Class of '66 Old Fart

More from the Daily Student: Sophomore guard Jess Walter will be transferring from IU, the 6-foot guard from Midland, Michigan, announced via Twitter on Tuesday evening. Walter’s announcement comes at the conclusion of the 2015-16 season. She appeared in 32 of 33 games, starting in five after battling a concussion in the preseason. Walter scored just 2.8 points in 16.4 minutes per game. “Hoosier Nation,” Walter tweeted. “I have built some life long bonds and have met some incredible people. I am very proud of the growth of this team and will continue to wish the rest of my teammates the utmost success. However, after much consideration and prayer, I have decided to continue my career elsewhere.”     Next season, Walter would have found herself battling for playing time. Lyndsay Leikem is the only graduating player on this year’s team. IU Coach Teri Moren will return first-team All-Big Ten sophomore guard Tyra Buss, junior guard Alexis Gassion and junior guard Tyshee Towner in the backcourt, among others. The Hoosiers will also welcome a pair of freshman guards next season as part of their four-member 2016 recruiting class. Moren signed 5-foot-9 Texas guard Ria Gulley, who projects as either a point guard or 2-guard. IU also added 6-foot-1 wing Bre Wickware, who is able to play Walter’s position on the perimeter. Walter is the first player to transfer from the program this season after four players departed following Moren’s first season in Bloomington. Guards Larryn Brooks (Texas Tech), Maura Muensterman (Belmont) and Taylor Agler (Ohio) all left, while forward Liz Stratman (Stephen F. Austin) also departed. IU just recently saw its season end to top-seed Notre Dame in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday, 87-70. The Hoosiers capped off a historic season with their first NCAA win since 2002, defeating Georgia in the first round.

Only when you're an Old Fart and still can't always remember exactly how many schools make up the B1G conference.  :laugh:

BIG NEWS!  Notre Dame is joining the B1G for men's hockey.   http://btn.com/2016/03/22/pizzo-addition-of-notre-dame-strengthens-big-ten-hockey/

In today's world of college athletics, I suppose the following shouldn't come as a huge surprise but Jess Walter, sophomore guard announced she's leaving the program.  She averaged 16 min./game and 2.8 pts/game.  With virtually everyone coming back plus competition from incoming recruits, not likely her minutes would increase.  Hate to see her leave the team, but hopefully she'll find what she's looking for.  Many thanks for her contributions and wish her nothing but the very best.    

REPORT: Memphis Investigating Conflict-of-Interest Allegations Stemming from Pastner and Athletic Director Sharing Same Agent   According to The Commercial Appeal, University of Memphis President M. David Rudd has launched an investigation into conflict-of-interest allegations surrounding basketball coach Josh Pastner, AD Tom Bowen, and the agent that they shared. Rudd issued the following statement today: “The University of Memphis has been made aware of the accusations, and in accordance with University and TBR (Tennessee Board of Regent) policies, will immediately launch a comprehensive investigation.  The University is in the process of retaining an outside source to conduct the review. Upon completion, a public statement will be made concerning the findings.” The Commercial Appeal reported that Joey McCutchen’s NextLevel Sports agency represented Bowen while he was athletic director at San Jose State and arranged Bowen’s hiring at the U of M in 2012.  Bowen was responsible for negation Pastner’s monster contract back in 2013. The complete article can be found HERE.

And then there's this:  

From the Crimson Quarry:   NCAA Tournament tv ratings: Indiana-Kentucky was the highest rated college basketball game of the year Here's another group that should have incentive to bring the Indiana-Kentucky series back: television executives. While the NCAA Tournament always draws much bigger numbers than regular season college basketball, the Hoosiers & Wildcats drew in a 6.9 rating on Saturday afternoon -- the highest number in the tournament and the 2015-16 college basketball season to date - by a long shot.

For next year, the team really needs to work on cutting down the TO's and improve it's overall defense.  Tonight as well as throughout the season, we've not been a particularly good defensive team.  But with Leikem as our only senior, we'll have nearly the whole team back plus new recruits so with good off-season work, next season could be very promising.

The striped shirts haven't exactly been our friend with the quick first half whistles on Anderson and then some really cheap fouls called against us in the 2nd half.

Shocking news!  Ben Simmons has officially withdrawn from LSU.  Wonder what his first semester GPA was and just what classes he was supposed to be attending. 

No matter what happens the rest of this game, our Ladies have put up one helluva fight against one of the few teams that can truly challenge UConn for the national title.  Very impressed with the effort they've put forth.

Unfortunately, TO's have pretty much been a season long problem.

Buss really struggling with her shot.  Only 2 of 11 tonight but she does have 5 assists a couple of which were on some pretty nifty passes.

Well, that 3 at the buzzer was a real dagger and gives the Irish a 10 pt. lead at the half.   Good news is we picked up our shooting % to 46%; bad news is ND is shooting 59%.  Our 3-point shooting has been our saving grace thus far hitting 6 of 11 to only 2 of 5 for ND.  TO's been a problem most of the year and tonight's no different with 10 in the first half.  We're matching the Irish on the boards which is also a plus.    McBride with 12; Royster off the bench with 8; Buss 7; Cahill 5. 

She's just a freshman and has had several games with major contributions off the bench.

They're taking it right at ND; not backing down.

Need to improve our shooting % and do a better job of boxing out.

Encouraging that they aren't showing any signs that ND intimidates them.

  Probably a mutually beneficial move.

  The way many of us have skewered CTC for lack of past NCAA tournament success, you'd think the PUkers would have tarred and featherd Painter, boiled him in oil and made him run naked through Pigtown barefooted on a bed of nails for his NCAA tournament record.  But then again, they don't have any banners so their expectations are obviously much lower!  :laugh:

  Thank heavens Billy Packer isn't still doing the NCAA tournament.

Originally, IHSAA commissioner Bobby Cox said that the makeup game needed to be played Monday or Tuesday to keep everything on schedule for the state tournament next weekend. Marion and Griffith reached a compromise of playing the game on Wednesday. It will be at 6 p.m. eastern time at Lafayette Jeff on Wednesday.

Big part of Iowa's late season collapse was lack of an adequate bench.  With Woodbury, Gesell, Clemmons and Uthoff all graduating, the Franimal might be in for a long 2016-2017.

Don't tell us we can't     83   Classes, classes, we don't go to no stinkin' classes    81

For those who don't regularly follow women's basketball, consider these Final Four statistics which really point out the lack of parity in women's basketball. UConn:  Every year since 2000 with the exception of 2005, 2006 & 2007.  Stanford:  2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 Notre Dame:  2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015   Full rundown available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Women's_Division_I_Basketball_Championship#NCAA_Final_Fours_by_school