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They're really trying to rock Mendoza tonight.

Nice start defensively. Let's go offense.

Awful lot of red in that stadium...

We finally won a toss.

Miami is jumping around in the tunnel to music. IU looks laser focused. Let's commence this @$$ kicking early please

Holly Rowe's report on Medoza's routine today (lol) Aside from the typical pregame meal, taping, meetings he will: - wake up and watch mass - take a 30-90 minute nap (the sleep scientists at Cal Berkeley taught him this and he really believes in it apparently) - pray rosary on the bus - put contacts in when he gets to stadium - meditate for 10 minutes. On a scale of 1-10, he wants his "activation point" to be about a 6, because that means he will be calm and zen and at his best. Such an awesome young man. I can't wait for this game.

Players in the title game can enter until 1/24 IIRC

Hard Rock Stadium and many professional stadiums actually have 3+ locker rooms. Home for the pro team, home for the college team, and at least one for the visiting team. Some have more, not sure if Hard Rock does but I know they have at least 3. Probably doesn't matter IMO.

On the big ten pregame show Jake Butt said he'd be "shocked" if it were less than 60/40 IU in the crowd today for whatever that's worth (probably not much at all)

I think most posters actually shared most of your concerns about the roster (lack of frontcourt talent/depth particularly) but saw no point in being skeptical all offseason. The worst case scenario is proving accurate and all the time spent highlighting those concerns ultimately didn't put IUBB in any better place. Projections and assessments are fine and so is doubting him based on the first half of his first season here. I guess I just don't see how beating a dead horse is productive after a certain point. He will either fix it or he won't. If people have lost faith already, I guess they can use the board as an outlet or find a better use for their time and energy than IUBB fandom. Football has a lot to offer right now thankfully, at least.

Awful lot of hand wringing over what could very simply be explained by a bad portal haul. Scouting misses happen to the best of coaches. This year's roster is bad so it's gonna be a long season. Doesn't make it any better, but neither does piling on after every loss. Just gotta try again and hope the portal goes better this time. Having a full staff in place should help. Whats one more bad season for IUBB at this point? Football is where it's at anyways. Most people ignored that sport forever at IU and eventually they got it figured out. People who don't want to watch the ups and downs should just treat IUBB like they used to treat IUFB and can tune back in if / when they start winning at the level you want again.

Cig on the sentimentalism he's seen from the team this past week: "... it is a close team ... I think it's time now to sharpen the saw ... throw those warm fuzzies out the door ... it's time to play a game against a great opponent ... ya know, you don't go to war with warm milk and cookies."

Did I say DDV is better than McCollum? Nope. I was outlining a best case scenario explanation for the year. I actually really wanted to hire McCollum.

So unrealistic lol

He brought plenty of players and staff with him. DDV didn't. That's exactly the difference I was describing.

Best case scenario is this year being a total anomaly because of all the setbacks of coming in and blowing it up (not that there was much to begin with) and not having a staff / core of players that you can plug and play. With 6 seniors leaving and very few players worth a pay increase to retain, I hope we can nail the scout in the portal this time around. Ultimately it's on DDV for not having things in place from the start... we're all paying the price for that now. But I don't think it's an insurmountable task now that he has his bearings here. He's had a lot of moves the past 3 seasons. Gotta show what he's learned next season and that starts now by cultivating the right portal targets. Hopefully those are identified correctly.

This got a good chuckle out of me, lol

He never wanted to be here anyway in fairness.

Either our resources are really not that good or the delay in hiring his full staff really trashed our portal effort. I reserve judgement on coaches until year 3 but you have to make changes to the staff after this year. No way can you keep the same scouting responsibilities in place. After missing our priority targets, we did not fare well at all. This roster is so bad it's actually kinda hard for me to judge how good or bad DDV's in game coaching really is. I can't even be upset about IUBB anymore, just apathetic to the games being played and hoping for a better portal haul next year.

Best thing at this point is probably for IUBB to be treated by fans like IUFB ten years ago.

That would completely buck the historic trend for how IU operates. Maybe Dolson and Whitten change that, but I very much doubt it.

Boos heading into halftime. Not completely undeserved. Ugh

Puff Johnson granted temporary restraining order for a 6th year of eligibility, will join Ohio State immediately. Dude played for Roy Williams at UNC and against Coach K as a sophomore lol.

Us 42 Them 21

I keep seeing this story on social media and find it hilarious if true Jake McDonald, the assistant director of football operations is responsible for bringing Cig his lunch order every day. McDonald orders through his Chipotle app for Cig so he gets the reward points and has accumulated over 64,000 points. People did the math and that basically means he's had the same lunch order more than 500 times since he's been to Bloomington. Practically every day. Lol. The order? Rice, beans, chicken and side of guacamole. A model of consistency.