Class of '66 Old Fart

The Magic Wore Off Hoosiers   68   The Ghost of Bo Ryan      74

Lean and Mean Hoosiers         95     Little Ricky and the Pathetics    70

Only got to watch about 8 min. of the early 2nd half and have just one question  --  who are these guys wearing candystripes?  Another awesome day to be a Hoosier.

Everything but the squeal!

Just from random instances thus far this season, I feel TB needs more emotional maturity.  I'm not certain he's yet emotionally equipped for the bright lights and big stage.  The NBA can further develop his basketball skills, but won't be a whole lot of help on the emotional maturity side of the coin which I think another year of college would enhance.

Totally off topic and I plead guilty but this is one of those items that's too good not to share.   B. J. Burries a 5'9" 140 lb. freshman from Globe (AZ) high school scored 68 points in a 105 - 103 double OT win against Florence (AZ) to set a new Arizona Division IV scoring record.  He made 22 field goals of which 7 were 3's and he made 17 of 18 free throws.   The previous record for most points was set back in1954!!  FWIW, I think Globe would be the equivalent of an Indiana 2A school, but 68 points is 68 points regardless.

Seeing multiple tweets that the game has been moved to ESPN2.

Indpls. Star written by Justin Sokeland of the Louisville Courier-Journal:  http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2016/01/21/romeo-langford-snaps-new-albany-scoring-record/79130858/?hootPostID=5e3e99ef2e1898a20819f422d1c578b9   LOUISVILLE -- Assistant coach Ryan Wheeler sat on the New Albany bench, resigned to the inevitable and defenseless to stop it, as his spot in the record book was relegated to a footnote. His place in program history was being erased before his eyes. Wheeler knew this night would come, when his school single-game scoring record would be assaulted by the sensational, unstoppable sophomore on the basketball court in front of him. Before he is finished, before he departs for the still-unchosen college program, Romeo Langford could arguably be the greatest ever to wear the New Albany uniform. And that’s saying a lot. On Saturday night, Langford shattered the record with 44 points during a 113-39 victory over Scottsburg. That’s correct. Langford scored more points than the opposing team, and he did it in less than three quarters, hitting 17-of-20 shots. Wheeler had to smile. New Albany coach Jim Shannon was ready to take out his star, but somebody informed him Langford was within striking range of Wheeler’s 43-point game – set in 2004 – so Shannon left him in for one more basket. It didn’t take long. The reaction caught Langford by surprise. He was oblivious to his total. “I was wondering why everyone was going so crazy when I made my last shot,” Langford said. But Wheeler knew, and he was OK with it. After all, he had a front-row seat for the show. “I could have been anywhere else in the world, but I was sitting there coaching,” Wheeler said. “So it was pretty cool. It was unreal. I knew he was going to do it, but in the back of my mind there was a chance he wouldn’t. But you knew it was going to happen. He was in a zone. And there was nothing I could do about it.” INDIANAPOLIS STAR Recruiting profile: New Albany's Romeo Langford Langford erased that record in his 39th career high school game. He still has 2 ½ seasons left. New Albany has a rich basketball tradition – five Hall of Famers, 15 Indiana All-Stars, a state championship in 1973. His trajectory, his potential, his talent mark him to join at least two of those lists. “I can only imagine what it will be like a year from now, two years from now,” Shannon said, shaking his head. “What he’s starting to do now is assert himself even more.” His last two games left a lot of people shaking their heads. Langford was 12 of 12 from inside the 3-point arc against Scottsburg. He had six dunks and 33 points the next outing against Charlestown. He’s averaging 28 points per game. He’s not just piling up stats against overmatched teams. He’s doing that to everyone. Watch the kid, as Shannon does every day, and the vocabulary starts to shrink. How do you describe the 6-foot-4 athlete who seems to glide without effort, dominate without stress? He is so smooth, so poised, it seems he plays in slow motion. Don’t be fooled. “It looks like that, but that’s just the way I play,” Langford said. “It looks like I’m not trying, but I really am.” “There are times when he makes it look like it’s effortless,” Shannon said. “The effort is there. Do I think he has another gear? Sure. Most kids do. It’s up to us, as he matures, to find it. I don’t think he’s anywhere close to reaching his potential. That’s the good news.” He has the full arsenal – the soaring slams, the pull-up from mid-range, the perimeter jumper. He never seems angry, taking advice from his father to ignore the physical contact and the trash talk. He rarely smiles until the job is done. Being unaware of his approach to the record is not unique. Wheeler had no idea how many he scored when he popped Louisville Male for 43. The scorers are too busy to count, leaving that job to others. Shannon felt a twinge of guilt for leaving his star on the court for 23 minutes. “I felt bad about having him in the game, but I’m not going to cheat that kid out of minutes,” Shannon said. “Any time you break a record, it’s a big deal, no matter who the opponent is, no matter the year. “I don’t think the record is all that important to him. I think he respects it, and he’s proud of it, but he will come back and play like that game is over. I don’t spend an enormous amount of time worrying about his mindset. He’s not concerned by records. The great ones just play. They’re not concerned about what they did yesterday, they’re more concerned about what they will do today.” What about tomorrow? Langford agrees with his coach, believing the surface has only been scratched, that another level exists in his game. “He’s a great kid,” Wheeler said. “He’s possibly going to be a pro, and I’m OK with a pro breaking my record.”

