You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home
Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cast,
Galen, Favio, Scott Caulfield joining you.
It is the 6th of December of the year 2023.
Good to have you folks joining us once again as we are back
after a bit of a hiatus, some holidays, some vacations, a
little bit everything going on, but we're back tons to talk
about in the IU universe. And Scott, that's how we like
it. We're on the positive side of
the changeover period here as there's room for optimism with
football. Again, there's room for optimism
with basketball. I feel like we're in a better
mental space than we were two weeks ago.
Yes, I I mean, I remember this is like maybe, but before the
2021 football season, I remember like thinking like, man, we're
about to have a great run of Indiana sports.
And like, there's some, like, I forget that was like the last
Oladipo Pacers year. But I I was thinking about that
today. It's like, you know, we coach
Sig has been great for football. And then we beat Maryland and we
win a road game at Michigan. And then I was at the Pacers
playing game against the Celtics there tonight.
And it's like, there's again, I've been hurt too much.
I'm kind of like this is too good.
Like there's too many good things in a row.
Like I don't deserve this. Like what?
What's next? Like something bad is going to
happen. I think last time we did this,
that's when you came to the game with me and then Oladipo broke
his leg. So it's like I maybe, maybe I
need to stay away from you. You might need.
To go back to Hawaii for a little bit, I might do that.
Well, I would go back anyway, as you know that would be a better
place to recoup. But no, it's it's been a, it's
been a great week. Yeah, it has been and we're
going to talk all about it. We've got football talk as we
kind of recap most of the first week of the Kurt Signetti area.
We're we're not a full week in, but we're we're close and we'll
also talk about IU basketball men's team doing some good stuff
out there and did something they haven't done in quite a while.
We'll talk about that and we've got some conceptual things we
need to discuss with both of these programs.
So we're going to get to all that.
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well as you'll see a lot of great reporting and a lot of
great content there also. All right, Scott, let's talk
football. To start with, as IU is almost a
full week into the Kurt Cignetti era, a lot to discuss.
I think maybe first of all, you and I did an emergency live show
when it was clear that Kurt Cignetti was being hired.
You've had a chance to marinate on this hire for the last six or
seven days. What is your overall reflection
right now on the hire? I love it.
I mean, it's great. Like he he's been a breath of
fresh air, the attitude that he's come in.
So I was at the Maryland basketball game and he came out
and, you know, fans were cheering.
And he's kind of pumping his fists and doing all that.
And you saw him just kind of interacting even before he went
out. And then he had just that moment
on the court where he, you know, says, you know, like I'm not
taking a backseat, you know, produce sucks.
Ohio State sucks. Michigan sucks.
I loved all that. My, my, my.
The funny part of the reaction to this, since I think you and I
have had similar thoughts, is like, I love, I love the little
bit of blowback about like, oh, I don't.
Should we say that to, you know, Ohio State, to the two parts?
Like, should we say that about Ohio State, Michigan, Like, what
are they going to do, beat us by more?
Like, I think you've said that it's like already going to beat
us. But the part that I love more
was. We.
We saw a couple I think you know hammer and rails like tweeted at
the Crimson cast account. A couple of the Purdue people
are like oh man. Like Sam Purdue sucks.
Like, is that is that should you do that I'm like you guys will
be playing like women's lacrosse against Northwestern and yell IU
sucks like you have kids born in the hospital and West Lafayette
and you'll yell yell IU sucks like now we do it once and oh
we're clutching our pearls like my God, how dare you It's like,
my gosh, like. No one.
No one, No one, No one, No one ever accused Purdue new fans of
self-awareness, OK? I I love it all and it it this
is what I mean. Again, you're winning the press
conference. You're winning the first week
like that. You know you do need to put some
of this into wins on the field, but that's nine months from now.
Like with there's nothing else to talk about.
The attitude is is so refreshing and so needed and I was thinking
you know we haven't, you know you're you're the better one to
ask. But as I go back like I can't
remember a coach that came in with this kind of edge like
Kevin Wilson kind of came in with like you know, Alan Alan
kind of came in under the cloak of darkness and then that was
that, you know, Wilson came in and was kind of like you know
this is not a real program. Like I need to show you got like
this is not big time football, but it wasn't really a rah, rah
type guy. You know, Lynch came in under
very unique circumstances. I think Hepner came in with kind
of a very positive attitude but not kind of the chippy like hey
man, screw them like you know they suck.
Like, I don't remember the last time we had a coach kind of come
in with that edge. And I like it because it's like,
it goes back to, I think what you had said is like, who cares,
man, what? Michigan's already beating us by
30. Like, let's go in and have some
edge. And it's the thing that you and
I have talked about ad nauseam for years.
Like, you have to be past a point where you know, those just
can't be chalked up as losses. Like you can't just say, well,
we're best we can do is, you know, 8th or 9th in the Big 10.
You have to have a bit of an edge.
So I'm. I like all of it.
So thus far. I agree.
First of all, I've already heard a few people who like, don't
like the bruskness of Kurt Cignetti.
These are some of the older IU football fans and I'm like,
you're you're you're you're rapidly verging on being the
problem if that's your attitude already.
So maybe just chill. I I love the the, the, the
statement of the Maryland game because what it did was it put
IU football back in the news cycle for another day.
And you know, the higher had been made and it died down a
little bit. And then you're boom, you're
back in the news cycle for 24 hours.
People are talking about it and that's what this program needs.
You know, I mean it's a different version of what Deion
Sanders did at Colorado where it's like you need to get
eyeballs. You need to get people paying
attention. And look, the you we talked
about it earlier. Well you mentioned it earlier.
The idea that I mean Michigan and Ohio State are all were
already killing us in these games you you don't have
anything to lose and it's and no one can take seriously and first
of all it's December. It was you know with December
1st or December 2nd when it happened and it's like the first
game is in is in August or early September.
The first time you're going to play one of those two teams is
like October. Who cares?
It would be funny if Michigan loses in the, you know, BCS
quarter final or the semi final and they're like, you know, we
were just, we were thrown off by Indiana's comments here.
Their coach was talking and look, we're just, but you know,
we really were just kind of we we overlooked that game against
Alabama. We were too busy worried about
our game against IU in 2024. But, but it's.
But I also think there's there's a tone you have to set with your
team and it feels like that's happened with Signetti, with
some of the things that we've already heard him say.
It feels like that's something to keep in mind in terms of even
some of the decisions that are clearly being made about the
roster. You have to set a tone and and
your point is really well taken about there's there's different
ways to build programs and everybody.
I think the most successful people are going to hue as close
as possible to who they actually are as people and how they act
as managers and competitors. And this is Cignetti's style.
If you you watch that Pat McAfee interview, this is what he does
and there is an an aura that comes around with that.
It's not the only way to win. You know, Kevin Wilson, like we
said earlier, I mean that was, it was not a rah, rah guy, you
know, in public. And that was not a guy who's
going to galvanized people. But he could recruit pretty well
and he could develop players really well and he had some
interesting systems. Tom Allen was kind of all rah,
rah, and there wasn't a whole lot beyond that.
And it worked at times and then didn't work for most of the time
afterwards. But look, I think ultimately for
for this IU program, it's not just about getting people to
realize that yes, IU football can be relevant and is intending
to be relevant. It's also at this point you need
some bravado because you're going into the transfer portal
and you're trying to convince players that coming to
Bloomington to play football is a good choice, is a choice that
isn't just going to yield playing time, but could yield
not just a shot at Michigan and Ohio State, but a chance to
maybe win the game. And for the last few years, it
really has felt like that hasn't been a realistic option when you
come to Indiana. And so look, will it result in
wins against those teams? Probably not immediately.
But your team believing that they can win in those games and
that that's the enemy. And there is much of an enemy as
Purdue is. You know, that's the one thing
I'll say so much historically has been about the bucket game.
You know, that was Allen's whole thing was, you know, it was Lee
Corso's whole thing. Like, what have you done to win
the bucket? Mallory did that.
