You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home
Field Apparel. Hey there folks, Welcome back to
Crimson Cast. Scott here with you.
Excited to be back. It's been a while.
I know I've been off a little bit busy.
You know, life, kids, soccer matches, all those things.
I'm super excited today to be joined by Ryan Phillips of
Assembly Call part of the Back Home Network.
As you all know, we are both part of the Back Home Network.
He's saluting me. No one should salute me at all.
Back Home Network is also a part of a home field apparel.
They representing sponsor and go check them out.
They got great stuff. They're just coming out with an
Indy 500 collection. I think it drops today or
tomorrow. Some really good stuff.
I'm excited to see what they have.
There's some cool logos. There's some fantastic stuff for
little 5. Check them out.
Home Field Apparel. You get 25 or 15% off your first
purchase if you use the promo code HOME 23 Ryan, my wife
consumes about, I don't know, 2% of our podcast material.
Mostly stuff she hears me saying The one side and I talked to her
and she's kind of half interested.
The one thing she likes she always gets a kick out of is
that I named this podcast the Two Copilots.
No pilot podcast. She likes that.
That's probably the only thing she knows that I do.
For all she knows, I'm talking about Auburn football in here
for an hour, but she likes that. So to my other copilot, welcome
aboard my friend. Thanks man.
It's always great when we do this and and I think it drives
Galen and Jared crazy listening to these because it's just so no
you take the one. No, you take the way I'm going
to take the wheel now. And so yeah, this this is just
us, man. It's it's the way we do and.
The the jokes on them because This is why we don't do reads
because they'll hear us screw it up.
And then for a year, Gale like, no, man, I got the home field
read like Scott's called the home network.
Like he's all screwed up. Like, yeah.
And and and what they don't realize we're doing that on
purpose, that they have to do all.
The Yeah, I'm going to get some coffee.
I'm going to get some Donuts. Like they're not.
Going to listen to this, they'll never know but.
There's a world where you and I are just totally locked in.
We're doing the best reads, but just yeah, not getting that out
of me well. What was what was funny is we've
been each other's orbit for so long and we finally met
February. We've never been to the same
room before and and there were worries that the the the
universe might implode if the two of us were in the same room
because we kind of suck up all the energy.
But it didn't happen. Everybody's good.
Yeah, it's a good thing it didn't happen in 2020 because
that would have been like, well, that caused COVID like you.
We get together. It's like, yeah, by the way,
real quick. Just want to shout out to you my
friend, Congrats on getting the the role in si.com that is,
that's fantastic my friend. That's a great.
That's a great step. Thank you.
I've I've been telling people that when you know it is it is
awesome and it's it's an honor to work there and and you know
there's a transition kind of going right now or I'm kind of
we're all kind of feeling our way in.
But I've been telling people that when I was 10 years old I
my dream job was to play third base for the San Diego Padres.
On the on the slight chance that didn't happen I gave myself a
backup plan which was to write for Sports Illustrated didn't
realize it would take this long to get to my backup but it
finally did and honestly it's it's pretty surreal and still
you know transitioning over there and and getting used to it
but everybody there's great and our we're you know our our
company has transitioned some people over to it's it's kind of
a merger and and it's been fantastic and and I'm so excited
about it and I'm so excited to get to write about IU and and
all of the things I actually really care about on that
platform it should be amazing so now we know.
We're a bitch at if we're not in the cover of SI, it's like.
Exactly. No, I've already.
I've already gotten it. Will you getting Indiana on the
cover was like, yeah, that's not my decision.
I'm not there yet. To be fair, Indiana had a great
run from like 76 to 87. SI was also at the top.
I think we made the cover like twice during that run.
I think what's the the last time was Cody, right?
Well, I guess Oladipo was on the cover was one of the regional
covers for that, that March Madness Cody, the beginning of
that year and I think before that was DJ White with the dude
from Illinois. I have a poster in my basement
of all the SIS and then like before that it was I think Damon
Bailey beat in Kentucky. There was a long stretch there.
I didn't realize it. Would have been that I could be
there. There might be one in the gap
there. I'm not AI need to.
I can run downstairs and if you want to do 2 reads I can and
then I I think before that it was the night like the night
Court One in like the 87 run. Oh yeah, I remember that one.
But you know, I I honestly want to thank everybody, you know,
all the Indiana fans that that have followed me over the years.
I, you know, you guys have helped push me push my writing
career where it was. I think in 2016 I was almost out
of the business and wound up in and I've gotten a lot of help
from from the IU sort of family of of reading my stuff and and
whether you like it or not reading it and often times
letting me hear that you don't like it, which is great.
I appreciate that as well. But the click is all that
matters. So thanks to everybody for for
supporting me. Over the years, so you're
getting writing nil deals. I hear you're just going to kick
out here. All right.
Well, let's. So here's here's my thought for
this podcast. Kind of framing it in one way is
that but again from my orbit the the the IU stuff that I ingest,
it's feels like there hasn't been a lot of seasoned
retrospectives. There has been the the stuff you
see in a lot of places and a lot of like the you know the rewind
stuff that inside the hall does and some like all you guys have
done some stuff but it feels like everyone has been kind of
looking just let's just talk about the the the portal portal
guys moving straightforward. I I get that.
I think it's kind of interesting there hasn't been a lot of
retrospective, which I guess people don't want to look at a
season where you didn't make the tournament.
That said, I do think looking back at last season, looking
back at Woodson's last three years is kind of it could be
very instructive and doing it kind of in a that was funniest
thinking about this like let's do it in in a bit of a rational
way with maybe two of the most irrational people on the back
home network. So but no that that should.
Go Great. It should go great.
It's. It's going to be fantastic.
We're going to fire everybody by the time this podcast is over.
Let's let's look at this season and last, you know, last two
years and let's just try and kind of put into perspective
what we saw, what we think and how, what it means moving
forward. So kind of giving you a lot of
runway, what, what were your like, overall feelings about how
things went this season besides just, you know, the old joke
like not great, Bob, because we didn't make the tournament, went
19 and 14. Nothing really to note.
I worry it's going to be a season's lost in time, but I I
don't know what were your high level thoughts for this season,
both good and bad? I thought there were some
individual things that were good but overall the team just did
not fit together and the pieces didn't fit together And and I
think we kept saying at the beginning of the season
especially on something called hey, it's going to take this
team a while because these guys haven't played together before.
It's going to take them a while to kind of figure it out.
It took way too long. I mean I mean I and I don't
know. You know it's one of those
things where you're using the excuse using the excuse using
the excuse and at some point like are they ever going to
learn to play together. And and it it, you know it
bottomed out at Penn State in February and when they were 14
and 13 they lost, you know on the road to Penn State 14 and
13, six and 10 in the Big 10. Now they made that late season
run. But I think in hindsight that
five game-winning streak, if you look you know against Wisconsin
who was a team that was really struggling at that point, had a
good season but really struggled at that point at Maryland.
I I think Kevin will is going to get fired midway through next
season. You know they they beat
Maryland. I mean go on the road and win.
It's a big deal at Minnesota, not a good team.
Then you beat Michigan State, A-Team.
Nobody could figure out all year what they were, what they did
well, but they just kept being ranked high.
And then you beat a Penn State team you should have beat twice
before in the first round of the of the Big 10 tournament.
