pumpfake

Music to my ears. Fantastic to hear we have a coach that understands this and isn't going to focus on stupid stuff like deflections.

We're playing 3 freshmen and averaging 16 TOs a game. That's no worse than last year really. There's reason to believe we can finally begin to improve in that area (eventually).

Davis needs to avoid dumb fouls at all costs - without him we have no answer inside. Juwan was invisible for the first part of the game, then became much more active. Our senior guards were lackluster. I'm pretty pleased with out freshmen as a group and hope they stay healthy and get lots of experience this year. We're not very good right now, but you can definitely see they're trying to implement a system and that's encouraging, IMO. It almost brought a tear (of joy) to my eye when I saw several occasions of immediate pine-time after poor play. And oh yeah, that Rodriguez dude is a douchenozzle.

I'm not overly disappointed in the play of the team as a whole to this point - kind of as expected. We're obviously overmatched, but these refs sure seem intent on making sure there is no doubt about who will win.

The spiteful part of me would love to see Shittu go to UK and Romeo to IU - leaving Garland stuck at Vanderbilt.

That's what I'm thinking. I also believe that the coaches probably get used to judging how serious a player is. Perhaps after the HH visit, Archie phoned or texted and the response was not encouraging.

Perhaps I'm slow on the uptake, but in retrospect could it be that Archie knew (or sensed) that DG wasn't serious about IU and that's why he didn't visit when the others did?

After some thought, and having watched the game last night, I really want us to find a dead-eye shooter (regardless of stars).

Re-confirmation of things I thought I knew, but apparently forgot: - Message board insiders are as reliable as a $2 watch. - 17 year old basketball players make some illogical (to us) decisions - HH and other rally's never seem to sway recruits. Next time let's cheer for the players who've verballed, not prim donnas that have often already decided on another school.

Well, time to concentrate on OUR team and players and then worry about 2019. I'm definitely disappointed and not confident about Langford, but what really bugs me is that we whiffed on 5* recruits while even Illinois has one in the bag. Damnit!

And that right there is why he has no credibility or "expertise". Never liked the guy and this doesn't change that. In my haste I misread that as Darius (but my opinion of JM still stands).

IMO, Newkirk should be looking to assist more and shoot less. To my non-expert eye I can certainly see that the team has been working on defense - they have quite a way to go still, but I like what I see for the most part.

Honestly, it's really been his M.O. while at IU. He's had streaks of horrible shooting and bad games. I don't say this to denigrate the guy, it's just what my impression of how his career thus far has gone. We can hope that a new coach and being a senior make for a more effective and consistent season from Robert.

I haven't read much of this thread, nor did I see the game yet (thanks BTN), but I'd like to throw out a few facts for anyone who's losing it over this loss: 1. ISU is a good team. They beat Illinois and tested PU pretty good. 2. It was our first real game of the year while our opponent has already played two B10 teams. That is always going to be a difficult game, especially when the opponent is no patsy. 3. As evidenced by the ISU point total and record number of 3 pointers, very predictably our defense is not good at all. This is to be expected when it's the first game under a completely new system. 4. Let's face it, we lost our 3 best players from the previous season and don't have a roster full of difference makers. There's a reason why we are projected to finish in the bottom half of the conference. All of these factors are inter-related. Most of us predicted we'd struggle early (and we will). As the team begins to play the way Arch is teaching them, and we become more experienced under that system, I have no doubt we'll be much more competitive. Will we compete for the B10 title? Unlikely, but this should be no surprise to anyone. The future will be bright and we need to keep in mind that this is the very beginning of a process.

I've been trying to decide which is the dumbest slogan: Anchor Down or Boiler Up.

I understand the reasoning behind one school recruiting a player longer, and each recruitment is different, but how freakin' many times have we been in on a player (sometimes very early and the first offer) only to see them go to another school? (it looks like this thread may overtake Romeo's today or tomorrow at the latest !

My reading into the timing of the announcement: It's a very positive thing - the waiting and speculating will finally, mercifully, be over.

Heck, by many accounts the player that seemed most interested in the academics side of things was Cody and he jumped when he got the chance. Realistically, a first round pick (especially lottery) is likely to make more money in the first year than he would in 5 years with a 4 year degree.

There's only one outcome that would make me angry: Garland verbals and then reneges at the last minute to sign with UK (not like THAT has never happened). This is just a message board and we like to speculate and read the tea leaves. Nothing more, nothing less.

True. And we must remember that Archie's brother has had some recent accusations - Drew is no more guilty for what his brother did than Arch.

Lol. Yeah. On to the Romeo thread!

Perhaps there is reason why Archie didn't visit last week, i.e. maybe he was informed that we were out or got enough indications to draw his own conclusion. IDK, but we'll just have to wait and see. Like some, I don't really see what the draw to Vandy is and what Drew maybe "selling", but let's face it - if we were to sign both DG and RL there would be others wondering what we're "paying" to get recruits all of a sudden. I'm not jumping into those baseless suggestions.

Perhaps these guys never heard the old saying "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time". Assuming they actually did commit the offense, IMO they should be treated according to the law of the jurisdiction they'd did so in. If that means jail, a fine, or community service so be it. A bigger crime is giving special consideration to the accused because of who they are.

Likely true. It's just part of the job of being a major college head coach. I can see why guys like Stevens and Donovan really don't want to spend so much time stroking recruits (let's face it, to one extent or another they're all prima donnas). But Archie knows the ropes, as does the staff.

It just occurred to me that some of these recruitments go on longer than the length of time the player attends his chosen school, Lol. Both RL and DG are outstanding prospects and I truly believe they will get more out of playing here than the other schools, but part of me would love to see Archie tell each of them "I sincerely hope you'll come and play for us at Indiana University. You'll be a huge contributor to our success and we'll prepare you for your basketball career. However, I have a group of 15 young men that have made that decision and going forward my full attention will be focused on working with them to develop our team. I trust you'll make the right decision and again, joining us in Bloomington would be a mutually beneficial choice. I look forward to hearing from you soon."