RaceToTheTop

This was the first time I really, really didn't like him. Felt like he had on his Purdue letterman's jacket when he was on the mic. Seemed to be openly rooting for a UNC G win.

Nope. IU was up 9 at half and won by 11. Take away Ballo's basket and the second half is even.

The biggest problem is he went to mass subs at one point that had Galloway, Carlyle, Goode, Tucker, and Hatton in the lineup. The worst thing you can do when a player is struggling offensively like Goode or Carlyle is put them in a situation where they are now expected to be carrying a heavier offensive load.

I mentioned before the game that although UNC Greensboro was undersized, they had been rebounding well. They were +7 against Florida Gulf Coast and -2 against SMU. IU didn't rebound well today, but it was +5 IU. Have to do a better job at blocking out on long rebounds. UNC G took 32 threes today and there were a lot of long rebounds coming out. That's not just on the bigs blocking out -- guards have to be aware of the long caroms as well. My takeaways from some individual performances: Galloway played the worst game I've seen from him in memory. Tucker was a man and wanted the ball. Rice played well but did have too many turnovers. Carlyle is a hell of an on ball defender but offensively he's simply not there. I wish they would get him going to the rim more. Off night for MM but he was due for one of those. IU continues hitting their free throws which is a departure from the last few years. Woodson.must.stop.the.first.half.mass.subs. I have never had an issue with Hummel announcing IU games but thought that tonight he was openly taking delight when IU struggled. Don't know how many times he said 'IU was lucky there' if UNC G missed an open shot.....but never said anything of that nature if IU missed one.

Yep. UNC Greensboro is at 168 on Pom. The wins we were getting last year including a couple of nail biters against 300ish teams. This game in no way compares to a game like we had against Army last year. Through four games, IU has averaged winning by 20 points against teams that are at 72, 168, 269, and 318. That's okay. FWIW, I believe in the four games IU was favored by an average of 21 points.

Wow....that's a foul?

Not sure how that's a foul on Tucker.

Against Eastern Illinois, I believe. Think it was BTN+

He has already.

I wish Woody would coach first halves like he does second halves. First half is so freaking predictable -- starters going to all play the first eight minutes, then you can expect him to put three or four subs in all at the same time and regardless of how bad they play, he leaves them in for the next four minutes where inevitably the opponent whittles the lead back down. In the second half it's less predictable in terms of who is playing and he matches up better and sticks with hot hands.

So led in scoring by Kenyon Giles, 5'9" guard. Has shot 50% overall and 50% from three this season but that's way above his career numbers. Had been more of a 40/31 guy before that and this year the shooting numbers are a little inflated as he went 4/5 (3/3 from three) in a game against a D2 team. Shoot first point guard but he doesn't turn it over much. As a team, they have shot it well from three.-- but just like Giles, if you take out the game played against a D2 team, it drops significantly. They were 12 of 22 from three in that game. In their two games against D1 teams (Florida Gulf Coast and SMU), they were 17 of 51 (33%). Small strating lineup (5'9", 6'2", 6'5", 6'6", 6'8") but they have rebounded decently. That said, their starting 5 and guys bigs off the bench top out at 6'8" and don't have any bulk.

Yeah, if we win by 5 it won't be enough. If we win by 17, we won't have covered. If we win by 30, we played sucky competition. I kid. Bottom line, need to win by this games and not have a repeat of last year where the wins were just by a few points against poor competition. The South Carolina win was good -- 16 against a P5 team. Eastern Illinois IU played one horrible half and one really good half. Eastern Illinois was kind of a meh game but the margin was enough to not hurt. I do miss the days where the bottom line was about wins and losses and not about margin. I am hoping that Leal gets some run tonight. Eight man rotation was fine against South Carolina because it was better competition than the previous two games but hopefully this will end up being the type of game where Leal and Hatton can get a little time on the court.

Leisure Suit Larry

Fort Wayne up 1 with 13:38.

Final Marquette 76, Purdue 58

tie game, 47 seconds left, Northwestern ball

Marquette finally stretches the lead -- 63-49 with just under 5 minutes to play. Purdue really not playing their A game.

If Marquette could hit anything right, they would be pulling away. Instead, still a seven point game.

Purdue really committing a lot of turnovers.

Marquette simply looking like the better team but they aren't putting any distance between them and Purdue. Five points game now. When Purdue does score, they are getting layups.

Marquette 35, Purdue 28 at half. Purdue really can't feel bad about being down 7 because they were uncharactistically sloppy.

Marquette 31, Purdue 23 late in the first half. Purdue is very good at switching on picks. But they are doing a very poor job when they are taken off the dribble.

Bought a stand up arcade machine a while back — has joust, gauntlet, rampage and defender.

IU 84 UNCG 69

In terms of Deion Sanders.....just my opinion, but staying at Colorado > going to Florida State. NIL might be better at Florida State, but the ACC is in dire straits. Both the SEC and Big Ten rejected Clemson and Florida's attempts to join. Best case for Florida State would be to join Big 12 but that's likely years away.