Stromboli

I dont think it's an area that anyone fully understands. Now we're getting lawsuits 2 decades later, connecting brain damage to negligence of the organization. The school just went through a player safety issue with Wilson. And has evidently adopted a stringent policy in the aftermath. Probably a liability thing, which also happens to protect the well-being of the players. Maybe when the brain isn't a mystery to science and medicine, these longer periods can be dialed back a bit. I'm not interested in being called the concussion police, but it is probably unfair for any of us to judge Rob's status based on our perception of the blow to his head.

Keion's mom's got her back!

I was sitting next to her at the CG game (sorry, USPS, better seats on the Cathedral side). She was cheering loudly and definitely into the game, but nothing untoward. Seriously, she's a lady, and she loves her kiddo. Refs get touchy sometimes. Reminds me of Pickerington North coming all the way from Columbus, and some ref on a power trip gave Jerome two techs for basically nothing. Just egos getting in the way.

Not just you! The Pizza Sandwich stands with you.

This is my take, also. It may not have been 100% effort, but that's human nature. They easily outclassed these guys. Even that behind the back pass by Devonte, I like him more for trying it. He knew Coach would yell at him either way, might as well try to make a highlight with your buddy. In a close game, I wouldn't have liked it. This was not that. And I'm all for diving for loose balls, except it just cost us another player, in this case our starting PG. I think I saw some mature players out there. Romeo played a mature game, really just playing team basketball. Good positioning for rebounds, good heady plays. Justin's game had shades of Juwan, just really playing within the flow of the game and taking the available shots, using his body and positioning well, and finding opportunities through playing hard. Clifton used some physicality a few times, fought for position. This might seem like a stretch, but the guys just seemed older, like there's been a change. Justin didn't try NBA drives that he's not suited to do, Romeo eschewed the fashionable white socks/shoes/tights look for a more subdued and business-like black shoe, no tights. Al had a 1000 yard stare to accompany some facial hair. Devonte's post-game sounded like a seasoned player. I've previously diagnosed these guys with the yips. Don't look now, but our shooting is getting respectable. Last night we went 37.5%, much of that from Green going 6-10. Remember, he shot terribly early, maybe 1-15, to start the season. So water is finding its level. Defense was good. Central Arkansas's 2nd worst offensive game, after Louisville. Take out the first 5 minutes, it would have been spectacular. What's the deal with McRoberts? Zero points on one attempt in 12 minutes?

They put him in for the last defensive possession before half, just to save the starter (Weathers?) a possible foul. Curtis left his man wide open for an easy 3 with 5 seconds left. Then he was supposed to receive the inbound pass, got it taken away. Not a good 18 seconds...

