cthomas

Given the supposed closeness of the family and the fact they have worked together, it's hard for me to believe that Archie didn't at the very least suspect something was going on. And, to me Sean's position is indefensible. Knowing or not knowing are both offences that should lead to termination. Head coaches have to be responsible for the actions of their assistants. It's one thing to discover wrongdoing in your program and take appropriate action and entirely another when someone else discovers it.

I realize that I am old and don't represent the state of current thinking about the sport, but I would not mind seeing college basketball become about the student-athlete again. You know, the kids who go to college and play sports for their school and then become teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc. I believe there should be another path for those whose only goal is getting to "the league". It gets harder and harder for me to embrace college basketball as it now stands. And I don't envy coaches who are trying to navigate the current landscape. I know I'm a minority in this opinion, and that's fine, but what's going on now can't continue.

I don't see how that would help clean up the sport. It would likely be a number set by the NCAA or some other sanctioning body that would apply to all schools within a division. From there the bidding war begins with all the usual suspects. What we end up with is the NBA junior division. This may be broken beyond repair.

I know I'm slipping into "grassy knoll" territory here, but don't these massive apparel contracts kind of lead us down the rabbit hole? They invest huge money in a school and then expect a high profile return on their investment. It undoubtedly starts with AAU, which the apparel companies are completely in control of, and filters up. It's dirty and it uses kids as their pawns who are often from economically challenged environments. Very sad.

I'm pretty old so my memory might not be that good, but didn't Trey Lyle's dad try to work Coach Crean for some extra benefits? Coach Crean walked away, and where did he end up again?

Should have at least been a Lexus.

I'm concerned about the Arizona situation for a couple of reasons. First, I have a really hard time believing that Sean Miller didn't know what was going on in his program. Second, having been on the staff at Arizona, and Ohio State, I have a hard time believing that Archie Miller wasn't aware of what was happening in recruiting. I don't think he was directly involved in anything while at Dayton. But I wonder if he would have been willing to play the game once he got here. He knows the expectations here and he knows why we fired Coach Crean. All that said, I really like what I have heard and seen so far from Coach Miller, but having a brother deep in this mess makes me uncomfortable.

Agreed. I guess my point was that it becomes a slippery slope in an escalating battle.

We've had multiple people here advocate that we operate in the "gray" area of recruiting to compete at the top level. The assumption was that as long as everyone else was we might as well too. Given what seems to be happening, in retrospect, that doesn't seem like a very good idea. No doubt coaches have taken heat from their fan bases and been fired for not winning enough while trying to run a clean, honest program. Whether any of this sticks to us, I have no idea. Based on how our recruiting has been lately, I rather doubt it.

Maybe in light of what happened today, we withdrew our offer and he is moving on to other options. Just kidding!

I think anyone who is a fan of a big-time college basketball program has to be a little uneasy tonight. These kids all play against and know each other. It's hard for me to believe that they aren't pretty wired into what is going on. The more prevalent the cheating is, the easier it is to get caught up in it. It's the old "everyone is doing it so why not" argument. I have no reason to believe that Coach Miller is involved, but I admit I feel a little concerned.

I think we'll find out pretty quickly whether we overestimated our talent or our coach last year. I have an idea what the outcome will be, but for now I'll be content to sit back and watch it play out.

I was on campus in grad school during that season. Great times!

As I've said before, I trust Coach Miller to build this team to play his way. The recruiting so far leads me to believe he's getting who he wants. He obviously wants to win big sooner than later. He's been here long enough to know what he has versus what he needs.

Even soccer has come under scrutiny for the practice of "heading" the ball. The bottom line is that the brain is a very fragile organ. It is enclosed by bone after all. Any activity that includes repeated blows to the head is dangerous. Some people accept that risk and engage in those activities and as long as they know the risks, well, it's their life. But what I see happening is parents steering their kids away from those activities.

I have a grandson who is a freshman at Western Illinois on a football scholarship so this this is personal to me. He plays on the defensive line and a lot of hard hits take place in the trenches. And it's not just the hits in games but the ones they take in practice as well. He had one two years ago that broke his helmet. He's getting a free education but I wish it was some other way. Needless to say I worry about him constantly.

OSU has some very good running backs, but yet they continue to feature JTB who seems to me to be a very average qb. I know we are not on their level but they didn't put us away until they went to the run game.

I usually support conference teams in games like this, but I'm not sad to see OSU go down.

Can't really argue with that. He was an incredible talent and it is a disgrace that it has taken this long for him to be recognized by the Hall. I remember the epic game between Washington and an excellent Marion team in the '69 state tourney. And what a recruiting haul for IU to land him and Downing. Great memories and thanks for starting this thread.

Hopefully, over the next couple of games this will sort itself out. Having two completely different quarterbacks may not be a bad thing at times going forward. I trust that the staff has a better handle on things than I do.

It seems odd to call an IU football game a must win, but this one really was. I liked what Ramsey did, but for me the jury is still out on our qb situation. Regardless, we still have to start winning the recruiting battles to move up in the standings. Now we are hoping to upset teams to get to a winning season. That's just not a formula that will work most of the time.

To be eliminated, you first have to be considered.

We can discuss different aspects of the game forever, but the talent difference was glaring. Until we can close the talent gap I don't see much hope of competing consistently in the top half of the conference. Pride, effort, caring, and whatever else you want to throw in there will only take us so far.

They might run the table in the conference. Their defensive line has been dominant and the offense has great speed. I really like our team, but.....

If we can answer, it's still a game. If not, I fear what might happen. On the plus side, we look much better fundamentally.