cthomas

As a lifelong photographer, I love looking at these. Photography is always about how one uses the light. That said, I liked the his dad talked about growth in the areas not visible in the photos.

He looked very smooth and decisive to me. I was surprised by how quickly he saw the best pass and immediately executed it. If he continues to improve over the next year, we are going to be very happy we have him.

That's the way it should work. Nothing is better than big games being played on campus. Neutral courts can't match the atmosphere of a home and home series. Calipari was such a mercenary, or coward, for wrecking one of the great rivalries in college basketball.

These two are not the typical incoming freshmen. They've played the highest level competition possible for high school kids. They will without a doubt impact our season. This class, in my opinion, is the launching point for the CMW era.

Opportunities on a fully healthy team might be hard to come by. But, as we have seen, injuries to starters create opportunities farther down the bench. In the past we have suffered when a main contributor has been out for a period of time. The added depth to this team should mitigate that problem while giving guys like Geronimo expanded playing time.

Exactly. I think we can all see a ceiling that is higher than we have had in quite some time. The results on the court will be what counts.

I haven't listened to Dakich for some time now, but in the past I really enjoyed it. When he first started, the show was light, insightful, and generally good entertainment. His comments about IU, while tough to hear, were often painfully accurate. As he got more and more disrespectful to his callers, I listened less and less. The great thing about radio is that you can always listen to something else. Those of us who have listened to Dakich for a long time already know the progression. I see no positive point in Doyle's article. It felt more like a personal agenda driven rant.

Saw a headline that Governor Newson is considering legal action against UCLA over joining the B1G. Wonder where this might go.

I don't know anything about the kid, but CMP has been pretty good at identifying kids who fit what he is trying to do. I'm not going to dismiss or mock Benter until I see him on the court two years from now. I hate all things Purdue with a lifelong passion, but respect CMP more than any other coach in the B1G except ours. He does things the right way and is a class act. I read elsewhere that his dad is 6'8". He could be a completely different player two years from now.

Apparently, CMW connects with kids. It was a concern when he was hired, but kids seem to like what he is selling. The new financial opportunity landscape probably helps, but I never thought he would connect the way he seems to be. We don't seem to have much problem getting kids on campus. Once on campus, anything is possible.

I was always told to work smarter not harder.

I don't think he ever recovered from the horrible start he had. His defensive scheme was broken from the beginning here. The worse things got, the more detached he became. I thought it was a good hire at the time, but I was clearly wrong. I think we have the right guy now.

CMW seems to have a pretty good preference order to the kids he is recruiting. If not Booker, and I have no idea where he is on the list, he will fill the spot with someone very good. It's not just the kids, but how they fit into what he is trying to do. If he can coach even a little bit, and I think he can, we are in for some very good times in the not too distant future.

I like all of the freshmen. They all can play at a high level and fill a need. Practicing against the returning guys will no doubt speed their development. Just having older guys who know the system is a huge advantage we didn't have at this time last year.

Whatever CMW is doing, it seems to be working. Kids at least seem to want to hear his pitch. I think some of us may have underestimated the value of his NBA pedigree. The NBA style may not appeal to me but it obviously does to the kids we are recruiting.

To quote a line from a song from the late, great Jerry Jeff Walker, "Be careful how you play the game, or else the game plays you." I think we are deep into that territory.

For all the grief he gets, you gotta love Miller Kopp. The team needs that kind of mature personality. I hope he has a great season and helps the young guys keep it a little light when needed.

I agree with your concerns, but sometimes the measureables don't indicate the value of the player. He just seems more to me than he is getting credit for. I could be completely wrong about this, but it's going to be fun finding out. CMW obviously wants better options at guard than he inherited and is recruiting accordingly. Will be fun to watch it play out.

Anyone else think we are getting a lot more than we think with this kid?

At what point is a conference no longer a conference and becomes just a loose association of teams. We haven't had a true, in my mind, conference champion since we quit playing each team twice. I have no idea how that gets sorted out in an equitable manner.

I think we learned that lesson and turned the corner (at least I hope so), MSU not so much.

I would too, but looking at the roster, I just don't see it happening.

I would be first in line to fire CMW if he tolerated the stuff that has gone on under Izzo's watch at MSU. Integrity matters and he doesn't have any. No one should ever put winning above integrity and treating human beings with respect and dignity.

We can abandon any pretence of concern for the student-athlete at this point. College athletes is, and probably has been for a long time, only about how much money the universities can make off of their athletic programs. Greed is a human weakness that cannot be killed. Doesn't matter who it hurts. Admittedly, I'm out of touch with today's world, but this doesn't feel right in any way.

I liked the regional conferences. This conglomeration of teams into conferences that no longer resemble their beginnings makes no sense to me. Why not just do away with conferences altogether and let schools schedule whoever they want. Put everyone in the tournament and let the best team win. With NIL money, the "haves" will likely dominate anyway. Money and power, as always, is driving the trend. It doesn't feel right to me, but nothing is going to stop the direction we are going.