You need to win the bucket game far more than Indiana has
historically, but you need to win games occasionally against
better teams. And you know, beating Michigan
once in 35 years and beating Ohio State Nuns in 34 years,
like that's not acceptable. You've you've got to have
something to elevate the mentality before you're going to
actually elevate the competitive level.
So I loved it, thought it was great, thought it was a great
way to get the crowd excited. And you can see the results
already in terms of donations, in terms of, you know, nil
donations are through the roof for for football in particular
the, the, the, I'm just fascinated at the huge
changeover in excitement about IU football in the span of a
week. I mean, this is this football
program went from being like something nobody wanted to talk
about to something that people are excited about and it is
still nine months away from seeing the first game.
When you that, you hit the nail on the head at the end there
because you were saying that you know he has to win over and kind
of, you know get his team excited.
I think he's got, he's got it. He did also get the fan base
excited because as you and I mentioned, there was a complete
apathy set in and that, you know, while it's one moment at a
basketball game against Maryland that fired up the crowd, it
fired up the student section. Like he has to win back the the
fans and get them excited again. And for me, it's like I saw that
I'm like, all right, like I like it like this guy's got some
edge. Like let's let's go And you, you
know, I I keep telling people go and you are the one who got this
in my head. So I'm parroting, you know, I'm
parroting looking into a mirror, parroting back what you told me.
But you know go look at the beginning part of our schedule
next year. It is a very easy beginning part
to our schedule and there's a world where we could be four and
one or five and two and you and I could be on the pod and be
like, I'm not sure if we're good or not.
We just haven't played anybody. But it's like we could be five
and two like there's a really nice way to lead in here.
So I'm, I'm excited. I would also say this to talk to
a couple people. One, my dad who I love, but he's
very, very older and having the portals tough for him.
He's like, man, you know, a lot of guys are in the portal.
I'm like well and but anybody who thinks, I would say two
things like First off, this is a team that won three Big 10 games
in three years. So it's like there is a world
where it's like, hey man, everybody in the portal is not a
bad thing. But the second thing that I
would say is, you know, this is coaches have had this ability
for years. Like now the players, dude,
don't get freaked out. And I've said this, you know,
every IU player should go into the portal right now because
they're getting a new coach, You're getting a new boss.
Like maybe Signetti doesn't like the way you play.
Maybe he doesn't have your style.
Maybe he's got a player he wants to bring in.
Like, you don't know any of that.
Maybe you could leverage to get more nil dollars out of IU.
It's like this is what having agency is all about and they all
should go in and a lot of them will go in.
I mean you know Trace Jackson famous win in the portal and
came back. So I just for people who are
concerned like Oh my God there, you know so many people in the
portals like I would expect 100% in the portal and then it's sick
Danny's job to bring them back or find other people.
So just a couple of those things that it's I've I've heard those
concerns. The last one that I've heard
too, just kind of hitting all my scarecrow arguments here was,
you know, some people are like, man, you know, you know, he has
experience building programs but not, you know, not a lot of, you
know, Power 5 experience. And part of me is like, all
right, well, there's also the reality that like we are not
Ohio State. Like at some point you're not
going to get all boxes checked. Like a guy who has great
experience building programs, is 38 years old, has experience at
a Power Five, has been to Abcs like.
Guess what? We're not hiring that guy.
So it's like not all the boxes get to be checked.
I would note that the last coach Ohio State hired had no head
coaching experience at the Power Five level.
This was, this was something during the coaching search that
we went through and and sequenced on Twitter, which was
that, you know, when you get down to it and I mean I think I,
I, I'll answer my own question from earlier.
I'm really excited about the Signetti hire.
I love the fact that he takes a picture of his office as he
walks in on Monday at 5:45 in the morning and it's like, you
know let's get to work and it's like that's that's what I want
to see. That's what IU fans want to see,
that level of work ethic. Not that it wasn't happening
before and I and I think that this is clear, I think any any
head football coach worth their salt is probably putting in a
tremendous amount of work. But this is, this is an industry
increasingly I think, where you have to be able to show what
you're doing to get people excited and it is such a mark
you. Have to have wins.
Like it's just if you don't show it, well then you have to have
wins. But, but to go back what I was
saying, like if you go through and look at the the coaches that
I think 10 teams have hired it and just go through all the ones
that have happened recently, it's, you know, you Michigan
State hired an Oregon State coach losing record with a
losing record, right. You know, Purdue hired A
defensive coordinator who hadn't been a head coach.
Northwestern hired a defensive coordinator.
Yeah. With, you know you had you know
Michigan State prior to that had hired the Colorado head coach
who had coached for one year. I mean, you can go down the
list, the amount of Power 5 head coaching experience outside of
weird situations like Greg Schiano going back to Rutgers,
just that's not there. And so look, I I get, I I will
say this, I understand the skepticism.
And there, you know, I think that if you're looking at
Cignetti's experience and you're like, I need to see more at the
Power Five level, I get it. I also don't think Indiana was
going to find a whole lot of guys who had that success and
were willing to come and we're affordable.
You know, there's a lot of elements that go into that.
The other thing though, I'll say is, you know the I heard I was
talking to somebody and it's like, well, they're more
concerned about the assistants coming in because they, you
know, it's like basically he's brought his entire James Madison
staff with him, with one or two exceptions.
And that is going to be interesting to watch because
there's a lot of really interesting looking, promising
young assistants. And most of that staff, you
know, I think is they graduated from College in the last 20
years or so. You do have a little bit of
concern like how well will those folks translate up to this
level. I I am less concerned about that
then maybe I would be otherwise because of the fact that
Signetti coached for so long at the Power Five level.
He knows what it's going to take.
I doubt he's going to put himself in a position where he
hire somebody that he knows can't do the job.
Not that we have any experience with that here at Indiana, but
the, you know, I I think it to some degree we'll have to see
when the rubber meets the road how these folks do.
But I like the idea that he's comfortable with the staff and
he's putting them in position. But I understand why people
might be concerned about that. I want to get to what you
mentioned though about the the portal and transfers.
And I'm seeing a lot of angst on Twitter especially but elsewhere
as well about all the names that have hit the portal.
Because it's not just the brand names like the Donovan Mccully's
and the Jalen Lucas who was in the portal today.
Brendan Soresby, who's already committed to Cincinnati, which
was the worst kept secret, I think in nil for about a month.
But it's also guys who are either younger players or
players that were, you know, look like more depth pieces that
we're going to build. And a lot of people are like,
wow, isn't this concerning? And I think it's important to
differentiate. Hey, you're going to get a lot
of Exodus regardless. Whenever there's a coaching
search, and you know a lot of that is there's differences in
philosophies as far as who can play at this level, how
effective they can be. You know what system you're
using. We still don't know what system
on either side of the ball that Cignetti's planning on using.
It might be similar to what we saw at James Madison.
They seem more flexible than Alan, who was a very inflexible
coach when it came to his defensive system and
increasingly his offensive system.
So I'm not surprised, nor am I really that worried about the
huge amount of changeover that's happening on the roster, because
A, we don't even know if those pieces would have fit with what
Signetti and his staff have in mind.
And B, as you said, it's a team that won three Big 10 games in
three years. And frankly, and some of this is
OK, maybe there's a changeover in coaching staff where they
could get to this point, but the previous coaching staff really
struggled to develop players over multiple years.
It's hard to say whether that was a problem with development
or whether they were getting guys who maxed out in high
school and didn't have a lot of room for development.
Either way, I think a fresh started a lot of these positions
and for a lot of these players is a good thing because I think
it was clear that they had a hard ceiling in many cases on
what they were going to be able to accomplish here.
For every, you know, for every, you know, Micah McFadden or
Aaron Casey or whoever who really did blossom, it felt like
there were five or six IU players who just never quite got
anywhere close to where you wanted to see them get to.
