Not missing it -- I agree. Look at the culture that Cignetti, Moren, Yeagley have established for IU's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th highest profile programs; that's how a coach connects great resources with a great team culture.
"They" lol.
Bingo.
You do have those items. That doesn't make you a "sleeping giant" if you haven't been one in a very long time.
"They" as you're another crazy IU fan. You believe what you typed to be true. You're here to promote your program and you seem to stand by your words but they firmly equate to nothing.
I think you’re really missing the point. Your list does exist but that doesn’t make them all positives. The fans run the show there when it should be the coach.
All of this is why IU Basketball is a sleeping giant, not an awake giant.
But IU didn’t hire the right leader to instill a winning culture. They just ponied up a bunch of money and hope players will make the change.
Hey; I would rather have Dusty May. But Woody is a full-on IU guy with local/IU guys on staff. I wish he was 15 years younger. IU has a plenty of local ties in the program - trying for a bunch more for next year.
I was looking at ESPNs early top 25: Purdue was 16 and IU 18. CBS Sports has Purdue at 12 and IU at 18. Don’t believe coaches or writers polls are out yet.
List teams that win without a winning culture if you can. That’s what IU is right now. A hodgepodge of players from other schools who were recruited to replace culture guys like Galloway and Cupps.
I think that it is incredibly helpful to have both a winning culture and big time talent, which will require a strong budget going forward.
It’s been nice getting your perspective but I’ll finish up with this.
Why do you equate budget/money to winning?
Appreciate the discourse!
When I have seen iu struggle it is 3 point shooters and when they have a big guy clogging the lane. I actually thought they played ok last year with ware able to keep the lane open. So what does iu do they get a guy who epitomizes lane clogging and two guards who are terrible 3 shooters. It’s not just talent these guys have to play well together. There is also a lack of front court depth with guys who aren’t able to provide a lot of minutes.
Of the top 10 teams only 3 are expected to start more than 1 transfer. Pretty sure Iowa state and Gonzaga don’t have big nil budgets. Most of the rest are bluebloods.
For Woodson to be successful, he needs his team to actually incorporate the 3 a lot more than they have the past 3 years, as well as defend the 3 a whole lot better than they have. If he can adjust those things they should be better. Ideally, Carlyle was a big time recruit out of HS and rice ran point for a WASU team very well. Ideally, they should be better at shooting due to the “sophomore jump”. Fletch went through it…Braden some but he’s been pretty consistent in his first 2 years. So, if those two make the jump, along with Mbgako, then theoretically, IU should be very competitive. Add Ballo to the mix, they are hoping he rebounds and rim protects—heard a lot of complaints from zona fans how he was slow, made bad decisions and couldn’t shoot FTs well at all.
Your post is entirely spot on in every way. Luke Goode should also help as a proven catch and shoot rotation player, albeit one who has been a below average defender.
Will they jump? Every guard they have had has regressed under woodson. Xavier Johnson actually got worse each year. His scoring his last four years per game 14-12-10-8. Galloway 3 shooting went down from 46% to 26%. Leal and Gunn never “jumped”. Why would you expect any other guard?
Um, no. Those are an IU fan's expectations. Reading is a skill.
I tend to agree with you on that! It’s now or never for woody. Let’s see if he somehow changes.
I like Rice as a player and he's a great story. If I'm IU his three-point shooting concerns me but his assist-to-turnover ratio was solid and his efficiency from two was good. He's obviously pretty old for a sophomore so I'm not sure that I'd expect the typical freshman to sophomore jump from him, but he should be solid and a clear upgrade for IU.
Your Non-Conference schedule will do you no favors, your first true road game is at Nebraska, the team that whopped up on you, 3-0 last year bye an average of over 19 points a game!
Ballo is a step back from Ware. Ware could shoot, hit a 3 now and then, rebounder, and could actually hit a free throw. Ballo is a rebounder, not a shooter, don't even talk about free throws! IU has no depth up front at all! Rice is good, but you have to remember the PAC12 was really weak, remove Arizonia and the conference disappears!
I think IU is still a coach short and front court depth is a major issue. To many new parts, to many expensive egos and really horrible NON-Conf will hide their problems till conference play begins! I really like Michigan, Illinois, Purdue. UCLA and possibly Michigan St. (Izzo?), Can Rutgers and Maryland compete with their youth? All of these teams match up well with IU, most of them have better depth at center and guard!
Rice and Carlyle are a bit different from what's been around before. Adds some speed and two guys that can create. How they play here.. who knows. As for Ballo, he creates by offensive rebounds and essentially just being in the right spot down low. Shooting wise, can only hope that percentages go up. Mgbako and Goode are good shooters. Reneau shot a little over 30% from 3 but on very limited attempts. Rice started out the year well but went down, probably because of fatigue. Galloway... Who knows. Might go up without having to have a big role. Cupps hopefully finds some confidence to shoot. Woody says Mgbako and Goode will see time at the 4 and play small ball, so we will see how this team looks. Fingers crossed I guess.
I’m not very high on Carlyle. Fairly inefficient with too many turnovers on a bad team last season. As you said through, who knows how that translates to a different team for he and Rice at IU.
I'm interested in seeing how he does on the boards. And considering it's the B1G and not the Pac-12, he's gonna have to get used to getting murdered with no calls. He is quite a bit bigger than TJD(without the skills and athleticism) so he should be able to carve out some room for himself. And he's played with another big man that wasn't a shooter while at Arizona, so that could help with him playing alongside Reneau. Though it sounds like he could get run as the 5 with Mgbako or Goode at the 4 as well. And with Edey thankfully gone, there isn't really anyone physically as strong but again, it's the B1G. It's a guarantee Northwestern and Rutgers will be allowed to tie him down like he's Gulliver.
This roster is probably the 4th or 5th best roster of the last 20 years. If they are pushing for a B1G title, awesome. Icing on the cake at that point.
Team will play hard and play solid basketball. This team has a lot of questions but a relatively high floor and you know that they will be well coached.
I'm not either, am I? Again, reading is a skill, which the IU fan you apparently were addressing seems to possess. You? Not so much.
