AxnJxn

They're going to be freshmen. Never a good idea to count on performances from new guys like that, no matter the talent level. Plenty of 5 star guys struggle their first year. We need a wing that has some experience. I do like Geronimo's game overall, but not sure he has the handle to fill that role.

It'd be great to have both Race and TJD back, particularly on the defensive end, and the bonus of Race stepping out and able to knock down 3s at a decent percentage now. I've been a proponent of running it back with the main core of this group. But, we would still have the same issue of not having a wing that can create and knock down key shots, so we'd still need to get someone from the portal to fill that role.

Seen this same movie 7-8 times this year. I will say that I’ve never seen this team quit all year, outside of maybe the Michigan game.

Got a new movie out, too!

Ok, I’ll play. I watched the whole thing. A few notes: - For those that don’t know, a vlog is simply a video blog. Real complicated stuff here. The idea that vlogs, social media, mothers posting on Twitter, and the other things he is ranting about are the problem at IU is just dumb. They have all of those things at Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue, Duke, Kentucky, and so forth. Got a real “old man yelling at cloud” thing going here, which is kind of comical since this actual video is kind of a vlog of sorts, and I’m pretty sure this guy’s pretty active on Twitter, too, yelling at “slaps” and so forth. - Naturally, here comes the RMK stuff. Someone should remind Dan that Larry Bird walked home from IU in the middle of the night. The point? There’s more than one way to succeed in this game, and the heralded RMK way doesn’t always work. I could go into the whole point that mental and physical abuse simply isn’t tolerated these days, but it was clear at the end of RMK’s time that it wasn’t going to be tolerated then, either. The world has changed. Either understand that and adjust, or get left behind. - I haven’t the slightest idea what his problem with CMW is at the end. CMW talks in the third person? That’s it? It’s just kind of embarrassing to watch someone who can’t mentally get out of the 80s, and who makes out of touch “points” in such a childish manner over and over and over again. But, hey, he threw in some cussin’ and acted all angry, so there’s that.

Definitely agree. Losing both will hurt a ton on the defensive end - having two defenders that size around the paint with shot blocking ability allows the perimeter guys to tighten up, they're solid rebounders on both ends, and Race is getting more confident from the outside (and a nice correction by Hummel on that during the game last night). Both of them are also great for the program off the court. I do like Durr, but we're really thin up front after that if both TJD and Race leave.

Yep. I'm also starting to understand why Scott posts the things he does, since he listens to that show. Two guys stuck in 1983 land, walking uphill both ways to school without any shoes on in the snow. Buncha soft players, I tell ya! The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt which was the style at the time ...

Maybe it would help to put it like this. If, on senior night, in a must win game, at home, against a team that struggles on the road, you're in a position where you're counting on a bad pass from a veteran player, that then hits a ref, that then results in another veteran player getting a F2 and getting tossed, that then results in you still needing a 3 to tie the game ... well, you should probably look at what went wrong before that to put you in that situation. It's almost comical just writing all of that. Getting really tired of being in that whole "have to make a run in the BTT where we suck on an annual basis to make the NCAAT" position, too. It's like Groundhog's Day around here.

I have no problem walking back the 5 point play gift comment, and appreciate you pointing that out. But, just by percentages, we still shouldn't have been down 3 with the ball at the end (both Geo and Mulcahy shoot +70% from the line), and you also don't know where Mulcahy would have been on Parker's 3 that he hit to tie it up. Maybe poor rotation by his replacement was the reason PS was open. Idk. In the end, I guess none of it matters, since a loss is a loss is a loss and all that.

Because Mulcahy gets the F2 and gets tossed - he's one of their better players, and he's generally been a pretty calm guy for the most part in his career. I get what you're saying that it's a wash with respect to FTs and we're in the same position down 3 with the ball, so point taken, but they still lost one of their starters, who did something uncharacteristic for him - it's like Race getting tossed. Add on the bad pass before that by Geo Baker, which was also uncharacteristic for him.

Of course it was a gift. Rutgers made 2 uncharacteristic plays in that sequence; otherwise, they're just shooting FTs to finish the game and we're doing our usual floundering around on the offensive end trying to get a 3. They were up 3 with 19 seconds left with the ball. I'm not sure how you can't call that a gift when they made (1) a bad pass that hit the ref, which was actually a break for us because (2) Mulcahy lost his cool and got the F2.

I hope those saying we just got beat by a guy hitting a big shot realize that we were gifted a 5 point play right before that. I'm more concerned with why we were in that position in the first place, why guys who are supposed to be really good shooters continue to fail, why we continue to fall apart down the stretch of games. To be fair, they had some mediocre FT shooters knock down shots, but we shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. I'm not overly concerned for the future. We've seen improvement from last year - remember those 10 minute stretches of no scoring that we would see regularly? Those seem to be gone. The pack line disaster? Gone. We have decent talent with the younger guys, have solid recruits coming, and Woody seems to be able to work the transfer portal to get talent. We play excellent defense for the most part, so it's really just a matter of changing the culture, and as some have noted, getting guys in here that can knock down big shots. I believe in Woody to get that done, but I also think we missed a huge opportunity last night. Huge.

