2020-21 Indiana Athletics thread

[clownskull]

Looks pretty good for another win

[clownskull]

well, we finally broke the losing streak and didn't choke. so there's some positives!

[clownskull]

god, those foul shot attempts by tjd were.... beyond awful.

[Sollozzo]

Classic IU way to end a half.

[clownskull]

was looking at the team ft%
they rank 273rd at 68.3%
this is something that MUST change next season. iu has been trash at the line for at least 5 years now. i haven't looked at clappy's last few years so it may be even longer but, 5 years now it has been a weak spot.
another problem we gotta learn to ditch is turnovers. iu has been throwing the ball away as well for 5 years at least as well. foul shooting and turnovers were always a major problem under archie and it still is a problem.

[Bball]

We had the ball up 4 with 1:20 left and still blew it. It’s just unreal.

A turnover AND allowed a wide open basket for a dunk to tie the game on OSU's final possession.

So it's not like it was a contested bucket to tie that just managed to trickle in.

I forget what took it from 4 to 2... Or maybe I'm just mentally blocking it out.

[Bball]

I hate to say it, but how you're describing building a team is EXACTLY how Crean rebuilt IU.

I can't say that Crean really did it wrong. He wasn't that great of a coach for getting kids to play at more than the sum of their parts, which would've been nice early on. But he did bring some energy to the program and up the recruiting... for a while.... to a point.
Ultimately, his own coaching short-comings, and weird personality traits, came to the forefront. Recruiting eventually took a hit. 'Creaning' the roster became a phrase.
Really, in hindsight, seeing how he wasn't that good at getting those early teams to play at more than their individual abilities would've suggested didn't portend well for the future. His energy and likely IU still resonating in college ball allowed him to get more talent. And talent can win games. But the flaws eventually were exposed. Any time a chess match broke out at a basketball game, IU was at a disadvantage with Crean. At tourney time, talent alone isn't enough.
We already knew what Crean without talent was capable of. And that was where things were settling in for Crean as the talent level dipped.

Crean also got lucky because of the way IU handled the Sampson situation it gave Crean some cover to have 'bad' teams and the fans accept the program needed to 'rebuild'. They believed IU had been given the NCAA death penalty.

IU's handling of Sampson, in retrospect, was just a total mistake. He got caught for chewing gum in class, and IU treated it like he was buying recruits new cars and blow, while helping them to shave points.

Miller will remain the greatest mystery of all to me. How could he be that bad, and not grow beyond it, year after year? It's not like he should've been totally unprepared for basketball at this level. I'm anxious to see how it all works out at a new team. Or hear him speak to it and take some blame and explain himself and where he thinks he went wrong.

Woodson, is a rookie college coach at 65 years of age. It is what it is at this point. I suspect he's just a hype bandaid to appease the Knight supporters, and some hope that his NBA experience can pay coaching and recruiting dividends. But the truth is Mike Woodson isn't Mike Jordan... so it's not like kids are all that aware of his resume'. I kind of get the feeling this is all just the bridge to the Dane Fife era at IU anyway. I could be wrong...

[Bball]

Just because 1 idiot does something like this isn't a reason to rethink sportsmanship.

Maybe Michigan needs to rethink the wisdom of hiring Howard as coach ?? This isn't his 1st issue.

There's sportsmanship... there's reality... and there's playing with fire.

You ask kids, and coaches, to put their hearts, bodies, and emotions on the line for 2 hours. To go out and W.I.N.! Sure, at the end of most games, they can rein it in, suck it up, and shake hands and move on. But the fact is losing sucks, some games it hurts more than others to lose. Some players, for whatever reason you like less than others. Maybe it's because they are uber-competitive. Maybe it's because they are just so good. As good as you or better. Maybe it's because they are dirty. Or you think they are. Maybe it's because of all of those things.

I just think it's stupid to ask the players to flip a switch in all scenarios and shake hands in some kind of scripted nonsense like a handshake line. No real time to come off the game's emotions. No time to assess anything. No time to see a replay and see if your perceptions were right or wrong. Just line up and shake hands. It's silly. Especially because it's so forced. Even for the coaches, but at least they are adults so you can expect they might be a little more mature to better figure out how to handle a situation. But even then, maybe the mature thing to do is just acknowledge the other coach and not be forced into a handshake you don't want to give.
Honestly, I don't even know... Is this some kind of NCAA rule or is every team doing it because the other teams are doing it?

If you feel like shaking the opponents' hand, just do it. No forced line necessary. If you feel like going to the locker room and throwing a fit to blow off steam, rather than getting into with an opponent, do that instead.

I was hoping if nothing else, the pandemic would make for a good excuse to formerly end the handshake line. Apparently not.

I don't see it as good sportsmanship. Good sportsmanship would be shaking hands and speaking naturally, unprovoked, unrequired, after the game. The handshake line is scripted nonsense IMO.

[Trader Joe]

IU is now (and has been for sometime), just another college basketball team. Maybe worse. A below average college basketball team. It was a big fall.

The idea that IU has some recruiting advantage because it's "IU" is no longer valid as any kind of reality. I'm starting to wonder if it's just hurting more to score a top recruit because IU can't really surround a big 'get' on the recruiting trail with complimentary pieces. Would they be better off with some players that know they'll have to work hard to compete, and know team basketball is the only way it's going to work? Would it be better to have that team as a base, and then eventually, hopefully, add a bigger recruiting get to that? Someone that wants to come in and be a team player in that system?

