lillurk

Love this pic and love that you bring it back for special occasions

Woody owns (or owned) a bunch of Btown properties, right?

Feel mildly vindicated! Always felt he could play at a high major.

Am I misremembering or was he a somewhat highly regarded HS underclassman?

It can stick. So much of the defensive problems were positioning, over-helping, moment-to-moment attentiveness. He should start without X (won’t be too mad either way), which moves Galloway to his best role as bench buzzsaw. If you want a big-picture reason for optimism: IU has shown extended stretches of success in a variety of ways. Due to injury, energy/effort (which can be improved upon!), and general early season acclimation, it often hasn’t all happened at once. Get healthy, and let’s see what they can do.

There are going to be games this year where they’ll need these lineups with Kopp at the four, so it’s nice it clicked tonight. (Geronimo hasn’t had it dialed from 3 this year but he offers a sort of middle way if he’s on.)

If TJD sits again I’ll be curious to see how Race performs. I think their minutes should be staggered more, perhaps, as Race has been best this year in extended minutes w/o TJD.

Lol. Yeah, lots of other programs have had bad losses lately; it happens.

Yeah, I think I underrated PU but think they can fall back somewhat as their guard play ebbs. Currently feel pretty good about my take that Illinois was a little overrated — clearly talented but things are going the wrong way. Think it’s fair to have concerns about IU’s losses but also believe the combo of talent is there to have a memorable season.

Kansas wore new unis for the IU game. Appears they’re wearing more new ones tonight. I don’t necessarily want IU to wear six different sets per year but I will say, the Kansas threads do a nice job of being true to their look. If adidas/IU could swing that — and they’ve had a couple more recent alternates I liked — I’d like to see some occasionally

I’m enjoying this, given my enthusiasm for coach Gates and distaste for the Illini

Don’t forget how that team started, though, and the mediocrity of the year prior. We think of those guys as leaders because they were much worse than this team in the non-conf, then awesome from January on. If they don’t turn it around, there’s some really different legacies in that group.

Okay, here are some resources: 1. Average return timeline: 9.8 weeks https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26781131/ 2. Most hoopers recover to previously established performance level https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4922517/#!po=1.66667 3. Expect 9 weeks, less than that (avg of 6.8 weeks) were likely to reinjure https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Am+J+Sports+Med&title=Intrameduallary+screw+fixation+of+Jones+fractures&author=CM+Larson&author=LC+Almekinders&author=TN+Taft&author=WE+Garrett&volume=30&publication_year=2002&pages=55-60&pmid=11798997&#d=gs_qabs&t=1671655663967&u=%23p%3DUMpsdPw6tKIJ 4. Early surgical treatment (like X’s case) = shorter time to heal and return to competition than boot treatment. This has 8 weeks as the average surgical return https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Am+J+Sports+Med&title=Early+screw+fixation+versus+casting+in+the+treatment+of+acute+Jones+fractures&author=TS+Mologne&author=JM+Lundeen&author=MF+Clapper&author=TJ+O’Brien&volume=33&publication_year=2005&pages=970-975&pmid=15888715&#d=gs_qabs&t=1671655681294&u=%23p%3DoqUkA90vwU4J

Right, the specifics of the injury and surgery matter. If he has one of the lesser foot injuries that require surgery, we might have him back sooner

Yeah short of a catastrophe the worst case scenario is working him back the week before the BTT, based on a couple peer-reviewed abstracts. The “worst cases” in the studies were much older athletes (30 and 38 in one of them).

Anyone have more specifics on what kind of injury/surgery? Quick googling looks like basketball players returning from foot surgery can expect anywhere from ~3 to 10 weeks’ recovery to return. I know we have some medical experts on the board….

I think this is the key, and I don’t think it’s some sure thing next year is a step back. (Former 5 star sophs+ are about the best kind of player in CBB.) Feels like a lot of commentary here yesterday — less so today — was prisoner of the moment. If IU plays like that a bunch, we have a lot to worry about. I don’t think it was acceptable but sometimes it happens.

I don’t mean to pour cold water on this discussion, but even after getting thumped today, IU is 17th in Kenpom, which is the 2nd highest B1G team. Assuming health, they may not play worse in a 15 day stretch all year. I’m not making the claim the program is currently elite. But I think the margin between “good but frustrating” and “elite” is pretty thin. Ask UNC. IU has spent too much time toeing the line for most of 3 decades. It really can come down to small differences. E.g. if IU played well and won today, people would be saying stuff like “with JHS, IU is a sleeper title contender” or whatever. And what if they feel off a few in a row and host PU at 18-3 (9-1) on 2/4?

Thinking about the three losses so far. Two of the three are losses I think every team has at some point, even good ones: 1. @ Rutgers, shot very poorly against on the road against a good defense. 2. vs. Arizona, didn’t play well but fought and just lost to a better team. Not excusing either, just saying even the very best teams have a loss like those, basically every year. Heck, if you’re good AND lucky, you probably still have one of each. But today’s loss stings, not because losing @ a good Kansas team is a shame, but because IU didn’t compete smart, consistently, or hard. I think Kansas is good…but nothing about IU’s talent level tells me they HAD to lose today, or be non-competitive. The talent’s still there, and I think the team believes in its coach. I do too. Flush it and learn.

This seems reasonably positive

Kansas is good. Kansas played pretty well. And yet IU could’ve competed with adequate defensive effort and basic offensive execution (limiting insane TOs, converting at the rim). Concerning, and yet if X’s health is okay, this team could eventually turn it around. So that’s what I’m looking for: X’s health, limiting self-lacerating decisions, and effort.

If JHS plays, I think IU has a real shot.

Lovely video, and less importantly I think JHS is visible in practice gear when the camera pans from CMW to DG

This rule surely changed in the 25-plus years since Brian Evans played at IU, right? Watching him run the baseline, even we’ll OOB, is one of my earliest memories watching the hoosiers

Can’t wait for Raftery to say “Geronimo.” Can’t wait for him to make, like, guttural noises of enthusiasm when JHS does something. And as I said in the prediction thread, absolutely can’t wait for Trey to put Kerr Kriisa onto a shipping barge