lillurk

Here’s a guy who’s been awake almost nonstop from 8 am eastern Tuesday until this photo, at about 8 pm eastern Wednesday

Did he just prefer to stay home?

Well it’s really Ryan

Payne gives UL some juice, I think, I’m interested to watch that. If Ya goes, I wish him the best. Some modest staff turnover is normal, he’s been all in here.

Who’ve you got in ND/Rutgers?

I’m glad he stayed, grateful for his leadership and attitude. The way he’s played the last week…remarkable, a new level for him. Hats off, Trayce.

If IU plays about this well, BUT hits more than two jump shots, and avoids stupid fouls, I like the Hoosiers.

To the extent it’s possible I think you’re both right. The good thing about a team with IU’s profile is you tend to keep every game close. The bad news is unless you get some uncharacteristically hot 3 point shooting, you don’t run away with it. If — big if — IU can adequately guard Maldonado, I think it’s possible they chop wood and win by 7-10.

This is a good point, and yet conference tournaments lend really valuable neutral court info, so ignoring them to have Duke a 2, Tennessee a 3, and IU a 12, among others things, is just ignoring some valuable info about those teams

To be fair to the committee — in a backhanded way — they make a case that the college football playoff field should be larger. Hoops tourney is large enough that the marginal decisions don’t directly determine the champ. Most teams on the outside simply could’ve performed better. Conversely a 4 team football tourney is clearly too small and usually leaves out teams with a legitimate complaint AND genuine ability to win the title.

I don’t mean this rudely but I don’t have any confidence the committee really gets this

Also opponent- and location-adjusted efficiency measures like NET, Kenpom, etc. ALREADY factor in SOS, so they’re double counting it instead of meaningful team performance measures.

This all gets to my “selective application of their own stated criteria” thing, and additionally the lack of internal logic. Who cares if UM gets a NCSOS bump for playing @UCF: they lost there!

My concern with the selection committee is that despite having an established criteria, it’s selectively applied case-by-case. This is an old saw but to use IU as an example this year: if you look at the S-curve, I can’t really fathom a blend of résumé and predictive metrics that have IU lower than 40th (I’d drop Miami below IU and move Loyola up). And yet somehow the committee finds a way.

I think it’s a pretty good matchup for IU, tbh. Wyoming’s good, but TJD, Race, and Geronimo (if healthy) can guard Ike. They don’t really have a big wing/versatile 4-type that’s given IU trouble this year. Need X not to get into foul trouble vs. Maldonado, and for Rob and Trey not to send him to the line. Kopp and Stewart, for all their faults, are okay at chasing “just a shooter” types. Offensively, I think IU’s bigs should do alright, and I like what I’ve seen from X lately. The swing issue is what they get from guys other than TJD, Race, X

They’re a fun watch, I think. They don’t play fast, they’re about equally good on O and D. They don’t force TOs but their D is good at the other four factors (opponent shooting %, defensive rebounding, avoiding fouls). They’re good at 2s offensively, don’t hit the offensive glass much. Best players: Hunter Maldonado is a good, tall, lead guard. Gets to the line a bunch. Graham Ike a pretty quick, slightly small 5, a la TJD; athletic but not as much as Trayce. Neither shoots the three much or well, they’re combined 22/89. Their next best guy, Drake Jeffries, is a 40% shooter on over 200 tries this year (and I think someone mentioned he played HSBB in IN).

Bates has played 33% of minutes while missing at least two whole games. while I think he’s a good one, a lot of calls for him to play more now are “backup QB syndrome” because the other 2s and 3s have…flaws. And Lander’s been hurt a bunch, while similarly not exactly proving he can guard at a B1G level yet. And he has a 40% TO rate. Editing to add: I think both can be valuable players, even offer some things now. But look at any big program; they’ve got four and five stars getting fewer minutes than they might’ve hoped. I think when there are clear explanations other than “the coach doesn’t trust young guys,” it’s easier to stomach for prospective recruits.

Contrast that with Bohannon — he’s probably more of a defensive liability but he’s an even better shooter than either, AND can shoot off the dribble

What baffles me is that there’s like three games today, the committee could ABSOLUTELY draw up contingencies for a variety of outcomes.

It would be nice to consistently play Saturday or Sunday in the BTT. Good atmospheres, feels like your team’s hitting its stride at the right time, the tourney title isn’t AS important as the regular season but it’s still an impressive prize. I think IU can join the teams consistently playing in the semis and beyond. Lately that’s been MSU, UM, PU, OSU, Ill, UW. Let’s jump a few of that group and do it.

Yeah I tend to think IU’s safe. I’m not a bracketologist but I’d guess IU’s ahead of UM, Wyoming, Xavier, Notre Dame, Rutgers, SMU, Davidson, and Texas A&M. I’m not sure they’re all in, and of course two of them could clinch autobids tomorrow. But unless both Davidson and A&M win their conference championships, I doubt IU’s in Dayton.

Is there a rule that a First Four team can’t be an autobid? Surely not, as the sixteen seeds are autos

And from all available evidence, these dudes love playing for him. X said Friday he loves playing at IU. Tamar brings a joyous intensity when he plays and cheers with the bench mob, and so on.

Easy to stomach a loss when the team plays hard and it’s a close one against a worthy opponent. Felt that way about last Saturday, too. Can’t wait to see these dudes locked in next week.

This is my take too. The only game that wasn’t close all year was the UM game where they hit 11/17 3s and IU was emotionally hungover from beating PU. IU has the look of the sort of team who gives a contender all it can handle in the R32 next weekend. Whether it wins that game is all about who’s making shots.