triple

As a middle age white guy I fully support them. We are in a forever-loop of allowing petty politics and instigators to distract us from those issues. If there had been an ongoing theme of non-white police officers fatally shooting white civilians this would have been addressed long ago.

Another Ragland article: https://www.hjnews.com/sports/usu/pair-of-aggie-assistant-coaches-make-list/article_6b5b0e04-22e2-59f3-b44a-c8f6e74257a7.html

Yes. Simply that. Since the Crean years I've always felt the program pushes too much too fast on physical transformation (whereas under Crean anyway, we seemingly had little focus on developing mental toughness which I believe is far more important at the college level).

I know there are different schools of thought on this, but when I see these annual pics from IU players my first reaction is always concern that the injury bug is right around the corner.

Harbaugh has done less with his talent level (specific to his Michigan teams) than most of the guys on the list. In my mind he should be closer to the middle. Definitely below Chyrst.

If you are suggesting that we all believe every bad review we ever encounter, I fear for the restaurant industry. Covid will be nothing compared to the wrath of Yelp!

I saw several of Lesmond's games last year when he played at Evanston, after moving here from France. He was the tallest player on a very good team that only lacked height, yet struggled to get playing time over more athletic guards and forwards (at least three of whom were also Sophs). So it wasn't surprising that he transferred to a smaller school. At the time he seemed to lack passion, consistency, and defensive instincts. That said, it's quite possible that being a starter this past year has boosted his confidence and helped him turn a significant corner.

I don't need to be lectured. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

Old Friend, I'm not interested in a purely political debate. I'm independent and believe strongly that our country is in desperate need of compromise, as we watch our political parties give us nothing but the opposite. I'm very disappointed in Trump's response to this crisis, and cherry picked facts/defenses won't change that. I'm also very disappointed in the Democrats, for what it's worth. You are correct that experts should have advised our leaders to act more quickly. I believe quite a few did, whether they were government employees or advising from afar via the press. Moving past that, we need more tests, ICU beds and medical supplies. We've collectively been painfully slow to secure those things, because we've failed to act with the decisiveness that we've seen work elsewhere (China, S. Korea, Germany). That's not a political statement. It's a fact. Our leaders have not used all of the powers available to them to secure those things. That is also a fact.

Singapore and other countries in Asia made no secret that they were taking significant steps in January. China clearly tried to cover some of this up but scenes of the Wuhan lockdown, hazmat suits, bleach spraying in public places and overwhelmed hospitals were widely shown in the US press in February. I would argue that our national response should have started 2-4 weeks before it finally kicked in.

They are a better team (better coaching leading to better chemistry and motivation), but they are not as talented as IU. There is a difference between team and talent.

I agree. If the tide does not turn soon there will be consequences (bottom 3-4 finish, missed dance, self-inflicted obstacles to future recruiting success, and yet more normalization of a program culture that leads to mediocracy). We have the talent to win every remaining game. And at this point if Archie told/allowed them to play street ball I suspect we'd improve. That's on him. He needs to unlock the mental obstacles that have infected the team and get back to playing basic basketball and, gulp, dare I say having fun.

I hate admitting this but I'd settle for being able to enjoy watching the games at this point. Our guys are in quick sand and watching it feels like a bad day at the office.

I'd say that's technically correct, but I'd add two qualifiers. Regarding our defense, when Rutgers scored they did so with relative ease. We played well for much of the shot clock in any given stance until we didn't, and then they feasted. Regarding our offense, there were too many possessions without any movement inside the three point line. As a result we rarely feasted. I'd give their coaching staff an A for that game, and ours an F. Which is all the more frustrating given that a win was within the reach of a few made threes.

I agree with him 100%. Basketball is at its best when it's based predominantly on basketball skills. And that includes the skill of playing defense without making contact. Which is much harder to perfect than the constant contact defense they allow some teams (underscore some) to play today.