Dave from Dayton

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I did say thanks. I asked if there was news about X including a plea deal. I took your post as speculation not news. The most recent post has a fact about the pre-trial conference later this month. That is good information. Thanks again. Hope that your horse wins in the KY Derby.

Thanks for the answer. However, I realized all that. It had been discussed. What I asked was if there was anything more recent. Indirectly, I guess, your post means no new news that you know.

I may have missed news on Xavier if there had been any. It is so important to have a really good PG on our team. Is there going to be a plea deal? If his driver's license is suspended and he gets probation and community service then does Coach Woody then decide any ramifications that would limit his participation? Tough position to put the coach and the team in. Wonder if Xavier was on a short leash already. Not the kind of leadership the Seniors on the team should be displaying. Wonder if the teammates are generally pissed at his actions or what. Looking at the schedule, should Xavier be suspended for 3 games? Glad I am not the coach.

Heh, I am not getting the bad joke. I wish IU didn't get the last 20 years. In my pro-Hoosier opinion, IU screwed up not managing RMK before he and IU went off the rails. IU screwed up by firing him after the double-secret probation they invoked on him. Not only did they screw RMK and didn't stop him from screwing himself and IU, but they stuck a fork in the future by letting the players pick the next coach. Because the management was so messed up about those two coaches and the downward trend of wins, the Board of Trustees imposed Sampson on IU. I see this as screwed up. In many ways. And the lack of institutional control as the above post calls it followed and is just like the lack of control on RMK. That was a continuous series of screwup after screwup. They have been reacting instead of acting as far as coach hirings for way too long. Until Woodsen. I hope.

Phonegate didn't appear to be a joke to me. It was worse. A lot worse. First off...who was responsible for hiring a basketball coach? The AD? No? It appeared that one person on the Board of Trustees insisted on Sampson. As an aside, I thought that Sampson could coach. Win/loss results were really good. However, it became subsequently clear that Sampson was already on double-secret probation for impermissible contacts with recruits at his previous coaching job (not to mention the off-court issues). It was controversial at IU to hire him since he had that NCAA rule violation history and was on probation. IU was just too squeaky clean to hire him. Right? Controversy ensued focused not only on the noncompliance issue but on which side of the equal opportunity scale one sits. If that isn't bad enough. What was worse was that this was out in the media and reflected negatively on the program and on the university. OK, setting that bag of worms aside. The next step is unforgivable. IU did not provide the monitoring and control feedback and oversight that was so very obviously necessary. I mean, to jeopardize the IU basketball program's already screwed up marquee program with a lack of oversight. Not to mention, Sampson did it and others on staff did it too. But IU's casual attitude toward requiring compliance was pathetically non-existent. It makes little difference to me that such phone calls were allowed to be made by others. That is not material to this compliance issue. To make matters worse, IU fell on our own sword. We imposed on our self such a restrictive penalty that...ugh...we ended up getting another decade of bad management. What coach would come to IU and work under management that really, really doesn't know how to put a program in a position to succeed? To answer that question: Of course, Tom Crean. He who had caught one great player, Wade, but had hit a plateau at Marquette...and burned some bridges in the area. And likely was on a slippery slope there. This was not a joke. IU has suffered from a lack of proper management of the basketball program for way over 2 decades. Until last year. Thanks goodness. It is not a joke. It was a symptom of a larger problem. It is Indiana!

This means (bidding) war! I would be shocked...shocked! If Mr. Dennis comes to IU. Because of the unknowns. Let me say that I would love to see TJD back. And Xavier on double secret probation, of course. Definitely Race! And the rest of the usual suspects. Tip of the ole hat to Coach Woody. (Looks up at the banners and envisions the sixth.)

I agree about Central Ave. in St. Pete. While I am a beach bum and a walk in a park kind of guy, Central Ave. has a great choice of tapas, cafes, counter cultural digs, murals, street people, and entertainment. After getting cooked at the beach there is not a lot better than a bunch of tapas, some wine or beer, and friends. Would consider a couple of months within easy bike ride or walk to a beach or on a channel with a boat.

