BottomLine

He was a cheater and the atmosphere stank. BUT he could coach!

After today's sad showing against Maryland the mob is ready to hang Archie Miller in effigy or perhaps in reality. For those that thought we were going to get the second coming of Robert Montgomery Knight, a disciplinarian coach that put defense first, you were wrong. That recipe for success was gone long before The General was booted out of Bloomington. We all remember the glory days of the late 70's and 80's when Indiana was a force to be dealt with every year. Some of us remember the days of Branch MacCracken, also a pretty good coach with two national titles. With MacCracken it was the "Hurryin' Hoosiers" and a lot of the alumni didn't take kindly when a "mid Major" coach was brought in from Army to sit on the ball and teach defense. The formula worked fine for awhile. Knight would go to a 4-corner offense with eight minutes to go and a four point lead and the other team would have to foul to get the ball back. Knight teams would have the discipline to make 20 passed before the prefect shot came up with the ball in the hands of the right man. Knight's teams would run their motion offense and pick and screen until the defense collapsed from exhaustion. But times change and Knight's teams were never the same after the introduction of the shot clock and his famous help side man-to-man defense was never as good after the introduction of the 3-point shot. By the time Knight left town a lot of basketball had passed him by. His basketball philosophy wasn't working as well and his personality was driving away a lot of top recruits. I mention all of this because the cult of Bobby is starting to rear its head again, because Archie Miller isn't matching up with expectations. How dare he not be Bobby Knight! Be careful what you wish for. Knight's last national title was in 1987 and IU made the Final Four just one more time in has last 13 years at IU. In his last 9 years IU never made the Final Four once. Only two of his last six teams were ranked in the top 25 in the final poll of the regular season. Obviously the glory days for IU basketball had ended long before Coach finally moved on. Or should I say that basketball moved on and left Knight behind. Still this was the formula that many IU faithful wanted to return to three years ago when Archie Miller was hired. So far it hasn't worked. Now a lot of fans are starting to question if it ever will. So let the debate continue. I'm guessing that with a new AD coming in, Archie Miller will probably have one more year to show what he can do before the axe falls, unless there is another complete collapse this year like last. And, that my friends, is certainly within the bounds of possibility. For the sake of comparison, here are the win percentages of out last five coaches: Sampson .708 (Includes the 3-4 under Dakich) Knight .647 (Last 6 years only) Crean .628 (Pitched the first two years because of the complete rebuild after Sampson) Davis .593 (6 years) Miller .574 (2+ years)

This game breaks my heart. Do I pick with my heart or my head? My heart says Hoosiers. My head says Terps. In Indiana's last 6 games against major teams we have an offensive average of 70.5. Out defensive average against the same teams is 70.5. The days of leading the country in offensive average is long gone and adjustments must be made. In Maryland's last 5 games against major competition their numbers are 66.4 and 60.0. Neither team is scoring much right now but Maryland probably has an edge in defense. That and the home court could be the difference makers. I seem to remember IU playing Maryland tough in the past. I also know that IU has not been a good road team. Don't get me wrong IU can win this game but that depends on so many big ifs. If IU can get the ball inside and draw fouls, if IU can drive and kick to open shooters, if IU can dominate on the boards, if IU can play defense (Maryland isn't a crazy throw em up 3-point team)., if IU can force turnovers, if IU can handle the ball without turning it over, we have a chance to win this game. That is a lot of ifs. The difference between winning and losing is a 50 point turnaround. My heart says pick the Hoosiers. My head says don't be a chump. I'll still root like crazy for the Hoosiers but I'm picking Maryland. Maryland 74 Indiana 68

KenPom had us at 52 in the last 2019 ratings.

Unofficially, I think MoyeNeeded has moved into the leader spot. Way to go. And now the Maryland game on the road is on the horizon. Gulp!

Finals and that distraction is over. Plenty of rest and practice time to get ready for Arkansas. Phinisee in particular needed the time. So I'm thinking that our guys should be healthy and ready to play. Students are home on break but this is Arkansas and not the Indiana School for the Blind that we are playing, and the crowd should be there and into the game. I'll take the home court advantage and be glad to have it. Game opened at 4.5 IU in Vegas and almost immediately was bumped up to 5.5. The over under is 140.5 so that makes the implied about 73-68 Hoosiers. I think that o/u is a bit low. IU has a habit of beating the o/u this year and I think they will be over again. Think Arkansas may be a bit better than us on defense but we are better on offense, unless Arkansas gets hot from outside. Here we go again. Guard that line! Arkansas has 38 3-pointers in their last four game. I figure whey will put up about 30. Sounds a lot like Notre Dame. Indiana will need to win this game on the defensive end of the court. We will also need to take care of the ball. On the other hand Arkansas has not had a chance to prove themselves against better competition. They do not have a win over a group I or II program. IU figures to be one of their top 5 or 6 opponents this year. Arkansas has not been a good road team. They are 2-1 but the wins were squeakers. We were closely matched last year but I think we are better this year and Arkansas has taken a step back. So what does all that mean? Beats me! I'm predicting a total of 150 and an 8 point IU victory. So I'm going with IU 79 and Ark 71.

