Indiana looked like a different team coming out of halftime.
No other coach in the Big Ten is going into this season with more to gain or lose than Mike Woodson.
He put together one of the most talented rosters in the league this past offseason with more depth than he’s ever had in Bloomington. He also has to bounce back after last year’s whiffs led to the Hoosiers being on the outside looking in come March.
Woodson objectively has the program in a better position than when he found it. Last year’s postseason miss was his first in three years on the job and he’s proven he can acquire talent in Bloomington.
That’s not to say Indiana isn’t without its fault under him. The Hoosiers still need to gain some positive momentum in March and leave much to be desired from the 3-point line through two regular season games.
The wave of criticism he faced last season, both locally and nationally, was a bit much!
There was real national chatter about replacing a head coach set to miss the tournament for the first time with a rising name from the mid-major ranks and odd local rumors of palace intrigue keeping Woodson (who, again, missed the tournament for the first time. his predecessor missed it four times in four seasons) in the job as a favor to him, a privately well-liked program alumnus, courtesy of the powers that be.
It got to the point that Indiana had to publicly signal it was retaining Woodson through an insider report in the Indianapolis Star. That was a bit ridiculous.
So as soon as things start looking bad, everyone’s a bit quick to jump at him. I myself was pretty critical of the first half! I thought the offense looked clunky and limited scoring opportunities for its guards, a common refrain from last year, but one that looked words because, unlike last year, Indiana had the guards to play differently.
So when Indiana left the locker room looking like an entirely different team, bulldozing Eastern Illinois for a 90-55 win? The acknowledgement of that turnaround should be as loud as that criticism.
Criticism is always louder than praise. but that seems especially true in Woodson’s case. Last year’s biggest roster issue was a lack of quality guard play and I truly don’t think he could’ve solved it better than he did with the additions of Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle.
He needed shooting and got Luke Goode to pair with Mackenzie Mgbako. Speaking of which, Mgbako has gone from almost unplayable down the stretch at the beginning of last season to arguably the Hoosiers’ best player.
Woodson has done a great deal of praise-worthy things in Bloomington. Whatever he did in the halftime locker room is among those. You don’t go from letting a team hit 59.3% of its shots to 16.7% without some coaching.
Breathe. It’s November.