TrueHoosier62

I think this would be more apropos if I thought UK's players were actually sad about losing. I don't mean to say they weren't disappointed, of course they were. But it seems to me that a player who's main objective is to use that program as a stepping stone to the NBA, is less likely to give a sh*t about a loss, and in the bigger picture, it puts them one day closer to a paycheck. Well, seeing as this is Kentucky we're talking about, a "legitimate" paycheck.

I love Charles Barkley. I don't care if he's right or wrong, I just love to hear his take on things and to him talk sh*t to Kenny...lolol

Best win yet, under Crean; bar none. Not a great Kentucky team, but a great win nonetheless, and something to build the program with. Probably the the best mentally tough game I've seen from IU in quite a whiile.

Christ, she hasn't aged very well! She looks like Debra Harry's mother.

Fair point as well. I don't know much about the Pac-12, beyond what I've heard, but I knew the Big Ten was not what it is most years, so I wasn't quite as incredulous about the seedings.

As I said, the Big Ten was not a great conference this year and the selection committee's seeding. while not liked by many, was probably correct.   MSU, done Purdue, done Iowa, should have been done

I can honestly feel the blood going to my eyeballs over the thought of facing Kentucky. Would like nothing more than seeing Calipari and his band of Cretins walk off the court a loser. Three pointer from Zeisloft with .01 seconds left on the clock, for the win, would be nice.

My thinking was "Hell, he'll fit right in at IU", lol

I have to disagree with you on this one, (and I don't usually don't like to disagree with your posts). The totality of Crean's tenure at IU does have an impact on the expectations one has for an individual year's assessment. As fans, we don't make assessments or alter expectations within a vacuum; everything is considered. That would include past tournament experiences and the total body of work turned in by Crean's teams. This is human nature. As far as I'm concerned, the expectation should be banner #6. Let Purdue fans revel in 20 win seasons and trips to the tournament, replete with early exits; that's what they're legendary for. 

As a follow up, I'm not sure how the loss of Blackmon hurt us. He was always the weak link in our defense, (not that it's particularly great now, but it's better than it was). His offense was nice, of course, but even there, one could probably make an argument that his absence has diversified the offensive, and ultimately led to better overall balance. Yes, a lot of teams wouldn't recover if they'd lost a player of Blackmon's offensive prowess, but most teams aren't stocked with scorers like we either. We took the loss in stride, and kept on shooting. Johnson, to me, was the bigger loss, and it's true, we did well without him.  As to the rankings, I'm not sure how to take them. We jettisoned up the rankings in the last week or so, probably faster than we should have. MSU might have a legitimate bone with the committee, but it's difficult to argue with the four #1's ahead of them, or their regional placement. Iowa State is the lone major shock as far as I'm concerned. How they finagled a #4 is a mystery.

That's because I ran out of paint. Nice post.

I thought MSU looked quite beatable until we played them. From then on, they started looking like they always do, as they ramp up to tournament time. You may be right about Duke and Amile Jefferson, but even with him, I don't think they end up beating NC for the conference title. And with or without him, there's no excuse for us looking that bad.

Technically, yes. lol But then, technically, I could enter the race for President and still win the nomination.  :D

I don't honestly know much about California, but from what one hears, they've got about as much talent as North Carolina, and play in a conference, (Pac 12), that some think is highly underestimated. The committee apparently agreed. Who knows? As for the rest of the Big Ten, they suffer from the same issue as IU in the respect that the league simply isn't as good as is used to be.   A normal Big Ten year and MSU is a #1 seed. Still, the committee kept them in the Midwest which isn't a bad consolation prize. Purdue lost the conference schedule AND the tournament, but played MSU reasonably close and got a fair seed at #5 Iowa might have been a #1 or #2, had they not faltered down the stretch. Now they're a #7. That was on them. Michigan would not have even made the tournament, had they not beaten IU in the BTT Wisconsin might have been higher, had they not stunk earlier in the year. As it is, their stock rose to the point they matched Iowa's seed; two teams going in opposite directions. Just my opinion.

The chances of IU beating in succession, Chattanooga, Kentucky, & North Carolina, are such that it stretches the limits of mathematic probabilities. I would love to imagine that scenario, but my imagination isn't that strong.

I'm sure this will upset a lot of people, but here goes.   We sucked at the Maui tournament this year We sucked at Duke, who's having an unusually bad year by their standards We got blown out at Michigan State, who up until that time, sure as hell didn't resemble a #1 seed We got beat by Wisconsin, who's having an unusually bad year by their standards We got beat by a horrendous Penn State squad We played, by all accounts, one of the easiest Big Ten Schedules one could play. We played in a conference that by all accounts, is having one of it's worst, top to bottom years in decades We lost to a piss poor Michigan team in our first game in the BTT. In our back yard. With that team having had less than 24 hours to recover since their last game. And that team, having made the NCAA as a "PLAY-IN" game, which tells you what the NCAA thought about Michigan   The summary is thus: We're a good team, not a great one, who played in a good conference, not a great one, who played a good schedule, not a great one, and who's recent history in tournaments sucks at a biblical rate. Yeah, a #5 seeding is probably close to being spot on.

It's really a bit like having a spouse or significant other that engages in offending behavior. You warn them that without immediate change, you're gone; you can only take so much. And as often happens, they change, for a week or so, before things return to the way they were, and your ability to believe in them wanes. Then one day, you've had enough. You give them one last chance. They reward you with a prolonged, daily commitment. You watch as evidence mounts that they've truly turned the corner. You can actually feel your guard dropping, and your passion returning. Finally, you fully embrace them again, and all is right with the world. Then of course, you take them to an IU/Michigan tournament game and they show up wearing a blue and maize sweatshirt, and immediately you feel compelled to toss their ass to the curb. It happens that way.

Bob Knight was once asked after a loss, about his kids having played hard despite that loss, and he said, (and I'm paraphrasing), "It's not enough to play hard, you have to play smart. Through my years, I've seen a helluva lot of effort go in to doing something really stupid". As I said earlier, of all the teams in the tournament, we probably have as many or more ways to be beaten, because we're so willing to assist in the effort. And we also need to remember that we're not playing against Michigan or Michigan State or Duke or Kansas, we're playing against the game of basketball, and too often, we're losing our ass.

I don't agree with much of what "MadaboutIndiana" posts, but he's not trolling. That word gets bandied about way too often as a means of discrediting a poster's opinion or style of expressing that opinion, and/or as an enticement to have him tossed. Madaboutindiana isn't posting random drivel, designed only to take up space in a thread; he's posting what he believes, no matter how off the mark many of us may think he is.

You came here expecting "positivity" in a "Fire Tom Crean" thread, after a loss in the Big Ten Tournament to team we twice beat in the regular season?

I think you may have drunk six in a row. lol Actually, if we lose next weekend, there may not be enough booze south of Indy to even dull the pain.

LMAO

Please tell me this was a gag, and not serious.

And there's not too many times that "69" and "lose" will be seen in the same sentence. Remarkable accomplishment today.

It's something we don't currently have