Maedhros

Nah, that's only what happened with offers under the previous guy. :D

I disagree. We offered Damezi a full month before Henry received his offer, Jerome and Race were offered even before that. Offers aren't given randomly. For better or worse, the staff made a decision on who to target and who to make a priority; they chose Damezi over Aaron Henry.

As I recall, the tide began to turn when Andrew Slater placed his pick for Vanderbilt about two weeks before the announcement. Even Nashville native Jerry Meyer hailed the pick as a potential game changer on Twitter, despite not changing his own pick until the day of. That said, the chatter right up until that morning was still that it could go either way between Indiana and Vanderbilt, until word did leak out. Anyone remember that Paul Biancardi column that went up at ESPN hours before Garland's scheduled announcement? The above is why the Andrew Slater pick for Keion to Kentucky is what has me concerned the most, at the moment.

It's that old cliche, right? Practice doesn't make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect. Plenty of guys enter Division I with poor mechanics. If what they're doing right now isn't working, practicing more on their own apart from the coach staff isn't going to improve things. The players need someone to step in and make corrections. Given Archie's track record at Dayton, I'm not sanguine.

It's weird to me that some look at these stats and think that's not on Archie, rather than the opposite. This team is not devoid of shooters, but we don't run plays for them; we're the worst screening team I've seen in years. We take what the other team is willing to give us, and so our worst three points shooters are the ones who end up taking most of the shots. Last night Iowa went zone, and we just settled for trying to shoot over it. Too often a three is attempted after we haven't been able to get anything going in the half court and the shot clock is winding down; small wonder we aren't making a great percentage. Our poor shooting from distance is a symptom of our struggles on offense, not the cause.

And to add to that, if Keion indeed makes it to the NBA, passionate and vocal fan bases will continue to be a thing for his entire career. If that's a problem for the family now....

I know this isn't what the topic you wanted to discuss, only your inspiration, but I found it worth a chuckle considering that Drew Davis wrote a preseason power ranking that listed Indiana third in the conference, right there on Peegs itself: https://247sports.com/college/indiana/ContentGallery/Preseason-Big-Ten-Mens-Basketball-Power-Rankings-123776057/#123776057_3 The unofficial Big Ten media poll, organized by Brendan Quinn, picked Indiana to finish third as well (sharing the ITH link for those without an Athletic subscription): https://www.insidethehall.com/2018/10/10/indiana-picked-to-finish-third-in-big-ten-in-official-unofficial-media-poll/ Third is also where Alex Bozich had Indiana ranked: https://www.insidethehall.com/2018/10/24/big-ten-power-rankings-preseason-edition/ Both the preseason AP Poll and KenPom had us ranked 28th in the country, fourth and fifth in the Big Ten respectively: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings/_/week/1/year/2019/seasontype/2 https://www.insidethehall.com/2018/10/20/indiana-ranked-no-28-in-initial-kenpom-ratings/ All this was assuming a healthy Indiana team, of course, but unless Rabjohns wants to insist all these people were swept up in fan emotion and didn't actually study the Big 10 rosters (as his tweet alleges) then he's being disingenuous at best, here.

Per this calendar, the EYBL event in Westfield falls during a quiet period: https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/eligibility/recruiting/calendars/2018-19DIMBB_RecruitingCalendar.pdf I attended this event last year, when it was in April and during an evaluation period for certified events. Grand Park was a who's who of coaches, doesn't sound like that will be the case this year.

Heh, why not? We've been comparing winning at Dayton in the A-10 to winning at Indiana.

I don't think Crean was blind to the deficiencies on his roster. When we lacked shooters on the 2014 team, he went out and recruited James Blackmon, Robert Johnson, even Max Hoetzel. Then Noah Vonleh and Luke Fischer both left unexpectedly and the following year's team lacked size, so Crean recruited Thomas Bryant, Juwan Morgan and OG Anunoby. The weakness he was unable to address was the point guard position following Yogi's departure. After going in on guys like Shake Milton, Bryant Crawford, Tony Carr, and Bruce Brown, he was left with Devonte Green and Josh Newkirk on the roster. Arguably those misses are what cost Crean his job, but I don't think it was for lack of recognition or effort. Heck, we almost landed Tremont Waters, now a pre-season All-American at LSU. My hope for Archie's recruiting is that we're able to reload instead of constantly having to plug holes. With our deficiencies in shooting likely to continue with the 2019 class, I worry that we're already behind the curve.

These responses make me chuckle as well. I have never expressed any desire to can Archie. I will give him a chance to stack recruiting classes and have four-year veterans in his system before I reach any definitive conclusions. But I can and will express dissatisfaction with how the Archie era has progressed so far, even as I watch and hope that Archie will be able to right the ship.

Posts like the OP do make me chuckle. Great examples, sure, but now do all the coaches who were mediocre during their first two seasons and never became elite. Should be plenty of those to find, you could start with the coach who beat us last night.

Genuine question, because you're around the team and I'm not: Which leftovers are not buying in? Devonte, sure. But Juwan is our MVP. I have no concerns with De'Ron when he's been able to play, he just hasn't been healthy all year. Same could be said for Zach, who may lack skills but I don't think has ever been accused of lacking buy-in. No one else on the team was ever coached by the previous regime.

