Hardwood83

Yeah, shoulda been a 15pt win, but still good to see them go down. They still have tons of talent, but the mystique seems to be fading a little.

Watching Duke get thumped is delicious.

I knew nothing about him before opening this thread today. I knew JMU was having a good run, but no clue about the coach. But your confidence and enthusiasm is enough for me, now I'm fully on the hype train for Cignetti!! Also, I do NOT want a position coach or MAC up & comer, so this checks all my boxes.

That's a safe bet whoever is hired.

Agreed. I think you hire the best candidate available and that is unlikely to be a position coach with no HC experience.

Slight disagreement. I think he is good enough, but would say he's not 'ready to play' at this level, which is disappointing. What did he do in the off-season? He had a season of exposure to what it would take and.....there doesn't appear to be any discernable improvement. It's not reasonable to expect him to be a finished product the first month of his Soph season, but it is reasonable to expect progress. He has the tools but is missing something (drive, work ethic, BB IQ) and it clearly hasn't clicked yet.

....and the rest of the year! I like Cupps, he's already a contributor and will only get better....but having him playing 38mins/game and the only available PG will be a mess. So we all agree? XJ will be ready Friday and healthy the rest of the season? that is a relief!

I had to look at the box score. NMSU had 40(!) fouls called on them. L'ville 16. Maybe that is legit and NMSU are fouling monsters, but wow 2.5x the fouls is hard to believe.

Who had Ware on their Bingo card as "most consistent through 6 games?" Not me. A very good (and big) UCONN team took him out of his game, otherwise he's been really soild. Where would IU be without him, so far? A few mos ago I asked "who needs to have a great season for IU to exceed expectations?" My answer was Trey, and it appears I might have been right. If he knocks down 35% from 3 and does the little things he always has, IU is MUCH better. So far he's struggling and they all seem disjointed on either end of the court. Still if MM emerges and XJ is healthy and settles down, IU can still be a really solid team. FIgure it out on defense and a couple guys consistently hitting 3's......

Would Frye be on the list without being an alum?

Oh man, I want IU to win, but is it worth having to listen to that voice???

I just turned on the Dallas game and was confronted by geriatric Dolly Parton dressed as a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader and singing....Queen?! What is happening? My Thanksgiving has been ruined.

It boggles my mind that this isn't considered every time. Yet regularly Duke, pUKe, Kansas, etc stack guys at the same position and they seem thrilled...until they're not. I'm not sure Timberlake would be the answer for IU, but I sure woulda liked to find out. I suspect he does now, too.

But picking the hot MAC candidate is the IU way!

Is Liam capable of playing the 2? I assume he's more of a SF, especially on defense.

Just finished watching and I'm fine with playing some, or even a lot of zone . Whatever, it takes at this point. The bench won this game. IU has some players, but is still a pretty poor team. At least tonight, granted against a pretty rough L'ville team, there was some renewed hope.

IU 54 UConn 86 I have zero confidence IU competes in this game. Unless their D improves immensley this might be conservative.

Not sure that will matter. I'm afraid IU is gonna get destroyed with or without XJ.

Something a little perverse about that. I am not coaching A&M, can I get a little of that action too?

Right, but last night in particular was UGLY while playing an atrocious team. Also, it's not just one or two things, it appears that everything is wrong (defense, shooting, depth, intensity.) That along with our highly touted 5 star recruit looking timid and lost all lends itself to panic. On the positive side, there is clearly talent, the capacity to be competitive is there. XJ, Mbako, Ware, Reneau, Cupps are all good players.They CAN do better, so that lends some hope. If they are the right pieces that will fit together is another question. I am disappointed that the floor & ceiling on this team both appear lower then I expected.

A week ago I wouldn't have agreed with this, but now? Geez. I'd hate to throw in the towel the first week of his Soph season, but Gunn doesn't appear ready to play at all. Not saying Leal is the answer, but it's hard to even envision Gunn contributing in a competitive game.

I support it in principle. My issue was it didn't seem like accountability, it was just finger pointing. Having just watched the game, Ware & Reneau being 'soft' was about 4th or 5th on the list of issues. Scoring aside, XJ sucked in almost every facet of the game and especially defense. So it seems very self-serving to call out other guys when he failed as much or more. Another indictment of him, a talented 6th year PG, is I trust the skinny freshman with the ball more than him. I'm concerned XJ doesn't have the temperment to be a team leader and we're seeing the results of that on the floor.

I think your overall point has some merit, but what "other guards?" Gunn has looked awful and I don't think Leal has played yet in either game. IU really needed a transfer guard and losing Newton has left virtually 0 guard depth.

That may be true- even likely- but Ware & Reneau weren't letting the 5'10" Ginger kid (that got shut-out by STONEHILL?!) stroke 3's in their face all night. If X is the Captain then lead by example. He played poorly overall with defense, turn-overs and stagnant offense.

Yes, apparently it is :(