Aaron

You also have to remember IU faces something very unique in that most of the ticket holders like me come from Indy an hour away. Most Northwestern and Illinois Ticket holders live in the city of the game. If this switch occurs you will see even lighter attendance on the 5:30pm and 6pm games and 6:30 is already a problem. I'm curious if IU (along with PU and Butler) would try to fight a move to central time as this could really jeopardize weeknight attendance for some games (tickets would be sold but the no shows would get larger possibly).

I know daylight saving times is a controversial topic so with the debate back in play (there is a bill in the legislator to study a move back to central time) to possibly move to Central Time (which has it advantages and disadvantages) I just want to make sure everyone realizes that this switch would mean 5:30 and 6pm starts now for IU basketball (and 11am and 2:30pm for football) for some of the non-premium games during Big Ten play instead of 6:30 and 7pm. My sister lives in Chicago as an IU grad and she has missed 2 IU NW games she wanted to go to over years since they had 6pm local time starts and she can't leave work that early. Since everything is dictated by TV we may get more late slots but for some of our home games against bottom feeders (PSU, NW etc.) we would be looking at the very early starts. Now vice versa on the good side those 9pm starts for the premium games would now be 8pm which is better so that part is good. Olympic sports would not be affected since those are rarely televised and would usually still start on local time at 7pm since IU controls that.

OSU's loss today means an MSU win against Illinois or an OSU loss to Rutgers ensures OSU cannot celebrate a share of the Big Ten Title on our court as MSU plays next Sunday and OSU will not know if they potentially have a share of the title until then.

A couple things: 1. First off Sean in his first year had a horrible non-conf going 6-6 than had Arizona playing really well down the stretch and finished 10-8 in conference. They than used that as a springboard to 30 wins the following year and have maintained at that level since. So far at least the first year looks exactly the same for Archie as for Sean. Now we need to follow up each year after the same as Sean. 2. Archie's 9 wins in Big Ten play ties 2014-2015 as the most in conference for any year in Crean's tenure save for our 3 excellent years with him. Also the 3 road wins tie 2011-2012 and 2014-2015 for 3rd most in Crean's tenure. Lastly the 2 game sweeps of Iowa and Minnesota are the only time we have 2 game sweeps of 2 different teams in the same year outside of the 3 really good years (only other 2 game sweeps in Crean tenure were Rutgers in 2014-2015 and PSU last year). This team is less talented than any Crean had besides his first 3 years yet Archie is doing things in conference Crean was hardly ever able to. Most importantly we are playing well down the stretch which is something we did only in 2 of Crean's 9 years.

Well you can throw another coach on the list I know personally along with former coach Dunbar that is leaving the department who I like. I have no idea why Joseph left so don't ask as it would be nothing more than a complete guess. This is obviously a very different circumstance than Dunbar but never like to see people who you know personally leave IU athletics. I believe the number of coaches I know in the department is down to 2 now and I have not interacted with either in a very long time. Both Joseph and Dunbar while certainly not people i'm super close with, I have talked to them both a couple times in last year. I am sorry to see both them go.

Everyone deserves blame for last nights atmosphere which was beyond terrible. Students really didn't show up but there were almost as many seats open in the non student sections as well. Also no one made much noise or stood at all even when the game was close later in the second half which is very unusual in similar circumstances. I have never seen an atmosphere this bad save for PSU, Rutgers and cupcake games. I understand Illinois is not good but last night was one of the first times in IU history where I was thoroughly disappointed in the entire crowd in every way given what my expectations were. I have been one of the people defending the crowd in this thread but there was no defense last night.

Trust me Moren is NOT a better coach than Versyp. They are both equally mediocre. If you flipped them between IU and PU, records would probably be about the same still at each school. Versyp has had slightly more success than Moren since PU's pedigree is a lot higher in women's b-ball but she has been a lot less successful than any recent coach they have had in last 30 years. PU Women's Bball is IU soccer and she is their Mike Freitag. They have just stupidly held onto her a lot longer than most programs would given her lack of success and their high standards. In the last 8 years she has missed the tourney twice which is the first time that has happened for them since the early 90's and has not been out of the first weekend in that time. Prior to that between 94 and 09 they had been to 10 Sweet 16's, 8 Elite 8's, 3 Final Fours and a National Championship. Fortunately when IU slipped under Freitag it only took them 5 years to realize they had made a mistake (and Freitag won a title with Yeagley's players unlike Versyp who could only use Curry's players to get as far as the Elite 8). Trust me I love that PU continues to hold onto Versyp and drive their best program into the ground but from an observing standpoint its long past the time to fire her.