So you won five games in a row. That's difficult to do in the
Big 10 at any time. But you, when you kind of put
that in context, you know, a couple weeks earlier they had
won at Ohio State. Well, Ohio State was about to
fire Chris Holman. So you you know and Ohio State
made a run at the end of the year and look good but under a
different coach. So you look back and you're just
looking at all these signposts it's just like I you got run off
your floor a number of times a big blowouts I I just I don't
think that you know and and I heard a lot from the other well
they finished sixth in the Big 10 you know they won 19 games.
It it's like with the talent they had they should have been
way better. There should have been a better
idea and it shouldn't have taken as long as it did to figure out
what they did well and and how to attack teams.
And so it that season is and and also finished sixth in the Big
10 and one of the worst years of the Big 10.
In like 25 years, 2 is not a huge accomplishment. 10 and 10
in the conference is not a huge accomplishment.
So I for me utter disappointment with that season.
There's not, there's there's no way to sugarcoat that in
hindsight. And I think in hindsight it
actually looks worse. Some people have tried to like
rationalize that it's actually better than it was.
It wasn't. They didn't didn't really win
any big games and they lost some.
They definitely shouldn't have. And so I I there's nothing I can
look back on to hang my hat on. You finished a universe away
from the bubble. So yeah, it was it was
disappointing across the board, and in a in a rational way, it
was disappointing across the board.
I mean, I know I'm Mr., Irrational, Mr. Rant, but I
can't find things in that season that were positive as a team.
Khalil Ware's development was great to see.
You know, Anthony Leo finally getting a shot and playing
really well was good to see Trey Galloway leading an offense,
something he hadn't really done full time before and and
stepping up, those were good individual things to see.
But as and and Mackenzie and Bacco's improvement at the end
of the season as well, especially because he's coming
back during the season. I was kind of like, well, yeah,
he's improving, but he's not going to be here, so whatever.
But the fact that he's coming back that that bodes well for
the future. So there were some individual
things, but as a team I just, I could not find positives from
that season. Yeah, it's a it's a weird.
Season. Because for people who are kind
of passive, there's not a lot of, but I I do know people who
are kind of passive sports fans. You look at and it's like, hey
man, they made the tournament, first two years, didn't make the
tournament. They weren't awful.
You know six in the Big 10, it's like, yeah, it's just not here.
Everybody has it. And on one hand you you can say
that if you're kind of just a passive fan.
But Indiana, and I mean we are not passive fans and we're also
talking to not passive fans. And if you live through it, it
was a brutal stretch. And yeah, they finished on A5
game, Yeah, well you know they they finished that four-game win
streak, but leading up to that they were two and eight in 10
Big 10 games if you stretch that.
So that was from Purdue to Penn State.
If you stretch it out they were four and 10 from January 3rd to
February 24th. And if you take out Morehead
State, North Alabama and Kennesaw State, which are Gimme
games, you should win. Which by the way they won one of
them by one point against Morehead State, but we'll take
them out. There were four and 12 from
December 9th to February 24th and as you said just the the
utter ass kickings just getting blown out by Auburn, you're
blown out on your homecourt by Nebraska.
I mean by Penn State being at Nebraska, I'm getting them all
mixed up. There's just there was so many
blowouts and it is started to add up and it just became by the
time you got to that four-game winning streak, it meant so
little that I think it kind of devalued what that win streak
really meant at the end because you would kind of pissed away
the entire season. People were clinging to that at
the end, you know, it's like, OK, finally we have some hope.
And it was like, yeah, your hope is you win the entire Big 10
tournament. It's the only way because I I
heard people rationally, well, if they get to the Big 10
tournament final, they'll probably get in.
I was like, no, they won't. They're nowhere near it.
They have to win it. And and I think people just had
never, they hadn't coped with that in a long time and it
thought that maybe Indiana's program had risen to another
level. And if you look at look the
reason why last year was so disappointing, people say, well,
you have an off year in the Big 10 happens to all the Big 10
teams as well. But the reason why that was so
disappointing is because the amount of resources that have
been put into the program, the size of the staff, the
investment in facilities, the like, if you do all of those
things, if you invest at let's say, a Kansas level, you cannot
have Northwestern results. And that is something.
Sorry to cut you off but we'll both do it to each other.
This is something that I was kind of took some heat for, but
I've been saying all year that you know I gave Woodson an A
plus for last year's offseason. You get one of the top people in
the Portal in, you know, Khalil Ware, you get a five star
recruit in Mackenzie and Baca who recommits, that's a home run
in the Portal. I don't know.
This is Imbacco is not a Portal guy, but I kind of lump it all
into the offseason. But that's that's a great
offseason and you get, you know, Anthony Walker and Peyton Sparks
who are very solid, respectable Portal gets.
And I'm like, that's a lot. Like most you're never going to
normally talk about Now, you know, they kind of look like
they did this year, which then it's like, alright, well now you
really got to do something. But that was my thing is you
can't just expect to get the number 5 guy in the Portal every
year. Maybe, maybe I'm wrong, maybe
you can. But that was my thing is if you
have an A or an A+ offseason, you really can't go in and do
like AC minus season and then be talking about, man, the pieces
don't fit. And then you see it like doesn't
work. It's like, man, you you got all
the right pieces. Like Khalil Ware did everything
you wanted. You had a lot of guys have the
offseason you wanted them to and then you had a really bummer of
a season so that it was that was really tough to deal with.
And and I think that my the only issue I have with the way
they're building the roster, I don't think it's sustainable
long term because I think some offseasons if you don't have a
good season, you're going to miss on portal guys because
they're going to go places are more successful especially as
NIO gets built out schools are going to be pretty much largely
even the top schools and so you're going to be battling 10
teams for one player and I just don't think that's a sustainable
strategy long term. They've been very successful in
spring recruiting very successful.
They got another they got another guy this year in Bryson
Tucker and then and it's, you know, it's kind of like you
shake the trees loose. But they've got to win long
recruitments though at some point because if you look at a
team like Yukon, Yukon has has filled in a few prospects
they've landed Liam Mcneely they they they added.
So. But The thing is their backbone
is getting recruits and then adding the pieces they need to
fill out the roster based on if there's a transfer.
If a guy goes pro, those things, you add the transfers to
supplement the roster. Building your roster from the
transfer portal is there's two reasons it doesn't work for a
championship and hasn't so far, and maybe it will moving
forward. It's still pretty new, but right
now you don't see championship teams beat built completely out
of the portal. And the reason why is one it
takes guys a while to get to know each other and get to play
with each other and you're getting like for example this
year Miles Rice, Canada, Carlisle have both been dominant
ball dominant guards are going to play in the same backcourt.
Now maybe it works smoothly and maybe Carlisle is really going
to fit off the ball and and Rice will be better leading the
offense or they can be interchangeable and they'll
they'll have great chemistry. But we don't know and they don't
know right now and it's going to be a transition.
You know you've got Embako, renew Galloway all played
together a lot this past season. So they all know each other but
now they've got to work in Balo and they've got to you know
figure out how that dynamic works and and so I just think
you need to have a base of players that is your backbone
and then you go pick guys. I don't think this strategy,
what Indiana is doing is sustainable long term.
Again, it's a new world with nil and the transfer portal.
