tdhoosier

I did notice that the refs seemed to start evening up the ticky tack foul calls on the perimeter, but it was too late at that point. The early calls forced us to bench players and altered our lineups.

Oh, for some reason I thought it was XJ who was fouled.

It’s also troubling when we can put any player on the floor on the line to shoot the free throw from a technical. Something’s not right when the best player on the floor shoots 60%. (Now 52%) That said, also need to give partial credit to the Izzone for rattling P Stew.

At least Woody tells it like it is. He did acknowledge the stagnation when we post Trayce. Teams haven’t been biting on the cuts and TJD needs to make faster decisions. But again, if we can’t make this work and and the open shots being kicked out aren’t going down…what do we do? Perhaps it’s too late in the season to change, but I really hope our personnel in the future does not force us into this type of offense. It’s been the plan going all the way back to Morgan and I’m just tired of watching it.

I had it recorded and didn’t watch the last ten minutes because I’ve seen this show before. I didn’t expect to win the game because MSU was also on the verge of a 3 game losing streak. Izzo was going to bring it. The Izzone was going to bring it. And they both did. Refs suck. Free throws suck. All the technicals and flagrants (not blaming the refs for those) killed out momentum. We needed Rob back yesterday. Side note about refs: The game was beyond physical and then they call these stupid chippy fouls. The players don’t know how to adjust to this crap when there are no whistles for tackling each other and then get a whistle for fighting through a screen.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. I'm not pleased that in these situations, when TJD is playing bad, that we continue to play through him. He's not an effective back to the basket guy against defenders bigger than him. So why continue to put him in these situations IF they aren't working? If they are working then great - keep feeding it to him until the opposition stops us. I do agree that we need more talent. You are 100% correct there. That said, i think that this current roster still does have room to grow. one line-up that we can put on the floor tomorrow is easy: TJD, Race, (either Kopp or Stewart), Gallo, XJ. Just one substitution to give the offense a little more movement and make us stronger defensively. I think Kopp and Stewart need to alternate minutes at the very least and not be on the floor at the same time. Then let's work around that. I'm totally fine with that because your pulling his defender away from the basket and making the defense expend energy. Again, this is all situational (when plan A - going through TJD - isn't working)

So, are you suggestion it's impossible to improve with our available roster? Because we don't have the talent, we just pack it in and call it a day? Continue to do the same thing? That's the way it's coming off. Galloway has been able to play in a majority of the games against top 150 opponents. And while he might be thee answer he is an answer (give him more minutes). XJ has also cleaned up his foul trouble.

TJD was a black hole against MI and IL in crucial parts of the game. And I disagree. We have areas to improve. I'm not suggesting a complete overhaul, but we need contingency plans for when certain players are playing poorly. Also, I'm not sure if you watched the video I posted above but improvement may come fro the rotation. Analytics says that we are worse with Stewart, Kopp and TJD on the floor at the same time. We are better when Galloway, XJ, Race and Rob are on the floor. I know that stats and analytics need to be taken with a grain of salt but they can't be completely ignored and do provide context to what we have been seeing with our own eyes.

.....sometimes (mostly credit to XJ), but you have to admit that we fall into the habit of forcing it through Trayce when it clearly isn't working. Those times when it seems like the offense is paralyzed and is afraid to do anything else. It happens a lot and that's typically in the midst of scoring droughts. It's those droughts that take us out of and ultimately lose games. Edit: it's also easy to say that this team does would it should 70% of the time. It's the 30% that needs to be improved upon. I know that's easier said than done. but the 70% doesn't make up for the 30%. The 30% bad needs to be decreased to 20%; perhaps recognizing and stopping these lapses can get us on that path, whether that falls on the coaches, players, or both. .....Take this from a guy who knows what he's talking about 60% of the time, all the time.

You'd be surprised at how little most albums are worth on vinyl. The ones that fetch a lot of money are certain pressings from date x to date y. My Dad was even an audiophile who went out of his way to get the British imports because they sounded better. He thought he had a rare pressing of The White Album that he kept in a plastic jacket and it only ended of being valued around $25. The most valuable one that I found was the Axis Bold as Love BackTrack 11 (with green cover) and it probably fetched only $50 when all is said and done. Sellers ask a lot for it, but don't necessarily get what they are listing it at. Another interesting thing I found in my research is the the Sticky Fingers with out the real zipper is pretty valuable, which is funny because many think that zipper makes it rare, but that's how they were all sold.

