AxnJxn

Yep. Not sure going into the half with 3 unused TOs is a good idea with only 7 bodies, but we’ll see how it goes.

Tbf, TJD isn’t getting very good position down low.

At least that shrieking woman at Northwestern home games is no longer annoying the hell out of pretty much everyone ...

I mean, for me, the biggest thing is that I'm excited to watch IU basketball again. I was fired up all week for Saturday's game, and while the result was a pretty big disappointment in the end, I still like what I am seeing on the court for the most part, especially defensively. We're certainly closer to being "back" than I thought we would be at this point, and with a start like this in his first year, I have full confidence in CMW to get us back to contending for B1G titles in the next year or two. I think it's also important to note that the transfer portal situation is like the wild, wild west right now, so it's kind of unknown how that will affect things going forward. I don't really know how anyone could look at this season to this point as a failure.

I mean, his shot has a hitch in it and he struggles from 15 feet with no one guarding him. I’d agree that it ain’t going to suddenly happen.

I guess on the plus side, it’s blatantly clear that TJD can’t handle NBA bigs, so maybe we get another year?

Interesting, and thanks for sharing that. I know we hated the Fab Five group because it was clear there was a lot of shady stuff going on to get all of those guys to play there. Really enjoyed beating that team. Rooting for Goliath over David, eh?

I cracked up when RMK was responding to all of that: Knight: The Big-10 all-star players, the freshman of the year, the coach of the year, the -- and I don't disagree with any of that and, certainly, since they feel that way -- and I'll tell you what, it has just worn my ass out. So we'll see all you Illinois people later. Every time we beat Illinois, I hear that last line in my head. There was also some bad blood over the Eric Gordon situation which, considering how things ended with Sampson, might have been legit on their end. I also don't consider Illinois one of our rivals, but there has been some bad blood over the years with them, at least moreso than the rest of the conference (save Purdue, obvs).

Yep. PSU and Maryland games will be tricky, and then 4 of the next 5 are against ranked teams.

It is nice to see a big that can actually shoot from outside of 5 feet. Yeah, looking at you, Race, who is currently shooting under 14% from 3. Love the kid, and I realize he hit one yesterday, but might be time to stop.

I gotta play devils advocate a little bit here. Yeah, we’re coming off an emotional win, and yeah, we “don’t know how to handle success or winning” or whatever and so forth, but this team has a bunch of upperclassmen in the rotation. It’s one thing to come out flat and all that, but this game was never really close, especially the last 10 minutes of the second half. I expected a letdown, but that was pathetic.

I really feel like Race has to be knocking 3s down in practice, because he looks confident when he's putting them up in games, and CMW doesn't seem to have a problem with him shooting them, but they're just not going down. Very similar to Rob before last night.

Not really sure why you say that. Michigan is scuttling right now, and we get both them and PSU at home with reasonable rest time. Maryland is also a mess, so a winnable road game there. All three are in the bottom 6 of the conference, and we follow that with Illinois at home and another winnable road game at NW. I'd say this is about as good a schedule as you could ask for in the next two weeks or so.

Wonder what the +/- was for Trevion Williams? Seemed like every time he was on the court, we either cut into their lead or extended ours.

So much to like about this win, from Rob's performance to the small number of turnovers to the team learning to win without TJD, the bench performance, just an all around great job. I think this is what we've been salivating for since the first half of the Wisconsin game, and it's awesome to see the team put it all together against our biggest rival and a major thorn in our side. I'll admit, I was a little disappointed with the CMW hire (I was all in on the Stevens train), but I don't think we could ask for a better job to this point.

Gotta admit, i got chills from that. Kid has been through a lot in his career at IU, struggled with his confidence, and it’s just great to see him put it all together in a huge game for the program.

Of course he couldn't. Forget about what he did to players - he would've been canceled for the rape comment during the Connie Chung interview, among other things off the court. I'm an RMK fan, but some of the things he did and said were pretty embarrassing. Anyway, I was really just trying to add some levity to your disagreement, so ...

*cough* RMK *cough*

A W is a W is a W, but jeez, i could almost feel through the TV how tense the team was that last 5 minutes. We definitely have a lack of guys that can create their own shot, especially in crunch time without TJD, but we pulled it out, and it was also good to see Bates and Geronimo contributing in significant ways. Any road win is a good W right now, though. Side note: i guess we’re just not counting last year at all elegibility-wise? The announcers called Galloway a freshman and TJD a sophomore.

Quality point, and i think that’s why late nights loss was so frustrating. We had 2 solid home games, things seemed to be clicking a bit, then we go out and look completely flummoxed by a press and zone defense that most of us learned how to attack in 8th grade. Yes, i understand that these are much better athletes running it, but it’s not rocket science and, unlike Syracuse, Iowa hasn’t been running it for 3-4 decades. I also think that’s where the Lander stuff is coming from - Rob kept backing up against the press, and apparently Race = Ben Simmons now. Lander has the skills to easily break a press like that, but he’d probably give up a 3 on the other end, anyway.

i can’t really complain about the officiating last night (and Iowa fans clearly don’t know the over and back rule). We had 3 of their guys in foul trouble most of the night, including their best scorer, and we were in the bonus very early in the second half. It’s rare to get officiating like that on the road in this conference. Another reason why this was an ugly loss.

I think i can address this a bit. I mostly only come here for post game threads, and probably more often after losses because you peeps can relate to the frustrations. I would complain to my wife, but she went to Maryland, so she doesn’t care.

I think the thing that bothers me the most is that we have a ton of experience on this team - i mean, i believe our entire starting 5 are all technically upperclassmen, and we have 2 seniors playing PG - and yet we continue to completely fold mentally in these road games. If someone can explain that one, I’d definitely be interested in reading it.

This is what baffles me. Throw 2 PGs at this press, and it should be layups and open 3s every possession. I can’t believe we’re getting completely shut down by this.

Which, IMO, is huge. Gets them a chance to get another W against a good team to build a little confidence for the upcoming road games. Feels like one of this team's biggest obstacles is mental, and last night should help that a great deal.