College Basketball 2009-10

[BigSlick]

Please tell me at some point Illinois will be a top 10 team again.

Do you know what my 4 years at Illinois has been now?

 

A couple first round exits and now we probably don't deserve to make the tournament.

 

 

In all athletics we've regressed, even that fluke year we went to the Rose Bowl didn't feel right because we weren't that good and it bought Zook dozens of more years.

[illiniguy]

Always nice when kU loses. Bill Self is a baby.

I'd give my left arm to have him back.

 

I haven't noticed.

Sorry, I liked being relevent. You cannot honestly tell me you wouldn't take Self back.

 

There's taking him back and there's desperately longing for him 7 years after the fact.

 

And he's not coming back, he's never coming back, so what is the point of a comment like that. It looks pathetic to think back on those glory days of a coach who was here for 3 years and took us to the elite 8

Ok fair enough, I just want a guy who can come in to a school in a basketball hotbed and manage to put together a team good enough to be able to make the tournament every year. Heck sometimes even win a game or two when we make it. That really shouldn't be that tough to do. Yet we've managed to find one of the few guys who can't do it. It doesn't have to be Self, but it sure as hell needs to be someone else. 5 years in between tourny wins at Illinois isn't getting the job done.

[Smack]

Purdue is a terrible basketball team without Hummel. They're averaging 24 points a half in his absence. Moore and Johnson both shot like [expletive]. Purdue is going to lose to Penn St. on the road, and maybe even IU at home. Probably roll into the tournament as a 6 seed or something.

[SouthSideRyan]

Purdue is a terrible basketball team without Hummel. They're averaging 24 points a half in his absence. Moore and Johnson both shot like [expletive]. Purdue is going to lose to Penn St. on the road, and maybe even IU at home. Probably roll into the tournament as a 6 seed or something.

 

You're nuts. Indiana started mailing it in the second you guys beat them in West Lafayette. They don't stand a chance. And you could lose your last 3 games by 40 and you wouldn't be a 6 seed. I can't see you slipping past 3.

[Smack]

Purdue is a terrible basketball team without Hummel. They're averaging 24 points a half in his absence. Moore and Johnson both shot like [expletive]. Purdue is going to lose to Penn St. on the road, and maybe even IU at home. Probably roll into the tournament as a 6 seed or something.

 

You're nuts. Indiana started mailing it in the second you guys beat them in West Lafayette. They don't stand a chance. And you could lose your last 3 games by 40 and you wouldn't be a 6 seed. I can't see you slipping past 3.

 

They're a completely different team. They have no offensive rhythm. Moore and Johnson are now getting the defense focused on them and they aren't standing up to the pressure.

[bcl412]

So....how did Indiana beat a good team and then compete against other fairly good teams?

[SouthSideRyan]

Purdue is a terrible basketball team without Hummel. They're averaging 24 points a half in his absence. Moore and Johnson both shot like [expletive]. Purdue is going to lose to Penn St. on the road, and maybe even IU at home. Probably roll into the tournament as a 6 seed or something.

 

You're nuts. Indiana started mailing it in the second you guys beat them in West Lafayette. They don't stand a chance. And you could lose your last 3 games by 40 and you wouldn't be a 6 seed. I can't see you slipping past 3.

 

They're a completely different team. They have no offensive rhythm. Moore and Johnson are now getting the defense focused on them and they aren't standing up to the pressure.

 

You just lost by 9 to a damn good MSU team, and previously led a comeback against Minnesota at the Barn without Hummel. There is no chance you lose to IU at home.

[Rusch33]

Purdue is a terrible basketball team without Hummel. They're averaging 24 points a half in his absence. Moore and Johnson both shot like [expletive]. Purdue is going to lose to Penn St. on the road, and maybe even IU at home. Probably roll into the tournament as a 6 seed or something.

 

Penn State on the road won't surprise me. IU at home on the other hand is a different story. They're terrible without Creek.

[hawkeyecub]

That was the most annoying big win I've seen in a while. No flow due to all the whistles. Something like 55 total fouls, 30+ in the second half. The second half took over an hour by itself. IU looked disinterested early but then I think it was more a case of being bad. They did keep playing when they were down 21 late and got it down to 11 or 12.

 

I'm convinced Crean has to be doing massive amounts of coke. It's just not natural to act the way he does and some of his mannerisms are just odd. I would think his cheerleading nature would wear thin pretty quickly if they finish in the bottom 3 again next year.

[Exile on Waveland]

IU couldn't beat five posters from NSBB at this point; no chance they win at Purdue. None. I do, however, think Penn State may give the Boilers a run, they're playing much better.

