Welcome to the 2019-2020 IUBB Season

[Walking Boot of Doom]

So we are supposed to wait to talk about? Just be all rainbows and unicorns until then? So this forum exist why if we are not supposed to talk about it?


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Well, given you and the rest of has have jack to base our assessment of the success or failure of this season on, maybe the doomsdayers should shut their yaps and watch the damn game.

In the interest of fairness, I’d say the same thing to anyone proclaiming us National Champs. But you don’t see anyone doing that, do you?

I see a lot of cautious optimism and some people half way off the cliff trying to pull everyone off with them.


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[Hoosier1984]

Happy Opening Day All! Had the phone hooked up to the truck on the way home from picking up the kids to the Watford shot over Kentucky. Listened to it about 5 times. Kids wondering what happened to their father and why he was like a kid on Christmas. Go Hoosiers!

 

 

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[Old Friend]

18 hours ago, Loaded Chicken Sandwich said:

So we are supposed to wait to talk about? Just be all rainbows and unicorns until then? So this forum exist why if we are not supposed to talk about it?


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You could try looking at it from a different perspective that's not negative and critical.  If you understand sports and how college programs are built, it's really not that difficult.   There is one set of facts.  Your perspective on those facts can be different; but the facts don't change.   You almost always look at what's happened in the past and extrapolate those facts into what should drive future decisions or mindsets without taking into consideration what's really happened or happening.

For example :  Archie's team missed the post season in year one.  Fact.  And understood.  But....that team also lost Deron Davis to an achilles injury, Hartman to a back injury, and played the season basically with a healthy Juwon Morgan as its only experienced post player.  Another fact, Josh McRoberts was 5th on that team in minutes played.  We relied on...Josh McRoberts.  Another fact.  Archie didn't have a single of his own recruits play even a minute that season.  Another fact, Archie's philosophy is 180* different than Tom Crean's, and every player who played that season was recruited to play an offense first system, and Archie asked them to be defense first.  

In Archie's second season, Green lost 7 games with injury.  Phinisee, who started really well, lost a month with a concussion (I know he only missed 3 games, but he wasn't right for at least a month).  Race Thompson was out pretty much all season.  Langford battled different injuries to his hand and his back (allegedly) all season.  We had no depth, having Clifton Moore, Jake Forrester, McBob again, a slow and obviously unhealthy Davis, Damezi Anderson who wasn't yet ready, and Evan Fitzner.   Check me if I'm wrong; but that's 9 of 14 players on last season's team that either missed time with injury, were incumbered by injury, or weren't ready or good enough to play last season.

Archie jettisoned Moore and Forrester...good move.  He has recruited 2 straight Indiana Mr. Basketball's..and likely has a 3rd straight already in the fold next season along with one of the fastest rising stars in high school in Geronimo; an athlete like we haven't seen since Oladipo.   The current team got much better defensively a year ago toward the end of the season.   Right now, there is no dead weight on the team as there has been for 2 seasons.  The kids all (except poor Davis) look faster, bigger, and more confident and it doesn't take an expert to see how they played last night vs. how they have looked in year's 1 and 2.   Recruiting is very solid if we agree Indiana needs to become experienced and stay that way.   

If you're an "I need my satisfaction RIGHT NOW!!!" guy, Indiana's not for you. They're not building it that way...regardless of what parameter you place on how YOU will define success this season.  But...if you can see the forest through the trees, you'll easily see the trend is upward and by next season, I think you'll have your national contender.   But..you have to be a little patient, and that's obviously very difficult for you.   

We could talk about stuff like that....but that would require a very different thought process from your typical "fire everyone because we aren't winning and everyone who's not winning to my standard sucks" mentality.   In one man's opinion?  You haven't yet earned the right to expect people to blindly trust your assessments of the state of IU sports, Still want to fire Tom Allen?   Earlier this season when we lost to MSU, you wouldn't get off that hill.   Sometimes, things need to play out, but you have to be able to see what's coming and what's happening...getting OFF of what happened and using THAT as the barometer for everything.

