Why this season was outstanding for me!

[mobilehoosier]

Like many, I've been processing last nights game and the season in general. My overall thoughts are very positive and last nights game was an anomaly for me.
Overall I believe the season was outstanding and here's why:

1. Mike Woodson is coaching Indiana - Coach Woodson is cool if we never win a game (he won't be the coach if we don't win but he's cool no matter what!)
2. Indiana has an identity I recognize - We bet on our ability to play defense (doesn't always work, nothing always works)
3. Indiana beat Purdue - Unreal that we haven't been competitive in this series
4. Indiana beat Michigan - Again, unreal how bad we've been for far too long
5. Indiana won a couple B1G tournament games. Been a minute.
6. Indiana made the NCAA - Been so long I didn't know how to act
7. Indiana played 5 elimination games in 7 days - I'm so proud of our team. They pulled the rabbit and made the tournament. Yes they hit a wall and St. Mary's is good and exploited it. Congratulations to them. It was a 12-5 match up and we had to play in and travel across the country. Is what it is.

Summary - I'm excited to see where we go from here. To me it's upward. Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts. Can't wait to follow our activities in the off season. Never thought Crean or Miller would get us right.
Thoughts?
Go Hoosiers!

 

[mushroomgod_1]

Like many, I've been processing last nights game and the season in general. My overall thoughts are very positive and last nights game was an anomaly for me.
Overall I believe the season was outstanding and here's why:

1. Mike Woodson is coaching Indiana - Coach Woodson is cool if we never win a game (he won't be the coach if we don't win but he's cool no matter what!)
2. Indiana has an identity I recognize - We bet on our ability to play defense (doesn't always work, nothing always works)
3. Indiana beat Purdue - Unreal that we haven't been competitive in this series
4. Indiana beat Michigan - Again, unreal how bad we've been for far too long
5. Indiana won a couple B1G tournament games. Been a minute.
6. Indiana made the NCAA - Been so long I didn't know how to act
7. Indiana played 5 elimination games in 7 days - I'm so proud of our team. They pulled the rabbit and made the tournament. Yes they hit a wall and St. Mary's is good and exploited it. Congratulations to them. It was a 12-5 match up and we had to play in and travel across the country. Is what it is.

Summary - I'm excited to see where we go from here. To me it's upward. Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts. Can't wait to follow our activities in the off season. Never thought Crean or Miller would get us right.
Thoughts?
Go Hoosiers!

If you think life's a joke, consider the punchline.

Sorry, but too much sugar here to consume.

 

[mobilehoosier]

If you think life's a joke, consider the punchline.

Sorry, but too much sugar here to consume.

I do feel good about my Hoosiers for the fist time in three coaches. Sorry it's too much sugar. Go Hoosiers!

 

[SixthFlagComing]

I do feel good about my Hoosiers for the fist time in three coaches. Sorry it's too much sugar. Go Hoosiers!

I feel pretty good about the future too. And, I'll add a few other sugar cubes, just to pile on:

8) Coach Woody beat Notre Dame in the final game of the Crossroads Classic which is something I've really enjoyed attending with my Dad and has added Kansas to the schedule...a major upgrade
9) We have a top-20 recruit coming to B'town in JHS
10) We finally decided the world wouldn't end if we wore an alternate uniform (granted they were ugly as a Purdue cheerleader but at least it was a baby step)

 

[Hatchets7times]

Outstanding...?
Promising going forward..Yes..
That trip to Atlanta twenty years ago..Outstanding !!

 

[mobilehoosier]

Outstanding...?
Promising going forward..Yes..
That trip to Atlanta twenty years ago..Outstanding !!

Have to admit my bar has been low but now I expect us to be much better going forward. And yes, beating PU was outstanding, beating Michigan was outstanding and making the NCAA was outstanding. Last nights game was awful but the future is bright. Go Hoosiers!

 

[turney333]

Like many, I've been processing last nights game and the season in general. My overall thoughts are very positive and last nights game was an anomaly for me.
Overall I believe the season was outstanding and here's why:

1. Mike Woodson is coaching Indiana - Coach Woodson is cool if we never win a game (he won't be the coach if we don't win but he's cool no matter what!)
2. Indiana has an identity I recognize - We bet on our ability to play defense (doesn't always work, nothing always works)
3. Indiana beat Purdue - Unreal that we haven't been competitive in this series
4. Indiana beat Michigan - Again, unreal how bad we've been for far too long
5. Indiana won a couple B1G tournament games. Been a minute.
6. Indiana made the NCAA - Been so long I didn't know how to act
7. Indiana played 5 elimination games in 7 days - I'm so proud of our team. They pulled the rabbit and made the tournament. Yes they hit a wall and St. Mary's is good and exploited it. Congratulations to them. It was a 12-5 match up and we had to play in and travel across the country. Is what it is.

Summary - I'm excited to see where we go from here. To me it's upward. Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts. Can't wait to follow our activities in the off season. Never thought Crean or Miller would get us right.
Thoughts?
Go Hoosiers!

Also, consider the best program turn around in the BT in recent memory - Beilein at Mich

Amaker wasn't up to the task at Mich and likely always to be stuck in the middle of the pack in the conference, but he did stabilized them after a rough patch, and did so starting out his tenure while under a post season ban and was down a scholarship his entire tenure. He would have made the NCAA tournament in his 2nd year if not for the post season ban, and also just missed the tournament in 3 of the next 4 years (getting #1 seeds in the NIT).

