MartintheMopMan

It gets me most when they Wisco's was the worst. Though, I did not realize Ken Pom's SOS was a moving target during the season.   But, seriously? Teams like Rutgers have the worst SOS every year for the same reason teams like the Browns always have the worst SOS. They're bad teams and they don't play themselves. So, they drag everyone down who plays them and get pulled up by everyone they play. The very ability of Wisconsin to host Rutgers for a game shows they cannot have a worse SOS than Rutgers (unless Rutgers only had one-and-ones and away games with the bottoms teams in the conference and only home games against the top, then they have a shot at not being the worst. Oh, like they did this year I guess.)

Oh man, it's the next morning and I'm still so high on that win (reading Hutch's article and the Assembly Call on the morning commute helped too). I can't believe I said we might be better off firing Crean before the semester break. Very very glad to be wrong.

I love to toot my own horn, so I'll note that I called it with confidence Sunday night. Watching Iowa play against OSU (having watched a good deal of OSU this year since my father-in-law is a huge fan) I could see they were beginning to show cracks in the exact places we would already be exploiting and while a lot of our match-ups were strength-on-strength, their strengths were like iron, dominant against most but unable to stay sharp over a long battle. We met their iron with steel and showed it.   Now, I was much less confident an hour before the game hearing RoJo wasn't coming back, since I thought his defense and the depth he adds would be needed at some point. And if you told me Yogi would shoot less than 30% from 2, we'd only shoot 50% of our free throws, be out-rebounded on the offensive glass, have a 25-17 foul differential (after end-of-game fouling), and Iowa was going to score 1.1 ppp? Well, there is no way I would have believed we could pull it off.   That's what makes this win so great, beyond the fact that Yogi deserves it, there are so many individual moments in the last quarter you can look to and say "I can't believe we messed that up and still won" or "I can't believe they called/didn't call that and we won" from missed open looks to missed free throws to leaving shooters open in the last 30 seconds to turnovers but we still toughed through it and scraped it out. That's scary for the fans, but a great quality to have in a team. There were a lot of reasons for the players to be frustrated and playing poorly in the last few minutes, but they still pushed and won. I like that.   And the last shot? That's why I said we were going to win. There are no legs in that shot. Iowa hit the same wall Indiana hit in the past and they won't overcome it easily. Especially heading out to go play another team who is enjoying a week's rest on Saturday. 

Bernie Sanders.

Max now has 3 Big Ten Titles...   And was this close to a fourth.     Love that gif.

Wow, that box score is nuts.    

With you. It's that Hoosier pride leaking out.

SUCK SUCK SUCK IT EVERYONE WHO ISN'T US!   LET'S LEAVE ASSEMBLY HALL UNSULLIED IN CONFERENCE PLAY AND EAT THOSE TURTLES ALIVE!!   The numbers:   [attachment=3545:2.PNG]   [attachment=3544:1.PNG]

One thing that's different than those past teams, this team plays until the last second and finishes games. We didn't win this one last year or the year before.

You're the next Bryan Medema!

Eat a Purdue Person refs!! WE ARE THE CHAMPS!!!   YOGI UNDEFEATED AT IOWA!

Don't forget the chat!   https://btownbanners.com/chat/

Bummertown. Maybe he will play in his streets.

Shutting this one down. Bring it to the game thread!

Whoop whoop!

If you have the time and can't wait for the game, check out the previews over at Black Heart, Gold Pants (Iowa's SB Nation). They're actually pretty great (and the recent one really likes us).   http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/2016/3/1/11137156/iowa-vs-indiana-preview-how-to-watch-tv-streaming-odds   Just scroll to "Players to Watch" for a breakdown of our starters and bench (the preview is from the last match-up)   http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/2016/3/1/11137156/iowa-vs-indiana-preview-how-to-watch-tv-streaming-odds

Don't kill the messenger! The booing discussion started again in the Fire Tom Crean thread and I remembered this one so I moved everything over here.    I was looking over old topics yesterday while entertaining a misguided belief I would read through the "Who do you want to replace Crean" threads and make a little list of coaches people like so I can watch them closely in the Tourney and almost cannot believe how many times we rehash the same things with the same people in new topics. Might as well consolidate where we can.

