Stromboli

Thanks USPS. Beautiful weather today. Sending good vibes. I've been a little attached to the idea of Matt Cross, partly because I've seen him play. I've never seen Jordan play, so I'm more hesitant. This article by IndianaHQ lays out a pretty good argument. Frankly it has me convinced that he'd be a great add. https://indianahq.com/indiana-offers-2020-jordan-geronimo/

You have no excuse not to talk to him and report back. We need this.

SIAP Tommy Coverdale with some insight on former teammate and roommate Mike Roberts. Also some interesting comments on Romeo... https://twitter.com/jimcoyleISB/status/1164600653899022336

Awesome article, USPS. So much of last year's issues came down to our inability to make shots. It's so simple that it's stupid to say. I do think there's a lot of data that was left out from that methodology. How old was the PG on the better teams? What was the average composite ranking of the starting 5? Don't kenpom and torvik have a luck component? How did that compare? Is the strength of schedule factored in? Also, I thought it was going to go into the actual pieces of the team. Like, playing a small-ball line-up, or playing two bigs. The value of a senior guard. The value of having a OAD or two or 3 on a team. I think there's much more to unpack.

Alright. You're all being very un-dude. Let's keep it to 19-20 Predictions. Recapping last year's losses is not that. The requested format: 1. Overall record, B1G record, post-season results, if any (Edit: I went with 30 total games just based on what has been announced, Stuhoo points out we had 35 last year. Do what your heart says is right) 2. Starting 5 for first game of BigTen season 3. Average PPG for top 5 scorers 4. A hot take 5. Another hot take (Or whatever, just make a prediction)

Boom

Beat me to it while I was off making a meme

A tidbit on Hunter. Two days ago he was looking for buddies to play open gym with him in Ohio. Surely he'd have to be cleared by the staff to do that, right? Aside from Archie pumping the brakes about his availability at the Huber thing, do we have any indication he's not GTG?

Friday? You and me are having a nooner, I'd imagine. Here's a memory. Day drinking on Kirkwood on that deck next to Upstairs. One of the games was "yellow Mustang." Every time someone in a yellow Mustang drove by, you finish your beer. Of course plenty of other unique vehicles earned just a drink ("Minivan with wood panels; drink.")

Don't be too surprised if the certain poster lets the kid have his moment, one way or the other. I know in the past he has kept back info he had, even if the board would love it.

Fun video Devonte posted. He's at the Lifetime Fitness Sky Club in Manhattan. CJ McCollum and J. Cole (rapper, dreds) are in there too. After toying with J. Cole for awhile, he starts shooting over that poor dude in blue. Awesome video

Let's get Drewfus in those huddles! Lol

Coach Clif is a huge asset to this program. Also love the personality Trayce is bringing.

Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!

Giggity

Go get another one and maybe we'll get Leal today, too!

I'll take a topless Chris Farley over Stuhoo and his Brony gif collection any day! Also:

Yeah, but we can't always count on an exhilarating run through the NIT to pad our stats! Aaaaand, looks like another non-con game was just announced, Troy University. #209 last year, but graduated most of their offense. Sooo, I'm up to 21-10. I'm just waiting for some scorching hot takes.

1. Overall record, B1G record, post-season results, if any (Edit: I went with 30 total games just based on what has been announced, Stuhoo points out we had 35 last year. Do what your heart says is right) 2. Starting 5 for first game of BigTen season 3. Average PPG for top 5 scorers 4. A hot take 5. Another hot take Link to known 2019-20 Games I'll start: 1. 20-10 (12-8 B1G). One win in BTT, one win in NCAA. This has us going undefeated non-con. 2. Rob Phinisee, Devonte Green, Jerome Hunter, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Joey Brunk 3. This is tough, without knowing minutes: 14.0 Green 11.5 Phinisee 9.5 Hunter 9.0 TJD 8.5 Davis 4. Armaan Franklin plays more minutes per game than Justin Smith through the B1G season 5. We go into 2020 feeling like a B1G Championship is possible

FWIW I dont see a deep run either. More just referring to my statement that it's more fun to remain hopeful and optimistic. Yeah the offense. It wasn't good. Easy to blame it on poor shooting despite open looks, but it went deeper than that. It looked like 5 uncoached players. Doesnt help the whole team got the yips.

