looked like a shit team when we played them. go on the road beat Illinois take Northwestern to overtime. that is a coach who has taken an average roster at best and got them playing better as the season goes on and he's also recruiting at a better level. just another example of a program in the BIG that will surpass us. throw in Nebraska Hoiberg is a good coach, it took him a few years and he has gotten that turned around. if we don't get the next coach right, we are going to become the doormats of the BIG. maybe Minnesota and I'm not too sure about that. can you think of another school in the BIG, that at tip off you feel at least we have a coaching advantage.
Maryland
- Thread starter kurt cloverdales
- Start date
Don’t know about the NW game, but I watched the Illinois game. Maryland pg Young dominated the game. He was in the paint the entire game either scoring or kicking out for 3 pointers. Unfortunately, we obviously don’t have such a thing. Although, TG is being increasingly counted on for that.
Yeah, I think Kurt's wrong, that wasn't a bad roster. Had a very good guard and big man returning and underperformed most expectations so far. A lot more returning in terms of talent than we had.
Reese and Young were one of the top returning inside-outside tandems in the conference and they have Donta Scott back. Their freshmen haven't contributed much, but they were expected to be pretty good. I know we were after 2 of them! I think Geronimo's only playing because some of those guys weren't as good as expected, but again, WAY more returning than we had in production.
you think Woodson is a better coach than Willard? not too concerned about what they had returning. who do you think has more talent right now? IU or Maryland.
The three Maryland fans I know dont think Willard is the answer. Idk. Lots of season ahead.
I think we have a better frontcourt and they have a better backcourt. Which do most people believe wins in college bball? But, in Reese they also have a very good frontcourt player and Scott also helps defend and rebound. They have a frontcourt guy averaging close to either of our big 2 (14/9) and a guard averaging 20ppg. We barely have our top 3 guards averaging 20ppg. The talent disparity isn't huge and since they had more returning than we did, I'd say Woodson > Willard at this point in the season, but both are underwhelming.
yeah their slow start surprised me. Young/Reese/Scott is a pretty strong trio. Young and Scott have a lot. of yrs experience between them. They're both 23 yrs old and built to play in the B1G. Reese has a ton of talent.
Agreed. I think most "experts" had them penciled in as a top 4 finisher and making the tournament. And, it definitely makes a difference that they've been together and in the system for awhile. I think that's a big part of some of our problems. I think most probably had Young as a first team all B10 type guy. After Edey and Shannon, who would've been seen as a better player in the conference?
Young is a tough matchup for just about anyone.
Boo Boo up in Evanston is a real pain in the ass too.
But with all this arguing...looks who's on top of the Conference again? F'n Bucky. I'm sooooo sick of Wisconsin basketball.
Edit- let me re-phrase....I'm so sick of Wisconsin basketball being better than IU basketball.
Yeah, forgot about Boo; he's a stud.
they're not mutually exclusive! I'm sick of both...
the NW kid who played at Lafayette Jeff (Barnhizer?) is having a real good season....something like 14/8 this year so far. Watched a little last night, and thought he would have looked real good in an IU uniform. Didn't follow his recruiting at all but surprised he didn't end up at PU or IU. Real good get for Collins
Geronimo surprised me in their Illinois game. Maybe he is beginning to understand his role and his limitations. I was shocked at how he was moving his feet on defense. He actually made 2 defensive plays, including a big block, in the last couple of minutes that were big factors in the win.
Going with Kurt on this one. No depth and starting JG. Our roster appears to be much better.
And, whammo, our own fans forget about the importance of guard play!
Anyone who watched the Tuesday shellacking shouldn’t forget
Wow, can't we just admit we don't have the coach to get it done. Woody - great player, lousy coach. A lot of folks knew this day one he was hired. Only Matta and Fife made it seem better...
how bad are Galloway Cupps Johnson and Gunn in your opinion? have they all at times looked pretty damn good? was that Galloway against Kansas an imposter? who was the player in the BIG tourney a couple of years ago who was outstanding was that Johnson? Is it beyond the realm that these guys are maybe not being coached up to perform at a high level with some form of consistency? Could the pound the ball pick and roll offense be hindering them? I will bet you this if Trey Galloway decides to enter the portal and use his Covid year he won't end up in the MAC he will be at a power 5 school who will be happy to get him.
I can't say for sure, but I don't think Matta and Fife impacted things much. I'd guess CMW didn't listen to them to start. I'd say it's more likely that only TJD and JHS made it seem better.
