TheWatShot

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.

In recent years, I've been in "John, I want a divorce" mode with IU basketball. If Wade uses one of his nine lives and somehow has a better team than us, I think I'll finally pull the trigger.

Mercer is in the last year of his contract. I'm guessing we'll have a new coach next season.

So, does he go back to college for a 7th season now?

Any coaches in particular you think we should look at? I don't expect us to be a powerhouse or anything, but this program badly needs a reset.

Whenever I see comments like "we had to get a GM", it reminds me of all the old heads saying things like "well, Bobby didn't need someone to bring in players for him." I'm actually kind of impressed we got on the GM bandwagon as fast as we did, because for years that's been the kind of thing we have to watch everyone else have success with before we even consider it.

It actually doesn't make sense because we wasted two spots last year hoping Leal and Goode would get an extra year when they didn't, so this would mean we didn't learn from that mistake. Also, no one seems to realize this, but teams get 15 scholarships now instead of 13.

Oh, I know he's all about manufacturing outrage. And if he disappeared from social media, eventually people would forget he exists.

Might be time for Dakich to give up social media if he's now being triggered by "let's work" posts.

Had to google this guy to find out who he was. I know, I'm a bad fan.

It's more like this: If they visit us first, they're just using us to leverage more money from someone else; If they go somewhere else first, we weren't appealing enough to get the first visit and they'll probably commit to that team on their visit.

If we invest heavily in game-changing players, it would be worth it. Trying to spread the wealth is how you end up with a mid-major all-star team.

Step 1: Identify the players you want Step 2: Pay them what they want Step 3: Roll out the red carpet Really hope we're not making it any more complicated than that.

These people are the real toxic fans that can cause problems for our program. Not the ones who are "too negative" because we've sucked for so long.

Go to your name in the upper right corner. On the dropdown menu, go to "Ignored Users" second from the bottom. Recently I've had to make use of this as well.

We just have to grin and bear it. I'd much rather do that than fall in lockstep with all the lemmings who insist that he never wanted to coach here.