Old Friend

Personally, I love that the rest of the country - the SEC in particular - believes that "if Indiana can do it, so can they." Cignetti was a perfect storm and was both beneficiary and master of the portal and NIL. He brought 13 starters from a ranked team with him. He brought culture and expectations. He brought a familiar, successful, and experienced staff. The turnaround was rapid because of it and much bigger than any of us had a right to anticipate. What he did here cannot be duplicated. Ever. It was a one time event, managed perfectly with a very defined and singular set of circumstances. He was the perfect fit at the perfect time at the perfect place with the perfect circumstances. Lane Kiffin isn't going to do any more at LSU than he did at Ole Miss and LSU paid $70 million to find out. That will happen all over the country. And here we'll sit with everyone else wondering how in the hell we did it. They aren't paying attention to the why or the how. They care only about the "what." And we will watch them all go crazy trying to figure out what we already know. Curt Cignetti - first of all - is one of one. He's Bob Knight reincarnated....football version. The circumstances under which he came here and succeeded won't ever exist again. And it will never be "spending" that succeeds. You have to have what he does....an acute understanding of "how" and the discipline to stay with it. Anyone think Lane Kiffin can do that? He also got every move right when he got here and has continued. He is a leader and he builds leaders. I wish I had a daughter so I could introduce her to Aidan Fisher and others. I wish I were hiring and needed young people to grow and run my company. How many kids on that team will kill it professionally? I am going to truly enjoy the rest of college football chase and try to emulate what Indiana has done. The fools will never understand and I promise we will be the beneficiaries of the craziness.

Gauging by watching yesterday, they are not better than we are. We are at least as good up front and better than any team they've seen so far on both lines. The key to me is whether or not we can get a pass rush on Sayin. We're fine against the run. But we can't let him sit back there and either throw it deep or check easily down to his tight ends. We HAVE to move him. We do that? We can win by 2+ scores. We don't? It'll be a slog all night.

I'll happily lead off. I watched yesterday with full intent of making up my mind on whether or not OSU is better than Indiana. They are solid. They are not a better football team. Indiana will be healthy with something to prove. OSU is coming off an emotional win with nothing to prove. As Pat McAfee would say : GIMME' THE INDIANA HOOSIERS!!!!! IU 20 OSU 17

Indiana 52 Dipsh*ts 6

I hope so (Cherry). He's got every tool a QB needs.

Hill is raw and needs to develop, but he will play in the NBA. Saw him twice last season and he's eventually going to be really good.

After what Indiana has been through the last 25 years, does the success in football REALLY mean we have to mention "pulling the plug" on basketball already??

Every coach and player on the roster is new and we have no size. You're a fool if you think the NIL and portal can win immediately in that scenario. No. You don't "have to" be patient, but it's ridiculous to use resources as an excuse for what this team is and will be. Mike Woodson wrecked the program and the culture. Curt Cignetti is the exception, not the rule and dozens of teams have terrific resources. And ALL except IU have a culture and returning players. Cignetti succeeded because he brought a coaching staff and 13 of his best players from a ranked team with him. He brought culture and expectations. DeVries didn't have that luxury and it takes a little time to develop a culture...especially one you can sell to recruits. I'd suggest patience.

We're just gonna' have to face the reality that Indiana isn't very good, yet. Indiana isn't close to physical or athletic enough to compete consistently at a high level. Have to remember everything is new and we'll all have to be VERY patient

Indiana 89 Lindenwood 51

IU 96 ICWU 54

Indiana 44 UW 17

Think it's past "possibility." The eyeball test, just like football, tells a very compelling story. Indiana's good. They need the weight room and more size, but movement and shooters win at every level of basketball.

IU 96 UWM 62

We get a win IU 73 Marquette 67

Indiana 93 A&M 61

IU 42 PSU 15

The best thing he did was get out ahead of the NIL era. I heard this morning there will be > $250 million in dead money paid to coaches (James Franklin, Brian Kelley, etc) as contract buyouts. That's crazy. In college football, no team can win consistently without an elite coach. There might be a dozen of them nationwide and we have one of them who is happy at Indiana. Scott being ahead of things and finding that coach before everyone else found out they had to changed the game and everything about athletics at Indiana. Basketball will benefit from football's success AND get better on its own. We're sitting in a really good spot and Indiana is most definitely here to stay. We have perfect alignment - for the first time since Ralph Floyd and John Ryan - between coaches, athletic director, and school president. That's rare and we get to enjoy it.

Indiana 49 MD 17

Your point is...? I did say "I assume that'll get reined in," and I also mentioned (twice) the quality of his shots. It isn't all about the percentage itself......which I think is your correlation, right? That Goode was fine until he wasn't and you're extrapolating that into the opposite in this case?

It never ceases to amaze me how some people have a complete inability to comprehend words that are actually written in favor of those they want to read so they can react and be condescending. I guess that's why they used to have that as a section on the SAT. Some people can't do it and get weeded out.

His numbers over 3 games at IU were the same as Myles Rice. I looked it up. I hope we never remember either of those two.

Funny how things like this can blow up when people either read them wrong or get defensive. I don't like "heat check" shots. Especially from a kid who isn't "hot." Indiana won't win in the Big Ten or against good teams with anyone taking multiple quick, bad shots. And by any objective measure....he did the other night. He's taken 37 shots from behind the line while wearing an Indiana uniform and made 32% of them. Roughly the same as Myles Rice a year ago. That kind of % combined with bad shot selection will drive me crazy whether I give it a minute or not, and I would hope the same for anyone objective given the garbage we have watched in that building for the lion's share of the last 30 years. I can see numbers and watched him chuck it with no conscience the other night. "It was just an exhibition game....relax." Yeah, okay. If the two didn't corollate ..fine. But they do. I would assume that'll get reined in but if not? It'll drive me crazy.

Indiana 35 UCLA 14

I promise he didn't shoot 45% taking the quality of shots he took the other night. My eyes work and my opinion is based on what I saw. We don't need bad shots anymore. We've tried that.