the flip side of that is I don’t think our center position ever was our leading scorer in any loss or any game besides UCLA and Minnesota. So maybe our offense is going to be predicated on dominating the paint next year?

[Golfman25]

6 minutes ago, str8baller said:

PR 101 - give the excuse everyone will be comfortable with and forgive you for, even if it isn’t true . 
 

My problem is, reality doesn’t necessarily back him up. Go through our conf losses. Which center led their team in scoring?  
 

I’ll give you the answer: None of them. It was all guards and 4’s (Tuckers man). Why doesn’t he say our guards can’t guard or my son can’t guard his own shadow in the B1G. Those are equally as true statements and just as much to blame for our losses. 
 

I guess the flip side of that is I don’t think our center position ever was our leading scorer in any loss or any game besides UCLA and Minnesota. So maybe our offense is going to be predicated on dominating the paint next year?

His comments were not center specific.  It was more regarding the general style of play in the Big10.  He needed better players top to bottom.  We were out manned a lot this year.  

[Demo]

40 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

The only thing I am worried about is CDDv admission that he misjudged the Big10.  That is simply an epic fail.  I just don't know how you do that.  Hopefully he gets it right this time with the help of Ryan Carr.  

Brad Underwood said the exact same thing after year 1 at Illinois. He was the ultimate spread offense guy, built a roster around that style, got straight hammered physically and the next year he brought in Kofi Cockburn and completely changed what he was doing. The difference for DDV is that, thankfully, he shouldn’t have to change much schematically. 

[Golfman25]

20 minutes ago, Demo said:

Brad Underwood said the exact same thing after year 1 at Illinois. He was the ultimate spread offense guy, built a roster around that style, got straight hammered physically and the next year he brought in Kofi Cockburn and completely changed what he was doing. The difference for DDV is that, thankfully, he shouldn’t have to change much schematically. 

Yeah, but Brad Underwood has a punchible face.  :)  

[Uspshoosier]

42 minutes ago, Demo said:

Brad Underwood said the exact same thing after year 1 at Illinois. He was the ultimate spread offense guy, built a roster around that style, got straight hammered physically and the next year he brought in Kofi Cockburn and completely changed what he was doing. The difference for DDV is that, thankfully, he shouldn’t have to change much schematically. 

I used that example as well.  Plus he changed his defense up as well.  He aggressively overhelped and just a a very aggressive style D his first 2 years and got completely shredded with 2 of the worst years in Illinois basketball history.   Corrected the mistake and know he is rolling at Illinois.   That was back in my younger days when I gave a crap about what other fan bases thought and went to their boards and they wanted him out after year 1 and really wanted him gone after year 2.   Luckily for them he stuck around 

[Demo]

6 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

I used that example as well.  Plus he changed his defense up as well.  He aggressively overhelped and just a a very aggressive style D his first 2 years and got completely shredded with 2 of the worst years in Illinois basketball history.   Corrected the mistake and know he is rolling at Illinois.   That was back in my younger days when I gave a crap about what other fan bases thought and went to their boards and they wanted him out after year 1 and really wanted him gone after year 2.   Luckily for them he stuck around 

And Underwood basically reinvents things every year. Not many guys at all who can do that. The B1G and the Big 12 are so insanely well coached and scouted. Just obviously better than any other conferences. That DDV was able to do what he did at WVU last year with that situation demonstrates clear as day that the dude’s got the chops to do this. But you gotta have Guys to do it night in/night out and this team has basically 1 1/2 Guys and some useful complimentary pieces and that ain’t gonna get it done, doesn’t matter how schemed and scouted up you are. The ‘26 kids are different animals talent-wise, will be really interested to see what they prioritize in the portal.

[AH1971]

5 hours ago, str8baller said:

Really? That’s been the worst part for me…lol. Defense is in an absolute free-fall and just looks incoherent at times.  Defensive PPP has just been absurd in some of the games down the stretch.  Trouble with presses. Late game collapses. Inconsistent effort.  Swapping out two starters throughout out the season shows a willingness to adapt, at least, but you have to wonder what was going on to get to that point—especially Bailey over Alexis.  
 

I have no doubt Carr can get the roster straightened out and with IU’s resources they can get to the tourney. I mean every coach we’ve had could do that when the roster fell right for them including Davis, Archie and Woody.
 

