Aaron

No idea what that was. PSU was the female version of Iowa that half where they play really well on offense but cannot stop anything or anyone. The problem is IU gave by far the worst defensive effort I have seen from them this season that half. Hopefully that can be adjusted at halftime and this turns into a runaway in second half like it should. The announcers can mention as many times as they want that PSU has won four in a row, but they beat 3 of the worse teams in the Big Ten and Nebraska, who can literally win or lose to anyone depending on what day you catch them. PSU took advantage of a soft spot in their schedule, but have top Big Ten teams rest of year starting with us and should not win again based on their talent. Time to play like IU is capable of in second half on defense.

PSU has won four in a row but all against the bottom half of the Big Ten. Nittany Lions may not win again though as they play the top half of the Big Ten the rest of the season starting with IU on Thursday and are not very good. Will be very disappointed if IU does not win this by double digits.

Nice of Keyanna Warthen to check the score for everyone. Certainly her biggest contribution of the day as she is someone who rarely plays. I don't mean that as an insult at all but I am sure that made the entire locker room very happy. Can't tell if Mackenzie Holmes while sitting down is checking score as well or if she is looking at something else on her phone but she is definitely a difference maker and best player on the team. She is the women's teams version of Trayce Jackson-Davis (same position) but even better as a player than he is and more dominant inside.

Nice win in a true tossup game and now gives us two huge road wins over both Iowa and NW. We were jealous for years of Iowa with Megan Gustafson and her dominant and powerful post play. Well now the shoe is thankfully on the other foot with Mackenzie Holmes having a very similar game as our best player and she has been compared to Gustafson on more than one occasion on the broadcasts. First win in Iowa City since 1994 and a great performance overall. Schedule lightens up next two games with a bad PSU and Illinois team. Hopefully Cardano-Hillary can keep up the play she had today in the post Jaelynn Penn world and we can keep rolling. Also, Rutgers finally returned today and beat Nebraska who is the most schizophrenic team in the league having beaten ranked teams in OSU, MSU and NW but also terrible losses to PU, Penn State and Minnesota who are horrifically bad. Glad we don't have to play the Huskers again as it could be an easy win or a sure loss depending on which day you catch them.

I don't have much more insight into the situation as IU is not saying anything beyond press release. Strange timing for sure. Hopefully today is a good indication they can mange without her.

Very bad news for IU. Jaelynn Penn has opted out of the rest of the season. Presumably injuries throughout her career and threat of COVID has taken its toll on her. IU is already thin on depth and losing your fourth best player is never good. Cardano-Hillary can move into the starting lineup and produce at close to a similar level, but this leaves you with almost no bench outside of mostly freshman. IU played earlier this year without Penn but that was against lesser Big Ten teams and losing her for rest of season is a blow. It's not completely crippling but probably lowers IU's ceiling by a win or two and a huge depth problem.

Its time for Rutgers to be shut down for the season by the Big Ten. After 5 weeks if you still are having positive tests it means you are not taking protocol seriously with mitigating the spread. Its not fair to the other 13 Big Ten teams that are taking it seriously to have to deal with the Scarlet Knights and possibly catching the virus from them. Rutgers is not that great or a factor in the Big Ten race so at this point they are only a hinderance. I tend not to blame teams for COVID and that is part of the deal this season but after five weeks, enough is enough and at that point its on the team for improper protocol and at this point they are a danger to other teams. I know IU was planning to play and had media availability yesterday. Its time for the Big Ten to tell Rutgers their season is over.

IU is unbelievable. Hunter's official reason for not playing is 'Coach's Decision' rather than 'suspension' on Hunter. I am like 90% confident it is a drug related three games but of course IU and their creative language will keep us guessing.

This was a reverse mirror of last game against OSU and an exact mirror of last yrs home MSU game where we were down and played a bad first half than turned it on in second half. Both games ended with the exact same score also. It also mirrored the NW game with a huge comeback in second half. I was not mad about OSU and Maryland as those teams are probably better than IU by a hair. By the same token IU is just a hair better or even with Mich, NW, MSU and Iowa. IU is now 2-0 against that bunch with 4 more left to play (Iowa twice, Mich once and MSU on road assuming game is rescheduled and I have every reason to believe it will as conference is prioritizing make up games for the teams in top half of league). You are not going to beat OSU in Columbus either because they are a truly special team. You also will beat Rutgers, PU, Illinois, Wisconsin and PSU as those teams are garbage. How you do in the 4 games against the teams I mentioned in the tossups is the difference between a decent 13-7 and a potentially a special 17-3 or 16-4 depending on how well those coin flip games go. That's why beating the MSU's of the world is so big and who you need to be judged against. Great response today just like NW game.

Absolutely killer start to 4th quarter! Now you have space with a 9 pt lead. Now put it away just like against NW.

Much better third quarter. Now finish unlike what happened against Tennessee and Ohio St. Game incredibly close.

Quote No doubt program is miles ahead of where it has ever been. No argument. With that said their ability to perform at home and seize games they should win is an increasing issue last couple yrs.

No its not dramatic. Why is a team that is the same as last year taken a step back? Thats a big red flag. Why have they constantly played better on the road than at home last two yrs? Yes the program is light years ahead of what is has ever been, but they are also having stinkers that don't match a team of their talent level with four 5* recruits in starting lineup.