Talk about timely articles.  Chicago Tribune - 01.21.16        http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-michigan-s-jim-harbaugh-showing-his-true-colors-and-they-re-ugly-20160121-column.html   We hear about the Jim Harbaugh slumber party at a recruit’s house and make lame jokes about khaki pajamas. Harbaugh stalks a California kid, sits in on his World Religions Class, and the photo gets thousands of looks on social media. It’s all a diversion. The real Harbaugh is the one who just told a left tackle from Downers Grove South who was verbally committed to Michigan for two-plus years to take a hike. Actually, Harbaugh didn’t tell Erik Swenson. Apparently he was too busy posing for selfies. So he had his offensive line coach, Tim Drevno, do it. “A month ago, I had a great talk with coach Tim Drevno, and he said, ‘Get ready to play for us,’” Swenson told the Tribune’s Bob Narang. “They called me last week saying I should reopen my recruitment and take other visits. My family and I were shaken back by it.” Football recruiting: Downers South OT Erik Swenson has offer pulled from Michigan When Swenson called Tuesday, he said he was told by Drevno that there were “no spots left.” He said he asked to speak with Harbaugh but “he didn’t want to talk to me.” Swenson said he helped recruit some members of the 2016 class, adding: “I just felt used.” Don’t feel bad, kid. It’s how Harbaugh does business. It’s called “over-recruiting.” Or “Colter-ing.” When Harbaugh was at Stanford, he secured a verbal commitment from Kain Colter. Even had Colter spend time with fellow quarterback Andrew Luck during a campus visit. After Colter injured his throwing shoulder, Stanford coaches asked for MRIs and pretended they needed clearance from the admissions office, despite Colter’s 4.2 grade-point average. Then they stopped calling altogether. No wonder Colter thinks college football players should be considered employees. He got fired before setting foot on Northwestern’s campus. NU coach Pat Fitzgerald said this in 2011: “We're going to honor our commitments. The coaches who punt on guys when they get hurt, it's pathetic. It's these kids' futures.” This is even worse. Swenson didn’t get injured. He’s a good student. There’s no character issue. Many coaches believe Swenson is good enough to start in the Big Ten. Heck, Alabama offered him a scholarship 10 months ago. Northwestern still has a spot available and wants to sign him. Harbaugh dumped him, thinking he can do better. So what if you stain your profession and embarrass some of your alums. Gotta beat Ohio State, right?  Jim Harbaugh's latest recruiting tactic? A slumber party I’ll give Harbaugh this: He is making a mockery of a system that is already a joke. “Committing” to a school does not mean you’re committed until the fax comes through on national signing day in early February. Kids have played the con game for years, “verbaling” to a MAC or Sun Belt school while hoping to pounce on a Big Ten or SEC offer. The solution is to allow kids to actually sign with schools the summer before their senior season. But coaches like Harbaugh don’t want that. They want to be able to drop verbally committed players they sour on. Swenson is reportedly one of six recruits in the 2016 class who will not play for Michigan, as they had originally planned. The irony here is that Harbaugh is so brilliant, he could probably go .500 in the Big Ten with Western Michigan’s roster. But he’s greedy. He’s Nixonian. He is the Bill Belichick (Spygate, Deflategate) of the college game. In their worlds, your record trumps your reputation. A year ago, Harbaugh was steamed after losing a recruiting battle with Ohio State for tailback Mike Weber. After Buckeyes running coach Stan Drayton abruptly departed for the Chicago Bears, leaving Weber to tweet that he was “hurt as hell,” Harbaugh also took to Twitter with a “thought of the day.”  Harbaugh: “What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive! – Sir Walter Scott” Time for a retweet, Jim.