Against my better judgment I'm weighing in here. Speaking of weighing, some of you are weighing down the board with negativity. Any reason you feel compelled to repeat yourselves? And if someone disagrees, why do you have to respond, restating your position? What's the endgame with the repetition? Pretty much everyone here can name the handful of posters that bring negativity. State of the program? Not good! It's pretty obvious, no? We haven't made the tournament in 3 years. We lost our two best players. We pay top ten money and get (barely) top 50 results. We can all see this. But we can also see that the program isn't dead. And a huge part of being a fan is sticking with your team in the bad. So what do we having going for us? 1. Archie WAS a big hire, and many had him pegged as the best available at the time. He turned down offers from other programs, and in a way legitimized us when he took the job. Obviously not a lot of success here yet. But let's not write him off. He has had several very good seasons as a head coach. He recruits well, and coaches the brand of defense that just carried UVa to a title. There is a very real chance that he pans out, and we have a coach for 20 years. I know that is what most of us are hoping for. Let's also give him credit for not being a goober. He has the attitude that we want, and it jives with us Hoosiers. 2. We've kept our noses clean. You guys comparing our recruiting to "the blue bloods" aren't being fair without making clear that you want to cheat. By and large, the teams recruiting well are cheating. Kansas cheats their faces off. Duke is basically a professional team not bound by any kind of collective bargaining agreement. Kentucky? Built a dynasty out of it. Even the non-blue blood teams that you guys compare us to are simply cheaters. Arizona, Maryland, Oregon, Oklahoma State, LSU, even Creighton. We have a program that has stayed out of that, even in the face of a very antsy fanbase. I'm happy about that, and cheer for success only if we do it cleanly. 3. Recruiting's been pretty good, y'all. Two straight McDAAs? Both Indiana Mr. Basketball's? Two straight years having the highest rated recruit in the BigTen? Have we forgotten already the Indiana recruiting drought we had prior to Archie? IU was programa non grata in Indiana. In his first two classes Arch landed Romeo Langford, Damezi Anderson, Rob Phinisee, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Armaan Franklin. Even circled back and picked up Joey Brunk. What more can you ask for from the in-state recruiting front? Keion Brooks? I mean, sure. I think we know enough now to see it wasn't the right fit. The LaLu/Kentucky thing really isn't our speed. It does seem like he was ours prior to the losing streak, but remember he wasn't ours. He never committed. Trayce did. So Kentucky was pretty much always there. As far as other recruits, I'd agree there are a couple misses of guys that would've been nice. DJ Carton, Harlond Beverly. But, that's going to happen. You can't expect to get everyone. I think Archie was in a tough spot for 2020. The fanbase would've erupted if he didn't offer Leal. So don't put him down for pursuing an "underwhelming" target. And Galloway is only underwhelming if you're kinda simple. Nothing underwhelming about Cross, Davis, Garcia, Steward, Love, Diarra, etc. Would you prefer he just gave offers to 10 of the top 20? 4. We have an awesome program in spite of our last 3 seasons (or 17...). Excellent attendance. Enormous amounts of coverage and fan involvement and forums. Third ranked by value. Excellent home court (if you don't agree fight me). Still the flagship program in Indiana. Still have half the total NCAA Championships of the BigTen. Still at least discussed in the blue blood conversation. We can be proud of being Indiana fans. 5. We do have hope. Yep, it requires you to put on your crimson colored glasses. Or, in other words, be a fan. How many NFL fanbases have hopes of a SuperBowl this year? Probably at least half. How many teams will win the SuperBowl? I think it's pretty low, like one. The hope is mostly what being a fan is about. Because, newsflash, all of this is entirely meaningless. Completely arbitrary. But we're investing time, attention, and money into it anyway. So be a fan and make it a positive experience. We have real depth at the 5. We have a McDAA freshman from just up the road coming in to play the 4, with depth there to back him up with Race and Justin. We may be getting to premier our best player in Jerome Hunter, who was the reigning Gold Jersey wearer when he went down. Devonte, Phinisee, and Al have a ton of minutes between them, and happen to be the best 3 shooters on the team last year (remove Phinisee's games when he couldn't see straight). Armaan might be the most talented guard on the roster. And Damezi might just be icing on the cake, if he finds his footing. That should be a top 5 roster. Squint a little harder and I'm pretty sure I see a deep tourney run. Big season coming up!