One of the things I’ve read about BM that I like is that he adjusts his game plan to the talent he has available, as opposed to trying to get his players to fit a pre-conceived game plan. Some of his teams have been high-scoring, and some have been defense oriented. That shows me that he is adaptable, intuitive, and not stubborn. Bottom line, this year’s team’s pace is not necessarily hard-baked into his coaching approach. What’s consistent about his teams is not his game approach but that he wins, apparently regardless of the approach.
What would make a candidate a good fit?
- Thread starter .Gerdis
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It’s a new game. No ONE is becoming relevant ( for more than one year) without portal money, or buying them. If you happen to hit lightning, they will leave if you don’t have NIL. That’s the game today.
I think it’s much more interesting than Beards. And when you add the depth of knowledge on why he’s running it…it makes even more sense.
Who coached the NBA slam dunk championships the last few years? Google says Chuck Millan. Let's interview him. We'd have an exciting offense. And he'd be a recruiting monster, because everybody wants to play in the NBA. Can't miss.
Did I say anything about his winning? I said his style of offense is boring. Unlike you clowns that think Cignetti is so great, I don’t. He has to show me because I don’t give a shit about what he did at JMU. The same goes for McCollum. One year at Drake doesn’t impress me. If his offense is slow paced because of the players he has then I would put him on my list. I just don’t like slow paced games where the score is in the 50’s or 60’s.
Clowns?? Wow that really hurts. Sounds like there isn’t much in football or basketball that would impress you.
That ball control stuff is bullshit. I hate it when my team is in control… unlike your mouth… or typing
You’re too stupid. Having control of the ball is fine idiot, but running the shot clock down to a few seconds every possession is boring ass basketball. McCollum’s offenses average one of the fewest possessions per game due his slow paced crap.
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He had a soft ass schedule and that’s the reason he even made the playoffs. When he starts beating good teams I’ll give him the respect he deserves.
You call the NCAAT the "playoffs"?
That tells me all I need to know about your basketball knowledge. This discussion is above your pay grade, pal.
Really? UConn does the exact same thing(half court). They do get out in transition more(better athletes) but when they do the half court stuff they work it under 10.
Well so did those SEC teams that made it. How about ND schedule that ranked in the 50s? Your arguments have as many holes as Swiss cheese.
Agreed. The discussion of "boring offenses" is way overblown. I see 2 actual legit concerns with that: 1) champions generally have top 10 level O/D efficiencies. That's not to be ignored. 2) will good players want to play in that system? Personally, I'm not as concerned about this, because good players are good players, and NBA types will sniff them out. If they're that concerned about getting to the NBA, then they might not be the guys that you can build a champion team around anyway.
Personally, Hoosier fans will get behind any coach who wins, and I think most Hoosier fans appreciate great D and effort.
The more stories I read about how he approaches recruiting, and then how he coaches the guys he gets... Man, its very possible recruiting might become one of his relative strengths at IU. He targets obvious competitors, and guys that demonstrate that they're good teammates and are willing to be coached. And then when he gets them, he doesn't try to break them down, force them to play "his way" or to do things they don't want to do (this has been the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around...as I've long thought that was necessary with most college aged kids). Rather...he molds his concepts around these kids, and teaches them, and then demands of them to become great at these concepts...that they were already good at and comfortable with.
Indiana, and all the things that come with being the IU coach, will get him in living rooms, and get parents and players to stop and give him time at AAU events, etc... When the word gets out on how he coaches, he'll start getting high level kids that seek him out. And then...with his obvious abilities to coach the game, and win games...it could become a monster.
I saw a graphic and it was top 25 defense with top 10 offense. Scoring. Thats why Duke is the favorite. Top ten defense with a top 12 offense. Nobody else is that close.
Yeah, that's what Decourcy said on Coyle's show yesterday. We'll see. Duke is super talented, but I don't see a team that doesn't utilize their guards in a normal way winning. To me, the 1 constant of championship teams I think of is solid PG play. I've only watched Duke a couple times, but they mostly used Flagg to initiate their half court offense. I think a team with good, quick physical guards will disrupt Duke. Also don't like that it seems their primary players are freshmen.
Duke is pretty deep and some of their Freshmen don't play like Freshmen. They haven't played many ranked teams, tho. Could catch up with them in the tourney.
Flagg is the type that few match up with. Only makes sense to run it like that. True three level player with guard passing skills and decision making. They also have elite shooting at times. They are the team to beat. Imho. They will get the favorable draw too.
March 12th Update to my wish list...In order of preference...
