WSU bs ISU(blue)

[The Mad Hatter]

Lansing is easily the best coach Indiana State has had in the last 30 years and they can barely afford new uniforms. What do they think will happen if they fire him?

I get the criticisms of Lansing in that as good as he is as an x's and o's guy, he is not nearly as strong as a recruiter or as an inspirational leader. Nonetheless, given the shoestring budget he is working with, it is hard to imagine hiring an upgrade over Lansing. The man knows basketball and even a better recruiter is going to have a hard time bringing in talent if you don't have the recruiting budget to do that work or the amenities that potential recruits see elsewhere.

Is it possible that Lansing doesn't have enough beyond the x's and o's to be the answer to major success? Maybe, but I don't see how you could know when you have a budget that handicaps your coach.

For those Indiana State fans that think it is worth firing Lansing because it can't get worse, you might want to pay attention to what happened to Bradley when they fired Jim Les (who was sort of an inverse Lansing - recruiting and inspiration, but limited x's and o's). At least Bradley had the reasonable excuse that they were funding basketball at a pretty decent level and things still spiraled on them.

Lansing may not be the answer, but firing him without resolving the funding issue isn't the answer either, and if you fix the funding problem, I think Lansing should at least have a shot to see what he can do with a decent budget to hire assistants and recruit with.

[WSUwatcher]

I get the criticisms of Lansing in that as good as he is as an x's and o's guy, he is not nearly as strong as a recruiter or as an inspirational leader. Nonetheless, given the shoestring budget he is working with, it is hard to imagine hiring an upgrade over Lansing. The man knows basketball and even a better recruiter is going to have a hard time bringing in talent if you don't have the recruiting budget to do that work or the amenities that potential recruits see elsewhere.

Is it possible that Lansing doesn't have enough beyond the x's and o's to be the answer to major success? Maybe, but I don't see how you could know when you have a budget that handicaps your coach.

For those Indiana State fans that think it is worth firing Lansing because it can't get worse, you might want to pay attention to what happened to Bradley when they fired Jim Les (who was sort of an inverse Lansing - recruiting and inspiration, but limited x's and o's). At least Bradley had the reasonable excuse that they were funding basketball at a pretty decent level and things still spiraled on them.

Lansing may not be the answer, but firing him without resolving the funding issue isn't the answer either, and if you fix the funding problem, I think Lansing should at least have a shot to see what he can do with a decent budget to hire assistants and recruit with.

Well, there is always dropping football -- I can think of one school where that worked very well to solve the athletic department's financial crunch, thus making more money available for basketball.

Of course, that would also leave the Trees with only four men's sports: basketball, baseball, and two flavors of track (T&F and xCountry). But a replacement like golf or tennis, or even wrestling or soccer should still leave some extra money available for basketball. And, of course, they could always do a few extra sponsored promotions at timeouts in basketball games.

[shockmonster]

I get the criticisms of Lansing in that as good as he is as an x's and o's guy, he is not nearly as strong as a recruiter or as an inspirational leader. Nonetheless, given the shoestring budget he is working with, it is hard to imagine hiring an upgrade over Lansing. The man knows basketball and even a better recruiter is going to have a hard time bringing in talent if you don't have the recruiting budget to do that work or the amenities that potential recruits see elsewhere.

Is it possible that Lansing doesn't have enough beyond the x's and o's to be the answer to major success? Maybe, but I don't see how you could know when you have a budget that handicaps your coach.

For those Indiana State fans that think it is worth firing Lansing because it can't get worse, you might want to pay attention to what happened to Bradley when they fired Jim Les (who was sort of an inverse Lansing - recruiting and inspiration, but limited x's and o's). At least Bradley had the reasonable excuse that they were funding basketball at a pretty decent level and things still spiraled on them.

Lansing may not be the answer, but firing him without resolving the funding issue isn't the answer either, and if you fix the funding problem, I think Lansing should at least have a shot to see what he can do with a decent budget to hire assistants and recruit with.

ISUB can't be easy to recruit to. Bad facilities and poor support and attendance.

[pogo]

Interesting thread on the ISub link about Sullentrop suggesting they drop football. Just don't post your thoughts as some of them are worked up a bit about the suggestion by the WSU beat writer.

[shocka khan]

Perhaps Joe Auer, his coach at Wichita Heights, captured Evan's impact on a team: "he (Evan) leaves everything better than when he found it."

With all this Evan talk, here's my take. We're going into senior night. He's been an integral part of our team for 5 years. He needs to have his moment in the sun. I appreciate your comments.

It doesn't change my opinion of his play, but I do believe that the time is now to recognize his contributions to the program. It's not his fault that it took the youngsters a little time to catch up with him and it is also not his fault that we lost some really important glue guys the last couple of years which kind of left him out on an island.

He seems to be a great young man and a very hard worker, so he not only set a good example for the young-uns, he also had a deep impact in terms of character and conduct on our coach. And he's also one of the winningest players ever in our program.

[shocka khan]

ISUB can't be easy to recruit to. Bad facilities and poor support and attendance.

You forgot the almost totally empty arena. Looks like it was built around the same time as Lindley Hall (1930's WPA) in Newton.

Kinda' hard to engage people when you're playing in an antiquated barn.

