AxnJxn

And a foul. He needs to calm down. Did draw an offensive foul on Davison, though.

Feeling good about this one. Team's been through some adversity, but this is the same team (well, plus Trey minus Rob) that was putting the wood to Wisconsin in their place in the first half last time, and then let it get away. This is also a pretty good matchup for us.

I'm curious how defensive rating is calculated? Didn't have much success on searching, but figured it would be easier to ask here, anyway. I'm curious if it's related at all to those top two guys on that list making up for getting beat off the dribble, or is it more individual than that?

That kid looks like he’s in pain when he shoots. He has that nice floater he uses on drives, but his jump shot form reminds me of Barkley’s golf swing.

I think Wisconsin is going to be a much better indicator of where this team is mentally. I mean, most of us weren’t expecting a win at MSU, you have the suspension thing still kind of hovering, and so forth. Yes, there are issues with this offense but we’re still playing very good defense (and we’re ridiculously unlucky on FT defense for some reason), Race and Bates both knocked down 3s, and XJ played well around the foul trouble until everything imploded at the end. Had a nice run to start the second half, too. Lose to Wisconsin at home and it might be panic button time.

My thought in the first half - we’re getting open shots, but have the wrong guys shooting them (i guess that’s why they were open). i haven’t the slightest idea what happened in the second half.

Alford's easily the best pure shooter in the history of IU ball, and he could actually create his own shot on a limited basis now and then. But, he was average at best on the defensive end. That's why I'm going with Vic. Plus, nothing like a rim rattling dunk or emphatic block now and then to really get the crowd into it. You wouldn't have the "socks, shorts, 1, 2, 3, swish" FT thing with Vic, though.

Oladipo. This team is desperate for someone else who can create his own shot, can shoot from the outside, and our perimeter defense bumps up a notch, too.

That's the game I feel the most confident about of the ranked teams left on the schedule. We were running them out of their gym in the first half, and we let them off the hook. And I do feel like we lost that game more than they won it, for whatever that's worth. Feel like this team has learned to play a little smarter down the stretch, particularly XJ.

That's kind of where I am. I've said this before, but based on how he's shooting, getting his feet set, in good rhythm, looks confident, I feel like he's knocking these down in practice and, for whatever reason, it's just not translating to game days. But, OTOH, at some point when you're shooting <30% from there, it starts to turn into that whole definition of insanity thing. Really hoping he starts knocking them down at a little bit better clip because (1) the kid's awesome and impossible not to root for and (2) it would really help to open up the offense a bit.

I get the concern for the next few games, but I feel slightly confident in this team going into this stretch. MSU isn't as strong as they usually are, and they aren't playing that well lately, we were rolling Wisky at their place in the first half and then things unraveled and we match up well with them (and I think X has learned to contain himself a bit since then), and we've already beaten OSU. Certainly winning on the road is difficult, but I don't think 2-1 is unreasonable, especially if this team rallies around the WC5. 'Course, 0-3 is certainly on the menu, too.

Dude, it's just easier to let that guy yell at a cloud or how soft everything is these days, how much our fans are to blame for the program failures, or whatever else, and just let him go. Some people adapt, some get left behind. Sure, some of us still rearrange our schedules around games, but to expect that when we haven't won anything in years, haven't been to a FF in two decades, and haven't won a natty in nearly half a century is ridiculous. You're simply not going to change a mind that's completely closed and stuck in another century.

Yeah, the job analogy isn't the best, and I get what you are saying. I guess you could say that CMW sets the job requirements, if you will, and you either abide by those or you don't play, and getting enough sleep is one of those requirements. I'd imagine he's pretty up front about those things, too. I had a sales job back in the day, and we had conferences and things were we technically had a curfew. Pretty much no one follow it, because 'F that, I'm an adult' and so forth, but there could have been consequences if they had enforced it. There are also companies that don't allow employees to date each other and so forth, so there are situations where your job may have some say in what you do on your own time.

If they broke curfew, then that's impacting their "job," at least it is with respect to what CMW is setting for job requirements. I'm guessing they have to be up early for walkthroughs or other team related things, and in their boss's opinion, they aren't getting enough rest to function properly or whatever. I agree with another poster that we shouldn't be speculating on drugs or other things since those are just rumors at this point (and I've been guilty of that myself in earlier posts), so I'm just going to leave it at that example, but CMW has rules in place for a reason, and if they're breaking those rules, then in his opinion, that's going to affect their performance.

Let's not forget two things: 1) This is CMW's first year. He needs to set a tone that certain things will not be tolerated, based on what kind of program he wants to run. 2) The transfer portal has made it much easier to replace problem children. I'd also add that, from what I've read here, if everyone wants to return next year we'll be 3 over on scholarships, so there could be a need for some guys to move on.

I’m not sure why you can’t show mercy and forgiveness and still hold young men accountable and responsible for their actions. Those aren’t mutually exclusive. CMW’s job isn’t just to get these guys to win games - it’s also to teach them how to be productive members of society, and if they broke the rules or did something wrong, that there are consequences. Let’s also not forget that in a time when some are drowning in student loan debt, these guys are getting a free education at a good school, and have the opportunity to earn money with the NIL. So, in some ways, it’s a job. Dunno about the rest of you, but if i show up late to my job smelling of weed, there are consequences. in other words, welcome to the real world, fellas.

CMW just said in the PC that he doesn’t know if this will be one game or more. Said he’s going to bring in players that are proud to wear the IU uniform. Good stuff.

With respect to what happened on the court tonight, in addition to what others have pointed out with respect to TJD and others, Jordan has got to play smarter. He picked up 4 fouls, and all 4 were ticky tack bad fouls, and on a night when we really needed him on the court. Tons of talent there, and he had a beautiful pass fake and knocked down the open 3 from it, so hoping he can learn from this going forward.

We can dissect this game and how we ended up losing, and a win was right there for the taking, but it’s just incredibly disappointing that there are FIVE guys on this team that don’t respect the privilege of playing basketball for IU.

Don’t forget Geronimo taking himself out of the game with foul trouble on some pretty dumb fouls.

Good info. Thought he was a much better shooter than that.

There’s nothing unlucky or cursed about 5 guys being morons.

Agreed. High basketball IQ there, and fun to watch.

To quote CMW: “Relax”

Don’t think that was on CMW.