fiver

good lord, i need some snazzy pants like that.

Could be lingering effects of that nasty concussion he had, or could also be that he didn't handle the ravenous dimensions of Safeco well. Edit: I meant Petco, not Safeco i believe you mean cavernous, unless you are suggesting that the stadium is extremely hungry or has a voracious sexual craving. Haha, yeah. Don't judge me though I was hungover :D you are who you eat. http://www.cinemademerde.com/Ravenous-calhoun.gif

I don't think any fans are as territorial about anything as Big Ten fans are. I don't mean that as an insult either. sec fans are far worse, trust me. I've never understood it but I agree completely that SEC fans are the worst of the bunch. I imagined it was a southern thing, south shall rise again and such. I interact in both circles, and I think SEC football and Big Ten basketball probably rank right there together in obnoxiousness.

I would have been fine with the Chick-Fil-A Bowl...I guess one could argue the allure of the Outback Bowl is that it is a New Year's Day bowl, and that it may pay an SEC team slightly more than the CFA (3million to 2.4 million respectively last year). Other than that, not much of a difference to me...not like it's the Sugar or Capital One... This is where we differ. The idea that a New Year's Day Bowl is somehow better is antiquated, and in the age of conference tie-ins and multiple lower level bowls being played on the 1st or later, it just does not mean what it did pre-BCS. Don't get me wrong, I would not have been disappointed with the Outback, but I honestly prefer the CFA. MUCH better time slot, MUCH better opponent, and a football environment that takes atmospheric conditions totally out of play. Not to mention the fact that the SEC compiles the BOwl Payouts and distributes evenly, unless something has changed from last year. You are much more passionate about defending a UT Chick-Fil-A bid than I am about Auburn's spot in the Outback...i don't really care. Neither team was very good this year. I'm happy AU didn't have to accept a bid to the PapaJohn's bowl, but other than that...none of the other 4 bowls that were supposedly options stand out from one another all that much.

I would have been fine with the Chick-Fil-A Bowl...I guess one could argue the allure of the Outback Bowl is that it is a New Year's Day bowl, and that it may pay an SEC team slightly more than the CFA (3million to 2.4 million respectively last year). Other than that, not much of a difference to me...not like it's the Sugar or Capital One...

Auburn to the Outback is official. And it still doesn't make sense. Oh well, guess that means Chick-Fil-A for Tennessee. The Outback Bowl traditionally takes an SEC East team, so I'm not sure why they passed over Tennesee, but I'm pleased....I think Auburn may be able to hold their own against Wiscy if they is who they end up playing.

...Auburn's last minute efforts definitely rank up there with LSU's last week. Overall, they played a decent game. I don't think they will get stuck going to a pizza bowl at this point....they played bama about as close as anyone thought they could this season.

IU lost tonight. They were outrebounded 46-31 by Boston Univeristy, and their 'big men' were dominated by Boston U's Jake O'brien judging from the boxscore. Change the names and numbers above, but that is going to be true for just about every game that IU plays until at least the end of the 2011-2012 season.

guys, this isn't a 3 million brick house we're putting together one brick at a time. It's not like you have to build a minor leauge system to build the program. You need 9 or so good players to compete. Two good recruiting classes gets you back into the mix of things, and Crean has already acquired one good class. Why doesn't he have interest from a talented post player all the way through the 2011 class? I wasn't expecting the man to have IU back in the top 25 this year or next year......but I do expect them to be close by the 2011-2012 season. You use Kentucky and Bama as examples. Are you trying to tell me that Calipari won't have UK back into the top 10 by 2010-2011 if it doesn't happen this year? Are you trying to tell me that Coach friggin Nick Saban didn't bring Alabama back to where they were accustomed in 2 years? No my point is that IU fans should not think they are entitled to success just because it is IU. IU has been largely irrelevant as a national or Big Ten power since Knight left. Comparing Tom Crean to John Calipari (a known cheater, that's how bad Kentucky wants to get back on top, much like IU with Sampson) and Saban (a national title winning coach) is a joke. Crean went to one Final Four on Dwayne Wade's back, he is not a top ten coach in the game like Calipari and Saban are. He needs time to build the program. Rome was not built in a day and neither will the IU program. Even with the good 2009 class, none of the players are spectacular surefire NBA lottery talent, and there is little upperclassmen leadership to help bring them along. You simply cannot go from dressing a manager to being on top of the Big Ten in less than five years, with the level of coaching and recruiting that is currently going on in the league. I'm repeating myself a lot, but my gripe (and you won't convince me it's not a legitimate one) is that Crean doesn't have any talented post players on his radar. Read my posts. My expectations aren't wild. I'm not heralding Crean as a top ten coach. Conversely, I'm questioning whether he is the man for the job. I understand that he is somewhat handcuffed recruiting wise because of Sampson's actions. However, you have to be able to get one somewhat remotely talented big man in the 2010 or 2011 recruiting class just so your team can begin to not get embarrassed by every BCS conference school.

