I know we’ve all enjoyed the hell out of the football national championship and had fun at the expense of others—got one before Purdue got one in basketball, ND hasn’t had one since 88, etc.
But how damn messed up is it that we won one in football before we even started to figure out the problems with our own basketball program? I mean how damn ironic is it that IU somehow won a national championship in football before we even started coming close to getting our basketball consistently on track? You couldn’t make that up if you tried. The fact that it happened this way just makes me shake my head in both the good way and the bad way. Just nuts. Haven’t been to a Final 4 since 2002 and somehow the defending national football champion. At Indiana!
I could make this 'political' by discussing what a possibly little bit hostile faculty toward a sport or sports does versus what a supportive higher up can do for results. But I won't. Anyway, I am more optimistic toward basketball after hearing about our executive 'GM' position. Shows support for basketball. Or at the very least, that we can afford legitimate staffing.
It is ironic that the basketball school and football laughing stock has had this major inversion of results.
,
@hoosiers94 Like you, IU hoops is my first love ... but I don't think anything can top Cig's magic carpet ride to the title. For me, anyway.
@hoosiers94 Like you, IU hoops is my first love ... but I don't think anything can top Cig's magic carpet ride to the title. For me, anyway.
Yeah, it was way too magical and way too fun. My wife who's never liked sports is now a big IU football fan thanks to Cig. He deserves extra NIL for that alone.
@hoosiers94 Like you, IU hoops is my first love ... but I don't think anything can top Cig's magic carpet ride to the title. For me, anyway.
don't get me wrong I'm loving what cig has done. In fact I'm wearing my national championship sweatshirt as we speak. But a basketball title would take the cake for me over football. Never expecting a football title goes under "gravy" for me. Winning a basketball title ends 39 years of frustration for me. Because the expectation has always been there and I don't know that it will go away. I don't expect football to do that again, I want them to and I think they can but I don't expect it yet. If repeated enough I see how that could come about... but for me still waiting for that elusive basketball banner
@handsofblab IU needed to fix football in order to fix basketball. Football generates so much money. Now that football is in a great spot attention can be turned to basketball. Ryan Carr's hire shows they are investing n the infrastructure and hopefully on the NIL side of things.
Personally I think Basketball needs a lot of things, things that would make people upset.
I think a bball title run would end up being more emotional, for me. Mainly because it would feel more "real" than the football one did. My mindset during the entire football run was a combination of excitement, happiness, bewilderment, astonishment, skepticism that it was real... I think with bball, the emotions would be much more real, present, powerful. And while I've been an IU football fan my entire life, I never even dared to dream that a year like this past year could happen. I spent my entire childhood through high school pretending to win basketball national championships in my driveway. A bball title would be much more personal.
Don't be a tease, Sammy. No one will hold you responsible for mentioning specific needs. In fact, I think reading your thoughts would be quite illuminating.Personally I think Basketball needs a lot of things, things that would make people upset.
I am the opposite. I played football in HS but got cut early in life from BB so I understand FB much better. That said I always loved RMK and the BB team. I attended the regional in Dayton when the ‘75 team went down and I attended the ‘81 regional here in Bloomington.
I have always been a FB season ticket holder but gave up my BB tickets 5 years ago when we bought a winter place in the south. I am in heaven with this FB run. Would love for BB to come back but if I died today I would be happy.
Don't be a tease, Sammy. No one will hold you responsible for mentioning specific needs. In fact, I think reading your thoughts would be quite illuminating.Personally I think Basketball needs a lot of things, things that would make people upset.
Here's what the AI says we need. Needs 3-4 years minimum 😉 @hoosiers94
**Indiana has every structural advantage imaginable—massive resources, one of the most passionate fan bases in college sports, a legendary arena in Assembly Hall, and a killer in-state recruiting pipeline that still produces NBA-caliber talent.** Yet, since the 1987 national title (and really since the early 2000s peak), the program has mostly treaded water: one Final Four in 2002, a handful of Sweet 16s under Tom Crean, and a lot of first- or second-round exits, NITs, or misses under Mike Woodson. That's not "doing much" for a blue-blood with IU's pedigree.
