Hippopotamo

On basketball reference, this is currently IU’s strongest strength of record in their entire history. 

Nebraska is completely blowing this game 

What an awful possession for Nebraska. Worse than IU at the end of a half 

Dosunmu getting star treatment with these foul calls 

10 minutes ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Yes, Trayce and Race are 1 and 2 in free throw attempts and have combined to shoot 58% of total attempts. When they both shoot in the 60s, the team's overall average won't be good.

Lander is 6-6 and Galloway is 8-9, so that's some hope for the future, although Geronimo is 1-7...

Geronimo definitely looks uncomfortable at the foul line, but I think his form is good. I’m mostly just happy that at the end of the game if the other team is fouling I at least feel good about our chances at hitting the free throws if it’s certain guys at the line. I think the mindset that we’re a bad free throw shooting team is overblown. However, the guys who shoot the most free throws have been inconsistent at best, and that’s what brings our percentage down. It’s not like the whole team sucks at free throws. 

At least we now have a couple guys I trust to take free throws on our team. Al has been money lately, Armaan has been pretty good, and even Trayce has held his own. Last game only Race had a bad percentage.  The Rutgers game was also an above average free throw shooting day. We’re a below average free throw shooting team because Trayce and Race have struggled and Al doesn’t draw enough fouls. If our bigs can get even a little more consistent from the line it shouldn’t be much of an issue. 

Assuming he commits to IU, I’m pretty excited to get him. We need some bigger guards and Gunn seems to embrace both offense and defense which should make him a really good fit here. 

The extra year for everyone eases the pain of lighter recruiting classes for me. If any of the freshmen stay a 5th year that would be huge for this program. 

Maybe IU can join the MAC so they can win more games 

I’m really hoping Parker Stewart can be that other ball handler next year. I think Stewart, Phinisee, Lander, and Franklin is a good group to roll with next year. 

Wouldn’t he basically just be a walk-on or a practice player? Can’t see why that would be a bad thing. 

Is 9 days off that bad? Seems like our team could use the practice and time to get healthy. Maybe a gimme win would work but I’m not sure. 

Maryland beats Minnesota 63-49 in the barn

4 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

I think the get old, stay old thing definitely takes time. Let's look at Archie's classes:

First class: Hard to really count this against him, he had no time to change it and wasn't allowed to clean house. Al is the only guy left, an incredibly flawed senior.

Second class: Came in behind the 8-ball here if we are all honest about it. Did a great job getting a guy like Romeo. Adding some great complimentary players like Race and Rob, but both have struggled with injuries. 

Third class: TJD is an anchor. Franklin appears to be an amazing get. Brunk was a really solid transfer in this class, but he is hurt.

Fourth class: Current freshman. I think we're all high on this class. 

 

It would take being intentionally dishonest about the situations within each of those classes to not see we are making progress and that getting old and staying old doesn't have promise over the next few years. 

Yep I agree. It’s a good sign when I think our current freshmen and sophomores will be better as seniors than our current seniors. That’s a trend I would love to see continue. I’m also really excited to see Parker Stewart play and for Duncomb to join the program.

Minnesota looks very mediocre this game. Maryland doesn’t look that great and they’ve been in control the whole game. 

5 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I'm going to make some generalizations, but I feel like some of the hardcore anti-Archie posters come off as having IU tunnel vision and haven't watched a lot of these other teams. I'm not saying IU is perfect or that Archie has been great. But especially offensively, if you watch the rest of college basketball, outside of a few teams (Iowa, Michigan, Gonzaga), offense and shooting is really bad in college basketball. It's not just an IU thing. 

@IU Scott is someone who has been vocal about this. He watches a ton of college basketball and pretty consistently has said what ailes IU ailes a lot of teams in college basketball. 

Again, this isn't meant to say Archie has done a great job and doesn't need to do better. But, there has been YOY improvement, albeit not as quickly as we'd like, and our issues are largely issues across college basketball. 

I don’t think anyone could’ve said it better. I 100% agree with that. 
 

I also think the age/expectations thread revealed a lot for me. I’m only 27 so I never watched IU with Knight as our coach besides watching highlights and old games. I have watched a ton of college basketball from when I was younger and so my version of college ball is just different than most guys on this board. Gone are the days of legit NBA prospects staying 3-4 years in college like Tim Duncan, Ewing, Jordan, etc. and so I’m not clamoring nor expecting a team to look like a great team from the 70s or 80s. 
 

If we want instant results we need to get 5 stars and run our program like Duke or Kentucky. Most fans don’t want that because we like to play by the rules and get to know our players over a period of 3-4 seasons instead of recycling a new roster every year. I’m in favor of our get old stay old method, but we need to be patient and recognize that a plan like that will take longer to implement and get rolling, but could be much more sustainable (see Kentucky this year) and could allow this program to be a real thread in the big ten and in the tournament. This year’s team is much closer to being a fringe top 20-25 team than the wheels falling off. 

Bouncing around between other National games on right now and I don’t think any of these teams look all that great. I really think IU stacks up and could beat most of the teams playing on tv right now which gives me a glimmer of hope for the future. 

Extra year will be really interesting. I could see guys like Galloway and Leal play 5 years which would be huge for us. Additionally, immediate eligibility for transfers would be really interesting too. 

I could see IU going after a guard transfer this year. Rob will be a senior next year and it’d be nice to have someone besides Lander ready to help. I think Parker Stewart can basically be a better version of Al but he and Armaan will most likely run out of eligibility at the same time. 

Virginia shows how effective the packline defense is when your offense is good. We put so much extra pressure on our defense to play well 100% of the time because we’re rarely leading and never leading by a lot. If IU could consistently hit open shots we’d be in much better shape. 

I’d love to get Gunn in candy stripes. You also want enthusiastic commits early to help recruit the rest of the class. It’d be a big get IMO 

Maryland beats Illinois 66-63

I don’t think OSU is that good. 

These big ten games make me think IU can beat anyone on any given night. Unfortunately they can also lose any given night. 

4 minutes ago, FKIM01 said:

This is the 6th season for Shaka, correct?

Yeah that’s right. He’s been on the hot seat the last couple seasons too