What a game! Look. We've b!+ched about the offense, slow starts, butter fingers and hands of stone, and the heart palpitations. But honestly this season has been thrilling. Game after game has just been a blast to watch. These dudes keep fighting. You rarely get to enjoy the honeymoon period with a new coach. Enjoy it. You rarely get to enjoy a talent like Romeo playing for Indiana. Enjoy it. You very rarely get a senior like Juwan Morgan. Enjoy it. And you almost never get to watch comeback after comeback--against good teams--actually work. This is flat out fun. Juwan, man. What a performance. I hope he keeps it up so he can get some recognition at the end of the season. All-whatever team stuff. He was never supposed to be the star. Or have an outside shot. Or even play in a system that didn't recruit him. But here he is putting out dominant performances. My favorite play of the game of his happened with about 12 minutes left, after he had already established that he was having a career day. Romeo was, frankly, having an awful day. That string of miscommunications were likely attributable to Romeo (sorry, frosh, against Juwan you lose the benefit of the doubt). Romeo was trying, but things just weren't happening for him, plays set for Romeo weren't working, our guards weren't really creating anything for him. So Juwan gets a defensive rebound, and waves off the PG (I think Devonte) and Juwan takes the ball across the court himself. Eyes the defense, drives right, hands to Romeo while screening/pulling defenders, creating a lane for Romeo do just slip straight in for an easy 2. I swear, when Juwan got that rebound, his intention was to create a play for Romeo, quite obviously outside of our offense, since Archie always wants a PG taking the ball down. To me, Juwan saw that Romeo was getting a little defeated, and made a winning play for him. As for Romeo, he had a bad game. Lots of turnovers. Poor outside shooting. Just nothing seemed to be working. He still affected the game in a positive way, kept his head in it, made some heady plays. I thought in his post-game he seemed... petulant? Pouting a little? At first I wondered if he was jealous that Rob was getting all the attention. I don't think that's it, though. Not consistent with what we know of him. I do think he was miffed that he had a bad game. As an aside, I'm a little tired of IU fans that want to sound like the smartest person in the room with their Romeo hot takes. "I think he needs one more year before he's ready..." Oh get real. The NBA wanted him last year. They still want him this year. The dude is awesome. Most of us assumed we'd be without De'Ron still, and that he wouldn't be contributing anyway. I think it's fair to say we were wrong. I'm pretty happy every time he's out there. He's not perfect, but that's an unreasonable expectation. He affects the game, affects the way the other team plays, offers new scoring options. He plays big-boy basketball, if that makes sense. No cutesy stuff. His limited jumping/moving shouldn't be confused with lack of athleticism. His timing/coordination/power is very good. Zach and Evan. Hmm. Erm. Not bringing a lot. Zach made a hustle play or two, and he's dependable, but he needs a little more confidence. Evan might be a great basketball player, but his physical limitations are holding him back. Slow reactions, ball goes through his hands, doesn't seem to enjoy blocking or sticking his hip on a guy to keep him in place or exploding off a screen for a catch-and-shoot. It's not like me to make a generalization like this, but I think he's just not good enough. I'd say that we should start getting him open for more shots, but I'm actually starting to enjoy this barrage on the rim. It's so one dimensional but almost like watching a good running game in football. Everyone knows it's a run off left guard, and yet the defense can't stop it, down after down after down. Our offense is really the same, Juwan and Romeo and De'Ron and Justin going at the rim, barely pretending to be spreading the offense. Yes, Juwan had four 3s today, looked like targets of opportunity to me. Speaking of our offense... Only 10 free throw attempts. Seven by Juwan, 3 by Romeo. We have to get more guys on the line. I'll agree, the refs had a say in that. Some dubious charges called. Against a team that short, we really should have had them on their heels with fouls a little more. And if not fouls, just more good high percentage shots. Phinisee is our 3rd best player. Having a stellar freshman season. If we didn't have Rob this year, we'd likely have 2-3 more losses already. That's pretty incredible. And he's making his winning plays off script, but then in his interviews still repeats things like "we just need to do what Coach is telling us to win these games." The play was set for Romeo, but Romeo slipped twice trying to get open, and his guy played him tight. Also I agree with WayneFleek, Rob's defense on Baldwin was good, Baldwin just kept making plays. I'm really, really enjoying all of this. We're doing the thing. These wins will get us into the tournament. I don't feel like we're world beaters, or even a top 20 team. But we're fighting and winning and that's enough for now. Hopefully in these next couple games we'll see some Jake, Clifton, and Damezi.

Just released his Top 4: Alabama Indiana LSU Memphis Well surprise, surprise, surprise!

One-time Crean target Jordan Tucker will make his Butler debut against us this weekend. Insiders back then put us firmly in the lead to land him, Tucker smartly waited. From there Crean's team tanked and Crean got fired. At one point Tucker even made a post like "See why I waited now?" Then late he got an offer from Duke and I think he basically accepted on the spot. The problem was that Tucker's previous 40ish ranking was plummeting, and there weren't that many coaches really wanting him anymore. He lasted a few months at Duke before he transferred to Butler, of all places. He was supposed to be a 6'7" wing, mostly a knockdown shooter. But his senior season really didn't go well. Also his social media posts were somewhat off-putting, like there may have been some attitude issues. FWIW, he and Al Durham have some kind of relationship, I think they're both from GA, and even spend time together. I have no idea if he's expected to contribute. As for Butler... I cheer for Butler. I love going to games at Hinkle. I feel like this is pretty universal among Indiana fans, Purdue fans, ND fans, etc. Fun program to cheer for, until you have to deal with the fans. Like everyone is saying, they're needlessly hostile and defensive, as if we are rivals with them. Pretty insufferable.

I'm of the opinion the switch happened just when it should have. In fact, my join date on this board corresponds with the day I was convinced it was time. And so I got to be a part of the caucophony of discontentment rise to deafening levels, the excitement of the firing (remember when the thread changed titles?), and then through the hiring process. It was all fun. Then attention switched to recruiting, that awesome 24 hours landing Damezi, Jerome, and Race, and then the Romeo watch. Clearly, this excitement would not have happened if the AD hadn't finally made the switch. I know everyone likes to say that they knew Crean wasn't the right guy long before that. Maybe. But I think patience made sense. We weren't wholly irrelevant, we got just barely enough big wins, occasional high rankings, and recruits to keep the hope alive. And then when we had that loaded team in 16-17 and yet could be beat by literally anybody, I accepted we had enough.

https://www.insidethehall.com/2018/12/11/an-in-depth-at-look-at-juwan-morgan-the-creator/ 100% this Ben Ladner is writing for college credit. This has to be some internship opportunity and he's getting graded. His articles sound like my college papers did, heavy use of the thesaurus function. Still, good work putting it together.