As I re-listened, I think the main (and best) point Coach brings up is spacing can only do so much with 2 spot up shooters on the floor. This strategy will not work well when the opposition has a center bigger than TJD and doesn't need to double him, which is a majority of the teams in the B1G. We need movement. Coach states simply "when the offense moves, the defense moves" and it gives you a better chance of catching the defense out of position, but also makes them have to work. I know (and the AC guys get into this later) that Woody is not going to completely change up his system and there may be legit reasons for that. BUT there are obvious times when TJD is outmatched and not drawing doubles. When this happens we can't keep forcing it in and wait for something to happen. TJD is awesome, but we do need to remember he's only 6'9" and is often having to shoot over somebody that is bigger than him and hugging the right shoulder he like to turn to. We saw this against Michigan, Purdue, Northwestern, Penn St., Illinois, etc. - times when you see the offense not being able to score unless it comes off of a fast break or an offensive rebound. When this happens, can't we do something a bit differently?

Great segment on Assembly Hall last night comparing the offensive efficiency of players - specifically TJD, Kopp and Stewart. The players of hot debate lately. I time stamped the video below. Give it a listen; there's some really interesting data that's followed up with some X's and O's analysis.

I inherited a bunch of his vinyls from my Dad.....along with the Traffic and Spencer Davis albums.

Thanks for bringing this up. Actions have consequences, but my heart goes out to P-Stew. He's really had a tough last few years. Nobody can measure how much a loss is going to take on an individual, let alone a son losing his father, coach and mentor. The only thing I can do is root for the kid to find his way.

Almost. ....I kid.

It's on Disney+. I'd recommend getting the free trial just to watch the documentary. But you have to be really into the Beatles, which I believe you are. Some have said it's boring, but if you know the back stories pretty well then it's really interesting. It's one thing to read about it in books, but to see their personalities and how they interacted with each other was awesome, IMO. Also awesome to see the creation of the songs on Let It Be, but you also see a lot snippets of songs in their infancy that made it onto Abby Road. Paul really pushed the band (for good or bad), but that guy is just a genius. edit: Warning - watching that documentary may make you sick of the song Get Back. haha.

Did you watch Get Back yet? It was so interesting for me to see their dynamic as a group. Kinda felt bad for George, but his confidence seemed to be shot.

I mentioned my music league a few pages back. This week's theme was 'deep cuts' - songs many may not know by a well known band. My music OCD-ness forced me to create a list of all the songs that I was considering. I ultimately went with Suzanne by Weezer for my submission (which for some reason is not doing so hot in the voting). Here's my list...

Pappy Van Winkle as a chaser? That’s a new one. Haha.

On my last two rides home it’s one came one. Maybe my favorite Stones ‘deep cut’.

Sometimes I feel bad because you get picked on, and then sometimes you step right into your own poop with these condescending blanket statements. 🤦‍♂️

I was just listening to Assembly Call and Jarod made a lot of interesting points about TJD. Basically, if you throw away all the cupcakes, we learn that TJD's offensive efficiency is not exactly stellar. Our Big Ten opponents know what he wants to do and where he wants to go. That said, he asks would TJD serve us better in more of a complimentary role where he's the second option? It's a legit question. Forcing him into being the first option has not looked good lately. The last 2 games I actually found myself wanting the outside shot from cold shooters rather than watch TJD force up another bad shot that doesn't make the defense work. There has been a constant that we've been tip toeing around in the last 3 years: a stagnant offense that primarily looks to play through TJD. I'm not saying TJD is the sole problem (he's talented as hell), but perhaps how TJD has been used is the problem. Is it a coincidence that we beat Purdue without him on the floor? I honestly think we may have had a better shot last night if we had XJ and no TJD. There's gotta be a way we can be more effective with him on the floor...especially when the old 'plan A' is blatantly blowing up in our faces.

It’s that the painkillers talking? You’re actually making sense today! 😆 JK….hope you are feeling well.

I think many are jumping to conclusions. They said it’s a curfew violation. Weed was not mentioned; the only reason it’s part of the conversation is because of a rumor on another board. It was actually reported that this was not drug related. Yet, the thread was completely derailed into this narrative. I saw the rumor that Romeo was sleeping with Green’s girlfriend was brought up. Green was asked about that on a podcast and he laughed about it because it never happened. Message boards aren’t typically good about handling rumors.

Kenya and Coach Ya have said multiple times that they recruit character first and skills second. If they don’t think the player will fit in with the culture Woody wants to build then they don’t extend an offer….no matter how good the recruit is. Good kids make bad decisions. Good kids learn from their bad decisions. The ones who don’t learn are the ones who need to be worried about.