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Fan enthusiasm seems down this year…

I actually think the success of Cig and the football team is going to hurt CMW. No one, including me, thought a turnaround of a football program who'd stunk was possible on the level they've done it. If that's possible on an 80 man roster where 22 guys start, it highlights what you could do with a bball team and resources. I'd give Woody an A (maybe A-) assembling the talent for the team. Coaching gets to be the question.
I really think next three days seal his fate at IU. If he wins 3 in a row we are gonna hear a shit ton of “Mike Woodson” does this in the post game pressers! I’m here for it!
 
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Bought players from the Dollar General store…

Far from it. He didn’t buy the shiny new toys. He bought the ones that were proven with some dirt on them.

Some guys buy the new ford, some buy the 1979 big block that has started up every single day for 45 years.
 
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What about Yogi, Juwan, OG, James Blackmon, Robert Johnson, Nick Zeisloft, Max Bielfeld, Thomas Bryant, Troy Williams….and Tim Priller! Man that team was loaded and boy did they stink it up in Maui! Lost two out of three. I was just looking at pictures of all those guys and hard to believe we lost a game. Two guys still in the pros, Yogi and Juwan played some . Shooters, ball handlers, two capable centers.
Good team but I still like the 81 team better.
 
Bought players from the Dollar General store…
Not really. I'd say that's what Cig did. He had to spend $ wisely and prioritized performance and experience over rankings. CMW was shopping off the expensive top shelf. We had a very highly ranked bball portal class. I don't know where our fball portal class was ranked, but much lower.

Actually found a ranking: 10th, better than I expected, but I think most had our bball portal class top 3.

 
Did he buy this roster? Most are from James Madison.
What he did well is found a QB for his system and brought in 13 of his guys to set the culture in the locker room.
I predict this year will be a tough act to follow for Coach Cig. By year three we will know if his first season here was aided by a planetary alignment thing or some other nebulous act of the cosmos incomprehensible to the current evolutionary state of our five senses.
 
Who doesn’t like dollar general?
Exactly.

Sure, all teams are bought. But, which team is easier to root for? A team like OSU that always has one of the highest payrolls? Or a team like (insert dollar general program that is paying their kids pennies on the dollar compared to an OSU)?

Give me the underdog that should have no business being really good.
 
I predict this year will be a tough act to follow for Coach Cig. By year three we will know if his first season here was aided by a planetary alignment thing or some other nebulous act of the cosmos incomprehensible to the current evolutionary state of our five senses.
Lot of his success has to do with culture, discipline and the schedule aligning well this year.
 
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I really think next three days seal his fate at IU. If he wins 3 in a row we are gonna hear a shit ton of “Mike Woodson” does this in the post game pressers! I’m here for it!
3 in a row? I think we'll beat Lville and then lose, probably by double digits to Gonzaga, then, even if we lose a 2nd game, this early in the season, I don't see that dooming IU. They do have to make a decision on CMW this year I think by extending or not, but I think that decision is a long way down the road.
 
I really think next three days seal his fate at IU. If he wins 3 in a row we are gonna hear a shit ton of “Mike Woodson” does this in the post game pressers! I’m here for it!
I love the enthusiasm, but it's November. These games are fun, but winning on February nights on the road in the B10 are the type of games that will shape Woody's fate.
 
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Plus, Woody doesn’t have an attractive personality that holds people’s interest and commands media attention. Dan Hurley does. Bob Knight did.
he coaches a bad, boring, and losing brand of ball that requires a high degree of talent to even be that. top recruits don't want to play here. it's just bad basketball, so little interest from anybody
 
Based on my metrics of gut feeling and activity on this forum, I'm sensing lower than usual enthusiasm this season. I'll lump myself into this group even though I stop by this forum every day and watch every game. I was actually pretty excited after seeing that we have what appear to be legit guards and Mbako looks to have improved since last season.

But, I think the X-factor is tuning into a game to see that nothing has really changed in regard to our style of play. Fortunately, we do have guards who are less shy to shoot 3s and Mbako is always ready to shoot. Then there's the lack of rebounding and deja vu from the past few seasons.

Does anyone else feel the same way? Is it the style of play and the assumed ceiling? Am I wrong that this forum seems kind of dead? Did users leave for other sites?
I don't know if this team is largely better than what we've seen, but there is more talent. We will see. As for enthusiasm, there are so many more Hoosier fans in the Bahamas than other programs, it's not close. The fans are hungry.
 
Agree with the seeming lack of interest and enthusiasm for IU basketball. I suspect reasons are 1) Woody fatigue and knowing that despite the talent, this team will not win the B10 or advance to Sweet 16 (or better), 2) we are still in utter disbelief at the football season and the way Cigs has totally captivated our interest, 3) college hoops in general is now a game many old timers hardly recognize based on the style of play, and 4) knowing many of the players are getting paid (some alot $$) changes the dynamic for fans; almost seems like NBA-lite.

I still watch and root, but with less enthusiasm than in the past.
I’ll chime in on your point 3) as I probably qualify. As many here, I grew up watching the well oiled gears of the motion offense grind opponents into the floor. What I see today, in general, I don’t find nearly as appealing. Too many marginal shooters taking 22 footers because, you know, the analytics. And we seem to run a watered down version of what most other programs run. Too much standing around on the weak side, not enough cutting to the basket and weaving through. We don’t draw enough fouls to create easy points free throws, and until this year, we sucked at shooting free those. And don’t even get me started on rebounding skills. If it weren’t for Ballo, we’d be getting destroyed on the boards. .
 