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, Old Friend said:

You could try looking at it from a different perspective that's not negative and critical.  If you understand sports and how college programs are built, it's really not that difficult.   There is one set of facts.  Your perspective on those facts can be different; but the facts don't change.   You almost always look at what's happened in the past and extrapolate those facts into what should drive future decisions or mindsets without taking into consideration what's really happened or happening.

For example :  Archie's team missed the post season in year one.  Fact.  And understood.  But....that team also lost Deron Davis to an achilles injury, Hartman to a back injury, and played the season basically with a healthy Juwon Morgan as its only experienced post player.  Another fact, Josh McRoberts was 5th on that team in minutes played.  We relied on...Josh McRoberts.  Another fact.  Archie didn't have a single of his own recruits play even a minute that season.  Another fact, Archie's philosophy is 180* different than Tom Crean's, and every player who played that season was recruited to play an offense first system, and Archie asked them to be defense first.  

In Archie's second season, Green lost 7 games with injury.  Phinisee, who started really well, lost a month with a concussion (I know he only missed 3 games, but he wasn't right for at least a month).  Race Thompson was out pretty much all season.  Langford battled different injuries to his hand and his back (allegedly) all season.  We had no depth, having Clifton Moore, Jake Forrester, McBob again, a slow and obviously unhealthy Davis, Damezi Anderson who wasn't yet ready, and Evan Fitzner.   Check me if I'm wrong; but that's 9 of 14 players on last season's team that either missed time with injury, were incumbered by injury, or weren't ready or good enough to play last season.

Archie jettisoned Moore and Forrester...good move.  He has recruited 2 straight Indiana Mr. Basketball's..and likely has a 3rd straight already in the fold next season along with one of the fastest rising stars in high school in Geronimo; an athlete like we haven't seen since Oladipo.   The current team got much better defensively a year ago toward the end of the season.   Right now, there is no dead weight on the team as there has been for 2 seasons.  The kids all (except poor Davis) look faster, bigger, and more confident and it doesn't take an expert to see how they played last night vs. how they have looked in year's 1 and 2.   Recruiting is very solid if we agree Indiana needs to become experienced and stay that way.   

If you're an "I need my satisfaction RIGHT NOW!!!" guy, Indiana's not for you. They're not building it that way...regardless of what parameter you place on how YOU will define success this season.  But...if you can see the forest through the trees, you'll easily see the trend is upward and by next season, I think you'll have your national contender.   But..you have to be a little patient, and that's obviously very difficult for you.   

We could talk about stuff like that....but that would require a very different thought process from your typical "fire everyone because we aren't winning and everyone who's not winning to my standard sucks" mentality.   In one man's opinion?  You haven't yet earned the right to expect people to blindly trust your assessments of the state of IU sports, Still want to fire Tom Allen?   Earlier this season when we lost to MSU, you wouldn't get off that hill.   Sometimes, things need to play out, but you have to be able to see what's coming and what's happening...getting OFF of what happened and using THAT as the barometer for everything.

[mdn82]

Well said.


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[Hollywood Mike Miranda]

1 hour ago, mdn82 said:

Well said.


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Agreed... very very well said! Too bad it will all be for naught :(
Only one way to kill a troll and that's by not feeding it in the first place.

[mdn82]

Agreed... very very well said! Too bad it will all be for naught :(
Only one way to kill a troll and that's by not feeding it in the first place.

Ha touché.


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[Old Friend]

51 minutes ago, Hollywood Mike Miranda said:

Agreed... very very well said! Too bad it will all be for naught :(
Only one way to kill a troll and that's by not feeding it in the first place.

I'm way too ignorant and stubborn  to avoid feeding the bear.  I'm nothing if not proactive.   But your point is well taken.  =)

[coonhounds]

I'm way too ignorant and stubborn  to avoid feeding the bear.  I'm nothing if not proactive.   But your point is well taken.  =)

I think u got through to him I expect he will see things differently now.

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[Old Friend]

6 hours ago, coonhounds said:

I think u got through to him I expect he will see things differently now.

