Aaron

How important is the strike position in soccer? Paige Webber has turned into the dynamic scorer the team lacked last year and suddenly they went from bad to good.

The team got a signature win tonight at Miami in a raucous atmosphere in a five set nail biter. A decent Big Ten season now puts them in contention for NCAA Tournament baring a slip up tomorrow against two awful teams.

Their is no obvious answer with the striker position up the middle and its bogs down the whole offense. Yeagley is the best in the business at solving early season issues but this is his biggest test yet with no clear answers on the roster who can create chances. The loss of Ryan Wittenbrink is far bigger than anyone including Yeagley realized. Expectations may need to be adjusted to just making tournament again and keep the streak going of every year since 1986. They have the defense to do it, but unless something changes with the attack (and I'm not sure it will) the team will be sweating during the selection process for the first time since the 80's (unless they get the auto bid through Big Ten Tourney).

The Big Ten has to put out the conference schedule out first. The first Big Ten game is generally included in a pack so until the league decides to release their schedule (they are already a week later than last yr doing it) they cannot put the pack of games on holiday break (which includes Kansas) on sale. They cannot put single game tickets on sale for those holiday games until they sell the packs first which can't be done until schedule is out as described above. In other words until the Big Ten puts the schedule out the Kansas tickets cannot be put on sale.

Yes. You play one non-D1 team a season. Men have Trine later in the season.

Huge panic on the lack of attack for sure. Yeagley tends to figure this out as season goes on but he has his work cut out for him given his personnel at the striker in the middle.

IU has had plenty of hard luck losses. That was not one of them. This defense is absolutely elite and the fact they gave up just one goal against that barrage shows how much better they are now in the back. Team has given up three goals in five games but is just 2-2-1 they have only scored four in that same period. Big Ten play begins now and team better figure out a way to make their attack more dynamic or this season will be a lot of 1-0 results that go both ways and even some 0-0 ties. The saving grace is every single team in the conference has really struggled in the early going with each one being as inconsistent as Indiana.

As I said not having a quick dynamic striker up the middle is an absolute killer and it is bogging down the offense to a level we have not seen since 2016. Defense is stout as can be to only allow one in this barrage. Last year in same situation this is a 3-1 game in USF's favor. Most teams IU plays this season will not be this dynamic. However, squads like Penn State, Kentucky, Rutgers, and Maryland that play more open like this is going to be a big issue if something does not change.

What in the world? I have not seen IU look that bad in a half since the Creighton game two years ago. USF has struggled all season and was yet to score. However, they have all the talent in the world and clearly know this game can get them back on track. Hoosiers appeared to have seen their record and taken them way lightly and are lucky to not be down 4-0. Whatever happened that half better be an isolated incident like against the Blue Jays a couple seasons ago or this squad has huge problems.

Welcome back to the 2014-2016 seasons of IU soccer. That is not the worst thing in the world but the striker in the 11 spot in the 4-3-3 is a huge issue just like it was back then. Neither Goumballe, Bezerra, nor Henderlong are really suited for that role but there is no other answer, so it is a less than ideal situation. Same issue as it was with Femi and Rashad Hyacinth those years. Defense and midfield look the best they have been in a long while. However, for the first time in seven seasons, goals will be a bit harder to come by as a result of what I described above. No ones fault really and you can still win at a high level and make a run at the College Cup with this weakness. With that said, it definitely ties up the attack at times and can make it frustrating to watch.

Honestly not that upset. Two of your four hardest games are done now and you are 1-1-1. This looked like a matchup of two top end teams that could be in College Cup that didn't go IU's way and either team was worthy. The issue the last two years (before the College Cup run) was several problematic losses to teams the Hoosiers were better than in 2021 and than last year bad ties against squads IU was much better than in 2022. Even in 2017 and 2018 when Indiana was the best team in the country they had a couple 50-50 losses like tonight (UK, Wake). The difference is they took care of every team easily that was not in the top 10-15. The next six are against opposition the Hoosiers are better than and this is where we can start judging. Need to be at worst 5-0-1 in this stretch if this is going to be a great season. I fully thought 1-1-1 in this stretch that included two potential College Cup contenders (ND, Washington) was entirely possible. Now its time to take care of teams IU is more talented then.

Faith Wiseman and Sydney Fenn are already committed in 2024 as is Makalusky in 2025.

