Aaron

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.

Means all remaining games are on regular TV on BTN rest of way with Evansville and Big Ten Tourney already slated on there.

Is this a clue?

Could be both:). There was definitely a slight odor (albeit very mild) coming from the porta potties as I sat in the bleachers today!

Usually Big East uses FloTV. However, with game being a last minute addition no broadcast. With that said, even if it were streamed, FloTV is $19.99 a month and the most expensive online broadcast there is for college sports (and not great quality). It is the same platform women's basketball has those November tournaments on. For all the complaints about BTN+ and the way they stream, the Big East has by far the most expensive and most obscure streaming option of all the major conferences.

Probably the stench from the porta potties;). I have been to many (probably 40 in all) college baseball stadiums and this one at Xavier is easily the worst that is still in use I have seen. The only rival to it is Purdue's old stadium before they built Alexander Field. Both of those places make Sembower Field look world class and that is hard to do! Not kidding.

Long overdue and not a terrible price for season tickets.

Again need a sweep which is very likely as IU has best offense in conference and MSU has worst pitching. You do that and you are in the NCAA Tourney with 40 wins (first time since 1994) regardless of how things go in Big Ten Tourney. You also lock in to no. 2 seed for it with all three victories which needs to be the expectation. Lose even one and you might need to win a game or two in conference tourney.

Smartest thing they could have done from a tournament perspective to secure at-large bid. Losing at Xavier will be worth the same in the RPI as beating Southern Indiana would have. However, beating Xavier will be worth several spots in the RPI. Also, Musky plays Cincy on Tuesday so IU will be at a pitching advantage.

No chance they host. RPI is to low even if they win the Big Ten Tourney. Northwestern will host, but IU will not even if they sweep the Big Ten Tournament and sweep MSU. Their RPI is simply to low and will not finish higher than the mid 20's no matter what. Need to be in top 20 at minimum to host and no way the Hoosiers can get there.

Well I thought they clinched a bid with the win yesterday but this removed any remaining doubt.

That likely punches IU's ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years if they don't have a slip up against Michigan St at home next weekend who is the worst team in the league. What a nice job Shonda Stanton has done turning the program around.

Most definitely!

All I can say is sigh of relief. That ninth inning was ugly but a win is a win in the end so no complaints.

Hosts per D1 Baseball and Baseball America: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2023-ncaa-tournament-projected-field-of-64-41923/ https://d1baseball.com/projections/d1baseball-field-of-64-projections-week-10/ It is possible but they probably need to 16-3 at worst down stretch to maintain this given they have sub-200 Purdue and NW still. Of those three losses they cannot be PU, NW, or Southern Indiana. Definitely possible but very little margin for error given weak schedule. On the other hand they are all but certain to get in to the tourney and hopefully get their Regional at UK, Vandy, or Indiana St if they have to travel. Outside chance Louisville and Mizzou also host. However, UK, and Vandy only driving distance teams very likely to host at moment. IU and Indiana St have next best chance in this area to be one seeds and get home games..

He deserves a promotion to bigger games and sports.

Dare I say those announcers were the best I have ever heard on an ESPN broadcast? Not kidding. They were very complimentary of IU and the Big Ten and northern baseball in general. They were also extremely well prepared and had studied both teams quite well and knew what they needed about them. They also called a perfect game on the broadcast from a play-by-play standpoint. So unusual for ESPN for something like that to happen but not complaining:).

As long as IU has the media school and they use it as a way to get experience for the students that is not changing. Maybe games like Wednesday they sync the radio once replay arrives when students are not available. However, as long as students are available they will be used to gain experience for most broadcasts.

Every conference has an extra streaming subscription service to watch some of the smaller sports. ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac 12 have ESPN+ which is same price per month. Big East has Big East Digital. Smaller conferences use ESPN+ also. BTN+ is no different than any other league in how they handle Olympic sports. The issue is leaving the broadcast itself in hands of the schools where some take it seriously (IU generally does but if they run out of students to help they will do a one camera broadcast) and some will use a single camera with no announcer. This is what needs to change. Every other league the streaming service handles the broadcasts rather than the schools. As a result some BTN+ telecasts are pretty poor quality. This is what has to change (particularly if they are adding replay in all the sports as seems to be the case next year). The platform itself and the way it is accessed is very much on par with other conferences (most Olympic sports streamed for extra $$$ online only with a few games on regular TV although the latter could be increased somewhat as Btown said). The issue is 100% the quality. I would be happy for Bardo to go:).

While it will take a LOT of winning down the stretch to hold onto this and a top 16 RPI, IU is now projected to host a regional by College Sports Madness in their latest Bracketology: https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/baseball/bracketology A nice change of pace after the last couple years to be talking about whether team is hosting and not whether they are in at all. Not that different from the basketball team this year going from not in or barely in, to safely in and question being if they get a top four protected seed (note the top 16 teams host in baseball just like women's basketball except all are made one seeds instead of one through four).

Ironically the Louisville game is on ESPNU but what you said about an FS College would be a great idea indeed.

Agreed they need more just not all of them. I misunderstood you. To me though it is a bigger deal to have standard streaming requirements like watchespn does for other leagues and no more one camera broadcasts. To me the quality of the online stream by some teams (IU among them in rare cases) is what needs to be fixed as much as getting more games on TV. This is where the Big Ten needs to step in and tell the schools 'no more one camera anouncerless broadcasts and all online games going forward are going to be TV quality like all other leagues do'. This is where I am hoping having a former MLB person as commissioner puts the wheels in motion on all of this.