And you know, again, whether that's a talent cap or whether
that's a development cap, either way there is going to be some
changeover. Now in addition to that, it's
also nil. And as you said, players, if
you're going to, if you're going to try to maximize your
potential, find a good spot for yourself, you're going to go in
the portal and there will be some people and we've already
seen some people that have gotten pulled back.
But it's also recruits, you know, not just the recruits that
have been signed that some of them have announced that we're
not, you know, the the the scholarships not being honored.
So now they're free to go elsewhere.
But it's also looking at the next recruiting class and trying
to figure out how does this tapestry come together.
So for those who are panicked about the exodus of IU players,
this would have happened anyway under a change in in regime.
It is actually easier to fix now because of the portal, and it's
probably better for all parties rather than making the coaching
staff and the players each deal with a situation that isn't
ideal for either party over the course of another season or two.
Yep. I want to hit one more thing and
I'm kind of I'm piggybacking off something that you had in one of
the the VIP posts. But I I noticed it at the
Maryland game and it's, it's also another good sign, I think
of Indiana University having kind of their things aligned for
the first time in a while and taking it seriously.
And that is, you know, you mentioned, you know, Pam Witton,
the president of Indiana or Indiana University.
You know, I was thinking about it.
You know, you were talking about, you know, maybe IU
doesn't put the resources and be as aggressive under the old, you
know, Mcrobbie regime. And I was thinking, you know,
that I go back to that that game, the Iowa game that you and
I went to before the 2021 season.
You know, we were in the student, we were in the IU
section and Pam Witton was there.
And I remember thinking like, wow, like that's our new at the
time. Like, that's our new president.
Like, she came to Iowa. She's in a football game.
Like that's that's odd. And then you and I were in New
York just, you know, a couple weeks ago for the the the game
against Connecticut and then Louisville, she was there as
well. And then, you know, I, when you
saw Cignetti come out during the Maryland game, you know he's
with with Dolson, but Pam Witten's there and she gives him
a hug. And I I see that and I hear you
talk about it and I think it is it.
It's nice to know that we do have kind of synergy all the way
up the chain of command because I, I, I do think this allows
this gives Dolson the ability to do the things that he's needing
to do. It allows us to kind of push
forward to get the like. It's just it is a nice feeling
at a high level to be like, hey, we are all focusing on this and
we're all taking this seriously. Whereas you know under MC
Robbie, I never saw him at any athletic events.
Not that I'm saying I need to see the present there all the
time, but it's like this is you know, when you think about it,
you know whether they like it or not.
You know your football and your basketball coach in Indiana are
two of the most public facing people that the university has.
And so, you know, as much as you want to talk about academics and
research university, which is all true, your football coach is
a huge hire for the university from a public perception.
And the fact that I, I don't ever remember seeing Mcrobbie at
the Allen hiring or the Wilson hiring, like seeing Pam Witton
so involved, I think is a really, really good thing.
So I'm just kind of parroting what you said.
But just seeing, you know, kind of thinking back as I was
listening to you talk about it, like, oh, she's in New York.
She's at this gate like she's at a lot of athletic events.
I think that's a really good thing.
Yeah, Look, and obviously I the VIP post is there for people
that want to go back and watch it.
But it's it's not just the appearances.
It's the whole the whole sequence of events, the hat, the
fact that IU administration has decided to really embrace this
process, take it seriously. I think it's really important
for the university. And it's this is where I think
this is where as as a guy who does this for a living, it's,
it's funny sometimes when I talk with, you know faculty
colleagues and whatnot and try to explain why all this is
important. And you know most, most people
who work as professors don't they, they actually go out of
their way to act like football and basketball are.
They're just diversions. Maybe not even that.
They're not everybody. And, you know, and they're.
And I think there are some folks that really do get it.
And I understand the academic perspective because we've been
told over and over again both inside and outside universities
that, you know, it's about academics.
You know, the whole NCAA thing, student athlete, like that's the
whole, whole conceit, right. But realistically, from a
marketing perspective, it is the most effective way to mass
market your university and to keep it relevant in the minds of
not just college athletes or potential college athletes, but
of high school students and parents.
Well, no. Well, yes, alumni, yes, donors.
I'm talking about the next generation of students who are
thinking about where they're going to go to college and
whether people want to admit it or not.
A huge number of undergraduates choose where they're going to go
to school. Based upon have I heard about
the institution? Does it seem like a good place,
a fun place to go? I've I know a lot of kids who
went to Alabama and and actually transferred after a couple of
years and came back to the Midwest.
Why did they go to Alabama? Because that looked like the
place to be because of how successful their football
program was. And but you you saw it when Bob
Knight passed away. A lot of people like friends of
ours and like Matt Zimmerman, like people who are like.
I knew of Bob Knight and I kind of wanted to go to IU because of
that. It's like that that was for a
lot of people. It was like Bob Knight was 123
reasons to go to IU. Sorry, no.
And but I know I think it's a that I I remember meeting a girl
at Briscoe during orientation and she was from California and
we got to talking and I was like why do you, why are you here?
And she's like, oh, because of the basketball program and that
was not uncommon And and and I think for Indiana in particular,
so much of the university's national reputation among
students has been has started because of the athletic
successes that existed and those just haven't been around very
much over the course of the last 20 years.
And some of that has been due to a variety of factors, but a lot
of it's been the the higher up, the upper level administration
at the university didn't really bring athletics front and center
as a part of how everything was marketed.
It was nice to have, but I think what we've seen over the last
couple of years has been a real refocus on this as being central
to the not just the the marketing arm of the university,
but like this is part of what Indiana's brand is and I don't
think there's anything wrong with that.
In fact, I think there's a lot of things right with that
because a lot of the success that Indiana had as a nationwide
brand in the 70s and 80s and 90s was specifically because of the
basketball program. And a lot of the waning that's
happened since the Miles brand era started has been due to, for
a variety of reasons, athletics kind of being pushed further and
further away from the circle. And so to see Pam Witten, you
know, front and center talking 1st at the at the coach press
conference when he's hired and to see her with the the, the
coach at the basketball game, I mean, the other things matter at
at the very least, it indicates that you have a president who is
conscious of of those things And whatever else people might think
about the university, it does appear like there's an
investment there. And that doesn't have to be it.
It can live at the same time with being a great academic
institution. These don't have to be separate.
Yeah, these things don't have to be separated.
So that I think is a a good point and I'm glad you brought
it up. A couple other things I'll say,
we're not like there's a ton of of offers going out and there's
going to be just a tremendous amount of changeover and I'm
really fascinated to see where it goes.
Certainly they've been offering receivers left and right, which
kind of makes me think that Donovan Mccully is not going to
be here. You know, he's got an offer from
Penn State. Now he's got like, I think he's
kind of, when I was looking at the Crystal Ball projections,
they've got Mccully either like Penn State or South Carolina or
there was a third school that I don't remember what it was
Matthew. To Penn State, he just continues
to want to lose to Michigan. And there you go, there you go.
Matthew Bedford I think just announced going to Auburn.
Carter Smith is 100% projected to go to Ole Miss, which is
unfortunate. That's a guy you would have
liked to have kept Jalen Lucas in the portal.
One of the things I I want to just and I'm going to do a
larger podcast, I think Taylor Lehman's going to join me on
this one where we kind of talk about this.
But one of the things I think it's important to keep in mind
is that it's not just about talent coming and going.
It's also about resource management as it comes to name,
image and likeness and the money that you've got there.
And the idea that now, I mean Cignetti went on the on Kevin
Bowen's show and and jQuery show, I think it was either
yesterday or the day before and seem satisfied with the the war
chest or the Kitty that he's got from nil.
It's not inexhaustible and certainly it's not going to be
at the same level of an Ohio State or a Michigan or even a
Penn State. So Indiana to some degree has to
play money ball with the resources that they've got.
