Str8Hoosiers

Another MSU loss really opens the door for a conference crown, I still think they are the team to beat and with 3 losses it puts them in a big hole

Kelvin Sampson also listed... Wow how soon the NCAA forgives and forgets

I thought Iowa over MSU was a fluke and soley because no Valentine.... But wow!!!

IU 81 Minny 62

Lunardi now has IU as an 8 seed playing Witchita St for a chance to play the #1 Kansas.... Sound familiar??

I noticed him shooting it right after the buzzer but TV didn't show the result and I listened for a crowd reaction and didn't hear one... Assumed that meant he missed. Sounds like he hits pregame, halftime, and after the game... Now just need him hitting in the 40 minutes and I'm sure that will start next game

Z missing shots but almost every time has led to points.. Still forcing the defense to respect him and opening up rebound and passing lanes... Could never imagine him going 0-5 but it isn't really hurting us... Feels like the are forcing it to him, shooters shoot themselves out of slumps

Gotta be a coaching thing... Hanner could supposedly jump out of the gym and that's the same way he played defense

Yogi... Settle down, yours will come in the flow... No need for hero ball

Fade away 3 pointer 2 feet behind the arc is not the shot Nick.... Cmon play your game...

Rojo!!! Slump breaking shot

Collin & ROJO seem very tentative... Afraid to shoot

Nice start!!!!

MELO is clutch!

I am in that picture!! Well very blurry and you can't see me but I know exactly where I am LOL..... I was one of the only Red Devils on the other side (sitting with 3 Bulldog Alums)....   I have discussed this before but maybe it is because he is just a Sophomore... There were no (or very few) double teams or ball denials for Romeo, Jeff was way out-manned and had no chance in this game but they played defense straight up. And multiple defenders throughout the game were on Romeo so it isn't like they put their best on him and hoped/thought it would work. In other threads about Cujo/GG etc their is discussion about this type of thing.... Now Romeo has a few options to pass to if they were to double him, so maybe that isn't an option?? Also I really try to keep age in perspective but he didn't look like he was far and away the best player on the court which I would expect with a potential D1 potential Mr Basketball player. He had a couple nice put back dunks and a couple 3s... he also forced some shots and had back to back airballs at 1 point in the first half. He is one of the taller players on the court and got some nice rebounds due to that but I didn't feel he blocked out well or was in particularly good position on rebounds. Defensively he was just ok... a few nice blocks, but mostly from behind, didn't really stay in front of his man very well. Did seem very composed. Jeff began pressing in the 2nd half and Romeo dribbled through it, found open teammates, made good cuts etc. Didn't seem to be effected by the Jeff fans chanting at him "Airball". Felt he played his game

I am not sure if I was part of that segment or not but I can say that to me watching the last 3 IU games has been much more enjoyable.... Yes we still made mistakes and we still played ugly but I found myself in a better mood watching....1 less person to yell at the TV about... Of course I now seem to yell about Yogi a little more (I am no way saying we would be better without Yogi).   I agree that we will miss JBJ's offensive contributions but I believe in Rojo, NZ3, OG, & Collin making up that amount amongst them most games and along with Juwan giving up much less than JBJ would on the defensive side every game.

I agree with JBJ 100%.... I have watched every game and have re-watched many of them specifically looking at defensive sets... and I see NZ putting in effort and being in the right position... He does get beat on the dribble due to his lack of speed however he stays close, he doesn't just give up and watch them get all the way to the rim.   NZ gets a lot of attention, even after missing a lot of shots lately he is rarely ever left alone to spot up, the defensive player is obviously told not to help off of him. That is demanding attention and opening up the court even if his shots aren't falling.

Some fairly high score predictions for a team that doesn't score well but has  a really good defense.......   IU 65 OSU 59

By looking at this analysis we should have a really good defense and while maybe it looked that way this week I am not sure if that is the case. There is something to be said for TEAM defense... if every individual is good I guess that could mean a great team defense but as others have said if 1 person is out of position that really hampers the next guy.... I also still don't see the bad defense attributed to NZ3?   I just happened to look at Kenpom before coming here and was going to mention it somewhere, what a perfect place to mention it... we are now in the top 100 (90th) in defense, along with top 20 (17th) on offense, and KenPom has us rated as the 25th best team.

I feel like a lot of generalizations are being made about the players and the game... but they don't all fit...   NZ has only 1 job to hit 3s and is a liability if not.... I disagree, I don't think his defense is nearly as bad as some make it seem... He may not be the most athletically gifted but he is ALWAYS in the correct position to play D... he may get shot over, or may get drove around and he doesn't have the gifts to recover in those situations but I love watching him play defense with fundamentals and heart/desire.   Troy plays out of control so often, and his turnovers (especially when trying to drive on double/triple teams hurt... but last night that wasn't the case, he was basically non-existent on the offensive side of the court and while that isn't a good thing he also wasn't killing us with turnovers this game. On defense he looks for the spectacular play, risks getting beat to try to get the steal and breakaway to get flashy. Doesn't help defense well and watches people shoot over him, he only goes for blocks from behind, never goes up with somebody to contest.   As I said before Yogi gets a lot of credit down the stretch of this game but the Yogi over team attitude/way he is playing the game is not beneficial most of the time. He was not hitting and yet he was forcing shots... again driving into traffic at his size doesn't result in smart plays. He has all the skills to play defense as well but only when he wants to, he is not consistently putting in the effort.   I am loving our frontcourt, OG, Juwan, Max, Bryant are all doing all the things that need to be done. 

Thank you YOGI for being clutch at the line... I think he played a very poor very selfish game but he came through in the clutch so all is forgiven... Still #1 in the Big10

I watched that game and thought many times that Kansas' Defense looked VERY tough.... yet they give up 106 (although around 80 had it not been for triple OT.) I am not happy if IU gives up 80 points in a game, even in a win, even against another top team.... but man I would love to have their defense...   Sooners on the other hand looked completely lost on Defense and Kansas got anything they wanted any time they wanted it (it seemed to me). Yet their offense carried them like IU's can do... Hieldt was unstoppable but the other players had some serious offense game as well. 

IU better at home... IU 88 Wisky 75

My response to this is would Crean get canned if we had more off-court issues? If he has been told something to that extent, then he wouldn't be stupid to try to cover it up.... either he succeeds and doesn't get fired or he doesn't succeed but he was already going to be fired for the situation in the first place. 

I will bow out and assume I am reading too much into the responses then. *** I was told earlier in the thread that there is No need to speculate. *** Watshot got a "Friggin" & a "Jeesh" *** Then as fans we are silly and/or loony to speculate like that   I agree with you 100% that responses to the speculation are part of the board as well.... And definitely part of the fun is the disagreements to see the other side or other point of view. I guess my point is sometime with reading on a board you can't tell the intent and it can feel like you are being attacked for speculating when specific words are used... (Maybe not the intent at all)