We may see teams that do this wind up working, but it's being
treated almost like and I think This is why Woodson's good at
it. It's almost like NBA free
agency. Guys show up, do a tour of the
facilities, get offered money and decide what, you know, what
if they want to stay there and if they leave town and go see
another team, a lot of times you don't wind up getting them and
and and that's the way NBA free agency works.
Mike Woodson's done it for a long time.
The people around him have done it for a long time.
That's probably why he's good at it, you know, I mean, he doesn't
have to keep or build and keep a relationship for a year and a
half with phone calls and showing up in person And all of
that, which, you know, based on who you talk to behind the
scenes, has not been great for Indiana because, again, he's not
used to doing it. And so having to go from zero to
100 doing that is probably a shock given how hard you have to
work to recruit a single player, let alone an entire class.
There's a reason why they've been bad at that and good at
this. And I think it's just because of
the NBA aspect of it. And this is like NBA free
agency, It really is. They get these kids, get brief
visits, get offered money and have to pick where they're going
and and that's what Indiana's been successful at.
I think it's a great comp The the other thing that hasn't been
happening that kind of bothers me and I I've never been a you
have to recruit the state thing you you you can you can win
recruiting other. Places there are good players
everywhere. There are good players
everywhere, but I also counter, there's really, there's always,
there are always good players in Indiana and you could, I haven't
done it, but I mean almost every year in the Final Four there's
three or four kids from the state of Indiana.
And you know this is something that I'm I'm kind of
paraphrasing a point that Galen has made a couple of times on
Crimson Cast and it's a fairpoint.
You know the the idea of bringing back an Indiana coach
sorry a former Knight player as a coach is that you would get
some of the strands of what would what made IU successful
under Knight and by all me look look at the 8017 the 81 team.
It's not all Indiana kids there are other pieces but there are a
lot of backbone Indiana Midwest kids on those teams.
But and I'll keep to this point there's also other things there
like you know they they they play hard.
They don't get blown out they're not getting teed up.
There's a lot of things that aren't there.
But you know, you you look at Purdue and it's, I think like 11
of the 14 kids are from Indiana. And part of that is you, you
get, you know, that's why people like Trey Galloway so much.
He's from Culver. Like, we know.
I know where Culver is. I drive by there, like, you
know, you get somebody from Fort Wayne like, Oh my, my my wife's
from Fort Wayne. Like there is something to that.
Like in the end this is God. I feel like.
I feel like old guy Scott yelling off my lawn.
But like this is This is why? Was that different than always?
I know it's it's not. I mean I'm getting it's it's
wild. I'm turning into my dad.
It's it's bananas. It happens to all of us, you
kids. It's going to happen to you.
But like, this is what makes college different.
Anyway, the point that I'm making is I I do think Indiana
has lost its way a little bit with that.
And it's kind of bothersome to see it coming from a knight
disciple that when you needed six spots, you're not just
getting one more kid from Indiana that maybe you could
fill that spot and it, you know, so like you, I'm nervous.
This is a good long term strategy of trying to go out
there and play with the big boys because Indiana just hasn't done
and they don't have the resource, they don't have the
history of doing it. And but all that said, two years
in a row, they've done a really good job, they've gotten the
pieces. But again, you look at last
season, you had a lot of the pieces and you weren't able to
make them fit, so it is concerning, yeah.
I I think that with the Indiana thing and I've always been,
again, I'm not from Indiana. I grew up in California,
transferred in. I have a different perspective
on this than everybody else and and what I always said was like
with a coach when you're trying to hire a head coach, geography
shouldn't matter. Get the best person and and for
for for for for recruiting. I feel the same way but there's
a big but there. I think that it's important for
Indiana to get Indiana kids because you recruit programs as
much as players and the programs that consistently turn out great
players. You've seen Indiana get try and
get all deep in on Mont Verde and it and it hasn't really
worked long term. You recruit programs coaches,
AAU, you know programs as as well as players and The thing is
is that that provides you a pipeline of players that maybe
you not going to get all five stars.
You're going to need some guys like Anthony Leo and Trey
Galloway who are three stars who maybe the big programs aren't
looking at that you're going to have for four years that you can
develop into key rotation pieces.
And if you do that, you've always got that backbone of
talent kind of as a as a a hose coming in.
And the best place to do that is in your backyard because A you
don't have to fly all the way to Florida or Georgia to do it.
It's right there. Those kids can then come visit
campus. You maybe don't have to work as
hard to get them because they can't just drive down to
Bloomington to go to games. And you're not having to put as
much personal attention in dragging them across the country
to come here or flying across the country to for FaceTime.
They can just come on down and I think that that.
Is important and Indiana needs to get back to that.
Purdue has been, you know, I hate praising Purdue as much as
anybody. They've been fantastic at that
and that's something they have done for a long time.
Matt Painter is really smart to do it.
And I think that you know that this, this class coming up, the
2025 class can be very telling for the future of Indiana
basketball with Sicily and Mullins who they are all in on
Harrelson, who they've been recruiting forever.
You know, he's a national recruit.
He may not stay in the state, but if they can land a couple
Indiana guys and again they landed Mcneely but they didn't
keep them and keep them, that will tell you that the future of
the program is headed in a better direction.
If they don't get those guys, I really worry for the future.
Whether Mike Woodson's here or not, It can set you back for
years, even under a new coach. Another concern that that
continued from from last season was, you know the first two
years under Woodson they played a unique style, we'll call it
compared to modern basketball, but you did.
You also had Trace Jackson Davis in the post who was a
generational talent. I would counter that, you know,
Purdue had a similarly generational talent and they
were able to find ways to weave modern basketball and
three-point shooting in all. That said, you know, Mike
Woodson got the 2023 team to a four seed.
It's a protected seed, you know? Anyway, I have a thought on
that. We'll come back to it.
But you got, if you had a good season, you got a protected
seed. It did.
The tournament didn't work out the way you wanted to.
It doesn't always work out. And it felt like last offseason
when you and I did this, it was kind of like, all right, well,
now, all right, get our hands together now.
Woodson's going to show us his offensive.
Mind. Now we're, you know, that was
only because of Trace Jackson Davis.
That's what was changing him up. Now he's in the lab this
offseason. He's going to come in with some
great stuff. Oh no, we're just going to do
the exact same thing again. I'm concerned about it for this
reason, Ryan, is that I I don't. I think you can play that way.
You can if you decide we are going to play through the post
and we have found a reason to, you know, we're going to go
against the grain. I think there is always a reason
to go against the grain of the NBA was small or the NBA was big
in the 90s until the Warriors were small and then everything's
small and now suddenly it's like, man, we got to get some
bigs because suddenly the league is big again.
It it ebbs and flows. That said, Indiana's in a rough
spot with Mike Woodson that they don't shoot a lot of threes.
They're pretty efficient with their twos, but they get to the
line a lot. They're really bad for shooting
up at the line. They're not good at rebounding,
like all of the things that you would if you're not going to
shoot a lot of threes. You need to be really efficient
with your shots. You need to be great at getting
to the line and converting, and you need to rebound offensively
at a very elite level. And they don't do any of those
things. And then it it shows up in going
you know four for 12 in a 16 game stretch.
So I'm this is where I'm still concerned is that we got all
these great pieces. Are they going to be able to
work unless we play some kind of modern style of basketball?