And that is going to require some different types of
decisions, some hard decisions about what you're willing to
expend resources on. And this is where if you're
familiar with the concept of Moneyball and Scott, I know you
are, but the audience may not be, it's really about, you know,
can you find inefficiencies in the marketplace?
Can you find distressed assets And can you develop those assets
into something that is above the level that you got them for?
Can you be competitive with those assets?
And can you figure out like where's the money to be spent?
And so I'll use someone like Jalen Lucas as an example of
this. You know, that was, if you
remember last summer, Jalen Lucas.
It felt like the focal point of nil in a lot of ways.
It was him and Deson McCullough and you know, McCullough I think
wanted to leave, like he wanted to go to a bigger football
brand. Can't blame him there.
But Lucas, you know, there was this big struggle about Jalen
Lucas getting enough nil money and Tom Allen even in a press
conference, you know, kind of whined about, well, we know we
got him a good deal, but we didn't get him the life changing
money that he, you know, deserved basically, or that we
would need to keep a player like that around.
And then this season happened and Jalen Lucas really struggled
to do anything but contribute in special teams and he did a good
job of that. But for a school like Indiana,
that's almost a luxury as opposed to a necessity and to
spend a huge amount of money in nil on a player who can
contribute in the kicking game. But that's, you know, that's an
irregular thing that you're contributing.
You can kick away from him or, you know, not give him the ball.
In a lot of cases it certainly helps, like certainly he was a
key part of that, that game against Purdue where Indiana was
able to keep it close. But the coaching staff, I think
this coaching staff seems to be a bit more savvy about where to
focus the money. And rather than a spending a
bunch of money on a player who may be able to only contribute
in a limited way, maybe you take that money and distribute it in
a way that you can get players that are contributing regularly.
Whether that's line play, whether that's receivers,
whether that's every down backs, whether that's a quarterback.
I mean, there's a bunch of different ways you could do it,
but I think that's the mentality that Indiana fans have got to
get into because that's what's going to have to happen.
And for a school like Indiana, who if you're just going
straight on recruiting is going to take several years to get
their talent levels up to a competitive level, you're going
to have to be clever with how you allocate the nil money just
as much as you're trying to figure out what talent you want
to have on the field and how you're going to.
Use that talent. No, I I completely agree.
I think the Moneyball example is is very apartment.
And I mean the other piece too is, you know, with Moneyball
it's it's about finding the inefficiencies but also finding
the inefficiencies that work for the system that you're going to
use. You know, like the IT was, it
was written about the Oakland A's but they had, they had a big
thing about, you know trying to just get on base and that was
their whole thing about, you know, on base percentage.
And Lucas is a really interesting example because you
know, I I don't know how Signetti what his offense is
going to look like. I hope it doesn't look like a
lot of runs up the middle. But you know that was the other
thing with with you know Lucas is a talent but it's like is he
going to fit the offense of signetti wants to run cause
Lucas is good but he it it showed this year was hard to get
him involved in either running or the passing game just because
of you know inability to do that.
So it becomes one of these like he might be a distressed asset
but if you can't use him in the system you're going to use it
doesn't make any sense. And so this is where, you know,
Signetti has to look and be like, all right, like you said,
maybe it's a lot of line play and then you know a lot of
receivers and they're going to pass a lot.
You know, it's it's this is again.
With this coaching change, you're going to have the system
change, but I think everything you said is is dead on an
apartment. And look, yeah, I think it's
going to be a painful one for a lot of IU football fans because
there's there's names of people that you've grown accustomed to
who have been the best players. And it's like they may not fit
into this and it may not just be a talent thing.
I think this is a thing with Donovan Mccully.
Like that's clearly a talented player.
But there's so many receivers and you know, I mean, if you
look at the players Indiana got out of the portal this year, I
mean the couple of them were really functional receivers.
Camp camper's in the portal and and it's like what you'd need to
keep those guys around. It's like it may not be worth
it. It's actually, if you go back to
the Colts situation with Jonathan Taylor, it's a very
similar thing that the Colts ended up paying Taylor.
But there were the argument against paying Taylor was, is it
worth that amount of money for a running back when you're
probably going to get 90% of the production, maybe even more than
that if you combine two players for half the salary.
That's just generally how these things work out if you're being
smart about it. And so we'll see.
I think, you know there's going to be some head scratching among
IU fans and we can trust, we can say we're going to trust
Signetti and his coaching staff in terms of what they're doing.
We kind of don't have a choice. We have to trust them at this
point and it might all turn out to not be immediately positive
or work. But that's essentially the
business I think IU is going to have to be in if they're going
to get the roster up to a point where it can not only be
competitive, but can you maximize the resources that it
has at its disposal? When I I know that I agree with
you on the trust thing, and I think you know for this is where
it's tough. But I will defend us on our own
pod. You're in our turf now, baby.
You know, we we were very critical of Alan the last couple
of years because the results were not matching what we were
hearing and what we were seeing. But if you go back and and
listen to our pods when Wilson was hired or even when Alan was
hired, you know we we were both kind of you know puzzled by the
Alan that that whole process. But go back and listen to us and
I'm sure you will hear like we we it's like all right let's see
how it goes like we we try and like those first year or two.
Like I remember it was tough with those first years of Wilson
was like hey he's got to rebuild a program like this is going to
take some time you know and unhappy to go like whatever it
was 111 that first year. But you know I do think you know
I think that we are fair with new coaches and I think everyone
should be. And like you said, you don't
have a lot of choice but it's like you have to trust it for a
year or two and then you'll start to kind of see like all
right is, is the stuff that's coming out of the oven really
what we're expecting to see. And then then you can start
making some decisions and then you know you and I can get if we
need to get critical and then we can kind of check out.
But I I think if you go back and listen to us from you know 2016
to 2020, I I don't think we were ever like as harsh on Allen as
we were at the end because we understood it was a process.
And so just defending us, I think you know this is kind of
this this cycle that we get into is we will now you know kind of
just blindly have I'll say blindly have faith because you
have to have faith with the process the first couple of
years. And even though we're going to
look at it with a critical eye, there's only so much you can
look at and see And it's like in the end it's going to be results
and it's probably going to take a year or two.
But again I'll go back to the beginning of that, the beginning
stretch of the season. You know, yes, if we go out and
start O and six based on what we have as our schedule, I'm going
to be very concerned. But I don't think that's going
to happen. And I do have faith.
This is a guy who has been able to turn things around quickly
and when he. I got to James Madison.
There was probably a lot of turnover and there wasn't a
portal there. So yeah, I don't know any of my
point of kind of rambling on no, no, no, these are all we won't
know. But yeah, this, I guess I I
wanted to mention it on this podcast and like I said, we'll,
I'll do a deeper dive on a future podcast about why all
this stuff works, the way that it works and what the
marketplace looks like. But I think for IU fans who are
puzzled by what they're seeing and worried about an exodus of
talent, there is a There's a method to this and it's
happening. It happens in a bunch of places
and it's up to the coaching staff to make the right
decisions, not just about who to bring in, but who to retain.
It's also up to the coaches to figure out which guys aren't
going to be important to the long term planning.
It's like there was a tweet today about the five star long
snapper saying that his scholarship offer has been
rescinded and my first thought was why?
Why did we make a scholarship offer to a Long snapper?
That's a luxury we don't get to have.
And that's the point. And so So we'll see.
And who knows, maybe Signetti won't be any better than Allen
at this, but the track record would tend to indicate
otherwise. Anyway, we'll stop on football.
Let's move over to men's basketball.
So men's basketball is 7 and one.
Speaking of distressed assets, a hat tip to Mike Woodson for
going out and getting Khalil Ware, who, my God, man, like,
you want to talk about a player? I'm I'm, I'm already struggling,
Scott, to figure out mentally a player.
That gives me the same kind of reaction that Khalil Ware does
in terms of just watching him play and being like, I don't
think I've ever seen an IU basketball player look quite
like he looks. In terms of how he plays
offense, in terms of how he rebounds, in terms of his
ability to I I don't. I've never.
