Mike Woodson knew Indiana needed better guards. The way he got them made a difference too.

BORDEN – Mike Woodson turned fans’ heads last week when, during his media session before an NIL event at Huber’s Orchard and Winery in southern Indiana, he waxed philosophical about the importance of strong guard play in college basketball.

“I’ve learned in this short period of time that I’ve been in college, you win with good guard play,” Woodson said. “It’s great to have big guys that can play and do the things we have over the last three (seasons) with the bigs that we’ve coached, but you win with good perimeter play and good guard play.”

Suggestions Woodson only discovered the need for talented guards in March missed the crucial underlying point.

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Reaction seemed to imply Woodson had learned a sort of lesson, as though he chose to go into last season with bad guard play. What he chose, though, was to put his faith in places and people it ultimately did not fit. The lesson learned from last season might be even more valuable — not in what needs done, but how, and therefore what’s gained from the final result.

The merit of a talented backcourt probably wasn’t lost on Woodson when Xavier Johnson was struggling with injuries. Or when he realized he was asking too much too soon of Gabe Cupps. Or when, after a loss at Nebraska in early January, he described his guards as “awful.”

And certainly not when his team’s late-season surge — a five-game win streak to finished .500 in league play — was built around the emergence of Trey Galloway as the kind of two-way, ball screen offense-capable, playmaking guard Indiana missed for so much of the winter.

Where Woodson was making these assertions from a position of weakness just months ago, now, he can make them from a position of potential strength.

Galloway still needs to cover some ground rehabilitating from offseason knee surgery….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mike-woodson-knew-indiana-needed-084029276.html

Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2024-06-04 08:40:29

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