Yeah, it is interesting to look at Mike Woodson, a Bob Knight
disciple, and look how different his teams play than Bob Knight's
teams. Bob Knight's teams could shoot.
They could rebound. They dove on the floor and
hustled. They did all those things.
They were wildly efficient offensively.
They moved. They never stopped moving
offensively. Woodson's teams don't move a
whole lot. It's all predicated on throwing
to the post and playing off of that.
A lot of times his perimeter guys stay put.
So the and the reason there is so that the post guy knows where
to, where they will be to Kick It Out, which if you run the
offense properly, he should know where they're going to be
anyway. But that's a whole other
discussion. But you know they they don't
shoot free throws. Well they don't shoot 3 pointers
well they again don't move. The defense is very reliant on
over help instead of being you know a man help.
It's it's this nail slot rim which is not with Bob Knight
rant. I mean, it's it's so crazy that
he was a knight disciple and looking at the way they play, if
you didn't know he had played for Bob Knight, you would.
You would never know. Watching his teams play, he
looks. More like someone who played for
Archie Miller in a weird. Way, kind of honestly.
Kind of and and so that's it's very interesting and I I agree
with you 100% that if you look at what Purdue did because
everyone was like oh Purdue is post centric and they want a lot
well watch them play you know lawyer is never stops moving.
Britton Smith never stops moving.
They always have guys interchanging and screening.
They use Ed in a lot of high pick and roll and then dive him
but then they as they dive him he's not the only option.
They have shooters on the wings moving to get open and it's it's
constant movie. You watch Connecticut watch
Connecticut play. They had a 7 two guy who was
really good and clinging. I mean he was it was not the
same situation as Edie where he just got the ball all the time
but watch they had a big guy they could use and watch how
much movement they had on offense.
It was incredible to watch especially in that tournament
run as they like just only got stronger.
It was like you know launching A nuke at Godzilla.
They just got stronger and and so I, I, I, I question whether
this can be a winning strategy as well and and and if you look
at the bigs in the NBA and you're mentioning, yeah the NBA
is kind of predicated on on big guys.
They're kind of going back to that.
But all of those big guys can do multiple things.
I can step out on the floor and shoot threes.
They can shoot for they can shoot long twos.
They aren't just posting up. 22 nights ago I was at the Pacers
game. Miles Turner went seven for 9
from 3. Brook Lopez went four for five
from and his there. Was 3.
His threes were like Caitlin Clark threes.
They were deep, like it was wild, yeah.
Those guys can all do multiple things.
So it's not, it's not the same as just putting a guy.
And and I'll say this with Trace Jackson Davis, given his
versatility, they moved him around a lot and they ran a lot
of pick and roll. They ran a lot.
You know they they ran a lot of you know that high the high
elbows curl off of it with him. You know flipping to the post
and he showed with the Warriors this year he's just he's active.
He's an active guy to move around.
They didn't do a lot of that with Khalil Ware and and or as
much. I mean you'd see it sometimes
you know you'd run a quick screen at the top but they
didn't run hardcore pick and roll with him as much.
It was a lot of back to the basket stuff given his ability
he shot 42.5% from three. They didn't pick and pop a whole
lot either and they could have and and and you pick and pop
drop or new to the post. You know I mean there just
wasn't a lot it would and and a lot of like movement and change
and and I think that I don't think you can win in modern
basketball and I'll say this I think Mike Woodson could win at
Indiana. I don't think he can win a
championship at Indiana doing what he does.
And so I think you can have a season like you did with Trace
Jackson Davis maybe make the Sweet 16 if the matchups are
right. But if that's what your ceiling
is, you need to change things. Because in Indiana you are not
paying the the amount of money going into that program, the
amount of resources and all of that is not to get to the Sweet
16 and finish in the top four of the Big 10.
It's to win a championship. And if you can't win a
championship doing what you're doing, you have to change what
you're doing. Bring in different people,
bringing outside voices. The fact that they just had a
very disappointing season that didn't change anyone on the
staff, didn't bring in anybody from the outside, that's
worrying to me. It's not that I don't like the
staff. Sometimes you just need a new
voice. And with how much they struggled
last year to not bring in new people and new perspectives,
that worries me as well. You you mentioned the shooting
last year. That this is the thing that will
always baffle me about. Last season is fine.
You know Trace Jackson Davis never took a three in college.
I took like one or two and they were like halftime peeves,
whatever. But you know you had a guy in
Khalil Ware who could shoot the three and looked really good
shooting the three. And oh, by the way percentage
base was our best 3 point shooter last season shooting
42%. Here's the list of guys that
took more threes than him last year.
Malik Renew shot 33%. Imbacco shot 32%.
Took 153. Ware took 40.
Trey Galloway took more. CJ Gunn just take a minute.
The CJ Gunn shot more. He went 17 for 50.
Gabe cops took 39 threes, one more than one less than where
it. So that's five guys who took
more threes than Khalil Ware and and that's the part that kind of
maddened me last year is like hey man, you have this and and
Ware had a great season and he was used but he was at at times
it felt like he was always an afterthought and I'm like hey
man, run run some plays for Ware to get open for the three run
where like a point guard like why why are we not utilizing
this more because he's an unbelievable resource.
It felt like his threes came in transition or came very much
kind of as an afterthought. And that was the frustrating
part for me is you were almost given this.
Like forgive the analogy but let's not perfect, but like a
Victor Wimbanyama Light type in college.
It's like you can do some really cool stuff and you're not going
to do anything with it. You're going to treat him like a
very traditional post player. And that that makes me concerned
to think that you know when I hear all of this chatter in the
offs, you know now about, oh man, we got all these guys and
oh man, it's going to change. We're going to get much 3 point
shooters. Like I don't see it.
Like I what I see last year is what we're going to do because I
look at where as a talent that was kind of unused incorrectly
for most of last year. I agree and and look at 7 foot
of you you're going to get easy buckets with his back to the
basket like it's and any and we're incredibly skilled around
the hoop and honestly I I love Balo he was one of my favorite
players in College of the last two years so I'm really excited
to get him but from an offensive skill perspective where is
better like you know and Bob Balo does a lot of things that
we're didn't So I think it's kind of a an even exchange but
but Ware was incredibly skilled and I and I agree I think they
just fit him into the Trace Jackson Davis box and then did
less than they did with Trace Jackson Davis in that regard and
and I just think Woodson's offense is what it is and and I
hear from a lot of people and I heard it all season I was like
Yep Indiana can't shoot three like Mike Woodson has to do
something or whatever and people will be like well they're
getting open looks they're just missing him It's like well it's
on the coaches to get them to make them as well it's not it's
not just getting them open looks and and the other and he just
could tell these guys had no confidence from deep and and
that needs to be instilled first of all second of all.
If the offense is getting you open looks that you're
consistently missing something is wrong whether it's the
players you're picking or where you're getting them shots and
all of that stuff like something has to it's on the coaches to
figure that out because you have to and I and I heard well they
don't shoot a lot of threes because they're bad at making
them again like figure that out like you're paid to figure that
out and and so again this isn't the bash Mike Woodson hour I you
know he's done a great job this offseason addressing the needs
and and I'm I'm hopeful and I think that a lot of people when
you and I think that a lot of people are emotionally invested
in Mike Woodson because they watched him play or he's an
Indiana guy or whatever and it and that's great and I and I
love that. I appreciate that.
