TTT Posted March 6 Posted March 6 It’s not rocket science. No NIT nor WBIT needed. Home stance NIT tournament and championship served its purpose during the T. Buss years. It provided a springboard that IU Ladies basketball program is beyond. I doubt it would be a tournament home stand again. Maybe, maybe not. If you don’t win it then you lose to a mid major or a lower level major conference team. What is needed. 1. Lots of NIL money or enough to purchase: two elite transfer portal players or one elite transfer portal player and one elite 2026 signee yet to commit (another inside player, elite and another guard or wing shooter/scoring, elite 2. Go home and heal up, lick your wounds, have some fun, and come back and start training for 2026-2027. Quote
mickey one Posted March 6 Posted March 6 8 hours ago, LIHoosier said: Or not a "number of reasons"? Like what? I don't think IU is heading to the Final 4 (or for that matter a Big 10 championship) until they get an inside banger like Etute. Quote
TTT Posted March 6 Posted March 6 6 hours ago, mickey one said: a "number of reasons"? Like what? I don't think IU is heading to the Final 4 (or for that matter a Big 10 championship) until they get an inside banger like Etute. Inside elite and another scoring elite player (2 more) to go along with nucleus of returnees and what is currently coming into program 2026-2027. Currently, still not there but could be. Quote
TTT Posted March 6 Posted March 6 20 hours ago, Aaron said: Today is why I am ultra critical of this fanbase and its purely out of my caring. Fan base at Big Ten Tourney in Indy grew to point where it was largest here. One bad year and now its back to the size it was pre-Moren as not much larger than any others. IU has played in the middle of the day many times through their best years and still filled the entire first level. Now one year where team is not the best and it disappears like yesterday's news. I've been to Omaha during Iowa and Nebraska's down years for baseball and they still show up as long as team is there. Meanwhile, at Victory Field for yearly game it takes one year of a non-Schwarber team and still being competitive to drop attendance by 75% from 8k to barely 2k. Now with women's basketball its the same pattern over and over again where as soon as team is not ranked, everyone is gone in 6 months. Its why I fear so much for football as soon as team win nine games season tickets drop to 30k. Our men's basketball first fans stick through the thick and thin there mostly, but as soon as a sport that's not that stops being ranked in top-15 its over. Yes every fan base has front runners, but its particularly bad at IU where a built fan base in another sport is gone within months. You can't claim to want to be good at every sport as our fans do, only to dump it within months like no other fan base does. Fan behavior has to change. I am not talking to the loyal who are there through thick and thin but the frontrunners which is far larger than other fan bases. People can get mad at me for saying this, but its if the 'shoe fits, wear it' situation and its why so many sports struggle to ever regain momentum they build. An unimpressive year followed by a bad year that included several players exit of which 3 of them could have been used this season. Quote
Aaron Posted March 6 Posted March 6 1 hour ago, TTT said: An unimpressive year followed by a bad year that included several players exit of which 3 of them could have been used this season. In a vacuum I agree. However, its part of a larger trend we have seen multiple times. If it were just this, I would 100% agree with you. However, when its another small data point on a larger scale, it becomes another concerning piece of evidence for the future as to whether IU athletics can keep up with the rest of the league. ronzo4IU 1 Quote
TTT Posted March 6 Posted March 6 1 hour ago, Aaron said: In a vacuum I agree. However, its part of a larger trend we have seen multiple times. If it were just this, I would 100% agree with you. However, when its another small data point on a larger scale, it becomes another concerning piece of evidence for the future as to whether IU athletics can keep up with the rest of the league. Bottom line NIL purchase two elite players that fit with nucleus of 2026-2027. Win and they will come. Don’t forget to NIL nucleus of 2026-2027 either. Quote
ronzo4IU Posted March 7 Posted March 7 Like I’ve said before, one of her best teams in recent times gets knocked out of a first round home game by Miami/16 seed. The stands were packed and I think the fan base lost hope after that game. Been going downhill ever since. Quote
LamarCheeks Posted March 7 Author Posted March 7 1 hour ago, ronzo4IU said: Like I’ve said before, one of her best teams in recent times gets knocked out of a first round home game by Miami/16 seed. The stands were packed and I think the fan base lost hope after that game. Been going downhill ever since. Miami was the No. 8 seed and it was the second round. We had beaten No. 16 Tennessee Tech in the first round. Still -- the Miami loss was very disappointing. NatHillIV 1 Quote
TTT Posted March 7 Posted March 7 I was at the Miami vs IU Ladies game. From the very start of game the Miami center went right at Holmes actually creating a mismatch. IU Ladies went with Holmes instead of Lilly M. at the time. It was a long term knee injury condition to M. Holmes that IU kept very private that post IU required surgery and rehab and a substantial recovery. When it reared its head it downgraded Holmes game substantially. She had re injured her knee in big ten tournament vs Michigan State I think. Of course Miami had to execute other phases of game but often team depth is required without substantial drop off in play….though Holmes was a special case because she was an All American. ronzo4IU and NatHillIV 2 Quote
ronzo4IU Posted March 7 Posted March 7 8 hours ago, LamarCheeks said: Miami was the No. 8 seed and it was the second round. We had beaten No. 16 Tennessee Tech in the first round. Still -- the Miami loss was very disappointing. My memory slipping. Lol Quote
NatHillIV Posted March 8 Posted March 8 5 hours ago, ronzo4IU said: My memory slipping. Lol Join the club. Now where did I leave my glasses ? Quote
Aaron Posted March 8 Posted March 8 This talk is why our fans are crazy. Miami loss was bad, but no worse than anyone else who gets upset in second round and if that causes an entire fan base to lose hope, you have exhibit A on why our fan base is such an issue. This is especially true when you make the Sweet 16 and second round the following years giving South Carolina maybe their biggest challenges of the tournament each time. These expectation of our fan base are completely out of control and its why anything that is not a top-10 squad doesn't get supported at an adequate level like other teams do. This year was not acceptable but every season before that was. There is a difference between hoping for better, and saying anything less than a top-15 team and 25 wins is a failure and reason not to watch. Unfortunately, way to many of our fans fall into the latter boat more so than other fan bases. Until this changes there is zero reason to spend big on a program that is not the big two. NIL and rev share is to valuable to be chasing unrealistic expectations. When our fan base decides making postseason every season is adequate and not a reason to drop a teams like yesterdays news, then throw big $$$ every sport. Not until then. NatHillIV 1 Quote
Aaron Posted March 8 Posted March 8 12 minutes ago, LIHoosier said: More fan slander, awesome. Yes. I call it as I see it. Loyal fans deserve credit. However, the rest have shown they have unrealistic expectations. If losing to Miami turned people off, that is a serious fan base issue and proves my point that most won't support anything that isn't a championship contender every season which is totally not living in reality. NatHillIV 1 Quote
TTT Posted March 8 Posted March 8 21 hours ago, NatHillIV said: Join the club. Now where did I leave my glasses ? Realized I left my RX sunglasses in car rental after checking through security at airport. Forget about phone busy busy busy. Nor do I expect response from on line submitted lost and found. Cost= $674. Public Service Reminder: For those with memory that comes with advanced aging. NatHillIV 1 Quote
TTT Posted March 8 Posted March 8 UCLA Ladies basketball average attendance home games about 5,596 (a couple marquee games were bigger and senior night vs IU was a little better. Gym capacity: about 13,500 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.