MartintheMopMan

It is posted on their facebook so... I'm going to say yes.   For those of you who haven't clicked, here's a screenshot to tempt you:  

Anyone who picks Purdue to win should be publically shamed.

I was going to write something insulting about Purdue's history, but I looked at their wikipedia and saw you can take flight classes for course credit! That's amazing! I mean... uh, terrible. It's terrible. They're terrible.   But I mean, Learn to Fly 101? - 70 Learn to... I don't know... something cool people do. Anonymous Sex 203 (thanks Kinsey) - 82

Do you know why the "Cornhuskers" is the lamest name in history? Far worse than even "Hoosiers"?   Because prior to adopting the moniker, they tried out a series of other names. The Hawkeyes, the Antelopes, the Old Gold Knights, the Bugeaters, and the Mankilling Mastodons.   Let me repeat those last two. They could have been the Nebraska Bugeaters or Nebraska Mankilling Mastodons.   How can anyone be satisfied after that? Jeez.   Bugeaters - 66 Too bad we don't play Michigan again because my wife and I have learned a lot about wolverines and ourselves adopted two of their nicknames "Nasty cat" and "Devil bear". Thanks for nothing Hoosiers. - 82

Here's an actual video from BTN to uh... get you pumped up:   https://www.facebook.com/BTN/videos/10153550997374022/

Decision whether he travels will be made today. He still hasn't been practicing, but that is not necessarily determinative. 

That is indeed the last time.

Why is it Star Wars night?

Thanks. Ken Pom and the CBS app didn't list it so I quit.

Maybe they just pop open Ken Pom and look for the highest thrill score for the day.   UK @ A&M is on top, then OK at WVU, then us, then Duke v. Louisville.   Man, there are a lot of great games on Saturday. I probably will miss them all.

The loss to Stanford was entirely expected too, it's like us losing @Wisco. The numbers may not expect it, but all the fans do.   Altman is Oregon's Crean, they just don't know it because they don't have a proud enough tradition to get upset about their current predicament. He cannot field a defense and relies on teams with strong offenses to carry both sides of the court. It's pretty PAC-12 footballesque really.   And like Crean, he has his weird exception year, where he had a top defense and lost in the Sweet Sixteen (same year actually), but for the most part he's a mediocre defensive coach who fails to make necessary adjustments ultimately costing his teams. Eventually, Oregon will decide they've been almost there long enough and try and find a coaching upgrade. How does Brad Stevens feel about the west coast?

Eye test is definitely important. I'll miss Friday's game too, but since so many people here are watching it, I'll just pay attention to their analysis.     Doesn't narrow it down at all for Oregon games, I watch them all through streaming sites so it's always the same. Maybe I'll find an older game and check them out though.

I trust you have a better assessment than I do, I have not watched a single minute of Valpo.   Actually, I think I watched the end of the Oregon game, but can't mentally separate it from Oregon's other games.   I was just noting the purpose of the adjustments is to see how a team fares against an "average" opponent and remove the bias of a weak conference. So, when talking about adjusted stats, saying we don't know how they would fare against other opponents is technically true, but precisely what those stats are designed to overcome.   They have only lost once when they held their opponent to fewer than 1 point per possession (Saturday).   In interviews, Ken has acknowledged his system is less accurate in the bottom half of the league than the top, so some of Valpos numbers actually could be assisted by the difficultly of calculating the expected score of conference opponent "Illinois Chicago".   I guess we will get at least 1 tourney game to see how they fare.

I agree, though as a point of order, the adjusted efficiency numbers are relative numbers.  That is, Ken Pom's system believes when playing an average D1 basketball team, Valpo will hold them to .902 points per possession.   According to the system, they lack significantly in offense.

Arguably, in Valpo, Illinois and Indiana are both in-state.   Though, the other players do undermine this point.

I sure hope this worked! Game starts in an hour in theory! If it's terrible then tell me before I start watching it since I'll be teaching Sunday School at tip.

Shoot, I didn't even think about the fact it wouldn't show up in recent posts. If I use it again I'll make sure to find a way around that.

Greeks - 69 The financial crisis of 2008 - 74 Anyone ever notice the hiring of Crean roughly coincided with the second worst financial disaster in America?

All right, now to one of the three biggest challenges of the season. We dropped the ball completely on the first challenge (Duke) and have two more opportunities to step up. Can this team bring the Assembly Hall magic to the frigid north?   Also, doing something a little different. I'm going to set this topic to automatically close at 1200 EST and the game thread will open.   And hey, if you guys see interesting previews or other articles about the upcoming match-up, feel free to link them here. That kind of discussion would be great.   Prediction league:   https://btownbanners.com/topic/9204-prediction-league-game-26-week-14-iu-vs-michigan-state-021416/   The Numbers:   [attachment=3384:2.PNG]   [attachment=3383:1.PNG]

Yeah, my app has been terrible this morning and just introduced video ads with timers. An absolutely terrible combination. iPhone 6s+

  I sure hope it's not 1-19. That would cause me to frown.

Oh man, this is disheartening. Who knows the series record for Indiana @ MSU since the 1991-1992 season?

You know, I'd convinced myself the decline of announcers in modern times was a myth or a trope, overblown because now we're better at complaining and stuff.   But, man, I've been watching a ton of old football lately and they're just SO much better. They tried to teach you the game instead of just getting you through it.   Noticed the same thing watching old basketball games too. It's a huge bummer. I guess I was too young to notice the change before going back and really paying attention.

Chuck Marlowe passed away this morning.   For those who don't know who he is, he was the play-by-play announcer for channel 4. You can hear his voice on any classic game you watch. He later hosted the Bob Knight Show.   He always did the radio call for the Indy 500, but that's not Indiana basketball so...   Here his video from when he was inducted into the Broadcasters HOF or whatever they call it:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EulbNCuGPjA   Article on his death:   http://www.indystar.com/story/news/fox59/2016/02/11/chuck-marlowe-iu-basketball-announcer-dies-bob-knight-show/80223122/

And they were playing well without him. Subbing TB in would be pretty similar to any of the general substitution complaints about Crean. When something is working and no one wants a rest, then don't touch it until you have to, I thought it was great move and it paid off in the end.