BottomLine

Not sure Duncomb can't be a pretty good player, but not at IU. He has soft hands, height, and can shoot the ball. Unfortunately he doesn't fit what Woodson is doing at IU. Doesn't mean that he won't fit someone else's system. Been watching a lot of basketball over the last two weeks and I'm not seeing very many good bigs. TJD was a first team All American and he can't shoot the ball more that five feet. There were teams in the tournament that Duncomb could probably play for. Notice I said were. Put him in the middle of zone where he doesn't need to be quick and he might be useful to someone on a regular basis. With a redshirt for this year he can probably play three years somewhere. I had hoped to see him step up more this year. He did show some flashes. I'll accept the health issues excuse for this year. Pretty sure we will get someone better from the portal so this should work out well for both IU and Duncomb. I wish him well.

Wow! Honored to be a member of such a distinguished group. BTW Thanks for posting your picture. Always like to see what my opponents look like. You got some good moves.

Good luck to ya!

Just wanted to prove I could write something short.

Sorry if I gave a false impression. I am not a professional gambler. I am not a casino gambler. I have never placed a bet on any sporting event in my life except the outcome of thoroughbred races. Since I'm retired I go to the track maybe once a year and only use my on line account to bet the Breeders' Cup and the Triple Crown. Why so little action? I love chocolate but If you eat chocolate as a meal three times a day for years and years it looses its appeal. I use no information that isn't available to anyone with access to the Internet. I do what I suspect many on here do. I start with the published point spread and over/under for the game and go from there. I adjust up and down from there depending on my perceptions of the game. Admittedly I have a lot of experience in splitting hairs and making choices based upon known and unknown factors. No big secrets. I usually go into some detail explaining why I made the selection I made. Sometimes I'm right and sometimes I'm wrong but there is no secret. Nothing is hidden. I love when other people explain their reasoning too. There may be no inside information but I can give some tips to anyone that wants to bet real money. 1. You can never will the outcome of an event. The fact that you want something to happen or need something to happen does not alter what actually happens in any way. You need to divorce you personal feelings from the prediction process. If I think the Hoosiers are going to lose, I pick against them, and then do the fan thing and root for an upset. PICK WITH YOUR HEAD AND THEN ROOT WITH YOUR HEART. 2. Accept that sometimes you are right and sometimes you are wrong. Win or lose, always go back after the event and analyze what went right and what went wrong. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES. Sometimes you are right but still lose. Sometimes the ball will just takes a funny bounce. 3. Never bet on anything that you don't understand. After spending years as a basketball coach, I watch games like a coach. THERE ARE NO SUBSTITUTES FOR EXPERIENCE. Still on any give day the little old lady from Peoria, who only bets on gray horses and jockeys with pink silks. might sweep the card. It happens. Loved the story about the girl and the bike. I'm finish up with a true story of my own. This take place back in the 1980s or1990s. It is a Teachers' Institute Day. You know, one of those days when the kids stay home from school and get in trouble and the teachers become the students. I'm in a large group of social studies and language arts teachers and we are listening to a "reading expert" that is teaching us how to teach our students to be better readers by using anticipation. The exercise consists of a series of picture boards that show a story. As the expert unveils each board. we are suppose to guess what is on the next story board. I'm half paying attention in the back of the room, when suddenly she calls on me instead of one of the suck-ups with their hand in air. Teachers do things like that in order to remind their students that everyone should be paying attention. EXPERT - "What do you think is going to happen next?" ME - I quickly think back to what has gone before, gather what information I can, and respond. "I think this is going to happen and then such and such is going to happen, and then that causes something else to happen, and so on." I gave her the story as covered by the next half dozen story boards. EXPERT - Mouth hanging open looks at me, then back at the stack of story boards, then back at me, then back at the story boards again. I have just blown up the rest of her whole presentation. "Sir, have you done this exercise before?" She obviously isn't happy. ME - No EXPERT - "How did you know what was on the other boards? Did you peak or something. You got all of them right." ME - Not happy being called a possible cheat. "No, I took the information from the cards that you had revealed and imagined what might be next. Added that information to what I already knew and then projected that onto the next board, and so forth" EXPERT - Stunned, flustered and obviously not knowing what to do for the next hour. "I've never had anyone do that before. Do you know what that is called?" ME - Thinking she is going to call me a jerk or a**hole. "No" EXPERT - "That is called gambler's instinct." THE WHOLE ROOM FULL OF TEACHERS - Since they know what I did on the side. "Roars of shouting and laughter!" There were even some on their feet jumping around and giving high fives. Meanwhile the expert just stared at the class. She had no idea what was going on. Did I mention that teachers HATE institute days. That was the only time I can remember getting out of one early. In one day I had become a legend and a hero. True story!

