HoosierDom

I don't know the language of their rule, but rules have context. The rule, regardless of the exact language, would treat retaliation differently than an instigator. It would treat violence in an athletic setting differently than violence in an academic one. There is no chance the school has a rule that is so broad and absolute that it would require Howard to be fired. They might want to make a PR move and fire him - they might be even be happy to have an out to ditch him (though, I doubt they are there), but there is no chance the rule binds them to action.

It was more than just taunting though, Gard physically grabbed Howard and tried to stop him from walking past. Also, not sure what the OSU assistant that actually got hit was up to, but he clearly had his hands on a Michigan player right before Howard swung. If I was in charge of the world, Gard would be out 2-5 games; the OSU assistant would be the same with potential for more after I heard more audio; and Howard would be out the year, but I probably wouldn't fire him.

The point was to influence the refs, not the players.

Exactly. I think he had to do it and I think it helped.

If X and at least one of Race/Trayce stay, I think we will be just fine. Will still need a transfer big, but not a savior. If we lose all 3 of those guys, then things start to look more bleak.

Since 2011 we have more Final 4 teams than any other conference and are second to the Missouri Valley (with a very small sample size) in first round record. The article I found didn't list overall record, but it's hard to say there's some systemic problem with those facts.

Over the past 30 years we are 2nd to the ACC in tournament win total and tournament win percentage. We are on a dry spell for championships, but we have not struggled in the to tournament.

Yup. Seems to be conflicting reports about what actually happened, but that's a high price to pay for something off the court that didn't involve the cops. Maybe it had to be done, but I have my doubts.

What was going on before the commercial break? Was Woodson getting after a player or a ref? Looked like one of our guys was having to hold him back with actual force.

I think this fact is over-interpreted. Since 1985 we are second the to the ACC in tournament wins and win % and we have been in the title game a number of times.

Interesting that Trey starts over Stewart rather than Kopp. I would have predicted the other way around.

I'm sure my opinion won't be popular, but I am not absolute in my confidence in the decision Coach Woodson made. Certainly there are rules for which suspending five players is the right call, so I'm not saying I disagree with him either, but the two things I have seen speculated on are missing curfew and smoking weed. And if either of those are the things that happened, I think suspending five players is the wrong call. If it's either of those things, you make guys run. You make guys show up at 5am every morning for a month and run, but to do this to the team is an overreaction. It will hurt this team, it will hurt recruiting and it is the wrong decision.

TJD is one of 20 players in the country on the Wooden Award watch-list, if that doesn't qualify him as good, rather than "good", then you have quite the definition of the word. Also, he is in his 3rd year at IU, not 4th. And, Race is in his 5th year at IU, not 4th. If Race and Trace move on, we have to replace them with somebody. Who's that going to be? This Foumena kid that no one had heard of a week ago is going to be better than a top 20 player in the country? Better than a 6th year senior coming off a better than 11 and 7 year? Very unlikely. If we lose both Race and Trace, we're going to be scrambling for big men. In the era of transfers, we might get lucky, but that's a tough thing to count on.

My goodness those 2 calls on Trevion Williams were absolute garbage. When I get all worked up about calls on us, I always check my outrage a bit realizing I'm a bit biased, but those were shameful calls on Purdue.

I really don't understand the disagreement here. TJD did his standard yell/flex celebration after a big dunk - it just so happens there was a guy's face a few inches from his yell this time. I don't think he was trying to yell in that dude's face, but he did. That's a T. If you want to say he should be more careful and make sure he doesn't start yelling until he's moved away from the other guy, I guess that's fair. But, he was letting out a burst of emotion - you don't really cage that up until the other guy moves aside. X had his leg tangled in the other dude. I can't say whether the Nebraska guy did in on purpose or not, but X went to step, his leg was tangled and so he didn't take a normal step. Nothing about that replay suggests he did anything wrong at all.

No he didn't. I get why the announcer thought he did at first watch, but on the replay it was very clear he did nothing of the sort. He had his leg grabbed. He didn't fake a kick or anything similar.

Where has this Geronimo been all year? That little pull up jump shot is killer.

He absolutely did that on purpose. If you hit someone in the face by accident, and on a dead ball, you know you just did that and you instantly move to say sorry and explain to the other guy that it was an accident. He didn't do that.

The current rule is pretty flawed. What other sport has the most crucial play(s) determined by the speed at which a ref does his job? Why not have the clock stop after every play (maybe only in the last 2 to 5 minutes)and have a set time run off the clock if the previous play results in a live clock. I have a hard time feeling bad for the Cowboys, they could have done so many things differently to get that extra half second they needed, but the ref being 1 or even 2 seconds faster would still be in the range of normal (1 to 2 seconds slower would have been, too). Why not standardize it so the ref has time to do his job and the outcome of a game isn't determined by how quickly a ref can sneak through an offensive line.

I've never really paid attention, but I would assume the ref spots the ball before every play and you just can't run a play without that happening. Is that correct?

To be fair, this is the first time in his college career that he could pass it to someone who could actually hit a 3.... unless his pass was a turnover.

Too many talented ball handlers all over the court, as well. It's just too easy to break a press if your guys have the quickness and ball handling skills.

There's the defensive adjustment against Galloway.

I would be shocked if we see people sag off Phinisee and Xavier the way Minnesota did. It's one thing to have the guys covering them playing help defense but quickly recover and be in position to at least close out on any shot, but to just stay sagged even when they have the ball like that - that's not going to work. I can see teams doing that to Race and Galloway, but I don't know what the Minnesota staff was thinking there.

I'm going to guess TJD has won plenty of game balls. TJD was the MVP last night, as he is most nights. But, game balls are about guys stepping up, hustling and doing more than they have in the past. Seems like Trey earned this one.