We had a darn good preseason. The games in Puerto Rico were good for development, the recent game against Baylor. Baylor is always solid or more.
Encouraging!
The only downside is not being healthy even before the season starts. That sucks. Fingers crossed.
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If anything can be gleaned from an exhibition game, IU would've been a final four team last year.
@mushroomgod yep everything you just said. I can tell you that Hoosier nation is extremely skeptical of CDD. Ticket sales is the best way to judge enthusiasm. They are worse this year than any year under Archie or Woodson. CIg has a lot to do with that as you said. Fans expect real winners for their time and effort, and bball ain’t the only show in town. I’m gonna lose my ass this year unless we beat Marquette/ and Louisville or UK.
This is more of a product of Woodson than CDD. It's not like CDD brought in two five stars. He had to replace the entire roster. Next year, he'll have to replace half. It will be a slow climb but enthusiasm and the level of play will increase.
We don't have the talent to compete in the B1G at a high level yet. I'm expecting to turn off a lot of games at the half this year unfortunately. Hope I'm wrong. I'll start watching every game like most here. Go Hoosiers!
@mobilehoosier Absurd take. We may not have the talent to win the Big Ten this year. But we have a 1st team All conference candidate in Tucker DeVries. And we have a handful of other guys that will compete for other all conference awards in Wilkerson, Conerway, Bailey, and possibly even Alexis. And we have no clue yet how good guys like Dorn, Harris, and/or either of the foreign kids will be.
You'd probably have turned off 3 of of their 4 competitive games so far between the summer games and Baylor. We haven't lost a game yet. Obviously we're going to lose games this year. And its possible we get blown out in some games. But I suspect that won't happen often, and they've shown themselves to be a team that's good at rallying and making in game adjustments. You'll miss a lot of good basketball, and some exciting finishes, I'm sure, if you turn games off early this year.
My favorite Woodson coached game was that down big at half game against Michigan in the Big Ten tourney, where he walked into the locker room afterwards and shouted 'How about those Hoosiers!'
Pretty sure I just expected to watch only a few minutes if that in the second half. But somehow stuck around. We were down 12-13 at half, it went up to 17 about 5 minutes into the 2nd. We came back.
Coach Woodson cared. Just wasn't a college coach, with all it entailed.
@openwheel I'm not sure he REALLY cared all that much. Its easy to get fired up in that environment, and after a game like that. How he acquainted himself with recruits, players, media, fans in all the "normal" times says more about how motivated he was. And on too many things, and too many times, he sure appeared to not GAF.
My favorite Woodson coached game was Oregon in the BTT because he was gone after that.
@mobilehoosier Absurd take. We may not have the talent to win the Big Ten this year. But we have a 1st team All conference candidate in Tucker DeVries. And we have a handful of other guys that will compete for other all conference awards in Wilkerson, Conerway, Bailey, and possibly even Alexis. And we have no clue yet how good guys like Dorn, Harris, and/or either of the foreign kids will be.
You'd probably have turned off 3 of of their 4 competitive games so far between the summer games and Baylor. We haven't lost a game yet. Obviously we're going to lose games this year. And its possible we get blown out in some games. But I suspect that won't happen often, and they've shown themselves to be a team that's good at rallying and making in game adjustments. You'll miss a lot of good basketball, and some exciting finishes, I'm sure, if you turn games off early this year.
@iunorth I sure hope you are correct.
@ccmac is this sarcasm? Because he had the entire transfer portal he was hired right after we missed the tourney.
With no staff.
He had difficulty putting his staff together. That was on him.
I have mixed vibes concerning CDD.
I believe he overpaid for Bailey (yes, I know UK recruited him). I saw a comment on the game thread--"Bailey has to get stronger". I agree; unfortunately that's not going to happen. I just don't see the fit here. He's a good ball handler and passer, but he's a guy who needs the ball. I'd rather Conerway have it. He's a liability on the boards and on D, when we're already weak in those areas. And he shoots a decent % on 3s, but only took a couple of 3s per game when he was the center of the O at Davidson. His scoring at Davidson was primarily on low post moves. He won't be as able to finish in the BT, and we won't feed him the ball low as they did at Davidson.
Wilkerson & Conerway are really good additions, and I'm really high on Alexis. He should start 10 times out of 10 over Shipley.
CDD's very personable. Does he have heft? I don't know. I don't like to see us behind 10,15,20,25 points in the first halves. Is that being addressed? Also, can he finish on the recruiting trail? He hasn't so far.
There's a Cig effect here that is not working to CDD's benefit.
DD had trouble putting a staff together? That's a new one.
@boogie he did add Drew Adams, so ya id say he had trouble
@openwheel When you say Woody cared, do you mean about basketball or cigars? I didn't see much evidence of a work ethic.
Oh well, doesn't matter now; he's taken his basketball genius to Sacramento.
I didnt say he wasnt lazy.
My point was dont give up on the game when it looks like we are going to get beat.
@cavanagh took him a minute…but adding Clark and Johnson was beyond impressive. Bargen is a pretty good add too.
Adams…well that’s been hashed out. Seems odd, but I suspect he came highly recommended from Bargen and others DeVries trusts from his Drake days. But I’m with you on Adams.
@iunorth We need to beat Marquette. opening day game I can't sell tickets for 14 bucks. I have bleacher seats right behind the bench (best seats in the hall) all the way down to 125 a ticket.