bronkonagurski

Even the legendary RMK believed in inverting the offense when necessary.

  He is shooting 57.9% from downtown and his stroke has been buttery smooth so I really don't see why anyone would have such a big issue with getting him more looks from the perimeter when teams have been suffocating our half-court offense to death by packing it in. 

My only point here is if Crean is thinking in terms of Noah getting the ball in his hands more, I am in favor of that.  If it requires inventive ways rather than relying on post feeds when teams are keying on that, well Noah is at least a threat no matter where he gets the ball.  If teams have to respect his 3 point range, they have to cover him and he can pass accordingly.  I'd like to think our most talented player is better than being relegated to Jeff Foster garbage man status. 

  Then why was it a problem since Cody was presumably in position to rebound their misses?  lol

  If Tom Crean came out tomorrow and said his plan to get Noah more touches was to have him sit his ass in the paint and wait for our missed shots, you would find that to be an acceptable strategy and statement?  Just want to make sure I am understanding you correctly. 

Plus teams pretty much are packing the post and the paint right now.  It isn't like you are going to find easy lanes to feed Noah in the post right now. 

  To be honest, he has the most natural and fluid looking 3 point shot of anyone on the team right now.  Get him the ball period, let him create and score. 

Anyone is certainly welcome to question Crean's ability to win a national championship or not but if that is your main criteria for replacing him and then you present a list of guys who also have not won a national championship...okay?  So if you hire a Marshall or even Stevens and they don't hang a banner soon enough then...?  It is one thing if you tell me we can replace Crean and hire Coach K or whatever but in reality that isn't going to be the case.  Whoever replaces him likely has never won it all either.  And I'm not saying that is a blanket excuse for continued mediocrity.  If we miss the tourney two years in a row and assorted other negative scenarios play out then I understand the need for change.    Mainly I'm just responding to that rather uninspiring list posted earlier in the thread...something about that "grass is always greener" cliche still rings true to me.  And I'm far from being a Crean homer.  I see flaws too. 

I'm sure the fan is a jerkwad but Smart was already starting to get a bit of a hotheaded reputation IIRC.  And I think the NBA, right or wrong, is probably more sensitive to this kind of thing since the brawl in Detroit a few years back.  It isn't going to destroy Smart's chances to earn his living but it certainly will raise questions and perhaps hurt his draft stock a bit.    All things considered, Marcus probably would have been better off declaring after last season but I'm not going to bash him for that decision either.  Also glad this board has handled this line of conversation much better than another board which I shall not name.  *whistling*  lol

The football team has a better chance of being ranked in 2014 than the men's basketball team...at least from this point forward.  ;)

  I agree with this.  Sure if we went to the NIT in consecutive seasons, any coach at storied program would be feeling the heat.  Apologies to the OP but generally speaking when I see posts of that nature, I think the person is either just assuming we will be this bad again next season and/or secretly pulling for it to happen because he/she doesn't like the current coach.  Noah's decision obviously has a huge impact on the projections for 2014/15 but the players that do return will certainly be a year older, wiser and improved.  Our rotation won't be dominated by freshman and sophomores any longer and that by itself is going to help matters along with bringing in some badly needed perimeter shooting help. 

If Hanner sticks around I think he will become a really nice asset for us.  Obviously he hasn't made the immediate impact that people expected but he has definitely improved from Year 1 to Year 2 and I'd love to see him finish out his career here.  Unless he keeps farting in class, that is just uncalled for.  :rtfm:

The Pacers certainly have not been at their best in the last month or so but the season is too damn long.  39-10 despite whatever hiccups have occurred.  I don't have any question that this team will be focused and ready for a deep playoff run.  My main interest for the remainder of the "preseason" is seeing if Bynum can actually fit in and contribute.  If he can keep his marbles gathered, the dude is a definite upgrade over Ian for the role of Roy's primary backup.