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I love the enthusiasm, but it's November. These games are fun, but winning on February nights on the road in the B10 are the type of games that will shape Woody's fate.
If he wins three in a row we might be #1 in the polls. For sure top 3
 
I’ll chime in on your point 3) as I probably qualify. As many here, I grew up watching the well oiled gears of the motion offense grind opponents into the floor. What I see today, in general, I don’t find nearly as appealing. Too many marginal shooters taking 22 footers because, you know, the analytics. And we seem to run a watered down version of what most other programs run. Too much standing around on the weak side, not enough cutting to the basket and weaving through. We don’t draw enough fouls to create easy points free throws, and until this year, we sucked at shooting free those. And don’t even get me started on rebounding skills. If it weren’t for Ballo, we’d be getting destroyed on the boards. .
I remember Knight’s first 15 years here. There was no shot clock and it wasn’t uncommon for him to have his players pass the ball back and forth, a form of keep-away, in order to draw teams out of their zone defense. One home game in particular against Iowa I bet it was for 10 min. of game clock. The crowd loved it. I don’t think any other coaches were deploying this strategy. It required good ball handlers.
 
I’ll chime in on your point 3) as I probably qualify. As many here, I grew up watching the well oiled gears of the motion offense grind opponents into the floor. What I see today, in general, I don’t find nearly as appealing. Too many marginal shooters taking 22 footers because, you know, the analytics. And we seem to run a watered down version of what most other programs run. Too much standing around on the weak side, not enough cutting to the basket and weaving through. We don’t draw enough fouls to create easy points free throws, and until this year, we sucked at shooting free those. And don’t even get me started on rebounding skills. If it weren’t for Ballo, we’d be getting destroyed on the boards. .
Growing up I used to take pride in seeing IU maximize the talent that they had, team development, players with roles, etc. It made beating teams loaded with talent that much sweeter.

I would thumb my nose at programs that just had all kinds of talent, and would roll the ball out with subpar coaching. But, that’s the program we have now.
 
If he wins three in a row we might be #1 in the polls. For sure top 3
Gonzaga if they play IU will remind people of past IU pre-conference games against big time teams. They are good at every position but I'd like to that combo. It could be like a March Madness game.
 
I remember Knight’s first 15 years here. There was no shot clock and it wasn’t uncommon for him to have his players pass the ball back and forth, a form of keep-away, in order to draw teams out of their zone defense. One home game in particular against Iowa I bet it was for 10 min. of game clock. The crowd loved it. I don’t think any other coaches were deploying this strategy. It required good ball handlers.
That’s hilarious, I was telling my young son about that Iowa game last night. He couldn’t believe, we just ran a version of the old 4 corner offense over and over and over, right through 2 mandatory TV timeouts. Wasn’t that the stacked Iowa team that had Stokes and Payne their two seven footers?
 
Growing up I used to take pride in seeing IU maximize the talent that they had, team development, players with roles, etc. It made beating teams loaded with talent that much sweeter.

I would thumb my nose at programs that just had all kinds of talent, and would roll the ball out with subpar coaching. But, that’s the program we have now.
The 1984 game versus UNC. No reason at all that UNC shouldn’t have smoked us by 20 that night.
 
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There is hardly anything NBA-lite about college bball. It’s a totally different game than the NBA. And it is still the usual chaotic basketball played by 18-22 year olds in front of tribal college fans. As with years past we’ll get to see which can coach can get their kids to gel/improve over the course of the season.

NIL is barely noticeable. Watching the games you wouldn’t know the players are getting paid (what they’re worth) unless someone told you.

Same goes for college football. There is NIL now, but it is as popular as ever.
for entertainment purposes only, watching Houston and Bama last night weren't a lot of pre-med students on the floor.
 
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Gonzaga if they play IU will remind people of past IU pre-conference games against big time teams. They are good at every position but I'd like to that combo. It could be like a March Madness game.
Na. We are bigger than the zags. Different squad this year. Tennesse game spoke volumes. Tenn is a top 5 team and we beat them in their backyard.
 
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Agree with the seeming lack of interest and enthusiasm for IU basketball. I suspect reasons are 1) Woody fatigue and knowing that despite the talent, this team will not win the B10 or advance to Sweet 16 (or better), 2) we are still in utter disbelief at the football season and the way Cigs has totally captivated our interest, 3) college hoops in general is now a game many old timers hardly recognize based on the style of play, and 4) knowing many of the players are getting paid (some alot $$) changes the dynamic for fans; almost seems like NBA-lite.

I still watch and root, but with less enthusiasm than in the past.
I think this is about right for me, except for (4) it's more the transfer portal than the NIL.

I'll admit thought as much as I think the transfer portal is ruining bball, it's made our fball season possible.

For me (1) and (3) are probably the biggest issues. I went to the opening home game this year with my kids and the whole experience was just dull. Felt like a mid-season pacers game with everyone going through the motions on the court and all the production of the experience focused on the jumbotron instead of the court. Very much nba-lite.
 
I was living in Carlsbad CA then and could not get the game on tv out there. My dad in Indiana laid the phone next to the radio and I listed to all the game over the phone. Thus I had a HUGE phone bill the following month. LOL
That’s dedication. Younglings don’t know, back then GTE charging $1/min for “long distance “ calls. Hopefully you hung up during halftime.
 
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I never liked the 4 corner stall = boring
I dont like the NBA 24 second shot clock or the college clock either.
Need something in between 30 seconds and forever would be nice. Maybe 40
 
I never liked the 4 corner stall = boring
I dont like the NBA 24 second shot clock or the college clock either.
Need something in between 30 seconds and forever would be nice. Maybe 40
Agreed, I wouldn’t want to see the four corners stall every game. We had a 45 second clock back in early 90s, and IU put up 80 points plus every game. Of course, talent level played a large role on that.
 
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