I've watched basketball for so long.
I can't. I think I've ever seen a player
actually jump and break up a down the court inbounds pass at
the end of the game without really looking like he even
stretched himself out that much. I mean, the guy is, you know,
Zach Osterman of the tweet yesterday.
It's like with every game, it's really hard to explain or
justify how Oregon couldn't figure out a way to get him on
the court. He was a huge part of Indiana's
win last night as they knock off.
Michigan had a great first half scoring didn't have as great of
a second-half. The foul trouble hurt him a
little bit and got him out of rhythm, but made some key plays
down the stretch. And you know, for this Indiana
team who a lot of people left for dead after the Army game and
certainly after EU, Conn and Louisville games to go out and
win at Michigan. A team that at the very least is
a pier for them right now in the conference in terms of talent
level and I think overall ability.
That's a huge positive step for this Indiana program and this
season in particular when it looked like things were going
off the rails. Not a perfect game, not a
perfect set of performances, but enough to get the victory on the
road. Yeah, I'm happy.
Let's start with Khalil Ware. He's been unbelievable.
A friend of ours, Jeremy Grey, had a tweet during the game
yesterday of like it was after that, that little that move with
like the crazy like side dribble than the kind of the sky hook
that was just like he's like, I can't.
His tweet was I'm paraphrasing and was like, I just, I don't
know what comp. I've never seen a player like
this before at IU and I was thinking about it today.
Like it. It's unfortunate that he comes,
you know eight months after Trace Jackson Davis because you
want to say this is one of the best big man I've seen an IU for
you know 20 years. But it's like we did this have
Trace Jackson Davis for five years who is awesome.
But like the the again two things can be true at the same
time. Trace was awesome.
He was a unique talent. Like Clear Aware is
unbelievable. And like you said, I've not seen
that inbounds block like that should be a stat like that
should just count as a block or something.
That was unbelievable. At the end of the game, he does
it with kind of like a dating myself reference like a Bjorn
Borg kind of icy coolness like, hey, I'm just going to jump like
my wife was like whoa, whoa. Like she had a friend who
doesn't have Peacocks. Like I'm going to like did the
filming of it on the TV and we're like he was like higher
than the backboard. And again look like he kind of
did half effort and gets the ball just kind of dribbles out
with the guy. We're done.
It's like like that was the coolest point I've ever seen.
He's he's phenomenal. He has a block in every game but
the Connecticut game. His offensive rating has been
over 100 in every game but the Connecticut game and he still I
think played pretty well And he's he's one of those guys that
if you're just looking at stats I don't even think the stats do
him justice, 'cause last night you know he got in a little bit
of foul trouble when he was in the game.
He effects things on both sides of the court.
You know you you see guys from Michigan drive, you see I mean
any whoever we're playing they drive in and they immediately
like stop and turn around like they just he doesn't.
He gets probably 5 non blocks a game where guys would have been
putting up a lay up but just don't because they they see him
there. They know he's there.
His help defense is great. No, he is.
He's so good. He is so good.
And credit to him for everything he's doing.
Credit to the staff for finding this distressed asset and
bringing him in. And it's, you know, it's Alex
Bozich. And I had a podcast beginning of
the year talking about Cleo Ware and he brought up a point that
thought was valid and it's showing true now that, you know,
this was kind of a make or break year for Ware because if he had
kind of a dud year, you know, he'd suddenly then be a junior.
It's like, all right, well, now that now that things have kind
of passed, it's like it's going to be really hard to work your
way back up to a first round pick.
He's playing like a lottery pick right now.
I mean, the stuff he's doing, NBA scouts are just going to be,
you know, salivating to see this out of a 7 foot, 7 foot one guy.
So, you know, as he goes, Indiana goes, he's phenomenal.
But I will also segue that you're also seeing, you know,
Malik Renew step up to a whole other level and his efficiency
has been unbelievable. Like, you know, this is kind of
like a hold my beer situation. Like, you know, when you look at
two of the most, you know, Khalil Ware is one of the most
efficient 2 point scores in the big 10.
It's like Renew's like hold my beer, 'cause I'm also up there
And like, you know, Ted, like they together, they have been
awesome. And it's been really nice to see
Renew, who showed flashes last year of this, Just really take
on a workload. And I think he has, you know,
he's handling the ball the most. Like he is basically the focal
point of the offense. And as great as Ware has been
renewed to me has also been as it's been as great to see him
develop, you know, in his second year.
I agree with all of that and Indiana's desperately need.
I mean, I don't know where they would be without Khalil Ware.
I've had like five or six people text me that and it's true.
You know the Indiana. We need to, we need to take a
second and acknowledge that on Ken Palm this season, Indiana
has now reached dead last in Division One for the total
percentage of points off of three pointers compared to their
total amount of points scored. Only 12.6% of Indiana's points
have come off of threes. That is 360 second and it's
actually 6/10 of a percentage point behind 360 first, which is
Houston Christian. Now where else, folks, he's
shooting 50% from thrilling. He should be shooting more.
It's pretty wild. But, but Indiana's fifth in the
country in percentage of points that are coming off of twos.
And what I think is fascinating about this team right now is.
They clearly. For whatever reason are not
hitting threes. They're not really able to shoot
them. And we saw some potentially
positive signs from CJ Gunn last night where he finally hit his,
what, 1st and 2nd? Or I think it was his first and
2nd threes of the season in that game against Michigan.
But it's right now it's like trying to get water from a dry
well with the three-point shooting and it's just wild that
you know Indiana, this was their five and O under Woodson, I
think was the stat that I saw now with shooting less than 10
threes. And they have really feasted on
teams that they can exploit in the paint.
They did that against Michigan yesterday and the fact that, you
know, you look down the line as far as the threes it, you know,
Trey Galloway missed three of them.
You know, But you've seen like they the guys that are think
they can hit, which is at this point just gun and Mbako are not
afraid to throw them up when they're there.
But they're looking to drive more often than not.
And as much as people understandably complain about
the offensive system, Indiana is such a dominant post team right
now because of Khalil Ware. Especially because of Malik
Renew, who doesn't look like he should be as unstoppable as he
is. And yet just he's got a set of
post moves that, while different than Trace Jackson Davis, are
really, really hard to stop unless you double him.
And now, with the emergence of both Ware and Imbaco as regular
scoring options, you can't effectively double renew because
he's such a good passer. And yes, he makes some mistakes,
he throws some turnovers here and there, but he is.
He's one of the best passing big man I think I've ever seen in an
Indiana uniform. And you know that.
I don't think anybody expected it to go the way that it's gone
so far this season, but I will say that I looked at that
Michigan game last night. I didn't think Indiana was going
to win up until the last minute of the game.
And the fact that Indiana pulled that out, playing the way that
they did, playing defense significantly better than they
have. There was that staff that I
printed I I tweeted out this morning, Indiana over the last
five halves of basketball, second-half of Harvard, and then
the four halves versus Maryland and Michigan.
They've only allowed opponents to shoot 7 for 42 from 3:00
during that time. That's stellar like that.
You'll take that, you know, 10 times out of 10, you know, this
team has improved so much since the start of the year.
They still have a long way to go.
They still really have a lot of struggles in the backcourt that
are incredibly concerning. And it's at this point I'm like,
where is the fix going to come from?
But the fact that Indiana has survived, they've lost the game.
Everybody thought they were going to lose anyway and that's
it. They haven't played great in all
of the games. They haven't been dominant, but
they keep winning these games. Like that is going to matter if
they can continue to get incrementally better in each
game. And it kind of feels like under
Mike Woodson, they've got a better chance of doing that than
not at this point. Yeah, I mean that win last
night, you know, there was a point.
There were both teams were trying to give it to each other.
You know, Michigan kept turning it over.
We kept having an inability to kind of take control of the game
when it was being given to us and then vice versa.
