Game Thread: NCAA R64 vs. Kent State - 3/17 @ 10:45 pm (no lie)ET on TBS

[jbeaman9 1,021]

Crowd wise, what does everyone think it will look like? I know NY is the largest IU alumni hub but will that translate to a heavy IU presence? 

Obviously Miami is a long way away and Drake is in Iowa, so not much shorter for them than Miami.

What I am curious about is I thought the top 4 seeds in each region had "protected" placements giving them crowd advantages. How does matching up IU and Kent State in Albany (Bloomington 834 miles away, Kent St. 495 miles away) give IU the distinct advantage? 

[Hovadipo 56,125]

Been hearing whispers that Kent State stinks. Working to confirm.

[hoosierbgh 1,264]

6 minutes ago, Chris007 said:

I keep hearing and reading these national guys say how is Indiana going to deal with Kent St on this, that, and the other? But no one ever says how is Kent St going to deal with us. They have to guard us also, we get to defend them also. It's a two-way street. Will we bring our A-game? Not sure but if Kent st just brings a C-game, we don't need our A-game. 

The way I look at it, Ken St. needs to either go supernova from 3, force a ton of turnovers or some combination of the two to have a realistic chance to win. While that is possible, I don't think it is likely. Ultimately, Kent St. will have a lot more problems to deal with in guarding IU than IU will in guarding them. It's not a team that IU should take lightly but not a team to be feared either. 

[go iu bb 5,979]

Just now, hoosierbgh said:

The way I look at it, Ken St. needs to either go supernova from 3, force a ton of turnovers or some combination of the two to have a realistic chance to win. While that is possible, I don't think it is likely. Ultimately, Kent St. will have a lot more problems to deal with in guarding IU than IU will in guarding them. It's not a team that IU should take lightly but not a team to be feared either. 

Kent State forcing a lot of turnovers isn't out of the question. One of their strengths this year has been stealing the ball while one of IU's weaknesses has giving up steals. Even as they've cleaned up their overall turnovers, IU has still been giving up lots of steals. 

IU should win, and win comfortably. They have an AA big in TJD and a likely NBA first round pick in JHS so they easily out-talent Kent State. But they're also very inconsistent and tend to play to the other team's level.

[JSHoosier 20,204]

IU should win, but this team has shown itself capable of losing to anyone.

[Hoosierfan1901 6,271]

20 minutes ago, jbeaman9 said:

Crowd wise, what does everyone think it will look like? I know NY is the largest IU alumni hub but will that translate to a heavy IU presence? 

Obviously Miami is a long way away and Drake is in Iowa, so not much shorter for them than Miami.

What I am curious about is I thought the top 4 seeds in each region had "protected" placements giving them crowd advantages. How does matching up IU and Kent State in Albany (Bloomington 834 miles away, Kent St. 495 miles away) give IU the distinct advantage? 

According to their Kent State’s athletic Twitter, their ticket service is crashing due to the amount of tickets being sold. Never underestimate MACation

[jbeaman9 1,021]

4 minutes ago, Hoosierfan1901 said:

According to their Kent State’s athletic Twitter, their ticket service is crashing due to the amount of tickets being sold. Never underestimate MACation

That was my thought so why did IU get screwed by playing a team with a shorter travel distance than them while being a "protected" top 4 seed?

[Hoosierfan1901 6,271]

2 minutes ago, jbeaman9 said:

That was my thought so why did IU get screwed by playing a team with a shorter travel distance than them while being a "protected" top 4 seed?

Well, to be fair, it does look like that tweet also included the Women’s game. However, Kent State travels well

[hoosierbgh 1,264]

19 minutes ago, JSHoosier said:

IU should win, but this team has shown itself capable of losing to anyone.

No, actually they haven't. They shown that they can lose to much better teams than Kent St. on an off night but they've pretty much curb stomped any team close to Kent St.'s level. Nor has Kent St. shown that they can beat a team of IU's level. That doesn't mean that IU can't lose but it is not nearly as likely as people want to make it seem. 

[triple 412]

52 minutes ago, go iu bb said:

So hyperbolic. As far as I've seen, not one person is saying, or even implying, that Kent State is "an unstoppable beast." What people are saying is that this isn't a gimme game that IU can just sleepwalk through. If they don't show up to play, Kent State can beat them. Since this IU team is inconsistent and doesn't seem to always show up to play, therein lies the concern.

I should have clarified that I was referencing the national press stories.  Any yes, I used the term "unstoppable beast" to point out the drama that I am seeing in those stories, which is indeed hyperbolic.   As Chris just noted, some of them fail to even mention the fact that Kent State also has an opponent, and thus needs to show up too if they hope to win.  I believe we are in agreement otherwise.  

[Hovadipo 56,125]

27 minutes ago, jbeaman9 said:

That was my thought so why did IU get screwed by playing a team with a shorter travel distance than them while being a "protected" top 4 seed?

I'm not too worried about Kent State out-traveling IU. 

[go iu bb 5,979]

3 minutes ago, triple said:

I should have clarified that I was referencing the national press stories.  Any yes, I used the term "unstoppable beast" to point out the drama that I am seeing in those stories, which is indeed hyperbolic.   As Chris just noted, some of them fail to even mention the fact that Kent State also has an opponent, and thus needs to show up too if they hope to win.  I believe we are in agreement otherwise.  

