Stromboli

With the dearth of information on Jerome, it's hard to know what would classify as news. We've never known any kind of prognosis or timetable to work against. So I'm going against this one. Sooooo it's a commitment. Another rumor I forgot to post was that Trayce's brother was telling people to be sure they attend the game on Friday to watch the commitment. Oh and then just various insiders posting cryptic smiley faces. All of this is 100% consistent with the other junk we've been beholden to throughout this recruitment, and so I don't give it any more credence than anything else I've heard. Which is to say, I trust it entirely, because it confirms my biases. Thinking I might drive on down to Greenwood tonight, just in case. Even if/when Trayce disappoints me (again), my achy-breaky heart can still watch him and Armaan.

ESPN hasn't hyped Trayce enough for there to be a national audience here. And anyone with a cell phone can stream the commitment. I think Rabjohns keeps his real information close to the vest, especially if recruits ask him to do so. And so if he shows up before the game it's all ready for a broadcast to a large audience. FWIW I've seen the rumors around as well. They include that Trayce is committing tonight, Trayce is now favoring UCLA pursuant to a teammates family member, and that it's not Trayce that is committing tonight, but Keion. No way to know if there's any real information out there, but I'd think any insider is pretty gunshy at this point to share, given how many false alarms they've had. Trayce has basically laid waste to the entire recruiting insider industry. Not faulting him. But this is a boy-who-cried-wolf situation. I don't think any of the insiders were making things up along the way. Just the same, there are still plenty of the traditional insiders and others who still report full confidence that Trayce will be a Hoosier. The crystal ball reflects the same.

As others have said the biggest issue with last years uniform was the fit. The shorts were too long, and you could tell the guys hated them. They were all rolling the waistband. Same with the candystripe pants. While the look, both tops and bottoms, is really pretty cool (I know, subjective), the fit was off. And so the guys were tucking the pants into their socks for a tapered look. I think a fine look this year would have been last year's uniforms, but a more modern cut. The font change is fine. I think the changes this year, where the shorts don't match the tops, is pretty odd. Last thing. adidas is still the hotness. We happen to get adidas gear. I'd say ride that while we can. It was a dorky sponsor for years (decades?). Give the guys all the UltraBoosts and adidas joggers and script logo hoodies they want. Edit: Seeing that pic with the belted shorts reminds me that maybe tradition shouldn't be as important in the uniforms. Clearly that has changed over the years to stay relevant. So no objections to changes there. IU and Assembly Hall will always be heavy on tradition otherwise.

Agree that it's a balance. But if you don't ever divert some funds from athletics to education, then it's not a reason at all. What's your point, Vanessa. Hard to pick through the negativity for a cogent thought. You're now threatening to take your fandom elsewhere? Well, bye. Crean was paid as a top ten coach. Archie is, too. Assembly Hall was ranked as a top venue before the upgrades, and remains top now. I'm pretty sure our coaches get top budgets for recruiting, also. This isn't an issue of funds allocation. If Daniels were here, he'd be asking about his ROI.

Interesting argument. If I step back and think about it, I suppose I'd prefer my University President prefers allocating resources towards the educational side. Let's not put the cart before the horse. Even if true that $20mil was moved from athletics to the educational side, that's the direction I'd prefer the funds be going. In 15 years I'll be sending my kids to college, and I'd love for a degree from IU to be meaningful. I know the counter-argument. "But successful athletics provides prestige and more money for the school!" Exactly. So let's let the athletics provide money for the school. As a reminder, Archie is the highest paid Indiana state employee. By a loooooooot.

This is a technicality, but whatever. I'm guessing Justin is still going to start, because he's our jump ball guy. Whether or not he sees a reduction in minutes is something else.

Passing around the perimeter while no one moves makes me want to vomit. KenPom has us at 27 on offense and 28 on defense. So we're clearly not as bad as we're making it out to be.

I've never gotten the impression that Archie is a control freak. I think Tom Ostrom is safe. Ed is safe. Bruiser, I think, helps with recruiting a fair bit. I think I've seen some quotes from parents that Bruiser puts their minds at ease that their kids will be taken care of at Indiana. So now an additional coach? Maybe. I think Archie is smart enough to do it himself, maybe just needs to evolve a little bit.

