Hardwood83

So Kevin Willard has ALWAYS overachieved at Maryland....in his single season there? Woodson has ALWAYS underachieved in his TWO years at IU? C'mon Matt, that is pitiful even for Twitter level logic. I know very little about Derik Queen, but am comfortable saying this argument isn't moving the needle with him or anyone else. Do we know Queen is announcing & signing in the early period or is that conjecture?

I finally had a chance to watch this. Is it safe to say that Walker appears to be what we hoped Geronimo would be last year? Marian is not great, but I liked a lot of what I saw from IU.

Hey, I helped you set a new PR for "most ridiculous thing you've ever heard"! I'm kinda proud of that. Gotta say you have lived a sheltered life though, if THAT is the case. :) I hear much more ridiculous things on the daily news, unfortunately. Also would point out it's not just at that age most people only worry about themselves. I doubt he is waiting for Queen either, but it is possible they are discussing it, since they formerly played together.

I'd love IU pulling in a high-level SG transfer, since I think Trey is an ideal 6th man. Lot to like about D Davis too. Maybe he's waiting for DQ to commit first, so he doesn't steal his thunder?

Lots of times you hear people say "I could do that" about high-paid/high-profile jobs....in this case it is literally true. Anyone of us or nearly anyone else for that matter, could roll the balls out at L'ville practices, cuz that appears to be ALL he's doing!

As effective as he is at limiting Iowa's offense, he should be a great D coordinator somewhere!

I'm afraid you might be right about Illini, but still I was more unimpressed with KU than impressed with UI. Not that IU sparkled either, but no one ranked us #1!

I've only seen the exhibition and a couple of highlight vids of Ware. I know he is 3-4in taller than TJD and we've seen evidence he can hit a 3 in competition. Is he more athletic? Does he have more potential than Trayce?

Is it bad that after one exhibition,(at home, vs a D2 program) I already trust Cupps more than XJ? Not saying he's "better" simply that he seems more under control and intentional. As many others mentioned, Sparks & Walker both looked very good. I am not terribly upset about the 1st half performance...yet. If they show a propensity for slow/sloppy starts though....ugh. You can see potential for a lot of other guys (Ware & Mbako) although in that very brief sample, MM doesn't strike me as a one & done. Then again, I have a very low opinion of the NBA. Missed FT's are a concern, since that should be automatic. I won't have my mind changed about this. Missing FT's is a character flaw. NO ONE should shoot under 70%, doing so means you are stupid, lazy and likely ugly. Also means you probably camp in the left lane going 5mph under the limit and have bad personal hygiene. Shooting under 70% FT for the season should get tattooed on your forehead, cost you your scholarship and result in a year in prison. In conclusion, I don't appreciate poor FT shooting.

Will this be replayed on BTN?

I'm sure you are right. I haven't even followed it closely, so may be fuzzy on the details, but it would be different if he got in a fight or stole something. As is, it sounds like it was immature and foolish, but hardly a big deal. Not a great look for a 5 star with NBA expectations, but time to move on. Purdue fans will whine regardless.

Reneau? Agreed on your point though. We have seen that 1-3 good players is just enough to still lose a lot of games. Need to stack the talent to compete consistently at the high levels we want and expect. Having said that, I just don't get IU vibes from Queen. Hope I'm mistaken.

Oh, you youngsters. Once we were discussing what to watch for family movie night. I said "Let's watch an 80's movie!" My (then) 10yr old son said "I don't wanna watch a black and white movie!" Little weasel, the 80's were the peak of human civilization. Back to Boogie- I think he draws other big time players to IU. Likely even ones that aren't on our radar right now.

Just put "the other hand" behind your back and don't acknowledge it until Queen commits to IU. Problem solved! Personally, I don't think Queen is coming to IU. I'd love to have him, it just feels like his interest is elsewhere. The good news is with at least Sparks returning next year and the portal, a big (even a really good one) is lower priority, IMO.

happy for Penix and DeBoer, but oooff it stings:

What did you just write?! Take that back!

I agree with everything you wrote. We certainly know what an underperforming IU team looks like after the last 10 (or is it 30?) years don't we? Would be extremely refreshing to have a team over-perform and be greater than it's parts. This team definitely has talent, so if they 'mesh' as you put it, they can be really good, IMO. Just gotta do it consistently, which we haven't seen in a long, long time. :(

uh, no. they got nothing except a weak "you better not do that again". "NCAA’s Independent Accountability Review Process is set to announce Wednesday that Kansas’ five Level I allegations had been downgraded to a Level II case and that the program had received a three-year probation."

I'm sure he was a decent man once, but at some point he went over to the dark side and was at the VERY least was complicent with the blatant cheating he benefitted from. Most likely he was actually calling the shots. Zero respect for the rat bastard.

This doesn't even appear to be a wrist-slap. It's more like the NCAA saying "you got slapped on the wrist once before...at some point in the distant past, right? Sorry, poor baby, that must have been so traumatic, here is some ice cream!" Beyond pathetic.

Let's hope this works out MUCH better than for that duo! Completely off topic, but I've been following the news from Israel closely the last few days.Gotta say this thread/site has been a most welcome distraction. The real world is rough.

I love it. Gimme guys that HATE to lose. That shows up every night.

You should be a consultant for IU athletics, cuz they haven't figured that out yet.

I didn't want to add any teams at all, in fact, I woulda shed several. A coast-to-coast, 18 team "conference' is objectively foolish and ultimately meaningless. Does anyone think this is it, the permanent status now? Will it even last 3yrs? It's a chaotic, and extremely short-sighted money grab that (IMO) will fail in every facet, fundamentally damaging college sports, including football.

Wasn't UCLA the pioneer on cheating in the early 60's? I agree NIL has leveled the field a lot. No doubt cheaters will still cheat, but they have a steeper hill to climb now. Zion Williamson probably netted more at Duke than his first year in the NBA since it was tax-free bags of cash from the Duke.