But, you know, after after the game we won, I thought to
myself, like, that's one of those games where, you know, I'm
not not the best corollary, but we're like, you know, when,
like, you know, Rutgers is like fourth in the league.
And, you know, last year in, you know, in February, you look at,
it's like, oh, yeah, well, they. But they won those two games in
December. It's like one of those just
going to continue to provide dividends.
Like this is one of those, like, games that feels like maybe not
this year, but like in previous years, this feels like a game.
Like Michigan State always wins. Like they're always in the top
three in the Big 10 because like, they just have all these
games where it's like, yeah, but like they, you know, Michigan's
kind of having a bad year, but they pop up and down.
But it's like Michigan State beat them then and Michigan
State took care of them then. And it's like how often have we
looked at teams that's like they get those two wins in December
and it's like those just provide dividends throughout the
throughout the Big 10 where it's like you're already two.
And oh I don't I I feel like we're always one and one coming
out of these games. I can't remember a time we were
two and oh and this is great. It's a road win.
You know, it doesn't solve all of the problems, but it it's
it's unlike games that we've won in the past.
You know, normally those are the types of games where it's up for
grabs and we either don't take it or we end up making the one
more extra mistake and we didn't and we, you know, we closed it
out. You know, like that was kind of
what was cool is it wasn't just like that we didn't make the
last mistake. You know, we hit a shot and then
we made the smart. You know, we we hit our free
throws and then we fouled in a smart manner and then they
missed their free throws and we hit our free throws again.
They missed and then we stopped the inbounds play from having
the the game daily. We made five.
We basically closed it out there at the end with smart plays,
smart coaching and hitting free throws.
I'm with you on all of that. I'm also.
It's frustrating that again, we look to our backcourt and it's
like that's where our leadership is, That's where all of our
years of experience. I understand Xavier Johnson has
been hurt, but to be fair, he hadn't been playing at a stellar
level up to that point. I hope he can get healthy and
get back. But you know that that's where
you look at Trey Galloway. And you know, this is something
I'd brought up, I think in a previous pod.
But you know, this is we're getting into kind of very very
concerning regression territory where it looks like his junior
year may have been an aberration.
There's still a lot of time to get it back, but his numbers
look very similar to his freshman and sophomore year and
that's just not going to cut it. And then to to your point, when
you kind of like, you know, you look at, like, all right, well,
you know, Gabe Cups is a freshman.
CJ Gunn has had struggle shooting.
Hopefully he can get himself out of it.
Will he shot. But it's like you look around
like it's not a lot of other options and like it's going to
be a lot of time out of those guys if unless Trey Galloway can
really step it up to the next level.
So I'm, I am concerned about that.
But you you once again have this rock in the post and now you
have like the double post presence of wear and renew that
you didn't have last year. I mean Reyce Thompson was a good
compliment, but he wasn't always able to be leaned upon.
I mean, we are at a point now where I really feel like you're
going to get. A pretty solid performance every
time out out of Renew and wear. Yeah.
And and look, I think, I mean, let me touch on the Galloway
thing first. He's clearly pressing and he's
clearly affected. I mean the the numbers just
don't make sense. He's down.
He was a 64% free throw shooter last year.
He's at 56% so far on this season.
He's actually shooting the ball from 2 better this year by a
pretty significant margin. He's gone from a 48% shooter to
a 58% shooter from 2. The problem is he's dropped from
a 46% three-point shooter to a 13 1/2 percent 3 point shooter.
His his turnovers are up marginally and he's just not a
very efficient player right now. His efficiency numbers dropped
by almost 2/10 of a point that's that's just you know someone.
There's been a lot of commentary on the discord about this and
you know, some people have said well he's not meant to be this
kind of primary offensive option.
Someone compared it to what happened to Will Shee Hee
between Shee Hee's junior year, which was the 13th season when
he was essentially the 6th man kind of add on could come in and
do damage at times versus his his senior year where his
minutes jumped. And clearly there was a
regression with Shee Hee offensively a little bit in
terms of his efficiency. His turnovers got, you know,
jumped up. He was still a pretty good
shooter. His shooting really never left
him, but he tried to do too much because I think he felt
compelled to. And if everybody remembers that
team from 1314, you could see why he felt that way.
And I feel like Galloway is. He clearly misses Johnson
because Gabe Cubs is still learning the game of basketball.
And I think Cubs actually Cubs actually played pretty well
yesterday, all things considered.
I was. I was pleased with he's he's
he's taking less off the table and putting more on the table
every game now as he's I think starting to realize that he can
indeed play physically against some of these guys.
But Galloway I think, still like his ability to play as a fourth
or fifth offensive option like he was last year versus having
to be the initiator at this particular point is clearly not
working for him and and last night might have been the worst
game that we've seen out of him. Now I I'll be really surprised
if that lasts. But I also think like at some
point, this is a string of five games now and four of them have
seen him register an offensive rating under 100.
He played really well against Maryland, but he struggled in a
lot of the other ones. And you know, as we've said on
the show, I think everybody's rooting for Trey to do better.
If he doesn't, it really puts a hard ceiling on what this team
can accomplish because it essentially means that you have
to get 20 and eight out of renew and 15 and eight out of where.
Fortunately, they've been able to do that.
It just makes you think about, you know, what the ceiling of
the team could be with a healthy Xavier Johnson, with a a Trey
Galloway that isn't feeling the pressure, and a rotation that
can include ACJ gun and a Gabe Cups playing at a level that
isn't damaging to the team when they're out there.
Because the rest of the pieces look there.
I've been, you know, I think Mike Woodson, you can real
quick. Yeah, Go ahead, please.
Trey, like I I would push not to you, but to those who are
sailing. I would push back a little bit
that you know he's he's having to do a slightly more bringing
the ball up and being a little more point guard role.
But you know last year when his numbers were very, you know, had
the best year of his career, you know, he was only using the ball
12% of possessions. You know this year it's 17% of
possessions, which is higher. But it's still in like the Ken
Pom world. He's still a role player and
it's still he's still not the primary option on offense like
this year you have where you have renew.
Last year you had TJD you know you had Hood Shapino, you had
renew like you know and in reality it's not like he has to
start every as a point guard just dump it into the post and
you know if that's if that the thing that I would you know if I
was talking to Trey Galloway is like look just your role is the
same as last year like you're maybe using the ball a tiny bit
more but nothing has changed. You know you still have two
great guys in the post like you're still getting the same
you should still be getting the same types of looks you got last
year. You just need to kind of do that
And so I I I would push back against the fact like he's, you
know it's it's too much of A role for him.
It's like to to me it's like his role is the same.
Well he's having a really hard time hitting threes and and you
know, being efficient with what he's doing.
And and look I think that that's fair potentially as well it it's
tough because it's hard to say OK what are the which plays are
set up for him and he's not able to to capitalize on.
I will say I if he feels like he has to do a lot on offense, I
don't think he has to do nearly as much as he thinks he has to
do. But you you've he's you know
they got to get over the mental block of the threes because at
this point it doesn't make any sense.
Like one of two things is true. Either last year was an
aberration or this year is an aberration.
Statistically speaking, I think it's important to bring up like
Galloway's first two seasons at IU.
He shot 18% from three his freshman year on 6 for 33
shooting. He shot 21% from three his
sophomore year, which is 21%. Last year he shot 30 of 65.
That was 46% and now he's back to 13 1/2%.
And it's like, well, we'll see what happens the rest of the
year. But it's possible that he's not
a good outside shooter that had a great like aberration year
last year in terms of shooting. But you know, if that's the
case, then Indiana's got to figure something else out.
Whether that's, you know, putting him Bako in different
spots on the floor and teeing him up because he seems to be
getting into a rhythm shooting. And we know that he's got range
and he'd almost. It's like if you could get him
the shots that Galloway is missing from long distance
because Galloway's either got a mental block or just isn't
really that good of an outside shooter.
