EMERGENCY: Mike Woodson's stubbornness and failure to adjust crush Indiana
Where does Indiana go after its 89-61 loss to Louisville?
Photo: Clutch Points
What the #$%@!
Indiana was a complete no-show against Louisville in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis, falling to the Cardinals 89-61.
First of all, credit Louisville. Pat Kelsey has ignited a fire under that program, and today, they were the better team, brought more energy, and played a well-rounded basketball game. Chucky Hepburn was unbelievable, putting up 16 points, 10 assists and seven steals. Louisville's physicality was bashed in its 22 loss to Tennessee, but today, the Cardinals were the more physical team — especially on the perimeter.
The bottom line is this: everyone knew what Louisville was going to do, and Mike Woodson did not adjust to any of it. Through four games, the Cards had shown their hand as over 52 percent of their shots come from beyond the arc, they force turnovers (top-10 in the country), and they play with tempo on the break. Here’s how the statistics shaped up in those categories…
Turnovers:
LOU: 15
IU: 23 — Cardinals had 30 points off of them
3-point shooting:
LOU: 10-27 — 37 percent
IU: 7-20 — 35 percent
Fast break points:
LOU: 14
IU: 4
Indiana’s guard rotation of Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle and Trey Galloway was a combined 3-for-24. That is not a typo. Those three also tallied nine turnovers. This is just completely unacceptable. Indiana was forcing shots in the first half because they couldn’t keep the ball. There was no offensive control established on IU’s end.
Louisville looked like they were playing an NAIA team, throwing lobs and behind-the-back passes. It was embarrassing for an Indiana team that doesn’t seem to play together or even like playing together. There was a timeout where Mackenzie Mgbako and Luke Goode were arguing in the huddle. And I get it, it was frustrating, guys will be emotional — but I can’t ignore this glaring disconnect.
The finger can be pointed at the guards, but it should be all on Woodson right now. Louisville did everything it wanted to, and Indiana made no adjustments. This has been a problem for Indiana. Woodson is stubborn. He likes his system, but IU could be playing the 2017 Golden State Warriors, and he wouldn’t change it. There was no point of emphasis on taking away Louisville’s strengths in transition and at the 3-point line.
This whole approach of “if we play our game, we’ll be fine” doesn’t always work, especially when the effort is porous. Nine times out of 10 this season, Indiana will have more talent than its opponent, and that rang true today, but Louisville made the hustle plays and got the 50/50 balls. Indiana did not, and it resulted in an embarrassing, culture-questioning loss.
It’s most frustrating that under Mike Woodson, Indiana has been overmatched in almost ALL of its big non-conference games early in the season. At Kansas? Blowout. UConn in New York? Blowout. Auburn in Atlanta? Blowout. Arizona in Las Vegas? Blowout. Louisville in the Bahamas? Yes, a blowout.
SOMETHING IS NOT WORKING! And if the staff doesn’t figure out the effort problem and find a way to get these guys to play together, it will be another waste of a season and the millions of dollars put into the roster.
The Hoosiers have the talent to be a national title contender, but the system set them up to fail today against Louisville. No, I’m not calling for Woodson to be fired, and I give him a slight pass because of the atrocious effort from Indiana’s guards today — but it would be out of touch to say it’s trending in a good direction.
Woodson’s ship is sinking, and today, as it began to take on a lot of water, Indiana’s players watched it happen.
If news could be good right now, there is a silver lining. It’s one game in November, and the Hoosiers have another crack at it in less than 24 hours against either West Virginia or No. 3 Gonzaga.
So, we’ll see if Indiana’s able to swim.