IUCrazy2

Parity or a function of Big Ten home cooking being awful? Edit to add: or option 3, unbalanced schedule?

I don't think anyone thought we were a for sure Championship or Final Four team, but I think there was a feeling that if everything went right over the off-season (players developed that we expected to develop and that we got production from a few of the freshmen) that we would be a team that could make it. We still could. Just depends on whether Jekyll or Hyde shows up.

I think we are one of those places where giving off the appearance that you care less than the fans isn't received well because of what Settles is saying. Me personally, I did not watch the game but a guy blowing kisses at my fans while getting beat by 20 is not something I would be in a joking mood about. I guess their mileage varied.

Fair enough, no wrong answers on this one. It would be great if the tournament pushes my grade into A territory. Sweet 16 and I am at B+ probably.

We only have one more game left in the regular season before tournament time starts. What is everyone feeling about the regular season performance? I think it is sometimes interesting to compare thoughts on that to after the conference/national tournaments. The tournaments can change feelings on a regular season pretty quick. I expect to beat Michigan Sunday and finish 12-8 and 21-10. I would rate that mildly disappointing based on preseason expectations and factoring in the loss of Johnson for a significant portion of the year. Maybe a C if doing letter grades. That being said, we are about to enter the "extra credit" portion of the season, so could see that initial reaction move up a bit if the team gets hot again.

I don't like him and his team acts like him. Normally I wouldn't give a shhh because Iowa, but now that the Rutgers monkey is off the back, we need to smack that Coach and that program in the mouth. Hard. Edit to add: And I haven't really followed women's ball much outside of this year, but that team isn't really likeable either.

I am worried about next season but am waiting to see how this season plays out first. With the portal and our lack of bench production this year, we have the potential to have a whole bunch of turnover in May.

Hey, maybe this is where we want to be. Gives some time to get the cycle back up to the top of the triangle before the tournament is over.

At least he did not sugar coat it.

@Iowa

A freshman.

Had a busy evening and had to tape this one. Checked and saw score...glad I am not watching this.

Fox sports is going to include national over the air (not cable) games on the Fox network regularly. Those games have a wider potential audience than ESPN.

For sure, there is already a lawsuit out there though indicating that sports players are University employees and are at least entitled to minimum wage. It is definitely an evolving type of situation but I have an inkling of the direction we are heading if not the final destination. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inquirer.com/college-sports/villanova/ncaa-federal-court-johnson-plaintiff-20230216.html%3foutputType=amp

March Madness is about to get buried anyways. The mega conferences aren't going to want to share their money with those 16 seeds much longer and those 16 seeds cannot compete with the resources of these bigger schools in an era of "pay your players". Dump the NCAA, pay players, expand amount of kids you can have on "scholarship", etc. The college game as we have known it is moving away from the model we know it as.

Tradition is already out the door, so I think you are getting rid of the regular season champion and awarding based on the tournament. I would also look to break the conference up into divisions and schedule and seed based on the division finishes (up to and including dumping teams at the bottom of the divisions if necessary to make for a cohesive tournament and avoid a crappy team going on a couple game run for the championship).

If the ACC was getting blown up, North Carolina and Virginia are the two that the BIG probably goes after....and Notre Dame as they have to see the writing on the wall at that point.

It is heading to two super conferences that will probably eventually break from the NCAA.

Not relevant to the conference schedule discussion, but still interesting.

The unbalanced schedule is diluting the regular season title, which stinks. It is going to get worse when the California teams join.

That would be something.

I don't get the impression that our staff is a big fan of their staff either. I think Fran is basically my least favorite coach in the league right now. He gets way more slack then is deserved or warranted. I would love to see him have to watch the end of the game on Tuesday from the lockerroom.

We're still better than they are.

It isn't just you.

Yep. The game plan worked. Woodson had the guy he wanted taking the shot they wanted. If another team was asking Race to beat us from 3 and he shot his normal percentage from there, we did not go cold, their game plan worked. As far as JHS goes, he has a midrange game. Having an immobile big that camps in the lane suits his game and Woodson rode that to the finish line. Pick and roll and pull up short of driving to the basket for a 10 to 12 footer over and over. Purdue did not just go cold. Woodson had a good game plan and Indiana's player's executed it. All credit to Indiana from bench to players on this one.