incrediboy

In the end it boils down to who gets hurt, what guys work their tails off the hardest to improve over the summer and all that jazz, that said I think there are three levels of talent (first four, second four, the rest):   First four (alphabetically) Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, Purdue Second four (alphabetically) Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin 9. Illinois 10. Northwestern 11. Nebraska 12. Penn State 13. Minnesota 14. Rutgers   Given what's happened with Maryland adding the woman-beater and IU kicking off its pot smokers, I think Maryland has to be the favorite going in. Of course, Thon could be a difference Maker if he suddenly decides to come to IU. Purdue still needs a PG but holy crap, what size! Michigan State has the most favorable schedule in terms of home/away. Maryland probably has the toughest of the four.   Of the second four, I like Michigan best with virtually everyone returning assuming Spike Albrecht recovers from his hip surgery. Keep an eye on Eye-o-wa with so many guys coming back but I have to wonder if Woodbury will be as effective without graduation-gone White taking away the best defensive big from the opposition. This WILL be the year Bo doesn't finish in the Top Four. (Of course to finish in the top four until last year you only had to be better than 8 teams...now it's 10 and one of those is Maryland).   If Minnesota does finish 13th (and I'm not the only one to predict that) is that the end of Pits Jr. as coach there?

Don't forget the Hawkeyes. Iowa with Woodbury, Uthoff, Joc and Gessell will be better than Illinois.

Just two cents from a guy who's loved watching basketball for well over fifty years....   Honestly I don't care whether the score is 48-47 or 98-97...a basketball fan will find the game entertaining if both teams are "bringing it." What I'm seeing in all this tweaking is an attempt to appeal to those who aren't really basketball fans, and in my opinion that's just wrong. I found the "Harryin' Hoosiers" of Knight's first couple of years as entertaining as Crean's "let's play faster" approach (the quality of defense, of course, is a factor in that). Shot clock at 30 or 35 is really no issue either way to me...I don't think it will make any major difference other than in the final minute we might see more teams looking for 2-for-1 possessions, something college basketball rarely sees for whatever reason (always seemed stupid to me NOT to put up ANY shot with 45-50 seconds left in a half knowing you'd get the ball back).   I've said this elsewhere, but I wish that darn arc would just go away. Charging is charging no matter where it occurs, and if the defensive man can establish position under the basket, the driver should find a way to avoid that path, either by changing his shot or dishing to someone else.   "Flopping" should be a technical foul. Let's get Hollywood off the court and PLAY BALL!

Yeah, but no doubt who 99.9% of this board cheers for in that game!

Bringing in grad student transfer Zeisloft worked out pretty well...if this has any kind of similar impact it could be just what we need.    On another thought, Fuchs could get more playing time because of DD's departure.

Uh, Caleb S., there might some playing time available for you at IU...and there is definitely a scholarship open. Why go play behind Hammons and Haas at Purdue?

The first shoe has fallen:   http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/05/12/ap-bkc-indiana-davis-cited

I foresee a transfer to Colorado.

Both Robinson and Max indicated they wanted to play "closer to home." So I'd be guessing with geography if I speculated on them, Hoetzel to San Diego State or UNLV, perhaps; George Mason or Georgetown wouldn't be a bad guess on Stan. I don't even have a guess to offer on April, but I would think I guy of his size and coordination could draw interest from big schools...although apparently his work ethic isn't what it should be or he'd still be in candy stripes.

Davis two years ago and Holt last year struck me as very similar players (no pun intended in the "struck" comment). They're both guys who play under the basket and who go hard for rebounds. They're also about the same size and rely on physicality rather than finesse.  I reiterate a point that's been made several times on this board: is there really room for playing time on the 2015-2016 team for two guys like this, considering Hartman, Morgan and others all fall into a similar size category (and Hanner, albeit a little taller, is similar in playing style in that he has no outside game)? I know it's a very pleasant problem to have, but it screams "redshirt somebody" to me.

I kind of hate to see this in a way. April appeared to be a well-coordinated tall kid with decent hands and, from what little he played, he seemed to find himself in the right place to score a basket or two. I'm not sure that maybe a year as a redshirt might have made him into something special down the road.   Priller was a far better candidate to transfer IMO (and I still think he will if he wants any degree of playing time). He's just not B1G talented. He belongs in the MAC or similar based on what we've seen when he's been on the floor for us.

I would imagine most of you have seen this since the link is at the IU BB website:   http://www.iuhoosiers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/042915aaa.html   Kansas being ranked above us makes Maui more interesting IMO

My assistant principal in high school always said, "IF a toad had wings he wouldn't bump his ass on the ground all the time."   But IF you look at team rosters across the country, we do belong in the Top 25 IMO.

