Class of '66 Old Fart

SB Riley (8-0) defeated Plymouth 78-61; Anderson with 18 pts.

I don't pretend to understand the NBA and coaching decisions. Troy had moved into a starting role for several games and didn't perform badly. Then for a couple of games although he started, his minutes were limited; he went back to the bench and his minutes continued to diminish and last night he didn't even get into the game. Were the Grizzlies trying to 'advertise' Troy in the hopes another team might be interested in a trade? 12.20.16 Season W/L W/L Min. Pts. FG's 3's FT's Reb Asst Stls Blks TO's PF + / - Houston 21-8 Gordon L 32 13 4-15 1-8 4-4 1 4 0 2 3 2 -6 Oklahoma 16-12 Oladipo NG Portland 13-17 VonLeh L 10 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 4 0 1 0 1 2 -12 Memphis 18-12 Williams L DNP Charlotte 16-13 Zeller W 25 11 4-8 0-0 3-4 5 2 2 0 1 2 +12 D-LEAGUE LI Nets 4-12 Ferrell NG Mad Ants 10-3 Watford W DNP Mad Ants 10-3 Zeisloft W 11 9 3-7 3-7 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 0 +12 Raptors 905 12-2 Sheehey W 19 5 2-5 1-2 0-0 3 2 0 0 1 2 -3

Hope we have enough gas left in the tank.

New Albany 55, Carmel 52. OT. Leading scorer was Romeo Langford who had 28 pts. and 6 reb.

I was really optimistic at the start of the season that she'd be a solid contributor and be ready to be a major force next season in a starting role. Alas, she just doesn't seem like she's made much of an improvement since last season.

Buss' 19 made free throws is a new single game IU record and she still has a whole half to go.

They are putting on a clinic. Florida may have to dress their equipment managers before this one is over. One girl with 4 and another with 3 fouls.

I think JBJ was gone after last season had he not lost the season with the knee surgery.

The officials must be getting paid by the whistle with 17 fouls called in just the 1st quarter and the Lady Hoosiers a perfect 14-14 from the foul line. With her 11 points, Buss has now tied the IU record for consecutive games with double digit scoring.

Tonight's King of the Bluegrass game - Al Durham Jr with 16 first quarter points as Berkmar is tied with Trinity at 19. Al missed just one shot. 3-4 on threes. Update: Al Durham has 20 but Louisville Trinity leads his Berkmar team at halftime, 44-30. #iubb He's 8-11 FG Update: Trinity leads Berkmar after three quarters, 55-47. Al Durham Jr has 25. Final: Trinity beats Berkmar, 73-69. Indiana signee had 30 for Berkmar. He was 4-for-7 on 3FG.

Purely FWIW, at one time there seemed to be some IU interest in Vijay Blackmon, JBJ's younger brother, but nothing ever really developed and Vijay ended up going to St. Francis College in Fort Wayne. My personal opinion is that he went to St. Francis in the hopes that a good year of performance would land him a solid D-1 offer and he wouldn't have to sit out a year if he accepted and transferred This link will take you to his season-to-date stats at St. Francis. http://www.saintfranciscougars.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3877&path=mbball

IF it is true that is Freddie, maybe we institute our own form of "one and done" and free up another scholly especially if there are some serious doubts about his future contributions. After the problems we had earlier, I'm not sure there's a lot of wiggle room.

There is a searchable data website in Indiana that covers most but not all of the individual counties and it reports criminal and civil cases filed. I just finished running the names of Green, Jones, Gelon, McRoberts, McSwain, Priller, Taylor and Davis and did not get any 'hits'. Again, not every county is available in this database but a good percentage are. It is a public access database: https://mycase.in.gov/default.aspx

Nice piece on Gordon and the success he's having as a Houston Rocket. Included in the article is this little nugget: Stephen Curry is the only player with more made three-pointers this season than Gordon (104) and no one has had more consecutive games with at least four 3-pointers than Gordon’s seven. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/why-eric-gordon-has-been-an-ideal-fit-with-the-rockets-183032599.html

'Tis the season for giving and the NCAA has given Rutgers one heckuva Christmas present. Rutgers Hit With NCAA Notice of Allegations on Seven Violations, Including ‘Failure to Monitor’ Full story at: http://www.zagsblog.com/2016/12/20/rutgers-hit-ncaa-notice-allegations-seven-violations-including-failure-monitor/

