Stromboli

For those of us that didn't get to be there. This video does a pretty good job of sharing the experience! What an atmosphere for a Sectionals game.

Wow. 4-8 in the Big Ten, depending on how our 2 best freshmen work out. Way to stick your neck out. Maybe better than this year, maybe worse! How much great judging, objective assessing, and putting a lot of detective work into your reasoning did that take. Such an obviously safe prediction, like "predicting" cheating by major programs months after it's been a national story with promises for more, and then saying "I told you so" every time it comes up.

DG was 35/50 of his team's points. RP was 33/50 for his team on the same night. Very likely Zionsville is better than the team Brentwood Academy beat. Also, their State Tournament was in a college gym that seats just over 5,000, and it was half full. Our Sectionals are in sold out high school gyms that dwarf that hold thousands more. Hard to believe Romeo wants to take a step back. We'll see. Justin, Race, and De'Ron are awesome. They're going to be incredible upperclassmen. Man I want this team to find success.

LOL.

Barf. My brother-in-law goes to OSU. Calls it "THE" OSU every time. I call him on it. He even gave my kid an OSU shirt, as if it was some great honor to know an actual student of THE OSU. I told him "yeah there's 0% chance he'll be wearing that." Like dude, get your own kid to brainwash. This one is mine.

It reminds me of people who get engaged after dating for 8 years. The magic is over. When you compare that to the day Race, Damezi, and Jerome all committed, this doesn't really leave the fan base feeling wanted the same way. We've cheered his name at HH, Northwestern game, and at high school gyms all over the state. So far, no reciprocation. To continue the analogy, we've been friend-zoned. Of course we're losing interest. No hate towards Romeo. He's a stud. He's earned his way to having options.

Hoosiers! Let's show our guy some love here!! https://www.prephoops.com/2018/02/prep-hoops-ohio-player-year-fan-vote/

RP doing work, too!

Eyes emoji!!!! Looks like he's got family that wants him at IU. We only started recruiting Trayce when the new staff got in. Only 10 months so far, well behind Painter, Holtmann, Iowa, even Xavier. Glad we got in before he shot up the rankings. Edit: I'm not sure who the guy is. Instagram tag says Coach Byl Bill, attached to TeamTeague. Also followed by JBJ and Jalen Blackmon. Sounds like a good guy to be pushing Indiana.

He'd probably answer with a fast deflection.

This guy has a knack for insulting the person he's interviewing. Seems TJD was ready for this interview to be over. Also I don't think we should feel that we have any kind of lead here (I'm not the first to note this).

Exactly. They might not like their son spending the night in Nashville with Darius. Known troublemaker of dubious character. At least tangential involvement in a pretty disturbing locker room incident. Suspended this year under unknown circumstances. Maybe various and sundry tomfoolery whilst overseas last summer. I could understand a parent wanting to be present for the Nashville trip.

Sounds like something Btown would say

What a video. Great kid. I hope the fanbases can show 1/10th the maturity he shows when his college decision comes. Don't read into the Vandy thing. Tim said in an interview that Romeo is great about giving into the fans' goofy signature/picture requests. I can barely handle my little life as a middle aged nobody. Incredible behavior for a teenager under pressure.

Nah. These teams have pride. There was a YouTube vid of a game earlier this year where they were fouling him hard and calling him soft. Romeo just plays and doesn't get rattled. Crazy cool head. Here's his 3/4 court shot last night. Walking to the bench as it drops. Unreal!

I would love to see a big home game for Rob Johnson. The dude has been a staple for us for 4 years now. He's not the best, but he's been very good. Would love the crowd to show him some love. Since seeing that one of the statiticians ranked us 7th best defense over the last 10 games, I'd love to see us continue that trend. What if we closed out the year a top 5 defense? Make it hard for the Gophers to score, and we can put up our 65 like every other game. GO HOOSIERS

Yeah I give Doyel credit for calling this one right from the beginning. He's a slimy little rat. Colts shouldn't have hired him anyway, but I think he did us a favor. Better one embarrassing offseason move than 2-3 years under his control. The dude is toxic. ESPN couldn't wait to come to his defense. Their first article was to defend the choice, calling him a family man. Truly unbelievable. Report what a d-bag he is. That's the story.

Every time I see his monster stat lines, I think about how frustrating it must be for the kids he's playing against.

100% chance Morgan bought that for him

Me: Hey, maybe our guards can hit some 3s tonight and we'll play a great 40 minute game! IU:

Just jumping on this Damezi hype train. Everytime I watch him play, to me he is a shooting guard. Wing is also accurate, but more on the guard side than the forward side. He sneaks around the perimeter like an assassin, fights to get open. In transition or after an offensive rebound, he sneaks to an open spot behind the line for a catch-and-shoot, rather than body into the paint. I should mention I don't think this is the same as avoiding contact, really more just looking for the next score. Deadly jump shot. Has a good enough handle that he can drive when the opportunity presents itself, go coast to coast. You all heard Dakich railing on Miles Bridges for not being able to dribble more than once under control. Bridges is a small forward, and his game is totally different than what Damezi brings. Damezi is not an above-the-rim type guy, and certainly not a bruiser in the paint. But he can slash his way in for a smooth lay-in. He has all the skills to be an elite SG, plus the length to help him excel on defense. I've been saying all year that our biggest need right now is a SG. What skill would a prototypical SG have that Damezi doesn't have? Having a guy like Damezi fill the SG spot, we've added size at a position you're not typically looking for it. His skills and size help us whether we're playing small-ball or with two bigs and 3 guards.

Mitch Daniels pens an Op-Ed in the Washington Post. Written to Condoleezza Rice about the NCAA mess she is tasked to clean up. "As for solutions, one can start by observing that almost no change could make things worse." https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dear-condoleezza-rice-good-luck-fixing-the-cesspool-that-is-the-ncaa/2018/02/01/b0c4ca44-06db-11e8-b48c-b07fea957bd5_story.html?utm_term=.d4020702e6e4

Thanks Old Fart. I want to add, De'Ron mentioned that the rehab will give him an opportunity to stay here over the summer to work on things. Since we're all speculating who may leave, I took this as a very good sign. I'm a sucker, but I like the dude. Very nice guy. We sure could have used 20 minutes from him against Purdue. Edit: It's hard for me to watch that interview and not question if he's got designs to leave. He said time after time that he wants to get back to where he enjoys playing the game. Was that a shot? Does he feel like he can't enjoy the game here? He also mentions that he wants to get to a place where his game isn't one dimensional like it has been since he got here. Again, is he saying that he's not been given the opportunity to showcase his abilities here? I can't tell. He never said anything like "I was talking with Coach Miller about this..." or "I can't wait to play for Indiana again next year." I'd hate to be picking nits. Except that I love picking nits.

To be clear... I was being sarcastic. I have no idea what he's going to do. I just hope it's IU. I do know that the Langfords have called this a "business decision." If they announce in Atlanta, it's because it gets Romeo the most exposure. They're creating a brand. The likely know that he'll generate a lot of interest because he's the highest recruit left, and so it'll generate plenty of clicks. Good for them. I hope it's IU.