mchenry34

Well, I think Durr might have to contend with the fact that he has to sit if he leaves. That is why I think that he and Geronimo or here next year for sure. I'd love to see a year of development for Duncomb, I think that he can really add a dimension to the offense in the four out one in because he can pull his defender away from the basket...I really hope Race stays another year because I think that he is on the verge of being really hard to deal with, almost a poor man's Draymond Green. With TJD I think that he will need to strike while the iron is hot, and simply needs to take the temperature after the year and see if it is as hot as he can make it... (regarding sparks, I think that he is really worth recruiting...just like I thought we should have recruited Jake Laravia hard last year)

I saw an article that mentioned that we had reached out...will be interesting to see how fast things move once we are done with the season. I think you have to give our current post players time to make their decisions (particularly TJD and Race) but don't want to be caught flat footed if they both decide to move on. There is a scenario where we have four of the current five post players move on, but I think that in the end it will only be two.

I'm going to be honest, when he went up to shoot that shot I started to say how dumb it was...then it went in...even after I was convinced there was too much time on the clock and that VCU would win it at the buzzer with a three...

I think that this is a great game for Rob, who actually guards the post very well. Their PG loves to post, and Rob often does well when switched on to bigger players... I think the whole game will come down to how it is called. If they call it tight, we might lose confidence and aggressiveness and struggle at that point...Hopefully a crowd full of IU supporters can do something to sway the texture of the game towards a Big Ten feel in terms of physicality...

Anyone know how to get tickets? Have they announced what time we play?

Completely disagree that TJD is the same player as last year... Offensively he has improved with a consistent counter move, better passing, and better screeing Defensively he was much better around the rim, and a bit better guarding the post. He still struggles on the pick and roll defense, but even that has improved.

I think maybe I missed something. Has their been a lack of conversation about lack of NIL opportunities for our players? Is that in general, or in comparison to other major basketball programs?

was really hoping to have Race back...maybe some people can make some NIL pitches to have him reconsider? (just hoping)

I am definitely aware that he is only a junior. I said I wouldn't be surprised if he went through the ceremony because it has become fairly common over the years for star players who are juniors to go through senior day when they know they are going to turn to professional basketball...Duke started doing that in the early 2000s with players like Jayson Williams... sounds like it is a moot point now because only two are giving speeches. It would seem most likely that it is the guys who have been at IU their whole career. If it is Race and Rob I would love to see the crowd chant for them to come back for one more year...They have been through a lot and deserve to be appreciated for their selfless play and willingness to rehab through several different injuries in their careers...

my guess is that everyone who is eligible goes through the ceremony and gives a speech (including TJD) but not all of them leave...

It's also the longest prospective coaching list I have ever seen...

If we can just get one more regular season win (and hopefully a BTT win) to get in to the tournament and get a little momentum for the program for the first time in a while... We can call this our "lose close" year and hopefully next year the five or six games we all know we should have won (Both Wisconsin games, At Ohio State, At Penn State, at Northwestern, at Syracuse) will turn in to more wins and we will be a top three or four seed in the tournament. I appreciated how Woody mixed up the play calls last night so that each person on the floor (among the starters) were having their number called at various times. Was great to see Rob come in with a willingness to shoot and knock down a couple of threes. Will need to play he and X together some on Wednesday to match up better...

who has that and would take the job?

The top teams in the B1G all have a guy that can knock down tough shots...The reason we lost to Wisconsin twice was they have a guy that can go get shots from the wing and make really difficult shots throughout the game to keep them from having any droughts...just think of the highly contested jump shots Davis hit against us and then add to it the number of times he made something happen in traffic late in the shot clock...We have no one like that, and we haven't since Yogi left unless you count Romeo to a certain extent...

I will put an Asterix on my response here, as I really don't like Wisconsin and Greg Gard strikes me as an extremely arrogant person (acting like crowding the paint against teams with good post players and below average shooting is some kind of genius move)...I imagine that a lot of you will find this post annoying, so be it. I believe that this incident will eventually be seen through the lens of racism, and I believe rightly so. My opinion is developed from the fact that Gard's staff has been accused of racism before, Howard grew up in a tough situation in Chicago, and Gard's demeanor had "teaching that boy a lesson" written all over it. From the grab of Howard as he walked past to the way he talked about Howard in the postgame press conference. (I'd be very interested in what Krabbenhoff said...I'm guessing it's not a good look) There is a great deal ingrained in us as human beings when we are young, and for Howard a very strong "fight or flight" response would have been absorbed while growing up. Someone to putting their hands on you and speak to you in a way that demeans your manhood would have been chief among the things that would garner a Fight response... Add in the fact that their team talks as much as or more than most (including Davison turning and screaming F-you at our bench last game...Stewart's response to him last game had almost nothing to do with what happened on that actual play) and is always red-lining it when it comes to the playing hard/playing dirty divide, and I am basically amazed that something like this didn't happen sooner...