At the end of the day, that changes a lot of what Indiana
could potentially do offensively.
I don't know. I don't know how that manifests
itself or even if that's something that Woodson wants to
do, you know. But I've heard Woodson now on
like what four different occasions in a post game say I
got to get the I got to get I got to help the guards or I got
to help the backcourt or I got to get the backcourt up and
running. It's like I hear you coach, you
get. That's true.
You do. I'm I'm wondering if they just
need to completely junk what they've tried to set up up to
this point because it's not working and.
Or I also, I also wonder if you know, if Woodson's looking at it
at, you know, we look at the guards as, you know, Galloway
and you know, Xavier and Cubs. But you know, maybe he's looking
at it as like Mbacco, as a, you know, as a guard type position.
Because that's something I do want to highlight too, is just
Mbacco has started to show flashes of what I think we were
all looking for. It's like he almost left the bad
Mackenzie Mbacco in New York, you know, because up until that
point it looked like he was kind of lost in college basketball,
having a really hard time figuring out defense, his place
on offense. And.
And what's interesting is, you know, the the competition has
ratcheted up just a tiny bit since we, I mean not UConn
level, but it's like, you know, compared to Florida, Gulf Coast,
Army and Wright State, you know, Harvard, Maryland and Michigan,
Imbacco has come in and you know, offensive ratings of 125,
one 5129, you know, struggled a little bit, one for five against
Harvard from three, but then one for two, one for two, you know,
18 points, 13 points, 12 points like it looks like he's starting
to. To get his footing and starting
to feel like, all right, I understand.
I'm starting to see where I can fit in in college basketball.
And to me that's that's a real key to this team.
And it's possible that you can just get Imbaco going, even kind
of keep his growth potential going.
He could kind of play a pseudo guard position.
And if you're Woodson, it's like, all right, you know, you
know, I want Galloway to get better.
But it's like Galloway is, you know, a fourth year player like
this is. He might just be what he is now.
Like in Baco. There's room to grow.
Here's the thing, though. Much like Mike Woodson didn't
give up on Mackenzie and Baco after some bad performances, he
can't give up and won't give up on Trey Galloway after some bad
performances. And I, I I was thinking it would
be funny with all of the the fake angst from the basketball
experts about how the reason Mbako's playing badly is because
he's a four, not a three. You know, all that stupid
nonsense noise from earlier? It would be hilarious if
actually Mbako was a 2. That's the that's the Galaxy
braid stuff there. But no, look, I I I think the
biggest thing right now is Trey Gallo has got to play fewer
minutes, get him off the floor a little bit more.
He's playing 82 percent, 82 1/2% of available minutes so far
that's that is clearly too much. And you know when he's on the
floor doesn't need to do quite as much.
And I think a lot of that is going to be dependent on can CJ
Gunn contribute more along the lines of what we saw yesterday
than what we've seen from CJ Gunn in essentially any of the
other games this season except the right state game where he's
he's putting up shots, he's playing some good defense, he's
getting some. He had four steals yesterday.
He's had 7 steals in the last two games.
Yeah, he had four steals in the Connecticut game.
The problem is he had zero steals in the Louisville and
Harvard games. He's he is so feast or famine,
he is. He is such a key to this team.
Having the flexibility to sit Trey Galloway for a little bit
and collect himself and and put him in more strategic spots.
And you know what? He's in the Tamar Bates role
right now where it's like you just don't know which one you're
going to get right now. And it unfortunately, like I'm
happy now we have that because he was up to a up until like
last night, it was kind of like he was not even at the point
where you knew you'd get a great game out of him.
You were always, I was always concerned when he came in just
because there hadn't been a lot of production on the court.
You know, I I hope the the the Tamar Bates thing was tough
because like he just didn't know what you were going to get.
Like this is where if you're CJ, it's like just you've got to
find a way to level it off a little bit.
Like you can't have games of zeros, but you don't need, you
know, 3 threes and four steals every game.
Like just find a way to level it out and come in and be
consistent. Yeah, no, it's it's a good point
and look I've to the point I was going to make and we can kind of
finish off with this, but I I really love thus far what the
bench is developing into with with Mike Woodson in the way
that he's coached this group. I mean I'm, I am pleasantly
shocked at Anthony Walker being as good of a contributor,
especially offensively. That is not something that I
foresaw. I don't think anybody foresaw
it. You know, right now, I mean,
it's early, We're only eight games in.
But Anthony Walker's offensive rating is 113, which his highest
offensive rating at Miami was 97, and that was two years ago.
This is not a guy who has been a consistent contributor in in any
of the years that he's played basketball.
He's playing, you know, at a lot of minutes.
This year he played a lot of he played his most minutes as a
sophomore in that first year after COVID and it didn't really
contribute enough to stay on the floor, didn't shoot the ball
particularly well. What I'm seeing out of him is,
is really fascinating because he is so energetic and he's so
athletic and he seems to be picking his spots a lot more.
Caleb Banks I think fits into this category.
Banks clearly is still struggling with control issues,
but the fact that he's able to contribute offensively at all
right now is, is really impressive and he's doing so in
a lot more minutes than he was getting last year.
I think Peyton Sparks he's he's he's still struggles with his
physicality. He reminds me a lot of Larry
Richardson in the way that like his body just doesn't quite move
with a fluidity. But he is doing some good work
for IUI think especially on the defensive glass and it's allowed
IU to get Malik Renew out of there on occasion and just give
him a breather. And he hit a hit two free
throwers in a row yesterday. Scott, which is which is huge
news for him as that's a guy that it, you know he'll probably
get fouled quite a bit down the stretch and he's got to start
feeling some confidence there. So that that whole group of guys
off the bench and I think you can throw Gabe Cups in even
though he's hit. He's basically had to slide into
a starter roll. Like the fact that Indiana has
been able to insert Walker or insert Banks in key moments also
in the second-half and not lose that much is, you know if this
Indiana team ever fully blossoms, If they get a healthy
Xavier Johnson, if they get a a more in touch with himself, Trey
Galloway, if they get ACJ gun that's actually able to
contribute a solid 15 to 20 minutes a game and and put some
shots up and hit them, the I really like where the team could
go. It's just it's hard to say for
sure that they'll get there. They've got a fascinating test
coming up against Auburn, and it's a Auburn team that almost
kind of feels tailor made for this Indiana team to play in a
lot of ways. But, you know, I don't know.
I don't have no clue how they're going to perform on the road or
in a neutral court against Auburn.
But I love the development that a lot of these guys are getting.
I do think it will pay dividends down the stretch because Woodson
seems to be unlocking things in players gradually and that is
not something that we're used to seeing on the Indiana bench, at
least not over the last 10 to 15 years.
Yeah I mean I'll just highlight two of those.
I'm I'm also been very impressed with Walker for a guy who you
know that Miami team was was pretty loaded so he had a hard
time you know finding time to play.
But he had a lot of you know 6.0, you know 7.0.
He's been he's had that consistency that you want from a
bench player. You know unlike the Tamar Bates
type like he's one who just comes in and you're going to get
6-7 eight points out of him. He's not going to make a lot of
mistakes. But I I, I've actually been very
impressed with Peyton Sparks. You know, came in a guy who had
a lot of offensive load at Ball State has really taken a back
seat on offense for obvious reasons and and played a
defensive role. And like you, yes, he's he's
very physical. He sometimes has a hard time
moving, you know can't move laterally as fast as some other
people. But what's been really amazing
is he plays physical. He plays very physical on
defense. He's not getting into foul
trouble, which is like exactly what you want from that position
is someone to come in, you know, give renew or give, wear a
spell, play physical, give the defense, you know, the other
team's big man another look, but not get in foul trouble, you
know, And he's not playing a ton of minutes.
But last night he played 9 minutes, no fouls, you know, 14
minutes against Louisville, no fouls.
And it's not like Peyton Sparks is a wallflower.
I mean, he's out there being physical.