Neither is without faults. I just don't trust Green. Archie is getting paid big bucks to figure out the problem. All we can do is have opinions. I thought the last play of the game yesterday said volumes. See if you can find a replay. Ball goes through the post to Jackson-Davis, who is promptly double teamed. He pivots and passes the ball to Durham, who is midway between Franklin in the corner and Green, open at the top of the key. A ND player is trying to close on Durham, who instantly passes the ball to Franklin for the winning shot. He could have gone to Green also but he didn't. Imagine for a second that Green and Durham are reversed and the ball goes to Green, Does he make the pass to an open man, or does he force a shot, or does he put the ball on the floor and drive into the lane and shoot his "floater"? Me may have still won the game and Green would have been the hero instead of Franklin. Or we may have lost. What I have little doubt of is that in that scenario Green does not pass the ball. There is the difference. I think Durham plays for the team, and after over three years of watching, I think Green plays for himself. Do I wish Durham had Green's talent? You betcha. Do I wish Green were more aware that there is no I in TEAM? Without a doubt.

The way I look at Hunter is that he has been completely shut down for almost a whole year. He wasn't even allowed to get in the gym to get up shots because of his injury. He didn't resume full activity until just before the start of practice this fall. The best we are probably going to see from him this year is some spot time here and there. Then with a solid off season of conditioning and basketball work he should make some major strides forward next year. Was looking forward to seeing more this year but it just isn't there at this time.

Don't think we are going to get Al out of the starting lineup. If Franklin continues to move forward, I think Green is probably more in danger of losing his spot. Yes, I know he can shoot. but he kills our offense with his dribble and his I'm gonna get mine play. Al is more of a team player. Would rather see Green with our second unit, which has some offensive limitations and has a tendency to take away our momentum.

We win games because we cause turnovers, rebound and get to the foul line. Notre Dame is a team that takes care of the ball and doesn't foul. Today they took care of the ball and took away IU's fast break and they didn't put us on the foul line, where a significant portion our offense comes from. Not all teams will be able to do that. Luckily we dominated on the boards and ND started out cold from 3-point range. ND was not an easy matchup for us. Glad to have the victory. We had a big run early in the game and they had a big run in the second half. The game turned out just as close as Vegas predicted. Not going to second guess anyone.

Class of '66 Old Fart - Wow great picking on the IU/ND game. Nailed the IU score and missed ND by a point for a total of 134 points. I figure a jump from #17 to #4 and only 6 points off the top spot.

Got the dope. My uncle Joe's neighbor has a son named MIke, who has a son also named Mike that is in elementary school. The young Mike is best friends on the playground with a kid that has a father who sell tickets for the Pacers, and he says that there is a chance that TJD may consider going pro. So it looks like he must be gone.

Sorry, when you are retired the days get mixed up pretty easily. Checked the newspaper and THIS IS FRIDAY. Line should be up by now.

Vegas line usually comes out 24 hours before tip.

My crystal ball is certainly murky for this game. This game scares me. We have a couple of big question marks. Green is obviously out or hasn't been able to practice this week. Could that be addition by subtraction or will it doom our outside game. With the ball in his hands Green strangles our offense. When he heats up from outside we can play with anyone. Either way having Green gone will impact our game. Just don't know which way. On the other hand Phinisee is back. The second question is how will we react to a week off for finals. Hope our boys have been getting some sleep and not burning the midnight oil too much. Remember those days well. I know we have practiced but will we come out flat? Have a bad feeling about this one. We better guard the line. ND has averaged 38 3-point attempts over its last three games. Those guys like to chuck it up and they are shooting 34.2% for the season. ND made 20 and 15 3-pointers in their last two games. Sounds like a Crean team, except they are only turning the ball over 11.8% of the time, compared to our 16.1%. Again our defense better show up. And, if we are planning on camping out at the free throw line, ND is only averaging 12 fouls/game, one of the best totals in the country. On the other hand they don't get to the free throw line themselves very often. Sounds like a tough matchup for the Hoosiers. However, ND is projected for the lower half of the ACC with a record of 9-11 and an overall record of 18-13. Their non-conference schedule has been weaker than IU's. I kid you not. They have played only two games against group I or group II competition and lost both. They are 6-0 against the IVs and 2-1 against the IIIs. Time to shut up and make a prediction. I'm putting entirely too much thought into this process. I'm looking at a total of 146 (no overtimes please) and a 4 point IU victory. That would make the prediction: IU 75 Notre Dame 71

Thinking everyone finishes 10-10 in the Big 10 and all 14 share the championship.