This thread was about MD and if their coach was somehow getting an average roster to turn a corner. My point is, they were expected to be much better than they've been and it wasn't a bad returning roster. A MUCH better guard than we have, and better "bones" to build around.
Ha! Have they all at times looked pretty good, or at least passable? Yes, but most of the time, at least 2 of the 3 have not looked good at all. And, yes, Galloway would be in demand, but if it was at a top 20 school, it would likely be as a 6th man. Been nothing but complaints about how bad our guards have been all year, and suddenly you think they are pretty good? Most analysts are saying we have the worst back court in the B10, and it'd be hard to argue against that.
But, you were trying to argue (I think) that Willard was taking a pretty average roster and all of a sudden has them playing better, but they were actually expected to be better than us in most preseason rankings I saw. Not up there with PU/IL/MSU, but in the next tier, for the most part. And, I think they had a better nucleus to build around in Young, Reese and Scott. I'm not saying Woody's doing a good job by comparison, I'm saying both have been a bit disappointing, but Willard moreso.
so, Willard took a lesser roster and went to Illinois and beat them. and we have zero quality wins with senior and super senior guards who we both agree have talent but have looked like shit. and you want to pat woody on the back?
Show me where I'm patting Woody on the back? Think I've said multiple times they are both underachieving and disappointments. But, no, Willard is not somehow shaping his "average" or below average roster into a good team because he beat an IL team without Shannon and lost, LOST, mind you, to NW. With the talent brought in, we are a disappointment. So is Maryland. You're basically underselling MD's roster and overselling ours. I just said most experts think we have the worst guards in the B10, so while there is talent, there ain't much; especially at PG, where our starting PG has hurt us more than he's helped us so far this year.
He also airballed a wide open set three from the corner. Still got that IU flavor to his game.
Matta and Fife certainly played heavily into the deception. Matta was to ease Woodson into the strategies of the college game, while Fife instilled his penchant for defensive toughness under Knight’s and Izzo’s tutelage. By the following season both were gone with Woodson basically left to fend for himself with a couple no-name buddies at his side. Other than a couple technical fouls from the bench, what have they contributed?
IM SAYING WILLARD IS A BETER COACH THAN WOODSON, and after some early season struggles has his team improving not going backwards, and I definitely am saying IU has a more talented roster. Mich St is at the bottom of the Big right now, is there any doubt in your mind that they will get it together and probably finish in the top 5, the reason for that is coaching.
you can take the Hoosier out of the jersey, but the jump shot will follow them.
this team has been blown out 5 times, the pieces Woodson has its inexcusable
How many of those blowouts started out looking OK, but then the subs came in and suddenly we go down double-digits and can't recover?
I don't care how good you are if you come back in after sitting for 5-10 minutes, look at the scoreboard and see that much work to just get back to even, it's not very motivating.
I'm holding out a sliver of hope that with his comments after the Purdue game, Woodson is finally realizing that his faith in his bench is misplaced with this team and he has to shorten it up a lot. I guess we'll see.
True. But he also made a huge 3 in the last 4 mins. Of course, that was after he had only hit one in his previous 19 attempts. Not arguing that we would be better with Geronimo. Just surprised that he might finally be showing some defensive ability that his length and physical talents had us craving.
But yeah, we were often on the roller coaster of good and bad with him because of his raw athletic ability.
I know what you are trying to say, but there's no basis for that this year. They were believed to have a better roster and played way worse to start the season and now have 1 decent win vs a team that is playing without it's best player. The first two preseason rankings I looked at has MD 3rd and 4th and making the tournament, and IU 6th. So, if anything based on results so far, IU is playing at or better than predicted and MD worse. Heck, we already beat them. I know what you are trying to say and want to say, there's just no basis for it. Based on this year's results alone, there's more basis to say Ben Johnson is a better coach than either.
Preseason B10 rankings
When I watched the IU Maryland game I thought they looked terribly coached. Now that they have a losing record in the conference, and I see that Willard only has 2 seasons out of 17 with fewer than 10 losses, it seems obvious that he won't do much there. Good news for IU fans. One fewer team to worry about
Yep, you can point to other coaches who have done more with less (Greg Gard, anyone?), but Willard ain't it.
Gard was smart enough to continue the tradition of D Bennett, B Ryan. UW has had a run of 3 successful coaches while IU has had an extended run of 💩
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