Odds/Thoughts on building top 25 preseason

[WayneFleekHoosier]

4 minutes ago, Asha’man said:

PG is the key to me. Every team ahead of us I. The conference standings had a better PG. it’s a guards game. We need a rim protector though, just because it’s a guards game doesn’t mean we ignore size and physicality at all positions. 

 

4 minutes ago, Asha’man said:

PG is the key to me. Every team ahead of us I. The conference standings had a better PG. it’s a guards game. We need a rim protector though, just because it’s a guards game doesn’t mean we ignore size and physicality at all positions. 

Which is exactly why the old Drake guard from Small School West CANT be our starting PG. 

[Asha’man]

Just now, WayneFleekHoosier said:

 

Which is exactly why the old Drake guard from Small School West CANT be our starting PG. 

yeah. We agreed a lot last spring on the roster construction. The Vaaks kid is intriguing to me and I’d rather have him as a SG than the Cornell kid. 

[str8baller]

8 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

 

Which is exactly why the old Drake guard from Small School West CANT be our starting PG. 

Stirtz was a Div 2 player and half of Drakes roster is in the S16. 
 

You have to be able to coach em up and have an eye for talent. I still can’t figure out why Devries didn’t take Enright to WVU but brought him here. 

[Asha’man]

3 hours ago, str8baller said:

Stirtz was a Div 2 player and half of Drakes roster is in the S16. 
 

You have to be able to coach em up and have an eye for talent. I still can’t figure out why Devries didn’t take Enright to WVU but brought him here. 

I think he cobbled together a roster after he swung on some assistants that didn’t pan out  and a lot of the top guys were off the board. He landed a stud PG in the portal at WV, he didn’t need Enright there. 

[Home Jersey]

3 hours ago, str8baller said:

Stirtz was a Div 2 player and half of Drakes roster is in the S16. 
 

You have to be able to coach em up and have an eye for talent. I still can’t figure out why Devries didn’t take Enright to WVU but brought him here. 

How anybody can feel optimistic about our program after watching McCollum this year is beyond me. Writing them off once Stirtz leaves is a huge miscalculation IMO. He already found and developed that type of player in D2, odds seem pretty good that Stirtz won't be the last player he develops into a stud. McCollum is playing chess out there and we are tossing the ball around the top of the arc waiting for someone to chuck a late shot clock 3 lol.

There's for sure improvements needed beyond roster construction. That's got to be painfully clear given how we finished. Talent needs to be upgraded too... and then the coaching has to be better. I'll feel better if / when we land a compelling group in the portal. 

[BluegrassHoosier859]

9 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

How anybody can feel optimistic about our program after watching McCollum this year is beyond me. Writing them off once Stirtz leaves is a huge miscalculation IMO. He already found and developed that type of player in D2, odds seem pretty good that Stirtz won't be the last player he develops into a stud. McCollum is playing chess out there and we are tossing the ball around the top of the arc waiting for someone to chuck a late shot clock 3 lol.

There's for sure improvements needed beyond roster construction. That's got to be painfully clear given how we finished. Talent needs to be upgraded too... and then the coaching has to be better. I'll feel better if / when we land a compelling group in the portal. 

The second paragraph is 100% right.

Coaching gets easier as the roster gets better. Get the talent, coach them up, win a bunch of games.

Not saying it wasn't a problem because it clearly was, but to your point "we are tossing the ball around the top of the arc waiting for someone to chuck a late shot clock 3 lol" - that was kind of the option this year based on the roster. Would you rather Tucker/Lamar taking a chance on a contested 3 or Enright/Bailey finishing at the rim?

[Home Jersey]

1 minute ago, BluegrassHoosier859 said:

The second paragraph is 100% right.

Coaching gets easier as the roster gets better. Get the talent, coach them up, win a bunch of games.

Not saying it wasn't a problem because it clearly was, but to your point "we are tossing the ball around the top of the arc waiting for someone to chuck a late shot clock 3 lol" - that was kind of the option this year based on the roster. Would you rather Tucker/Lamar taking a chance on a contested 3 or Enright/Bailey finishing at the rim?

I don't think it's an either / or proposition where those are the only two choices.

This group showed they were capable to win more games by beating Purdue, UCLA and Wisconsin. They weren't consistent enough and DDV didn't put them in position to succeed often enough. Contrasting that with how McCollum had basically total control against Florida when everyone expected them to get run off the court and you can see there's a long way to go on the coaching front too, not just roster.

I generally try to be optimistic this early in a coach's tenure but the late season crash and burn was tough when the bubble was begging for us to play our way in. Just had to beat NW. Once... doesn't mean the improvements won't happen, but does mean I'm tired of speculating and hoping. I wanna see it. Hopefully we do next year. 

 

[Golfman25]

25 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

How anybody can feel optimistic about our program after watching McCollum this year is beyond me. Writing them off once Stirtz leaves is a huge miscalculation IMO. He already found and developed that type of player in D2, odds seem pretty good that Stirtz won't be the last player he develops into a stud. McCollum is playing chess out there and we are tossing the ball around the top of the arc waiting for someone to chuck a late shot clock 3 lol.

There's for sure improvements needed beyond roster construction. That's got to be painfully clear given how we finished. Talent needs to be upgraded too... and then the coaching has to be better. I'll feel better if / when we land a compelling group in the portal. 

I liked that he "tried to go after" Todd Golden and had to be held back.  Like one of those little ankle bitter dogs.  

: ]

[BluegrassHoosier859]

4 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

I don't think it's an either / or proposition where those are the only two choices.

