Scooter D

The IU-Duke 2002 Sweet 16 game was on TV Thursday night, so I watched it, and I had two thoughts: 1. Mike Davis's offense was way better than Archie's is (maybe someone can send Archie a copy). 2. We need a much better point guard. Don't get me wrong, I like Phinisee, but he does not have command of the court like Coverdale did.

Serious question...Is IU legally obligated to participate in the BTT? Regardless, my prediction...first round loss. IU only has a better all-time winning percentage than 2 team and that will likely be 1 after this BTT if Maryland is a minimum 1-1, so I expect that they will continue to disappoint.

Without a doubt, the college game will be better. Book it.

I get that...but I would hazard a guess and say that substantially all of the kids coming out of HS as seniors are not ready for meaningfully contribute at the college level (obviously there are exception), much less a HS junior.

Honest question here...why, when I read these are people so interested in kids reclassifying and leaving HS early? (I don't mean to derail the topic, just curious since it was mentioned above, as well as other threads).

Well...the good part of UGA hiring him (for me anyway) is that no one down here (Atlanta area) really cares and I really should not have to hear about him. I had sports talk radio on yesterday and the majority of it was dedicated to talking about the Falcons.

Went to last year's game at Georgia Tech...would rather be spared the embarrassment. Just let the off season work begin and Archie focus on recruiting.

I am just glad that the season is over. This team was more brutal to watch than Crean's first team. There were times during the year that I couldn't watch the whole games. I am not sure if this team lacked heart or if CAM could not properly motivate them (not saying that this was the issue, but if so, could be a problem). I was pleased with the improved emphasis on defense and some other aspects of CAM's coaching philosophy (others that I was not pleased with...see FT shooting...you have got to know that FT win games, plain and simple). However, what does concern me is all of the talk about CAM just needing better players or his kind of players. This was a common theme when talking about Crean. A good coach has got to be able to work with what he has and make them a cohesive unit and perform above their talent level (I am not totally unreasonable and realize that Crean left the cupboard pretty bare). Not sure that we really got that the entire year. CAM was not my first choice, and after this season, I am not sure that he is the right man for the job, but he is the man in charge and I am willing to give him a chance since he is leading those young men that represent my alma mater. Looking forward to future seasons with hope.

Maybe this is the exact reason that during the Knight years more tickets were allocated to the alumni...they typically show up no matter what. Time to think about changing the ticketing policy?

Is anyone else concerned that we have seen no improvement in this team from the beginning of the season?

Given the high rate of turnover, yes, it still felt like we were rebuilding.

Any one else tired of "rebuilding"? I feel like we were in a rebuild mode at least the past 9 years.

Already thinking about next season? I guess that is an indication of how well the season is going/expected to go.

Good game, but why is Crean giving the credit to the PG? He picked up his dribble 25 feet out and made the pass that the defense gave him. It was not the pass that won the game but the drive to the bucket from 20 feet out.

I am just glad that the Groce episode is over and we can move on.

Thank you! Started down this path a few pages back. Glad to see that I am not the only one who thinks this.

To be honest, what it comes down to, is that knowing that Donovan was interested 2 years ago in combination with FG's press conference and his list of things that he wanted in the next coach really led me to believe that we were going to get Donovan. Perhaps my expectations were too high. I have nothing against AM, other than I am a little concerned about his age and the fact that while he was successful at Dayton, he does not have experience as a HC in a major conference, so it is tough to know how he will do on the big stage of the Big 10. Now, I know that the response that I get back will be "...but we hired Knight when he was young and a relative unknown." Yes, I get it, but I think the days of having a coach at one place for 20+years is past and we want results sooner rather than later. I am not talking instant gratification here, but by year three, IU needs to be completing for a Final Four. From all of the press conferences and interviews that I have listened to, he is saying all of the right things. Love the fact that he is the son of a coach, he played college ball and has a certain "blue-collar" attitude/work ethic. Sounds like he will mold these young men into upstanding representatives of the university of which we, as alumni and fans, can be proud of. Love the fact that he is defense oriented, but still wants to run, when it is there and that he wants to own the state. I was not looking for the hire to be "an IU guy" but by all accounts AM fills that. That is my nutshell.

Surely it involved Nick Papagiorgio.

Evidently they were both assistants at OSU together, which in my mind makes Groce being an assistant under CAM a very difficult position.

I suppose enough money can motivate anyone.

In my mind the only way that he takes an assistant job is if he is under someone like Roy, Coach K, Izzo or maybe even Self. Not sure if you have ever had to work for a peer that maybe got promoted ahead you or is having more success than you, but it is tough.

Agreed that it might be...but considering that he was just at Illinois (don't see a lot of HCs making moves within the same conference, unless you are going from AC to HC) and they were both Assistant Coaches at OSU at the same time, it just seems hard for me to believe that he would make a move like that...but maybe I am wrong.

A step back like that is a desperate move (as it is with most jobs/professions)...I doubt that Groce is that desperate.

Yes...I understand that he got fired...I would think that a HC job at a smaller school, as he did have some success at Ohio, would make more sense. Also, I think that it would be difficult for him, since they were both assistants at OSU, to work under a friend.

You are talking about the Theo Epstein that helped lead the Red Sox to two WS titles, right? While evidently, I am one of the delusional and am still a bit disappointed by the hire, let's keep some perspective here...hiring Donovan (2 NC, 4 FF, 6 SEC regular season titles and 4 SEC tournament titles) would have been a fair comparison to Epstein. Miller...is much more of an unknown...yes he has has some success in the A10, which is a great conference (I used to have season tickets at Temple when they were still an A10 school), but we don't know what he is capable of doing on the big stage.