Crossroads Classic Pregame Thread

[Class of '66 Old Fart 83,825]

Just consider the source.  It's a football school.

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Just consider the source.  It's a football school.

Yeah, I doubt most of their alumni even know they have a basketball team. They wouldn't accept Brian Kelly jumping around between the Quick Lane, Zaxby's, and Foster Farms bowl.

 

Like I said, it's just one of my pet peeves. 

[BlueDevil 8,655]

Just consider the source. It's a football school.

So is IU now... I kid I kid

[Hovadipo 54,960]

Just consider the source. It's a football school.

Same.

[LIHoosier 25,758]

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.

I was thinking, wasn't last year the first time Brey didn't take a complete crap in March?

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

I was thinking, wasn't last year the first time Brey didn't take a complete crap in March?

Even last year took an amazing fall in the schedule. We lost to Wichita State so Wichita State got to play Kansas. Wichita State hates Kansas and they have a deep but strange rivalry. So, they played the most brutal game of basketball ever. Two Kansas players fouled out and Frank Mason's hand's became allergic to the basketball. I mean, Troy Williams would have been like "man, you need to be more careful with the ball".

 

So, Notre Dame got to face Wichita State in the Sweet Sixteen instead of Kansas and advanced. That's why the tourney is so exciting! But, it was a wicked lucky draw.

 

And seriously, go back and watch the Kansas-Wichita State game. It will show you what the lovechild of basketball and hockey would be like. Awesome.

[Hoosiers219 178]

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.

The hutzpah on this guy. He is the poster child for mediocrity and he is waxing indignant like no other. Earn something and then you can be indignant. You are Mike Brey, not Mike Krzyzewski, please make a note of it.

[johnsoniu 6,255]

Just consider the source.  It's a football school.

The women's team  has more support than the men's team. After football ends their main focus is hating on Geno and UConn.

[Uspshoosier 44,987]

https://twitter.com/insidethehall/status/677646763151478785

[protectthishouse 162]

https://twitter.com/insidethehall/status/677646763151478785

But would you call IU consistent? We have been anywhere from missing the NIT to number one in the nation. We are a roller coaster. 

[yogisballin 2,295]

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?

I think the to's will be there regardless on ND inability to force them honestly. We have shown to have many of those even against inferior opponents. Obviously the 3pt shooting is heavily in our favor. Maybe that is where it's decided?

I am interested in seeing how TB holds up against Auguste. Let's see if he has learned anything from previous matchups? The leadership? Idk where it comes from but whoever it is, they need to make everyone is fully aware that this is a must win game for us. I know it's just December but a W will go a long way going forward for the teams confidence.

[muckraker 61]

I was told by a reliable source that nothing questionable happened between Brey and Logan. Mike was merely trying to teach her to dribble between her legs

[Uspshoosier 44,987]

But would you call IU consistent? We have been anywhere from missing the NIT to number one in the nation. We are a roller coaster.

i never said they were but Brey said notre dame was the most consistent and it wasn't even close. The numbers that Alex provided show that it's a little closer then Brey would lead on ( notre dame was 15-17 overall and 6-12 in the acc in 2013-2014 season)

[hoosha61 386]

Watching in the Hoosier cave, sipping some natty lights and fireball [attachment=3081:ImageUploadedByBtownBanners1450434116.963916.jpg]

[Feathery 4,005]

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.

Replace Brey with Crean and it still holds true.

[mdn82 25,510]

Replace Brey with Crean and it still holds true.

I am not a fan of either. Both should be at a Notre Dame type of level of school.

[ThompsonHoosier 3,414]

I wasn't too excited about this game because of the season we've been having so far, but after hearing Brey's comments I hope we crush them! 

[Yogi'sBicep 1,048]

Mike Brey deserves to be hung by his thumbs. Forget that guy.

[The Ola Depot 1,213]

I wasn't too excited about this game because of the season we've been having so far, but after hearing Brey's comments I hope we crush them!

I definitely think that crushing them is a possibility. If we're hitting from 3 it'll be just like warmups how bad their perimeter defense is. The problem is their offense is just as good as ours and they take care of the ball and move it better.

[JSHoosier 19,811]

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?

We have also shown over the last 7 years we can struggle against a team that plays slow.  We're bad in the halfcourt and do little to nothing to speed a team up.