guys, this isn't a 3 million brick house we're putting together one brick at a time. It's not like you have to build a minor leauge system to build the program. You need 9 or so good players to compete. Two good recruiting classes gets you back into the mix of things, and Crean has already acquired one good class. Why doesn't he have interest from a talented post player all the way through the 2011 class? I wasn't expecting the man to have IU back in the top 25 this year or next year......but I do expect them to be close by the 2011-2012 season. You use Kentucky and Bama as examples. Are you trying to tell me that Calipari won't have UK back into the top 10 by 2010-2011 if it doesn't happen this year? Are you trying to tell me that Coach friggin Nick Saban didn't bring Alabama back to where they were accustomed in 2 years? Neither situation is exactly analogous. When Calipari took the job, Kentucky returned a five-star and a four-star power forward, a four-star point guard, a four-star small forward, and a few three-star guys, plus already had at least a four-star shooting guard and a five-star center lined up (I'm a little fuzzy if any other recruits were holdovers from Gillispie). Indiana returned a walk-on and had a three-star shooting guard and power forward lined up. IU obviously has a far steeper mountain to climb than UK. I think we both agree that Crean has done well so far. I think we both also agree the progress is going to plateau before they get out of the cellar of the Big Ten.....until they get more talent in the post.

Exactly how I see it. Honestly, I have no expectation of IU ever getting back to the level routinely being a national championship contender, and I certainly don't expect Tom Crean to accomplish such a feat in a handful of years. Let's not kid ourselves, IU hasn't routinely competed for the national championship in a long time, although they did unexpectedly get the opportunity in 2002. My expectation is for them to make the NCAAs 80% of the time and again become a top 15-20 program. Crean hasn't done a bad job so far...i'm questioning his 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes, neither of which possess even a half way talented post player, an area where they will likely continue to get dominated.

He didn't look particulary impressive playing the 4 against Ole Miss yesterday, but I agree that his ball handling skills probably won't cut it at 3 presently either. If Watford is going to be the 4, then he will likely be able to mature into the role in a couple of years. He will need more help than he's getting from the 5...and I'm not sure if or when that help in the post will be coming to IU...play from the 4 and 5 is what concerns me the most right now and looking forward to the next few years.

guys, this isn't a 3 million brick house we're putting together one brick at a time. It's not like you have to build a minor leauge system to build the program. You need 9 or so good players to compete. Two good recruiting classes gets you back into the mix of things, and Crean has already acquired one good class. Why doesn't he have interest from a talented post player all the way through the 2011 class? I wasn't expecting the man to have IU back in the top 25 this year or next year......but I do expect them to be close by the 2011-2012 season. You use Kentucky and Bama as examples. Are you trying to tell me that Calipari won't have UK back into the top 10 by 2010-2011 if it doesn't happen this year? Are you trying to tell me that Coach friggin Nick Saban didn't bring Alabama back to where they were accustomed in 2 years?

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. One nice recruiting class doesn't cement his success, and he certainly doesn't get as much time as he needs. If he had recruited one or two legitimate post players, then i think IU could have had a shot at the NCAAs as soon as 2010/2011. As it stands, 2011/2012 is probably the earliest. edit - it doesn't look like IU is favored to land any of top 20 PF or C in the 2011 recruiting class either, although a nice SG and SF have already committed for that class. If IU is still seriously overmatched in the post for the 2011-2012 season, then Crean won't have fulfilled his obligation to the university, imo. I guess we are hoping Bawa Muniru develops.

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. ...because Watford would be much more effective posting up another team's 3 versus trying to post up their 4? If he were a strong 4 who could also shoot, then that would be great. Admittedly, I've only watched him play one game, so my opinion isn't set in stone. However, I think he may be more likely to create a mismatch playing the 3.

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?

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.

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...

Hopefully he misses it again...and how exactly does one join a forum over a year ago, post over 200 times, and believe that SSR is a WS fan?

I too have a hard time believing that it's just Chicago players that experience this....not Boston? Atlanta? the Texas teams? I'm sure it's probably because 90% of the baseball articles I read are Cubs related, but I don't recall racism being a hot topic for any other MLB team. It really blows that players are still having to deal with racist hatred..bleh.

http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/sioncampus/09/06/saban.debut/p1_tidetattoo.jpg my team isn't relevant any longer this season, but this thread is awesome.

One of these years, IU basketball will contribute to my happiness again....I'm hoping the '11-'12 season is a realistic target...

thankfully, I was offshore (tagged and released a sailfish and kept some mahi, tuna, and grouper) and wasn't able to witness Auburn getting spanked by the Hogs...Kentucky can definitely beat Auburn as well...think it will be close. http://pensacolafishingforum.com/fishingforum/Uploads/Images/77417e75-914a-4e64-af07-f7de.jpg http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/fishingforum/Uploads/Images/ef061a8f-a6c8-436e-945f-2b2a.JPG

For those keeping score, the plays i posted in this thread went 4-1 last week....haven't found any plays for this week that jump off the page just yet...

I don't know about that. Auburn's defense is as bad as their offense is good. (Not to mention Auburn's special teams is by far the wrost in the SEC) Ryan Mallet and Bobby Petrino must be salivating at the thought of carving up Auburn's "defense." The game can go either way, but I think the superior talent on offense by Arkansas gives them the advantage, not to mention HFA. I think Arkansas is going to hang at least 45 on Auburn. I can see Auburn winning the game, but ultimately I think Arkansas wins the game. I don't 'know about it' either. This isn't a game on which I would wager. Your opinion doesn't suprise me though.