[Exile on Waveland]

I understand what you're saying Exile, but IMO, the most important thing for IU is to change the perception of their program. As we mentioned earlier, even a couple more wins this season, makes them look a lot better to potential recruits. If you have 3-4 more kids leave this year, and you're once again short-handed, without a lot of help coming from the '10 recruits, you're looking at the possibility of another single digit win season with blowout losses along the way. Indiana might still be a name to some kids in Indiana, but that doesn't matter if there aren't any signs of progress. You're not going to pull a Dawson or a Marrero or a Teague when you don't have anything on the court to sell them while going against Louisville, Kentucky, Purdue, OSU, IL, ND, etc.

 

The other thing, is who's the best fit to transfer? I'd say Capobianco is the guy on your team that brings the least to the table, now and for the future, but frontcourt is where you need the most help. You wouldn't want to lose any of the guards (Hulls, Jones, Creek, Rivers or RotH) so it winds up leaving you even more undermanned in the front court than this year. That and big men notoriously take time to develop. What happens when Muniru or Elston take off, and it turns out in 2 years they're a solid Big Ten level player?

 

My opinion is IU should be building toward the '12 class. It's stacked in the state of Indiana, and you already have 3 open scholarships for that year. You take Creek back, you hope for development from Watford and Hulls, you hope Jones stops being such a chucker when he gets somebody else on the team that can shoot, and you aim for 500 overall and 6 wins in conference. Is that alone enough to bring in the top kids? Of course not, but you hope to have established a nice connection with the kid, you hope the name Indiana means something to him, and maybe you resign yourself to taking the 4 stars out of that class rather than shooting for the moon when going up against a Cal or a Matta.

 

Don't get me wrong, I hope whatever plan IU enacts fails miserably, but I don't see how opening up 2 or 3 more scholarships for '12 is going to help matters, when it might be enough of a struggle to get the top kids to fill those 3 voids.

 

I was reluctant to respond to this because I don't want to waste too much time on this board on such a crappy team. The way I figure it, IU fans are ostensibly guests here. (However, I'm dubious as to earlier posts that IU fans aren't at least right there with Mizzou fans for second most prevalent on the board.)

 

As to the content of your post, it's hard to disagree. What you're saying is mostly true. Being a team constantly in transition is a concern; and perhaps it's more salient than hope of future recruits. But watching this team, how much better will next year be? More importantly, how much would certain transfers really hurt? I hate naming names, but would IU be any worse off next season without (insert player) or (insert player)? Assuming the key 3-5 players stay (or 2-4 of those 3-5), how much difference would it make?

 

I also think IU is in much better position for 2012 kids than you. If they can just get one commitment -- easier said than done -- it wouldn't surprise me to see two or three follow quickly. I'm willing to take that gamble.* I honestly think it's the best chance at success; better than incrementally improving by three wins a season (especially considering each three-win improvement is more difficult than the last).

 

 

 

*Of course, considering Crean gives out scholarships like most grandmothers give out Sweet Tarts on Halloween, I'm tempted to assume he'd just bring in more of the same.

[Rusch33]

That was the most annoying big win I've seen in a while. No flow due to all the whistles. Something like 55 total fouls, 30+ in the second half. The second half took over an hour by itself. IU looked disinterested early but then I think it was more a case of being bad. They did keep playing when they were down 21 late and got it down to 11 or 12.

 

I'm convinced Crean has to be doing massive amounts of coke. It's just not natural to act the way he does and some of his mannerisms are just odd. I would think his cheerleading nature would wear thin pretty quickly if they finish in the bottom 3 again next year.

 

If he doesn't win next year, they'll be giving Steve Alford*** a call.

 

*** - If Alford doesn't leave New Mexico this year.

[cubsfan]

That was the most annoying big win I've seen in a while. No flow due to all the whistles. Something like 55 total fouls, 30+ in the second half. The second half took over an hour by itself. IU looked disinterested early but then I think it was more a case of being bad. They did keep playing when they were down 21 late and got it down to 11 or 12.

 

I'm convinced Crean has to be doing massive amounts of coke. It's just not natural to act the way he does and some of his mannerisms are just odd. I would think his cheerleading nature would wear thin pretty quickly if they finish in the bottom 3 again next year.

 

If he doesn't win next year, they'll be giving Steve Alford*** a call.

 

*** - If Alford doesn't leave New Mexico this year.

I wish we would give Alford a call after this year.

[SouthSideRyan]

That was the most annoying big win I've seen in a while. No flow due to all the whistles. Something like 55 total fouls, 30+ in the second half. The second half took over an hour by itself. IU looked disinterested early but then I think it was more a case of being bad. They did keep playing when they were down 21 late and got it down to 11 or 12.

