State of the Hoosiers, August
- Thread starter Cavanagh
- Start date
We have pessimists that give up in the first halves of games we win! LOL!
I shat all over IU pre Woodson. A few posters I am sure still hate me because of it cough cough Hawaii.
The Romeo season put me on the war path for Archies head. I don't know if you noticed, but those demons still haunt me
.Last year we were a contender with X healthy. This year I don't know if we will be a contender, yet. We will be good no doubt. floor is 8 or 9 seeed unless injuries happen.
I do think there is every chance for this to be a 2 or 3 seed tho. If our talent pops like JHS did, we will be in business. X and Malik I think you can pencil in for very good above average B1G players. I would say pre season X should be 2nd team all B1G, Malik honorable mention.
The ceiling is does Mack or Ware become 1st team all B1G? I think the better chance for that to happen is Mack, but Ware could just become a beast at any time. He is 7'1 and has a lot of skills. Can't wait to actually see him play.
Ware is the enigma to me... in a 3 game span versus UConn, Sparty and Nova, he had 18, 17 and 13 points respectively. That's some big time production against some big time competition. What happened after that, IDK. I don't follow Ducks sports. Some have said Altman and him had differences. All I know is he is def capable and lived up to potential in a handful of games.
You bit on that? I was being facetious and I actually like optimism. Agree with all of that other than us being a full on contender. Might not have gotten ware or MM if X hadn’t gone down. We will never know. I think this years team will be sneaky good.I shat all over IU pre Woodson. A few posters I am sure still hate me because of it cough cough Hawaii.
The Romeo season put me on the war path for Archies head. I don't know if you noticed, but those demons still haunt me
Last year we were a contender with X healthy. This year I don't know if we will be a contender, yet. We will be good no doubt. floor is 8 or 9 seeed unless injuries happen.
I do think there is every chance for this to be a 2 or 3 seed tho. If our talent pops like JHS did, we will be in business. X and Malik I think you can pencil in for very good above average B1G players. I would say pre season X should be 2nd team all B1G, Malik honorable mention.
The ceiling is does Mack or Ware become 1st team all B1G? I think the better chance for that to happen is Mack, but Ware could just become a beast at any time. He is 7'1 and has a lot of skills. Can't wait to actually see him play.
Perhaps you are just trying to troll so ignore my question if you are. But do you really think that 6th year pg X and 4th year sg Galloway are going to be weaker than 2 sophomores who have not been long term starters and a freshman that nobody has seen play in college? I personally think we will be solid and consistent at the 1 and 2 spots. 3 through 5 I expect will be a roller coaster of up and down.
X is the wild card in the back court. He is either really good or he absolutely kills you with bone head mistakes. Galloway to me is a spark off the bench type. He isn’t a volume shooter or scorer, which we need from someone on the perimeter.
Oregon had a senior all conference post player (Dante), and a junior 5 star (Bittie) in front of him.
Against UConn he played well which earned him 2nd half minutes. Dante was injured during the MSU game, and vs Nova both Dante and Bittie were injured.
There was a long jam at his position, an all conferece senior 5 and another 5 star junior 5/4, plus Sr. Quincy Guerrier also played the 4 spot at times.
fwiw - Ware played the 4 as much as 5 for Oregon. When paired with Dante he was a 4, when paired with Battie he interchanged, when paired with Guerrier he was a 5.
When Kel got opportunity he played fairly well. Once the rotation was cut for conference play he sat more. Dante I believe is back, as is Bittie.. which is probably why he transferred.
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Minor correction: Bittie was a junior. So he had 2 upperclassman bigs in front of him.
Heard there might have been some friction between the coach who recruited him and the head coach….the guy who recruited him left at the end of the season…..but I think your post was spot on and mine more speculative
The friction was probably because Battie started in front of him and got more minutes. Ware is the more talented, but he was a freshman.
There were also some rumors that Altman was pushing Ware for a lack of motor .. who knows.
Galloway can’t beat an average defender when taking it to the
hoop. That’s something that’s required at the 2 imo.
I'm not judging this team till Christmas...By then we will have played some quality teams..
Right now ..I just think we have potential...
Right now ..I just think we have potential...
There must have been a lot of below average defenders last year for him to average 56% on ATR attempts with almost 50% of them coming off the bounce.
If you listen closely, you can hear two current IU players refer to his motor or lack thereof. Like you said, who knows. We will see soon. Like always, defense will be the hardest part for new guys/freshman.
And for anyone asking, no I’m not going to dig through summer podcasts to post/prove it.
i see Gunn as a big key.
if he can develop a great handle, his shooting and offense will take care of themselves.
that said, developing a great handle at his size isn't easy, and a matter of putting in the work.
that said, i think Leal, who also needs to improve his handle and assertiveness, is much better than people give him credit for, and i won't be shocked if he surprises people this yr.
if he can develop a great handle, his shooting and offense will take care of themselves.
that said, developing a great handle at his size isn't easy, and a matter of putting in the work.
that said, i think Leal, who also needs to improve his handle and assertiveness, is much better than people give him credit for, and i won't be shocked if he surprises people this yr.