[IndyTreeFan]

Lansing is easily the best coach Indiana State has had in the last 30 years and they can barely afford new uniforms. What do they think will happen if they fire him?

A couple of clarifications - first, he will not be fired, should he leave. Second, over the weekend, a group of well-heeled alumni started putting together a plan to help fund a new coach at a higher level. We have a "new" arena on the horizon. We must have someone to fill it. Lansing has given alums a taste of success. Now people are starting to want to go further. We'll see if the university will accept their help. Always a question mark at ISU...

[IndyTreeFan]

Interesting thread on the ISub link about Sullentrop suggesting they drop football. Just don't post your thoughts as some of them are worked up a bit about the suggestion by the WSU beat writer.

I hate the thought of dropping football. But it might be inevitable. It would free up some money for basketball, but how the university divides that up is anyone's guess. With a new AD, an new arena, and some new blood in the program, I'm hopeful that we can start acting like we want to do something other than fight to stay out of Thursday night.

On the bright side, every AD candidate (external) said that our men's basketball program MUST be competing to win the conference every year. They were all adamant that that is the only way we start to pull ourselves out of the morass we're in. I loved our former AD, but he'd been mailing it in for the last two or three years. New blood is good...

[forevershockerfan]

A recipe to great success? FVV 8 assist, ISU 7. Turnovers--ISU 14-WSU 4. Rim Protection--WSU had 6 blocks---Steals--we had 7 lead by Baker's 3 and they had 0.. Now here is one I really like. We get to the charity stripe 23 times and make 20 for a whopping .870% and they on go 10-16. Making and drawing throws than our foes is an art that can lead us to winning even the closest of games. Instead of settling for 3's, we are penetrating inside and establishing that more, then kicking it out for 3-point opportunities.

Lot's of positive energy and execution now will become more rampant later when we are playing for all the marbles.

[Dave Stalwart]

The problem for MVC schools deciding today in 2016 that basketball needs to be really important is that they seem to have waited until Creighton and WSU already left. It's going to be a lot harder to resurrect the MVC if those two programs are gone. If everybody could have made some better choices over the last 10-15 years that would have been neat. I'm a valley lover but I'm hanging by a thread and I must say the west side of the AAC looks pretty nice right now.

And if it was always just that certain schools flat out couldn't ever dream of affording the ability to compete at a high level in d-1 then it was always inevitable for the MVC to fall downward into the horizon, summit, big west, CAA, MAC territory we have found ourselves in anyway. Don't fight it. Let CU and WSU play where they belong and let the MVC compete with other like minded schools.

[wusphlash]

Regarding ISUB, which comes first, recruiting, facilities or butts in the seats. I believe it is butts in the seats.

[xazshox]

Isub Fan Support

I still remember 2 or 3 yrs ago when Indiana State beat WSU in the MVC tournament. I don't remember if it was a semi or final game. What I do remember is that Indiana State had about 50 people there including the band & cheer leaders. It was a very pathetic showing in support of a pretty good team & coach.

[shocka khan]

Regarding ISUB, which comes first, recruiting, facilities or butts in the seats. I believe it is butts in the seats.

I disagree and say facilities. You can't have engagement (butts in the seats) without a team, and you can't have a team without recruits. If the recruits see that the facilities are there, they will come. Better recruits fuels engagement. U of H is doing this right now. First upgrade the coach, second upgrade the facilities. Third (and hoping you can start to connect with fans) comes the arena and butts in the seats.

U of H upgraded their coach, they are getting to the facilities and I think the next step will be to replace the wreck that is Hoffheinz Pavillion.

They got it right with the FB program and I think, in time they will get it right with the BB program. I'm just not sure whether Kelvin Sampson is a good college coach, as his teams seem to vary between coming down and jacking shots up (no I in team) or playing with some level of discipline.

[Cdizzle]

I disagree and say facilities. You can't have engagement (butts in the seats) without a team, and you can't have a team without recruits. If the recruits see that the facilities are there, they will come. Better recruits fuels engagement. U of H is doing this right now. First upgrade the coach, second upgrade the facilities. Third (and hoping you can start to connect with fans) comes the arena and butts in the seats.

U of H upgraded their coach, they are getting to the facilities and I think the next step will be to replace the wreck that is Hoffheinz Pavillion.

You have to have money before you pay more for a coach or facilities. And most money comes from fans. Not everything in the world is free.

[wusphlash]

I disagree and say facilities. You can't have engagement (butts in the seats) without a team, and you can't have a team without recruits. If the recruits see that the facilities are there, they will come. Better recruits fuels engagement. U of H is doing this right now. First upgrade the coach, second upgrade the facilities. Third (and hoping you can start to connect with fans) comes the arena and butts in the seats.

U of H upgraded their coach, they are getting to the facilities and I think the next step will be to replace the wreck that is Hoffheinz Pavillion.

They got it right with the FB program and I think, in time they will get it right with the BB program. I'm just not sure whether Kelvin Sampson is a good college coach, as his teams seem to vary between coming down and jacking shots up (no I in team) or playing with some level of discipline.

The chicken or egg debate. These three factors are interrelated. The one thing the general fan base has control of is butts in the seats. Big money donors aren't going to spend their contributions where they think nobody cares. High caliber players don't want to play in empty arenas. Chicken/egg, egg/chicken.