Southside

If we were talking about a lot less teams, I'd agree. But way too many teams and games to really use the eyes. I'd be fine with a straight up transparent formula. Anything to remove the Bartas of the world..

If I'm going to try and hot-tub-time-machine my mind back to the 80s and early 90s, I should probably drink Natural Lite and try to recall the beer bonging I did at Walnut Knolls with some of the 89-90 team. Anderson could consume, along with the Grahams and Nover lol..

Agreed. They've been Jekyll and Hyde but when they are on, they are on. Difficult start of the year for them, but wouldn't be surprised at all if things started clicking for them, especially with JH's return.

Yup. I picked PU simply because of the semi-home-court advantage. My dark horse is Michigan though. Interesting season for them too. Anyone could get hot and grind it out with a little luck.

If you're talking about Rutgers, yup, agree. They have some very nice wins, but also some bad losses. Strange team and year for them.

This year is a strange season for the B10 IMO. Not sure I'd bet on any team. I could see half the B10 winning it. IL, PU, Wiscy, Iowa, OSU, and either of the teams from Michigan. In short, any of the top 8 winning would not shock me. Rutgers probably would be the closest to surprising me.

Lucky #13?

Picked PU, and lose to IL.

Didn't see a general thread on the B10 Tournament. If I missed it, please merge. Love that we have shot at getting back at Michigan in our first game. Rutgers at a 4 is a bit of a head scratcher from a pure visual standpoint lol.. Overall, I think we need to two wins to make our case a clear one. Wish I was back in Indy this week.

Pretty happy with the O/shooting performance. Maryland isn't a BB giant, but good road win nonetheless. Needed that W badly and got it. Good to have Phin back. Rutgers is a must-win home game. Win that one, and I like our chances.

MN is tough at home. IU 65 MN 63

TJD is most of opposing team's focus. Can you imagine them focusing on the lesser "best guy"...

Kopp is not good. He gets top 5 minutes, but not top 5 in any stat except in FT%, and he doesn't shoot a lot of FTs lol. Not saying he's not good on the floor in terms of the bolded, but just being vocal does not equate to good. Just speaks more to the roster that Woody inherited and was able to scrape together.

Not sure in what world Kopp is adequate on D given the minutes he gets. Comparing him to Stewart is not really a thing in that aspect. Like I said, I'm OK with Leal getting more time.

Sorry, but this is a bad take lol. Race is great piece. He's not better than TJD though. I agree Leal might needs more minutes, but talking about him, Kopp and PStew in the same breath is a bit head scratching. Kopp is just not that good, and his minutes are a product of roster limitations. PStew and Leal are a better conversation, but both are limited at this point in their very different careers. I do agree we need Gallo and Phin. We're different with them. But we'd be horrible without TJD right now taking most of the attention from other teams. If we shot better as a team, I might agree with you a bit more. But we don't.

Great post. That said, I don't have any illusions of winning a natty or anything, but would be nice to sneak in and extend the season. If we win the next two and lose to PU, I think we're still right there on the edge. Performance in the B10T likely would be the factor. IMO if we win the next two, and win the first game in the B10T, good chance we're in depending on some others. Lose either of the next two, then we'll need a run in the B10T. I've thought the same on the transfers. And not just them, guys like TJD and Race too. Culture is hard to overcome in one year when you really don't have "your guys", but hope the guys find a second gear. Like I said, no delusions of us being great, but would love to at minimum play role of spoiler in the Big Dance. Just something to build on in addition to the win over PU after the drought. By the way, Woody is on Connie Barta's cheat list.

Still day to day

Great shooting performance from the starters (sans PStew). Really really nice games from Race and XJ. Not much room for error now, especially with our SoS. Regardless, good to get the W.

Amen lol. And when grappling, head butts.

I might have set a record for stitches as a kid and young man lol... And it wasn't because I was snitchin' lol.

I grew up a rough kid, in an inner city neighborhood, and had the pleasure of spending most weekends in the summer at my grandfather's farm. And in a decade that wasn't about "feelings", coloring books, play doh, and safe spaces,,,, lol.... So I'm not a stranger to giving or receiving a punch in my youth. But of course you try your best to grow up, but you really never forget.

That's funny ****

The league, and the nation, hell the world for that matters, is way too sanitized. Not trying to say violence isn't bad or solves things. What I am saying is that people are both good and bad, and both.... and life overall is grey and always will be despite what utopian ideas you might by in to. Human nature.... flaws. And punches lol....

I can understand why you might think so. I'd be fine with more officials. But overall, and purely IMO, we've seen (at times not always) some awful crews and awful individuals. If the NCAA doesn't have some dedicated QA folks, I think it's just silly. If services like PFF (for NFL/football) can grade every player playing every single play, I think the NCAA should be able to look at every single foul. And I'll say this. I don't mind most of the game. But some plays (timing or situation) just really sticks out at times. If they are already grading every foul, then they need to add more guys. If they are not looking at every single foul, then they need to start there.

To both. I've always wondered what type of QA procedures go on behind the scenes for officiating. You'd think the P5s would employ a couple guys to review every foul called in every game. More or less a grade for each official.