Stuhoo

The Congo is kind of a hellhole of a war-torn, disease infested place. The Congo is also currently up 1-0 against mighty England in the first half of their knockout round game.

Clearly a parody because #4 has never won jack squat.

Great stuff from Coach Bielema: https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/illinois-coach-bret-bielema-calls-iu-football-coordinators-haines-and-shanahan-extremely-special/

Kinda odd that he’s not booking the IU, UK, and UL visits together.

Keion!! One of the greatest almost-not quite Hoosiers of the 21st century.

Oh shoooot… we gots us a gen-you-ine OldOff!!

What’s better than a Guay? A PARAGUAY!!

Alisa Williams. Veteran forward that will be in the rotation.

Brazil had been dominating the second half. It was a matter of time.

National Championships - first 125 years: 0 National Championships - last two seasons: 1

Another real problem with Clark? She just isn't all that good or winning of a basketball player. She has an excellent supporting cast, yet the team is 10-8 with her in the lineup (1-0 without her). She is a talented offensive player, but more of a Pete Maravich/James Harden/Trae Young type of talent than a Kobe/Michael/ Brunson/Wemby/Jalen Brown, etc. etc. 'makes everyone around her better' type. A career 41% fg, 33% 3pt shooter on way too high volume and a negative on the defensive end. So the league and media has instead hitched their wagon to a 'great white hope' player who may not be up to the task. This happened with Larry Bird (also a surly guy on the court) but the key difference was that Bird was great enough to lead great supporting casts to multiple championships; he made the players around him better. I don't think that Clark is good enoough to do that, and that will only exacerbate the situation.

I was thinking primarily about a 7’2”, 280 kid, but a good attitude to go with it is pretty stellar. Edit; and I completely forgot our very forgettable year with 7’0, 280 Ballo. He was big with a shity attitude I guess!

Seems like Samet is everything we haven’t had for awhile.

A very reasonable path to the round of eight and then, as it should, it gets much tougher. No gimme games, but there’s a path and a way.

It’s the least “here’s the guy that is gonna develop my game” photo ever.

I actually trust CDD, Kenny, etc. to do this exactly right. FWIW, among these pictures is one that is really ridiculously depressing. Looks like a teenager pushing grandpa’s wheelchair at the convalescent home:

If we try really hard (in other words, in-person attention whenever possible), that takes away our ability to spend effort on others, and we would still have a very small chance of success. Unless this kid’s agents have expressed interest in IU this is a nonstarter.

My birthday gift from the board?

We brought in Darren Harris specifically to fill the Lamar role. Ain’t no way we’re bringing in a wing shooter at this point even if we could.

Sam Alexis would be such a great low cost fit for the current roster.

There is no reason that I'm aware of to suggest that this player has any interest in IU whatsoever.

Damn, I was primed and ready for a Sorsby/Pavia showdown in Saskatoon.

Good lord Clark drives me nuts; leading the league in assists... and fouls, technical fouls, and turnovers. In a way I feel sorry for her (and especially for her teammates) -- every ridiculous flop turns into national drama. IUWBB fans are well-aware that this kind of crap follows her and only her, and that some of the really outstanding IUWBB players like Grace, Mack, and Chloe really despised her because of 'how she is'. So this week? She gets in a typical on-court loose ball scrum, which when watched at normal/game speed is a big nothing, but when you freeze the frame JUST RIGHT, it looks like she being criminally assaulted. This is what the actual play in question looked like:

All in all, a pretty good night. Primarily - no injuries and no one will be sitting on a yellow card going forward. Berhalter was really, really good; how do Pepi or Weah come in before him going forward? I thought Turner looked very trustworthy in goal. Weah and the back line looked 'not good at all.' There's a reason that young players like Freeman, Richards, etc have transformed this US National team. We have a great draw with Bosnia in the round of 32 followed by a round of 16 game against Egypt in the round of 16 if all goes well. That is an amazingly 'doable' path to the Final 8 to equal the best American showing since 1930. Let's GOOOOOOOOOOO!!

If we win we play Bosnia in front of a crazed US crowd and with our entire team rested and cleared of yellow cards. If we lose we play Bosnia in front of a crazed US crowd and with our entire team rested and cleared of yellow cards.