BGleas

Really bad possession there for Iowa. Up 1 with 40ish seconds left and looked really out of synch. Fran should have called a timeout to reset. Ended in a turnover.

He may have, I don't remember specifically. I'm 99% sure Forde said it in his column on Crean's hire.

I have no idea whether Crean said it or not, but I do vividly remember Pat Forde posting an article about Crean's hire and he definitely said nobody would outwork Crean in recruiting and some thing to the effect of how Crean was going to lock-up Indiana and the coaches who have been poaching players from Indiana better enjoy it while they can.

The play for JBJ was on the right side. They ran a flare screen for him to fade to the right corner for an open 3, but it appeared JBJ was too wide to start so the entire thing got clogged up along the sideline leaving Newkirk no room to make the pass. That's when he swung the ball to the left side for the RoJo option.

JBJ was the first option on the play, but it didn't work out, RoJo was the second option.

It would be 3 out of 4 years that we're fishing for wins to get into the tourney. 4 years ago we didn't even get in, 3 years ago we were on the bubble but got in and lost in the first round, last year solidly in, and now this year hoping again.

And that's the problem with Tom Crean. He's an above average recruiter and an average at best coach. He's not great at any one thing, except maybe PR but that doesn't impact anything on the floor. I think we'd all prefer a great X's and O's coach, but I could live with an average game coach if he was an exceptional recruiter (no, I'm not saying I want to be UK), Crean is neither.

This!

I think McRoberts is a better defender. Hes played some really good defense at times. He's just a smarter player, and he's a basketball player that plays with his head, whereas Freddie is an athlete trying to play basketball. Im im not saying I really want either in the rotation, but I'd take McRoberts over Freddie in a heartbeat right now.

I was focusing on JBJ defensively against Illinois and it was pretty bad. There were literally times where his man ran from one side to another, unbeknownst to him, and he'd just randomly start guarding someone else's man, completely throwing the defense off and hanging his teammates out to dry.

I don't know, IMO Freddie is high risk. He's not a basketball player, he's an athlete masquerading a basketball player. McRoberts isn't great, but the kid plays hard, moves the ball super fast (which is a big thing), isn't going to take bad shots or turn it over, plays good D and has had some hustle loose ball pick ups. Id take McRoberts. I'm not really sure what Freddie does to add while he's out there.

Agree. IMO CTC needs to pick between McRoberts and McSwain (which should be obvious) and bench one of Green, Newkirk and CuJo (probably CuJo or Newkirk). Again just for continuity, there's no reason to split minutes between McRoberts and McSwain and same with the guard rotation.

I don't have a problem with McRoberts play so much, I think his passing/willingness to make the extra pass has really helped the offense at times. But, say McRoberts plays 10 minutes in a game, I'd still rather Juwan and OG each get 5 extra minutes than McRoberts get 10. I guess to me it's just more about a tighter rotation for continuity than anything McRoberts does wrong.

Actually the NBA wants to push the age limit to 20 years and two years out of high school, players union won't let them though. I think ink the real issue is your point about players leaving early that really have no business leaving and aren't ever going to be NBA players.

I see no reason, outside of fouls or injuries, that anyone other than RoJo, JBJ, Bryant, OG, Morgan, Davis, Green and then pick one between CuJo and Newkirk, should play. I really think between Green, CuJo and Newkirk one them should not be in the rotation, it's just too much shuffling between the guards. Then McRoberts and McSwain should not be in the rotation either, no reason their minutes can't be covered by Morgan and OG. Again, it's just too much shuffling, substitutions and lineups that don't make sense.

Agree, but that's why I think Hartman actually is a leader on this team. He always plays hard, always gives full effort, plays a lot minutes, and I do remember him directing guys a lot last year. We definitely miss that. One thing I always thought weird about Yogi was why did it take him so long to develop as a leader? He seemed tailor made to be one of those natural leaders and he was a point guard that started four years. Yet, he seemed to struggle with it until the second half of his senior year.

Leaders come in different packages. Just because a guy doesn't scream in your face or isn't the guy you go to offensively for the big bucket doesn't mean he's not one of the main leaders or important players. I remember my my freshmen year of college, I was a lot like Hartman. I was a 6'6" SF/SG and averaged 28mpg even though I only averaged 5ppg. We had a 1,000 pt senior pg and an all-conference PF and at the end of the year someone asked my coach who the one player was that he was always afraid to take out of the game, and he said me. I only bring this up for the comparison, because the reason was that while I wasn't a big scorer or our go-to guy that year, I was always in the right place, always knew when we should push the tempo, when we should reset and hold for a good shot, I just knew what the coach wanted, where everyone should be, and always played hard. I didn't talk much or get in people's faces or take the last shot. Im im not saying we're 14-1 with Hartman necessarily, but that's what people are talking about when they say missing his leadership.

We haven't played a game outside of Indiana since the Kansas game. Between the bad in-state recruiting, constantly getting smoked in Indy, always get smoked at Purdue, and losing at Ft. Wayne, I'm starting to wonder if this has been on long, big joke.

That way we can make the Sweet Sixteen and celebrate it as a huge accomplishment!

Our RPI will improve because IU is in a decent conference, but it doesn't "make up" for the pathetic non-conference. We don't get those games back just because the conference schedule is better. No matter what, it will negatively impact IU come seeding time. The poor non-conference RPI will probably cost us a seed line or two come tourney time.

I don't know. First, I think Stevens is staying in the NBA, so the point is really moot. But, if he came back to college I'm not sure following Coach K is something he'd want to do. Duke itself does seem like an ideal program for Stevens, but what's the benefit in following arguably the greatest college coach of all-time? That just doesn't seem like a Stevens move to me. I could see him following the guy that follows K, but not replacing him directly. While IU brings it's own set of pressures, I think bringing IU back to glory is a better proposition than following K immediately. I could also see him following Roy at UNC, while also a pressure-cooker, following Williams isn't as tough as following K.

It's an interesting conversation, because some guys are ranked high because they are just flat out good players, others are ranked high based on potential or "tools". Take for example Hanner vs. someone like Juwan. Both ended up around 70ish, but Hanner was ranked because of his potential tools, while Morgan is just a gamer who can play the game despite not having a huge wingspan or vertical. I'd take Morgan 100 times out of 100 over Hanner. Not sure where Tucker or Genn fall in this, but I'd take the guy that can play over the guy that would be great "if it all comes together". It might not come together, and if it does it might not happen until after he's gone.

^^^^The funny thing about #6 is Crean always touts having three assistants that have been head coaches. Well, there's probably a pretty good reason all three are back to being assistants and no longer head coaches.

Agree. It would take something epic such as a complete collapse and missing the tournament, which is not going to happen. The year is after next year. Say we slump to a 4th-5th place finish this year and get a 6 seed and lost in the second round. Then TB, JBJ and OG all leave, and our 2017 class has nothing close to the talent to replace them and we still have the pg issue next year and we finish 6th-7th in conference and are a bubble team. That's when he'd get fired.

I know his AAU coach and he posted something on Facebook today about Ryan's great 2016 and the schools he's visiting and the interest he's drawn and no IU mention. The only mentions were Nova, Penn, Yale, and Stanford. The mention of those schools though was in the context of schools he's visited unofficially to close out the year.