Woodson might've brought some energy to the team, and in theory, improved the defense. But that said, the defensive lapses are mind-boggling. And the lack of outside shooting and FT shooting, year after year... just incredible.

Following Knight with Davis, and then waiting too long to make a move... Then the Sampson debacle and how that was handled all the way around... Then the mistake that was Crean and holding onto Crean too long... and then the giant WHIFF that was Archie Miller. You don't just bounce back from mistakes like this. And we might as well add the precipitous fall of Knight, and the total lack of planning for what happened when the obvious happened.

IU is stuck in purgatory. Accepted mediocrity too long and is now reaping what it sowed when mediocrity was accepted too long.

I'm trying to figure out what the biggest mistake actually was.

I hate to say it, but how you're describing building a team is EXACTLY how Crean rebuilt IU.

I don't think I'll ever understand WTF Woodson was tyring to accomplish with the Northwestern game stunt. Suspending 5 kids for curfew? Come on man.

As far as the biggest mistake, I see two options:

1.) Not bowing your back against the NCAA when they came after Sampson was the big one, at the time IU basketball was still IU basketball. They were just 5 years removed from a Final Four and they were a top 10 team in the nation. IU should not have allowed that hit job to take place on Sampson or on the program. We got made a sacrificial lamb for things that just about every program was doing. Lack of institutional control? Are you kidding me? Because the coach made a few extra phone calls and some guys were smoking weed? Meanwhile Louisville was literally hiring prostitutes to get kids to commit (which hey I'm not here to shame sex work, but let's be real in terms of using it as a recruiting tool that's a little much) and North Carolina was fabricating entire grade reports for kids.

2.) Cheaping out on the Archie hire which is how we eneded up with Archie in the first place.

[Sollozzo]

I bet our February record since the 16-17 season is absolutely abysmal.

5 game losing streak. Classic IU February meltdown.

It really is amazing that players at this level can be so consistently bad at free throw shooting and end of game possessions.

We had the ball up 4 with 1:20 left and still blew it. It’s just unreal.

[PacerDude]

Looks like a 1 game suspension for some of the MI and Wisc players and 5 games for Howard.

I wonder if anyone will rethink the 'wisdom' of the handshake line in light if this?

Just because 1 idiot does something like this isn't a reason to rethink sportsmanship.

Maybe Michigan needs to rethink the wisdom of hiring Howard as coach ?? This isn't his 1st issue.

[Bball]

Well... in another of my 'taking the temperature of fans on social media' posts... There's been a marked change in Woodson's support after tonight. Whether that is people that have been silent until now, suddenly adding their voice to the crowd, or a changing of opinions, I don't know. But there is much less pushback, all of a sudden, to anyone complaining about Woodson's coaching. Just the other day, he was the next RMK. The main pushback is no longer a chorus telling everyone how good he is, the Knight lineage, and that complainers don't understand basketball (or discipline if we look at the NW suspensions). No, now it's turned into a mild "It's his first year as a college coach and he's learning...". And rather weak at that. Not the confidence and pushback that I saw a few games ago. Tonight, the complaining was definitely much more prominent, and the pushback much more tame and muted.

A lot of complaints about his offense, the team's fundamentals (read: lack of), "why is he playing this player...", and end game/crunch time decisions. A lot of questions about the lack of a timeout in regulation to set up something for that last possession. I think someone needs to remind some of these people who consider themselves Knight fans, that Knight wouldn't have called a timeout either. Knight wasn't a big believer in timeouts overall in the first place, but he believed the team should know what to do in end of game situations and didn't like giving the defense a chance to gather themselves.

But, the main thing is, a lot of that confidence going forward that existed around the Northwestern game, the suspensions, and the loss, has withered rather quickly.

Win the next game, and maybe it changes, but as of now, you can circle this game as the one that shook the confidence of the solid social media support Woodson had enjoyed up until now.

There might be a realization that all of a sudden, they can miss the NCAAT after all.

[Bball]

Looks like a 1 game suspension for some of the MI and Wisc players and 5 games for Howard.

I wonder if anyone will rethink the 'wisdom' of the handshake line in light if this?

[Bball]

IU is now (and has been for sometime), just another college basketball team. Maybe worse. A below average college basketball team. It was a big fall.

The idea that IU has some recruiting advantage because it's "IU" is no longer valid as any kind of reality. I'm starting to wonder if it's just hurting more to score a top recruit because IU can't really surround a big 'get' on the recruiting trail with complimentary pieces. Would they be better off with some players that know they'll have to work hard to compete, and know team basketball is the only way it's going to work? Would it be better to have that team as a base, and then eventually, hopefully, add a bigger recruiting get to that? Someone that wants to come in and be a team player in that system?

Woodson might've brought some energy to the team, and in theory, improved the defense. But that said, the defensive lapses are mind-boggling. And the lack of outside shooting and FT shooting, year after year... just incredible.

Following Knight with Davis, and then waiting too long to make a move... Then the Sampson debacle and how that was handled all the way around... Then the mistake that was Crean and holding onto Crean too long... and then the giant WHIFF that was Archie Miller. You don't just bounce back from mistakes like this. And we might as well add the precipitous fall of Knight, and the total lack of planning for what happened when the obvious happened.

IU is stuck in purgatory. Accepted mediocrity too long and is now reaping what it sowed when mediocrity was accepted too long.

I'm trying to figure out what the biggest mistake actually was.

[Sollozzo]

They play hard, but the execution in crunch time is just abysmal. And once again they shoot 70% from the foul line. Just can’t win games against strong Big 10 competition when you are so bad from the line. It’s the same thing every season.