Aaron

No. Have to play Non D1 teams for exhibitions unless they are the 'secret' scrimmages.

Yes it will be in mini series. However, because it is part of the series, the packages will likely sell out as is with all games in it without single game tickets available this year for other break games (other than the 600 behind basket being reserved for just this game). Will make the non-Kansas games over break really cheap on stub hub for those who buy whole package just for KU (and most will).

I said game could be done at a better time when it was announced almost two yrs ago. However, if Dolson were making it part of the winter break package solely to make money as Twitter claimed he would not have reserved the 600 best seats for students. I said on this board at the time the series was set on this date it would be over break and tickets would need to be resold. My comment was immediately shot down and I was told how much better it was to play Kansas on this date then be in the Crossroads Classic. Here is the page with the thread where I pointed out at the time and was promptly told it was not being a big deal: https://btownbanners.com/topic/13249-2022-23-iubb-schedule/?tab=comments#comment-687968 Fast forward two years and now people are complaining about what I pointed out at time. Maybe this is only date that worked for both teams. Only thing that is different from 2021 when game was decided for that Saturday is IU is actually making a unified student section which I would not have guessed as this has never been done before over break. Seems athletic department is making best of the situation.

Would you rather they be in the student package and have the half the seats empty which is what would happen if you left them in it? This is the best of both worlds. Still have a small student section behind basket and the rest will be people who re-buy tickets. This is basically how it was student wise for every big women's game last year and will be again next year. Everyone will have a chance to buy tickets who wants now but you will still have a small student section. I was afraid there would be no organized student section which would have been unfortunate. This is the best of both worlds and is basically the equivalent of the Iowa and Purdue women's game last year which was an awesome atmosphere and this will be same. I am open to suggestions if you or anyone else has a better idea on how to distribute the season tickets? You can't leave them in package as many would go unused then. Don't see how there is a better way than this if you were going to play the game on this date but am more than happy to here others thoughts. Also, I read the twitter comments and they are pretty comical. If this was solely about money for Dolson as people on twitter claimed he would not reserve premium court seats at student prices for those students who want to stay back. This dream by them that all these out of state students would have stayed back is a fantasy. I said last year this date was over break and tickets would need to be resold and everyone responded to me that Kansas atmosphere would be great regardless and it beat having a Crossroads Classic Game. The fact they are creating a unified student section over break is honestly a step farther than I thought IU would take it and am very impressed this is the outcome and best for all.

Matthew Ellis, Luke Hayden, and Craig Yoho are the contributors who have entered the portal so far for the team.

UK has had a good amount of drama at the top of that program with many of their best players transferring. It is now fading into the abyss without a course correction after a good amount of success. This appears to be good timing for both sides as Smith gets off a sinking ship at UK she helped build success at, for one that is very much afloat at IU.

That is one of the great games in IU lore! Who would have thought Serruto would be a hero in that way given he has hardly any power, yet gets one of the biggest hits in program history? This is still far from over as both West Virginia and Kentucky have deeper bullpens and IU has gone through their six best arms. Best guys left to use are Burton, Phillips, Seiler, and Whiteaker who are all decent but def not the elite guys on staff which were the ones used already. However, this season is very special already and if you win one of the next two it is the second best team since the inception of the program.

Def not. Had a double digit run inning against Indiana St early in the year and have batted around with big innings several times.

Just an FYI: if UK's bid had been denied due to lack of hotel space, either West Virginia would be hosting as the two seed or they would have rearranged the bracket to have Campbell hosting with Kentucky as the two. Bottom line is while hotel situation is not great, IU would be in worse shape if Wildcats bid had been denied by NCAA and Hoosiers would be travelling a lot further. If you ask me, much better to have hotel in Louisville or Cincy suburbs and be within driving distance of Bloomington, than get a Regional far away that requires a day's car ride or flying. If the Wildcat's bid was denied, Hoosiers would NOT have hosted or gone to Terre Haute. Instead, they almost certainly would be headed to Morgantown or Campbell (North Carolina) if there was no Lexington Regional making it even harder for IU fans to go.