The core problem isn't money, fans, or local kids. It's **execution in the modern era**—roster construction, cultural identity, and adapting to the transfer portal/NIL world without losing what made IU special. Here's my breakdown of what needs fixing, based on the last 30 years of history and where things stand in 2025-26 under Darian DeVries.
### 1. Master roster building in the portal/NIL age (this is already improving)
Past regimes (especially late Woodson) threw big NIL money at talent but often ended up with mismatched pieces—no clear identity, poor fit for the system, and guys who didn't buy into "IU basketball" beyond the paycheck. You saw flashes of potential (e.g., 2022-23 with Trayce Jackson-Davis) but no sustained contention.
DeVries inherited a total rebuild in spring 2025—zero scholarship players retained at one point—and pieced together a 17-10, 8-8 Big Ten team on the bubble through heavy portal use (Lamar Wilkerson leading scorer at 21 ppg, Tucker DeVries, Reed Bailey, etc.). It's a shooting-oriented group with offensive upside, but rebounding and size are clear weaknesses, and road performances vs. ranked teams have been ugly (blowout at Purdue, etc.).
The **huge recent win**: Hiring Ryan Carr (former Pacers senior VP of player personnel and ex-IU student manager under Knight) as Executive Director of Basketball on Feb. 23, 2026. This is a legit NBA-style GM role focused on roster construction, scouting, NIL strategy, and long-term planning. It's exactly what a resource-rich program needs to stop the boom-bust cycles. Lean into this hard—target high-character fits for DeVries' system (proven shooters, defensive rebounders, low-turnover guards) rather than just "names." Indiana's collectives have the cash; now spend it smarter for continuity across multiple seasons.
### 2. Establish a consistent identity and culture (DeVries' biggest opportunity)
Post-Knight, IU has bounced between styles: Mike Davis' up-tempo experiments, Kelvin Sampson's issues, Crean's highs/lows, Archie Miller's grind-it-out flop, Woodson's old-school iso-heavy approach. No enduring "this is how we play at Indiana" blueprint like Purdue under Painter or Michigan State under Izzo.
DeVries comes from successful mid-major-to-power programs (Drake, West Virginia) with a track record of efficient offense (3-point volume, ball movement, paint touches), defensive connectivity, and toughness in close games. His first-year group shows character and buy-in per his comments—they're fun to coach, improving defensively in stretches—but it's still inconsistent (hot streaks followed by self-destructive lapses in big road games).
Fix: Give him 3-4 years minimum. Build a self-sustaining culture of physicality, defensive rebounding, and "play for Indiana, not for the next portal jump." Use the home crowd as the 6th man to create that Knight-era intimidation again, but modernized. The 30-year issue partly stems from too many quick hooks on coaches—stability compounds advantages.
### 3. Fix the "soft" or "inconsistent" perception in big moments
Indiana dominates at home but has historically struggled on the road in hostile environments or vs. physical teams (see recent Purdue losses). Rebounding and interior defense have been recurring Achilles' heels. In-state talent is elite, but top Indiana kids sometimes bolt elsewhere, and national recruits see IU as "glamorous but not always winning."
Solutions:
- Portal/HS recruiting balance: Keep dominating Indiana (and Midwest) high schoolers while using Carr's scouting expertise for portal steals who fit the system.
- Develop physicality: Prioritize guys who rebound, defend point-of-attack, and embrace contact—complement the shooters.
- Mental edge: Channel fan passion positively without the toxicity that sometimes pressures young players out.
### 4. Minor stuff that's already mostly solved
Facilities, support staff, and budget? Top-tier. Fan base? Elite (when the product delivers). In-state pipeline? Still strong. The program just needs to stop over-relying on nostalgia and fully weaponize its resources like the true blue-blood it is.
**Bottom line**: Indiana doesn't need a total overhaul—it needs smarter execution in the NIL/portal era and patience with a system that fits the program's DNA. The Carr hire and DeVries' early results (a competitive rebuild year in a loaded Big Ten) are encouraging signs they're finally modernizing without losing the soul. If they nail roster fit, build defensive toughness, and avoid another coaching carousel, a return to regular Sweet 16s/Final Fours is realistic in 2-3 years. The talent and money are there; it's about putting the puzzle together right instead of forcing square pegs.
