LamarCheeks

I'm a native Hoosier and an IU grad who now lives in Virginia. Just happened to check the local paper's website and saw that our Triple-A team (Norfolk Tides) is playing Rochester this weekend. Aaron Slegers is taking the bump Saturday night for the Red Wings. If I didn't have something else going on, I'd love to go watch him pitch.

Botched double play, then a wild pitch. What a crappy way to (probably) lose a game.

Got a bad feeling that's gonna cost us the ballgame.

Admittedly, I haven't seen as much IU baseball as I would've liked this season. But in the handful of games I have witnessed, I've seen enough baserunning mistakes to fill an entire season. And these are recent -- shouldn't be happening this late in the season. No excuse for that.

I get it. I nearly broke my big toe twice that night: Once after the Stanford HR and once after the Kings beat the Blackhawks in OT in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. I was certain the Hoosiers would make it to the CWS -- and possibly win -- and that the Hawks would repeat as Stanley Cup champs. Oh well, such is life.

Even though we didn't make the CWS in 2014, it still amazes me to look back and see how incredible of a season that was. We went 25-3 in B1G games and all three losses were by one run. An extra hit here, and error there, a better pitch late in a game -- and we could've completely run the table (28-0). Boy, what a group that was!

Methinks Luke Miller needs to go to remedial baserunning school.

So I'm keeping tabs of the game on my phone and it's 8-4 IU. My reception gets bad and my battery is getting low, so I tune out for a few minutes. I come back and it's 9-8 Minny. WTF?

Ugh. Swinging at a bad 2-1 pitch and beating it into the ground with the winning run on second. At that point, you have the advantage -- make sure it's a good pitch. Make him throw you a strike.

Might want to think about getting a guy or two on base, then moving them around. Don't need to end the game with one swing.

Guy who scored tying run got on base for free. You gotta make those guys earn their way on! Walks and HBPs just chap my butt.

Hmmm. I thought deadline was 5 p.m. Eastern. I could be wrong, though.

Swanigan's down to his final 35 minutes. Crazy there's been no announcement yet.

Yep. Pretty much spot on. Since I'm originally from the Region, I was excited to see IU finally get a kid from that area again -- I believe Nover was the last one -- but then I saw who else was in the mix: UIC, Iona, IUPUI and Western Michigan. Seriously, we should not be recruiting kids who are getting that level of interest. Give Crean credit for finding diamonds in the rough in Oladipo and Sheehey, but this was a HUGE reach. I think Crean's arrogance got the best of him this time. ... Hope Grant finds a place where he can play and contribute.

The deadline is 5 p.m. today and Swanigan STILL hasn't made up his mind? Or has he made up his mind and just hasn't made it public? I don't recall many players actually waiting until the final hours. (I did see that Edwards will be back with the Toiletmakers -- no surprise there).

Can bank it or perhaps see if there's a capable grad transfer -- that's only for a year anyway. It's not likely at this point, but we could end up with another Max Bielfeldt.

Was there a tweet or report something that I'm missing? I thought with RoJo coming back, we were right where we needed to be -- at 13 schollys.

The last thing heard from RoJo was the non-denial denial of all the reports, right? Wonder if he's ever planning to actually say that he's coming back?

Almost reminds me a bit of Rich Rod. He was at his alma mater (I know IU isn't Tracy Smith's alma mater, but it's the No. 1 state school in his home state) and things apparently were going swimmingly. Then he was too tempted by the the bright lights and big city (so to speak) at Michigan. That didn't work out so well.

If you're going to start defending folks who get roasted here, you will have an awfully long list.

Might not agree with what was written -- and that's fine. But this is a pretty childish and sophomoric comment, IMO.

Then why not do what OG did and say immediately that he wasn't coming back? Seems kinda silly to me to keep everybody waiting if he already knew what his decision was.

OK. Now that I've read a boatload on Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, etc., does anybody know what's going on with Robert Johnson -- the IU guy who may or may not be back in B-Town next season?

I'm a huge Stephen King fan, but am ashamed to say, I haven't dived into the Dark Tower series. I just finished the Bill Hodges trilogy, so I might start doing so.

There already isn't room on the roster for Blackmon, let alone a grad transfer. If Blackmon comes back, somebody else loses a scholarship or transfers. If Blackmon comes back and they add a grad transfer, two fellas lose scholarships or would have to transfer.