The hotel situation is not great. However, its not as bad as the article makes it out to be. There are limited rooms within 30-45 minutes and plenty in the Louisville or Cincinnati suburbs just over an hour away. As for housing the players in the dorms, these are athlete dorms that are as nice as most hotels. My personal thought is this is not Kentucky's fault that everything is going on and they are making the best of it. However, now that this problem has been brought to light, if Kentucky is serious about baseball and interested in hosting in future years, they need to work with the city of Lexington to make sure this first week of June is blocked off from any festivals happening in 2024 and beyond. Any festival can be planned for two weeks later and they will draw just as well and not inconvenience both UK Baseball and High School tournaments going on. Hotels will make just as much money if the rooms are spread out over several weekends as well.

Start time is 7pm Friday on ESPN+ (subscription required). If IU loses, they will play at 12pm or 1 pm Saturday and with a win it would be at 6pm or 7 pm. If they survive Saturday, the contests on Sunday would also be 12 pm or 1 pm and 6 pm or 7 pm. To get to the first game Sunday, the Hoosiers will need to win one of their first two and to get all the way to 7 pm without the earlier slot they would need to win both late games Friday and Saturday. An, if necessary, Monday game would be at 12pm or 7 pm Monday if the team from the losers’ bracket wins the late game Sunday. All contests are ticketed for ESPN+ right now but could move to regular TV later. Also these tentative times are subject to change if an ESPN channel picks up more games. Indiana got hit hard as West Virginia is a very strong two-seed. The opening game is far more difficult that most, but the chances of getting out of the Regional go up (although still a long shot) with a weak one seed in Kentucky and strong two and four seeds. Sinnard will start opener against Mountaineers and Kraft good to go it sounds like. As for why IU drew into Lexington instead of Terre Haute which many will wonder, three factors that went into play I believe: 1) Trying to keep as many teams as possible close to home and Iowa had to go to Indiana St. as the only Regional within driving distance for them meaning Hoosiers could not go there. Meanwhile, Indiana could still be close to Bloomington in Lexington. 2) Hawkeye coach Rick Heller started his career at ISU and the NCAA loves these types of storylines. 3) Logistically Terre Haute's Bob Warn Field is the smallest place to host a Regional at the bare NCAA minimum requirement of 2,500. The Sycamores have sold out every game of late this season on their own and placing IU there would have created an excess demand for tickets. By placing two squads from farther away there, ticket demand is more likely to meet supply. Meanwhile, Proud Park in Lexington is huge at 5,000 and can easily meet the demand of three close-by fan bases. Here is the full bracket: https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/baseball/d1/2023

IU played like a team today that knew their NCAA fate was sealed. They gave it their all yesterday but once they fell in the losers bracket they mentally checked out knowing they had no chance to win the whole thing and moving on just wastes days and arms with the NCAA Tournament next week. To all the skeptics on social media: IU is still safely in the field next week along with Iowa and Maryland and one of those two will win the conference tournament and it will be a three bid league which is typical these days. The worst IU did was maybe (and I repeat maybe) drop to a three seed but that really doesn't matter since the two plays the three and it is entirely based on geography once your seed is assigned. IU has a really good resume with seven quad one wins and one not great weekend at a conference tournament does not change what has been accomplished this season which is a major step in right direction for program.

Right now it is not clear who you can trust in the bullpen. The bottom of the pen has gotten better as guys like Ty Bothwell, Even Whiteaker, Luke Hayden (minus the home run yesterday), and Ben Seiler have really gotten better recently. However, Yoho, Kraft, Manase, and Foley have struggled last couple times out after being the teams best arms most of the season. It feels like right now you have about 10 pitchers who are all decent but prone to a bad day. Makes it tough heading into NCAA's to know who to throw in a tight situation. However, team is playing with house money right now and this year has been an unmitigated success.