The Hoosiers have been "close but not quite" for too long. With these fixes, the ceiling is still as high as anyone's in the sport. Go IU—time to make the wait worth it.
do you refer to it as HAL9000. Lots of buzzwords in there. Progress is what HAL doesn't mention
it says the talent is there. What talent , the cheerleaders?
Don't be a tease, Sammy. No one will hold you responsible for mentioning specific needs. In fact, I think reading your thoughts would be quite illuminating.Personally I think Basketball needs a lot of things, things that would make people upset.
I think IU needs to get rid of Assembly Hall. I get the history and the memories (I went through this with Yankee Stadium), but the arena is just not a good venue for the modern game. While the renovations were really nice, there's not much more IU can do to add suites, better seats and other amenities that can generate revenue. ~1/2 the seats stink too and having old school bleachers around the court is no longer charming.
Give me names on the back of the uniforms (at least on some alternates) and modernize the uniform while keeping it classic.
I am also of the mindset that "IU Guy" is not a positive resume bullet. The program needs to get out the 1980s. While the Knight Era was legendary, the sport has changed (a little for the worse) and hanging on to how things ran back then has held IU back. I believe that's also why Cignetti worked because he was an outsider and blew up the "IU way of thinking" as far as football. There is no reason IU can't be modern and also honor the past.
Also, and this is nitpicking, I get why the chair throw is historical, but I would love to see other Knight moments get immortalized. If I was a Purdue Fan (gross) I would never cease to make fun of IU that arguably the best coach in CBB history's most commemorated moment was a temper tantrum in a double-digit home loss to your rival.
*Ducks*
I know we’ve all enjoyed the hell out of the football national championship and had fun at the expense of others—got one before Purdue got one in basketball, ND hasn’t had one since 88, etc.
But how damn messed up is it that we won one in football before we even started to figure out the problems with our own basketball program? I mean how damn ironic is it that IU somehow won a national championship in football before we even started coming close to getting our basketball consistently on track? You couldn’t make that up if you tried. The fact that it happened this way just makes me shake my head in both the good way and the bad way. Just nuts. Haven’t been to a Final 4 since 2002 and somehow the defending national football champion. At Indiana!
According to my highly unofficial stats, this is what 2000-21 to 2024-25 looks like for notable programs:
---Kansas, 727-175, 80.6%
---Duke, 710-171, 80.6%
---UK, 651-222, 74.6%
---N. Carolina, 629-251, 71.5%
---MSU, 607-254, 70.5%
---Syracuse, 579-278, 67.6%
---Louisville, 559-273, 67.3%
---UCLA, 549-284, 65.5%
---Indiana, 476-344, 58.0%
---Georgetown, 455-338, 57.4%
I was afraid to look at Purdue....
Don't be a tease, Sammy. No one will hold you responsible for mentioning specific needs. In fact, I think reading your thoughts would be quite illuminating.Personally I think Basketball needs a lot of things, things that would make people upset.
I think IU needs to get rid of Assembly Hall. I get the history and the memories (I went through this with Yankee Stadium), but the arena is just not a good venue for the modern game. While the renovations were really nice, there's not much more IU can do to add suites, better seats and other amenities that can generate revenue. ~1/2 the seats stink too and having old school bleachers around the court is no longer charming.
Give me names on the back of the uniforms (at least on some alternates) and modernize the uniform while keeping it classic.
I am also of the mindset that "IU Guy" is not a positive resume bullet. The program needs to get out the 1980s. While the Knight Era was legendary, the sport has changed (a little for the worse) and hanging on to how things ran back then has held IU back. I believe that's also why Cignetti worked because he was an outsider and blew up the "IU way of thinking" as far as football. There is no reason IU can't be modern and also honor the past.
Also, and this is nitpicking, I get why the chair throw is historical, but I would love to see other Knight moments get immortalized. If I was a Purdue Fan (gross) I would never cease to make fun of IU that arguably the best coach in CBB history's most commemorated moment was a temper tantrum in a double-digit home loss to your rival.
*Ducks*
Agreed that AH sucks to watch a game but it's not why we haven't been winning. It's still easily one of the 5 most difficult arenas to play in when it's rocking. Self said recently it's the loudest arena he's ever coached in outside of Allen. You're saying a new arena would mean better recruits? I don't buy that at all. They want NIL $ and a ticket to the NBA.