And if you check out Kentucky Sports Radio, they think it's down to UK and Indiana: http://kentuckysportsradio.com/main/pilgrims-basketball-insider-notes-two-kentucky-targets-nearing-a-decision/ It's nice to know that all the competitors want to think they have a shot, but recognize that we're the team to beat.

No one knows what goes on in practice. Not even media, as practices are closed. We assume Clifton isn't showing anything in practice because he doesn't see the floor during games. In the absence of any other reason, it's the best one available. But it's still just an assumption. I don't get to see practice, so I have judge what I see in games. I see a player just as lost as Fitzner on defense, but without the opportunity to learn on the job. Fitzner is in his final season and has played 2,134 minutes in his career. He is who he is. Clifton is a sophomore given just 92 minutes so far in his career. Yet in that small sample he's the best rebounder on the team, a capable shot blocker, and efficient from the field. Fitzner is none of those things. The one thing he does that Clifton doesn't is shoot the three, and that's completely disappeared in Big Ten play. So even if their defense is equally poor - and the metrics actually favor Clifton - I don't at all understand why you wouldn't run out the kid who has something else to offer, and who still has upside yet to be developed. Some lessons can only be learned through meaningful minutes in live games, and for some kids the best motivator is opportunity.

Meh. Same guy didn't have Trayce announcing when he did, even though that information was out there and proved accurate. Not saying he isn't being honest about what he's been told, only that it isn't the final word.

Just for clarity: Marquette at home is a Tier 2 win. By beating Penn St we dropped them to 76 in the NET, dropping that win to Tier 2 as well.

UC Davis played four games in just six days. They played an overtime game in Arlington against TAMCC on the 17th, then had to get right back on the court the very next day for UT Arlington. They had just one day off to travel from Texas back to California for a home game on the 20th, then had to fly to Indiana for a road game on the 23rd. Sure, our rotation is shorter than theirs due to injuries, but that's a marginal difference of a few minutes per game. At best I'll look at that schedule and let you call it a wash. It certainly doesn't make me think one team being fresh and well rested is the reason why UC Davis was able to hold onto a lead for over 30 minutes of a game in Assembly Hall.

I don't think anyone expected to get blown out on our home court by either Indiana State or Fort Wayne, let alone both. Crean didn't leave behind a roster capable of contending for the Big Ten, but we had enough talent on hand to avoid those results. I can agree that we improved from that nadir over the course of the season, but can't say it was enough to earn back my trust after the deficit that was built up early. Remember, we lost seven of our last eleven games, and those four wins came against the four worst teams in the conference. And we ended our season with that loss to Rutgers. Others have noted the improvement in turnovers and defense that took place last season. I saw it too. But then this season we're barely 300th in the country in turnover percentage, and our offense looks a mess. I'm not saying I'm ready to call it quits on the whole Archie era. I say this only to say I'm not ready to declare him the right coach to get this program back where we all want it to be. I don't see how anyone can be certain of that at this early point, but it would seem I've also been less encouraged by the early returns than most. As the title of this thread states, I have concerns...

Flip the burden of proof. What evidence have you seen that Archie's system is working, or is the long term answer? I would say our turnovers were much improved over the course of last season, but they're back with a vengeance this year. Our team defense was also impressive in conference play, but if the team doesn't know how to play together on offense, what have you gained? I'm still waiting for Archie to show me something before I believe all the people telling me the future is bright or that we're on the right track. I thought I saw it with the Marquette game, but so far I've yet to see those results replicated.

Factually incorrect. We had the same players available against Marquette as we had for Arkansas and UC Davis. We actually had Zach and Devonte back against Duke. I'll give you the UT Arlington game, when De'ron sat and Al had to leave after only giving 11 minutes.

We're 5-2, yes, but four of those wins came against cupcakes, the better two of which were also able to give us a scare, in Assembly Hall no less. It's not about losing to Duke, something everyone expected. It's about how we looked in the games leading up to Tuesday night, and how we acquitted ourselves once we got there. Maybe it is entirely explained by injuries. We'll find out soon enough.

While we wait, Dustin Dopirak has a fantastic profile of Trayce up this morning at the Athletic. Sharing because I think it's worth a read, all the more if he picks Indiana and becomes a Hoosier: With recruiting tabled until spring, 5-star Trayce Jackson-Davis focuses on basketball

Y'all are missing that UT Arlington had a game on Sunday just as we did. Ours was on the road, theirs was at home, but they then had to travel to Bloomington for a road game in a tough environment. We should not have been any more fatigued than our opponent.

I can't vouch for it being over a month prior, but I was lurking at the time and do recall Chris providing the exact date of April 30th for Romeo's announcement, first thing in the morning on April 11 before Rabjohns et al were giving out that information publicly later in the day. I don't doubt the veracity of his sources. But I also heard someone once say, when assessing Indiana's chances of landing Trayce, that something would have to change for him not to end up in Bloomington. Each time we hear from Chris and others of a pending commitment, then nothing happens, it suggests that something has changed. When Indiana is the presumed front-runner, change is bad, and so it's tough not to worry as this thing continues to drag out.