You know I don't have anything personally against Mike Woodson.
I I think that you know critiquing his coaching people
think that that's a you know both of those things are true
and they're not. I I am 100% hopeful that he
figures it out and that he's the guy to lead Indiana to a
championship. I I think that's a great story
that would be wonderful to tell. And I think that, you know, none
of us want to do another coaching search.
I think he could say that like none of us want to go through
that again. So I hope he figures it out.
I just have no evidence at this point that things are going to
change from a system perspective.
And I think we have enough evidence in three years that the
system doesn't really work for what you want to do in college
and what you need to do in college on both.
And I'm I'm talking about both ends.
It's not just offense. No, no, the.
The defense, when you look at it, you know from a Ken Palm
perspective, it it's gotten worse every single year.
Like the adjusted defense nationally ranked.
In 2022, we were ranked 24th. In 2023, we were ranked 45th.
Last year we were ranked 84th. And you know this is something
Galen was doing on our pod throughout the NCLA tournament.
You look at teams that were making it to the Sweet 16, Elite
Eight, Final Four, they were all in the top 20 of Ken Palm and
either 1-2 or both of adjusted offense, adjusted defense.
They're just there is no world where our defense is ranked 84th
in the country and we're making it to a Final Four.
It would be such a statistical outlier and our offense.
Again, this goes back to the kind of The problem is our
offense would then have to be so effing elite to make it above,
and you have to be a like that's what the Pacers are.
Dealing with in. The NBA, yeah, you have to make
basically be so efficient that the other team turning it over
kind of becomes your defense. So and that's something that is
very concerning is that the defense has just gotten worse
every single year and defense is just effort and coaching.
You know, same thing with often I think I'm stealing your,
you've said this in one of the post games about how offensive
rebounding is just, you know, it's just effort and coaching
and they were getting just killed on those spots to
throughout the season And that that is another part that is
concerning. And again it goes back to I'm
going to go back to something you just said about you know,
this is not a Bash Woodson pod but we are.
I'm trying to rationally look at last year and I think this is
something that, you know, I'm always concerned about is kind
of the expectation creep or the slip of expectation that we hold
ourselves to a higher standard Indiana basketball or I hope we
do. And so I'm not trying to bash
anything but by the way, we went 4:00 and 12:00 or 4:00 and 10:00
last year in a 14 game span. We went 10 and 10.
We didn't make the tournament. We didn't make the NIT.
It's time to bash something. I mean, that was not a good
season. Like if I was listening to an
Ohio State football podcast and they didn't make a bowl game, I
wouldn't expect to hear them. Hey man, you know, six and six
isn't bad. You know, we're not like they
would. They don't beat Indiana by 20.
They go, they go apocalyptic like they lose 2 games.
And this is something as a guy who's getting into his mid 40s
who hasn't had a lot of success with IU basketball.
I get concerned when I see a season like last year and then
now it's like, all right, let's let's take a step back into your
point. Nobody gets fired.
There are no changes. They've had a great offseason
recruiting. That's fine.
But I get concerned once. Like, all right, let's let's
take a step back. It's not too bad.
So like, yes, last season was awful.
That'd be great. Everyone come back.
You can have a great year next year.
And guess what? That's that's sports.
I I don't know. I just, I think it's OK as fans
to to, I don't want to bash but like be very critical of what
happened last season because that that's year three of a
program you should be on your way to what you're going to be
and what we were last year was pretty bad all across the board.
Yeah, and I and I, you know, last year a lot of people said,
well, they lost a lottery pick at point guard.
They lost Trace Jackson Davis. You know that was a huge part of
your team. You lost a bunch of seniors and
you know Miller Cop and Ray Thompson.
I mean even just from a leadership perspective, that's
huge. To lose those guys, whatever you
think of them on the court there.
Last year, I think Miller Cop is incredibly underrated for what
he did to Indiana at the end of that year.
But you know you lost a bunch and and that was the thing as
well. They lost so much and they had
to replace it all in the portal. Well, what are they doing this
year? They're doing the exact same
thing. So is that going to be the
excuse this year if they don't make this?
I I have said if they don't compete for a Big Ten title this
year with the amount of money that has been spent putting this
roster together and they're not done yet.
The amount of money and resources put into putting this
roster together and what you have coming back in Ibaka,
Renew, Galloway, Leal which also almost certainly cost you a
decent chunk of cash with the money they have put in.
If they don't compete for a Big Ten title and make it at least
to the second weekend of of the NCA tournament, you have to re
evaluate everything in the program because you can't
continually make the same excuse that well they had to build a
roster on the fly. It's like well a couple of these
guys are going to be gone after a year too, you know?
I mean it's. That thing I have no time for
that excuse because as we both said this is the way and and
Woodson's been successful at this, but this is the way that
he wants to build this team. He's chosen because he's not and
maybe it's because he's not doing other things.
He's not able to do the long recruitment as well.
But but like we are a team that hits the portal hard and
therefore you're going to basically be re evaluated
evaluating this every single year.
So to me it would be like that's not an excuse because after four
years this is the way that you're showing you want to
build. What?
You are at this point and so. And the other thing is, and I've
heard a lot, well you know CJ Gunn and Caleb Banks didn't
develop. They would have been great
rotation pieces. You've had to replace, you know
their spots on there. So it's like well you're in
charge of their development like if they're not developing that's
kind of on you. And I think that from an MBA
guy, coming from an MBA perspective, players do get
developed in the NBA, but it's incrementally, they go from
being good to great or decent to good.
You know, I mean it's it's and if they're not good, you just
replace them in the draft the next year.
And I think that development isn't as big a deal in the NBA
as it is in college. A lot of times you get fully
formed guys, whether it's in free agency or trades or
whatever. In college you have to get a
freshman and turn them into something.
It's not on them, it's on you to to a large point of it and and
players can get better on their own.
We all know Victor Oladipo would work out like 4 hours a day to
get better, but that was under the direction of the coaching
staff of of what to do and how to do it.
If you're not developing those players and then you have to go
replace them it's not you can't blame the players for not
getting better. I think that it's it's it's a
it's a dual thing. I think you can you can talk
about it both but you're half of the equation and so you are
having to replace waves of players that are not getting
better or that are leaving. And this is again you're right.
This is how he has chosen to do it.
He's been successful at finding the talent.
Talent has not been Indiana's issue.
I know people are starting to again sort of look back at last
season say, well they were missing so much time.
You had a 600. Talent last?
Year six year senior point guard.
You had a guy who's going to be a first round pick.
You had former five stars in Renew and in Baco.
You had a senior guy in Galloway.
You had a senior in Leo, You had a senior in Walker, like you've
had guys who had been there and done things.
Well, I think renew was a five star you had.
I mean I think Renew was a five star and I think that's one of
the first times in the last I'd have to go back and look.
But I was saying if not the most, we haven't had many years.
We've had three, five stars on our team in the last 20 years.
I mean go back even the good, even the good Tom Crean teams,
you know, old Depot was not a five star, Zeller was a five
star. I think Wofford might have been
right on the edge, but you know. Wofford was a four Yogi was a.
Four. Yeah.