Let's see here... We were nowhere near as good as them. Not making an excuse, but that looked exactly like college players against professional players. Our guys doing their darndest to make a pass or hustle for a rebound (and usually failing), while their guys simply played over us. I don't like the way we handled the press defense that came at us early. It shouldn't have been difficult for our ball handlers to get the ball across the line. Even better would be if they exploited it with faster movement and open looks down court. Rob Phinisee definitely took a step back, and it looks like he's next in line for an adjustment of expectations. Bad passes, no shots to speak of, not great dribbling. Nothing very point-guardy. He was still better than Devonte. Romeo's shooting was abyssmal. But at least he was competing. Getting rebounds. Our best PG play came from him also, doing the simple act of drawing defenders and passing to the open guy. I wish for him, and for our future recruiting, that he had a better night. What can you say about this shooting slump? My hope is that he finds his mojo soon, drops a 30 point game. Zach is a good basketball player. Much more than just hustle. Let's talk guards. Al has convinced me that he's a good player. Rob needs time. Green doesn't play very well. Not that we have much of an offense, but even still he interrupts it with boneheaded plays. For now I might sit Rob, play Al at the 1, but really put the ball in Romeo's hands more often. Until we get an offense, might as well let Romeo see what's happening and make a play. Maybe Archie could even watch and learn something. Oops. Yeah, I could stand to see a little more from the coaching. Know that I want Archie to be our coach for 20 years. He's got time to improve his coaching as a young guy. And as much as some fans don't like it, you need to be patient and supportive. What kinds of things don't I like about the coaching? We don't have an offense. We don't clear lanes for Romeo or Rob. We have so much emphasis on transition offense and defense that everyone is too busy sprinting away from rebounds. The guys don't seem to know how to use a screen or shot fake or pass fake, pick-and-rolls. It's part system, and part that the guys aren't getting down the skills that work. Most of last night's turnovers I blame on the players more than the coaching. Silly stuff. Dribbling straight into the baseline and getting trapped. Nerves. Weak perimeter passes kill me. De'Ron looked like one of our better players last night. If we had the personnel to play a high-flying help defense, then maybe I'd sit him. But right now his old school, knee braced, sweating at the free-throw line, pounding post stuff kinda works. I even liked his technical. Someone needed to show some attitude out there. We're not the deep team we thought. Pretty clear and gradual drop in talent from the top of the roster down. That's all. Remember that most everyone expected a 20 point loss. Well, that is what a 20 point loss looks like, and so don't be surprised by it. You never look good getting beat by 20 points. In no way should we be afraid of the coming games. No team will have the talent that Duke has. As much as I moan about the offense, I do want our defense to be our identity. Let's get back to holding teams under 1.00 PPP and maybe keeping the ball until at least we get one shot off. My worries right now have more to do with a tough B1G than a weak IU.

Indeed.

We won. In the end, we won pretty easily. Pretty clear the guys didn't "give it their all" tonight. They did give enough to win. That's ultimately what matters. This was not our super bowl. Like it or not, trying harder when the stakes are higher is just human nature. UC Davis, evidently, was never a threat, and the guys knew it. Let's settle down a smidge. Maybe even support the team? They are winning.

Austria! Well, then. G'day, Mate! Throw another shrimp on the barbie!

Because Archie's entire offense is based on transition, so they're running to catch the pass, hoping a teammate gets the ball.

Juwan with 19 at the half, Romeo with 8, Smith with 6. Water is finding it's level. Juwan is the best player we have. Make no mistake, Romeo is better than this. But we need to learn to open the floor for him. Let's put 50 up in the 2nd half, and hold them to 20.

Romeo is going to have hangers-on like this the rest of his life. Hypes Romeo because he's just trying to use Romeo's celebrity for clicks/views for "Frankie Vision, LLC." I'm sure at some point after Romeo gets his contract Frankie will remind him how he made Romeo's career possible since high school, etc. "Remember where you came from, fam. I was calling you the best back when you were in high school. I hook you up, you hook me up, fam." Agree with jbell here. Coach Miller is trying to win games here, not create highlight youtube videos to Frankie to publish.

Porque no los dos?

