I went back and rewatched the game...Figuring/hoping that the 2nd half wasn't as bad as I was making it out to be in my Venting Spree last night.
In many ways it was worse. Looking at the tape, with less emotion, really opened my eyes up to just how lifeless we looked in the second half. Even with our great play in the first half, we didn't have the same body language. I'm halfway wondering if TJD isn't sick??! Cavanaugh? You know of any sicknesses running through the team? Serious question.
We did run some different things I wasn't giving Coach credit for last night...buuut we sure didn't do much extra to get TJD the ball most of the game. Maybe he wasn't feeling well, and Coach knew that? He's still good enough that if he says he can go, you play him. And if you're going to play him, you need to run things through him more when we need good shots. We always "need" good shots. But there were some critical moments last night where we NEEDED good looks. I watched the Warriors game last night, and Mark Jackson used a good term to describe one of Curry's biggest positive benefits. He said Steph Curry has Gravity to his game. He pulls defenders to him without having to do much of anything. I think TJD does that too, especially with the ball in his hands. So even if you aren't specifically posting him up. The ball needs to touch him when you're needing to get good looks. And there needs to be concerted efforts to capitalize on that "Gravity". Running plays for people right after he vacates spaces. Dribble handoffs out top with him (we do this). Screen and flashing involving him. There are tons of ways to exploit the attention he receives. We had too many possessions where the ball never even got on his side of the court.
I still stand by my concerns I posted about last night about Woodson's game management. I don't see how anyone could watch that game, after watching EMU, St Johns, Marshall, Syracuse, and Nebraska games...and not be worried about some stuff??!! And where else but this message board to come and vent and question things?
But as I posted after I had a couple hours to come to last night...This is game 9. The Woodson Era at IU hasn't been defined yet. There are a lot of good things happening. It appears there likely won't be an immediate turn around...like a Brad Underwood, or even a Juwan Howard, had at their schools. And that's disappointing. If any school has the resources to flip the script immediately in the B10, IU should be a top candidate for it. How many schools have the resources, connections, history, interest, to stroke 10 million dollar checks to make a coach not work here any more? I think that answer is there are ZERO other schools in the B10 that could and would do that. So there's a desire there, and there are resources there to make us great again. I hope Woodson is the man to do that. Bummed out it might take a few years. As its not unheard of for it to happen immediately other places.
Edit: Two horrible examples for coaching turnarounds? I've even had conversations about those two, and how it took them a year or two... Holtman, Cronin maybe... are better examples.
In many ways it was worse. Looking at the tape, with less emotion, really opened my eyes up to just how lifeless we looked in the second half. Even with our great play in the first half, we didn't have the same body language. I'm halfway wondering if TJD isn't sick??! Cavanaugh? You know of any sicknesses running through the team? Serious question.
We did run some different things I wasn't giving Coach credit for last night...buuut we sure didn't do much extra to get TJD the ball most of the game. Maybe he wasn't feeling well, and Coach knew that? He's still good enough that if he says he can go, you play him. And if you're going to play him, you need to run things through him more when we need good shots. We always "need" good shots. But there were some critical moments last night where we NEEDED good looks. I watched the Warriors game last night, and Mark Jackson used a good term to describe one of Curry's biggest positive benefits. He said Steph Curry has Gravity to his game. He pulls defenders to him without having to do much of anything. I think TJD does that too, especially with the ball in his hands. So even if you aren't specifically posting him up. The ball needs to touch him when you're needing to get good looks. And there needs to be concerted efforts to capitalize on that "Gravity". Running plays for people right after he vacates spaces. Dribble handoffs out top with him (we do this). Screen and flashing involving him. There are tons of ways to exploit the attention he receives. We had too many possessions where the ball never even got on his side of the court.
I still stand by my concerns I posted about last night about Woodson's game management. I don't see how anyone could watch that game, after watching EMU, St Johns, Marshall, Syracuse, and Nebraska games...and not be worried about some stuff??!! And where else but this message board to come and vent and question things?
But as I posted after I had a couple hours to come to last night...This is game 9. The Woodson Era at IU hasn't been defined yet. There are a lot of good things happening. It appears there likely won't be an immediate turn around...like a Brad Underwood, or even a Juwan Howard, had at their schools. And that's disappointing. If any school has the resources to flip the script immediately in the B10, IU should be a top candidate for it. How many schools have the resources, connections, history, interest, to stroke 10 million dollar checks to make a coach not work here any more? I think that answer is there are ZERO other schools in the B10 that could and would do that. So there's a desire there, and there are resources there to make us great again. I hope Woodson is the man to do that. Bummed out it might take a few years. As its not unheard of for it to happen immediately other places.
Edit: Two horrible examples for coaching turnarounds? I've even had conversations about those two, and how it took them a year or two... Holtman, Cronin maybe... are better examples.
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