Jump to content

Thanks for visiting BtownBanners.com!  We noticed you have AdBlock enabled.  While ads can be annoying, we utilize them to provide these forums free of charge to you!  Please consider removing your AdBlock for BtownBanners or consider signing up to donate and help BtownBanners stay alive!  Thank you!

Aaron

Senior Member
  • Content Count

    5,249
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    6

Everything posted by Aaron

  1. Aaron

    IUWBB - News and Notes

    Every team besides Purdue and Ohio State have sold out their game vs Iowa. Also, Iowa has sold out every home game. Ohio State usually only opens 10k for women's basketball and curtains off balcony. They have opened up balcony for this one and want to sell all 19k now. Purdue has only a few left in upper level but still kind of ironic that they are only team with tickets left against Iowa in original configuration and game is a week away. Think that and IU eventually sell out by game time but still worth noting. Growing up Purdue would have been first to sell out a high profile game. Not last. Think Katie Gearlds has them on right track but this is another little nugget that shows how much damage Sharon Versyp did to program and Purdue continuing to hold onto her while she struggled. On a related note, the game in Bloomington vs. Purdue has to be really close to sold out as IU only lets one buy 12 GA Tickets at once. Every other game this season until now and going forward allows one to buy up to 150 GA tickets at once.
  2. This probably says Josh Maher (third Maher borther) will never make it to campus (although I have not heard that to be clear) and this is your starting center back with Jansen Miller taking Joey Maher's spot who left for MLS.
  3. Aaron

    Indiana vs Kennesaw State 6 PM on BTN Plus

    Sounds like it is COVID per Jeff Goodman. While that sucks, better than an injury. Unless he has a severe case of it (which is not seen that much anymore) he should be back next game. Also no testing of asymptomatic people anymore. Even if he passes it on, unless teammates shows symptoms, it shouldn't take whole teams down at once like it did a couple years ago. Back then, everyone was tested nearly daily so they would catch a ton of asymptomatic cases which won't happen now. No matter how you feel about the virus, it is treated the same as influenza at this point by the medical world. I am not saying this is right or wrong and want to leave the politics out of it, but this is how society has treated it now for better or worse.
  4. Maher and Bacharach are gone. McDonald could still decide to return despite being drafted.
  5. TBD. Josh was supposed to be here this year and deferred to 2024. Not clear if he ever makes it to campus as a top 30 prospect or goes straight to pros.
  6. I told everyone this was going to happen when I looked at the roster for next season on last page. Him and Bacharach by going to MLS Camp had told you they are leaving. Would not be surprised if everyone else who has eligibility and contributes returns (and Oduro and Miller have confirmed they will) but need official confirmation of that from guys like Harms, Sarver, and Mihalic who have pro prospects. If I had to choose now I would say goalie is Harms with defense being Demian, Barger, Miller, and maybe Josh Maher if he actually makes it to campus and takes his older brother Joey's spot. If Josh doesn't make it to campus than maybe a portal guy or Jackson Lindemore who is a highly ranked recruit. Midfield if everything goes according to planned is Mihalic, McDonald, Waggoner, Shreffler. Up top at forward would be Sarver and Oduro. Also, a player to watch is Michael Nesci who is a top-100 recruit and could slot in as a goal scorer immediately similar to Victor Bezerra or Masoy Toye a few yrs ago. Still a title contending team. Key is to start better so you get a more favorable bracket come NCAA Tourney. Been an issue since COVID. Got really high seeds in 2016-2019 since team was strong from get go and they need to get back to that.
  7. Gone way to far back. The 2015-2016 team in Yogi's senior year was undefeated at home. Women were as well that season. Combined 31-0 (17-0 men+14-0 women). Last year was also very close to perfect with just two home losses for men (NW, Iowa) and none for women till NCAA Tourney loss to Miami for combined 32-3.
  8. Aaron

