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Portal Kombat

I disagree. This is Ballo's last season, so it's all but guaranteed. With Rice and Carlyle, I wouldn't anticipate either transferring out (Carlyle has NBA potential). I look at it this way. How many of our blue chip players did we lose to the portal last year? Zero. How many of our blue chip players did we lose this year? Zero. If guys are content with their minutes, they will stick around. No one wants to leave their job and take a paycut, especially with the media coverage IU receives.
We will see.
 
Mind-boggling. Woody is one lucky SOB for sure. The upshot is that the excuses are all gone at this point. Anyone who buys into that BS now just enjoys getting pissed on and told that it’s raining….
They still have to “gel”. “I gotta get them to gel”. How many times did we hear that excuse last year?
 
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he also had two million less last year to buy guys. This year he had top money to buy guys. No excuses now. He isnt some recruiting genius he has double the money most big ten programs had to buy guys. He now has to win period.
Rumor.
 
nope i love iu but i am not sold on woodson at all. I have seen three years now and i am at a point he has to prove it on the court period. I have not been impressed with him and now i think with this talent he has to win and has to win big. Its great he won the portal but that means nothing to me anymore until he wins big on the court. I dont care what he batted honestly we go through this every summer so just win.
You are so full of hate for CMW, NOTHING HE can do would please you.
 
I would not assume any of these portal players will stay through graduation. I believe roster cleansing and turnover is here to stay.
We have the chance to, which is good. But yes, we have to be competitive on their NIL and they need to be happy with how things are going in the court.
 
True. For example, if we underperform this year and Woody gets fired, then... Also, we're gonna lose some blue chip players of our own in the future, we're not immune to reality. Thus far though, our staff and NIL contributors, have done an excellent job in that department.
We had all kinds of issues last season. One of the primary issues was roster construction and lack of quality guards. I am not familiar enough with any of these new players. Regardless of "who" we bring in, they have to have a strong system to play in. TJD covered up a lot in Woody's first year. JHS and TJD were a great combo in year 2. But we still had a glaring need for shooters and a legit PG. In year 3, TJD and JHS were gone and we still did not address shooters and a PG. Now, year 4 is upon us. I am not overly confident we are significantly improved to the level that we expect IU to be. From where we have been, the bar is extremely low to improve. The gap from where we have been to where we want to be is vast. Call me skeptical that this coach and these players have the ability to fill that gap. We still don't have a pure shooter. We have young athletic guys who still aren't prolific shooters. I do believe that our best shooter is MM. If we have capable guards that can run the offense and not have two bigs constantly plugging the paint so we can space it out, the offense will be better. But again, the bar is so damn low and the gap is extremely wide to where we want / need to be. The past two seasons, even with TJD and JHS, our IU teams got bitch slapped by better teams in Kansas and AZ. Yes, we beat Purdue. That was great. But again, we need the talent and we need a great system and we need a coach that can get the players to buy into and execute the system. Huge question marks for me.

Edit: related to coach getting them to buy in is these players coming with a mindset to compete and get better and win championships and get paid doing it, or operate with a mindset to simply get paid and if they win then that’s a bonus.
 
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nope i love iu but i am not sold on woodson at all. I have seen three years now and i am at a point he has to prove it on the court period. I have not been impressed with him and now i think with this talent he has to win and has to win big. Its great he won the portal but that means nothing to me anymore until he wins big on the court. I dont care what he batted honestly we go through this every summer so just win.
We had all kinds of issues last season. One of the primary issues was roster construction and lack of quality guards. I am not familiar enough with any of these new players. Regardless of "who" we bring in, they have to have a strong system to play in. TJD covered up a lot in Woody's first year. JHS and TJD were a great combo in year 2. But we still had a glaring need for shooters and a legit PG. In year 3, TJD and JHS were gone and we still did not address shooters and a PG. Now, year 4 is upon us. I am not overly confident we are significantly improved to the level that we expect IU to be. From where we have been, the bar is extremely low to improve. The gap from where we have been to where we want to be is vast. Call me skeptical that this coach and these players have the ability to fill that gap. We still don't have a pure shooter. We have young athletic guys who still aren't prolific shooters. I do believe that our best shooter is MM. If we have capable guards that can run the offense and not have two bigs constantly plugging the paint so we can space it out, the offense will be better. But again, the bar is so damn low and the gap is extremely wide to where we want / need to be. The past two seasons, even with TJD and JHS, our IU teams got bitch slapped by better teams in Kansas and AZ. Yes, we beat Purdue. That was great. But again, we need the talent and we need a great system and we need a coach that can get the players to buy into and execute the system. Huge question marks for me.