  1)  At this point I'd be pleasantly surprised to avoid the NIT.  Missing the tournament this season isn't going to throw me into panic mode.  I'm not worried about the current season's team anymore.  I'm worried about next season.  If Noah leaves, I'll get really nervous in a hurry and at this point I kind of expect that to happen.   2)  That is the last thing I'm worried about.  There is a reason nobody has done it since 1976.  Wichita State isn't going to be an undefeated national champion.  Syracuse looks pretty tough but I don't see them entering the NCAA tourney undefeated.  No team is above having that one bad night and with Cuse in the ACC, they will get a loss sooner or later.  Wake me up when a team enters the actual tournament undefeated and I might give it a thought.   3)  Coaches don't get fired because of message boards.  I think Fred Glass is firmly in his corner right now and the only thing that will endanger Crean is if the big money alums start applying pressure.  Overall I agree the fan base is increasingly divided about CTC being the guy but again, the common fan's opinion isn't creating much pressure one way or the other and empty seats in Assembly Hall is what will create greater concern compared to some boos over a bad lineup.    4)  We crapped the bad against Syracuse but would of, could of, should of.  Nobody is immune to getting upset in that tournament.  I think what hurt us the most last season was our bench didn't turn out to be as deep and talented as we hoped.   No matter how this season turns out, I think the larger concern is the 2014-15 team.  Two straight NIT caliber seasons would be very, very bad and sound some alarms. 

We need to help ourselves and win as many games as possible.  Nothing else is going to matter if we don't finish at least 10-8 in conference play. 

Good lord, Denver has completely quit! 

I've hit on 9 of the 10 prop bets on my sheet so far (25 total) but I picked freaking Denver to win.  That will cost me dearly in the end methinks.  Never expected a blowout either way, I was expecting a low scoring, competitive affair in the 24-21 range or so.  I really thought Denver's offense would be able to test the Seattle defense but it has been no contest!  I appreciate great defense so shame on me for buying into the Manning hype for this game.

Nice win!

I would say Wichita has better odds given the conference comparison.  But I'm not sweating about either team taking it all the way. 

I had to start this thread given how insufferable the L-O-L-I-N-I fans are.  Yes our Hoosiers are struggling but that doesn't mean I cannot point and laugh at others.  Illinois is now last place in the Big Ten.  It warms my cold heart just a little bit.  It is only fitting after the Cliff Alexander announcement fake-out that the Illini fans have to endure this kind of season.  :)   Big Ten Conf All   Michigan (10) 8-0 16-4     Michigan St. (7) 8-1 19-3     Iowa (15) 6-3 17-5     Northwestern 5-5 12-11     Wisconsin (14) 4-5 17-5     Ohio St. (24) 4-5 17-5     Minnesota 4-5 15-7     Purdue 3-5 13-8     Indiana 3-5 13-8     Nebraska 3-5 11-9     Penn St. 2-6 11-10     Illinois 2-7 13-9     

  Cody's commitment was a huge tipping point for the program and it certainly helped us in recruiting the 2012 class imo.  One of the first things Cody said after making his decision was more or less "okay who wants to join me?".  Of course, maybe people forget this now but Austin Etherington did a lot of recruiting for us too including recruiting Cody.  As I recall, Austin was buddies with a lot of these guys so while as a player he may not go down in the record books but I think his influence deserves some recognition too.

  Well apparently Don Fischer is preaching that same mantra based on what somebody else posted earlier.  Of course Don is pretty much a homer.  I recall him defending Mike Davis to the bitter end.

  I'm not going to argue with you on that point.  I guess what I want to know is the WHY part of the equation.  Why did he do that?  Publicly I doubt he will tell us the true reason.  Is he trying to send a message with these bizarre subs?  Is he truly playing these guys for the extra experience towards next season because the current season is a lost cause?  I'm not saying either explanation would be acceptable to me but I'd rather hear a true rationale for it and not have to chalk it up to lunacy or poor on-the-spot judgment.   Another thought that comes to mind, is there a fundamental disconnect between the players and Crean right now?    I don't know.  I'm throwing out random questions that I am thinking about. 

The more I think about it, no matter what strategy Crean tries to employ with this team, the roster is still fundamentally flawed.  There are things about his in-game coaching that I do not like but overall it is the roster doing us in.  We have a bunch of athletes that lack the fundamental skills to succeed as a team right now.  He simply must get back to constructing rosters that make sense.  There needs to be more balance.  His offense (and just about any offense really) requires shooters who can keep the defense honest and spread the floor.  He needs to stop offering scholarships like hotcakes, be more focused in his approach.  That is how I'm growing to feel about things. 

A needed win.  Not pretty but who cares.  Need the bottom line boost.  Next up, a trip to Nebraska!