DePaul has been watching to much of their city mates in Northwestern with the way they parked the bus tonight just as the Wildcats do every time they play the Hoosiers. Nothing more annoying than watching a team put 10 men on D and never try to attack. Hate it when NW always does it and was just as bored watching it tonight as if paint was drying. Glad Hoosiers made them pay eventually even if it took a while.

I would assume Parrish will be fine when season starts. If in the worst case scenario she broke her hand this week that is an 8-10 week injury. Season is 12 weeks away so she should be fine when everything tips off.

There was zero chance IU was beating LSU, UF, WF, Stanford or UVA who were top seeds hosting and were basically top 4-5 teams. All those teams advanced for a reason and no one was taking them down before Omaha. Yes beating USM, TCU, or Oregon was possible since they all were in brackets where upsets were pulled in the regional (or in TCU's case where ISU's administration gifted it to them and gave up hosting). Both those scenarios are the same with or without Sinnard. As good as Mercer has done there is a reason no northern conference school outside of Michigan has gone to a top southern school and won a super since IU in 2013. It is a once in a decade occurrence and would take an upset of epic portions regardless of Sinnard's status. That was not changing with or without him available. When a team like Oral Roberts advances to a CWS it is because they get lucky and have a bracket open up with the top-16 national seed getting upset and a much easier supers matchup. IU's chance at Omaha almost certainly rests on that happening. They were not going to be a top-10 national host regardless and even that is no guarantee as elite no. 6 2015 Illinois found out when hosting Vandy in supers. IU was going to be really good (and still very well could be) with Sinnard, but not as good as these elite southern schools that host the super regional. Even getting upset by a Stanford (who in retrospect had three legit pros compared to IU's two) as IU did in 2014 as a host is not out of the question when a top power school is in your regional.

I didn't see IU in the CWS before the injury. I thought super regionals was the ceiling with Sinnard and now it is regional final like last year with chance at supers depending on how pitching develops. Going on the road to a southern team for a best of 3 (IU was not a top 8 team to host regardless) was very unlikely to go well no matter what. Unless there is an upset in your bracket you are not making it to Omaha. Even if you host as a 12 though 16 seed (which was the best case scenario is ideal circumstances and still could be and exactly what you had before) you will head on road to a top team like LSU and get pounded in all likely hood no matter what just like UK and every other lowed seed did in this situation. IU's ceiling was certainly not higher than UK's in 2022 at full strength. The dead bat era of 2013 and the mid 2010's allowed more upsets for a good power hitting squad like IU back then on road in the 3-14 matchup to advance to CWS. Now with the bats allowing maximum power to everyone again upsets like that no longer occur as often in a best of 3. Now it needs to happen in regionals opposite you or you are dead meat come supers as UK found out. As I said to advance to Omaha you need an upset in the regional bracket opposite you and that still goes with or without Sinnard.

That sounds about right. That is about 5-10 spots which lowers ceiling slightly as I said and not 'way down'. Still Big Ten favorites but may not host a Regional as hoped. Depends on how good Risedorph and Bothwell likely are at top of rotation. Lots of unanswered questions with staff and worst case scenario you are Maryland of 2022 which is a great floor and best case you are 2021 Maryland who hosted a Regional and was top-15 elite. I'll take that and team is in best position going into a season it has been in a decade regardless. An already loaded offense adds top transfer Nick Mitchell, top freshman Andrew Wiggins, and top catcher AJ Shepherd who returns from an elbow injury. Fully expect everyone to hit near or at .300 similar to 2013 IU. Question is does pitching bring its ERA down one run to the 4's (which should make it 20-30 as you said) or two runs the 3's (top 15 likely)? Remember they knocked it down from the 7's to the 5's from 2022 to 2023 hence the turnaround season. Now need another run or two off to take next step. I was planning all along for Sinnard to possibly miss season. Had no insider info but the way he left the Regional holding his elbow I thought he could very well need Tommy Johns and unfortunately that is the case it appears.

