Kanaan Carlyle in the portal
- Thread starter SimpsonElmwood
- Start date
Everyone needs to sign up and get involved with TrueNU. Doesn’t matter if we are small potatoes.
My first time meeting NU’s Shon Morris was at Little 500 1988 when he was at our apartment complex in Bloomington. I reminded him of that in a few subsequent conversations in the 90’s. Good times.
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Makes sense if you're an IU booster a la Mark Cuban. Money better spent on NIL than buying out Woodson's contract.
IU already got this guy in the portal. It's continuing its tradition of playing guys who can’t hit the 3 but won't shy from trying:
The family of now deceased NU grad, Bill Cook, has done their part too, both with NIL and coaching buy outs at IU. Them, IU BOT Prez Quinn Buckner, and the Simon Family (Pacers owners, Mall builders of the 70’s and 80’s, and the biggest donor for the Assembly Hall renovation) may be the only reason Woody is getting another year. If things go sideways again next year, even their money and power may not be enough to save Woody.
Geez, how does a university function with only 9 trustees?
(This response is just making fun of NU, which has nearly 9 dozen trustees. (Actually, about 70.))
Somebody told me IU had a big NIL fundraising event a few weeks ago. Some heavy hitters (including Cuban) stepped up. They appear to have a hell of a backcourt now. And one of the best centers. I think they saved Woodson’s job.
Only if he wins. And he’s not proven he can do that.
Shades of Jimbo Fisher and TxAM football. The best middle of the league finish that money can buy.
They finished 2nd 2 years ago. They had a bad backcourt last year. They will be a very good team this year barring injuries.
On paper, yes. On the court, TBD. They were middle of the road with a lottery pick plus Jackson Davis on the team.
Again, tied for 2nd in the conference with us with 2 wins against Purdue. Better than middle of the road. Not saying he’s a great coach but they will finish near the top of the conference.
And got a 4 seed.
IU fans just have delusional expectations. The Nebraska fans of basketball. Tom Osborne and Bobby Knight aren’t walking through that door.
Kansas hired Roy Williams and Bill Self after Larry Brown. Purdue hired Matt Painter to replace Gene Keady. IU hired Davis, Sampson, Crean, Miller and Woodson. Coaching matters. The brand has been diminished over time. And Woodson is not going to restore the glory so they will continue to be just another team.
They’ve been just another team for a long, long time. Through many coaches.
Not saying Woodson needs to be the guy, but their expectations remain silly. They think anybody gives a **** about who they are because of some Gene Hackman movie ****.
I am 100% in ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ mode with IU. Those players get such huge expectations thrust upon them.
At this juncture, Carlyle is a guy who put up okay stats (more turnovers than assists, <40% from the field) on a bad team.
But IU fans are envisioning him as a star. The 48 hours after his first 2 for 11 night will be rough.
I would not be surprised to see him miserable and take a pay cut to go somewhere else in ‘25. I would be more surprised by a sweet 16 run.
He was a freshman and had stretches of very high level play. Not saying they will will win the national championship. With that center, that backcourt, Mgbako, Reneau, I think they will finish near the top of the conference. And that will be enough to keep Woodson’s job. I feel pretty confident about that.
I had a dream last night I ran into Carlyle right after he led Stanford to the final four (even though he had already transferred to Indiana). I introduced myself and welcomed him to the Big Ten, and I said, "I'm going to boo you next year, but I like you now." He responded by quoting something to me I had written on a Facebook post several years ago, like he was researching all NU fans the same way we were researching him.
I know context matters, but in his three years at IU, Woodson has exactly the same conference record as Collins does over the last three years at NW, which is undoubtedly the best stretch of basketball that a coach has had at Northwestern (at least in a modern era). And to be fair to Woodson, he’s trying to build up after the coach before him was fired, so there is inherently a disadvantage to that, vs where he could be in Year 5+ where he’s had time to get more established.
I don’t think Woodson was the best candidate available, but to act like he can’t win based on his short sample size so far is silly. I suspect that they’ll be a solid team this year and a tourney team, which would make his 3rd in 4 seasons. Not sure they can compete for a conference title, but at the same time I don’t think there are any clear favorites either.
Woodson is always competing with IU fan expectations. It is a program with a cloud above it — like Nebraska in football, IU hasn’t recognized that nobody cares about them anymore.
Woodson has done a not-bad job. But IU has had a lot of top recruits over the year and has made no national impact for 20 years.
I think IU fans make it tougher, as I indicated in my comment that a Carlyle 2-for-9 night in November is going to be rough on him. Because IU fans make things rough.
Yeah I get that. Their fans are happy for now because of the sugar rush from the portal. But yeah, it will get grumpy real fast if they struggle out of the gate next year.