Stromboli

Agree with your take on CAM's discussion of injured guys and playing time. As much as I want to know what's going on, that's probably the best way to handle it. No reason to put a guy down and say he's not ready to play. No reason to expand on injuries to the guys, possibly even running afoul of HIPAA junk. And no reason to let the opponent have an idea what to expect. Heaven forbid we tip our hand and then get handled for the first 5 minutes of the game.... Wasn't Tom Brady listed on the injury report for over 3 years without missing a game? Maybe Archie is channeling his inner Belichick.

Thanks as always, OF. Just peeked and saw that Warren Central is playing at Carmel tonight. That's #1 vs #2. I might see if I can squeeze in for the game. This guy said there will be tickets available at the door, so hopefully that works.

Old Fart is a Belieber.

Definitely a peek into what Archie is seeing. We need guards. We anticipate having some openings on our roster. Both Beverly and Quinones seem like an effort to get what's left. I only HOPE it doesn't reflect anything regarding Keion.

Don't you have a game thread to be starting? Does anyone remember Archie talking about his superstitions? I know one of them is that if he wins, he wears the same suit to the next game.

Oh man!!! I have really enjoyed EYBL. I hadn't even realized we're almost back. Too bad they moved it back a few weeks. Is there any indication access this year will be different than the last few years? I know they were making some changes. Also, will most of our 2020 guys be playing Nike circuit?

How's he been looking USPS?

Archie modifying to positionlessish. De'Ron proved the value of a true 5 last night. And TJD is very talented, but not the kind of immovable object we need sometimes. 100% crystal ball to Notre Dame (including Snow), but apparently still open. https://youtu.be/tV7V21CdqkU

Maaaan I'm so happy. Happy for our dudes, too. Hope they're hanging in Devonte's room!!

Appreciate the insight. USPS likely already has the algorithm for recruits, programmed into a supercomputer in his basement CBBHQ. I can tell you that seeing the guys play has enormous value for me. At EYBL the talents emerges clearly. And it's hard, because these kids are 15, 16, 17 years old, so the kid you see in April isn't the same kid as in December. Nice to hear the professional way Archie handles this stuff.

I appreciate the guys holding the line here. Not easy to argue that we're doing things right, when we honestly look terrible. Some kind of tweak needs to occur. Archie isn't some mad king, sending our guys out to certain defeat for no reason. He's a coach, paid to prepare the team, set out a game plan that gives us a chance to win, and make smart adjustments. This junk in the first 5 minutes is just maddening. You can count on two Justin Smith possessions resulting in nothing. You can count on defensive breakdowns for easy looks. You can count on a double digit deficit. You can count on an offense that isn't any better than an uncoached collection of basketball players. There's something between doing nothing and playing Blackmon. Scripted plays on our first 5 possessions? Fine. Easing off the guys so they feel free to shoot (and miss) the long ball without a scowl from Coach? Fine. Screens to get the ball anywhere but the dumb dribble weave? Cool. Slap the floor before each defensive possession? That's probably over the line. To say "work harder in practice" isn't saying anything. Sorry, but it's the same kind of glib response as Crean saying "I'll have to watch the tape" when asked what went wrong. Now, when Archie says that, he's likely trying to protect his players somewhat, which I totally appreciate (not sure if that's true after he calls them soft all the time). To be fair to Archie, these shooting percentages are so bad that it really makes winning difficult. But as soon as you say your players can't shoot, maybe they believe it and continue to miss. So instead you say they don't work hard, which is at least tied to effort and maybe something they can change. This thread shouldn't have reached 40 pages. We shouldn't have Trayce Jackson-Davis assuring us on twitter that he's not decommitting. We shouldn't ever have to think "Gee, I sure hope we can beat Rutger on Wednesday!" There are a ton of idiot fans that are embarrassing, but there's also a lot of pretty smart fans watching this s*** show and know there's a disconnect. Even when we were winning, we could see that this team had some holes, and we talked about it. What would I do? Greenlight Phinisee, Durham, Green, Juwan, and Evan to shoot every time they're half open from 3. The go-ahead from the coach may help with some of the confidence. Some will fall, many won't. And even if we keep missing, I have to believe that defenses knowing we will shoot will get them out of the lane some. Leave Justin and Romeo to cut or at least try for a putback. Maybe even, I don't know, choreograph those two so one sets a screen for the other to get open so the shooter can rocket a pass in to them. Play with which player brings the ball up the court. Run plays for Phinisee. Run plays for Durham. Put the ball in Romeo's hands and honestly try to run the slump out of him. The guy will get doubled, so have him ready to make a play. Every guy needs to know that if their guy leaves them to double Romeo, they get a half step behind the line and expect a pass from Romeo, caught in motion for a rhythm 3. Practice this. Trust Juwan. He's probably our best passer. Get the ball to him at the top of the key. Justin at his best is getting dump passes as he cuts to the basket. Make everyone cut harder and move more. Sell the cut like you actually expect to get a pass, you might just draw some attention and leave a lane. Or you might just cut so hard that you get open for a good look. We aren't spreading the floor by having guys 6 feet from the 3 point line standing there. So get more movement going and maybe some opportunities will present themselves. Defense, I think we're okay here. As soon as our guys aren't moping because they're down 12 points, they may find they have more energy. FWIW, I'm lightyears from not trusting Archie as our coach. Twenty years with Archie is still my goal. Continuity and patience are important. So is support for these guys. I was at the Michigan game, and honestly the crowd was awesome. They remained supportive time after time. They got loud on a defensive possession when there was no reason to do so. I don't think anyone expected to win, and so I like to think everyone's issue right now is that we know these guys can do better. We are not playing to our potential. We should not be looking forward to next year yet, and most certainly not talking about coaching changes. No reason to give up at all, and even doing so is the exact wrong message for this team. Let's salvage this season with some tweaks to what we're doing and maybe we'll get some good juju and be dangerous again.