Well looks like we may have successfully finished off Sharon Versyp's career in West Lafayette. As I said she is much like PU's Mike Davis winning a ton with Kristi Curry's players for a couple years but has since dragged the program somewhat into the mud by their standards. The last time IU put the final nail in someone's coaching career it was John L. Smith in football after we pummeled MSU in 07 (although I expect Versyp to stick out the year unlike Smith who was fired after the game) and basically sent them back to the top with DiAntonio so I am hoping PU doesn't go out and get a great coach who resurrects what is their best sport historically. I don't feel sorry for Versyp though after what she did to IU after one year. At the time I thought we lost a great coach but given how she can barely tread water at a very successful PU program I have a feeling we would have lost big with her eventually given our somewhat mediocre history. As for IU I am very pleased with the win and think this is very much like IU under Crean 2 years ago where Yogi picked the team up and all of the sudden won big at the end of the year. Only difference is Buss picked up the team a bit to late to win the Big Ten or even get an NCAA Tourney bid but she has put a disastrous season back on the rails and probably saved us a WNIT bid that we could very well win the whole tourney with how well we are playing. I am still not sold on this program long term and see many of the same issues I saw with the Men's team under Crean (a lot of talent with ridiculous turnovers and poor discipline) and am afraid once Buss and Cahill go next year will be in the toilet and probably delayed an inevitable needed coaching move (I hope I am wrong and this really works but I see to many problems). Moren vs Versyp is a lot like what Crean vs Gross was with maybe the two worse coaches in the conference going at it except PU is the one with the historic success instead of us.

Now its official with Reich. Colts announce on website contract signed so there is no backing out this time.

I think this is precisely what it is and what I have been saying. Nobody wants the balcony seats so you might as well sell them to students who may or may not use them then let them be unsold. This will be a great discussion to re-visit in a couple years if students keep not showing up once we get good but based on precedent that will not be the case (05-06 , 07-08, 11-12, 12-13 and 15-16 were the years we were either hyped or became good by the end and each time students filled the seats when this happened) and right now no one else wants them especially in the balcony.

I just sat in the top rows of the balcony in the center for Memphis recently and its not bad. I have sat pretty much everywhere in the balcony at some point and the one spot that is truly terrible is the top 10 rows behind the basket. Everything else are decent seats in my mind (including corners and baseline high or low with them getting somewhat better the farther down the you go). However, as I said previously the atmosphere at a Pacer game at times can be truly pathetic in a close game late which is not something IU ever deals with.

Wow UVA blew the way in a way Crean would be proud. UVA up 4 with about 30 seconds left Va Tech makes a 3, UVA than nearly turns it over several times before being fouled. Miss the FT. Allow an offensive rebound to put VA Tech in front with 5 seconds left. Than UVA jacks a long 3 for the win with they had time to dribble in for a closer shot. For all the talk of UVA's defense and discipline they were completely the opposite of doing either last 30 seconds.

MSU with a case of Dejavu. Get fouled up 3 against Iowa with under 5 seconds left. Missed both Ft's. Iowa dribbles to half court with chance to tie and 3 just misses except this time it went off front rim instead of back rim like IU.

To me someone who is not being smart in all off this and is going to regret what he is saying is Ryan Phillips. He works for Big Lead as a national reporter but also is a figure on the Assembly Call show always where the Colts and IU fan base cross over somewhat. Also a regular on Kent Sterling Show. Obviously entitled to his opinion but he immediately tweeted this was on Irsay for being unprofessional and that this is somehow on Colts. Seems like your angering a part of the hand that feeds you. Next interview with Kent Sterling will be fascinating and he's usually on 1-2 times a week. As for me I always was worried about dealing with a Pats guy and was afraid this could happen. Ballard had to learn the hard way and so much for the thawing he had done with Pats as reported earlier in week.

Oladipo vs Zeller. Wish that had happened in Monday when game was in Indy.

I know its different league different expectations but I could not believe how terrible the Pacers crowd was tonight late in a close game that the Pacers ultimately won. You can blame people for not showing up and for being quiet early in a game at IU but at least in a close game in the last 5 minutes people stand and get into a game and make a lot of noise and make it hard on the opposing team. You would of thought it was the 1st qtr. when the game was on line in last minute for Pacers tonight. Only maybe half the place stood as Memphis drove for the win and very little noise and that was the only time there was any noise at all in a down to the wire game. Again I am not comparing IU to an NBA crowd and at times it should be much better for IU but at least it never sinks to the level of pathetic that Pacers had tonight in terms of atmosphere even against cupcakes in November. By the way I am saying this all as both a huge IU and Pacers fan.

Attended my 3rd game of the year tonight and Victor was beyond terrible. Clearly he doesn't like performing as well when I'm there. Against Portland had 17 points but was an ugly 5-17 from field in blowout loss. He missed the Dallas game a few weeks ago with injury. Was even worse tonight with just 13 points and 7 turnovers as mentioned above. He also missed a wide open 3 to take the lead back with about a minute and a half left than committed a costly offensive foul with under a min. left. Fortunately Pacers still won as Turner was fouled getting the rebound after a Memphis miss on the next possession and made both ft's and Memphis missed a layup on their final possession with under 5 sec. left that would of won it and pacers held on. I love what Oladipo is doing but it just stinks in the 3 games I have attended I have not seen the normal vintage Vic.

We finished with 8 turnovers and had 7 at the 4 min media timeout in the first half so we had 1 in the last 24 minutes.