I can't grip a club like I once could. Still have my sticks. Never was any good. But loved the game. My foursome scattered. One has knee replacements. Two are out of state. Friends and good times and beautifully landscaped grounds are a great pleasure. Learned to play at Audubon State Park course in Henderson KY. Every time I hit into the woods, I would find 4 or 5 golf balls. Told the starter that. He said people do not go into the woods because of the copperheads. Was on Old Oakland Golf Course in east Indy, and was amazed at the size and athletic ability of two gentlemen in the following twosome. They absolutely filled that golf cart. Clark Kellog and George McGinnis could hit their drives three times as far as I could into the woods. Amazing. Great courses all over...Shaker Run north of Cincy; Blue Ash may be the nicest muni course; NCR; Indy CC; too numerous to count. One interesting tidbit...the Water Department diverts river water into ponds to recharge the aquifer. Then uses lots of wells to supply 1/2 a million users. Two muni golf courses were over one wellfield. The well field supervisor, the golf course manager, and I sited 30 ponds around those courses. Tightened those courses and made it interesting. Ever play at Kittyhawk? The City of Dayton just closed them for a number of reasons.

Hi or low?

Josh, be wary when anyone says 'swampland'. But good luck. I had a 'dual agent' representing me for a while in southwestern Florida. Asked my attorney how that guy could sleep at night. My lawyer said he lies on one side, turns and lies on the other. Was very interested in this two-story house. There was one story before the offer and another story afterwards. Thank you. You're a great audience. Will be here the whole season. Try the veal.

I am very interested in IU men's basketball regaining competitiveness at the top of the B1G and the NCAAT. Having said that, I wonder if IU basketball coaches are getting tripped up by the Student-Athlete Bill of Rights. Specifically: . A four-year scholarship commitment regardless of injury, illness or athletic performance. In other words, a coach can't take away scholarships if players aren't good enough or are injured. Glass seemed to emphasize to Archie Miller that churning athletes was not going to happen at IU. I do like the image that the administration seems to be giving our current coaches more support. But is there a divergence of goals and policy here? Has the Bill of Rights been put on the back burner? Support the athletes. And support IU basketball resurgence. Can we have both?

LDL could mean a lot of things. One that I have heard is...let's discuss live. LDL could also mean Little Dog Laughed. It is a play that skewers the entertainment industry and happy endings the way they 'should' be. To me that means something like someone is motivated differently than others may think. In other words, I have no idea what it means to Dexter Dennis.

Good post, thanks. One point that is still crystal clear, setting the Waybac Machine to 1977: that national championship team that went undefeated...refused to lose. They did everything they could to win and help their teammates excel.

Clearly Archie Miller was the wrong guy to coach Indiana at that time. But I do believe that he was hampered by the IU administration in a lot he could do. First, IU made it clear that the PG he had recruited for Dayton could not be given a scholarship at IU. Second, he must recruit inside of Indiana, so he did. Does anyone think that recruiting outside of the state suffered? Maybe this was because the IU Administration wanted more control over recruiting. Remember Crean would extend an offer to any potential recruit that made eye contact. Third, he could not remove players that caused problems because of the NCAA grade issue that he inherited. Remember the locker room stuff? And the players that stopped moving on court? And the other issues about well, never mind. Fourth, take a second and reflect on the difference in support that Woody has. Matta as IU Assistant AD for Administration. Recruiting expertise both inside and outside of the state...check the assistants. Woody can use the transfer portal because it didn't exist for Archie. And Woody's ability to let a player go may be more flexible now...we just have not had time to gain that perspective. Fifth, the cupboard was not in as bad a shape when Woody came in as it was for Archie. Archie never really got the right players for his scheme. At Dayton they were smart, shared the ball, did what was necessary to get the loose ball, they knew how to win. At IU it was the opposite. Why? Well, could it be because of the culture, the players, the IU administration, and the coach couldn't break through all of that? I'm really glad that Archie Miller is gone from IU. I wish him the best. I do believe that he got the short end of the draw from IU. I'm really glad that the administration is seeming to support coach Woody. Good for them. Maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel for the IU basketball future. BDT (aBout Darn Time)

I'm thinking that his wording might be sloppy and dismissive. Maybe he meant that he doesn't dwell on that episode in his coaching career. Maybe he doesn't have a lot positive to say about his take on the IU administration's hobbling his recruiting and not allowing him to cut negative players from the team. Maybe he determined that his method of disciplining players had been skewered by the administration. So, he doesn't discuss it so that writers and fans don't go ballistic when he says something that doesn't match what we want to hear. And it really would be bad form to throw one's previous employer or players under the bus. Maybe being dismissive and cutting off the discussion is a better tactic than talking about it. Maybe. I'm probably right. Usually am. That is all I have to say about that./s