You're both right, Woodson is a liability. Yet, as we saw with Mike Davis, if you surround a coach with enough good players, they can compensate for their coach's deficiencies. Also, as a fan, there's really only two times we can be happy: (1) When we win & (2) When we are hopeful that we will win. Enjoy the ride we've been on this April, it's been fun.

To your point though, Woody does need to change. I wish he would do what Hurley did, have one of his assistants binge watch Euro Leagues and steal their offensive sets. Maybe assign Brian Walsh as our new Offensive Coordinator and put Jordy in charge of Analytics. Between the two, I'm sure they could develop a style of basketball that we would all enjoy watching.
 
We had all kinds of issues last season. One of the primary issues was roster construction and lack of quality guards. I am not familiar enough with any of these new players. Regardless of "who" we bring in, they have to have a strong system to play in. TJD covered up a lot in Woody's first year. JHS and TJD were a great combo in year 2. But we still had a glaring need for shooters and a legit PG. In year 3, TJD and JHS were gone and we still did not address shooters and a PG. Now, year 4 is upon us. I am not overly confident we are significantly improved to the level that we expect IU to be. From where we have been, the bar is extremely low to improve. The gap from where we have been to where we want to be is vast. Call me skeptical that this coach and these players have the ability to fill that gap. We still don't have a pure shooter. We have young athletic guys who still aren't prolific shooters. I do believe that our best shooter is MM. If we have capable guards that can run the offense and not have two bigs constantly plugging the paint so we can space it out, the offense will be better. But again, the bar is so damn low and the gap is extremely wide to where we want / need to be. The past two seasons, even with TJD and JHS, our IU teams got bitch slapped by better teams in Kansas and AZ. Yes, we beat Purdue. That was great. But again, we need the talent and we need a great system and we need a coach that can get the players to buy into and execute the system. Huge question marks for me.
There is far more proven talent on the roster than last season. Six high major players who averaged double figures in scoring and a top 20 recruit will all see significant playing time this coming season. This is the best roster Woodson has had so far.
 
You're both right, Woodson is a liability. Yet, as we saw with Mike Davis, if you surround a coach with enough good players, they can compensate for their coach's deficiencies. Also, as a fan, there's really only two times we can be happy: (1) When we win & (2) When we are hopeful that we will win. Enjoy the ride we've been on this April, it's been fun.

To your point though, Woody does need to change. I wish he would do what Hurley did, have one of his assistants binge watch Euro Leagues and steal their offensive sets. Maybe assign Brian Walsh as our new Offensive Coordinator and put Jordy in charge of Analytics. Between the two, I'm sure they could develop a style of basketball that we would all enjoy watching.
Excellent ideas but Woodson isn’t changing one thing. The only thing he learned from Knight is “my way and f off if you don’t like it”. Big problem is Woodson isn’t Knight and he has no ability to coach College Basketball.
 
You are so full of hate for CMW, NOTHING HE can do would please you.
I get sick of you and others saying IU fans that don’t think Woodson is the guy to coach IU, hate him.

I don’t hate him. I think he’s not been a good coach the last three years. When he said I wasn’t a “real fan”, I’ll be the first to admit he pissed me off.

He better win big this year. If you want to know what “win big” means for me, see my answer to Org.
 
All I remember from last year's off-season is a boatload of criticism for Coach not adding a top guard and top shooting. (Which as the season went, proved correct.) We were all hoping for solid improvement in shooting from those we had.

I don't recall at all people saying the same things as now. I know we were pleased about those players we did get, you're right there. But lots of criticism for what we didn't add.
I don't think we knew Newton would be out all year, nor that X would suffer such a catastrophic injury that it made his year virtually worthless.
 
I’d love to see a S16 run. Hell, I’d be ecstatic with and E8 again before I go, but this staff is going to have to prove it to me. Love the additions (and subtractions), but I need to see some actual coaching where we all go “damn! Woody hoodwinked coach x!” That’d be sweet!
DId sweeping Purdue last year do that for you?
 