Great, I'll dump that in the same bucket as the rest of your insight, such as: "I always wanted mack. He wil [sic] be a stud coach." -- posted during the UofL game while we were losing. "Rob just kills us many times." -- posted towards the end of the UofL game, before Rob won the game for us (again). "No reason the [sic] schedule such tough games in the presrason [sic]. We loss [sic] them amyway [sic]." -- posted during the UofL game, before we won it

Yeah, Keion is a stud. Much more of a facilitator that what he gets credit for. Highlight videos showing a dunk through the lane or whatever are fun, but don't really show the impact he has out there. Keion is definitely not a post player, but both he and Archie like passing out of the post, so I'd expect to see him utilized there. We'll have talent for sure. I saw the info from jbell about De'Ron possibly graduating early. Trayce won't be enough to cover for Juwan and De'Ron in there, so I really hope Race can get back. We could stand to get another big immovable object to play in there. Others have said it, but Keion might be the best interview I've seen. Why are people writing off Damezi? He's a talent, too. With Evan's minutes declining, I wouldn't be too surprised if he gets in there more.

I'll tell my Moye story. I was at Nicks (go figure) sometime between 03' and '05, and Moye was there. I was just drunk enough to ask him some questions, and he was apparently in a state to answer them. I asked him what he thought of Mike Davis coaching that team. He said "It's like if you gave a million dollars to a 10 year old."

Clearly a guy we might definitely consider putting on the maybe list for sure possibly.

I'll say it now. I want Leal over our other 2020 targets. Maybe it's my Indiana bias, but I think he's better than Morton. Seems self assured. If he keeps putting up games like this he'll force Archie's hand.

Here we go. Everyone, myself included, makes after-game commentary complaining about our offense. It feels like we have the pieces, but we're not doing the things necessary to make the engine run. Like there's no choreography out there to create space for good shots. Concerns started after the first game, and have continued since. FWIW, Archie knows this, and apparently knew it on November 1: I don't know the issue here, but I don't want to make this about complaining. The "So I have concerns" thread should show that we've got complaining covered. This morning Ben Ladner at Inside the Hall posted a good article about Fitzner specifically, outlining a single area where Indiana isn't playing to its strengths. Especially interesting to me is that Fitzner and Phinisee have proven very effective together in the pick-and-roll, and yet have done it only 3 times. Take a read: https://www.insidethehall.com/2018/12/06/how-iu-can-use-evan-fitzners-floor-spacing-ability/ As a reminder, we are not wholly ineffective out there. Our kenpom adjusted offensive ranking is 36. Pretty good, considering we're no threat from 3. Louisville's adjusted defensive ranking is 59. I'll be watching tomorrow for a little more chemistry here, off-ball movement, and creating space for each other. Against Penn State, even when we were down 9-0, I didn't hate the shots we were taking. Frankly we looked fine, just couldn't shoot. First possession, Juwan took a good shot, missed. Second, Rob missed a breakaway layup, Justin Smith just didn't jump for the easy tip-in/slam. Third possession, nifty pick-and-roll with Al and Juwan, and Juwan's shot was in and out, Justin flat-footed but in position, misses the OR. Fourth possession, Justin Smith turnover. Fifth possession, Al gets space for a long 2 off a Juwan screen, misses the shot, likely too early in the possession to settle for that. Sixth, Rob got a pass in to Justin under the basket, Justin dribbles, pivots, pins himself, desperation shot attempt, miss. My point is that we had some legitimate action going with screens, and Al and Juwan especially had a thing going. Justin had an off night, as we all know. Missing so many easy shots hurts, but might also be masking that this team is working on it, and might be more effective than we realize. The Romeo issue. Is he being under-utilized? Is it bad scheming, freshmen jitters, misdirection? I don't know. I'd be tempted to get the ball in his hands much more often. Let's not be beholden to the action going through the PG when we've got a talent like him for a year. If we've got possessions for Devonte to be the ball-handler, surely we can find some for Romeo also.

I can still hear my dad spewing "Hands of Stone" every time Todd Lindeman tried to catch a pass.

Has anyone seen this kid play? Can anyone walk me through the appeal? I see his ranking is in the 50s, and he's got plenty of high major interest. I've watched his highlight videos, and honestly there's nothing there. The article posted is nice. Is this a kid we want?

