TheWatShot

I distinctly remember people complaining at halftime of the Kennesaw State game that 2024 was a one-year wonder.

Always love noticing little things when I go back and watch these. It was hilarious how the Penn State crowd cheered after seeing the first replay, trying to convince the officials it wasn't a catch.

Every year, they seem to have a buy-game in November that's unexpectedly close, and we find ourselves hoping that maybe they just aren't as good as the media wants us to think. Then, usually within a week or two, they're beating the brakes off a P-5 team and our fantasies of their demise get derailed once more. With 5 in 5 now officially a thing, it's been living rent-free in my head for awhile about how they could find a way to bring Loyer and/or Smith back next year. Loyer is more likely because I'm not sure he'll make an NBA roster, though I've read he's been performing well in summer league. Smith is probably going to make the Pacers' roster because they're suckers for local dudes and aren't going to cut a guy they traded into the draft to get. Some day, they'll suck and I won't forget to appreciate it. Some day...

So UNC, Butler and WKU are all exhibitions...why couldn't at least one of those have been a real game?

I dare Kenpom's non-con SOS metric to rank ours below 300, as it seems to nearly every year. No Chicago States, Western Illinoises or North Alabamas, please.

Results still matter. He wins a lot and some players are still drawn to that.

The idea that a school that just won a natty in football and is filling its stadium every game can't afford to fire its baseball coach with 2 years left is seriously crazy to me. I'd say it's far more likely they just don't care if baseball is any good or not.

I doubt Smith ever plays any meaningful minutes in the NBA. This just seems like some weird attempt by the Pacers to salvage not having a pick in the draft while placating to the Purdue subset of the fanbase.

This, along with the idea that Dusty feared for the safety of his relatives living in Bloomington among IU fans, was always pure copium. We'd better become elite in the next few years or Dusty is going to replace Brad Stevens as our white whale.

I'm willing to give them a pass on this one, since our last two coaches moved on to greener pastures. As opposed to basketball, where we now have an established history of overpaying coaches to protect them from their own failures. Regardless, it's disappointing to see how much we've regressed since 2023. I don't see Mercer fixing it.

This game is Exhibit A for why people now equate the NBA to pro wrestling.

My best guess is that he was either given a silent extension sometime after 2023 or his contract ends later this year (end of June maybe) and they're just waiting for it to expire.

There wasn't a lot of buzz before last year's matchup, and that was on a Saturday night. November 20 is also the night of high school football semi-state games.

Cannot fathom being from New Palestine and wanting to play football at Kansas instead of Indiana right now. Pretty sure the only time Kansas has ever been any good was when they had that coach who looked like somebody on My 600 Pound Life.

If we can't go at least 12-8 with this schedule then we should just leave the conference.

So a team that finishes with the second-worst record has the best chance of picking...fifth? Makes sense, I guess.

It's not about benefitting those teams. It's about punishing a team perceived to be cheating its way into a top 4 pick. In a given year, the bottom 4 NBA teams are epically bad. It takes years of bad drafting, misevaluations, unfortunate breaks and a ton of losing for any team to find itself there. In other words, not teams that are one year removed from a runner-up finish. The Pacers were a pretty extreme case. If the rest of their roster stayed healthy, they're probably just outside the playoffs. The league was so convinced they were tanking, they actually told them to medicate Aaron Nesmith and encourage him to play. To outsiders, I'm sure it looked suspect. The NBA doesn't want teams giving up if their best player goes down. NBA games are already a tough watch during the regular season.

I'm not well-versed in how odds are calculated, but when I saw the Pacers' chances of keeping the pick were only 52%, I knew it was gone. That's basically a coin flip.

This, and minor league baseball.

Totally predictable. Knew it was going to be #5 once they reached the top 10.

I'm fully expecting the Pacers' pick to land outside the top 4 and go to the Clippers. That's how this stuff usually works for this organization. Plus, the league is pissed that they're even in this position a year after playing in the finals. All the new rules about tanking starting next year were made with the Pacers in mind.

I think it was last season, we were up like 13-3 or something against USC and they came all the way back to beat us. Like, what are we even doing with our relief pitchers? You almost have to try to be this bad.

4-0 lead today only to give up 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th. It's like our bullpen is trying to get Mercer fired.

Lost at Purdue tonight after being up 9-2 in the 7th inning. Mercer can't be gone soon enough.