College Bball Thread

[pappy1865]

Tough loss for the Trees tonight. Not their best game by far. Drakes big man got 2 ISU players with 2 fouls each early in the first half and the offense never found a groove again. I plan to be at the Hulman Center for the rematch!

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[Uspshoosier]

Wisky on a late run and they are up 6 at Ohio st with under 3 min to go 

[monskisprodigy]

Thad and the bulldogs up 7 on the road at Marquette…

[Uspshoosier]

11 minutes ago, monskisprodigy said:

Thad and the bulldogs up 7 on the road at Marquette…

Marquette 2-23 from 3 

[Uspshoosier]

37 minutes ago, Ngw7183 said:

No… this doesn’t mean I am making excuses for IU yada yada - but, it might help bring some sense of reality to situation. 

https://x.com/evanmiya/status/1745276963088998900?s=46&t=dG7L-kcGr7uxcu7LKS54Cw

It’s basically like this every year in the power conferences.   Losing conference roads games is going to happen more often than not even for tournament quality teams.   Only the elite teams each year have impressive records on the road.    It’s not just IU almost every team.   The difference would be there  are  teams that actually compete and scratch and claw until the end of a road game and still come up short and then there are teams that fold like a chair and get the doors blown off.   

[Uspshoosier]

UConn probably a home win against Georgetown on Sunday away from being ranked #1 

[Uspshoosier]

IU last year earned a 4 seed and their road record was 5-7 with some of those 5 being massive road wins   

The year before they were in the last 4 in with a 3-8 road record and none of those wins were against tournament quality teams 

One of these days it would be nice to follow a program  that consistently wins  on the road but that’s going to be a tall order.   

[Uspshoosier]

2 minutes ago, Ngw7183 said:

If this was a reference to Nebraska,

The statement had nothing to do with the Nebraska game or IU  just pointing out that some teams fight and play hard and still lose and others don’t fight hard and lose.     Can’t remember when in the B1G but there was a year recently where almost every early B1G game was won by the home team.   I think only 1 team got a road win in the early games.   That 66% will drop a little and probably be around the 61% if I had to guess.    

[Uspshoosier]

Muss bus has a flat.   Another loss

they will always have that exhibition OT win over Purdue though 

[RaceToTheTop]

2 hours ago, Gnet550 said:

Wonder if IU could go after Conner Essegian this year if he’s enter the portal…scorer/shooter and has seen his minutes diminish at …pair him with McNeely and if MM stays…your shooting is fixed

If I’m Essegian, I would be looking to move on.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

If I’m Essegian, I would be looking to move on.

I suppose he should but they upgraded their roster over him and are winning basketball games this year. Team is better. Great coaching to identify a weakness and upgrade.


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[monskisprodigy]

11 hours ago, RaceToTheTop said:

If I’m Essegian, I would be looking to move on.

I didn't realize he wasn't really playing.

Only getting 7.8 minutes a game, after getting 27.4 last year. Averaged almost 12 a game last year. 

[str8baller]

4 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I suppose he should but they upgraded their roster over him and are winning basketball games this year. Team is better. Great coaching to identify a weakness and upgrade.


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Kind of. He’s still their best shooter and went off last game.  
 

He started to get crapped on by the staff and media (thru the staff I assume) last year for some reason. I was surprised he stayed another year.
 

Fwiw (nothing) when I visited back home, near where he’s from, for Christmas I heard several people talking about how he was transferring after this year. Probably just local gossip, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. 

[Muskie for three]

High school board  chatter is Connor has a nagging lower back injury going on . Could just be local fans making excuses for a hometown boy. . 

[Uspshoosier]

The Journey started back up.   One of my favorite things to watch during the season 

[RaceToTheTop]

10 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I suppose he should but they upgraded their roster over him and are winning basketball games this year. Team is better. Great coaching to identify a weakness and upgrade.


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Oh, I understand.  Just saying that he has shown he can be a starter at the Big Ten level and there are power five teams he would start or get good minutes at (IU included).

Also don't think that Greg Gard has helped the situation.  He's been very negative about him in the press instead of keeping it in house.

[RaceToTheTop]

5 hours ago, Muskie for three said:

High school board  chatter is Connor has a nagging lower back injury going on . Could just be local fans making excuses for a hometown boy. . 

He hurt his back in the opener.  

Gard recently said this to the press after a game:

"A year ago he played on a team that's okay. We're a much better team," Gard stated. "We've got more depth. The scouting reports are out on him. You've gotta add layers to your game. You've got to grow your game. They've got all the freshman film where you banged 3's. They're not letting you get loose as much.  Continue to grow your game and accept the challenge. We know he can do it, but it's not one of those things we can afford to let him play through. The stakes are too high in terms of what this team wants to accomplish."

To me, this reeks of throwing a kid under the bus.  Rather than saying 'there are some things we need to work with him and make him get better to get more minutes', he's basically saying 'yeah, Connor played last year because we sucked but not that we're good we can't afford to let him hold us back'.  That's a terrible look for a coach, IMO.  I have zero problem with a coach recruiting over a player -- none at all -- but on its surface Gard doesn't seem to be honest with his players.  Remember that last season Wisky hosted Noah Reynolds who was transferring from Wyoming.  Reynolds committed -- I assume on Gard's word of where he stood in his position of the team -- than Gard went out and within two weeks had recruited over Reynolds a couple of times and Reynolds decommited and transferred to Wisconsin Green-Bay (so it wasn't a location issue).  And while its a small major, Reynolds is tearing it up there -- 18.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and shooting 51% and 38% from three.  

[tkbbn]

10 min to go in first half a Michigan is leading Maryland 10 to 6.

[Uspshoosier]

Michigan on a 8-0 run over 6 mins.  lol.  
 

10-6 with 10 min to go in first half 

[tkbbn]

Maryland with a 6pt run to take the lead 12 to 19 now.