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Thad Matta.

They feel similar, but I think the reasons for the declines are a little different, and Nebraska has harder to overcome issues: CFB recruiting went from regional to national and roster/scholly limits were introduced. They're in the middle of nowhere and it's hard for players and families to get to Lincoln. Also, rules changes meant they couldn't have 150 player rosters anymore, which they used to use to find/develop talent. Other schools replicated their strength and conditioning (and steroids) program, which for a while was a serious competitive advantage Conference changes didn't help, they're not as big of a deal in the B1G They struggled with a lot of bad coach hires IU issues: We suck at hiring coaches. Probably mostly because it has historically been a very political process that's included a formal committee, the President, the Chairman of Board, big donors, and even sometimes the athletic director. We've missed on plenty of good coaches I don't even want to list them all. Though I have to admit this latest hire was Scott's call with almost no political meddling, and it's not going great so far. In the '00's and '10's we didn't play the under the table money game well. We didn't pay guys like UK, KU, Duke, etc. We didn't have agent relationships. I thought the NIL era would fix this, but it hasn't. Frankly, at this point I can't explain why IUBB is so bad. And perhaps whatever it is that is constantly holding back IUBB, it's actually harder to overcome than I thought. We just need a good coach and seven good players. Why is this so hard?

I get people can change their mind, but this is great news. These comments cause people to bring up the idea he could be Cig's successor. It's probably unlikely, and the coach in waiting thing doesn't usually work, but Cig's program has a track record of pulling off the unlikely. Would I be excited about a phenomenal DC with 20 years of Cig training taking over? Yes I would.

My one concern is any time pro guys come down to the college game I get a little nervous. Evaluating and working with younger developing players is a different art/skill from assessing much more polished and mature NBA level guys. It may be fine, it's just something I'm sure everyone has noticed in when NBA guys come to CBB or NFL guys go to CFB. Don't get me wrong, I like Carr. Hoping for the best...

He's got a clear and confident vision. I wish CDD sounded more like this. There is a lot to fix, but this an encouraging move.

I'll take the other side of that prediction. I think he'll be remembered for the IUFB transformation and 16-0 National Championship season. It's probably the best story in college sports history. IUBB stunk long before Scott took over, so what's happening isn't new. I guess if he ends up needing to hire two more MBB coaches and he flubs those hires, and IUFB falls off... maybe the MBB struggles start to be more top of mind when it comes to him. That would be grim. We'll know in 10 years or so...

Our prediction market odds to make it went from ~80% to ~33%. After the last three games, I'm not holding my breath for a magical three game winning streak. Man, what a bummer.

Because Scott fixed IU football. You know, the program he inherited with the most losses in D1 and three total postseason wins. I get you want to be all mad at Scott, but you can't ignore the 16-0 CFB National Title and the 2x AP National Coach of the Year he hired and retained that did it. He's been in charge of IUBB for a little over a year -- it basically started when he fired Woody midseason. CDD is off to a bad start. I could be wrong, but I think it's more than likely he isn't the guy. It sucks. And having doubts about Scott being able to hire the right bball coach is fair after the start we've seen from CDD. But acting like there is no way Scott can figure out IUBB after he literally just figured out IUFB doesn't make sense. Fixing IUFB was way harder, and he more than fixed it.

Good conference slate this year. OSU is a mega game. USC will be a CFP hopeful. The Bucket Game is at home. NW is interesting with Aidan Chiles and Chip. Minny is always a decent midpack team. I know the non-con is cupcakes, but clearly it's Cig strategy to have those games to prep the team and keep them fresh.

Technically it's not a "must win," but it effectively is in my view. Yea we could win out, but if we lose this game, that's probably not happening. The last two games we were not expected to win, but unfortunately we were not competitive in either. At some point we've got to play well, and that starts tonight.

Interesting. Nicely written little note. Can’t hurt.

Respectfully, these two do not belong in the same sentence. One is a 2x AP Coach of the Year with a National Title who has been credited with the greatest coaching accomplishment in CFB history, and perhaps even in all of sports. The other is a good coach who spent ~$13-15M and has a very good bball team at a historically good program. Nice, but that’s not much. Also, football is the much bigger sport and powers college athletics. The Cig hire has taken us from the bottom third of the B1G in athletic dept revenue to the top third, which is a game changer. And exposure for IU is through the roof. CBB doesn’t come close. I wouldn’t trade our CFB Championship for any realistic number of CBB titles. Maybe 10 schools care about CBB. The whole country cares about CFB. Sorry to be a bit dramatic, but this is not close.