The Brecht vs. Sinnard matchup tomorrow is must see TV. Could literally be the first team to score wins as both pitchers completely dominated the others offense in the regular season and this park is much more pitcher friendly than Bart Kaufman Field is.

Great game! Illinois is built all wrong for that park as they rely almost exclusively on the HR for scores and IU took full advantage! For the same reason IU went 0-2 in 2019 as almost exclusively a home run team Illini are likely to do same now. Hoosiers and Hawkeyes are custom built for this park with deep pitching staff and relying on small ball a lot and only needing dingers if they come naturally. I will be shocked if IU and Iowa are not playing in semi's Saturday again. Just please clean up the defense from the ninth. Won't get away with that against Hawks who you will be likely playing at least two of your next three games if not all three.

If you want further proof that this is correct Northwestern hosted and is into a super regional and a legit contender for the College World Series. They have basically the same offensive numbers as IU. What do they have that the Hoosiers don't? Two pitchers just a hair better than Copeland who alternate starts. If Copeland (who is only a sophomore and improved by leaps and bounds already this season from 2022) can get just a tad better over the next few months into her junior season and they find a second pitcher on that level they are exactly what the Wildcats are now. The key is figuring out who can be that other starter to pair with Copeland who can have an ERA in the low to mid 2's rather than Johnson's which is close to 4 and has been that now for two seasons. Your second starter cannot have those numbers on a high level squad and she is a rising junior. As a third option (and NW has someone with those numbers who is just that), Johnson is totally fine. But as a number two option you need better to win at the level NW did this season and Michigan usually does.

In softball 'pitching depth' is not a thing. It takes two good pitchers that alternate to win at a high level along with maybe a bit reliever and a high level offense. With the underhand pitch being a natural motion you could literally throw the same pitcher everyday at 200 or more pitches a day. IU basically did this in 2011 when they made the NCAA tourney. Morgan Melloh was the best pitcher in program history by a large margin and singlehandedly dragged a bad offense into a Regional pitching every inning of everyday pretty much as a grad transfer. Now that is not ideal and to be a legit contender you need more . For the current Hoosiers, Copeland is a fine pitcher to be one of your two regular starters. The issue is you will never win at a top level with Heather Johnson as your second pitcher. This is not a knock on her but she cannot be the no. 2 starter on any team with championship aspirations. For IU to be elite (and they are closer than ever before), they need to keep it up with the current offense and find a second good starter to pair with Copeland (or Johnson to get a lot better but I think we know what she is at this point). At the moment IU is one more solid or elite starting pitcher from winning at the top level of college softball. It is the only thing separating them from teams like Tennessee at the very top.

What a season! Beat absolutely everyone they were equal or greater than and played their guts out against superior squds. Next year they should be the legit favorites in the league and in line to potentially host a Regional with a squad of young players this season. Baseball is in same position. Definitely a Bloomington Regional is in play for both the Hoosier teams on the diamond in 2024. Already just the second time both baseball and softball will be in a Regional in the same season now in 2023. What a turnaround for our two big spring sports from 2022! They were both very good in 2023. Now the challenge is to be great in 2024 and a legit contender and both are capable.

That was the ultimate situation where IU did everything according to planned and it did not work out. Sinnard gave you his usual solid outing. We all just expect Kraft to be perfect as he has been all season and finish the game and just did not have it tonight. Apparently left with an injury also which could be really bad for postseason if it is serious. This feels like the Illinois game where in that opener (who is of similar quality to MSU) you lost a close one and burned through good pitching but still won the last two somehow. Need to do that again. That matchup with the Illini and tonight are really the only times all season the Hoosiers had a lead late and lost it. Otherwise been nearly flawless in these close games. NCAA chances are still a lock and a two or three seed in Big Ten Tourney (and two or three is basically the same bracket wise) is clinched by winning one of the final two.