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I have the usual questions about our shooting but was surprised the ESPN Top 25 as of August 1st didn’t include IU.
Good question. At this point a lot about PR and just thought IU had enough media presence to be ranked no matter what an objective assessment indicates.
If Leal had the ability to play meaningful minutes and Newton wasn't a question mark due to not playing on a regular basis in a year and half, why did Woody state on Hysterics that IU is openly seeking and open to adding a guard for the last roster spot?
Armaan Franklin stated he considered returning to IU. Believe that would have been a great scenario for him and IU.
Goodman stated that UK in some way forced Reeves to return, not allowing him to transfer. One has to wonder if he was lined up to join IU, and it fell through.
I think this team is capable of a top 15 ranking, but they are going to have to prove themselves. People on this board are selling Cupps short. He is a very smart basketball player. He is what IU has needed for a long time.
The problem with Gunn is that he has to adapt to faster game. He is rushing his shot. Leal same thing.
I have hopes for Gunn. He gets sideways on defense too often as someone drives on him.
I too think Cupps will be a very good player at IU. It could be a slow start for him, though. He's playing behind 2 seniors, both of which will likely push for some sort of All B10 honors.
If it went down because we are taking a lot more free throws then I can live with that. It means the other team is getting into foul trouble. I always loved the stat of good IU teams under Knight that IU made more free throws than the other team attempted.
A little bulletin board material:
www.espn.com
Hard for me to believe PU starts off as the 3rd ranked team in the country with that lineup. I give all the credit in the world to MP that he always seems to get his team to play better as a team, than individual parts, but wow, a pretty pedestrian lineup that isn't going to sneak up on anybody this year, and has a blueprint built to beat them. Of course I expect MP to work hard to counter that, but still... I think MSU is much better on paper and I expect at least a split with them this year (finally get to see XJ guard Smith!). If they an stay in the top 10 and win either conference title, I give MP all the credit in the world and he is my B10 COY.
And no IU mention in the Top 25? Hope someone from the team or staff takes note! That would be on the locker room bulletin board this morning if I were coach!
WTE Top 25: Duke or Kansas at No. 1 for the final edition?
With less than a month to go 'til the season begins, we're calling it: Kansas remains No. 1. The rest of the field sees some swapping around, but no new faces.
Hard for me to believe PU starts off as the 3rd ranked team in the country with that lineup. I give all the credit in the world to MP that he always seems to get his team to play better as a team, than individual parts, but wow, a pretty pedestrian lineup that isn't going to sneak up on anybody this year, and has a blueprint built to beat them. Of course I expect MP to work hard to counter that, but still... I think MSU is much better on paper and I expect at least a split with them this year (finally get to see XJ guard Smith!). If they an stay in the top 10 and win either conference title, I give MP all the credit in the world and he is my B10 COY.
And no IU mention in the Top 25? Hope someone from the team or staff takes note! That would be on the locker room bulletin board this morning if I were coach!
When was IU last a top 25 program, 2016?
We live in our own little bubble. It “seems like”. IU was an absolute junk program under Miller, and now everything looks great! The reality is much more nuanced.
Final ken Pom rankings last 4 years:
‘23. 30
‘22. 48
‘21. 50
‘20. 34
Now, I would argue that with NIL and the portal EVERYTHING is different now, and we will (should) have as much talent as anyone going forward. But, the bottom line is that recent history does mean something. As much as we put down PU and laugh at them getting Peacocked (and their talent), I wouldn’t bet against them being top 3 in the conference and a top 10 team. And, even though we have tons of talent and upside, isn’t it reasonable to pencil IU in as being a top 30-50 ish team based on recent history? (And with those 2 predictions I am not talking about people here making those predictions, I am talking about someone with an unbiased mind).
I"m not saying there isn't justification for both not ranking IU, or having PU as a top 10 team (I think top 3 is over reach!). I'm saying if I was a coach or player for IU, I'd use both as motivation.
I don't think it's that nuanced. Yes, I actually think CMW could have done more with both of his teams to date, but there's no doubt we're on a much better trajectory than where we were with Archie, end of season rankings be damned.
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I like the fact that CMW has brought in Hulls and Cheney.
Yeah, I agree. And as for our trajectory yes, it’s upward (i do believe that with NIL and the portal we will have top 5 talent annually, and you will see more and more instances of us going toe to toe with a KU type and winning).
It would seem to me that those two particular quotes are in conflict with each other.
If EVERYTHING is different now with NIL (which I agree with - good or bad) then what does our recent history have to do with ANYTHING!! 😁
