Maybe now is not the best time to evaluate the overall state of the program, but in the off season I don't think about it as much. So, here's where we are:
We are an "also-ran" type of program. Too much dust on the banners, last one in 1987, glory days long past. We struggle to maintain mediocrity in the B1G. Yes, IU projected to finish low in B1G before season started, looked like that projection was in the toilet, but here we go. We (still) should get 20 wins this season, but that is far from certain. If the schedule were tweaked just a litle, we'd already be off the bubble and looking at NIT at best. Imagine if we had only 1 game with Rutgers, or 2 with Wisky, or the Minny or hawkEYE games were away? Fortunate we won at Neb and at ILL, those gave us a glimmer of hope that the PUkes sweep takes away. Tough conference, I know, but traditional powers seem to stay at a high level while we do have not been able to do so, at least since the early 1990s.
I fear the coaching carousel negative effect. Some programs weather it just fine, but IU not so well. pUKes went through the terrible hire of Billy G, ditched him, and righted their ship. Few of us agree that we would want IU's ship righted in that fashion, but pUKes made a change to achieve their goal/regain a top-level program they way they wanted it to be. NC made a mistake with Matt Doherty, but rebounded well (again, at IU we do want athletes to attend and complete actual college classes). Still, NC made a change and got the results it wanted. UCLA is perhaps a model of the coaching carousel negative effect, though Howland took them to 3 straight FF. I love SA but he won't bring the Bruins back to their glory days. I love CTC, probably a good hire at the time, but maybe for only a limited time. Program hit rock-bottom with the bad hire of KS. When IU hired CTC in 2008, Brad Stevens had just one year of head coaching under his belt, no doubt IU administration wanted more of a "proven" coach rather than using an unproven one to rebuild the program from the ash heap it was. I cannot fault the IU admin for that decision at that time. But, I fear the merry-go-round may continue if/when another change is made as bad timing for IU basketball coaching changes is the norm, not the exception.
Other B1G programs seem to load up, and stay loaded, for their desired levels of success. I cannot imagine Ryan, Izzo, Matta, Beilein being shown the door before retirement. Turgeon might be in that class, and Tim Miles might get there. These coaches seem to win constantly with the talent they get, or is it they get the talen they need to win at a constant level. Either way, IU has better BB history than all of these programs combined, but IU's maintenance of mediocrity has put CTC on a warm, if not at times hot, seat. Many think he is in over his head or is otherwise not the right guy to lead IU back to the top. Time will tell. But, we're in year 7 and we have 2 S16s to show for that (thank you CZ). Otherwise, we would likely have already been on another post-RMK coach.
What to do, where to go? Don't know, just frustrated at the status quo. Struggling to get into the NCAAT (that is, one of top 68 in the country) is not where any of us think we should be.
We are an "also-ran" type of program. Too much dust on the banners, last one in 1987, glory days long past. We struggle to maintain mediocrity in the B1G. Yes, IU projected to finish low in B1G before season started, looked like that projection was in the toilet, but here we go. We (still) should get 20 wins this season, but that is far from certain. If the schedule were tweaked just a litle, we'd already be off the bubble and looking at NIT at best. Imagine if we had only 1 game with Rutgers, or 2 with Wisky, or the Minny or hawkEYE games were away? Fortunate we won at Neb and at ILL, those gave us a glimmer of hope that the PUkes sweep takes away. Tough conference, I know, but traditional powers seem to stay at a high level while we do have not been able to do so, at least since the early 1990s.
I fear the coaching carousel negative effect. Some programs weather it just fine, but IU not so well. pUKes went through the terrible hire of Billy G, ditched him, and righted their ship. Few of us agree that we would want IU's ship righted in that fashion, but pUKes made a change to achieve their goal/regain a top-level program they way they wanted it to be. NC made a mistake with Matt Doherty, but rebounded well (again, at IU we do want athletes to attend and complete actual college classes). Still, NC made a change and got the results it wanted. UCLA is perhaps a model of the coaching carousel negative effect, though Howland took them to 3 straight FF. I love SA but he won't bring the Bruins back to their glory days. I love CTC, probably a good hire at the time, but maybe for only a limited time. Program hit rock-bottom with the bad hire of KS. When IU hired CTC in 2008, Brad Stevens had just one year of head coaching under his belt, no doubt IU administration wanted more of a "proven" coach rather than using an unproven one to rebuild the program from the ash heap it was. I cannot fault the IU admin for that decision at that time. But, I fear the merry-go-round may continue if/when another change is made as bad timing for IU basketball coaching changes is the norm, not the exception.
Other B1G programs seem to load up, and stay loaded, for their desired levels of success. I cannot imagine Ryan, Izzo, Matta, Beilein being shown the door before retirement. Turgeon might be in that class, and Tim Miles might get there. These coaches seem to win constantly with the talent they get, or is it they get the talen they need to win at a constant level. Either way, IU has better BB history than all of these programs combined, but IU's maintenance of mediocrity has put CTC on a warm, if not at times hot, seat. Many think he is in over his head or is otherwise not the right guy to lead IU back to the top. Time will tell. But, we're in year 7 and we have 2 S16s to show for that (thank you CZ). Otherwise, we would likely have already been on another post-RMK coach.
What to do, where to go? Don't know, just frustrated at the status quo. Struggling to get into the NCAAT (that is, one of top 68 in the country) is not where any of us think we should be.