The inaugural post to this thread was 01.04.14 by jdailey1981 and it was:  "I am seeing this a lot on Twitter. I am just really blown away by this. We have a rough season and so many are turning their backs on him, even though he has led IU out of the dark times. What do you think? Are you on the "Fire Tom Crean" train?"   Post #1,000 was on 11.25.15  -  nearly 2 years for the first 1,000.   Post #2,000 was on 12.10.15  -  Only 15 days for the second 1,000     [Gee, did Maui have something to do with that?]   Post #3,000 was on 01.17.16  -  38 days.   People, people, people; we're slowing down.  Is this what a winning streak does or is it because we've become a football school?   :yes:

On 1/20, SB Riley defeated Elkhart Memorial 91 - 72.  Anderson with 20 pts. which included 5 of his team's 11 3-pointers.

Ladies regained the lead with 1:16 remaining on a 3 by McBride and held on for a 68 - 66 win.  WHEW!   McBride & Cahill with 16 each; 11 for Buss and 10 for Anderson.  The stat lines are remarkably close for the 2 teams but in the end our ladies prevailed.    Well done ladies.   A shooting night that Tyra will want to quickly forget as she was only 2 of 13 from the field and 0 for 3 from 3 pt. line.  She did contribute 6 rebounds and 6 assists.  Cahill had 7 rebounds and Anderson 6.

At the end of the 3rd Q, our ladies trail 56 - 50.  Cahill with 14; McBride 11.  Buss only 5 pts. and 5 TO's but she does have 6 assists.  Don't know if she's trying to do too much but I think she had 5 TO's in the last game as well.

Back and forth game and at the half the Lady Hoosiers trail 36 - 35.   Cahill leading scorer with 10; McBride 8.  Buss only has 2 pts. but does have 5 assists. 

Off to a good start leading at the end of 1   22 - 18    McBride with 8 pts. and Buss with 4 assists.

Indiana (10 - 8) (2 - 4)          Illinois (8 - 9)  (1 - 5) 7:00 E.T. BTN Plus Radio:  http://mgmt.firststreaming.com/listen/player.php?callsign=WHCC_FM Stats:  http://sidearmstats.com/indiana/wbball/   GO IU!

Through 15 games this season, Anderson averaging 17.5 pts/game; 7 reb./game.  46% shooting; 39% on 3's; 76% FT; 32 TO's.

New Albany defeated Charlestown 71 - 47.  "Langford — the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Week in the state of Indiana, — followed his school record 44-point effort with 33 points against Charlestown (8-5).  The points came in a variety of ways. The 6-foot-4 sophomore carded more dunks (5) than he did 3-pointers (4)."  [From the New Albany News & Tribune]

Phinisee with 18 pts., 5 reb. and 4 steals in a  90 - 59 McCutcheon win over Crawfordsville.

Blackmon with 18 pts., 8 reb. and 3 assists in a 71 - 46 Marion win over Anderson.

I forgot the 27 assists on 37 made shots.  That's teamwork.

RoJo with 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Troy with 21 pts. and 5 assists. Yogi with 16 pts. and 9 assists on top of the all-time IU assist record. Max with 16 pts. and 8 reb. Contributions from everyone but this was a true team beat down of Illinois and I loved every minute of it.

Kudos on a magnificent beatdown.  Great individual efforts from so many players in this game.  This was Indiana basketball.

They've quit - the Illini didn't make any effort on their offensive glass the last 2 possessions.

20 assists on 24 made shots.