College Basketball 2009-10

[Flames24Rulz]

Unbelievable end to that Nova/GMU game. How did they not get a shot off?

 

Pretty brutal. Of course splitting FT's down the stretch every time they went to the line certainly didn't help either.

[Andy]

Villanova always seems to not be that great when they're projected to be great. Lucky to escape GMU.

[TruffleShuffle]

Villanova always seems to not be that great when they're projected to be great. Lucky to escape GMU.

 

they're going to miss dante cunningham more than people think. those guard-heavy teams always need a solid big guy to do the dirty work down low.

[NCCubFan]

John Wall on his game winner vs. Miami:

 

That's what they pay me to do

At least somebody admits it. :D

[NCCubFan]

John Wall on his game winner vs. Miami:

 

That's what they pay me to do

 

This was the best thing to come out of that postgame:

 

 

Thats fantastic

Seems like a calmer but more sarcastic version of the famous Dennis Green rant.

[circlecitycub]

Penn State is a 2 TD favorite over UNC-Wilmington

 

Oops

[fiver]

Puerto Rico Tip-Off today. IU will have a good measuring stick in Ole Miss. The Rebels are kinda like IU hopes to be next year. They have pretty decent talent, but are very guard oriented. All but 43 of their FG attempts have come from players 6'5" and under.

 

The IU guards have to hold their own on the defensive end and get the ball to their bigs on offense. Stay in front of the Ole Miss guards and force them to take long shots. They are not that deep upfront, so Watford, Pritchard, and Elston getting their bigs into foul trouble would go a long way to an upset win.

 

Ok, so after watching a half, watford, creek, jones, and rivers look like they may become decent players. The freshman are fine, but can someone tell me why IU is having such a lousy recruiting year presently? I just checked rivals, and they ZERO players in the top 100 and only 2 in the top 150.....This isn't really acceptable. You can't rebuild with one good class and then nada...

Edited November 19, 2009 by fiver

[TruffleShuffle]

Penn State is a 2 TD favorite over UNC-Wilmington

 

Oops

 

apparently it's hard to win when you shoot 30% and the other team shoots 57%.

[illiniguy]

Puerto Rico Tip-Off today. IU will have a good measuring stick in Ole Miss. The Rebels are kinda like IU hopes to be next year. They have pretty decent talent, but are very guard oriented. All but 43 of their FG attempts have come from players 6'5" and under.

 

The IU guards have to hold their own on the defensive end and get the ball to their bigs on offense. Stay in front of the Ole Miss guards and force them to take long shots. They are not that deep upfront, so Watford, Pritchard, and Elston getting their bigs into foul trouble would go a long way to an upset win.

 

Ok, so after watching a half, watford, creek, and rivers look like they may become decent players. The freshman are fine, but can someone tell me why IU is having such a lousy recruiting year presently? I just checked rivals, and they ZERO players in the top 100 and only 2 in the top 150.....This isn't really acceptable. You can't rebuild with one good class and then nada...

Kansas also has no one. Isn't there still a decent amount of top 150 that are still unsigned though?

[circlecitycub]

Puerto Rico Tip-Off today. IU will have a good measuring stick in Ole Miss. The Rebels are kinda like IU hopes to be next year. They have pretty decent talent, but are very guard oriented. All but 43 of their FG attempts have come from players 6'5" and under.

 

The IU guards have to hold their own on the defensive end and get the ball to their bigs on offense. Stay in front of the Ole Miss guards and force them to take long shots. They are not that deep upfront, so Watford, Pritchard, and Elston getting their bigs into foul trouble would go a long way to an upset win.

 

Ok, so after watching a half, watford, creek, and rivers look like they may become decent players. The freshman are fine, but can someone tell me why IU is having such a lousy recruiting year presently? I just checked rivals, and they ZERO players in the top 100 and only 2 in the top 150.....This isn't really acceptable. You can't rebuild with one good class and then nada...

 

Probably has something to do with these guys

[fiver]

Probably has something to do with these guys

 

That didn't help. How the hell is Crean not able to sell playing time to a couple more top 50 players?

 

Only one remaining 4 or 5 star recruit is considering IU, and that is Josh Selby. I don't believe they are favored to land him. IU needs impact post players and depth at guard. They have no post play presently. zero. Watford should be playing 3 not 4.

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Puerto Rico Tip-Off today. IU will have a good measuring stick in Ole Miss. The Rebels are kinda like IU hopes to be next year. They have pretty decent talent, but are very guard oriented. All but 43 of their FG attempts have come from players 6'5" and under.

 

The IU guards have to hold their own on the defensive end and get the ball to their bigs on offense. Stay in front of the Ole Miss guards and force them to take long shots. They are not that deep upfront, so Watford, Pritchard, and Elston getting their bigs into foul trouble would go a long way to an upset win.