And again, you know, just 'cause you're a five star doesn't mean
you're going to be awesome. I I, I present you Christian
Lander, and just 'cause you're a three star doesn't mean you're
going to be bad. All of that said, more five
stars. I'll take any day of the week
you had. You had three, five stars on
last year's roster and that is a I'm with you 100%.
Talent was not the issue and that's why you and I are both
kind of circling around the Woodson thing is I I can't look
at last year and blame blame him.
You look at the top four players you can say you know where gave
you everything I wanted beginning of the year that he
gets an A+ everything I wanted. I think he was used a little bit
ineffectively, but he gave me everything I wanted.
Renew came back and gave me more than I like he gave.
He had the leap from freshman to sophomore year.
He gave me everything I wanted. Imbacco started shaky and then
played well. Guess what that sounds like?
Sounds like a freshman. That's what freshman do.
So he and he looked really good at the end of the year.
And Trey Galloway, you know he regressed to the meet.
Maybe his last year was kind of the the ex he he wasn't worse
than he's ever been. He was just worse than he was
last year. So maybe that's not the great
one. All that said, it's like I I
can't look at last year and blame the talent OR the players
for what happened. No.
And and also let's be real, the coaching staff put that team
together. I mean you know it's it's they
have nobody to blame themselves in the Portal era.
If it was, if they think it was a talent deficiency, if they
think there were holes on the roster, it's well, you had a
chance to put it together. Now I know they didn't get all
the guys they wanted in the portal.
It seems like they're getting them all this year.
But you know they would have loved to have Dalton connect
last year, didn't get him. They would have loved to have a
couple other guys that they tried to get on campus and and
or try to get, you know to to come here and didn't Sometimes
you miss. But that's the danger of playing
with that strategy is. Somebody might offer double what
you're offering in NIL and because they only need one
player when you need 4, you know and and so they can put all
their and I, they're all their transfer portal resources into
one guy instead of having to spread it around.
And regardless of how big your bag is you can get beaten.
And so I yeah, I don't think talent was a problem.
I think the pieces on the court you just saw they didn't really
fit together very well and I think that they especially
didn't fit well in the system and so I would hope look I
again. The other thing I the other
thing I'll say about last year you you mentioned about the NBA
piece I saw this pop its head up last year and there's just This
is why there's not a lot of great examples of pure NBA
coaches having success in college is.
It's a terrible, terrible. It's it's not a great record and
as as somebody who's an NBA fan who has an NBA podcast in the
network right at Meridian, check it out.
It goes to a lot of NBA games. You know, you see I, I, Rick
Carlisle is a great coach and I will see games where he's like,
man, we lost. Like it's just whatever, like
I'm putting in. I'm going to play the Subs a
little bit longer and just like whatever, you know on on to
Cleveland as Belichick would say and you just you have 82 games
and you can do that and you can not piss games away.
But it's just like dude, that you play some back-to-back.
So it's like, hey man, just take a bunch of the reason.
If we hit him, maybe we win, maybe we don't.
You can't do that in college. And that's why college coaches
are frenetic. They're insane.
They're screaming. That's why you.
Hurley, anybody? Yeah, they're muscle men like
guys. Like, they're they're nuts.
And I looked to last year, you know, you have, you know,
January 3rd, from that point on, your kind of win, loss, win,
loss, a three-game losing streak.
You're home to Purdue, at Wisconsin, at Illinois.
Fine. Those are all tough games.
Win, loss, win, loss. You come home, you, you, you go
to Purdue. Fine, you lose that.
But you come home, You're now 14 and 11.
You're six and eight in the Big 10, and I'm not saying that they
went in to lose games, but like, you're home for Northwestern,
Nebraska, you're at Penn State. It's like this is, this is the,
this is the spot we've got to stop.
To get right to. Get right and like you've had a
couple games where you you got blown out at home.
At Penn State, you had the Nebraska blowout.
At Nebraska you've had a couple games where you kind of know
show. Look, you you have got to go
nuts and this is where, you know, dude Woodson is who he is.
But I have a hard time when they lose at home.
The the Northwestern, they lose at home, the Nebraska by 15.
What? You know, maybe it's just for
show, but it's like Woodson go nuts, man.
Kick something. Get to teed up like look like
look like this is as important as it is.
And sometimes I feel like there's that NBA vibe of like,
yeah, man, you know, just tough, tough one.
What are you going to do? They're hitting their shots.
Like, move it on. And I feel like that was the
point where that any shot they had at making the tournament was
lost right around that point. 100% and and also you know you
had a three-game stretch where it was #2 Purdue, #11 Wisconsin,
#10 in Illinois. You win one of those games,
maybe you revive the season, right.
They weren't really competitive in any of those games and I mean
they lost by 8 to Illinois. But it just it felt like
Illinois had a, you know, was holding them at arm's length the
entire game. But I, you know, I think that
there just isn't a sense of urgency sometimes.
I think it's kind of what you're getting AT and what's the number
one thing that Watson says is it got to get them over the hump or
I've got to you know they've we've got to be better.
I've got to get these guys better and it's you're when
you're saying that in February like when's it coming you know
and why hasn't happened earlier. And again sometimes teams are
just bad and maybe you know I just don't fit together and all
that. Maybe that's what last year was.
We've got a three-year example of just kind of not getting the
getting blown out at home, which should not happen.
I mean being uncompetitive at home and games, you know going
up and games you should be fired up for.
Like let's put it all on the line for this one, let's you
know we got, you know we got a road game next that we may not
win, let's go balls out for this one and win this one and you
just don't see it sometimes. And and I think you know I know
we look at the 20/22/23 season as as a success and and I'll and
I'll say that based on my preseason expectations it wasn't
a success. But you know knowing the the
stuff on the ground, losing your point guard all of that you can
say OK I I think they should have gotten the second weekend
of the tournament. They didn't they ran into a good
Miami team but they got blown off the floor by that Miami
team. And so was it really super
successful given what you had a lottery pick an all time great.
You know you lost 10 games or you lost eight games in the big
10. You finished twelve and eight
and you and that's with beating Purdue twice, you know, So you
know, outside of Purdue there were ten and eight in the Big
10. That's not great.
I mean, you beat the team that maybe you shouldn't beat twice
and then we're about 500 in the rest of the season.
So let's not forget that year, January 11th, they're sitting.
They lose at Penn State by 19. They're ten and six, but they're
one and four in the Big 10, having lost to Rutgers, Iowa,
Northwestern. Penn State weren't bad, but
weren't like that. That wasn't a murderer's row.
I remember at that point being really concerned about the
season going down the toilet. Now to their credit, they turned
it around. They did.
But but I'm with you. You know my, my thought on that
season, how it ended. You know if if this is where the
tournament is tough and in the end man, it's like, dude.
It's all match. Ups you you well you you make
your like I don't have a lot of time for for excuses about
tournament results because in the end you make your money in
the tournament and it it does suck.
I think Bruce Pearl said something like you know you you
you coach for nine months to to basically have your entire
season you know come down to one game which I mean it sucks but
hey that's the career. If you don't like it go in the
NBA go Mike go back to the NBA you got 7 game series to figure
it out. But it's like that is kind of
the that that is the what you signed up for like that is the
career you're picked. That said like you're a you're a
four seed you're a protected seed the match up was bad.
