Maedhros

It's not particularly random. It's between your win over Penn St and the loss at Indiana. Purdue was 22-1 before that date, 7-5 after. Pick February 3rd or 4th instead, the story is the same. 53rd isn't awful. Admittedly it's better than Indiana was over that stretch. But it's also quite a gap from being the 13th ranked defense up until that date. Something changed. We can debate whether Purdue's freshmen guards hit a wall, as freshmen are wont to do, or whether water found it's level. It's probably at least a little of both. But whatever your thoughts on the backcourt, I think an equal concern is the frontcourt. I think it took all season for teams to figure out how to attack a team with Edey in the middle. But they got there. Now the blueprint is out. I'll predict Purdue finishes ranked closer to 53rd in defense than 10th, which is where Torvik currently projects for 2024.

Yeah, and teams figured that out. Filter Torvik to Start February 2, before the loss at Assembly Hall, and that defensive ranking drops to 53rd. The blueprint is out.

Beginning February 4th, with the game Indiana won at Assembly Hall, Purdue went 4-4 to finish the conference season, 7-5 overall. They ranked just 30th on Torvik for that stretch, and while much of that is thanks to Fairleigh Dickinson, that loss did happen. Purdue has to hope their young players just hit a wall, but I think college basketball figured them out. Running it back isn't going to be scare me. They'll have a high floor, I'm sure, but the ceiling isn't there until Painter or one of the newcomers can demonstrate an added dimension that wasn't present last season.

I'm crrently planning a bourbon trip for August. We've got a day set aside to visit Buffalo Trace and Woodford. Any suggestions on great spots to grab lunch in Frankfort? We're staying in Louisville, the NuLu area, so also looking for reccommendations on bar hopping in the evenings.

Gabe Dorsey shot 7% on 27 three point attempts as a freshman. The next year he was over 44% with 171 attempts. Though he did have to transfer from Vanderbilt to William and Mary to do it . Josh Reaves and Avery Anderson were decent shooters after freshmen seasons like CJs. CBB Reference has a season finder tool if you want to look for more examples of guys with his volume and percentage in year one.

Well on one hand you have a team that added two McDonald's All Americans to the frontcourt and received a waiver for their senior All Conference point guard. But on the other hand you have a team that gets everyday back from a roster that finished 11th in the Big Ten and missed the Tournament. So really, who's to say?

Arrgh, it happens every year I don't go. I saw Homefield Apparel tweet dreaming about the moonlight on the Wabash, which led me down a YouTube rabbit hole of Jim Nabors videos from years past, and now I desperately wish I was going on Sunday. The latest CrimsonCast didn't help either, with Scott talking up the pageantry and ceremony for that entire hour plus leading up to the green flag. Couldn't agree more. Now I'm going to bottle this feeling of FOMO and pour it in to planning for next year. I'm already excited, even if first I'm going to be jealous of you who will be in Speedway this weekend.

Less than 5,000 seats remaining per Doug Boles. Would be funny if he gets his sellout and lifts the blackout, but then it probably also sends the wrong message that the blackout worked.

Without taking sides in the debate, I do think it's worth remembering JHS was a freshman when we compare their seasons. JHS was inefficient and inconsistent in the way that we expect freshman to be, even talented ones. We appreciated when he flashed and didn't worry too much about games where he disappeared, because he was still adjusting to this level and the change in his role after X went down. Caleb Love coming in as a fourth year senior will face different expectations. If he's performing with the same efficiency as a freshman JHS, while leading the team in usage rate, that's not going to be good enough. We're going to view his season much differently than the season JHS just had.

No. Early in the off-season we might have traded efficiency for volume. Now we have enough guys who can get us a bucket that we don't need to make that sacrifice. We also have a lot of young talent that will need opportunity, opportunity they won't get if Love puts himself at the front of the offense.

I just tried Pizza Hut stores in Kalamazoo and Cincinnati, they don't offer cheese sauce. In fact, the Pizza Hut in Clarksville IN has cheese sauce while the one right across the river in Jeffersontown KY does not. So this does appear to be a purely Indiana thing. Man, the rest of the country doesn't know what they're missing.

I'm definitely one of those who thought breadsticks and cheese was a normal everywhere thing. Even a national chain like Pizza Hut had it. But if you select a store in, say, Boston or Seattle, the cheese sauce you can order in Indiana is not on the menu. Now I'm curious to know just how regional this is. Mind blown.

Don't underestimate how big this is. Slater is crediting our entire staff for a job well done. Recognition like this is how you build a reputation in the recruiting world, and is going to pay huge dividends in classes to come.

Some guys just look right in an Indiana uniform. Mackenzie Mgbako is one. Asa Newell is another.

Aye, I'm guessing the time of the announcement never changed, but if you're telling people 5pm, well it was only ever set to 5pm for Lawrence KS, not Bloomington IN.

Rabjohns gave a time of 5pm EST in his announcement preview earlier today. He added an update that time will now be 6pm. Each time was phrased as being what he was told by the family. I'm still optimistic, but if a family from the east coast is getting thrown off by an hour, might be a hint they're picking the school in the central time zone.

I don't know if Mgbako will pick Indiana, but even if it all ends in heartbreak the journey sure has been a lot of fun. It's been a while since we've been in one of these, a true finalist for a top level recruit. This is exactly the drama we need to experience regularly to get back where we want as a program.

I usually go to the Indianapolis 500 every other year. It can be a chore. We go general admission and carry our coolers to a spot on the infield. Getting out is a whole other challenge. Last year we spent two hours in the car without having moved a full mile, and three hours total to get home. Attending an event with 400K people is no light commitment. But then when I stay home, watching the festivities on television makes me miss it so. There's a thrill to being at the 500 in person that only has a little bit to do with the actual racing. It's not an experience that watching on TV can replicate. Watching on TV reminds me of those experiences I've had, and always draws me back to Speedway for the following year. That draw is missing when the event is blacked out. Show people what they're missing by not being there. Remind them it's worth the commitment. Out of sight is out of mind. Resuming the local blackout feels like a decision made by a suit looking at charts, not by anyone with experience of what's like to be one of those 400K fans on the ground, who needs to feel it's worth it to swim through the crowds and the traffic.

Watching someone else play basketball games is a multi billion dollar enterprise, and popular all across the world. Folks like us on this message board set our entire calendar around it. Video games as a medium are still new enough that it feels different, but categorically there's no difference. It's all just entertainment.

Committed to Purdue today. Don't think that was expected, surprised me at least.

We can already point to one Mackenzie at Indiana that was an All-American, and will even be returning to play next season. Feels like that should be worth some good vibes in this recruitment.

That was fast

This is why you don't panic over the portal in the first weeks. This guy just entered this morning: Would be very much the bucket getter we still need. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/jordan-dingle-1.html

If we're using Torvik's 2024 projections, keep in mind you can also click on each team to get individual projections. Ledlum projects at 11.5 points per game, well less than the 18.8 he averaged last season in the Ivy, and good for only third on Tennessee. Torvik projects Xavier and Trey to score more than Ledlum's 11.5, and Kelel to score right there at 11 per. I agree Indiana needs a volume scorer next season (I'm bearish on Torvik's faith in Trey, for example). I don't agree that needs to be Chris Ledlum. It's weird to view Ledlum as some make or break target, I can only assume this reaction is driven by having your expectations set by all the chatter. College Basketball has an enormous offseason, and we're only a few weeks in. We have months to go before I start worrying about holes that weren't filled on the roster.

Counting Sparks leaves us with 4, assuming Xavier gets his waiver.