Accountability 101

 This was Mike Woodson's Illinois moment, until it wasn't. Further review will do that to a thing. 

Illinois, see, was the Blob's initial thought when word came down that Woodson had suspended five regular rotation players minutes before a game at Northwestern his Indiana Hoosiers kinda had to have. And by "Illinois," I mean a certain road trip to Champaign 37 winters ago, when Bob Knight -- Woodson's coaching sensei, as it were -- abruptly benched four of his five starters and sent four freshmen out to replace them.

The Hoosiers lost by 11 that day, scoring just 12 points in the first half. Even the Bobbyheads were outraged, wondering how a man in his right mind could just throw away something so precious as a Big Ten game.

And so, when Woodson abruptly benched his guys, and Indiana went on to lose at Northwestern, here came the thought: "Wow. Woodson just went Illinois on 'em."

Except he hadn't.

Except, upon further review, this was miles different from what Knight did that long-ago day in Champaign. That was less about discipline and accountability than it was simple pique, a Knight specialty. And it was mostly directed at stickout guard Steve Alford, whom Knight got it in his head needed to be taken down a peg. 

This?

This was about team rules, and the consequences for breaking them. This was actually about discipline and accountability, instead of just theoretically. It was Bob Knight 2.0 --  clearer-eyed, and without the grandstanding of the original.

And it took a lot more gumption.

When Knight did what he did, see, the Hoosiers were spiraling toward a 15-13 season, 7-11 in the Big Ten. It was the year of the Chair Game and much else.

Woodson's Hoosiers, on the other hand, are 16-7, 7-6 in the Big Ten, and have a murderer's row of Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State just ahead. Currently projected as a mid-pack NCAA Tournament seed, they need every W they can get to stay there. And Northwestern was an eminently gettable W. 

It's also a different era. The transfer portal and NILs have altered the traditional imbalance of power in high-end college athletics; players have more control over their own destinies now, and coaches are thus more compelled to cater to those players who can elevate their programs. It takes major brass ones to go old school on them.

And yet, Woodson did, for the sake of his program and the culture he's trying to instill in it. Three of the five players he suspended indefinitely are transfer portal players, including Xavier Johnson, Woodson's starting point guard. So it can reasonably be assumed they've already gotten disgruntled with other programs for one reason or another.

Woodson's message: Transfer here, you do things the way we do them here. If you can't do that, there's the door.

"When you talk about building a team, I'm building a culture here," Woodson said the other day. "I'm not here to mess around with guys who don't want to do what's asked of them. If they don't, they've got to go. That's how I look at it."

Indeed.