Agree 20 ppg is an unreasonable expectation. The best part of his game is facilitating anyway. If he can get 15 ppg but help facilitate 1.10 ppp then even better.

De'Ron has logged only 11 minutes over the past 5 games, so this won't be a huge adjustment. Too bad, he had some very good play at times this year. Juwan never should have been stuck playing the 5 for two years. Awesome news about Race Thompson. Am I remembering that he was the leading scorer at the Hoosier Hysteria scrimmage? He looked faster than I had expected. A recent picture of him next to Juwan, and he's slightly taller/bigger than Juwan. No reason he can't be a guy that logs 20+ minutes a game for 3 years. That would be welcome. I saw somewhere that Rob feels back to 100%. You could say, Rob played his best earlier when Devonte was injured, and there wasn't really a threat of losing the starting position. Maybe he'll play looser without Devonte there.

Can our guards play in helmets? Just wondering.

I think your reading of the tweet is the accurate one. As if the fans' wishes are granted, because he won't be playing. I think he's showing some vulnerability here. Most of us would! This fanbase is brutal. He tweeted that, and the very first response was some vitriol about how that fan hopes he'll take his one-man turnover show somewhere else. Really embarrassing stuff. The tweet was deleted within minutes. I'd really hope this fanbase can support the guys that choose to play for us. As of now, we're embarrassing the program.

You mean, like... more deflections?

I'm ready for the next huge embarrassing failure. Noooo. We'll be looking for a win, and some kind of growth here. Start it with some togetherness. Get these guys playing for each other. Get the defense going again, demoralize NW. Rob is ready to have another good game. Ideally some bounceback from Romeo, too. Maybe put up more than 5 points in the first 6 minutes. Who knows, maybe that's crazy. Go Hoosiers!

I don't believe you.

Guys talk me through this. Crean had us in a position where our low APR left us with at least a threat of penalties. Those include (from NCAA.com): The first penalty level limits teams to 16 hours of practice per week over five days (as opposed to 20 over six days), with the lost four hours to be replaced with academic activities. A second level adds additional practice and competition reductions, either in the traditional or non-championship season, to the first-level penalties. The third level, where teams could remain until their rate improves, includes a menu of possible penalties, including coaching suspensions, financial aid reductions and restricted NCAA membership. The Division I Committee on Academics, which oversees Division I’s academic infrastructure, has the discretion to apply appropriate penalties once teams have fallen below the benchmark for three consecutive years. While postseason bans are commonly applied as a penalty in the NCAA enforcement process, they are not considered as a penalty for poor academic performance. Instead, the requirement that teams achieve a minimum APR is simply a benchmark for participation in championships. Just as teams must win in competition to be eligible for championships, they must also achieve in the classroom. So, Crean gets canned. Archie gets hired. The situation is explained to Archie that we can't afford transfers due to the already low APR. How is this mismanagement by Glass? I can imagine that Archie happily complied if it otherwise meant limited practice time or worse. Maybe I'm missing something, but this seems like pretty solid management, no? I do have a question that maybe Chris007 can answer. If Archie was instructed not to allow transfers, then what was Gelon? Jones? We had two transfers that first year, with reports that Archie definitely asked Grant to leave, and at least helped influence Curtis. Edit: Stuhoo beat me. Bah.

They're just creating drama. Stay tuned, right after this message from our sponsor!!

This narrative that we don't shoot well needs to end. We're over 35% from 3pt. That's pretty much dead average. In the B1G, within 34-36% we have Michigan, OSU, Nebraska, Maryland, Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois. It's not that we can't shoot, it's that we don't shoot. Now that everyone knows we're deadly effective at the rim, let's enjoy that space and fire away. It's a dangerous game, but math says we'll get points if we keep shooting. This is really only part of it. We've dropped a ton in the metrics. At this point I'm determined not to get too negative. It's the easier, weaker reaction to this that really adds very little. Appreciate the guys still posting a positive message with their criticism.

He'll do a great job!

He's got talent coming out his ears. A true post player. Fast, powerful, long, smooth. But yeah like USPS says, the body language is a problem. I think of the way fans turned on Bryant and JBJ. Bryant would whine about calls but still play hard and with heart the next play. If TJD turns it over, he snaps at a teammate and then disengages. It isn't subtle in the least. Like you guys say, it'll be up to Archie to get him to play hard. Too bad Juwan won't be here for another year to guide Trayce a bit. I will say, the issues seem more pronounced with CG. At EYBL and the USA games, the body language wasn't as bad. And he especially seemed good to go when he was out there with Keion.

I'm a huge TJD fan. And there's a contingent of the fanbase that puts enormous expectations on some kids, just to pick them apart.

Yeah I'm lowkey afraid this fanbase is going to turn on Trayce. Attitude.