Stromboli

Indiana 81 Jackson State 51

Hoosiers 80 Losers 69

Can’t wait to see what the student body does with this one. Here’s hoping we build enough lead that Snacks gets some time.

It’s obvious, but I’m really hoping we can work our way up to at least a 5 seed. Not that playing a 12 seed is easy, but it makes getting to the second weekend more feasible. And I really want to watch which teams separate themselves as 1s.

Crappy it happened on a dirty play. Not the last injury we’ll deal with this season likely. This is absolutely a loss. He was one of the first subs off the bench. Nice that the backup to the backup is Leal. Seriously the end of our bench guys are at least borderline 4* kids, and not total projects. Fair to expect we’ll see a lot of bench minutes over the next 3 games. I do think Trey will bounce back quick. His game isn’t really about shooting and he’s got a motor, which usually translates easy.

I’ll say, the grumbling about Archie’s offense came early. It was just clear that it didn’t work, even when we’d win. Most of us chose patience and a tempered approach. I think the point right now is that we’re doing extraordinarily well given the circumstances. Stevens, Oates, Billy, whoever wasn’t coming and maybe wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what this staff has at this point. Overhauled roster and some very good recruiting in a few months. New defense that works better and without idiotic lines like “it takes 3 years to install.” Shooters have been added, working within the roster limitations. An insane staff including Matta and Fife. Retention of major assets like TJD and Race and Geronimo. And maybe most importantly a new fiery, upbeat feel to the team. At this juncture, I just don’t think you can point to many areas where it could be going better. Give some time to see the changes and check the trajectory. We’re no world beaters. We’re probably not going to the Final Four. We shoot 53% from FT in a game we won. Ok so we work on it. We will lose games! Duh. We’re not undefeatable yet. But no one has been since 1976. I’m not going to compare this team to that team or Gonzaga or Michigan (who just lost) yet. I’ll check how we’ve done since we fired Archie. It’s a great trajectory. AND I’ll cheer for my team because I’m a fan. Seeing areas for improvement is fine. But I can’t understand getting a win like last night and not just sitting in the enjoyment of it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/sports/ncaabasketball/underhand-free-throw-rick-barry.html

Analysis! Bardo is a clown. Props to whoever made the “Illini math” comment. SCOOOOP!! Dude is the truth. Weird hybrid old school/NBA element to his game. Keep him out there. These guys are playing HARD. Harder than I’ve seen an IU team play in years. Usually when I watch any other ranked team play, I see the effort and speed and passing and think; dang, no way IU can beat a team like this. Finally, we are playing that way. Johnson earned some bench time with the fouls. We’ll look better with him back out there. Keep Trayce and Johnson and Race and Scoop playing angry and we’ll keep rolling. Everyone is feeding off this collective energy. Freaking loving this.

IU 75 Those dummies 65

This is going to be a fun one! Fast tempo, lots of shots, likely some turnovers, too. So they’ve hit 48% of their 3s so far. Surely that’s not sustainable. But definitely a concern and I’m so flippin glad we’re done with the pack line. Champagnie is a stud. I’m glad it won’t be TJD guarding him. Having Race and Geronimo taking turns is about ideal. Both are good, and neither is the center of our offense if they get in foul trouble. Our defense is legit and certainly a test these guys haven’t seen yet. Stromboli’s key ingredients: 1. Spicy defense. Frustrate them. Make them regret choosing basketball over men’s volleyball. 2. Passing/ball movement. Stupid thing to say, but that’s on two guys. One working hard to get open, and the guy identifying it and executing the pass. I hate the idea that this all falls on the PG. I want 5 guys out there who can do this well.

Defense, let’s just keep it up. Push them into bad shots late in the shot clock. On offense, I want to see purposeful, hard off-ball movement and good passes. Just keep creating chemistry. Like everyone, I want Bates in there. Not so much because he’s ready yet, but because I want to accelerate him being ready. I still think Parker is going to be a big time player for us, so I’d like to see some signs of that happening.

Fighting Strombolis — 69 NIU Bologna on Wonderbread — 56

I’ve just learned this is the same McDonalds that got creepy Purdue Pete locked up. https://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_40d3860c-1890-11eb-9c22-e73084b5d3cb.html

First things first… this is hilarious. The recording. “I don’t know what games you’re playing. I ordered some fries, and I want my basket of fries” LOL Buuuuuuut. Yeah. There’s no evidence of assault here. Just the victim, who had no bruises or redness on the scene. Inconsistent statements from witnesses. How were there so many coworkers and a Doordash driver present at the scene, surely watching the action, and yet not a single one saw him push her? She denied any security footage until she had an opportunity to review it first, and even still it didn’t show a push. Her wanting to take herself to the hospital later, even though she wanted to be sure to document her injuries. The rather ridiculous week of muscle relaxers for her injuries. The calling of 11 attorneys to sue him. And then she’s unable to find a single one willing to take her case?? Yeah. If they thought there was something winnable here, one of the 11 would gladly take the case. Was Trevion unruly over a basket of fries? Absolutely. But this San Juan is looking for checks.

