Old Friend

One of Leal's AAU team mates is a kid I've coached for 3 years. I had a chance to talk briefly with him (Leal) on Saturday, and I'll simply say this : I'd take 10 of him.

Indiana 93 SDSU 59

Michigan's line is among the nation's best; they're a top 10 team playing their best football, and they have a great quarterback and terrific (and big) skill guys. Indiana was out manned and with so many deficiencies; we'd have had to be perfect. And we weren't. Every weakness we have was exposed. We are not at that level...Michigan is playing as well as any but 3-4 teams in the country right now.

Because they play stupid against bad teams, too. They've made big and stupid mistakes since Allen's been here. The only person on the planet who doesn't seem to grasp that is Tom Brew, some blog dude who "covers" IU about as poorly as any person could.

As long as Indiana is in the Big Ten East, there is a hard ceiling. Wash, rinse, repeat. As long as Indiana continues to commit costly penalties, there is a hard ceiling. Wash, rinse, repeat. As long as Indiana continues to sustain multiple important injuries year after year after year, there is a hard ceiling. Wash, rinse, repeat As long as Indiana's quarterback can't consistently throw the ball accurately down the field, there is a hard ceiling. Wash, rinse, repeat. As long as Indiana's line is unable go block or get any push, there is a hard ceiling. This is a new development. As long as Indiana's secondary can't figure out how to cover receivers, there is a hard ceiling. Inconsistent. Indiana is a 7-8 win football team. But that's all they are.

A terrible look is different than "the conference is unhealthy." I'll stick with my original statement that regardless of the outcomes, the Big Ten has had more teams in the final four than any other league in the last 15 years. They have given themselves that opportunity. They have also done just fine in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and the Gavit Games or whatever that Big Ten/Big East event is called. I think there's a hell of a lot more to the results than the overall health of the Big Ten.

So you're going to base the overall success of a conference based on the outcome of a single game?? That proves nothing. It just proves no Big Ten team has won a 3 week, 68 team tournament. You're telling me that means the Big Ten isn't doing something right when they've given themselves the opportunity more than any other conference? Okay.... Your measure is your measure; but if national titles is your only measure for success, then the poor PAC 10/12 is in a world of hurt too, and the American conference is in better shape than the Big Ten. But....your measure is your measure. Edit : FWIW since 2010, the Big Ten has had 59 players drafted into the NBA and has by FAR the most balanced distribution among teams. Kentucky, Duke, and North Carolina obviously skew the results to the ACC and SEC. I don't think the sky is falling because Indiana didn't land Dawson Garcia.

Just picked ~ 15 years...so "modern." Big Ten has been in the final game 6 times. You're really basing the comment that it's not worked out well for the Big Ten" over the results of one game? That's an awfully narrow window and in reality based on factors well beyond how a conference is doing....but your measure is your measure. You have to get there, and the Big Ten has been there more than any other conference.

Dating back to 2005, the Big Ten has had 12 Final Four teams. The ACC has had 9. The Big East has had 10. THE SEC has had 10. What's not working out so well?

Again, I was making a point about a specific comment used as why we needed Garcia. I understand completely the points pro and con about Luke Brown. Brown would be a kid who wouldn't do ,much in the Big Ten until he was a junior, and his body would have to change before he would be able to be anything but a stand still jump shooter. I get it.

I have seen him play plenty. He's a Euro 4/5. If what Rabjohns said is true (and it wouldn't surprise me), the physical nature of the Big Ten scared him off. And we don't need a kid scared of being physical, regardless of what his skills are. He's skilled, sure, but is he the difference between Indiana's program going in a good direction or not?? No. Not close. I'm not at all minimizing him. I'm just not giving him the status some are. My reference to Brown was pointed at the "he averages ______/game, therefore we want him" comments. Points don't mean a hell of a lot. It wasn't at all a comparison and it wasn't me making a case for Brown. Garcia would have helped us. He also would have helped Duke, Kansas, Memphis, Minnesota, and Baylor. This, to me, is another in a long line of recruits who are given WAY too much weight one way or the other. All's great and we're winning titles if we get him; the sky is falling if we don't. Mike White was "Kong" and was going to come in here and dominate the Big Ten. Ben Allen was a 6'10" Euro who could play 4 positions and would be one of the best shooters in the Big Ten. DeAndre Thomas was supposed to be a dominant player. Every time we miss on a kid who's serious about Indiana (and...other schools too, by the way), some use it as some ridiculous indictment of whoever the coach is. Indiana and Marquette are not at all similar programs; so I'm not even sure I believe IU "missed."