You kind of have to wonder where we go from there.  I certainly like some things—sound defensive philosophy (even if execution has been crap), good set plays and oob Xs and Os. But overall, at our lowest he’s looked as lost as Archie and Woody.  
 

For my own personal happiness, I’m joining you in the optimist club. Everyone gets a second chance and next year will be huge. So we’ll bank on Devries positive attributes really flourishing once the other duties like roster construction are taken over by Carr.  I’m ignoring the little part of my brain that says we’ve basically done this dance with every other bad coach we’ve had where we say “if only he were good at [insert important skill that almost all great coaches have] he could be successful here.” Maybe it’ll be true this time. 
 

Step 0 - slip into tourney this year

 Step 1 - Carr builds bullet-proof tourney roster

 Step 2 - Devries stewards them well next year  

Step 3 - ???

Step 4 - Banner #6  

(A plan so simple a caveman could do it!) 

Think it’s too early to make judgement on X’s and O’s until there’s competent personnel. We’re a bottom 4 team in terms of talent in the conference, and yes, I know DeVries picked the roster. Really tough to execute consistently on either end of the floor when you’re outmanned and outmatched on the court. Archie nor Woody would sniff the bubble  with this talent make up, I think that at least says something. Willing to see what this offseason looks like with a full staff in place and not being force to start from scratch on the fly.

[AH1971]

Couple of players I hope the staff is watching tonight; Hofstra guards Cruz Davis and Preston Edmead along with Santa Clara guard Christian Hammond and F/C Allen Graves.

[Uspshoosier]

4 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

Couple of players I hope the staff is watching tonight; Hofstra guards Cruz Davis and Preston Edmead along with Santa Clara guard Christian Hammond and F/C Allen Graves.

Cooper Bowser for Furman but he is from the DC area so I’m guessing wherever he goes will be close to there 

[AH1971]

4 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Cooper Bowser for Furman but he is from the DC area so I’m guessing wherever he goes will be close to there 

Kenny Johnson’s wheel house. Guessing Massamba Diop goes portaling after Hurley’s firing. Will likely be one of the best C prospects available, assuming he doesn’t go pro.

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, Demo said:

But you gotta have Guys to do it night in/night out and this team has basically 1 1/2 Guys and some useful complimentary pieces and that ain’t gonna get it done, doesn’t matter how schemed and scouted up you are.

How many guys you figure Iowa for? Or UCLA? Or Minny or NW?  
 

What about Wisconsin? They’ve got two dudes and a bunch of guys who are the type of athletes who IU fans would be saying you can’t win with in the B1G if they were on IU’s roster. Winter offers less rim protection than Alexis.  UW struggled non-conference but are playing well to end the season. 
 

I don’t think anyone would dispute we’re at a big talent disadvantage to teams #’s 1-4 in the league. And we didn’t win those games going 0-5. But teams #’s 5-7 we beat. We went 3-1 against them. Our problem was we dropped a bunch of games versus teams with similar or less talent than us. 

[Magisterium]

33 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Cooper Bowser for Furman but he is from the DC area so I’m guessing wherever he goes will be close to there 

Wonder if Kenny J knows him?

[AH1971]

45 minutes ago, Magisterium said:

Wonder if Kenny J knows him?

I would think both Kenny and Rod Clark have connections to him. St. Paul produces a ton of D1 prospects in the DMV where he played high school and Kenny has recruited at as an underclassmen before finishing up at Sunrise Christian in Wichita where Rod Clark previously coached.

[BGleas]

1 hour ago, AH1971 said:

Kenny Johnson’s wheel house. Guessing Massamba Diop goes portaling after Hurley’s firing. Will likely be one of the best C prospects available, assuming he doesn’t go pro.

Read that Diop goes wherever the assistant that brought him to ASU lands. 

[Unexpectedflash]

1 hour ago, AH1971 said:

Couple of players I hope the staff is watching tonight; Hofstra guards Cruz Davis and Preston Edmead along with Santa Clara guard Christian Hammond and F/C Allen Graves.

Graves is fun. Some of the draft guys have been talking about him since he has such a unique profile. I feel like a good stretch 4 that can do everything is really hard to find. I’m sure he’ll have lots of options if he stays another year