Absolutely disgusting and inexcusable first half from a veteran squad. This team is built on defense and taking care of the ball and they allowed about 70% shooting with a ton of turnovers for second straight game. This MSU team is pretty good but not that good and a game the Hoosier should absolutely win without to much trouble. We easily took care of a similar MSU team last yr. This is not a 20 pt win but should be relatively comfortable 5-10. Team better come out with a big second half or else some serious questions need to be asked why this team has taken a step backwards with basically same team? I could of asked the same thing after playing NW last week, but team responded with huge second half. Time to do it again or else we might need to reexamine where program is at and what is happening.

Lets do this like a presidential race with game status for IU in remaining games: Safe wins: PU PSU @Wis @Ill Probable wins: MSU Iowa Tossups: @Iowa Mich Probable Loss: @OSU Need to win all the games in the first two columns and split the tossups. That would put us at 14-4 which to me is the number the team and fans should be shooting for as it would lock up at least third place and also once again set a new record for Big Ten wins. Also if we make up Rutgers home game and MSU road game, Rutgers goes in the safe win category and @MSU in Probable win category. Should win both of those.

Yup those two are by far the biggest and most athletic and cause IU to struggle. No one else is anywhere near that level in conference and as result IU has taken care of them.

OSU and Maryland seem to be IU's kryptonite. I have now seen every team play and can confidently say OSU and Maryland are just better. They are also a terrible matchup for the Hoosiers with their physicality and ability to score. Problem is we play OSU again and will probably end the same and we probably lose one more. Still in a tough stretch but I have seen Iowa and MSU play who are next and both look no where on the same level as OSU and below NW but still good. (comparison Maryland just lost to OSU in a close game like IU did and beat MSU by over 30 tonight). OSU is banned from postseason play this yr but its them and Maryland for 1-2 and OSU could easily take conference crown and then have season done with ban. The question is whether we can get to 14-4 and a solid third which would be best record in conference ever. Don't start dropping games to teams you should not, but Maryland and OSU are that good. IU played far from their best game tonight but part of that is OSU is that good and just took out Maryland as well.

First place on line and like Maryland, OSU has been our kryptonite but we nearly beat them last two games despite a long losing streak. As I said I have come to the conclusion winning conference is unlikely but finishing ahead of Mich and OSU is a must. IU has 4 easy games down stretch (PU, Ill, PSU and Wisconsin), two should win tougher home games (MSU, Iowa) and four pure tossups (@iowa, OSU home and away, Mich). To me you need to win the 6 I said in first two groups and at worse split the tossups for a 15-3 record. Anything less is a disappointment. As an aside Rutgers has been out over a month with COVID. At this point with them being a pretty bad team, Big Ten needs to tell them they have one more week to get it under control or they cannot play again this year and expose other teams. No excuse to have a COVID stoppage of 5 weeks unless you have not been following proper COVID protocol with quarantine and contact tracing in which case they cannot subject other teams to it.

Not surprised. They make mistakes in the notes a lot there but they are definitely 9-3 and 7-1 not what's in the notes:). It probably got copied from two games ago by mistake.

IU is 9-3 and 7-1 not 7-3 and 5-1. IU Wins Thursday they take the Big Ten lead. Both games are at home and this is a chance to dispose of two teams toward the top of the conference this week and open up a lead on everyone not named Maryland which they already started to do. OSU, Michigan and MSU are the other teams closest to them and they have two of the three this week and the third in Michigan is shut down for COVID. Reality is if IU wants a chance to beat Maryland for title they need to lose at most once or maybe win out. In terrific position for second if they take care of business as they play every team around them still besides Maryland so with wins can keep those other teams behind in standings as they are now.

That's about right. I would love to be higher but based on watching this team they look like the 15-20 best team in the country.

Absolutely. We have more good coaches then ever in other programs and have turned around many bad ones thanks to that. The right coach will do same for Men's Basketball. Other programs like Women's basketball are proof of that and they had no history that was good to speak of.

Posted in Women's Thread as well: Exhibit A: IU Women erase a double digit deficit against a really good NW team in second half for double digit win. They have now pulled away from rest of Big Ten besides Maryland and will compete with them for Big Ten Title. This also shows tremendous growth as IU was in same position earlier in yr vs. Tennessee and lost. Exhibit B: IU Men are down double digits second half against bad Rutgers team and never get over hump and take a bad loss and have shown no growth throughout season. One has a coach who needs an extension to avoid being poached and the other has a coach who needs to be fired. Amazing the difference where programs are at.

Posted in IU Rutgers game thread as well: Exhibit A: IU Women erase a double digit deficit against a really good NW team in second half for double digit win. They have now pulled away from rest of Big Ten besides Maryland and will compete with them for Big Ten Title. This also shows tremendous growth as IU was in same position earlier in yr vs. Tennessee and lost. Exhibit B: IU Men are down double digits second half against bad Rutgers team and never get over hump and take a bad loss and have shown no growth throughout season. One has a coach who needs an extension to avoid being poached and the other has a coach who needs to be fired. Amazing the difference where programs are at.

That makes no sense. Why would the Packers have any incentive to screw the Colts, a team in the other conference they have no connection to? I am not doubting Patrick said it, but I am just not sure that is true as Packers would have zero reason to screw Colts.