Imagine beautiful women and handsome men walking a red carpet while flashbulbs pop and adoring fans cheer. The time has come to accept my victory as the champion of the 2022-23 Indiana Prediction League. Thank you for all of your applause, from everyone except Josh, who thinks he won. I certainly enjoyed this year's contest. I would like to thank Strt8Hoosiers for running the league in the past and LIHoosier for taking over this year when Str8Hoosiers was unable to continue. You guys are the tops. Without your thankless efforts the basketball season would not have been the same. I would like to congratulate Rico and rcs29 for their excellent seasons. They are tough competitors and worthy adversaries. I wish them all the luck in the future. Super job guys! This is my third year as a contestant in the Prediction League. Two years ago I finished 10th. Last year I was 5th. Both years I hovered near the top of the standings until I started to throw in contrary selections at the end of the season in an attempt to make up points. Alas, in both cases the breaks did not go my way. I'm sure many of you have tried the same strategy this year and in the past. This year I just played it straight and emerged victorious. As for me, how did I put together a championship season. I wasn't easy. I managed to put together a consistent year. I selected the winner in 27 of 35 games. Luckily most of the losers were losers for almost everyone (Rutgers, Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue x2, Iowa, Penn St, and Miami of Florida). I won only one week and received 48 points for the effort. I didn't need to use that number. As for picking the actual scores, I was terrible. I received a 10 point bonus for only one game. That is one win for 70 opportunities. Not much to be proud of there. Finally, who is BottomLine and what background enabled him to win this year? Come on. Don't we all wonder where those handles come from and what do they mean? I have been an Indiana basketball fan for almost 70 years and have kept score for almost every game I have ever watched. I'm originally from Seymour and was graduated from IU in 1969. Which means I'm 75 going on 76. I retired as a history teacher in 2013, after 43 years in the classroom. Aren't all basketball coaches either PE teachers, social studies teachers, or Drivers Ed teachers? It follows that I was a basketball coach for 18 years. It doesn't end there. As a second job I worked as a sportswriter for 30 years covering horse racing in the Chicago area. For 21 of those years I was the handicapper and racing columnist for the Daily Herald, Chicago's largest suburban paper. In addition to picking horses every day, I had a mythical bankroll in the paper where I bet the horses in public every day. The name of that column was The Bottom Line. Get the connection? I left the Daily Herald in 1999, I've added a link below for anyone who is interested in that story. In addition to the Daily Herald I have covered racing for Associated Press, The Illinois Racing News, and was a consultant for NBC Sports and several Las Vegas sportsbooks. After leaving the Daily Herald I turned down offers to work for several on-line racing touts. Juggling so many employment hats, my record for consecutive days working without a day off was 187. I seldom engage in chat sites. After years and years as Bottom Line on the old Indianapolis Star site, Peegs and here, I learned long ago that it is a waste of time trying to change anyone's opinion about anything. Hope everyone has a great year waiting for next year's Hoosiers. I'll be back again to defend my title, if the good Lord is willing and the crick don't rise. Go Hoosiers! https://www.angelfire.com/fl/brad61yazell/hallet.html

Figures to be another close game. We play better defense. They play better offense. We are back to an ACC - Big10 challenge game on a neutral floor. We do all the things that we do well well I think we take this but it is a last basket made type game. Hoosiers 75 That Miami team from down south - 74

Everyone here seems to want to pick the Hoosiers and obviously, based upon the seeds, we should be favored. However, this shouldn't be a walk in the park. We need to show up ready to play. Kent State was the upset winner of the MAC tournament, upsetting Toledo, which came into the game with a 17 game winning streak. I think the last time we played these guys it took a last second jumpshot down the baseline by Will Sheehey (sp) to pull out the win. I'm picking the Hoosiers to move on here. Indiana 71 Kent State 68

Too little and too late sucker. Maybe you can do better next year.

The last time I was on top I bragged a bit and got knocked on my a**. Just playing it straight this time. Revenge game here. Penn State crushed us on the road by 19. It rained 3s that day - 19 to be exact. They haven't matched that total since and won't again. Penn State has been scrappy as all get out but they must be getting tired. This is the third game in three days for them. Let's hope they are a step slow all day. We need to get out and guard that line. Indiana 71 Penn State 69

Hat off. A gutsy pick. Good luck. I went the other way but I can see this happening.

This game is a real brain buster. First IU has a record of playing poorly in the B10 Tourney. IU is 15-24 overall and has made the finals only once, in 2001 when we lost to Iowa. We all know how the past is a good predictor of the future. Secondly, Maryland spanked us pretty good 66-55 at Maryland during the regular season. It was our second lowest point total of the year. OTOH Maryland was practically unbeatable in home games this year. It is hard to avoid the feeling that Maryland matches up well to us and has our number (Like we have Purdue's). Finally, Maryland has been a terrible road team all year. Before beating Minnesota yesterday, Maryland was 1-9 against the Big 10 this year away from home. They are just a different team without the home court. BTW both wins were against Minnesota, who everybody kicks to the gutter. Thus we have a game predicted on negative factors instead of positive. I'm going with the Hoosiers in a coin flip game. Indiana 69 Maryland 68

I cheated and waited until after Maryland had won to post. Not a prediction but it seemed like everyone was posting M as our opponent. Though it looks like this game could end up a tie.

Indiana plays Maryland'

Why don't we all be woke and give a trophy to everyone or not keep score so everyone wins.