DChoosier

I could be wrong but think we added 4, not 2, more years and doubled his pay. No I would not let him shrivel but he is now tied with JH at Michigan for the longest guarantee in the BT. I would think there was a little room in the middle. Who knows....maybe someone was dangling big money for him to be an OC somewhere.

Yes it does make it easier to go to 3mm down the road but we are tied-in for 6 years......the longest in the Big Ten.

Having one of the games at 8:45 EST on New Years Eve was idiotic. Playing the games on two consecutive Saturdays is a no brainer.

You are half right. If it was IU it would have been 3rd and 19 when he ran for 50.

Well this is obviously not a popular opinion, as he was called a "tool", etc., but I am with Justin...6 years at 2.5 per after beating 2 1-7 BT teams...WOW. I get being competitive , and enjoyed watching us A LOT, with good teams this year but after 5 years I say C+. Sorry for saying it again but we have won 3 BT games in two years and 2 of the wins were against two of the worst PU teams ever. In years 2/3 his Big Ten record was 5-11. In years 4/5 it was 3-13. Without Suds, a couple of the OL guys and a few of our defensive departures I am afraid we will regress next year. Hopefully the contract will draw more recruits this year, we win 7 next year and I will eat my words. I am very pro-IU and really hope I am wrong about my concern that we will regret the size and length of this in a couple of years. I think he should have been retained but 6 @ 2.5 seems like a stretch.

Hopefully the scouts were thinking....this Bryant kid will really be good after another year or two in college.

I do not think so. Do you think Blackmon is headed towards the league just as he was prior to being hurt? He does not get the separation from defenders the way JJ can. PS...hope I am wrong, of course, and he has a great NBA career.

To be a NBA 2 guard he needs at least 2/3 of ....better D, more lateral quickness and/or more height. Wish him the best but do not see him in the league. Reminds me too much of Bracey Wright.

OSU also turned up their defensive intensity quite a bit in the first 10-14 minutes of the second half. Assume Matta jumped their #^%%*.

OSU defense intensity much different this half

Little things count. Yogi's drive did not go in (unforced good shot that did not drop) but he then looked at the basket instead of getting back on D.

Yes, All four of their basketball fans are bummed.

Our D has looked much, much better but boy has OSU missed a lot of close shots

Troy did a good job reducing the times he forced things (recall one wild shot but he got the foul call), Only recall Yogi doing his patneted dribble to the baseline/jump pass once, the other team needs to get a hip on OG or he is all over the offensive basket, extra passes were made, did not dribble the air out of the ball.....a lot of small things that added to big results.

12 assists and 5 turnovers. No, those numbers are not backwards.

loved that shot of the recruits behind the bench when the clock expired

I think Crean should be fired at the end of the year, so I am not covering up for him, but I was 10 feet from Blackmon at Rutgers and he was LIMPING. There was never a rumor that he was connected to last years pot smokers. I really do not think this is some kind of cover-up like some are implying.

He is a redshirt and McSorely was put in a few other times for "mop-up". That being said McSorley was a big time winner in HS, looked good today and might be more competition next year than Stevens expected.

A few points: *It is true that our first two conference games were against weak opponents but you cannot discount BT road wins. *it was great that NB did not have the same layup drill that Rutgers had. *PU lost at home. That alone makes this a beautiful day. *Two (of many) things I have gotten wrong... 1) I thought Rojo would step in and make people question why Blackmon was starting over him but he has laid a really big egg at Rutgers and NB. Really has surprised me. 2) After just a few minutes early in the season I did not think OG could possibly be a replacement for Holt. Happy to say I was wrong. He is looking good.

I was near the floor at the Rutgers game and he was walking with a limp.

Hope Feeney does not declare like Howard and Darius as we really need a solid line in front of whoever takes over at QB.

Yes!!!! I was at the game with my wife and have to admit I did not think it was the greatest lineup but they then went on a run and all the sudden we were up 9 or 10 (you use the word scrappy and to me it seemed they really had a strong desire to win) I turned to my wife and said "we are on a good run so Crean will take out a few of these guys" and sure enough he did. Other teams give players on a run a long block of playing time. Other teams do not take a guy out right after hitting a couple three pointers in a row. I think frequent subbing makes him feel he is "coaching" and some type of chess master.

I think Lagow is the key......by a mile. I say that because with a decent QB the offense can be good next year with a good OL (especially if Feeney returns), experienced receivers and Redding is a good replacement for Howard. Offense has to make it happen much like it was on the offense this year. I agree with you that major improvement of the D would make a huge difference but I have little faith that the D will improve in a MAJOR way. Game 13 we still tackled poorly, bad angles, gave up big plays, left receivers incredibly wide open (luckily the Duke QB was not real accurate), 3rd and long is an adventure, we give up a ton of yards, etc etc. Nothing leads me to believe (I would love to be wrong) that things will all the sudden change on D next year.

I will also be there. The students are on break but it is still virtually a sell out which leads me to belive the place will be 33% IU. We show up in the NYC area. IU 81 Rugrats that should not be in the Big Ten - 69.

That team did have some talent ( talent, but not saying close to best talent in tourney) with Mr Basketballs from several states and a couple of burger boys but the toughness of Fife, Moye, Coverdale (and others) does not seem, at this point, to be remotely closely matched by this team. The 2001-2002 team just had guys with the strong will to win. On the current team I think guys like Bracey Wright (oops, I mean Blackmon) are probably good guys but do not seem to have the killer "do whatever it takes to win" attitude. All that being said.....it was great to see them claw back from 16 down against ND. Can they sustain that?