Lukewarm Take: We’re a top 25 defense by the end of conference play. We will stifle opponents early on, but our offense will largely rely on the talent of our players until it starts clicking mid season Hot Take: Race would be a star if he weren’t outshined by TJD Hotter Take: Parker Stewart figures it out after a few games and will take over a few games. The loudest SSAH gets this year will be on a Stewart 3 against a ranked opponent while Indiana is on a scoring run.

I’m toasted.

- DeVonte Green - Loaded Chicken Sandwich

I can’t tell if you’re trying to be hilarious here. Please say yes. 0.35 x 3 = 1.05 pts per attempt. Pretty good! 0.45 x 2 = 0.90 pts per attempt. Pretty bad!

Nah. Tim Duncan was hurting his team by taking a high volume of midrange shots. I’ll look up Aldridge too, if you need me to. I said Trayce at 45% would be a bad shot. Never once did Duncan hit 45%, and was often far below it. I don’t understand the nostalgia here. Four out of 10 of Tim Duncan’s attempts were going in. And he’d get all of 8 points out of those 10 attempts. Duncan wasn’t really even great at the midrange, with his career percentage around 40%. Yes, he made a ton of them. But missed a lot more. Later in his career his percentages were worse than shown in the table below, but he kept chucking them up. I know you were being hyperbolic when you say he made a living out there. Duncan was awesome, but it wasn’t because of his midrange jumper, banked in or not. To bring it back to Trayce. I haven’t talked to any NBA scouts. Ever. I just don’t think NBA scouts are out there looking for a great midrange game. As now Stuhoo and HoosierHoopster and others have pointed out, developing a serviceable 3 would help. I can proudly say I’ve never watched any sort of Kardashian episode, and wouldn’t wish that world on Trayce. I have watched plenty of the Bachelor/Bachelorette. Not even ashamed. This last season of Bachelor in Paradise was a real doozy!

HoosierHoopster, this isn’t directed at you. Love having you here and think you really contribute. But I’ve heard so many times that Trayce needs to develop his midrange jumper, and that will get him to the NBA. I haven’t ranted about this issue in awhile so here goes. Shoot, maybe it will even bring mdn82 out of hiding. The midrange jumper (outside of the rare situation) is the dumbest shot in basketball. You won’t convince me otherwise. The game has moved away from it. There are very few players for whom any higher volume midrange jumper is a good shot, and they happen to be the best basketball players in the world. We’re talking a handful of guys here. It’s a bad shot for good shooters, and a worse shot for below average shooters. If shooting isn’t TJD’s strength, even if he improves, why encourage a below average shooter to take more of the worst shot in the game. To me, Trayce’s unique strength is his ability to cover ground fast. The basket is always two quick steps away from Trayce. Better ball movement (and yes having shooters to capitalize on good looks) creates seams for him to zoom in for the high percentage shot. If I could pick something for Trayce to improve on, it would be passing. Remember Juwan’s passing? He’d survey the court fast and could make a great pass. If Trayce can prove he’ll deliver to the open shooter or some sweet dump passes, that will open things up just as well. Coaches aren’t dumb. They will park their defenders even if Trayce does develop the midrange jumper because even hitting them at an average clip (45% ?) produces junk offense. The more you take, the worse it is. I also think it highly unlikely Woodson wants his All American PF/C spending a lot of time on the perimeter. Put him where he’s excellent. As Adranga called it in his explanation of the 4-1 motion offense, the Dunker’s Spot. I think with better team off-ball movement and a commitment by Trayce to become a passer, he’ll see more opportunities for high percentage shots at the basket, and the team overall will be more efficient. And yes obviously improving his skill set and finishing will help him. But counting on one guy to just win 1-on-1 matchups isn’t great basketball and is a tough go in the B1G. We’ll have a much higher ceiling if our talented players also learn ball movement.

Dude I think Woodson is looking for great teammates. Talent too, for sure. But he’s trying to create a cohesive team of good dudes. All these guys come from just great families.

Love this. This staff has done a ton of work in very little time Welcome Jakai!

I’m sure there will be concessions, and I feel I’ve heard that those are usually equal to ticket sales. Also add on whatever the auctioned interactive experiences get. They’re renting the facility (SSAH), and I’m sure expenses will be very high. Still, this will be a CHUNK for these guys. Getting it arranged in the first year of all of this is impressive. And I love that even if other schools do try to mimic this event, few will be able to generate the crowds and buzz we can.

Studies on auctions repeatedly show a low entry bid will lead to a higher sale price. That said, I think maybe they’re communicating that the player interaction won’t come cheap. $100 just doesn’t really move the needle, these are quasi-pro athletes. More studies. The average men’s basketball player for NCAA D-1 is worth $170,000 to his school per year. At Indiana? That jumps to $870,000 per year. Setting up an event like this and giving these guys beer money just won’t get it done. Props to the university for flexing its clout a little and setting up a way for these guys to keep some of the value they provide. Also, maybe this is the way TJD will get greater returns from this event than Duncomb. TJD keeps most of the bid money for his interactive experience, Logan gets what his bidders will pay, etc. then the ticket sales can be divided equally by the team. That is a very accurate way of determining exactly who should receive what: just set up the market. https://www.businessinsider.com/college-basketball-player-value-2017-3

I’d hide this post if I knew how to do it.