 

Ok, so after watching a half, watford, creek, jones, and rivers look like they may become decent players. The freshman are fine, but can someone tell me why IU is having such a lousy recruiting year presently? I just checked rivals, and they ZERO players in the top 100 and only 2 in the top 150.....This isn't really acceptable. You can't rebuild with one good class and then nada...

 

Give him time. You can't rebuild from the state the IU program was in, in under five years. IU is simply not the destination it used to be, and with Purdue's recent success will make recruiting in Indiana much harder. The 2012 class in Indiana is loaded, land a few players from there and you will be closer to your expectations.

 

Edit: Grammar

[CubColtPacer]

Probably has something to do with these guys

 

That didn't help. How the hell is Crean not able to sell playing time to a couple more top 50 players?

 

Only one remaining 4 or 5 star recruit is considering IU, and that is Josh Selby. I don't believe they are favored to land him. IU needs impact post players and depth at guard. They have no post play presently. zero. Watford should be playing 3 not 4.

 

IU had a big question of how many scholarships would be in that class at one point. It was possibly going to be as low as 1. Then you miss on a couple of elite players and you have the situation for next year.

 

Plus I have a feeling that Crean will be more of a system coach and bypass some talented players that don't fit. And I'm not sure that system will ever have a lot of talented big men in it. He certainly doesn't seem to be recruiting many. I'd settle for ones that can guard the post and rebound.

 

I was happy from what I saw from IU today. Lots of early season mistakes...passes to players who aren't there anymore, terrible free throw shooting. But they're definitely much longer on the defensive end. They do run well and Rivers was still one of the most athletic players on the court even against a team like Ole Miss. More of the ingredients seem to be there and now they just need to learn to harness them a little bit better. They're still going to struggle offensively against good halfcourt defenses, and so Rivers and to a lesser extent Creek staying out of foul trouble will be huge factors in Big 10 play as they are the ones who can penetrate.

[Exile on Waveland]

IU's class for 2010 is intentionally small. It would be a rather large tactical error to sign a second consecutive big class (obviously excepting some dream scenario that netted multiple 5-stars). The current freshman class is already six-deep, but, most importantly, the classes of 2011, 2012, and 2013 in Indiana are abundant with talent. IU must make headway in those three classes. IU is off to a strong start for the Class of 2011 with a 4-star player and a 3-star that many think is undervalued. Athletic bigs are an imperative.

 

Purdue's class is nice, but impertinent to IU's class. (As to Purdue's class: Terone Johnson is a real nice player, but Donnie Hale isn't much. Haven't seen any/enough to comment on the other two.)

[fiver]

IU's class for 2010 is intentionally small. It would be a rather large tactical error to sign a second consecutive big class (obviously excepting some dream scenario that netted multiple 5-stars). The current freshman class is already six-deep, but, most importantly, the classes of 2011, 2012, and 2013 in Indiana are abundant with talent. IU must make headway in those three classes. IU is off to a strong start for the Class of 2011 with a 4-star player and a 3-star that many think is undervalued. Athletic bigs are an imperative.

 

Purdue's class is nice, but impertinent to IU's class. (As to Purdue's class: Terone Johnson is a real nice player, but Donnie Hale isn't much. Haven't seen any/enough to comment on the other two.)

 

They are going to be bottom of the Big Ten until they have a couple of people (at least 1?) who can defend the 4 and 5 positions. Tom Pritchard and Tijan Jobe aren't doing it for me. I don't understand how they couldn't recruit 1 decent big man for next year. The position is wide open. To me, that's failure. How many years are we giving Crean to build the team?

[CubbieBum]

IU's class for 2010 is intentionally small. It would be a rather large tactical error to sign a second consecutive big class (obviously excepting some dream scenario that netted multiple 5-stars). The current freshman class is already six-deep, but, most importantly, the classes of 2011, 2012, and 2013 in Indiana are abundant with talent. IU must make headway in those three classes. IU is off to a strong start for the Class of 2011 with a 4-star player and a 3-star that many think is undervalued. Athletic bigs are an imperative.

 

Purdue's class is nice, but impertinent to IU's class. (As to Purdue's class: Terone Johnson is a real nice player, but Donnie Hale isn't much. Haven't seen any/enough to comment on the other two.)

 

They are going to be bottom of the Big Ten until they have a couple of people (at least 1?) who can defend the 4 and 5 positions. Tom Pritchard and Tijan Jobe aren't doing it for me. I don't understand how they couldn't recruit 1 decent big man for next year. The position is wide open. To me, that's failure. How many years are we giving Crean to build the team?

 

More than one. I hate IU and would love nothing more than him to fail but I will admit he is doing a good job. He got the team to be competitive last year in games which is more than was expected. He is signing pretty good classes for a program that was completely obliterated. It's hard to sign great players when you have none and the team is coming off its worst year. Most recruits aren't the brightest and aren't going to be thinking about 3 or 4 years from now. They don't want to go to a team that is already losing and has a higher chance to continue losing for a couple more years compared to the other teams recruiting them. I expect that with the players he is signing he will be able to be at least above .500 and a strong NIT team next season. Once they are winning he will be able to get top tier recruits.

