Stuhoo

Well ****, now we agree!

Agree. May, Pope, and Cal were pretty much best case examples. BTW, in year two, May is still a great example; Pope is sliding into the abyss, and Cal is solid but not great.

Last year's national champs Florida disagree. They dominated with an estimated NIL budget of $8 million. Their natty game opponent Houston was definitely not a relatively big spender. Not to say that a top ten budget isn't helpful - it is (and if we had one this year we likely would have had enough to overpay for a true big with a pulse). But neither team in last year's national championship game had a top ten budget.

Yup - "playing like crap" is all the critical analysis needed.

Okay... I'll bite: Give me one single statement from Darian Devries where he set won/loss record expectations for the current season. Or, are you stating that the one and only factor that sets expectations is a direct correlation between program budget and won/loss record, and that are other factors affecting results are irrelevant to expectations?

Cig is also a player evaluation savant. He is special because he is so incredibly rare.

In other words, we are right at performance expectations. And I agree - we are below average on return for monetary investment. Because the size of a team's budget is only one of so many factors that can contribute to success or failure. And that can be at least partially explained by having to pay 'transfer in' price for everyone except for Sisley and the two Eastern Euro kids.

Not cheering that. Not jeering that. It's about what was expected. "They thought they were better than what they were?" All I've ever seen and heard from staff is that they were trying to win the next game on the calendar; not how the entire season would be. Top 20 NIL? Maybe - sure. NIL is a bell curve. If we're top 20 we were a lot closer to 20th than 1st. Heck; maybe we're 15th! The message board or RMK era fan expectations are very, very different than the expectations of people in the business and media that regularly covers the sport. Those folks more or less had us as a 17-20 win team. They aren't always right, but in this case, that's how it's shook out.

A 17-20 win team is exactly what expectations should have been? Yessireeeeeeeee.

But not swimming in wins. Probably a tourney team but about to go below .500 in the Big12.

I would say that he built this year's roster in an attempt to win now; it's very much a veteran roster. And if you agree with that, then yes, it's a wasted year.

Agree!! If she played for one of those top teams and put up anywhere near those numbers she'd be one million percent first team.

FWIW, the first team is ten slots. While Shay has been pretty much the whole offense, the unquestioned team leader, and has shot the ball incredibly well for a player that gets tons of defensive attention, she is also a small guard that has more turnovers than assists, and she made the first team on the media side. With an 18 team conference, to be deemed about the 8th-12th best player at 5'7" on a below average team is really awesome. And for the coach's poll, every first team member is on a team from the top half of the conference, so there's a stated trend there.

And a conference full of the very best players in the nation.

Good lord Marsh and Becker. Can it please be football season already?

An interview with Suki saying all the right things, EXCEPT at the 1:23 mark, when he summarizes his team as "fast, physical, and smart." Young fella gonna learn that it's "fast, physical, relentless; THEN smart, disciplined, poised."

There is ALWAYS a place for a player with 4.3 speed on a football field.

Curt Cignetti would vehemently disagree that it's okay to be fully on board with IUFB regressing to being "good but not great."

After Puredoo loses to both Northwestern and then at home to Wisconsin that will change quite a bit. ;)

Generally agree, but... Wisconsin is also a darn good win; by selection Sunday may be about the same as Puredoo. Win out and put a BTT tourney win with it and that's 20 wins and IMO 100% in and likely not last four in. Under any and all circumstances DO NOT root for Puredoo! IU needs to win some games. If we do the rest will take care of itsself.

19 wins still oughta do it.

Win the first two and we could have a puncher's chance at making the NCAA tournament. For real.

I find it curious that with three or four games left, Drake and Harris are still listed as "out" for each game but not "out for the season," whereas a perma-injured Rayford is "out for the season."

FWIW; every time I discuss college sports with someone and I tell them I'm an IU alum, they immediately say (and it happened again last night) "damn, you guys are really kicking everyone's @$$!" No one under the age of 50 notices IU basketball unless they are a dedicated IU fan. Hopefully that will change, but that has been the reality for decades.

This is what it has looked like when Dan Hurley and Todd Golden succeeded greatly at P5 schools. This is what it has looked like when Archie Miller and others failed miserably at P5 schools. If anyone claims to know how this will turn out after 28 games with an under-equipped roster, they are very mistaken.