@cavanagh Inconsistent, like the rest of them. Obviously CDD isn't overly excited about that, as evidenced by him only playing 8 minutes in a game we needed him to be impactful and better. He'll have some good games the rest of the year, I'm sure. And he'll have some bad ones. We need Harris to get healthy. He's not THE answer, but from all accounts he's a high motor guy, and even if we only get 8-10 minutes from him... if he is an energy guy, that could have a pretty big impact on practices, and then in games.
I think Bailey, as much or more than anyone else, is negatively impacted when the movement breaks down. He can be good, he will be good, at times. But he isn't going to consistently be a 10 and 6 type guy, that I'm sure DeVries was banking on him being.
Alexis hasn't been a whole hell of a lot better, for what its worth. He's SLIGHTLY more stout defensively in the post. But he's not the answer either. And he's also one of the central reasons we lost on Saturday.
Regardless, it's bad timing for DeVries, because Cig and Clark Lea (Vanderbilt) and Pat Kelsey and Dusty May did it overnight. And while it's unreasonable to expect that from every new coach - some of us have been watching this clusterfuck for 30 years and the refrain has mostly been the same no matter the circumstances: just wait for next year when we have time to address [insert list of never ending issues here]. Fair or not, reasonable or not, watching what Coach Cignetti and the football team have done while the basketball program meekly serves up a rerun of the past 30 years despite a new coach is seriously off-putting, especially when I add in not only the failure of Mike Woodson, but the politics that kept that failure in place for two years too long. This all coming on the heels of what was already 25 years of abject failure, mind you. To see us with a mid-major roster is frustrating. To see that mid-major roster not even show up in half our games is infuriating. To know everything that led us here, to this exact point in time, and see essentially the same old same old is the worst of all, and what should be front and center on Scott Dolson and Pam Whitmer's minds: disgust morphing into apathy. I can say I'm going to fight through what I already knew coming into the season, but the reality is I can't lie to myself. I don't particularly want to.
@seyton The Cig comparisons are indeed unfair. That is an unprecedented situation. We just saw half the SEC fire their coaches mid-season. How many of those new hires are going to be a 1 seed in the CFP within 2 years?
Kelsey is more appropriate and they're rolling this year but they were not world beaters last year. The ended up an 8 seed and benefited from playing in a terrible ACC that only got 4 teams in the dance and only 1 past the 2nd round. UofL was also sitting at 6-5 on this date last year fresh off a loss to Kentucky.
May is a different story and that is solely on the selfish hands of Buckner.
Any early favorites for the 2029 coaching search?
@iugradman No we won't. The shameful hire and retention of Woodson orchestrated by Quinn Buffoon Buckner will never and should never be looked upon fondly. A pathetic grift by the good ole boys club and the hand delivery of Dusty May to Michigan.
Shame
I agree. I was trying to point out that the program is in even worse shape roster wise and competitively. I don’t see this team winning 10 conference games.
And as you mentioned, what makes the current situation so awful is an alum who grew up 30 minutes from Bloomington and was available to be hired has created a juggernaut at a program in the same conference. He is likely never going to be the coach at IU now.
25 years of mediocrity and no positive program momentum has put me at my wit’s end. Dolson owns the putrid state of the basketball program but he can’t leave because Cignetti will get mad. So we are stuck with shitty basketball in the hopes that football will stay good.
A little early to be making that proclamation. Totally turned over the entire roster from Woodson. Who was be going to keep from that roster? The current roster is way too lacking in athleticism and toughness. The coach obviously knows this.
@iugradman I'm not going to put the blame on Dolson.
He did hire Cig (there were still fans wanting to retain Allen for crying out loud).
He wanted no part of Woodson. He was forced to hire him. He was forced to retain him. If he had been allowed to do his job, he would have fired him after year 3 and hired May. Buckner prevented it and said May wasn't good enough for IU.
He's responsible for the current hire but we're also only 1/3 of the way through the first season of that. I'm also not convinced in the slightest that there were better options (not ones that ensure elite status, I don't care about marginally better if that turns out to be the case).
This article on parity in FB mentions what I think is a big problem.
"Players see potential in places it didn't exist before, and they see their own power in changing a place. This era has empowered players to not be shackled by what the history of a place is and they can go and create a legacy."
As fans we think that IU basketball has inherent advantages. That it should be easier to win here. I think the opposite. Our program has an albatross around its neck.
@iugradman I'm not going to put the blame on Dolson.
He did hire Cig (there were still fans wanting to retain Allen for crying out loud).
He wanted no part of Woodson. He was forced to hire him. He was forced to retain him. If he had been allowed to do his job, he would have fired him after year 3 and hired May. Buckner prevented it and said May wasn't good enough for IU.
He's responsible for the current hire but we're also only 1/3 of the way through the first season of that. I'm also not convinced in the slightest that there were better options (not ones that ensure elite status, I don't care about marginally better if that turns out to be the case).
A little early to be blaming anybody. Step away from the ledge. It's not like Coach DD has lost to Ft Wayne. The Minnesota loss is bad but the season is still salvageable.
There is nothing to be impressed with. We can make threes against bad teams but that is about it. I mean maybe DD can coach but this is not back when crean was coaching and you would line up three straight good recruiting classes and let them develop. You have to now land players each year in the portal and the whole starting lineup will be gone again next year. Nobody who is coming back except maybe sisley and dorn even play. If he does not just kill it in the portal next spring he is going to be on the hot seat in year two imo. No reason a coach needs four years anymore to show progress.Not impressed with the team or the coaches, right now, at all...
@arioznahoosier4554 Long season, we'll see if guys like Harris and/or Ritsic break in to the rotation, at some point. Either because they're good enough, or out of necessity. But as of now, yep... looking like he's gonna have to get 4-5 high major starter level guys via the portal. But starting with Sisley, Dorn, Miles, Harris, Ritsic... is a better start than he had coming in. No reason to believe he won't be able to land an equally talented, if not better roster for next year. And he'll have the advantage of intimately knowing the exact types of kids he'll need to better compete against the B10.
Hopefully he figures some things out this year, and makes the NCAA's, so he can build a little more excitement, and maybe get a little more NIL backing.
@arioznahoosier4554 Long season, we'll see if guys like Harris and/or Ritsic break in to the rotation, at some point. Either because they're good enough, or out of necessity. But as of now, yep... looking like he's gonna have to get 4-5 high major starter level guys via the portal. But starting with Sisley, Dorn, Miles, Harris, Ritsic... is a better start than he had coming in. No reason to believe he won't be able to land an equally talented, if not better roster for next year. And he'll have the advantage of intimately knowing the exact types of kids he'll need to better compete against the B10.
Hopefully he figures some things out this year, and makes the NCAA's, so he can build a little more excitement, and maybe get a little more NIL backing.
He is going to need some big time athletes to compete and none of those guys are. He will need to totally kill it in the portal. Probably not fair to DD but I have never been less excited about IU hoops in my life any many I know feel the same . I think the last two coaches just drained it out of me. I knew after year two woodson was not it yet we had to endure two more years of him. So sadly until he proves he can be the guy to get this going its going to be very hard to get excited at all.