Please link some of these national stories that are referring to Kent State as anything close to an "unstoppable beast." I've seen a few, like Bilas, who said that an upset could happen but definitely did not say that it was certain or that that Kent State was this great team. Most of the ones I've seen tend to pick IU to the S16 with a few having them in the E8 and 1 picking them for the FF. Some do pick Kent State to win but from what I've seen that isn't the majority. 

The consistent criticism of IU I do see is saying that they're inconsistent which is totally fair as they they are.

You claim you're being ironically hyperbolic since the media is. From what I've seen, that just isn't true. Just because they say that IU could lose doesn't mean they think Kent State is a super great team.

[hoosierbgh 1,264]

29 minutes ago, go iu bb said:

Kent State forcing a lot of turnovers isn't out of the question. One of their strengths this year has been stealing the ball while one of IU's weaknesses has giving up steals. Even as they've cleaned up their overall turnovers, IU has still been giving up lots of steals. 

IU should win, and win comfortably. They have an AA big in TJD and a likely NBA first round pick in JHS so they easily out-talent Kent State. But they're also very inconsistent and tend to play to the other team's level.

Except, this is not exactly accurate. IU has played poorly enough to lose to Penn State and Northwestern twice each and played a closer than it should have been game against Minnesota. Those are the worst games IU played all year based on quality of the opponent and performance and both Northwestern and Penn State are way above the level of Kent St. Minnesota probably is closer but at least they were at home and the barn is a weird place to play. In the B1G, an off night is likely to get IU beat. In the MAC, an off night would likely mean IU won by less than 10. 

Kent St. may win but it will take the best game they've played all year, the worst game IU has played all year or a combination of both. There's no reason to assume any of that is all that likely. 

[Uspshoosier 45,679]

36 minutes ago, jbeaman9 said:

That was my thought so why did IU get screwed by playing a team with a shorter travel distance than them while being a "protected" top 4 seed?

Because a protected seed has nothing to do with shorter distance traveled  and has everything to do with home court disadvantage.    They are playing in Albany, New York.  No home crowd disadvantage for IU playing a team from Ohio in New York.    If this region was played in Cleveland then IU would of been playing someone else 

[jbeaman9 1,021]

3 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Because a protected seed has nothing to do with shorter distance traveled  and has everything to do with home court disadvantage.    They are playing in Albany, New York.  No home crowd disadvantage for IU playing a team from Ohio in New York.    If this region was played in Cleveland then IU would of been playing someone else 

Makes sense, I thought I had read somewhere that it was about travel distance. Thanks for clarifying. 

[Stuhoo 80,724]

6 minutes ago, hoosierbgh said:

Kent St. may win but it will take the best game they've played all year, the worst game IU has played all year or a combination of both. There's no reason to assume any of that is all that likely. 

That's an overstatement in my mind.

If both teams play to an equal level of expectation, we are estimated to be about 4 points better. So, if all goes according to plan, It'll be about a nail-biting 70-66 IU victory. 

My prediction?

With complete confidence, I can predict that the game thread will be full of all of these things:

• panic,
• worry,
• joy, and
• shock that we are either trailing or can't put Kent State away.

And then

• extreme anger if we lose or
• great relief if we win by the expected single digits.

[triple 412]

9 minutes ago, go iu bb said:

Please link some of these national stories that are referring to Kent State as anything close to an "unstoppable beast." I've seen a few, like Bilas, who said that an upset could happen but definitely did not say that it was certain or that that Kent State was this great team. Most of the ones I've seen tend to pick IU to the S16 with a few having them in the E8 and 1 picking them for the FF. Some do pick Kent State to win but from what I've seen that isn't the majority. 

The consistent criticism of IU I do see is saying that they're inconsistent which is totally fair as they they are.

You claim you're being ironically hyperbolic since the media is. From what I've seen, that just isn't true. Just because they say that IU could lose doesn't mean they think Kent State is a super great team.

I'll link one.  Criticize all you like, but I'm out.  Life is too short to get into arguments on message boards.  

Go Hoosiers!

March Madness 2023: Ranking every NCAA Tournament first-round game from No. 1 to 32 - CBSSports.com

[go iu bb 5,979]

1 minute ago, triple said:

I'll link one.  Criticize all you like, but I'm out.  Life is too short to get into arguments on message boards.  

Go Hoosiers!

March Madness 2023: Ranking every NCAA Tournament first-round game from No. 1 to 32 - CBSSports.com

It says they could be a challenge for IU. That is a far cry from your "unstoppable beast" narrative.

Whatever. It appears you feel slighted that IU isn't getting the love you feel they deserve. 

[HoosierCoop 3,927]

6 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

That's an overstatement in my mind.

If both teams play to an equal level of expectation, we are estimated to be about 4 points better. So, if all goes according to plan, It'll be about a nail-biting 70-66 IU victory. 

My prediction?

With complete confidence, I can predict that the game thread will be full of all of these things:

• panic,
• worry,
• joy, and
• shock that we are either trailing or can't put Kent State away.

And then

• extreme anger if we lose or
• great relief if we win by the expected single digits.

I know historically we have done this to ourselves.

Gone are the days of "Bring it on Kent St." to "God, I hope they don't screw this up."

Hopefully a Sweet 16 trip will restore some confidence.

[Hoosierfan1901 6,271]

Kent State is going to show up, they will be confident, but maybe a little too confident