I guess the problem that I have is, you know, in three years for
Woodson, it's less his problem, it's just more overall.
Like Indiana just never gives itself enough enough shots at
the apple. Like you just you need more
times to be the the higher protected seat.
In one of those years, Miami isn't going to be there and
you're going to get through. But I'm with you.
It is tough when you get to that point.
It's like, all right, here's where we need to have that one
game we can win and you just get you get your doors blown off.
But you know this is where you look at next year and you hope
you can make some changes with the results.
I think the point that you made that's that I want to end on I
think it's interesting is and I've thought about this too you
know the the resources that are being given out and and I don't
I've heard rumors about like what ballow cost.
And you know all I'll say is I know all of these guys aren't
doing it because they love wearing candy stripes.
There's money involved for all of this.
So there's you're probably talking upwards of a couple of
$1,000,000 that went out the door for the for this team to be
put together. That's a lot of money and and
it's not it's not IU money. It's not Big 10 network money.
This is real people who are real supporters of IU giving real
checks to probably want to see real results.
And I I wonder from a sustainability point of view,
you know you and I can talk about expectations and who
really cares, No offense to you but it's like I can bitch about
oh we got to make final four. It's like whatever, I've been
doing that for 20 years, nothing changed.
People care when I talk to you that.
They don't. You're at SI now.
Yeah it's true you're you're big time understood.
I've been doing 20 years knowing the IU hasn't changed.
I I do wonder the expectation of someone who writes a check for
$500,000 because I also think they're you're not getting
10,000 people to write you know 10,010 thousand dollar checks.
These are these are big people writing big money and at some
point they're going to want to see some kind of results.
So I I do really wonder how this lines up.
Because, you know, if I wrote $1,000,000 check, I'm not going
to care about. Well, hey man, we are protected.
See, it's like, why am I not seeing IU the next weekend?
Like, I don't care about matchups, I don't care about
protected seeds. I want to go to a regional final
with my private jet. Why am I not doing that?
I gave you $1,000,000. Let's make it happen.
Yeah I mean it's it's that's the question is, is will people
finally get sick of the losing and and put their investment.
You got Kurt Zignetti who's who's energizing the football
program. You know people don't have
unlimited money to spend on this stuff.
If the football program starts doing well and and I, you know,
I'm not expecting a Rose Bowl but if they, you know, there
gets to be some energy there and the basketball program is kind
of flat, some of that money you're getting in that big.
Pool. So it's it's already it's
already happening. As a Varsity club donor, I'm
personal info but like I'm at the Hoosier 100 level as a
donor, which gets us access to a room in the called like the
nutrition center at the football games, which I like because we
have young kids. So it's like sometimes it's hot,
sometimes IU can't figure it out and so water the right way so we
can go in there. We got free soda, free water.
It's been nice because we donated a certain level.
We get to go in there. Just got an e-mail like 3 days
ago that they are changing the rules, that we still have access
to it, but now we have to pay for it and it's $500 a head per
season for each ticket. I'm not saying what I'm doing
and I'm not trying to talk about, you know, money or what I
pay for. All I'm saying is that something
that used to be, to exactly your point, something that used to be
kind of free and it used to be actually at a different donation
level, is now a new donation level and comes at a cost for
football. Because I think they understand
this is a value and now there's more interest in football and
now we can charge for it. And you are 100% right.
There's a lot of people who can't, myself included, who
can't donate to both at the exact same level, and you're
going to start making some choices.
Yeah. And and I think that's going to
be an issue now, Kurt Cignetti falls on flat on his face.
I don't think that's a concern for a while.
But if if he does, I mean he's, he's created a lot of energy
around the program. Whether it translates into on
field results, I'm not predicting that at all because I
have been long used to Indiana football and the.
Result. Different podcast, man.
Different podcast but. But again, that is going to take
away from it's not, it's not two separate pots.
It's a big pot of people willing to donate and it gets divided
up. But it's one big pie and just
the size of the slices matter you know and they can change and
so it will be interesting to see how that plays out and if.
But I I do think I think that you know Mike Woodson I would
say has one of the hottest seats in the country and and I don't
mean internally I mean externally has one of the
hottest seats in the country coming in not because the
results have been so dramatically awful but because
of the visibility at Indiana. It it that makes your seat hot.
As soon as you don't you have a bad season.
Your seat is hot That's the way it is in Indiana.
If they with. And I I do think they've backed
themselves into a corner a bit with how much money they've
spent and the players they've got in the portal.
While it's a good thing and I'm excited.
I'm excited to watch good basketball players man I I love
Indiana. I want Indiana to win.
I do think that the amount spent on this team and the resources
put into getting them has made it so they have to win this
year. If they don't, I think that
we're going to be having a very different conversation in March.
I look at like, my, my, I talk about all the time.
My good friend on my my neighbor Robert.
He's a Michigan State fan, you know, And Izzo has a track
record of being a good coach. They had quite a roster last
year of, you know, five star recruits and.
Pre season they were the Big 10 title pick over Purdue who had
won it the year before and brought everybody back.
And all I can say again, this is one one point he's like, they're
there's a lot of people in that fan base.
Like we should just get rid of Izzo now.
I mean, like because they had so much talent on that roster that
they felt was being used incorrectly.
And that's Izzo. That's that's Tom Izo.
And Michigan native NATO, it's just sitting right there waiting
for that job. So no I.
So to your point, I I agree. I think there's there's a lot of
pressure for next year because a lot, a lot has been.
Invested. It's ramped up with getting
these guys because it's not like, well, we got to do a full
rebuild. You got to give us two years to
figure this out. They have invested heavily, gone
out and got the guys they needed.
I mean, you got it. Luke Goody could probably start
at a lot of places and he's probably going to be a bench
shooter for you and great pickup.
I'm really happy for it. I think it's exactly what they
needed. I think the guys, they've gotten
fit the buckets they need all of that stuff.
I think the only thing left is is a backup rim protector.
But you have kind of painted yourself into a corner where
like if you don't win with these saying like we need to get these
guys and we'll be good. Well, if you're not good, I
think it's it's time for Indiana to have some serious
conversations and probably. And looking at last year you
know with what happened in the priest you know part of what
sealed their fate was having basically no good showings in
the in the non conference and this is something that you know
that hey they went to Xavier and won in 23 so that was in
2022-2023 season that was that was good.
But for the most part you know we we've what Woodson has done
in a very positive way is he's raised the profile of our non
conference games. You know, we're playing
Connecticut, we're playing Auburn, we're playing Kansas.
The trouble is we're getting not only beat, we're getting blown
out in the majority of those games.
And so to your point, I also think that needs to change it.
But all of this is kind of tied in where I I think unlike last
year where I was similar to you saying I, I think this team is
going to be a lot better in in March than it is in November.
I just didn't realize it'd be like March 28th, you know, like
that that wrong date. But like, you know, so far at
the end of the year, I, I do think next year going into it,
some of those early season games that you'll be Atlantis games,
like you got to start winning some of those now, like I think
if they come out and they have a hard time competing at the top
level with whoever they're playing in Atlantis.
If it looks like the Connecticut game did last year in New York,
I'm going to be really concerned early on because I'm, I'm not
ready for another. Hey man, well, it's going to
take some time to put this together.