    IUWBB @ Ruger - Saturday, 12.09.23 @ 4:00 on BTN

    Did you see who they have beat in the last three? None are very good at all. Rutgers also has a blowout loss to (albeit a solid mid-major) Fairfield at home as well as Auburn and Seton Hall with the latter two being the ones IU is most closely related to in talent and profile. This game is all about the Hoosiers. If the team brings the top effort and passion they have had at home and on neutral sites they win easily. If they bring the level of intensity they did to the first two road games it will go to the wire. Scarlet Knights have one really good player in Kaylene Smikle who could start anywhere in country (think of her like Sara Scalia when she was on Minnesota but with different skill set), and then a bunch of others who really are not good enough to be playing at this level. Focus on shutting down Smikle or let her score 25 and keep everyone else in check and this game should be no problem.
  9. Be careful. I have tried that once or twice and ended up with viruses on my computer after. As a result would rather pay the small fee as the price to wipe a hard drive is much more than any streaming service costs.
  10. I thought he was done but either way him going to MLS camp along with Maher 90% means they are gone.
  11. I was pretty confident Maher was leaving and this confirms it. Bacharach, Bejbej, Goumballe, Helmer, and Henderlong have used ever bit of eligibility they have. Beyond that not sure if Sarver, Mihalic, Oduro, McDonald, Harms, Barger, and Miller will come back or go pro early. Also, Clay Murador, Justin Shreffler, Noah Joseph, Jack Waggoner, and Joel Demian all showed promise as reserves and should be back. Besides that, four freshman are of interest and in top-200 with stars. They are forward Michael Nesci (Top-100 and four-star), defender Jackson Lindimore (top-150 and three-star) , midfielder Miles Imparto (top-100 and four-star), midfielder Charlie Heuer (Top-200 and three-star). The other four players have regional rankings but no stars or national ranking. The rankings in soccer are a crapshoot. Three wild cards: 1. Luka Bezerra has plenty of eligibility but so far has failed to live up to the hype in a couple seasons despite being a top recruit. Not sure if he stays and still plays sparingly, transfers down, or finally reaches his potential. 2. Josh Maher (Joey's brother) who was supposed to be in the last class but deferred a year. Being a top-30 recruit he could be here in spring and fall or never make it to campus. He is still listed in 2024 class on Top Drawer for whatever that is worth. He has no stars or ranking for this class due to the late reclassification but he was a five-star and top 30 in 2023. Those guys rarely make it to campus anymore at any school so that would be a huge coup even for a year. Last guy this highly ranked to make it to campus was his older brother Jack Maher who is now a pro and was a stud here for a couple years. Those guys that high are almost always sure fire hits if you can get them the campus and always have been here. You can have a rare four-star top-100 who fails to live up to the hype (see the current Bezerra and Emerson Nieto who transferred down) but they generally do if they get to campus. After that it is somewhat of a crapshoot. This is particularly true with so many foreigners coming to college now who have never been scouted. 3. Transfer portal like any sport works exactly the same in soccer in terms of who leaves and comes. Only difference is they have always had the one-time rule with immediate eligibility.
  12. Team is not as bad in PK's as everyone seems to think. Won five huge PK shootouts since 2017. Since they were never the last one people seem to forget them. Obviously everyone remembers the 2017 one to advance to College Cup. What everyone is forgetting is they needed PK's in Big Ten Tourney In 2018 against Maryland in semi's, 2019 in championship against Michigan, and 2020 in championship against PSU. You lose those and there is no three straight doubles in Big Ten. Also, in 2021 COVID spring had to survive PK's against LIU Brooklyn in second round or there is no College Cup that season. Yes the last two in the tournament have not gone IU's way but before that they had not lost in NCAA's on PK's since 2007. A lot of golden or late goals which are equally heartbreaking have absolutely happened (and does to everyone in tournament given the close matches). However no PK losses to close season between 2008 and 2022 title game last year. The real thing to look at is how much better this program has gotten again in last few seasons. Between 2005 and 2016 had a grand total of just two elite eight appearances, one college cup, and five Big Ten titles. Since 2017 despite missing another national title the team has eight conference trophies, five elite eight's, and four College Cups. While they have not finished the job in any of them, the team as a whole has never looked overmatched in any of these heavy weight fights and has advanced far deeper in tourney than in previous dozen seasons before that. Still waiting for that elusive ninth star. However, they have the talent and team to compete for it now now year in and year out which was not always the case previous to that when Mike Freitag nearly ruined the program and it took the current Yeagley a few years to build it back up to close to where his father had it.
  13. Game has sold out per Notre Dame website. Not surprising given stadium only seats roughly 3,000. While this is great for the game, hopefully no one tries to go and buy tickets there.
  14. Aaron