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It baffles me....less with him, but still....how someone can reasonably and with a straight face, ask if we're supposed to wait and see before talking about anything positive, and inferring everything sucks until it doesn't.  It's like he has the inability to learn from the "Fire Tom Allen" debacle.  The "Fire Fred Glass" garbage from the last few years is just as bad.   The best food doesn't cook in a microwave.  Life tip from an old friend.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

cool, I guess. What’s the connection here?


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[mdn82]

cool, I guess. What’s the connection here?


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A few years ago he did a piece for a magazine and did most of it with help of Tyra Buss and Coach Moren. During that he was on ESPN and I am pretty sure he said he loves the area cause of a girl he dated that graduated from IU.


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[Uspshoosier]

cool, I guess. What’s the connection here?


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https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2017/01/14/why-does-jesse-eisenberg-love-hoosiers/96587122/


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[mdn82]

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2017/01/14/why-does-jesse-eisenberg-love-hoosiers/96587122/


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Yep around that time we had Tyra on here. She said he was pretty cool to work with.


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[woodenshoemanHoosierfan]

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2017/01/14/why-does-jesse-eisenberg-love-hoosiers/96587122/


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Didn't even know who it was

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[Brass Cannon]

A friend of mine met him at middleway house once.  She knew he was in justice league before it was reported anywhere.  
 

He’s apparently a pretty down to earth guy and will talk to people like they are people unlike a lot of celebs. 

[HoosierAloha]

Not sure where to put this...
I was looking at our SOS on KenPom. It’s absolutely atrocious (currently 335). I get that KenPom ratings aren’t set in stone and will change throughout the season but we could have scheduled better. I’d like to see a few of those 274+ games bumped up to under 200. That would go a long way in increasing our SOS.

The good news is we have a handful of opportunities coming up in the noncon and then conference play will provide more opportunities.

Western Illinois - 312
Portland State - 274
North Alabama - 288
Troy - 291
Princeton - 223
Louisiana Tech - 91
South Dakota St - 198
Florida State - 11
Connecticut - 81
Notre Dame - 42
Arkansas - 31


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[JHoosier914]

1 minute ago, HoosierAloha said:

Not sure where to put this...
I was looking at our SOS on KenPom. It’s absolutely atrocious (currently 335). I get that KenPom ratings aren’t set in stone and will change throughout the season but we could have scheduled better. I’d like to see a few of those 274+ games bumped up to under 200. That would go a long way in increasing our SOS.

The good news is we have a handful of opportunities coming up in the noncon and then conference play will provide more opportunities.

Western Illinois - 312
Portland State - 274
North Alabama - 288
Troy - 291
Princeton - 223
Louisiana Tech - 91
South Dakota St - 198
Florida State - 11
Connecticut - 81
Notre Dame - 42
Arkansas - 31


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I read somewhere (can't remember where anymore) that our early season opponents happen to have many new players on their team, which is one of the reason why they could be ranked so low right now -- the unknown factor, sort of. 

I think, before i did a podcast about the Portland State game, that I read somewhere they had 7 new players.  North Alabama has 5.  Western Illinois has 8.

Perhaps they could end up surprisingly better by the end of the season and help out our SOS.

[HoosierAloha]

I read somewhere (can't remember where anymore) that our early season opponents happen to have many new players on their team, which is one of the reason why they could be ranked so low right now -- the unknown factor, sort of. 
I think, before i did a podcast about the Portland State game, that I read somewhere they had 7 new players.  North Alabama has 5.  Western Illinois has 8.
Perhaps they could end up surprisingly better by the end of the season and help out our SOS.

That could be true. I was just browsing KenPom and noticed the terrible SOS. If PSU shoots the way they did against us in the first half they have a great chance at a lot of wins.


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[JHoosier914]

Just now, HoosierAloha said:

That could be true. I was just browsing KenPom and noticed the terrible SOS. If PSU shoots the way they did against us in the first half they have a great chance at a lot of wins.


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you're definitely right that these early season opponents Kenpom ratings leave something to be desired.