You've kind of lost the luxury of time and you've lost the
luxury in those early games of being like, hey man, we're just
happy to be like we're kind of done being in the, happy to be
there in Atlanta's point of view.
Like now you got to start winning some of those games.
I went back and watched that UConn game again because I
remember it was close for a long time and that was the worst game
I saw UConn play. One of the two worst games I saw
UConn play all year, and they won by 20.
Do you think it was based based on anything we did or just
being? No, I think that well, I think
that they were still figuring themselves out as well.
That backcourt was kind of figured you know with with
Spencer coming in they were kind of figuring themselves out and
and the, you know some guys with new roles, I mean you got to
remember they lost three of their top four players to the
NBA who came back and repeated a title.
No, I and I think that you know early season November teams are
still trying to figure themselves out and don't know
who fits where. Newton was fantastic in that
game, but really there was a lot of, and Indiana and Indiana's
credit, they they were, you know, a newborn deer as well,
you know, and and and so it wasn't.
This isn't meant to like knock Indiana specifically, but Yukon
for about 3/4 of that game, 2/3 of that game played awful
basketball. Indiana also obliged by doing
the same thing. And then Yukon sort of got it
together in that last 10 minutes and just destroyed Indiana.
But, you know, I think that you have to figure out a way to be
good early. You have to because that's your
opportunity to snag some wins that will carry.
You know, I mean that's the thing about winning early.
Those wins stick with you. They're as valuable as the ones
at the end of the season. And you it's like, it's like in
baseball. I tell everybody, hey, wins in
April count the same as wins in September.
They're not as important as wins in October, but you know, they
count the same. So you know, you say like, well,
we'll get it together. Well, you're let's go, let's,
let's figure this out because it hurts you.
In Atlantis, they're going to face some good opponents, almost
certainly. And they need to.
They need to make some hay early.
So I'll I'll end with this. I I think I've come to my my
conclusion of how I put last season.
I I feel like last season was a season where they missed an
opportunity to to give themselves more future outs.
Like last year had you just won a couple more games maybe get
yourself into the NIT and and go to the NIT finals or something
beat Indiana State and looks good or you somehow squeak into
the the tournament. I think it would have relieved
some of the pressure and some of the things we're talking about
for next season if you somehow beat Kansas at home it's like
all right well you know we we we started a show we can start
winning some of those games that you you kind of pissed away a
lot of your outs for this coming season at least in my mind
because you didn't really do anything last year.
Of note there really isn't a signature win.
There's not a signature, you know, big, big scalp you got,
you didn't go to any of the postseason tournaments and I
think that, you know, hearing you talk about, you know, the
outs, there's no outs for next year.
I think that's how I look at last year is you you kind of
didn't, you didn't convert on anything and so now there really
aren't any outs for next season in Woodson's fourth year.
Yeah, as a team, I feel like it was a wasted season.
And and and you know, individually some guys did some
things like. Exactly, Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, Khalil Weir made himself
an NBA first round pick. Like all that stuff.
But as a team it was it was a wasted season.
There's really nothing to hang your hat on that late winning
streak, I guess. But again, when you know 10,000
foot view, those teams were all struggling at that point you
know, and and so I agree, I I just think that it's sad because
you came off a season where it was very celebratory of TJD and
all of that stuff. You finished, you know near the
top of the Big 10, went to the tournament with a protected
seat. Yeah, you lost.
But you could say like hey we're building something and then you
just take a massive step back and now people are thinking,
well what is this program even? Was it just Trace Jackson Davis
or can you do it without him? And again I'm hopeful that that
this is the turn around season that last year woke some people
up. They realize, no, we need to do
XYZ whatever, but we won't know that until they're on the floor
in October and November and so cautiously.
I'm I'm thrilled with the additions.
I, I I'm an IU fan, man. I want to watch talented players
play. I want to watch talented players
play. I'm excited for the guys they've
got. I mean, if nothing else, I'll
get to watch good players play. Even if they're losing.
I I get to watch them play. But at the same time, like they
need to figure out a way to deploy those guys properly.
And if they don't, I think everybody are going to be asking
hard questions in February and March.
Yeah, I mean the the the good thing to take away from this
offseason is IU seems to have their, they understand how this
nil game works and they seem to have everything locked up and
there they have it figured out and that's a good thing.
I mean, the rules are going to be constantly changing, so who
knows? But it does.
It does feel like if you looked at like, who's got, who's got
this figured out in basketball, it looks like Indiana, you'd
have to put them in the top five because back-to-back seasons,
they have really done phenomenally well in the Portal.
I would agree 100% and that's and that's encouraging.
It certainly is. And also it's clear that even
with the money, the brand travels like guys are coming to
Indiana and and because there's a lot of money being thrown at
people, maybe Indiana is outstripping them financially,
but they're still coming to Indiana and and so that still
exists and that's that's a positive.
All right. Ryan, any final thoughts?
I mean, I think we said just given the it's the two of us, I
think we said way too much honestly.
You got any football thoughts? We we we hinted around it.
What? What are your feeling for IU
football this fall? You know, I I've got to dig into
it this summer. Just you know what the roster's
going to look like. But I I love Signetti's attitude
and anybody who's ever listened to me can understand why I like
his attitude. But and and I think that it's
the vibe Indiana needs. Just kind of an effort.
You know, let's go out and just, you know, why?
Why not us Kind of attitude, which I think is is necessary in
Indiana. The program like Indiana the the
place it's in in the national landscape.
You need someone with, I said when they were hiring somebody,
I said you either need to catch somebody on the way up, like,
you know, a young guy on the way up and hope that you're his stop
for like 7 years before he goes and takes the Alabama job, or
you're one of those and and you hope that, you know, we have
that. Guy as a coordinator for a year,
but yeah. You did.
Absolutely. And what happened to him, by the
way, I don't know. So, but.
But. I would say that you need that.
Or you need a guy who's a little nuts, who thinks he can turn it
around Indiana because it's a very tough place to win football
games and it's a very tough environment to win football
games. And given your opponent, your
consistent opponents, it's really tough to win football
games. You need somebody who's a little
nuts and I think Chris Signetti, in the best possible way, is a
little nuts and I love it. I loved it at the at Assembly
Hall when he had the you know, Purdue sucks like Michigan
sucks. Ohio State sucks too.
And like it was funny the the amount.
I was going to like, oh, Kurt, shut up.
And I love, I love it. And the the amount of people who
are like, man, really, you're going to start talking smack?
It's like, what do you want us to say?
Like hey. What do you have to lose?
So we lose to Michigan by 27
instead of 34. Yeah, you're.
Worried you're going to get blown out by Ohio State?
Come on, we've been doing that. We were born getting blown out
from Ohio State. That's.
Where we live, yeah, they're going to do it anyway.
Now there's. Yeah.
So it's, it's great. Well, Ryan, Congrats again on
the SI job. This was awesome and I look
forward to it probably be next year at this time.
Hopefully we're talking about a nice March run.
We're like, man, let's talk about what's it like to put that
into context, whatever we finished with so.
All right buddy, Thanks for having.
Me. All right, man.
And everybody for listening. As always, appreciate you
supporting the Back Home Network and Crimson Cast.
And for everyone out there, this is Scott for Crimson Cast
signing off.