until I realized they can't hold onto a lead.
But seriously, I have never had such high hopes for a Hoosier team since Kelvin Sampson left and been so disappointed with the results. They have had the lead on so many teams only to fall apart at the end. When I see them winning at halftime, I have no confidence in them to win the game.
Hoping to win 3 of the next four and then a good performance in the Big Ten tournament or no NCAA once again. (I know - posting the obvious - but just needed to get it off my chest)
I'm not sure why you had high hopes. There are exactly two players on a team that had a losing record last year that have NBA potential, and neither are we developing. There are still a bunch, like half the team that need to consider the transfer wormhole to the MAC or MVC. TJD is an above average player, but not capable of carrying us to anything. Realistically, if we did go on a miraculous run, would you expect us to do any damage in the tourney? We might win 1, but the hallmark of this roster is that it is one dimensional, ill constructed, has no heart or closing ability, and if we don't match up well even against bottom feeders in the B10, we're going to lose. Inconsistency is the only consistency.
I've been waiting for like 6 years for me to break down and buy cable, sadly I though this may have been be the year, but its not, unless I clamor away to watch a first game NIT exit, and that assumes we'd get a bid there.
This dates back to Crean (because he let Dickich kick every good player we had off the team so he'd get a honeymoon). AM tried and failed, Crean left him with not much and AM recruited not to our needs or actual talent , but to the media and people that thought we just needed more in-state recruits, and that left him f'd and got him fired.
Lander, Leal, Galloway ring a bell? Even TJD probably wouldn't start for UK this year, that's a problem, but it's something Woodson inherited because AM was not fired soon enough to do anything about it and he wasn't a glam hire that instantly brings the best in.
I think he is trying to bring back culture though. He saw a violation of team rules and shut that shit down. That I do respect, Crean was hired and supposed to have restored that culture, but he didn't and we had players running over players drunk, fake ID's, and pot (which who gives a shit about, better than drunk driving), but there was a lack of control and he was a major Tom Arnold look alike weirdo personality. A lot of stuff levied at Sampson should be directly pointed at Crean too. One lied about texts and won. One lost several teams and lost control of teams that gave up on him and had players who got in a lot more trouble off the court ... you pick?
Talent is the problem, same challenge different coach. I will give Dolson credit that he saw the problem and we've got three strikes to get somebody in here that can get the talent without a coaching search. The roster needs to shake out and the coaching needs to get better, but you can't polish a turd and that's sort of what Woodson was tasked with in yr 1. It's just a not very talented team that is easy to pick apart.