This group showed they were capable to win more games by beating Purdue, UCLA and Wisconsin. They weren't consistent enough and DDV didn't put them in position to succeed often enough. Contrasting that with how McCollum had basically total control against Florida when everyone expected them to get run off the court and you can see there's a long way to go on the coaching front too, not just roster.

I generally try to be optimistic this early in a coach's tenure but the late season crash and burn was tough when the bubble was begging for us to play our way in. Just had to beat NW. Once... doesn't mean the improvements won't happen, but does mean I'm tired of speculating and hoping. I wanna see it. Hopefully we do next year. 

 

I dont care about McCollum but in regards to IU I mostly agree with everything you said. 

I do think the way this roster was put together they had to perform at or right near their best for 100% of the game to win against most in the league at thats a big ask for a 20 game conf schedule in the best conference in cbb. I think they did that more often at the start of the year and won some games. After a few blowouts when the pressure really ramped up to win to make it to the tourney I think they didnt get close to playing their best. Who knows the exact reason why. There are not a lot of teams that play to their absolute best night in and night out. This team had zero room for error this year, and they were small and unathletic. 

The roster is the coaches doing for sure, but im not ready to say Devries cant coach. Im far more concerned about landing the talent we need than his ability to coach that talent up if we get it.

[CSP]

3 hours ago, str8baller said:

Stirtz was a Div 2 player and half of Drakes roster is in the S16. 
 

You have to be able to coach em up and have an eye for talent. I still can’t figure out why Devries didn’t take Enright to WVU but brought him here. 

uhh... maybe Enright didn't want to go to WVU?

[BluegrassHoosier859]

2 minutes ago, CSP said:

uhh... maybe Enright didn't want to go to WVU?

I bet this is it. Go to WVU and play behind Small, or go back home and start? 

[eddy4iu]

12 hours ago, realTomCrean said:

We’d be smart to get the best PG money can buy with Haralson and Bidunga (confirmed committed already btw) + 2 6’11 European 28 year olds

Interesting comment regarding Bidunga - I have obviously missed something. Context?

[Home Jersey]

1 minute ago, eddy4iu said:

Interesting comment regarding Bidunga - I have obviously missed something. Context?

Think he said that tongue in cheek 

[str8baller]

11 minutes ago, CSP said:

uhh... maybe Enright didn't want to go to WVU?

Why?

[Uspshoosier]

52 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

How anybody can feel optimistic about our program after watching McCollum this year is beyond me

For me it’s because I’m not jealous of what some other first year coach did.  Especially one that went 10-10 in conference and lost 6 of 8 heading into the post season.   His success of failure has 0 effect on how optimistic I am about IU improving.    Personally I don’t care for his style of play and afrer watching every Iowa conference game and most the non conference I don’t feel it will translate to winning big consistently against the upper tier teams.  His style will muck it up enough to slow down the favorites however I don’t think they can string together enough wins against upper level teams to be a national champion threat for D1.  Just my opinion.   

[Stuhoo]

2 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

For me it’s because I’m not jealous of what some other first year coach did.  Especially one that went 10-10 in conference and lost 6 of 8 heading into the post season.   His success of failure has 0 effect on how optimistic I am about IU improving.    Personally I don’t care for his style of play and afrer watching every Iowa conference game and most the non conference I don’t feel it will translate to winning big consistently against the upper tier teams.  His style will muck it up enough to slow down the favorites however I don’t think they can string together enough wins against upper level teams to be a national champion threat for D1.  Just my opinion.   

My UF sophomore/college hoops junkie son before the Iowa game: "Terrible matchup for Florida. Huge style contrast is a wild card that evens things out."

Dammit; I was hoping he was wrong.

[Home Jersey]

2 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

For me it’s because I’m not jealous of what some other first year coach did.  Especially one that went 10-10 in conference and lost 6 of 8 heading into the post season.   His success of failure has 0 effect on how optimistic I am about IU improving.    Personally I don’t care for his style of play and afrer watching every Iowa conference game and most the non conference I don’t feel it will translate to winning big consistently against the upper tier teams.  His style will muck it up enough to slow down the favorites however I don’t think they can string together enough wins against upper level teams to be a national champion threat for D1.  Just my opinion.   

Totally fair! I just didn't see much from DeVries this year to make me more optimistic about what he can do at Indiana vs what McCollum can do at Iowa. We were even worse in conference and down the stretch. We have a financial advantage. I don't see much from a basketball POV that leads me to believe DDV is a better coach than McCollum or will become one. Not to get hung up on those two... just bummed seeing how big the gap looks right now.

[Asha’man]

4 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

For me it’s because I’m not jealous of what some other first year coach did.  Especially one that went 10-10 in conference and lost 6 of 8 heading into the post season.   His success of failure has 0 effect on how optimistic I am about IU improving.    Personally I don’t care for his style of play and afrer watching every Iowa conference game and most the non conference I don’t feel it will translate to winning big consistently against the upper tier teams.  His style will muck it up enough to slow down the favorites however I don’t think they can string together enough wins against upper level teams to be a national champion threat for D1.  Just my opinion.   

And he is reliant to find a NBA prospect that’s been overlooked by everyone basically yearly. It’s why I’m not worried about Iowa or McCollum. I’m worried about who is IU landing in the portal. We have a solid freshmen class coming and off to a solid start for the following class. Land a solid big ten roster through this portal and things are looking up and everyone will chalk year 1 up to new position, like a lot of successful coaches who don’t excel in year 1. 

[CSP]

21 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Why?

I wouldn't go live in WV. 

[Home Jersey]

4 minutes ago, Asha’man said:

And he is reliant to find a NBA prospect that’s been overlooked by everyone basically yearly.

This is just not true though lol