Don't agree. It lowers the ceiling a tad but I still expect the team to compete for the Big Ten title and likely be the favorite. The offense will drive the team and will be the best the squad has had in a decade. They bring everyone back and add Nick Mitchell (OF), AJ Shepherd (C), and Andrew Wiggins (OF) who should all contribute right away in the same way Devin Taylor did this year. Much like 2013 I expect nearly the whole lineup to hit near or over .300. The pitching has options but merely needs to be adequate to be a very good team (think Maryland last year). Risedorph should be a solid starter now and it is imperative that Bothwell be the pitcher he was the entire year at the end of 2022 and 2023 and emerge as the ace the team keeps expecting him to be. He has the best arm on the team and just needs to stay out of his own head and learn to be less bothered when things go awry. Also, a host of reclamation projects have come in from the portal just as Sinnard was last year (had terrible year on a bad Western Kentucky team in 2022) and if one of them turns it around similarly team is in good shape. Remember after 2022, none of the pitchers who contributed in 2023 (outside of maybe Kraft and Bothwell who are still there and will again 2024) were even on anyone's radar. I still expect the squad to be better than last year. Whether they can compete to host a Regional depends on who emerges on the mound. However, either way I don't expect a year that different from Maryland in 2022 where team wins the Big Ten and is driven by one of the top offenses is college baseball with merely adequate arms.

Nope. Just chose Stanford. She already announced when she entered the portal that she was not coming back. This screams home sickness as Cardinal is right down the street from where her family lives and she grew up in Bay Area. Also will play for a national power.

Good pick up. No. 110 Nationally on Top Drawer and very high regional rankings out of Florida. You don't want to recruit guys much higher ranked as most of those end up skipping college all together.

Must have been a late add or they know he is transferring so they didn't include him even though he has not made it official. Hopefully it is the former.

They have added a few already that are reclamation projects including two Big Ten players (NW's Ben Grable and Illinois' Ty Rybarczyk) However, Seiler and Sinnard were just that as well coming in from portal for 2023 and improved dramatically in this system. Curious to see if that happens to any of the new guys coming in this year via portal can make same jump. Also they released who is in summer leagues a couple weeks ago so hopefully this means all these guys are definitely returning as these are the big names. Sinnard is noticeably absent so hopefully that does not mean injury in Regional was serious. However, Risedorph, Manase, Whiteaker, and Kraft are also not in a league either so unless they all plan to enter portal and just have not announced yet, can't really read to much into Sinnard being absent. Also, Cerny not on there so unsure how to read into that. Also, Bothwell, Burton and Ball on the list which means all have likely opted in for COVID year as cannot play in these leagues if you don't plan to play in college in following fall or spring. https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2023/6/20/baseball-fifteen-hoosiers-playing-summer-ball

Not sure on that either way. Ethan Shepherd who was injured all year but was a very highly ranked recruit will be starting catcher. Outfielders as off today are Mathison, Mitchell, and Taylor which is really good. Still a week left for more names to enter portal. Only other big name in it is Yoho who went to Arkansas. If IU can get through next week with no more names entering they made out pretty well and are clear Big Ten favorite. Iowa lost star Sam Hojnar to portal and Maryland lost star reliever Dave Falco and solid starter Ian Petrutz into it as well. Also, Matt Shaw and Nick Larusso their two 20+ home run guys from last season are likely to be drafted very high and gone. Other good Big Ten teams had some notable losses as well. So far of the good teams in the Big Ten, IU has seen the least amount of notable players leaving in portal (knock on wood that keeps up for next week) and don't have any top players eligible for draft yet.

D1 Baseball is best but it's behind a paywall (I have the subscription but it does cost roughly $15 a month). Not sure who has free portal listings but you can definitely watch the message boards and twitter for big transfer news from people who subscribe.

Ball, Bothwell, and Burton all have COVID years if they want them and none are in portal as of now. Bothwell would have to petition the NCAA since he took a redshirt year in 2019 as a freshman so would have to get an exemption since it would be sixth year on campus but theoretically could get COVID year back. Not sure what he chooses to do, but the door is open just a bit for a return. Of all the guys with decisions, his potential return would be the biggest. Burton and Ball definitely have COVID years if they want them since their freshman seasons were stopped by COVID. For baseball this is last class that has COVID years available. Of the two Ball hardly played and would not be surprised if he decides to move on as a mutual decision. Burton on other hand definitely would be welcomed back with open arms should he choose to return and would be a nice short reliever if he decides to stay. Def not a huge loss if he leaves but would be a nice bonus to have. The others you mentioned indeed either ran out of eligibility (Seiler, Levy), or transferred (Yoho, Vega, Hellman, Hayden).