TrueHoosier62

Difficult game to predict, given the "Sybil" capabilities of our boys in cream and crimson. Let's see, our shooting versus their athleticism, Groce versus Crean, border battle between two states who despise the other.....eenie meenie, miney, mo.......flip a coin.......   Illinois 72 Hoosiers 71

Would if I could. Perhaps one day.

If this doesn't give you a bit of wood for the upcoming season, nothing will. Of course, at my age, I'm envious of a stiff wind....

Thank you Rodney King.  :lol:

I say I'd like to go fishing with you some day. That's what I say. :-)

Good news. Let's land that killer whale!

And Michigan State. Don't forget Michigan State. Penn State was no signature game either.

I'm sorry, but with all due respect, I just don't agree that Crean has somehow become a better coach this year. In my opinion, he's the same coach he's always been, turning out the same product, which relies on three point shooting, athleticism and a weak schedule to get the NCAA tournament card punched. His Big Ten record, though nice, has been achieved during one of the weakest top to bottom years I've seen in the last 40 seasons of Big Ten basketball. Ohio State?; down year, Michigan?; down year, Michigan State?; extremely average, Wisconsin?; arguably their worst year in over a decade, Illinois?; pathetic team. Northwestern, Nebraska, Rutgers and Penn State, (do they really count?). That leaves Purdue, Iowa and Maryland, none of which have a snowball's chance in hell of winning it all. Most years, we have two, maybe three teams in the league where an argument could be made that they have what it takes to get to the final four. This year?, there isn't one team that I'd give good odds of achieving it; not one. Am I happy we're winning and in first place; sure, but let's not fool ourselves. This team has the same DNA that all of Crean's teams have had through the years; poor defense, a Jekyll & Hyde offense, too many turnovers and way too many mental errors. Supremely beatable when either an equally talented team plays them, or when a lesser team knows how to force them in to a half court game. This is what Crean's coaching philosophy leads to. This is Tom Crean.

As is often the case this year, we come out with a win, and none of us is quite sure how we should feel about it afterwards. It's a bit like watching your mother-in-law drive your new Cadillac off the edge of a cliff, whereupon impact, it bursts in to flames, killing and destroying everything. I guess there's good and bad in everything.   Most of us are happy for the win, to be sure, but the same flaws continue to rear their ugly head at the damnedest times, (mental errors, really), and it leaves you wondering if/when they'll ever "get it".   I thought the refereeing was atrocious. It seems that any time Ted Valentine is in charge, you can count on two things.   1.) An abundance of fouls, most of which leave you shaking your head 2.) No consistency. How many steps are allowed in basketball these days? Either the number has risen to five, or Ted can no longer count.

Complete, concise. Accurate.

If he had a ring in his nose, he'd look just like a Hereford.

There's a great movie from back in the fifties, called "The Three Faces of Eve" starring Joanne Woodward, that's based on an early days case of dissociative identity disorder, (multiple personality disorder). I would submit to you that we have a similar version called "The Two Faces of Troy" at IU. None of us is sure which "Troy" will show up at game time, and I'm fairly certain that neither does he or his coach. Like the movie eventually reveals, it must be something that happened in Troy's childhood, deeply rooted in his subconscious, and involves a profound fear and distrust of basketball fundamentals. Perhaps, as a child, he was forced to watch replays of Purdue basketball during the reign of Gene Keady or perhaps Pat Keady's image on the television screen, nestled in the dark shadows behind the player's bench at Mackey arena, scarred little Troy emotionally. We may never know.

I'm reasonably convinced that if they reported tomorrow that half the team was found snorting crack cocaine off a mirror in the Crean household, with the reflection showing Tom holding a kilo in one hand and a hypodermic syringe in the other, he'd STILL be the coach next season. 

Of course, of greater concern is, when the hell is Nat going to send me my trophy for winning the pro football pickem' contest? lol

I agree with you 110%. 

6'- 5"; 315 lbs That's big DT. Could probably carry 335 lbs without losing much speed, but would gain quite a lot in plugging up the middle.

I'm not sure what to make of this team's lack of stamina or drive. Somehow, I can't see Crean putting these kids through any more taxing practices than did Knight, yet Knight's teams used to start building towards the end of the season, (if they were going to be serious contenders), whereas Crean's teams begin to implode around February. Something doesn't make sense there. You can see it in their play, and in their faces, their tanks are empty; emotionally, physically, psychologically, empty. I'm sure that Troy is a nice kid, but he simply doesn't have what it'll take to make it in the NBA. He has athleticism going for him, but that's about it. He has no consistent jump shot, can't handle the ball to save his soul, and utilizes not one shred of that athleticism on the defensive end.

I applaud your optimism, even if I question your judgement  :-)

I've been fairly consistent in my appraisal of Yogi, and that's to say that he's a shooting guard trying to play the point. True, he has the school record for assists, and there's no arguing that, but stats are for losers. Getting assists and making your teammates better, are two completely different things, and in my opinion, he simply isn't very good at the latter. Too, for all his quickness, he's at best, average, on the defensive end. Nice guy, no doubt, but I can think of at least five former PG's who've donned the candy stripes, who I'd prefer running my team.

Like it, love it, hate it, or despise it; this is who we are.   We're long range missile launchers and great athletes racing up and down the court in search of the next score and highlight reel play for ESPN. We're also talented, and at times, exciting to watch.   But we're also mentally fragile, hopelessly flawed, and subject to scoring droughts. We're non-existent on defense, inconsistent at the line, and woefully absent at gut check time. We're legless by February and heartless by March. We're equal parts inspiring and depressing.   "It's Indiana". I don't like it, but this is who we are.

In all honesty, I've tried to like coach Crean, and I've tried to remain open minded about the evolving game of college basketball. No one can expect it to remain the same as it was back in 1976; internal and external forces are always going to tweak it here or there. I get that. What I don't get is the complete lack of commitment to the fundamentals of the game. It would be easy to say that not one of the current roster of players would make it off the bench if Knight were still roaming the court, but I'd wager a fair amount of money that the same could be said if it were Gene Keady, Lou Henson, Jud Heathcoate, or practically any number of other coaches, who preached fundamental basketball. Keady's and Henson's teams in particular, lost not because they weren't fundamentally sound, or athletically gifted, but because Keady and Henson were simply inferior to Knight when it cane to game day adjustments and preparation. Every player had a function and a role, and each player played that role to the best of their ability, as that ability developed with coaching. Knight's system of motion offense was a thing of beauty and precision that relied upon it, and his defense was stifling man to man. So what is Crean's approach? After seven years I still cannot, for the life of me, determine what the game plan is under Crean; what the roles are for the players; and what the system is meant to accomplish. Defense, for this squad, appears to be putting forth any level of effort greater than nothing at all, but there's no hint of system or philosophy or strategy; only effort. I've nearly given up trying to understand the offense, which at best seems to be based on "drive and kick", or (with Troy Williams), "slash and burn". There's no cohesion or unity or synchronicity to it at all, just five random players trying to hit shots. At any rate, I've said enough. I just get depressed at times, watching the unraveling of a dynasty. 

I'm not convinced that a coach like Bob Knight still exists. Even if there were such a coach, I'm not sure how that approach would square with today's game. Most of the games I've watched are little more than a collection of athletes, (not basketball players), many of whom are doing little more than auditioning for the big leagues. Of the younger coaches out there, I'm probably impressed most by Brad Stevens. He seems to have the ability to improve teams using little more than whats on hand. To me, that's the sign of a good coach, and one who can do great things given certain circumstances.

I didn't see him, but that's not to say he didn't superglue the bastard shut.

Post of the Day! lol