I disagree. We finished 9-9 in the best conference in the country (two of the Final Four) and had Yogi hit two open 3-pointers (Purdue, at Maryland) and a free throw that would have sent the MSU game into overtime, we could have finished as high as 12-6. We played a team that demolished Kansas in the second round of the NCAA to the wire. We lose nobody of consequence. We gain a Top 25 recruiting class with our one missing link (Bryant) included. 

From everything I've read, it appears to be more or less a done deal.

Amen.   And with Yogi, RoJo, Zeis and JBJ, we really wouldn't have any significant playing time for another guard.

Having been away from Bloomington since 1974, my ability to follow IU sports is limited to this board, the internet, BTN (yeah, I pay extra for it), ESPN and such.   Having grown up in Indiana, I am a rabid basketball fan, and having gone to IU and worked as a sports writer in Bloomington after school, I am a rabid IU basketball fan.   Living in Atlanta, where few care about anything but college football, I follow IU football on BTN, but I've always felt football is just something we do while we're waiting for basketball season to start. I didn't get introduced to football early on because my high school didn't have enough kids to field a football team. However, if you live around here, you must pretty much align yourself with either Georgia or Georgia Tech (in football, nobody around here cares about basketball except those in the programs), and since I live in Atlanta, and Tech is in Atlanta, I do follow Tech football a little and certainly cheer for the Rambin' Wreck against UGA. But I have no allegiance whatsoever in basketball other than the Cream and Crimson.   But it's so bad here that during the World Series, the NBA playoffs, Super Bowl week or Final Four week, 90% of all local sports-talk radio is spent on college football. I get really, really tired of hearing about the SEC and was so glad Ohio State won the national title just to shut these people up.   Incidentally, a poll in Indiana found:   1. The Number One Sport is Basketball, which is played for about six months out of the year. 2. The Number Two Sport is Talking About Basketball, which is played year-round.

Other than the "I want them to bury me upside down" (of course), my all-time favorite comes from when he was first hired at Texas Tech and he and the AD and the women's coach were making the Texas circuit to raise money for the athletic department and the library at Tech. It was suggested that since he was from Ohio, Knight needed to learn to speak Texan.   "I've already learned one word here, and I love it. That word is sumbitch. All my life I've been using four syllables to say that word, now I know I can say it in two."

Just rereading Knight's Power of Negative Thinking, and two quotes stand out:   1) Every coach should know the phrase, "I don't know, but I'll find out." (This is in context of coaches who think they know it all)   2) In response to the attitude of, "What difference does it make? The sun will still come up tomorrow," Knight's retort is, "Yeah, and it'll shine brilliant rays on the same mess that was there yesterday unless someone cleans it up."

I think Morgan will be the surprise who impresses so much it's impossible not to put him in the lineup. But it might be a few games before he or Bryant get in the starting five. Opening game:   Yogi, RoJo, JBJ, Troy, Hanner   Big Ten season opener:   Yogi, JBJ, Troy, Morgan, Bryant

Matt Norlander at CBS Sports wrote this as the last paragraph in the Blackmon-to-stay story:   With the expectation that Yogi Ferrell will follow Blackmon's lead and stay, we currently rank Indiana No. 13 in our Ridiculously Early Top 25 (and one). Ferrell's decision will come on Saturday. He's making his choice public at an Indianapolis Ruth's Chris Steak House.

Why would you say that? He is fast, he has a quick first step and decent lateral motion. The only ceiling holding him down is his size (height and wingspan). Lots of excellent defenders don't have those things.

Two down (Troy and JBJ). One to go. Yogi, you could be the difference between Sweet 16 and Final Four.

If Yogi leaves, we still have RoJo and JBJ (assuming he's not going somewhere). Both should improve with a year under their belts. We have plenty of 3-point shooters with Zeis and Colin and perhaps Morgan along with the aforementioned guards, plus look for Troy to work on his 3's this summer as Oladipo did during his off-season (not saying Troy is going to make that much progress, but it makes sense for him to work on that if he's going to be a lottery pick next year).   Of course, we'd be better with Yogi and his senior leadership, and for the life of me, I do not think a move to the NBA would make sense now for him. But if that's what he wants to do, I'll cheer for him to do well wherever he lands, IU will go on to Maui in the fall, and we'll have a pretty decent team . . . and some additional playing time for someone else and an available scholarship if Crean wants to bring in a PG.

Braves baseball (my "other" sports passion)   If my publishing business slows down, I'll do more writing. All y'all have read my superhero fantasy "IncrediBoy," I'm sure, and are dying for the sequel, which has been in the works for years. This could be the year :)