IU878176

Sweet KL to Race pass

Glad he did not sub all 5 guys this time

No doubt we were snake bitten. Euthanize this season and let’s see what happens next year.

Boy was I wrong. Thought OSU would wear down UM and win by 10. It’s unreal how much UM improved from last year.

Wonder what Carpenter, our transfer from UM, is thinking today? Switched sides to play his last home game this year in front of 9,000 fans.

Great start by UM. At the beginning of the season who would have guessed that the MD-Rutgers game would be more meaningful than the IU-PU game? :(

Ha, you just did discuss it….

Did they all use the adjective @shhole or did each of them have their own “go-to”?

Phin played 3 times as many minutes (as you point out) and a disproportionate amount of KL’s minutes were mop-up minutes. I’m not making the point to disparage KL but just pointing out that the comparative stats aren’t a good measurement. At the risk of sounding like one of your ex-wives…I disagree about KL’s D. Defensively KL had a very difficult time staying in front of guys last year but has greatly improved this year.

Last year Lander barely played in half of the BT games so I don’t think that is a good comparison either. Taking stats out of the equation, and who played against which teams, Lander looked overmatched/lost on D last year but is looking much better this year which is, of course, a really good sign/trajectory. His pace/vision/speed is fun to watch and he will be firmly in the rotation if his D continues to improve, he hits some shots and cuts down on TO’s. He is young with a lot of upside.

I said that the D looks much better to me, than in the past, and that I will be stunned if Woodys full year numbers aren’t better than Archie’s and Creans last years. While I agree with you that all games are “meaningful” there is no way that Woodys 5 home games stats are a good comparison to a full season that includes BT road games.

These stats will be interesting as the season progresses but it is way too premature, as pointed out above, to compare Woodys season-to-date stats vs Archie and Crean full seasons. To be fair the Archie and Crean stats include complete Big Ten seasons while Woodys only consist of 5 home games with 3 of the teams being marshmallow, cupcake pushovers. That being said, the defense looks terrific and I will be stunned if the full season Woody numbers aren’t better than the Crean and Archie seasons listed above. In regards to Rob vs KL I agree that Rob has not progressed, still pounds the ball into the floor, and that KL may be our future, but at this point their comparative stats are apples and oranges. KL played a total of 7 minutes against our 2 toughest opponents (EMU and St John’s) while Rob did not play at all against the two easiest opponents (LouL and Jackson State). The stats will “reveal the truth” as the season progresses but at this point Rob and KL have essentially faced completely different teams. EDIT: PS, Rob is 4-16 from the field…oof

When I saw that VCU beat Syracuse I assumed they were an underrated mid-major but just saw that VCU has lost to Wagner and Chattanooga (and only beat St Peter by 3). Granted we have to play at the Cuse but our odds of winning might be better than I thought.

Are we indeed one of the teams that could have NIL issues? Has anything been published showing what different players/teams have earned so far? We are obviously a “brand name” but I don’t have any idea if that has actually resulted in some or all of our players making significant money. Not doubting you but just wondering if there is a reliable source showing to what degree different BT basketball teams have rung $$$ the NIL bell.

Saban told the Bama locker room that players making different amounts of money also happens in the NFL and to just deal with it. Liked his head-on approach.

Both my eyes will be focused on candy stripes.

It seems as though many are too focused on getting offensive players through the portal. Why is that a priority? When you think of it we only need a QB, RB, virtually entire OL, WR that can get separation, depth, OC, OL coach, more consistent punter, and a new guy that hands out the offense’s playbook.

I agree and don’t give Archie any credit. I saw the interview in which Trace said they had to break old habits. As an example seeing the guards pressure the perimeter, rather than the pack-line which allowed shooters to virtually play horse, is a beautiful thing. Anyone miss the days of seeing one of our bigs flash out at a guy 30 feet from the basket and then sprint back under the bucket? I didn’t think so.

When Woody talked about our defense being ahead of the offense he repeatedly said that was because they had primarily worked on the D. He has stated he is a D first coach from the beginning. I give Archie very little credit for our defensive play (Woody has a different defensive system and has the guys playing harder). In addition this team would not have been as good under Archie because almost all of them would have been gone and good ol Arch would have still inexplicably left 2 of the scholarships open.

I agree but with the caveat that I agree based on results vs. the predominantly crappy competition we have faced. Let’s hope we still don’t need Trace to dominate once we begin to play half decent teams.

Let’s get the W vs Marshall and then we will get a better idea of where we really are when we go to Syracuse. Looking forward to that game.

I wasn’t too surprised about Lander as a big chunk of his minutes were against a team we beat by 30 and it hurt Robs numbers that he didn’t play against that same bad team. Agree with you that I would have thought Geronimo and Bates would be higher.

What do you find surprising?

If the suspension was for getting high (we/I don’t know) he could have been the only one for several reasons: He got high my himself He got high with non-basketball players He got high with another player but the other player wasn’t randomly selected to get tested.

Yes, let’s face it…..If the Champagne man made that last desperation 3 we would have lost and the tone of the boards posts would have been that we haven’t beaten anyone, gave up a big lead like the last few years, free throws beat us again, the world as we know it is going to end, etc etc. Aside from the outstanding first half defense I tend to agree that we have not been playing “THAT” much better but I do think our outlook and trajectory is “THAT” much better. Bates is going to be a player, Geronimo will be a 20 minutes man by Big Ten Season, X is an upgrade at the point, TJD seems more locked in, Durr will help against the BT teams with big traditional 5’s, the players looked miserable last year but have bought-in with Woody, past history tells you that at least one of Stewart/Kopp will be a perimeter threat, etc etc. These guys have only played 3 regular season games and Woody (and us, his helpers ) has identified a number of things to work on but there is already a lot to like. As you said, we are 3-0 and that is a beautiful thing and I’m glad my enthusiasm has already recovered from the 4 years of misery.