[Sosa21MVP]

How many years are we giving Crean to build the team?

 

As much time as he needs. He has recruited well enough already that I really don't find myself feeling too doubtful of his ability to get IU back on track. It will happen. But I don't know that we will get back to the NCAA tournament until his 4th season as coach. By then the current freshman class will be juniors and Verdell & Pritchard will be seniors. I mean you have to keep in mind we started from ground zero last season.

[Exile on Waveland]

IU's class for 2010 is intentionally small. It would be a rather large tactical error to sign a second consecutive big class (obviously excepting some dream scenario that netted multiple 5-stars). The current freshman class is already six-deep, but, most importantly, the classes of 2011, 2012, and 2013 in Indiana are abundant with talent. IU must make headway in those three classes. IU is off to a strong start for the Class of 2011 with a 4-star player and a 3-star that many think is undervalued. Athletic bigs are an imperative.

 

Purdue's class is nice, but impertinent to IU's class. (As to Purdue's class: Terone Johnson is a real nice player, but Donnie Hale isn't much. Haven't seen any/enough to comment on the other two.)

 

They are going to be bottom of the Big Ten until they have a couple of people (at least 1?) who can defend the 4 and 5 positions. Tom Pritchard and Tijan Jobe aren't doing it for me. I don't understand how they couldn't recruit 1 decent big man for next year. The position is wide open. To me, that's failure. How many years are we giving Crean to build the team?

 

He's definitely going to have to upgrade the interior. There is no doubt. I've become completely bearish on Pritchard -- I think he's always going to be too soft and slow to be more than a spot player. This is an area that must be improved.

 

On Crean, he's a nice cheerleader and I don't worry too much about his recruiting (sans perhaps big man recruiting). I don't, however, think he's an outstanding tactical coach at all. I know that's near heresy for IU fans at this point, but I think it's the truth (and I think it's pretty clear). He deserves way, way more than two years to prove me wrong though.

[Smack]

Not that it's their biggest problem tonight. But, Ohio State is 1-6 at the free throw line. Terrible....

[TheVolCub08]

Tobias Harris signs with Tennessee. Same guy who's been saying that for months has also said that Tennessee is secretly back in it for Selby. Next year will see several frosh playing a huge role for Pearl and the Vols.

[Derwood]

Penn State is a 2 TD favorite over UNC-Wilmington

 

Oops

 

Yeah, this team is effed

[Andy]

Notre Dame handled a pretty good Long Beach State team by 20 tonight behind a 29/12 from Harangody. Tim Abromaitis is a new name that looks like he will make noise for the team this year, and Ben Hansbrough has been lights-out from beyond the arc. On the dark side, we only had six guys in double digits for minutes - Mike Brey looks like he's sticking with his insane streak of never having much of a bench that has worn down the Irish year in and year out.

 

The Big East is 35-0 overall and Syracuse clocked Cal tonight. No idea how long this will last but a cool streak.

 

And for what will be the last time I imagine for a very long time, the Irish entered tonight ranked #1 by the RPI system.

[Guest]

If you watched the game Andy, how did Long Beach look? They've got a very young team (only one junior or senior makes a significant contribution for them) and they're looking like the team to beat in the Big West this year.

 

On related note, are you going to the UCD-Ball State game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving? If you do, you'll get to see former Notre Dame recruit Joe Harden.

[rawaction]

Probably has something to do with these guys

 

That didn't help. How the hell is Crean not able to sell playing time to a couple more top 50 players?

 

Only one remaining 4 or 5 star recruit is considering IU, and that is Josh Selby. I don't believe they are favored to land him. IU needs impact post players and depth at guard. They have no post play presently. zero. Watford should be playing 3 not 4.

 

I've heard a lot of people say Watford should be playing the 3 this week. I don't understand that. This isn't the NBA. There are plenty of really good teams that have similar players starting at the 4 in college basketball. Tyler Smith is a 4 at 6'7" for Tenn. Roe for MSU is of similar size at the 4. This is typical of college basketball to have 6'9" players with shooting ability and ball skills playing a big position.

[rawaction]

How many years are we giving Crean to build the team?

 

As much time as he needs. He has recruited well enough already that I really don't find myself feeling too doubtful of his ability to get IU back on track. It will happen. But I don't know that we will get back to the NCAA tournament until his 4th season as coach. By then the current freshman class will be juniors and Verdell & Pritchard will be seniors. I mean you have to keep in mind we started from ground zero last season.

 

I don't know that it will take 2 years. Guys like Jones and Rivers made major strides during the year last year (Jones in games, Rivers in practice). Get a couple more players to improve their games (Elston, Creek) and add muscle (Watford, Hulls), and with the players going to be leaving the conference this year (lot of great players coming in too), I think they can be a tourney team next year albeit a very borderline bubble team.