He bodies up and he's able to put some physicality in the post
without getting foul or without fouling, which I think is a
huge. It's a it's so nice to have him
where you can put him in and games like last night where you
know where is in foul trouble, you know you can put Sparks out
there. He's going to play some tough
defense but not get himself in foul trouble, which then kind of
really puts you in a tough spot where you got to play where with
more than you want to a foul. So I've I've been very happy
with what Sparks has been able to provide on the defensive end
from the bench. It's it's going to be
interesting to watch how these guys continue to develop cause
like you I like this team and I think it's growing and I I think
you and I were on it. I don't I don't like them yet I
I I like the pieces I that was AI mean I got to say that was a
tough watch that Michigan Indiana game was a tough watch
it it's a team that I I will I I give them a lot of credit.
As bad as they were in terms of turnovers in the first half they
had 10 turnovers in the first half they only had three in the
second-half. Now they replaced the turnovers
with just like bad shots at times or questionable decision
making. They're they're clearly still
kind of figuring out how to work as a unit and I'm still
concerned about the defense. But I I there's there's
promising signs and I'd rather they gave up twos than threes,
which that's kind of how they've switched things around.
And offensively, I'd rather they went with the more efficient
scoring options rather than try to force things.
And so I'm glad that that's all happening.
And they certainly look a lot more together and a lot more
coherent as a group than they did in those games that we saw
in New York against Connecticut and Louisville where there were
times where yours, like had these guys played together
before. And that's.
That's what I was you. You're right.
Because there was a time last night I said to my wife like,
I'm is this team fun to watch? I couldn't tell.
There's definitely good pieces, but I guess more succinctly what
I was saying, you know the beginning of the year you and I
both were on this team is probably going to be different,
hopefully better but different in February and March than it is
in November and December. And you know the last two games
against Maryland and Michigan was the first time.
It's like you I I'm starting to see that happen.
It's like, oh, this team is growing.
Like I'm seeing this team change from the team we saw in New
York. Something definitely changed.
It's not all going to be a straight line to you know
appreciate the tournament but you know I I'm excited in that
it feels like we are seeing this team grow in positive ways to
get to that point. Where as you and I said like I,
you know, I think this is going to be a much different and
hopefully better team in February and it feels like we're
starting to see that trajectory happen.
But it's it's not going. To be a straight line and
there's two, there's two things, a micro thing and a macro thing.
The micro thing is that you know they were AI think a six point
underdog to Michigan according to Ken Palm last night and they
won and that's that's what Indiana has to do.
Indiana right now because they have been so unimpressive in
terms of the margin of victory against some really bad teams,
including an army team that has been atrocious so far this
season. They have they're going to have
to win games that right now the computers say you're not going
to win because we don't think you're that good.
You know obviously as Indiana gets better they will grow ahead
of their computer profile and in the Big 10 I mean you they've
got a lot of very winnable home games.
They're going to have to pick some games off on the road
because they just A, they don't have.
They're not going to have enough of a non conference resume to
bolster them beyond the fact that the Big 10 isn't very good
this year. But also B, they're going to
have some games on the road against teams that the computers
don't like, that they're really going to need that to figure out
a way to win. I mean they got to play at
Minnesota, who the computers don't like, they have to play at
Penn State, who the computers don't like.
They've got games against both of those teams at home.
Those are all good for padding stats, but you're going to have
to pick off one or two other Rd. games.
Maryland on the road, you know there's there's other ones out
there that you look at. Rutgers on the road, Nebraska on
the road. I think those are all games that
if Indiana's going to put themselves in a position to get
into the tournament and right now it's very early, but they're
projecting is just outside the field.
You know they can't finish 18 and 13 and 10 and 10.
They've got I, you know, picking up one of these next two games
would be almost a certainty that you would need maybe a necessity
to pick up one of those two certainly would be great to get
both. But I think the thing about this
team that gives them a chance, there's two things.
A, they're still growing, then they're clearly getting
incrementally better in pretty much every game which is not
often what happens with IU teams it feels like, But B, they they
they care. They like, they look like they
legitimately care about winning these games.
And we saw it in the Louisville game, as bad as that game was
and you know it, Yes, it took IU switching to a zone at the end,
but IU then went out and made the plays that they needed to
make to win the game down the stretch.
This game last night that, I mean when when Indiana was down
late, you know, and left that little run in with about 6
minutes to go. And it's like this doesn't look
like it's going to go very well. And then they did what they
needed to do. I mean at at the what was it at
the 30? No, sorry.
At the IT was 60, two to 60 Michigan with about 6 1/2
minutes left and the the numbers didn't look great for Indiana at
that point. And just in terms of win
probability, they were at a 28% win probability.
And from there you know Indiana did what they needed to do down
the stretch. And I think Indiana's going to
be in a lot of games like that this year where they're just
going to have to gut out pipe games.
They're not going to be fun games.
They're going to be stressful games to watch.
But I I like the mentality that this team has, and you
mentioned, you know, some of the Michigan State, Rutgers, we've
seen Rutgers do things like this.
Northwestern does things like this where they just grid out
these games and the difference is Indiana's got legitimately a
lottery pick or a potential borderline lottery pick playing
for them and another guy who'll probably have a long career in
the NBA. And they've got another guy who,
if he can put together his offensive and defensive game,
could be a three and D type of player in the NBA for a while.
I mean, they've Got Talent that exceeds how they've played up to
this point. You combine that with some will,
which this team seems to be showing.
That's where I'm still optimistic about the season,
despite the fact that there's times when I want to feel very
pessimistic about the season. No, totally fair.
I would also think about last night, just to throw a little
sand in Michigan's faces. Like, dude, that was barely a
road game. Like that crowd sucked.
Like the the shots of the crowd. It's like every every section
outside of the student section had at least 40% open seats.
It's like there was nobody there.
Yeah, I mean it's it's but you know, I'll, I'll say this, I
think that happens more often in the Big 10 games than you'd
think and. I always had some really bad
crowds. Remember seeing on?
TVI Use lost at Minnesota when Minnesota's had terrible crowds.
I use the 2012 team lost at Nebraska when Nebraska was not
exactly a team that was packing them in, You know, so you're
right in as much as it certainly wasn't Mackie Arena.
But. It's still a big 10 Rd. win.
Totally with you. I'm just it was more just like I
was watching that like dude Michigan show up.
Yeah, it's it's pretty sad. They're all either.
They're all either maybe they're all scouting Alabama.
They're the whole the whole university is out scouting.
You know, this is, This is why. This is why the Big 10 needs
Indiana, because they care about basketball all season.
So anyway, all right, we've gone kind of long.
Any final thoughts from you, Scott?
No. No, no, no, man, not good.
Well, hopefully for those of you who are calling for a podcast,
this sufficed we. We as always enjoy chatting with
you folks and we will be back with more coming up soon.
I'm going. On the road.
The, the, the, the, the doctor GC Roadshow shows up in the
South as I'll be down in Atlanta.
So hopefully I'll see some of you down there.
Be sure to come up and say hi. Got to see a bunch of you folks
out in New York and that was a great thrill and looking forward
to hopefully seeing Indiana come away with AW there.
And either way, it's nice to see Indiana playing in these types
of showcase games in large metropolitan areas where more
people might become aware of the brand and maybe it helps with
recruiting or whatnot. But yeah, looking forward to
that. So we'll be back with that.
We got the Crimson Cast Women's Basketball Show coming up later
on this week. Amanda Foster, Kevin Vera going
to recap with the ladies have been up to and look forward to
the games that they have in the remainder of the month of
December. Be sure to check out our friends
at Assembly Call and we will be back with more podcasting in the
future. Be sure to subscribe to Crimson
Cast on Sub Stack. Thanks to our presenting
sponsor, Home Field Apparel. For Scott, I'm Galen, this is
Crimson Cast. We'll catch you folks on the
flip side. Bring back the Bison.
That's all everybody.