    College Football Thread

    Here is what happens a group of students on campus take the big football game this weekend a little to seriously. Admire their devotion but this is really sad and takes the hatred of your opponent a little to far: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39021124/dead-longhorn-found-oklahoma-st-frat-big-12-title-game
  15. TV rights are always with the home team. American East (and most non-power five leagues) has a contract with ESPN. All postseason events (outside of March Madness) are contracted with ESPN. All holiday tournaments are contracted to ESPN. Big Ten and Big East have contract with Fox. It is annoying but bottom line is anything postseason (outside of March Madness) or a road game not involving Big Ten or Big East is likely to be on an ESPN network. Anything involving Big Ten or Big East being home is likely to be on a Fox or NBC Network (BTN, BTN+, Peacock, FOX, NBC, FS1, FS2, ETC.). Bottom line is you need lots of different subscriptions right now which is annoying but it is the new reality. Sports fans unfortunately are going to have to decide if they want to shell out for several different services (which can be cancelled month to month) or not watch. That is the absolute truth that I am no happier to type than anyone else.
  16. Aaron

    IU Volleyball

    No tournament as expected with an RPI in the 70's in a much weaker Big Ten than usual. However, more interesting is Coach Aird was on with the Hysterics today and he actually addressed the infamous article with the allegations that now in retrospect look silly and paints the IDS in a bad light: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/iufb-coaching-search-coach-steve-aird/id1609450696?i=1000636765470 https://specials.idsnews.com/indiana-volleyball-steve-aird-culture-fear/index.html
  17. Aaron

    IUWBB - News and Notes

    Charlie Creme has IU all the way up to a 2 seed in his latest bracketology. Iowa a 1, OSU a 3. Everyone else in conference approaching bubble. Also has Tennessee and Princeton as 6 seeds and Stanford a 1. https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/30423107/ncaa-women-bracketology-2024-women-college-basketball-projections
  18. Link for tickets: https://fightingirish.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3AND%3AS23%3AMS04%3A&linkID=notre-dame&shopperContext=&pc=&caller=&appCode=&groupCode=NCAAMSOC&cgc=&dataAccId=163&locale=en_US&siteId=ev_notre-dame The capacity of the stadium is only 3,000 and demand is likely to be very high. I would suggest anyone wanting to go buy now as match could sell out fast.
  19. For what it is worth both Bob Kravitz and Jim Coyle have said after today's game they believe Allen is being fired. They may not have sources per se, but have to have heard something to write that.
  20. One more long road trip to Charlottesville. Win that and rest of tournament will be close to Indiana if not in it (Elite 8 will be in South Bend, Kalamazoo, or Bloomington, and College Cup in Louisville obviously).
  21. No. ESPN+ (or in some cases an ESPN channel) has exclusive rights to all postseason NCAA events now outside men's basketball. Whether we like it or not, to watch sports you will need to buy more or more online streams. Not a fan of it but at this point every fan has to choose if they want to keep watching and buy ala carte streaming services or skip watching. It's the unfortunate reality:(.
  22. Lipscomb has a strong offense and a really bad defense that leaks like a sieve. Should have no trouble scoring but need to make sure this does not turn into a Michigan type game.
  23. Big Ten was really weak this year (IU only bid and normally multiple teams make it) and it cost IU a national seed as did their sluggish play early. Good news is if they can get by Wake and Virginia, Elite 8 will likely be nearby at Notre Dame and College Cup is in Louisville. Kind of a reverse of the norm where IU starts closer to home and then goes farther as tournament goes along. Now after Thursday they start further and get closer if they keep winning.
  24. Just an FYI that Eastern Illinois is in contention to win their league and about no. 150 similar to Florida Gulf Coast on men's side. Lopsided difference in score Tuesday and tonight is difference between a team with almost all new players they are working in and a veteran side with national championship aspirations. Lipscomb, Princeton, Bowling Green also in that boat among IU's mid-major opponents on women's side picked to compete in their league. Stetson, Evansville, Maine, and Murray State are really bad and Stanford and Tennessee are fellow elite squads.
×