I love it. This is a 4* kid. He plays in Minnesota and generally against kids smaller than he is and not as talented. The point has been made that he averages 27 PPG, using that as a positive point of why we need him. Yet we have a local kid in Luke Brown averaging 35 PPG (and who will leave high school as the all time leading high school scorer in Indiana) who nobody wants because he "doesn't play against anybody." We "have to start landing kids like Garcia." Okay...you mean like Romeo Langford or Trayce Jackson-Davis; both of whom were ranked higher? One of whom is as big and a better player? We HAVE "started landing" kids like this. Did you forget? No school gets all of them. Especially out of state kids who want to stay closer to home. Nobody knows what the future holds, nor what our current kids or recruits will become. To pin the state of our program and future hopes on Dawson Garcia is a fool's errand regardless of who he chooses. Indiana will be just fine. Sometimes, this board really makes me laugh.

Indiana 79 LaTech 69

Okay then...who do YOU root for? If you don't understand IU fans, you don't understand IU. Talk to Geronimo. Ask him why HE chose Indiana. Or Trayce Jackson-Davis. A McDonald's All American who could have gone anywhere he wanted. Or the kids who walk on at IU every year. Or Victor Oladipo. Or any number of others. You can speak for yourself and you're a genius. When you speak for other people with a blanket, you look like an idiot. Nobody I know is living in the past except to use it as a barometer for what Indiana can be.

UM 34 IU 17

Yes. 5 billion people were cast that way. All 5 billion potential recruits were characterized the same way. Except Irena here. This woman? Sneaky quick. Range to 32'. SHE isn't characterized that way, but the OTHER 4,999,999,999 potential IU signees are all projects. Every damned one of them.

True only if you have no idea what you're looking at and can only judge based on past results.

How dense does someone have to be to believe one kid from Minnesota by himself defines the direction of a program so obviously headed in the right direction? You think if we don't get a 17 year old kid named Dawson Garcia to say "yes" to a scholarship offer from our favorite school things change? I don't see anywhere someone saying "it's good to miss out on him." And by the way, how many good high school players HAVE said yes who didn't pan out? Jeremy Hollowell? Remember the buzz about Clifton Moore? (another out of state big man who many - probably you - said was a really talented big man who would do well here) Hell, even great players - we got Noah Vonleh and Thomas Bryant and never did a thing with them. The inability to grasp a bigger picture, making a person both ignorant and narrow is no way to go through your (oops) life. I know you're just waiting for Indiana to fail so you can come back and remind us how smart you were...there can BE no other explanation. Your problem? There are many much smarter. You're just betting the Don't Pass line. Doesn't make you smarter. It just makes you "that guy" nobody wants to play with. You're alone at the table with 1-2 other guys. Enjoy your time drinking with them. Humbug!

Like I said about Damezi, his shot may not look great, but it's effective. He is shooting and frankly playing with a ton more confidence than he was, which is more important to me than style points. He isn't going to be counted on to take many, but he is now a threat from out there which will open things up for him and for everyone else. It's a small sample size to be sure, but he has doubled his % from last year so far. He had only made 10 in his career entering this season, and has already made 3. He doesn't need to do any more than he's already done to make that an effective shot for him, simply because it's now a threat.

Doesn't hurt that his dad was one of the best rebounders and interior defenders of his era, either.

Another stat I love..Assist/TO ratio through 4 games among our ball handlers. First of all, nobody has > 8 TO's yet. That's huge. Durham 9 assists 7 TO's (not good, but among ball handlers, this is the worst and I think will improve) Phinisee 16 assists 8 TO's Franklin 13 assists 6 TO's Green (granted only 1 game) 4 assists 1 TO And we're assisting on ~ 67% of all FG's. All of that is a HUGE improvement over a year ago, even against less than stellar competition.

Durham's bad-assery and improvement has been terrific to watch. Hunter's availability really helps. Phinsee will be good enough from out there, Damezi's shot looks awful, but it's effective (I'm really happy for that kid...he's completely different than he was last year in everything from stature to intensity to results to demeanor), and Franklin will be a threat, too. Nobody is yet at "you can't leave that guy!" status, but none are "don't have to guard him out there," either. Ironically enough, I'm more comfortable with ALL of the players mentioned above before I'm comfortable with Green right now. Until he's shaken the rust off, there are 5-6 guys who should be shooting it out there before he should. The most shocking to me is Smith!

I think it all boils down to whether or not he wants to or is comfortable with going farther away from home than Milwaukee. Indiana and Marquette are not at all similar programs or experiences. Marquette's home arena is the Fiserv Forum - same building as the Milwaukee Bucks. An NBA building in no way similar to Assembly Hall. Marquette is in a major city - Milwaukee. Not comparable at all to Bloomington. He is - in terms of school and experience - comparing apples to oranges. Marquette is a fine program; no disrespect; but this comparison doesn't appear necessarily to be one school or program vs. another. As was mentioned, yeah....they have Dwayne Wade, who is now retired. We have Oladipo, Gordon, Langford, Vonleh, Bryant, Zeller, etc. who can all give a more recent account of their experiences. To me, this is a logistics battle and nothing more.

Indiana 83 Princeton 60

And posters who deny it don't know what they're looking at.