In the 5 years prior to Beilein take over, Amaker won 48% of BT games, and was at least a bubble caliber team 4 of those years. Beilein then took this relatively stable program and went 10-22 (5-13) and than also only went to the postseason once in the next 2 years.

In comparison, Woodson took over a program that had won 42% of its conference games the previous 5 years and had only even been a bubble team twice in that span. In his first year, Woodson makes the tournament and goes 21-14. Of course, not an apples to apples comparison as Woodson probably had more returning talent than Beilein, but transitions after terminations usually take some time. And at least Woodson took a positive first step that could be built off of

Sure there were disappointments to the season and a bunch of games that IU should probably have won, but isn't that the case for all 20ish win teams that make the tournament (look at OSU, MSU, Mich this year and they all biffed away a bunch of games). If making the tournament was seen as the baseline marker for success for the season, a bunch of missed opportunities were almost to be expected

 

[mushroomgod_1]

Also, consider the best program turn around in the BT in recent memory - Beilein at Mich

Amaker wasn't up to the task at Mich and likely always to be stuck in the middle of the pack in the conference, but he did stabilized them after a rough patch, and did so starting out his tenure while under a post season ban and was down a scholarship his entire tenure. He would have made the NCAA tournament in his 2nd year if not for the post season ban, and also just missed the tournament in 3 of the next 4 years (getting #1 seeds in the NIT).

In the 5 years prior to Beilein take over, Amaker won 48% of BT games, and was at least a bubble caliber team 4 of those years. Beilein then took this relatively stable program and went 10-22 (5-13) and than also only went to the postseason once in the next 2 years.

In comparison, Woodson took over a program that had won 42% of its conference games the previous 5 years and had only even been a bubble team twice in that span. In his first year, Woodson makes the tournament and goes 21-14. Of course, not an apples to apples comparison as Woodson probably had more returning talent than Beilein, but transitions after terminations usually take some time. And at least Woodson took a positive first step that could be built off of

Sure there were disappointments to the season and a bunch of games that IU should probably have won, but isn't that the case for all 20ish win teams that make the tournament (look at OSU, MSU, Mich this year and they all biffed away a bunch of games). If making the tournament was seen as the baseline marker for success for the season, a bunch of missed opportunities were almost to be expected

Mike won 45% of his conference games.....and finished 9th......and had the worst loss in our tourney history.

 

[turney333]

Mike won 45% of his conference games.....and finished 9th......and had the worst loss in our tourney history.

Considering that the odds typically predict a step back in a first year in a transition after a firing, any step forward is a good sign

 

[bailey777]

Outstanding...?
Promising going forward..Yes..
That trip to Atlanta twenty years ago..Outstanding !!

Correct and I guess you could say two of Creans year were more outstanding cause we went further and won more games. Even Sampsons first year we made the second round and won I think 22 games. The bar is pretty darn low after the four years of Archie ball no doubt. I would say it was an up and down season and we met the goal of making the NCAA. An outstanding year to me would be top three in the big ten and minimum of the sweet sixeteen but we all have differnet ways we look at it I guess.

 

[bailey777]

Considering that the odds typically predict a step back in a first year in a transition after a firing, any step forward is a good sign

That all depends on what you have to work with. Woodson was left with TJD a legit top five player in the league just like Sampson was left with DJ White. Now if you are left with what Crean was it is totally different. Just look at the Arizona coach people think they could win it all and he is in his first year after having a team that was not ranked in the preaseason.

 

[speroni]

Outstanding year? No. Too many minuses to be outstanding. Most preseason hopes were:

Be competitive: I'd gives us high marks on that metric - last game not withstanding.
Avoid playing on the first day of the B1G tourney: accomplished
Middle of the pack B1G: Nope. We finished lower than most expected
Avoid our usual February losing streak: Nope. 2-5 in February. Brutal.
Beat Purdue: Yep. And competitive AT Purdue as well.
Beat Wisconsin: Nope. Don't get me started on the game in Madison.
Improve defensively: Big yes. I never want to hear the phrase "pack line defense" again.
Play in the Big Dance: This was the biggest metric, and we succeeded. We even won a game, which exceeded most expectations.

Overall... more plusses than minuses. It was a good season, only because it's an improvement over the past. We hit what appears to be most people's reasonable expectations for this year.

 

[82hoosier]

Perhaps Woody's biggest fault was thinking he could coach-up such terrible shooting.

 

[Coach Geez]

Mike won 45% of his conference games.....and finished 9th......and had the worst loss in our tourney history.

Worst loss in tournament history? Maybe by MOV, but I'm not sure I even put this in the top 10 tourney losses in program history and I've been alive almost 70 years.

 

[mobilehoosier]

Thanks for a nice thread. Appreciate the engagement and nobody bashing me because of the optimism after a crushing loss. Trying to stay mentally healthy and not get polluted by the NCAA BS. Go Hoosiers!

 

[limestonecowboy]

Perhaps Woody's biggest fault was thinking he could coach-up such terrible shooting.

His biggest fault was doing NBA substitution patterns

 

[82hoosier]

His biggest fault was doing NBA substitution patterns

I think Woody was trying to create depth at all five positions and send a message to recruits that the second unit would see real playing time.

 

[limestonecowboy]

I think Woody was trying to create depth at all five positions and send a message to recruits that the second unit would see real playing time.

No he was doing what he knew. What you're talking about is a possible effect/silver lining as far as recruiting goes. But not a single team in the NCAA is best suited by substituting like that. No NCAA team ever will be.

 

[bailey777]

I think Woody was trying to create depth at all five positions and send a message to recruits that the second unit would see real playing time.

Only works if you were the kentucky teams under pitino.