Correct. That is IU to Nashville in first scenario if only UK and Vandy host. They won't go farther than Lexington or Terre Haute if both Kentucky and Indiana St host with how they do regions. Nashville only comes into play if Sycamores do not host.

I don't think so. Under new deal this year, ESPN gets all postseason NCAA Tourney events and they can put them on any platform they choose. If that is ESPN+ I think you have to buy a subscription for one month which is less than $10. Under old deal through 2021 all postseason games were free but I am pretty sure that changed with new ESPN deal that was just signed giving the network exclusive access to every postseason events. If broadcast is "ESPN3" than it is free with a cable subscription (including streaming services like YouTubeTV ETC.). However anything on "ESPN+" would have to be bought separately with a one month subscription. Not sure which platforms they choose and we won't know until bracket out. Either way nothing is completely free anymore with this new deal.

Nope. ISU is very much on the bubble of hosting. UK and Vandy are near locks to play at home but if it is just these two hosting nearby things get complicated. This is because ISU cannot go to Nashville for the third straight time per rules and Tennessee cannot go to a fellow SEC school. Most likely it will be one of the following. ISU, UK, Vandy all host: 1. IU to Terre Haute, Tennessee to Carolina's or Virginia's, Lexington and Nashville get a random non-sec team in south 2. IU to Lexington, Tennessee to Terre Haute, some random non-sec team to Nashville. Only UK and Vandy host: 1. ISU to Lexington, Tennessee to Carolina's or Virginia's, IU to Nashville or somewhere farther in Carolina's or Virginia's. 2. IU to Lexington, Tennessee and ISU to Carolina's or Virginia's, Nashville get a random non-sec team in south. NCAA can do whatever they want, but assuming IU gets a two seed it is very likely to be one of the above scenario's.

Caveat with Notre Dame. All these brackets were made prior to last night when ND face planted against Northwestern. They are in danger of not making tournament at all now.

You also have to understand $$$ are at play. Since both would be in a 2-3 game NCAA wants to sell as many tickets as possible to that first game since they will be in separate sessions on Friday likely from the host. IU fans will still travel to Lexington and Vol fans will travel to Terre Haute. If you send some random team to Kentucky you are looking at a friends and family crowd in that first game. If you send IU there you are likely to sell 1,000 tickets to that first game in Lexington and 1,000 in Terre Haute to Vols fans. IU sold 1,000 tickets on their own to first game in 2019 so I would think a similar number would go to either place. Now if Louisville had been a two in Lexington and not collapsed then IU to Terre Haute and UT to Appalachia would be obvious (there fans will travel anywhere). If It is Indiana vs. Louisville in a 2-3 in Lexington, while not beneficial to IU, would make NCAA salivate and sell out Proud Park for all games. If Vols do host (which there is a chance) than yes IU would likely go to Terre Haute. In that bracket Matt posted though sending UT or IU to Terre Haute is equally plausible and 50-50 for either there or Lexington. If UT not placed there due to hosting or going Appalachia it goes up to like 90% for Terre Haute. Also just to be clear NCAA and Hosts split some percentage of the revenue so the committee is absolutely looking at who makes most $$$ when placing teams.

Not necessarily. Tennessee cannot go to Kentucky or Vandy since they are in the same conference. This makes the Vols closest to either Terre Haute or somewhere in the Carolina's or Virginia's where there will be tons of southern teams competing for those spots. The committee could very easily Send UT to ISU and IU to UK so each team gets someone close by or it is equally possible they send IU to Terre Haute and stick the Wildcats with a random team farther away. Either scenario is very plausible but IU is a near lock to go to Terre Haute or Lexington if both host. If it is just Kentucky, than things get more interesting and IU could go to Nashville or farther (ISU can't go to Vandy since they are not allowed to go to same regional three times in a row) depending on if the committee decides to put the Hoosiers or Sycamores in Lexington. There are arguments for either for different reasons.