Physical mail still is--and for quite a while will remain--the best way of voicing your opinion. Sitting down and writing or typing a letter to the AD expressing your concerns in a polite manner will be far more effective than booing or emailing. Calling is pretty good too. Either way express the actions you'll be taking in response to what they are doing (no longer donating, voting, buying things, whatever). That goes for everyone from Glass to Obama.   Will they read it personally? Almost certainly not, but the goal is to have your opinion heard and counted not to have it read by a particular person. The underlings who handle letters will tell Glass their content in some fashion. I don't know how he does it, but a weekly brief going over the main concerns or as part of a regular meeting are the most likely ways. They may include snips from particularly well-written letters as well. But, they'll give Glass the number of people who are expressing the same general opinion and what the opinion is. They likely include information from places like here too so Glass can assess the general tenor of the public.   In politicians, if the public outcry is such to risk losing an election or if a convincing argument is provided, they may change their position based on these briefs. Glass is not beholden to anyone but the trustees, so he has to gauge how the reaction will affect donations, admissions, and other numbers the higher-ups care about. Eventually, they do cave to public pressure. After all, most of the program's donor money comes from aggregates of small donations not a few large donors.   Booing may be considered as part of the public tenor, but it's the worst way to communicate any message other than "I don't know how to communicate frustrations as an adult".

Do you need me to bold the team names for you? This is pretty basic stuff Natty.

I think a lot of the response you'll get (and it might even be fair) is this:   Tom Crean can definitely build a program. He can take a program which is falling, and bring them back up to a respectable level, if anyone says otherwise they haven't been watching his last 20 years. This does not however, mean he can win a national championship. I absolutely respect and appreciate Crean for everything he has done for the program so far, but I am nervous about his ability to take the next step. There are simply different skills involved in the two processes and with the except of the latter half of this year, Crean has not showed me he has those skills. I would love to be proven wrong, whether through winning a championship or at worst an understandable loss after a great showing. As many have said for most of his tenure, Crean is a dynamite recruiter, especially when it comes to spotting diamonds in the rough. And is almost as good at developing and polishing those diamonds until they are bright and shiny. This is an essential talent for a coach who is going to bring kids into a six win program when a five-star player is just not in the cards, but less important when you're Bob Knight or Bill Self or Coach K and kids are dreaming of your offer.   It's similar to Jeff Fischer, who is seen by many as being above-average at moving NFL teams and likely has kept his job with the Rams for such a purpose. That ability does not make him a good coach for the other seasons, but it makes him very valuable when he's needed. I expect the Rams to move on to a new coach in 2017 (if I recall correctly that is when his current contract ends and he has not been extended) with the goal of becoming a Superb Owl contender.   A lot of people, including me, do hope Crean does well and shows he can win consistently, but understand if he can't then we need someone who can. And too many people get caught up in being against Crean and forgetting his accomplishments instead of just looking at the situation rationally with an outsider's mentality. Crean should not be unceremoniously fired and ran off of campus (unless he forces the issue), but we should recognize everything he did for the program, thank him for putting us back on the map, and move on to a coach who has the skill set of a National Championship winner.    If only we could be sure what that skill set is. Where are the data analysts on this one? I can tell you all the factors surrounding NFL coaches, but have nothing for college basketball coaches.

You can't spell:   Fellatio wanting nerds without Iowa - 72 Juiced on Hindi anabolic steroids without Indiana - 78

Weird. Maybe he took a full year off to save some eligibility? I wonder what happened around his transfer, kid just never seemed to get healthy but we are sitting on an open scholarship right now and we ditched the serviceable big for the goofy one without any skills. Not that he would get much PT this year anyway. And maybe having him would have prevented us from going after Max, and he's a game changer so it's just as well.

Trinity Valley is in Athens, Texas Also, the post doesn't appear on mobile like a Twitter link? I asked if anyone knew where Jeremiah April was because he isn't on the Trinity Valley roster.

Where is Jeremiah April? Anyone have a clue?   Everything says he went to Trinity Valley Community College, but he isn't on their roster?   http://tvccsports.com/sports/mbkb/2015-16/roster

I'm dead.