……and it’s starting to establish an identity of its “program” standards and that is poor defense will simply not be tolerated. That is Woody’s Golden Rule: you play defense. Period.
Was initially highly suspicious of this weird coaching arrangement, this weird trifecta of guys in Fife and Matta and Woodson, who were all 3 former head coaches. Fans confused if it was Matta and Woodson in some kind of co-head coaching roles.
This is not the case at all. Woodson has his stamp and personality all over this program right now. He’s starting to evolve this group
The coaching this year vs the Lil’ Arch era is like night and day. No comparison. Although just a little guy, Lil’ Arch cast this enormous cloud of doom hovering the entire time he was here. Woodson has a team chemistry going now. Feels like a team that likes playing together. The Lil Arch crew played like they were miserable out there.
Was extremely pessimistic on the hire of a guy who inly coached in the NBA. Thought: “Well, IU is up to its old trucks again, this time hiring an alum who’s never coached a game in college his entire career.” Completely wrong on that one too. Woodson pushed some right button with this group. This defense is tenacious and that is simply playing harder that the guy across from you. That’s coaching. This defense makes the “packline” defense look more like the “pack fudge” defense. I don’t even know what this novel alignment was supposed to do but it was a whole lot of crap. This is called playing defense.
Woody got their attention……..oh, and that Galloway kid. He plays like that prototypical Bobby Knight player. All the little things, the hustle plays. Max effort on everything. That kid is like team glue. You keep playing him and he gets things moving. Quickly becoming one of the fan favorites. Like a flashback to those smart players we had under RMK. Damon Bailey, for example Was definitely not the best player on the floor in his starting 5 but……man, the feel he had for the game was phenomenal. He’d be bring the ball up the court under pressure and he had this knack for getting ducked under the defender and then just stopping his forward motion on a dime and let those guys just run over him. Damon to the free throw line. Chris Reynolds - another perfect example. Just a heady, smart guard who had great feel for the game.
Woody is molding this group.