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DId sweeping Purdue last year do that for you?
It made me happy as hell. Last game I'll ever get to watch my Dad was the Mackey smackdown JHS put on them. I'll remember that game fondly for the rest of my days. Not sure if Woody and crew hoodwinked Painter, but it was very enjoyable. This year? Not so much.
 
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It made me happy as hell. Last game I'll ever get to watch my Dad was the Mackey smackdown JHS put on them. I'll remember that game fondly for the rest of my days. Not sure if Woody and crew hoodwinked Painter, but it was very enjoyable. This year? Not so much.
For as much blame as Woodson got for everything that went wrong this year, I'll give him credit for the Purdue sweep last year.
 
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For as much blame as Woodson got for everything that went wrong this year, I'll give him credit for the Purdue sweep last year.
I will too. Most obviously will. But those of us at a certain age have slightly higher goals than simply sweeping little brother. We saw it with our own eyes and know it can be done again.
 
There is far more proven talent on the roster than last season. Six high major players who averaged double figures in scoring and a top 20 recruit will all see significant playing time this coming season. This is the best roster Woodson has had so far.
I did not say it was or was not the best roster he’s had. I am specifically referring to a balanced roster with a scoring threat. More specifically, having a system, a team that plays into and executes a system including guards who can make shots and a coach that can make it all work. This season will be the most telling of all. IMO.
 
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I did not say it was or was not the best roster he’s had. I am specifically referring to a balanced roster with a scoring threat. More specifically, having a system, a team that plays into and executes a system including guards who can make shots and a coach that can make it all work. This season will be the most telling of all. IMO.
It really makes me wonder if the money behind all this didn't tell Woody to "get whoever you want and we'll back you" thereby throwing down the gauntlet of expectations for this season. Put up or shut up Woody.
 
I will too. Most obviously will. But those of us at a certain age have slightly higher goals than simply sweeping little brother. We saw it with our own eyes and know it can be done again.
Agreed, I remember all three of Knight's titles. I'm not quite so optimistic; I think it's harder now than it was then, and I would not be surprised if IU doesn't win another one in my lifetime, but it would be great if they did.
 
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Agreed, I remember all three of Knight's titles. I'm not quite so optimistic; I think it's harder now than it was then, and I would not be surprised if IU doesn't win another one in my lifetime, but it would be great if they did.

As NIL wages continue to increase, many teams will be unable to keep pace. Other teams, like us (hopefully), will be among those who can. Though cringe as F***, I think this bodes well for IU fans. Pay to win.
 
As NIL wages continue to increase, many teams will be unable to keep pace. Other teams, like us (hopefully), will be among those who can. Though cringe as F***, I think this bodes well for IU fans. Pay to win.
My thoughts exactly. Seems like it should be much easier now than during the Knight era. Of course the great equalizer is (and always will be) coaching ability.
 
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My thoughts exactly. Seems like it should be much easier now than during the Knight era. Of course the great equalizer is (and always will be) coaching ability.
The rules have changed also. RMK didn't have a shot clock or a three-point line in 76 or 81, and I think it was still 45 seconds in 87. In that era if Knight got a decent lead it was game over, he'd just run the clock and make you foul.

Today you don't have long to set up your offense. Knight's classic motion just doesn't work. And you must have players who can hit from deep, the three point shot can swing the score in a few posessions.
 
I was in the same boat, very critical of his recruiting strategy but he's landed pretty much everyone he's wanted while bringing all the key players back.

We'll see If he can win big or not but with the talent we have they should at least make a sweet 16.
Let's get Liam to rethink his decision and come back--he could get the ball into Oumar B.and pretend he's Derik Queen!
 
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Let's get Liam to rethink his decision and come back--he could get the ball into Oumar B.and pretend he's Derik Queen!
Wouldn’t that be a kick in the acorns! Woody should call and introduce himself. Tell him he’ll double his earlier offer. Surely he’s got a stack or two left.
 
Did they change something post fab 5?
We have discussed the crap out of this. UM will only transfer up to sophomore credits or take graduate transfers. So you can transfer but you lose most of your major. It’s policy not grades. Dusty has an uphill battle getting some players.

Stanford transfer gave his credits up.
 
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