*** Purely a wish list. Like asking for 10 thousand dollars worth of stuff on my christmas list as a kid. No factoring in likelihoods, buyouts, etc... ***
1. Brad Stevens
2. Bruce Pearl
3. Nate Oats
4. Jay Wright (this might be higher with GM role also hired)
5. Billy Donovan (same as Wright, might be higher with recent college experienced GM)
6. Grant McCasland
7. Ben McCollum
8. Dusty May
9. Chris Beard
10. Todd Golden
11. Will Wade
12. Scott Drew
13. Greg McDermott (might be higher if somehow paired with Alan Huss, for a succession plan type approach)
14. Jim Crutchfield (might be higher if there's a succession plan type lead assistant involved too)
15. Alan Huss
16. Buzz Williams
17. Mark Byington
18. Mick Cronin
19. Brad Brownell
20. Randy Bennett
I'm sure I'm missing someone obvious that has been talked about.
*** Purely a wish list. Like asking for 10 thousand dollars worth of stuff on my christmas list as a kid. No factoring in likelihoods, buyouts, etc... ***
1. Brad Stevens
2. Bruce Pearl
3. Nate Oats
4. Jay Wright (this might be higher with GM role also hired)
5. Billy Donovan (same as Wright, might be higher with recent college experienced GM)
6. Grant McCasland
7. Ben McCollum
8. Dusty May
9. Chris Beard
10. Todd Golden
11. Will Wade
12. Scott Drew
13. Greg McDermott (might be higher if somehow paired with Alan Huss, for a succession plan type approach)
14. Jim Crutchfield (might be higher if there's a succession plan type lead assistant involved too)
15. Alan Huss
16. Buzz Williams
17. Mark Byington
18. Mick Cronin
19. Brad Brownell
20. Randy Bennett
I'm sure I'm missing someone obvious that has been talked about.
Top 5 are all pipe dreams... 6-15... some are more realistic than others, some have baggage, some lack relative experience, but I'd be "happy" with any of them. 16+...probably improvements to what we've been used to, but ehhhhhh....
I don't have anything beyond a Top 5 right now...
1. Stevens
2. Wright
3. McCollum
4. T. Bennett
5. Beard
It will be who it will be, but lists help pass the time.
Makes me chuckle looking at your list, when I was telling you a couple weeks ago good, viable coaches weren't falling off trees. 1-5, 8,9,10,11, 12. Are all eliminated or not viable. You still feeling like there are a bunch of good, viable guys? Me neither.
You have no idea who's been eliminated. And I stopped at 20. And I forgot a couple...
Tommy LLoyd
Shaka Smart
TJ Otzelberger...all probably right in the 10-15 range.
Chris Mack (not often mentioned wild card)
Darian DeVries
Pat Kelsey
Jarod Calhoun
Ryan Odom
Dennis Gates
Dana Altman
Danny Sprinkle
Luke Murray
Chris Jans
Every single one of the 20 names I originally listed, and these, are likely consistently better than what we've seen at IU in a long time.
There ARE A LOT of good, viable candidates. Its not a given that Dolson will choose one of them, but there are a lot of them. I'm sure if I wanted to, I could find 20+ more.
again, better than what we've had for the last 25ish years, is not a good standard for a new coach. I like CMW's job description: compete for conference and national championships. That may be the high end of expectations, but I think most everyone is hoping a new coach will compete for both. To do that there are a handful of guys, who are also viable/realistic.
Nice list! That top 5 list or even top 10 would be awesome. Beard would be in my top 3 and I like Mark Byington a bit more but I like your rankings.
Yeah, I agree.
When Miller was hired, people thought it was a good hire. Maybe even a great hire.
But, no one ever suggested he was an elite coach or would make IU a top 5 program.
What was the OP of this thread about again? Oh, yeah, what makes a good fit.
How about a coach that has experience working for a once elite program, in a major conference, and has experience handling a fairly talented roster?
Yeah, the idea of Cronin doesn’t excite me, but fit is about both parties (the coach and the basketball program). UCLA is more like our program, than say Drake.
Better than any coach we've had since RMK (Sampson doesn't count)...implies NCAA tournament team every year (Woodson likely will have 3/4)... and competitive for B10 championships... (Crean won 2 of them). What makes me laugh is you moving the goal posts higher in terms of expectations. Winning Natty's?? Who's legit expectation is that?... Sure, regularly having teams that could make a run at one is an expectation. But actually expecting to hang banners... not realistic for anyone probably. Its something you just cheer for when it happens, in my opinion. And when a guy gets 10 plus years in to a job like IU, you start wondering why they haven't won one yet. But its not a yearly expectation.
My expectation IS, however, being competitive at the top of the B10 every year. And I do think, from those two lists I provided, there are probably a dozen guys that are at least somewhat realistic, that would have IU competing at the top every year. Obviously, there could be anomaly years here and there where major injuries hit. But there are probably at least a dozen that can get us to Purdue, Wisconsin, levels of competitiveness.
Cronin's resume fits. Honestly, I just don't want to watch him or listen to him. And I think that's more than a little reason why Crean wore out his welcome.