Yeah I like it a lot better when we're 2-0!

I'm not one of the totally passionate posters on this issue, but I will note that recruits are attracted to different things. Some like hot pink jerseys with a Jordan logo, others like the traditional stuff. I'm with Mamasa here, let's not throw away one of the things that makes us unique. Other programs would kill to have the tradition we have. Surely no one will mind if we have alternate jerseys as well. I'd like to see a play on the crimson a little more, a little darker. I like the script. And let the guys have a modern cut. Look good, play good.

Juwan is definitely a "dog." And he didn't come into his own until Archie got here. Maybe some of his canine qualities are held back by the constant foul trouble caused by being a dog. Zach is a "dog." He worked his way into Archie's starting lineup. We have so much dogness at practices that we've been shorthanded the entire year from practice injuries like concussions and contusions. Curtis Jones got pushed out for not being doglike to Archie's dogliking. Moore is an anti-dog, and doesn't see the floor. Romeo isn't soft. One of the stupidest things I've read. He absorbs a ton of contact, he just happens to anticipate it well to still get a shot and make it look good. Doesn't mean he's not getting hit. Justin... yeah he needs to go up stronger. Last year Juwan said that the team calls him "practice dunker" because he can dunk on everyone in practice, and then in games he lays it in (or tries to). In my estimation, we've got the dog factor dialed in. If we turn it up any more, we'll just get more injuries and fouls, which is about the last thing we can take. We're a missed tip-in from being 7-1 with a seriously compromised roster, and the fans are blaming everything from jerseys, to lack of a mascot, to McRobbie, to adidas as a sponsor. And now calling our motley crew of bandaged survivors "soft." We still compete on boards, even though the coaching philosophy is to send guys sprinting to the other end. Our defense is much improved. Our eFG% is excellent, in large part due to bodying in for high percentage shots. In fact, it's the non-dog parts of the game that are hurting us, like passing the ball to the opposing team, missing free throws, and 3pt shots. Edit: WayneFleek beat me to a few of the points. Maybe my typing is soft.

Good time to check in on the team, 8 games into the season. Honestly the data show exactly what we fans see, for the most part. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see player comparisons: http://barttorvik.com/team.php?team=Indiana&year=2019

Wow this story really turned into something. FWIW I was there and never knew anything of epilepsy or the faked seizure at the time. Agree with everyone, deplorable behavior.

Maaaan I love Indiana Basketball. I had a really good time at Center Grove last night. Really nice campus, school, and gymnasium. Well run game. The band was playing good songs. Raucous student section. Cathedral fans showed out, too. When I got there Coach Ostrom was there with his little boy getting tickets for the Forum Tipoff Classic. I shook his hand and congratulated him on the commitment, he was really nice. The press really showed up for this game, just a line of them on the baseline. Including the youtubers. I'm sure there will be highlight vids from this game from InTheGymHoops and Frankie Vision, Ball Is Life, etc, soon. Once the game got started, it was just a high school game. Trayce dominated the first quarter, but kinda shut it down thereafter. I want to say he had over 10 points in the first 8 minutes. From there it was basically a guards' game. The Comer kid from Cathedral looked to be the most impactful on the floor. Armaan hit an early long 3, but had to fight for anything after that. Cathedral fans were pretty upset about some officiating no-calls. Armaan is very athletic, and built like Durham. Probably a little more athletic than Al, though not as crafty at this point. Armaan is a really likeable kid, though, in mannerisms and attitude. CG had a Nicoson kid guarding him and really stuck on him like glue. All in all Cathedral to me had a better squad and probably better coaching, so props to CG for the comeback. Cathedral is missing a good big, but has waves of well conditioned, smart players. TJD has a turbo mode where he can use smooth, explosive moves and get a good shot, very good touch, fast elevation for a dunk. One story. The CG student section was behind the CG basket in the first half. Armaan got fouled and steps to the line. From the CG student section emerges the pinkest, gingeryist, huskiest young man in Rex Kwon Do pants, rips off his shirt just as Armaan shoots the first. Miss. Second shot. The kid waits, right behind the basket, until just before the shot and drops to the splits. Miss. It was hilarious. Crowd got a kick out of it. Armaan evidently blamed his shooting sleeve and tossed it to the bench. Anyway. That was a fun game. Romeo and Rob were kinda tucked in a corner, not with Ostrom. Romeo had on a pretty substantial wrist brace, was signing autographs. Poor Rob was right next to him not getting the same love.