BGleas

That was one of the dumbest things I've seen in a football game.

This is stupid, take the points.

Lagow seems to have zero feel for the downfield deep throw.

I live out of state and have kids that usually have activities most Saturdays, so this is my first real extended look at IU this season. While MSU certainly isn't as good as expected, it's refreshing to see an IU defense look competitive. They look to have the speed and size, are gang tackling and finally have some athletes. It's good to see. The he offense has had it's chances, but Lagow seems wildly inconsistent on the deep balls. The defender made a great play on that INT in the end zone but that was also a horrible throw.

I don't have an issue with recruiting 1 and dones either, but have sort of come to a revelation over the last couple years. I think if you're going the 1 and done route, you really need to commit to that as a strategy and be able to execute on it. Duke and UK certainly have, as well as Kansas, and maybe Arizona to a lesser extent. But otherwise, I'd prefer IU operate in that borderline 5*/4* space. Where you're still getting McDonald's AA's, but you're getting the lower end ones that typically stay 2-4 years. I think Crean can build a much more consistent winner with guys like Zeller, Yogi, Bryant, and JBJ types, as opposed to Noah Vonleh types. The issue is we need more than one of those guys per class, so that they're 2-4 years on campus overlap for longer. When you just dip your toe in the one and done pond (getting 1 every few years), IMO it usually backfires. You get one inconsistent year, and then the guy leaves a huge gap the following year. We saw it with Vonleh, Maryland is probably going to go through it a bit with Stone, and it's happened other places. Without those next one and done's coming every year, it's tough to maintain that strategy.

It's weird how Izzo had a little recruiting dip for about 2 years where he missed on a bunch of top targets, and now all of the sudden he's back with a vengeance in the '16 & '17 classes.

Agree. Coaches in the NBA typically have a great knack for waiting for media timeouts instead of using their own. In college it seems the coaches don't do that at all. They'll call a timeout literally seconds before a scheduled media timeout.

I'm good with not being UK, Duke, Arizona. While it's exciting, I don't love playing a lot in that top 10 space. I think you can build a sustainable, consistent winner with consistently recruiting well in the top 20-70 space. Those guys ranked 20-40 are often just a shade less talented than the top 10 guys, or just ranked a shade lower because of a size issue or something, but they usually stay 2-4 years. My issue with Crean is his classes are usually just one "headliner" in that 20-30 range. I'd love to see like every other year where we have two guys in that borderline 5/4 star range. Not asking for multiple top 10 guys a year, but some years where you land a Bryant and Yogi in the same class.

Agree, and I think with Martin we're seeing the difference between an AAU guy (Kenny Johnson), and an experienced coach that has been in big situations, has head coaching experience and has some NBA experience (Martin).

Yeah, I remember people on the old scout board saying our 2nd five would finish 2nd in the Big Ten. We ended up being a 6-man team with almost no bench. You never know how it will play out.

Assuming OG has even remotely the leap we all think/hope, and JBJ can play any semblance of defense (which he should be helped playing alongside 3 plus defenders and an above average one in Bryant) that is a really, really strong lineup right there.

It's still partially guaranteed. This deal essentially guarantees him an invite to training camp and gives his NBADL rights to Brooklyn. I would say he's still a long shot to make their NBA roster. Rooting for him though! Would love to see him wow them in camp.

Yeah, after pick 40 or so, the upside of going undrafted is that while he's playing for Brooklyn in summer league, he's really auditioning for every team. Even while on Brooklyn's SL team, he's still a free agent.

But yes, LeBron definitely has the size compared to Jordan to better switch onto 4's. No debate there. Just saying switching to a 4 in 2016 is not nearly the same thing as switching to a 4 or 5 in 1992. It was a completely different game, much more predicated on inside play. LeBron would not effectively be able to guard true big men in Jordan's day.

LeBron could not guard 5's in the 90's. He's not guarding Robinson, Shaq, Hakeem, Ewing, Malone (a 4), etc. He wouldn't even be able to guard guys like Bill Cartwright, Rik Smits, Brad Daughtery, etc. It was a different game. I don't care what LeBron's weight is, he's not defending high level post-up 4/5's. It's not his game. These guys were posting up deep, backing you down, and scoring.

But LeBron and Durant don't really post up. 4's in general don't really post-up anymore. That's the entire point, Jordan could defend the 4 in today's small ball pick/pop climate. Neither Jordan or LeBron could guard them in Jordan's era where there would true post-up/physical bigs. Back in those days 4's were 6'9-6'11' and spent their time operating on the block.

It's also a different game. 4's in 2016 are primarily pick and pop/perimeter bigs, and there are also a lot of small ball lineups. In Jordan's day the power forward was more of a post-up/physical/true big. It's a different game. While it wouldn't be his primary match-up, Jordan could defend a lot of 4's in today's game. He could defend Draymond Green for example.

LeBron was a really poor defender early on in his career, the first several years really. It wasn't until later in his first stint in Cleveland and really the Miami years where his defense became elite. Early in his career he didn't give the effort on that end, or understand positioning as well.

It will be very interesting too see what the Cavs do there. On one hand, they could probably replace him with someone better suited for a reduced role, but his value is also at an all-time low. The return the Cavs would get this summer wouldn't be great. They might need to think about keeping him to start next year and hope he comes out of the gate strong, and then swing a deal sometime between December and the trade deadline. The risk there though is obviously messing with team chemistry midseason. It's an interesting situation.

Why would he be messing with you? Gard was a Bo Ryan assistant for 23 years. The system will largely be the same. Different topic, but I would have Wisconsin as the favorite (not by much though) heading into the season.

The turning point of the series was when Bogut got hurt. He's their only rim protector, he's critical to their ball movement on offense, and losing him messed up their rotations. Due to his injury, even when Draymond came back they weren't the same team. Neither put up gaudy numbers, but it was similar to the Celtics losing Perkins in Game 6 in 2010. It just gummed up the works.

I just think that if you're going to go 3-guard, then you need to go OG, Morgan or Davis at the 4 spot. It's just too small for my liking to have Hartman at the 4 when you're also playing 3 guards.

I've been pretty vocal about not liking the 3-guard lineup. But I would keep an open mind if we see it early next season due to the simple fact that we haven't seen it under Crean at IU when he's had the size/talent/length and defensive ability he'll have on the interior this season. It's one thing to do it when you have Troy and Perea/Holt at the 4 and 5, it's a completely other thing when you have Bryant, Davis, OG and Morgan at the 4/5. The latter are much more talented, have more size/length, are much more fundamental, and much better defenders. I still wouldn't love it, but I can see the reasoning behind a Newkirk, RoJo, JBJ, OG, Bryant.

Should they have? Their second best player was Larry Hughes, and Drew Gooden was prominently involved. The accomplishment for that team was just getting to the Finals.

Heard some great commentary from Cedric Ceballos this morning on the radio about LeBron. He was saying that LeBron is of course a phenomenal player and one of the most all-around skilled superstars we've seen, but he has no "go-to" move. Jordan and Kobe both had the fadeaway. Stockon and Malone had the pick and roll, Kareen had the sky hook, Olajuwan had the dream shake, in Ceballos' Suns days they'd give the ball to Barkley in the post and he would go to work, etc., etc. LeBron doesn't have a particular move/shot to go to when his team just desperately needs buckets. He can post up, he can hit the mid-range, he can pick and roll, he can hit a 3, but he doesn't do any one of those things at a level where you can almost 100% rely on it and just have everyone get out of his way. It worked in Miami because Wade was really the guy they went to in those situations, but in Cleveland they don't have that guy.