LamarCheeks

What an irony in this. At the very end of the report, the sportscaster mentions South Bend Clay in 1994 as the last city team to win a state title. Clay beat Valpo and Bryce Drew -- the fella everybody loves to hate here -- in the championship game. Valpo had something like an 8-10 point lead in the final minute but couldn't hang on. Clay kept hitting 3s, tied it, forced OT, then won in the extra period.

I was more or less joking when I wrote that. The photo on the right (wearing IU shorts) is either reversed or taken of a mirror. Either way, he definitely looks as if he's been working hard.

The most impressive aspect of this transformation: The birthmark moved from the right side of his abdomen to the left. How in the world did they accomplish that!

Back in the day, I loved this time of year in Indiana. I used to go to the sectionals and regionals every year with my dad. The newspaper would have brackets for all the local sectionals, then a full-page bracket for the state tournament (one class then). I would fill them out religiously -- even listening to the radio during sectional week to get the results. Ah, the memories ... I haven't lived in Indiana for nearly 30 years, so I don't know the quality of the teams remaining, but think it would be cool to see South Bend Riley (Damezi) and New Albany (Romeo) in the title game. I know both teams are alive heading into regionals, but after that, I don't know if there's a snowball's change of that happening, but still -- think it would be pretty cool.

Apparently, we've gone 9-plus hours between Romeo posts? Is that a record?

Teams can continue to practice until Final Four, correct? Even though we have very little chance of playing another game, I'm guessing Archie and the boys are still practicing? If so, I wonder if they're keeping a "normal" schedule, or since we don't have much of a shot at an NIT bid, has he scaled back a bit? Just curious ...

Both us and Vandy will be screwed when New Albany reaches the championship game and Bill Self sends Wilt Chamberlain to Bankers Life. Romeo will announce at halftime that he's headed to Lawrence.

To me, the NIT is almost a no-win situation. Say we get hot and put together 4-5 good games (or whatever it takes) and win the tourney. Yay, we just won the NIT. So what! ... Or say that we lose our first game -- that only adds to the embarrassment of getting smoked by Rutgers. ... I'd just as soon skip it and start thinking about 2018-19. Just my opinion, though.

Watching Witchita State and Cincy. After all these years, I'm still sorta surprised Gregg Marshall's not at a Power 5 school. ... And watching him coach, I can't help but wonder what looks more unnatural/ridiculous: His shoe-polish black hair or Tom Crean's tan?

I hope this doesn't mean they got in without a ticket. If so, with our luck, some doofus at the NCAA will get word and we'll get in trouble because they received impermissible benefits. Lol!

I had heard that Herbert forced Greenspan's hand with Sampson, but I hadn't ever heard the Stallings story -- though I do recall seeing his name bandied about because he and Greenspan worked together at Illinois State. Geez, what was Greenspan's obsession with former Purdue players! (He hired Versyp, too -- with disastrous results). I know Sampson was a terrible hire, but I wanted no part of Stallings, either. Greenspan sure seemed to have a poor track record with hiring coaches. ... When we hired Sampson, I lived in Texas and knew a reporter who covered Texas A&M. He swore up and down to me that IU offered the job to Billy Gillispie, but that he turned us down. To this day, I still don't believe that.

I had never heard that. Wouldn't that have been ironic? He only got the West Virginia job because Dakich bailed at the last minute.

Did I miss something in this thread? ... Whom did we turn down to hire Crean? ... One thing I seem to recall reading was that we had offered the job to Mark Few. He accepted, but when the AD (must've been Greenspan) called back to finalize the deal and talk money, Few had changed his mind. Perhaps I imagined that -- not sure. I think that was when we hired Sampson.

I kinda wish we'd stop fouling. This one's over.

A five-point play! ... Cahill got pushed into Buss, so she got two shots.

I think the four OTs are starting to show. We're coming up short on everything -- even layups.

U.Va. scored five points in 0.9 seconds. Over the course of 40 minutes, that's more than 13,000 points. I think that would be an NCAA record for one game.

I realize not every scholarship player is gonna make significant contributions, but I'm curious as to what B1G basketball programs get out of their 12th and 13th scholly players? Priller played 71 minutes in four seasons -- I think that's something like about 30 seconds a game. This season, he played four minutes total. No offense to him -- because he seems like a good kid -- but he obviously wasn't a B1G-caliber player. And that just seems like a blown four years. Not for him -- he seemed happy to be at IU and ride the bench, but for the team -- because he contributed almost nothing (at least tangibly). I just hope Archie realizes how precious scholarships are, and if he doesn't have a good recruit available, he holds onto it. Or looks at a grad transfer -- a one-year commitment. Crean didn't make the wisest choices with his scholarships. I have to believe Archie will do much better.

I cannot believe we lost this game. ... I was at work and watched the first few minutes before I had to get busy and couldn't keep track anymore. We were up 17-3 and were rockin' and rollin'. What the eff happened!

That got ugly in a hurry.

OK, I'm outta breath after watching our ladies beat MSU in four OTs. And I've got another game to go!

Cahill had 38! Way to go!

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends!

A third OT!