Wiscy is so broken right now and look nothing like a normal Wisconsin team of the last 20 years. Everything Wisconsin is built on of strong free throw shooting, good discipline, frustrating slow pace and tough D is gone this year. Gard did a great job baby sitting Bo Ryan's players for a couple years but now everything Bo installed is gone. Gard has a lot to prove. Still to early to tell if this is an aberration like MSU football last year or the beginning of a downfall for Gard much like IU had with Mike Davis after he won with Knight's guys for a couple years. Nebraska is playing well but they still are not great having been blown out by a winless in conference St. John's team and also a pretty bad loss to a mediocre UCF team. The fact that this Nebraska team is thriving right now shows how weak the Big Ten is this year outside of OSU, MSU, PU and Michigan. The other 10 teams are all pretty bad and its just a question of who is the least bad of those 10.

The reason they switched to GA at all was because in the late 2000's when I was in school students were showing up late so the activists students of my generation (I was not one of them who helped make this switch) worked with the athletic department to switch to some GA to address this issue. The year after I graduated they had just the lower GA but by doing that you only had as many GA spots as seats in K, L and M section so instead of empty balconies for non premium games you would have the back third of GA empty sometimes. Than the athletic department on their own decided to combine GA with the balconies to ensure the lower GA is full by tip off for both visual and TV purposes I would assume. I know some feel differently and the current system is far from ideal but I certainly prefer it to my days in school where you would get 1 court, 2 or 3 lower level low down (it was not GA at that point) and 1 or 2 high up games in main level with the rest balcony with all seats pre-assigned. Now with the switch to GA you get like 6-7 GA games, a court game and a couple games higher up in the main level. If you are timely and a big fan you are actually rewarded and normally get good seats which is something that lacked when I was in school. Certainly, current system is not ideal and people can differ how student tickets should be distributed but the current system seems preferable to what they used when I was in school where you just had scattered empties every year (except the Gordon year were people always showed up) in the student section for non premium games and everyone assigned a seat for every game.

Yes. Born and bred in Bloomington. Diehard fan since Mid 90's when I was around 8 or 9 years old. Now live in Indy since graduating IU but lived in Indiana my whole life in either Bloomington (21 years) or Indy (9 years).

You could not be more right. I was a huge fan bought tickets all 4 years and never missed a game. My sister who started school right after I graduated got tickets all 4 years also. The first 2 she rarely went and was not that into it as it wasn't the 'cool' thing to do. Her junior year she went more as we got better and than her senior year she never missed a game when we were no. 1 and has remained a fan every since and has followed the team much closer. I tried everything to get her to be a sports fan growing up and it didn't work but when her friends started going and got her into it she became a huge fan and has remained to this day since it was the 'thing to do' at IU her last year. My point is many students do not come to IU as basketball fans and especially IU basketball fans and it takes a great year to really get them on board and make them part of the IU basketball culture. Many of our fans (including me) didn't get to experience the glory days and only know an average IU basketball team for most part. We can complain about fair weather fans all we want but that's what drives EVERY fan base. Die hards like me make up a small portion of a fan base while casual (or as some would say fair weather) fans are the vast majority of any fan base and in order to get those people hooked you have to win. We start winning big all these 'flaky students' will show up every game just like 2012-2013.

Correct. IU is one of the few that chooses (besides over holiday breaks) to sell everything ONLY via season tickets (about half to students and half to general public) which as I said has its advantages and drawbacks. Obviously the advantage is it guarantees IU the revenue from selling the tickets to every game and keeps opposing fans to about as limited a number as possible as happened yesterday. Drawback is you have a lot of no shows sometimes for non premium games unless IU is really good (this includes non-students as well). We can debate all we want if IU is using the correct method to sell all the tickets but these are the facts and is the reason why seats are not always full despite being sold.

Don't think that is gonna happen unfortunately. Painter loves his bigs and they already have another 6-10 guy recruited for next year to back up Haarms who is only a freshman. It sucks for other teams but Painter playing through his big men is what works for him so can't fault that. He also is a whiz with developing big men so they like playing for him. Just gotta play through it and try to beat them other ways which is something Crean failed at big time and hopefully Archie will not.

We are just not good enough. We lost to PU in the exact same way Crean did 2 times in the last 3 years. This team however, is not even in the same stratosphere talent wise but played PU to the wire still. in 2014-2015 and 2016-2017 at home we lost in the exact same way to a PU team we were evenly matched with which was unacceptable and one of the reasons why Crean is not here anymore, but today I am surprised we kept it as close as we did. Looking forward to even match ups next year with no Haas, V. Edwards, Thompson or Mathias. PU will fall to a borderline tourney team with Haarms, C. Edwards and Cline while we will rise to a borderline tourney team hopefully with our new recruits and Juwan sticks around ideally. Next year Archie will need to figure out a way to pull out a close win at home in a way Crean was not in recent years against PU when teams are back on even footing. Otherwise great crowd (place including balconies was finally full again) and Oladipo being introduced pre-game was awesome and loved how into the game he was cheering.