/vent I'm sure I'm not alone on this, but losing last night really, really sucks. I love the NCAAT for many reasons - it's IMO the best sporting event of the year, it's a sign that winter is over, and it's just ... brilliant. But, it loses value when we're not in it. I'm resigned to rooting against teams, or for the little guys, or whatever. Not being in it for what seems like decades is just terrible, and it's getting kind of exhausting. I was really excited for last night's game, because I thought it was a great chance for the program to turn the corner, to start a new book with a fresh page, to finally get over that hump of not making the tournament. I was excited from the moment I got up and throughout the day. So, yeah, today I'm still kind of bummed, and it's looking very likely that I'll be watching another tournament without IU, which blows. I'm 54 years old. Fortunate enough to be on campus in 87, through RMK's salad years and whatnot, so I've seen the highest of highs. I'm not really even expecting those levels any more (which is also sad in a completely different way), but is it really that difficult to just get into the tournament? Hell, I was even ok with being an 11 seed, which is kind of ridiculous for a program like IU's. Anyway. /end vent

No one agrees with you because it’s ridiculous. You actually think that PS is getting personal attacks that are worse than Tubby Smith did at Kentucky? And that was before social media, and that was for not winning a natty every year. Every single fan base has people that do and say moronic things to players. I have no idea why you continue to think the IU fan base is special in this aspect, or that it magically affects recruiting more than other programs. Is it pathetic that people do these things? Absolutely. Is it unique to this fan base? Absolutely and unfortunately not.

Not sure i can put much of this L on CMW, at least with respect to Xs and Os. He drew up some really nice plays out of TOs - Race got a couple of easy buckets and PS got a couple of absolutely wide open looks as well. I do think he needs to answer for why these guys fall apart at the end of most of our games, though. We’ll see if he can fix that through the portal/recruiting, because it’s pretty clear by now that this group just doesn’t have it.

Completely get what you are saying here but (1) I’m guessing that percentage is a bit lower in the last 5-10 minutes of the game across the board with this group, and (2) missing open shots isn’t exactly a new thing with us. Rutgers has been watching it for a few years now, so it’s not crazy to think that maybe they decided to make us beat them from outside. But, yeah, that does seem a little bit out there as strategies go.

Yep. PS was like shooting around with a little kid, where you keep feeding him until he eventually hits a shot. “Here ya go, buddy, try it again, you’ll hit one of these soon.” Cripes.

Seems a bit out there, but … I guess it worked? I mean, this isn’t Stewart’s first dud and Kopp has been somewhat invisible offensively all year. TJD was dominant inside in the first half and did very little in the second, so RU clearly made some adjustments.

Just stupid basketball down the stretch … yet again. I have no idea how you let Harper get that shot off in rhythm like that, and that was after we were completely gifted an opportunity to get back in the game.

I was listening to sports radio out here about MD/Pitino, and it was kind of comical listening to the rationalizations for bringing him in. I think my favorite was a caller who said "just because you dance with the devil doesn't mean you have to take him home." I'm not even sure what that means. Maryland is a school that, kind of amazingly, seems to constantly underachieve in the middle of one of the best recruiting bases in the country, including having DeMatha literally a couple of blocks off campus. I'd agree that Pitino could do some serious damage there if unleashed.

Looks like the server problems are warming up for tonight's game.

Here’s the thing - what this team is missing can essentially be fixed with one player. Add a Jaden Ivey, a Johnny Davis, or possibly even a Ron Harper to this current team, and they’re likely in the running for a title. There is also value in continuity in these guys going through difficult times together and the bonds that are built through adversity. Do we need more talent, particularly on the wing? Absolutely. But, turning over half the roster for potentially better talent and sacrificing familiarity with the system, the coaching staff, teammates, and even minor things like experience playing in SSAH seems like at best a zero sum gain.

I mean, if we lose TJD, Race, Durr, and Logan, we're suddenly a very small team - I think our biggest guy would be Banks at 6'8"? You're not competing in a P5 conference without replacing some of that size.

Yeah, we clearly need an upgrade at the wing position, and it's rarely a good idea to count on freshmen to come in and fill holes like that, so we're likely improving that from the portal. The whole extra year from covid is going to be pretty interesting to see how things pan out. And, as you noted, there's always one or two guys that are kind of out of the blue that move on. Plus, with the ease of transferring with the portal, losing six guys might be normal going forward. It's Thunderdome out there.