Just saying the discussion is a bit premature and there are plenty of other things to discuss. I'll monitor and comment it I think I can add anything significant. He is certainly a talented young basketball player and I'd love to see him back next year and see him grow. I'm just not enamored with the rush to get to the next level, unless you are a guaranteed lottery pick. Have seen too many young players get a big head and poor advice and then flame out. I understand the get the money and run attitude. I also understand the philosophy of going early and getting to that second contract as a free agent sooner. That is where the real money is to be had. However, if you try to jump to the NBA too soon, you run the risk of never getting to that second contract. I just not excited about over evaluating our players (all Hoosiers do that) and then worrying all year whether they are going to jump ship. Jackson-Davis is not a complete player yet. The time for evaluation, in my eyes, should be much closer to the end of the season

For the Sky is Falling Club that thinks IU should be embarrassed by our win over Nebraska, and that Nebraska resembles something smelly that my dogs left in the back yard, Nebraska just beat Purdue by 14.

I'm not even going to think about this and give myself a headache. We aren't even a third of a way through his freshman season and people are starting to panic that he is a one and done. Just going to enjoy the whole season as best I can and then worry about who goes and stays after the season is over. We are getting the cart ahead of the horse here.

We aren't even to the end of December and you are willing to give up half of the games that are still ahead. NO, will not go for that. Roll the dice and let's see how this one plays out.

Is the sky falling or something? Really enjoyed the game last night and let's give some credit to Fred Hoiberg for putting together an excellent game plan that his team followed. I wouldn't expect less from Hoiberg. He is an excellent coach. On offense they spread IU out and made us play one-on-one defense. Five out and none in means that our bigs have to come outside and guard on the perimeter and we got exposed. In addition it takes away our help defense since it pulls players back inside and leaves open shooters on the outside. The move took Brunk and Davis out of the game and negated one of our biggest advantages. Nebraska also ran some clear-outs where we were forced to play one-on-one. Folks that is how you beat a pack line defense. They forced IU to defend the outside instead of the inside. That is how you turn a plus (our size) into a negative and is the product of good coaching. On defense, Nebraska tried to take away our inside game by giving us all the outside shots was could want and more. We choked on that diet until the second half when we started to go inside and Jackson-Davis and Smith started to take over. Simply put, Nebraska had too little size and too many fouls to stop us inside. That is why I never thought the game was in doubt. Credit MIller for correcting our offense on the fly. Credit Fred Hoiberg for an excellent job of coaching last night. He turned the game into a chess match and made it close as a result. Unfortunately for Nebraska they did not have enough pieces to win the game, but they certainly game us a game that we will remember. The Big 10 is full of good coaches and they all look at film. last year it didn't take them long to figure out that Indiana had Langford and Morgan and not much else. Game plan to stop those two and you stop IU. You can bet that those coaches will now be looking at film of last night's game and the Wisconsin game for how to stop the Hoosiers. This is where MIller earns those big bucks that we are paying him. This is his team that he has assembled and I'm sure he is aware of exactly what happened last night. The weight now falls on his shoulders to find a way to fix the problems. I'm not sure exactly what that may be (They aren't paying me those big bucks to fix anything). There has to be a solution. We aren't just going to throw the season away. My fear is that there won't be a solution coming because Coach Miller can be pretty inflexible at times. My feeling is that if something isn't working, fix it! I like Coach MIller and I like the team he has assembled. I desperately want the Hoosier to do well. But, if you are going to evaluate the job Coach Miller has done at IU, this is where you begin. Don't give me excuses. I'm only interested in results. I hope we can find a way.

Wisconsin just reverted to form. The caught us flat footed in Madison but they aren't a very good team this year.

Wisconsin just reverted to form and lost to Rutgers.

Was wondering at the time why Jackson-Davis took a seat for so long in the second half. I would have thought he would be on the floor more. Then this morning it hit me. IU is struggling through a scoring drought in the second half and points are really hard to find. Then IU puts the ball up and Jackson-Davis get called for offensive goal tending on a ball that was already inside the hoop and on the way down, thus taking two points off the board. It was an incredible bone headed play. Moments later Jackson-Davis is on the pine. Think Miller might have been sending a message? I don't care who you are, get your head in the game kid! Anyone else notice this?

I must be overthinking things. Think I'll try putting in my guess early instead of late and see if it makes a difference. Good points for Nebraska. We have a common opponent, S Dakota St. We won by 14 (64-50). Nebraska won by 17 (90-73). Nebraska is shooting the 3 at a 32.7% clip. Now for the Nebraska bad stuff. We are averaging 7 points more per game and IU is 12.5 points per game better on defense. Nebraska is projected to be 0-20 in the Big10 this year. They are not very good at guarding the 3-point line and gave up 13 3s to Creighton, 11 to George Mason, and 9 to Southern. They don't rebound well. They are 0-1 against Q1 competition and 0-1 against Q2, and they have lost twice to Q4 teams. In short they look worse than Wisconsin, but not by much. The Hoosier offense has stalled in the last two games and this would be a good place to get back on track, especially with Phinisee expected to see more time. Plus we should welcome playing on our home court again. Hoosiers 85 - Cornhuskers 68