Honkyman

The college fan base almost always believes it is too early for a player to go pro. But if an NBA team is willing to draft a player after only one year of college and pay him lots of money, the case against going to the NBA is usually not as persuasive as the case for going. I hope TJD has the kind of year that teams want to draft him high in the first round.

Based on their quality of play against Nebraska and Wisconsin, IU does not look like a team that can finish with 10 wins.

Trayce definitely will not go if he isn't a 1st rounder and mock draft boards currently do not list him as going in the 1st round. Obviously, things change as the season goes on. It would be nice for him to stay another year since IU has no one coming in to replace him and there is no one else on the team at his talent level. Two years of TJD and Josh Smith playing together could mean an extended run in the 2021 NCAA tournament.

IU was lucky to beat lowly Nebraska. This was a poor performance by IU. Turnovers were deadly. I thought Archie Miller was supposed to bring defense to Indiana games? Hoiberg is going to bring winning basketball to Nebraska. Too bad we don't have a coach equal to him.

Turnovers are killing IU--not to mention the weak defense. Race Thompson is terrible.

This IU team is awful. That can't shoot. They can't hit free throws. Hoiberg is totally out-coaching Archie. Very sad. Wait until they play the better teams in the Big 10.

You must not have watched IU's last two games or the Illinois versus Michigan and Illinois versus Maryland games. There is no question Illinois looked better than Indiana in the last two games. If Indiana plays against either of those Big Ten opponents like they did against Wisconsin (or even Connecticut), there will be many disappointed IU fans.

To date, Illinois looks better than Indiana, having defeated Michigan and losing to Maryland by 1 point at College Park.

Yes, Green's clutch steal in the final seconds was key and another example of why the team played better when he was on the court even though his offensive production was subpar.

At least IU showed toughness Tuesday night. They could have folded in the 1st half when they got down by 10 points. But offensively, this is not a good team. And, had we played any of the top conference teams we would have been blown out as we did against Wisconsin. Archie has to be one of the least creative coaches at the college level in terms of offensive. It is the same look as last year--pass the ball around the perimeter until someone takes a bad shot. We did get some production out of the post (13 points combined from Brunk & Davis) which was nice, though Brunk was awful in the first half. Rob Phinisee looked good at times and while Green didn't have a great game (he shot poorly from the floor and missed 2 of 3 free throws in the final seconds of the game), the team played better when he was on the floor because Connecticut's defense was all over him. But, overall this win does not instill optimism about our chances in the Big Ten.

I wouldn't go so far as to say Archie took accountability for IU's awful showing in Madison, WI. Frankly, I thought it was the opposite. To me Archie sounded very much like Crean in the post-game presser.

Rob Phinisee played in 32 of 35 games last season. I'm not sure how this narrative developed that he "missed much of last year." I think where it comes from is that overall he wasn't as good a player after the concussion than before. But that's not because he was still recovering from the concussion. Rob along with almost everyone else on the team did not play as well in conference as they did in non-conference last season. I agree he has been missed this year as he is the only true point guard. But the expectations of how the team will do when he returns may be a bit unrealistic. Rob is a good point guard and may be among the best in the Big 10 next season or the season after. I don't think this season we can count on him being in the same category as Yogi Farrell or Isiah Thomas, though.

Archie Miller is a good coach but there is no evidence yet that he will be a great coach or that he will return IU to its years of regularly competing for a conference championship. This year is critical for both revitalizing the program and recruiting. If IU does not make the NCAA tournament this season it will become increasingly more difficult for Archie to land top talent even top talent that is Indiana home grown. Losing Keion Brooks to Kentucky may be a sign of what will occur more regularly with players like Caleb Furst, Khristian Lander, and Trey Kaufman if this season is as up and down as last season. If IU starts to lose the best players coming out of Indiana, it becomes unlikely that the basketball program will make its way back to competitive consistency under Archie. The Florida State game gives reason to be optimistic about Indiana's future while the Wisconsin game gives reason for pessimism. It is too early to reach any conclusions. By the end of the year, though, we should have a good idea whether Archie is the right guy to do the job.

Holtmann was't "scared to go for the IU job." He was waiting for a better job and he got it at Ohio State. Ohio State has been a better program than Indiana the past decade. Fred hired Archie because Archie was the only coach of any stature whatsoever interested in the job.

Connecticut 76 IU 69

Neither Tom Crean nor now Archie Miller have demonstrated they know how to put an IU team on the floor that can adequately defend against an opponent that hits 3-point shots. When Wisconsin started making their 3s, it opened the floor and they ran right past the IU defenders to hit layups and short jumpers.

I would go. Madison Square Garden is great no matter who is playing. But this is not a neutral court. Connecticut will have a much larger contingent of fans than IU.

The problem is that Archie is not creative. It is hard to see him doing anything that dig them out of this hole.

This team stinks. Outplayed, out-hustled, and out-coached. Jerome Hunter is talented, but totally unready. Hunter is repeatedly getting beat. No energy. I can't watch.

Nice defense. Archie's pack line shows its strength once again.

Number #6 Ohio State's win over #7 North Carolina at Chapel Hill was impressive but decisive victories by unranked teams Indiana and Purdue over ranked teams Florida State (#17) and Virginia (#5) were also impressive. Pre-season forecasters appear to have underestimated IU's potential to compete in the top tier of the conference this season.

The final tally was Big 10 wins 7 games, ACC wins 6 which is a wash in the aggregate. However, the Big 10 scored some impressive wins, e.g., #6 Ohio State over #7 North Carolina by 25 points (at North Carolina), unranked Purdue over #5 Virginia by 29 points, unranked Indiana over #17 Florida State by 16 points. But #1 Louisville beat #4 Michigan by 15 points and #10 Duke beat #11 Michigan State by 12 points (at Michigan State).

65-62 IU

Archie pledged to recruit top Indiana players first or "inside out." He has a pretty good track record that includes a McDonald's All American in each of his recruiting years. His only true swing and miss was Keion Brooks. Archie has to go after Lander. It can't be any longer a shot than Romeo Langford was. You can't just target players you knows you can land. That is a recipe for mediocrity.

Duke was a disastrous loss last year in that IU got destroyed and the team looked helpless. Arkansas was a one-point loss on the road and the only loss before the ACC-Big Ten Challenge gamer at Duke.