I don't think we have quite turned the corner culturally...We seem shocked when we succeed and resigned when we fail...We simply are not a program that imposes their will on the game...That is the recipe for late season slides...

In defense of TJD's development, I believe he is a better passer and ball handler, and he does have a counter move that he didn't two years ago, but he only goes to it once or twice a game... that said, I am all for making the adjustment on offense so that not everything is going through him...it would be better to be balanced at least, and more than that, to be guard heavy in college basketball, as long as you have a big who can protect the rim defensively...

YESSS! put him in the short corner sometimes, slide him to the weak side block...let him finish the offense rather than start it...he can dunk the ball all night long off of our guards getting into the lane...as it is, there is no where to drive because we actually have more than one post player standing right where we want to go on the drive...This has been a problem since Crean left... When was the last time that a college team was dominant BECAUSE of their back to the basketball big?

After all these years of mediocrity, our opponents still know what it means to play AGAINST Indiana (did you see the way Northwestern was acting after beating a team without six of it's top 11 players?) Why don't our guys know what it is to play FOR Indiana....not just playing hard, but playing FEARLESS....we have been afraid of the moment more often than not for seven straight years...

three out of five players were playing out of position, every single player played more minutes than they are used to...we couldn't run any actions because the players didn't know their roles...they had a few hours to prepare... Just missing a PG? who beat us last night? their point guard....

The rumors have been that he is not bought in to what the team is about...he has been called a distraction in the locker room...He is not the only one who is rumored to have agendas other than team success... I am sure that it is difficult to process grief and try to perform at a high level while also adjusting roles on the basketball court to where you are not featured, and I would love to see the coaching staff do a better job with utilizing him... That said, team chemistry seems to have been an issue for about a decade now...seems like kids choose Bloomington for the following reasons: - To Party - To be featured on television and media for better exposure - To be celebrated by millions - for financial and business connections - but do they come to win? I know they would say they do...but as a first priority? the rumors have been consistent for over a decade now...prized recruits who spend no time in the gym....prioritizing a good time over excellent preparation....players who don't like each other because they view each other of competition and roadblocks to their personal goals...the culture is not great in Bloomington, and it coincides with Bloomington being featured as a party school destination by the likes of playboy etc...

I believe 4-4 would be enough to get the tournament. Would love to see us finish with a bit more momentum. We match up pretty well with every team we play down the stretch though OSU and Purdue are better than us... We struggle when the other team has a post that is effective and bigger than TJD if they can couple that with a PG that we can't over. With Northwestern we can play their point guard and five straight up (though Buie can get hot, Young plays hard, and they have a post who can stretch the D...which we are desperate for) , and will have to think long and hard about guarding Nance and Audige.

I do not believe that our shooters position themselves particularly well to be available off the drive and in response to the double team in the post (this was abysmal under Archie) but it also true that between the two of them we miss them four or five times a half...usually because we are one track minded about post entries...I am a big believer that we need a more balanced approach. We do not need to use TJD and Race only on post ups...would be really effective to slide them to the weak side post and weak side short corner 25 percent of the time...Particularly when we have a matchup advantage on the perimeter...We have gotten much better at finding the post off the drive, and should feature that aspect of our attack. This will open up our perimeter shooters on the drive and kick as well. I find that we are fairly easy to game plan for because we will willingly spend 20 seconds trying to get TJD to post and repost...We are much better when moving the ball fluidly an attacking off the ball reversals...

I think that we will struggle to beat Illinois...We struggle with quick guards and tend to over help from the perimeter which will give them really good looks from the three point line...also, With our posts rotating to protect the rim, we will really struggle with weak side rebounding on shots in the paint....we will need Illinois to struggle in shooting, and will need the referees to demand that Kofi actually make basketball plays instead of throwing himself so forcefully into the defender that he both charges and travels on his way to getting a layup for the announcers to drool over... most are calling for minutes for Durr, which makes a lot of sense...I wonder if maybe going small with Race at the five and JG at the four might also present some problems for Illinois when Kofi is on the floor...Pick and pop and go at him off the dribble if he closes out...

Was there ever any report for why Lander was not in uniform last game? I usually catch all the commentary on things like that, but didn't see anything this time...