The problem begins with this staff. No one besides Woody is a high level offensive or defensive coach. The weave at the top of the key fools none. How in the love of god can we have limited options from three??? We are in the state of Indiana. We have shooters falling out of trees. The lack of Indiana kids is glaring. Those kids would live and die for IU.
Controlled Rant
- Thread starter wawasee
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Funny you say that...I don't think a year goes by and I'm watching the tournament and theres some Indiana kid or a few on some other team or teams half way across the country and they are lighting it up.
Gunn is from Indiana. He shoots like he is falling out of a tree.
Did anyone notice the shot of the bench late in the second half? They look like they weren't into the game at all.
Teams take on the personality of their head coach - and to a lesser extent, their best player.
I think this team looks confused as much as anything. And that confusion is leading to frustration.
They've shown an ability, when its most needed, to figure it out and play solid ball for a few minutes to take over games. I think that is a good trait. But man, Woody and the players need to figure out how to be more solid defensively...and they need to figure it out soon. Obviously there are other issues, but the defensive effort and rotations are by far and away the biggest problems, and they bleed over in to other areas too. When they defend well, they get out in transition more, and magically there's more and better movement offensively. When they're taking it out of the net, and glaring or yelling at each other, it infects the next offensive possession.
Gunn still looks absolutely clueless. It kinda explains why his high school team was terrible. I guess Woody thinks he has a high ceiling?? We'd be better of with 10 min of Leal. Gunn is supposed to at least be a shooter and he can barely draw iron.
And there were peeps on here saying he would be all we needed all summer. I agree on Leal over Gunn until CJ figures it out.
Had high hopes for Dane here. Pissed at him for not being able to keep it together.
Always hated the weave, tho I did see a coach talk about it and why he would occasionally run it. If you see your guys just standing around, run it to just get them moving. Made sense, tho we're certainly not generating open shots off it. There are people on here that understand X's & O's much better than I do that might be able to speak on it. We do have 4 Indiana kids on the roster that need to do as you say.
Still wonder exactly what happened. I don't think its coincidence that Woody's first team was his most defensively sound team thus far.
Woody’s first team had 3 Jrs and 2 Srs in the starting lineup. Also had a 3rd Sr as 6th man off the bench.
Last year our best perimeter defender was hurt 2/3 of the year and a good defender at the 4 was only healthy for 1/2 the year.
This year we are starting 2 Srs, 2 So, and a Freshman. Off the bench we are bringing another 2 So and a freshman.
Imo Fife had zero to do with our defensive performances. If anyone is considered a defensive coach is is the guy who played for Bobby and coached with Larry Brown.
I’m not sure of the point you are trying to make.
If you are suggesting that no one has any idea of MW as an X and O college coach (but we should begin to get an idea this year), I’d agree.
My point was there was an alternate explanation for year one being Woody’s best year defensively other than Fife. IMO it is because his first year was the healthiest and oldest team he had. We are very young and will take time for this years team to grow defensively.
Ah…..
Yeah, he’s had veteran teams both years, but not having the veteran x (and having to rely on JHS), hurt. We had the rim defender, and solid veteran defenders in MK, RT, and Trey, but missed the veteran that could cut the head off of the snake, so to speak.
I am not a fan at this level. We did use it a bit in AAU ball as invariably a defender would miss switch and that is what we looked for .
they aren't... it's not a comfortable time right now... adjustments are being made... egos included
I think Galloway should come off the bench. You bring in Galloway off the bench set Reneau, Walker, Ware, play Cupps, Johnson, Galloway, Mkbako, Sparks as the 2nd group.
I‘m also not a fan of the weave. There were few things worst than watching Archies teams run the weave and then pound the ball followed by a desperation shot as the clock expired.
PLEASE, no weave.
something's not translating. If you bring TG off the bench, who's starting: Cupps? And presumably X? And, yet you have both of them in your 2nd group too? Can you better explain who you are suggesting starting?
I hope there isn't any sort of "2nd group" mentality going on inside the program. We don't have enough guys playing at a high level right now for that, and its unnecessary in college anyways.
X and Ware, in my opinion, have shown the combination of ability and effort, that they need to both be on the court as much as possible, 30+ minutes for both, assuming their not in foul trouble, and are fully healthy.
Beyond that, fill in the other minutes with guys that are playing defense, rebounding, and making good decisions offensively. Whoever that is. Cupps and Gallo, for the most part, are defending well, and take care of the ball...both of them deserve minutes too, but unlike X and Ware, there are tradeoffs with both of those guys.
But that's really true, at this point, with everyone other than X and Ware. If I were Woody, I'd be spending pretty much all time and effort trying to reestablish the identity of the team, as a hard nosed, defensive minded, rebounding, team. If that means there are 5 star kids are on the bench more than they're in games...so be it. That would suck, as it would severely limit our ceiling. But I just think establishing that baseline mindset is more important right now.
The weave is a drill, not an offense. I don't get why this is a thing. "weave and heave" was a hallmark of Crean's teams after Cody.
I do think CMW has an affection for a 2nd unit, from his NBA days. I agree with you, we're not deep enough nor is it needed. The only thing I can think as to why, might be to make a point by benching the 5 on the floor, and maybe to get more experience for 2 fives for practice if we're smoking someone. But again, we're not that far down the road to even think about that.
The weave at the top of the circle is an entry into your offensive set and play. And some teams use it to try and force a switch (which especially works well against teams that switch a lot) to get a particular matchup for a play. It is not a play in and of itself.
Pg Johnson
Sg Mgbako
SF Walker
PF Reneau
C Ware
First subs in Galloway, Cupps, Sparks, Banks, Gunn in order or as needed. I would keep Jonson in with the 2nd unit for a while and have three guards .
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That group is too slow (and you listed Walker twice). It can't guard anyone. Reneau can't guard a stretch 4. There's no way that Mgbako can guard the other teams 2. In fact, I wonder if Mgbako can guard some teams' 3s. I sometimes think that defensively (at least right now), he is best suited to guard college 4s.
I wish IU had more usable guards so they could run more small lineups. I think the lineup that Woody is running out every game isn't going to be quick enough to guard a lot of teams.
I think if you have Walker starting in 2 spots, that it puts us at a disadvantage
Edit: I’m assuming you meant Ware for one 😉
I don't have Walker playing two spots
Walker is starting not with second group. Reneau is a four now so he is already guarding stretch fours.
Yes, Reneau IS already guarding stretch fours. I just don't think he's doing a great job at it. I don't think he's particularly quick and he's going to struggle this season defensively.
It’s hard to realize the quality of the players you have. Believe me, the staff has been seeing all of this all summer and fall. It is what it is. This is the flipside of our reliance on Trayce/Race et al Going to take time.
And Colvin would have jumped at a serious offer to be at IU over Purdue. Amazes me that we don’t heavily recruit those kids.
Gunn is getting better and gaining confidence - and he was the best on ball defender today. You can say what you want, but he is coming on. And his shooting will improve. He is going to be a baller. I’m much more worried about MM. And also disappointed that Banks has been so erratic.
Gunn is a great shooter. And he’s as lousy a maker as I’ve seen since Bates.