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Cody Zeller’s unplanned move to center is paying major dividends for the Charlotte Hornets. When Al Jefferson went down last season with an injury, coach Steve Clifford asked the 7-foot, 240-pound Zeller to fill in by shifting from power forward to the 5 spot. Zeller played so well that Clifford decided to keep him there even after Jefferson returned. “It was kind of a freak thing how it happened and I don’t think anyone was planning on it,” Zeller said Monday. “But I’m glad it worked out that way.” The Hornets liked what they saw from Zeller so much last season they rewarded him with a four-year, $56 million contract in the offseason. They didn’t re-sign Jefferson. Zeller spent the offseason working at improving his skills as a center. He’s still a work in progress midway in his fourth NBA season, but is averaging career highs in points (10.8), rebounds (6.3) and blocks (1.2) per game. And yet it’s hard to completely quantify Zeller’s worth in statistics. He’s the type of player who does the little things — setting a solid screen to free up Kemba Walker or Nic Batum, tapping out an offensive rebound to a teammate or hustling back on defense to prevent a transition basket. What he lacks in physicality against the league’s taller and stronger centers he makes up in hustle — something that at times tends to result in a trip to the training room. “I don’t think there are many guys willing to break their nose like he has,” Batum said with a laugh on Zeller’s uncanny knack for taking shots to the face. “I mean that guy is diving on every ball and he doesn’t fear anybody. He’s facing guys like (Hassan) Whiteside, DeAndre (Jordan), (Rudy) Gobert and Dwight Howard every night. He’s been huge for us.” Clifford agrees. He’s been thrilled with Zeller’s progression since taking over as a starter, particularly his “rolling” in the pick-and-roll game for the Hornets (15-13). “That sounds like a small thing, but it’s not,” Clifford said. “He has a good feel for screening, which helps the ball handlers.” Clifford would like to see Zeller’s rebounding numbers improve, particularly on defense because the team is not particularly tall. But that appears to be getting better. He has 21 rebounds in his past two games after averaging 6.1 in his previous nine December games. “Outside of Mike (Kidd-Gilchrist) and Nic (Batum) we don’t have guys at their position who are good at that, and it’s a critical part of the game,” Clifford said. “We have had a couple games when we played good enough on defense (to win) but lost because of our rebounding.” Zeller is working hard to improve his mid-range jump shot and become a more consistent scorer. He took for jumpers Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks. The Hornets know if he can make them consistently it will force opposing big men to step out and guard him, thus opening up more scoring opportunities for his teammates. “He isn’t hesitating to take those shots, which is good,” Batum said. “It will help his game a lot. We all know he can run and he can dunk on people. He has a gift to play this game. And if he can shoot like that…” Charlotte lost its chance to acquire a dominant center in 2012 when it failed to land the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft lottery — and the rights to Anthony Davis — despite finishing 7-59 the season before. It was a gut-wrenching break for the team at the time, knowing that talented centers like Davis don’t come along very often in the NBA. Zeller, the No. 4 overall pick the following year, may never develop into the type of player Davis has become, but it’s pretty clear the Hornets like what they have in him. “I mean, he’s a 5-man,” Clifford said. “The way the league is now he’s a 5, at both ends of the floor. And it definitely suits him better.”

PUke's P.J. Thompson has just nine turnovers this season in 318 total minutes played. A true security blanket at PG for the Toiletmakers. Oh, if we could only say the same!

Vic misses his 4th game with a sprained wrist; Westbrook with 46 in a losing effort for the Thunder. Yogi with another overall strong D-League game even though his 3 point shooting wasn't very good. 12.19.16 Season W/L W/L Min. Pts. FG's 3's FT's Reb Asst Stls Blks TO's PF + / - Houston 21-7 Gordon NG Oklahoma 16-12 Oladipo L DNP Portland 13-16 VonLeh NG Memphis 18-11 Williams NG Charlotte 15-13 Zeller NG D-LEAGUE LI Nets 4-12 Ferrell L 39 22 9-19 2-9 2-2 4 5 2 0 2 3 -7 Mad Ants 9-3 Watford NG Mad Ants 9-3 Zeisloft NG Raptors 905 11-2 Sheehey NG

Mr. Clutch scores again.

It seems like the starters were playing way too long into this game, but when you look at their minutes it's a different story becaue of the constant substitutions we do. RoJo 28; TB 27; JBJ 22; OG 19;

Okay, let's start getting our key players off the court. MSB can easily control this game for the remaining 6 min.

Humorous tweet of the day: OG Anunoby blocking shots (four) like Tommy Elrod gave him the Delaware State playbook.