Hardwood83

Isn't he only 6'7"? I really hate being undersized in the post......

Safe bet

Agreed, in fact I'd prefer to see them in the line-up together.

Sorry for the remedial question, but where did the Aaron Etherington thing come from? I saw it mentioned a few pages back, but couldn't figure out the original story. It's not important, but when watching a house-fire it's nice to know who started it.

Everyone knows that can NOT happen..... Wilt has a date that night.

That just pisses me off.

Maybe Rob takes it by storm, but if we have 2 Fr starting and neither is Romeo, I'm preparing for a rough season. If it's 3 Fr starting (Rob, Hunter & Anderson)? Ugh, that will give me 2010-2011 flashbacks. I do think that the opening game starters are unlikely to be the same as in March.

But would anyone actually miss Drew?

Obviously a lot of variables at this point: Will Juwan return (most important, imo) will Romeo sign on? (Close second) Will everyone else return? Will they improve? Are the freshmen ready to contribute? Any transfers and how many? Best case Juwan returns to claim the B1G PoY, Romeo is all we hope for, the rest of the cast buys in and plays smart and hungry. The Defense is there from day 1. Lineup something like this: Green, Langford, Smith, Morgan, Davis. With Phinisee, Hunter, McRoberts, Thompson & maybe a Grad Transfer Center off the bench. Worst case scenario? I don't really want to talk about that......

I'm kinda thinking the same. I expect Rob, Hunter and Thompson to all be rotation players. I hope Anderson and Forrester exceed (my) expectations and definitely believe they will contribute in the future. As Freshmen though, I have very moderate expectations.

Absolutely. If Sean was directly involved he should be fired and if he wasn't directly involved but it was going on under his nose he should still be fired. I don't see a happy ending for the older Miller brother here.

True, but that's an indictment of Knight. Crean did a lot wrong, but he embraced Indiana history and clearly wanted Knight & his players to be part of the program. Snubbing him was childish and inexcusable. I was a huge fan of Bobby growing up and even until about 6-8yrs ago when it became painfully clear he doesn't care about anyone other than himself. Great coach, shallow human being.

His talent is buying the players and getting them to buy in. I mean that, they may be soulless mercenaries, but pUKe plays defense, hustles, etc. I haven't watched them much this year, but usually that has been the case. He gets a lot of talent that works hard and that is enough to win a lot of games, especially in the SEC (until this season.) I agree he's under performed with the talent available. Poor ROI, Cal.

Is RMK feeling ok? That sounded complimentary! Hard to argue with either point.

I Agree. Also, think about 2 IU rivals potentially replacing HoF coaches with unproven youngsters! Sure they may turn out to be terrific for a long time....or they may crash and burn the respective programs! I choose the latter, please. I don't believe MSU has a lot of intrinsic value and will likely whither away after Izzo, unless they get a really strong hire. Louisville floundered for how long after the mid-80's before selling their soul for Pitinio? I like the way this is shaping up.

If that happens (assuming we don't get Romeo) I'll drop my already moderate expectations for next season. I understand neither Green nor Durham are irreplaceable but only having 2 scholarship guards (one a freshman) is not a recipe for success. There are always grad transfers, and the Sanford kid sounds promising and all, but that should be a complimentary piece, not to fill a glaring deficiency. **sigh** I get tired of the constant doom and gloom, but it's discouraging to think it could easily be 2-3 yrs before IU is where we want it.

I have no idea if Fife is directly involved either, but is it plausible to be on the staff and not at least know what is going on? Guilt by association sucks, but there it is.

Agreed. This isn't a movie that requires some sinister plot twist, they're just people trying to make an important decision. By most accounts they are decent people. So, if they choose KU or (especially) Vandy-@$$ they are making a really bad choice, but apparently not an uninformed one.

So who do we want to win- assuming it's not IU (crazy talk, I know!) I'm leaning towards Michigan as the least despicable option. I'm sick of M$U, O$U and obviously PeeEww isn't an option. I still haven't accepted that Maryland is even in the B1G and no one else seems viable. Thoughts?

Lots of speculation. My favorite though is they seem to be genuinely sanctimonious! How about this quote: "Another one we were on, but didn't get. Starting to see a pattern of guys Cal was after and either backed off, or shocked everyone by picking someone else. I think that alone is a strong indication Cal is not involved in paying recruits. At all." Poor Cal got beat out on a recruit by all those dirty guys. No one can be that deluded, can they? Kentucky is THE poster child for the high-profile one and done recruit and they think it's Texas, Mich St and UNLV that are the bad guys? Like most issues with Kentucky, sad and pathetic.

No doubt the "system" needs to change. If the NBA adopted a MLB draft policy it would help a LOT, IMO. I would go a step farther and say paying the college players isn't going to solve the problem, either. Kentucky, Carolina and Duke aren't cheating to help poor, disadvantaged inner-city youth. They cheat to win games and all that goes with that (prestige and mostly, money.) Creating some elaborate pay scale that gives players $3k or $5k or $15k a year won't change that. This issue isn't any different then any other cheating scenario. Why don't you or I cheat on our taxes, our wives or at a board game? A) It's morally reprehensible to us (clearly NOT the case with many/most top NCAA programs) or B) the risk of getting caught/punished is too great and not worth it. IMO, that is what needs to change. Go scorched earth so the risk of getting caught out-weighs the reward. It won't be simple, with agents and AAU etc involved. But it CAN be greatly improved if there is the will to do it.

I agree. True "projects" should be rare, but that isn't the same as a kid that needs a couple years to develop. I expected a little more out of Moore this season too, especially once DD went down, but big men often need some time to get it together. How likely is it IU will fill his scholarship with someone that will contribute more? Almost certainly not for next year- and after that is a total crap-shoot. I hope he sticks around, really works hard and tears it up in the future.

I understand, you have evidence to back your opinion too However, is it possible you thought/said that same things about Pitino & Louisville until recently? I'm not totally convinced the NCAA has seen the light and we're in a whole new paradigm.....but they did just deny an appeal and vacate a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP from a HoF coach. I guess my point is the NCAA isn't running this show right now, the FBI is and Sean Miller, Izzo, Cal, K, Roy, Self and all the rest of those cheating bastards are crapping their pants. Will our dreams come true with a fairy tale ending (for me that is Calipari in an orange jumpsuit)? Probably not, but this is too big to just get swept away as business as usual.

There might be a lot of that going around.

I'm not seeing it for Wisconsin. Happ is really good, and it's reasonable to assume their young guys will improve some- but they just aren't that talented and the off-season isn't fixing that. Take away Happ and they are the worst team in the B1G by a wide margin, IMO.