Crossroads Classic Pregame Thread

[WayneFleekHoosier 51,464]

It's really hard for me to find much affection for the Boilers, but I can appreciate how they play. Butler is in the same category for me but their coach is doing a nice job with that team. I just want IU to get back to a style of play that I can enjoy watching.

you know what style that is for me? Winning, mostly.

Mix in heart, grit, passion.

I don't care our style as much but if we win predominately and play with passion, I am in.

Because theoretically our style should/could change slightly due to personnel.

[SteelerHoosier 2,586]

you know what style that is for me? Winning, mostly.

Mix in heart, grit, passion.

I don't care our style as much but if we win predominately and play with passion, I am in.

Because theoretically our style should/could change slightly due to personnel.

 

Bold is all I am asking for. 

[OliviaPope40 7,445]

I will be in attendance. 

[OliviaPope40 7,445]

Little Brother wining about what channel they're on get over it.

[HoosierAloha 30,102]

We haven't shot that well in Banker's Life for awhile right? I don't like our chances if we have to rely on defense and taking care of the ball.

[BlueDevil 9,556]

We haven't shot that well in Banker's Life for awhile right? I don't like our chances if we have to rely on defense and taking care of the ball.

"The lights were too bright"

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

It's really hard for me to get excited about IUBB anymore. I will probably watch this at home on the couch with Sam Adams. I can't discuss why I think we will win bc I don't think we will

Great contribution.

 

Can you discuss why you think we'll lose?

[ALASKA HOOSIER 11,329]

I will be hosting the first ever, Hoosier game day in Alaska! There is a group of 4x alums, a couple of new IU fans (my buddies Ed and Amy) who are being indoctrinated into the Hoosier family. We are meeting here in Fairbanks, Alaska at Tubbys. It is an early game so we will be drunk by noon. Don't know what we will be drinking but I am sure to post some pix. No matter how bad this team is, I will represent! Go Hoosiers, beat the Irish! If anyone is up this way, come join us. It's gonna get weird here in the cold. Introduce these people to something besides hockey and raise hell

[yogisballin 2,433]

Great contribution.

Can you discuss why you think we'll lose?

Umm, same ole same ole problems. Defense, to's, missing leadership, on and on. Stuff we all know

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Umm, same ole same ole problems. Defense, to's, missing leadership, on and on. Stuff we all know

Do you think turnovers will be less of a problem with Notre Dame's own complete inability to force turnovers?

 

How do you feel about Notre Dame's truly terrible 3-point defense? They tend to leave perimeter shooters open and we're one of the best perimeter shooting teams in the country.

 

Notre Dame's leading player is, by far, their forward Auguste. We have had trouble with dominant bigs in the past, how do you think TB will respond to this challenge? What changes would you like to see the team make going into the game to prepare for a dominant forward?

 

Notre Dame is slow. Offensively, they rely on careful ball-handling to avoid wasted possessions and good shot selection. Defensively, they are slow on transition but play loose on the perimeter (they give very few fouls) and focus on protecting the paint, though they don't do this particularly well either. We play fast everywhere and defensively play man too tightly. We have the ability to send anyone up the floor as the ball handler (which admittedly, causes a fair number of Troy TOs) which is something their defense appears almost entirely incapable of handling. How do you feel this pace difference will change the game?

 

Notre Dame is also a shallow team. Part of their pacing is for maintaining stamina. Can Indiana's pace upset this? How should we exploit this? How do you predict we will (or won't) exploit this?

 

With that, Notre Dame does not have role players in the same sense as we do. There is no one on Notre Dame who can come off the bench and start drilling threes or doing Colin Hartman things. Do you foresee causing any match-up problems with this?

 

You cited lack of leadership, which is especially concerning on a neutral court. Notre Dame also has issues on a neutral court, only beating Iowa due to the crazy foul calling and Iowa being ridiculously shallow at the time. They have leadership, but it is somewhat haphazard and ineffective. Do you think this helps us? What aspects of leadership do you think we'll have to display to win?

 

Just to help discussion along. It's all well and good to post simple declaratory statements, but as this is a discussion board I thought it might be helpful to have some discussion instead. In my work we'd say you aren't particularizing the general information to the current case. We have issues with defense, turnovers, and leadership. There's no denying that. But, how will those issues affect this particular match-up?

[muckraker 61]

Crickets....

[ALASKA HOOSIER 11,329]

This is our year for the crossroads classic! We are going to have excellent defense and limit turnovers

[Uspshoosier 54,504]

https://twitter.com/jeffrabjohns/status/677597398474948609

https://twitter.com/jeffrabjohns/status/677596633316483074

[WayneFleekHoosier 51,464]

Wow, thems fighting words. Let's get it on!

[BlueDevil 9,556]

https://twitter.com/jeffrabjohns/status/677597398474948609

https://twitter.com/jeffrabjohns/status/677596633316483074

He ain't lyin tho

[Uspshoosier 54,504]

He ain't lyin tho

i would say butler has been more consistent the last 5 years

[FortWayneHoosier 6,916]

Wow, thems fighting words. Let's get it on!

you aint kidding i really hope we hammer them for that....but really he is kind of right lol

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Guy coaches a team with a worse defense than Indiana and wants to brag about his consistency. I mean, he's not wrong. He consistently builds teams without a defense. It sounds so familiar... Except in the last 14 years he has only had 1 team with a top-50 defense. At least Tom Crean has 5 seasons of top-50. 

 

I mean, I guess during his Final Four... oh, nope. Never been. Well, when they won the ACC regular season title? Oh. Shoot.

 

So, congrats on building a team that can make it to the tourney or NIT every year but has only ever seen the second weekend twice. Consistency!

 

If he coached at Indiana we would have a Fire Mike Brey thread and it would have been there since 2005.

[AKHoosier 7,718]

He sounds pissed off that Indiana residents largely aren't fans of Notre Dame basketball.

 

Well no sh!t, neither are your own students. 

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Argh! I read it again and it still makes me so mad. People who are arrogant about something they aren't good at are my biggest pet peeve. Mike Brey is not a good basketball coach. He's an above average basketball coach at best. His program is the definition of settling. He's the worst kind of coach because he wins just enough that you can't fire him unless you are totally confident about who is coming next. He gets mild success and thinks he is a great coach. I'd rather suffer through crappy seasons and ups and downs that result in changing coaches and end up with a truly spectacular coach who can bring back the banners than have the consistent lukewarm "success" of Mike Brey.

 

Anyone who can be happy with the kind of consistency Mike Brey shows is a settler. I cannot abide by settlers. He can fox right on back to Catan.