I don't get tired of Cig interviews. Here's a new one with Greg who knows him from Alabama. Starts at around 2:30 and goes for about 20 minutes. Some repeat topics, but some new stuff is here and there.

Tom chimes in with some positive views. Good stuff.

Even if we're not as good as '25... it's hard to top the most accomplished CFB team ever, we can still be plenty good enough to win the biggest prizes. There are four teams with about the same "best odds" to win it all: ND, OSU, Texas, and defending National Champion IU. Then there is a little gap to Oregon, and another gap to Georgia. Very exciting. I can't wait to see how this staff levels up Hoover and we've got some great games on the schedule too. Anything is possible -- no self-imposed limitations!

Carter is recovering from some kind of injury and/or procedure — unclear at the moment. Fortunately he has lot of recovery time and he seems to be in a good mood on social media.

With a helmet like this Canada never had a chance.

I'm pretty sure IU would sue, given any penalties levied against us (not just vacated wins) would violate the judge's injunction stating Lou was eligible. Circumventing and therefore violating a court ruling with a retroactive penalties won't go over well. And Lou got an injunction because the judge thought it was likely he would win at trial. As smarter people than me are pointing out, what the NCAA really wants is a ruling on this case for future cases, so they're appealing the dismissal of Lou's case so they can get a ruling. Odds are if this proceeds they lose, and even if they win the injunction was still present. I'm still at about a zero on the concern scale. This seems to be background arguing and posturing in legal proceedings that has bubbled up as news because it's the offseason and On3 went with a clickbaity headline. A bit annoying really. The IndyStar and H-T aren't even covering it at this point. Nor are any of the CFB shows/pods, and even the pod the reporter who started this story (Ross Dellenger) is on barely talked about it.

I find that to be encouraging. If true, a ~25% increase over this season. I get your logic on Tucker. The chatter I heard is he got paid like the top-20 portal player he was, and it sounded like he got a lot. Something like $2.5M+, I'm not sure on the exact number. But, that just further supports how expensive it was to build a whole new roster from scratch. I'm still more in the camp our primary issues is not money, but spending it. Hopefully with our whole staff in place and a small core of a team, we do better in the portal this year. As @Asha’man noted with that Duke guard, in reality the portal has already started with agents beginning to shop their clients. We should be much more a part of this process than we were last year. Fingers crossed.

Prediction markets still have us as a 80-85% chance to make it. I get it feels worse than that with some of these recent score lines and individual player trends. Personally I’ve got plenty of concerns. But, the odds are what they are, and I’m glad they’re optimistic.

Well said. On a worry scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most worried, I'm at about a 7. I think he's a decent X's and O's coach, but... - His press conferences do worry me. He seems uncomfortable and unsure, and some excuses I've heard I don't like. He's a quiet and reserved type of guy, which is normally okay, but not sure that works as a head coach. Is this the sort of coach about to go on a tear in the portal and inspire our NIL donors? Not sure. He landed Lamar and some decent HS kids, which makes me feel a little better. The 3rd party stories I hear about him are good. But... I dunno... - On top of the roster construction issues, which I can mostly understand given the the situation he inherited, I haven't seen much exciting player dev. I thought it might be Dorn, but apparently not. Trent has kinda tailed off. Just not a lot I can look at and say wow he is getting a lot from these guys or this guy was a great scouting job. - I'm not sure about Drew Adams, or Kenny honestly - I don't feel like our program has much of an identity yet He's got a big four games coming up. We all know what needs to happen the rest of this season and in the portal. It may work out and we're a solid top-20/25 team next year, but I can't deny something feels off. Hopefully it's just misplaced angst, that's possible.

Ha. Regardless of if you do, rest assured everyone in their little round arena will be thinking about it, and maybe 122-3 as well.

Yes, but with that lovely collegiate gothic limestone architecture of the north endzone (not Wisconsin's 1970's office building look). I'm hoping we get some Memorial Stadium renovation announcements in the coming months, but I've got no idea what the timeline is.

New contract for Cig. His contract had a clause that said when he makes the CFP semis, there is a good faith renegotiation of his contract so that he is a top three paid coach. Worth it!

IMO, this is a sensationalist headline. The NCAA is flailing because they keep losing in court. When a judge issues an injunction saying a player is eligible, the player is eligible. Good detail is here: https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/the-louis-moore-eligibility-case-is-still-ongoing-in-the-courts/ Personally my concern level here is about zero.