 

I'm convinced Crean has to be doing massive amounts of coke. It's just not natural to act the way he does and some of his mannerisms are just odd. I would think his cheerleading nature would wear thin pretty quickly if they finish in the bottom 3 again next year.

 

If he doesn't win next year, they'll be giving Steve Alford*** a call.

 

*** - If Alford doesn't leave New Mexico this year.

I wish we would give Alford a call after this year.

 

What, did Gatens rape somebody?

[cubsfan]

No, but the team is collectively raping the game of basketball.

[bcl412]

That was the most annoying big win I've seen in a while. No flow due to all the whistles. Something like 55 total fouls, 30+ in the second half. The second half took over an hour by itself. IU looked disinterested early but then I think it was more a case of being bad. They did keep playing when they were down 21 late and got it down to 11 or 12.

 

I'm convinced Crean has to be doing massive amounts of coke. It's just not natural to act the way he does and some of his mannerisms are just odd. I would think his cheerleading nature would wear thin pretty quickly if they finish in the bottom 3 again next year.

 

It's nice to be able to sweep someone. Indiana looks awful, it's bad when I feel incredibly comfortable about winning before the game.

 

At this point I am cheering to not finish last place. Before the season started I would have been inconceivable. I still feel Iowa can make a bid at the the tourny in two years if everyone stays and next years class is as good as some Iowa fans think they could be.

[bcl412]

No, but the team is collectively raping the game of basketball.

 

Fuller and Gatens are good.

[cubsfan]

No, they're average, but someone has to score and rebound when no one else can.

[Rusch33]

That was the most annoying big win I've seen in a while. No flow due to all the whistles. Something like 55 total fouls, 30+ in the second half. The second half took over an hour by itself. IU looked disinterested early but then I think it was more a case of being bad. They did keep playing when they were down 21 late and got it down to 11 or 12.

 

I'm convinced Crean has to be doing massive amounts of coke. It's just not natural to act the way he does and some of his mannerisms are just odd. I would think his cheerleading nature would wear thin pretty quickly if they finish in the bottom 3 again next year.

 

I still feel Iowa can make a bid at the the tourny in two years if everyone stays and next years class is as good as some Iowa fans think they could be.

 

 

What makes you think that?

 

Iowa's terrible, have shown virtually no progress under Lickliter, and they don't have anyone that's a program changer coming in.

[bcl412]

I don't know. Because I plan on watching this team for the next two years and I want there to be some purpose behind it.

[SouthSideRyan]

At this point I am cheering to not finish last place. Before the season started I would have been inconceivable.

 

You've pretty much locked up the 9 seed in the Big Ten Tourney cause you're 3-0 vs PSU and IU, and it's pretty damn unlikely that either of them win their last 2.

 

Also, some really smart guy on here said you wouldn't finish in last this year.

[SouthSideRyan]

Looking over the standings, the 7-8-9 spots are pretty much a lock to go Northwestern-Michigan-Iowa.

 

Unless Illinois gets a shocker at OSU(plus beats Wisconsin), Wisconsin gets the 4 spot. Either way, they're a virtual lock for the 4-5 game.

 

The top 3 should all finish 14-4, if that's the case OSU gets the 1, Purdue gets the 2, and MSU gets the 3.

[Andy]

Harangody is less than 50/50 to go against UConn, and if he doesn't go against UConn he won't go against Marquette, per Andy Katz.

 

The guy probably felt (and may have even been coached) that he needed to carry the team so he ended up trying to do more than he was capable of doing most of this season. But for the vast majority of the last 3 years, he's been the best player I've ever seen at ND. And all that being said...this team has incredible momentum right now without him, the attitude has completely changed, and I'm excited to see if the group on the court the last four games can sneak into the tournament, because they'll be some 6 seed's worst nightmare if they do.

[hawkeyecub]

No, they're average, but someone has to score and rebound when no one else can.

 

Poor logic when it comes to rebounds but not surprising manbearcub. Fuller's offensive rebound rate is 15th in the country. He's the leading rebounder in the Big Ten and by far the best offensive rebounder. He's been efficient offensively.

 

Outside of the Northwestern game this team beats the November/December version by 20. Of course no one wants to be in this stage but this team got better and it's all freshman/sophomores. IF they keep everyone they trade Bawinkel for 4 guys who are the best class we've had under Lick. I think they'll be very similar to Northwestern this year. The key is keeping everyone.

[Exile on Waveland]

At this point I am cheering to not finish last place. Before the season started I would have been inconceivable.

 

You've pretty much locked up the 9 seed in the Big Ten Tourney cause you're 3-0 vs PSU and IU, and it's pretty damn unlikely that either of them win their last 2.

 

Also, some really smart guy on here said you wouldn't finish in last this year.

 

Nice job predicting Mo Creek's injury.