Good morning, my dudes. Happy Wednesday. Injuries, man. I've tried to consider whether or not the offseason training is part of it. Jerome's issue is a freak thing. Devonte's thigh contusion in practice is just from going hard. Same with Race's concussion. Who knows with Zach, probably from total disregard for his body diving after loose balls. De'Ron is still just getting a stronger healthy body from last year's injury. Al was previously out for soreness, and now from that nasty fall. Romeo's was a one-off accident. And so our injury problems are not from fatigue/overuse, but it is possible that the meat-grinder of practice competition needs to be dialed back. Bystander's prognosis: Romeo: Likely fine, but will have a Phantom of the Opera mask. De'Ron: Yeesh. Back in a boot? That's more than soreness. McBob: It feels like he's being put on ice for more important games. I'd assume he's back for Duke. Jerome: If he's still in the hospital, it's easy to envision this a red shirt year. A week at the Cleveland Clinic is no simple basketball injury. Race: The internet tells me 7-10 days, but the more aggressive you are in allowing full healing, the better. It's his brain. My guess is that he'll have the opportunity to put a body on Zion. At this point I think we could really use him. Who knows, he might be a mid-season revelation for us. Does anyone know if he can shoot a free throw? Al: Oh man. I couldn't tell if that was a pure tailbone thing, or general back thing. I've broken my tailbone before, and it's the worst. Like Al, I finished the contest without too much pain, but as soon as I stopped it locked. I think it was 2 weeks before I could really do anything, and maybe 5 before I was at 90%. I know injuries happen in basketball, but watching the little guy from UT Arlington "try real hard" and take Al's legs from him got me hating their whole team. Only got worse when someone else "tried real hard" and broke Romeo's nose. Not even knowing what ails him, I'd guess Al will be out through the Duke game, and not 100% through 2018. Devonte: I thought he'd be back. Didn't he play after the thigh contusion happened? So what's going on? I'd say it must have been somewhat severe. Even still, I'd guess he's back this week. I hope so, our guards need a breather. So we can hope to get back Romeo, McBob, Race, and Devonte. I'd probably forfeit the win if we could just go back and not play this game altogether. Romeo's face and Al's coccyx likely agree. Just not worth the cost of injuries and fatigue, and now the entire fanbase is in a feeding frenzy to zing which players are lazy or have weak hands or just don't have heart or BBIQ. You should have seen the fans go after De'Ron yesterday in the IUBB post wishing De'Ron happy birthday. Brutal. Really hard to make generalizations after this game, since these really aren't the guys we envisioned playing. I am worried some about our offense. We look good in transition, but our half-court offense is stagnant or worse. Using screens to get open is not some ancient lost art. It seems like all we have are baseline cuts (these look more opportunistic than scripted), Juwan passing out of a double, or Romeo/Rob driving for a lay-up. And half the time when a guy takes a shot, Archie is screaming and scolding him for it. The guys have the yips. Personally I could stand for Archie to chill out. And maybe teach his guys about screens, both setting them and using them. Now let's talk the good. We won. Kenpom and Torvik both have us at #19, and we have very balanced offense and defense efficiency numbers. In spite of our horrid 3pt shooting and my own analysis, our offense is very efficient, due mostly to our very effective play around the basket. Dare I say we have chemistry there? I think Juwan is a big part of that. Our defense is still pretty good, and I think we take that for granted. Our 3 best players are healthy, and they'll continue to make great plays for us. If we even get half the guys back we'll have 8-9 guys we can play. Armaan showed out last night for 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 steals. And tomorrow we can pour gravy on everything and no one thinks it's weird.

I had to miss the Arkansas game to take my little guys to Jurassic Quest. Haven't found the time to watch the game yet, probably won't! Ready to watch the game tonight. I really prefer watching the games at Assembly, too.

Kansas does it because it's embarrassing for a Blue Blood to only have 3 titles in 80 years.

They're delusional. Claiming a championship for a tournament that didn't occur is part crazy, and just part obnoxious. The cheerleading thing... It's not a sport recognized by NCAA. And they didn't even win the real thing. They won some smaller side contest called "Small Coed Division." The main competition is called "Cheer Coed," and it's the one with UK, OSU, Alabama, etc. And yes, I absolutely looked it up just to call them out. https://tv.varsity.com/results/6071111-2018-uca-uda-college-cheerleading-and-dance-team-national-championship/23532 So they have 3. Same as RMK.

Let's get this rolling! IndianaHQ with a good rundown: https://www.indianahq.com/read/5be876ef1409b80013207895 Marquette will be a good team. They can definitely score. Last year their defense was awful, but I would expect they've been working on that. Let's hope Assembly Hall is rocking.

Whaaaaaat?! Yeah this is huge. So the best case here is that he wants to sign his LOI during this early signing period, which would not have been possible if he still had his MSU official, right? Man this is good. I hope. But I think it is.

Hey Hogfan, welcome. What can you tell us about your team? How does your fanbase see this going? The Bud Walton seems like a great home court. Probably most of us don't realize it, but last year Arkansas was 9th in game attendance at 16,181 per game. That's one spot ahead of Indiana at 15,590. Really good non-conference game.