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Indiana - championship potential Michigan- championship potential Michigan St.- championship potential Wisconsin- Elite 8 potential Ohio St- Sweet 16 Illinois- Sweet 16 Minnesota- 1 tourney win Iowa- tourney berth

First game I watched all year. 3rd period sucked, but this team looks a lot more "together" than last year. Seems like they have worked pretty hard at dictating the game tempo. I don't claim to know very much about hockey, but it seemed like the last couple years they were trying to play with more physicality than they should be instead of focusing on what they do best and that's attack with quickness.

I understand a lot of people drive home after drinking more alcohol than would put them over the legal limit. It has probably happened every day since the automobile was invented. But if somebody told me in January (when declared for draft) that I would get millions of dollars if I just stayed out of trouble for the next 3 months....I wouldn't get anywhere near the wheel of a car if I had more than 1 drink. These kids have 3-4 years to screw up. I don't understand how in the 3-4 months from when their college career ends to their NFL careers begin, how they still screw up. Millions of dollars at stake.

The "two guys he wasn't going to keep" argument is stupid. That's the only reason any of these offseason trades are made because we're not going to keep them. Tim gave me a 2nd round pick and a potentially elite pitcher with 2 exemption years left for 2 guys I wasn't going to be able to keep. And it's not like I was going to be able draft Cueto anyway without having a 1st round pick. As pitching thin as this draft is, Cueto might not have lasted past #1, considering he would have been 2nd for projected points among SPs available by 1.5 points to RA Dickey. Cueto was the 7th highest scoring pitcher last year and was 33rd the year before despite only 156 innings (everyone ahead of him save for Vogelsong had at least 33 more innings pitched). He outscored both Tulo and Headley each of the last 2 years, so I'd argue that I gave up "clearly the best 2 players in the deal" is dead wrong also. As for Tulowitzki, he hasn't been the best SS in 3 years. Has missed at least 40 games in 3 of the last 5 seasons, and 1 other he missed 20 games. And I thought I had a SS in place. I do have a 3B in place which made Headley expendable. Plus, I'm not convinced he can repeat his numbers even with the fences moved in at Petco. If I didn't make the trade I would have had to drop either Sandoval or Tulo.

@ Michigan State will be tough to win with or without him, but I'm all for giving him the time he needs to fully heal for the tournaments if the ankle is gimpy. Honestly it didn't look too bad. They brought him out to the bench so my guess is he would have given it a go in a close game. Im sure he won't be 100% on Tuesday but hoping he can go.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they could work out something after cutting/restructuring a few people (Davis, Hester, Toeina, Garza, Tillman, Peppers are all major candidates to be cut or restructured to save several million). But franchising Melton also gives the Bears exclusive negotiation to get a long-term deal done before training camp, ala Forte last year. Or it gives them two #1 picks if someone wants him bad enough (Dallas).

Haven't heard anything on the possibility of Henry Melton being franchised, but Feb. 18 is the starting date for the period to name a franchise player. The deadline is March 4th to have used that tag or lose the ability to. Ryan Clady- being franchised by the Broncos Jared Cook- looks like he's being franchised by the Titans (surprise move, IMO)

[expletive] it. I'll just drop him. My dumb ass mistake.

I thought it was 100 abs

My team. C- JP Arencibia- EXEMPT 1B- Anthony Rizzo- EXEMPT SS- Ian Desmond- EXEMPT 3B- Pablo Sandoval- 297.25 OF- Justin Upton- 447.75 SP- Johnny Cueto- 622 SP- Zach Greinke- 552.5 SP- Stephen Strasburg- EXEMPT SP- Matt Harvey- EXEMPT SP- Chris Archer- EXEMPT (I actually meant to drop Archer and keep Garrett Richards, if that can be changed fine...if not it's cool too)

Can get a really solid exempt SS in Ian Desmond as a throw-in also. Upgrade 2 positions for the price of 1.

Anybody with some wiggle room left want to trade? Just traded for Sandoval to put myself 2.5 points over the cap. Anybody want to upgrade at 3B for Sandoval or Chase Headley and give up a player who scored at least 3 points less than 555.75

IU sleepwalking so far, but getting saved by the FT line. 6-19 from the field. 2-7 from 3pt range. 13-16 from the FT line. Almost 1/2 their points from the line. Nebraska did not have a single assist in the 1st half.

Didn't you just drop them?

Who the hell is IU going to beat now? I guess there's always the teams that are new to the FBS.

Anybody want the exempt David Freese for a draft pick or something?

The Carimi thing is interesting. On one hand, he's by far (based on age and where picked in the draft, nobody else is even in the conversation) the most talented OL currently on the roster. So, you want him to get every chance to make it at RT, which would probably be the most valuable position he's capable of playing. But you also have Webb. And if Carimi is at RT, that means either: A) Webb is still at LT, and the OT position isn't upgraded at all; B) Webb is on the bench; C) Webb is moving to OG. A is not an option. C would be pointless. And as bad as Webb has been over the last 3 years, he was just slightly below average this year and he was much better than Carimi. So, it would be hard to justify Carimi starting over Webb unless he clearly wins the battle in camp. Honestly, I think Carimi is going to be at RG next year. Ideally, a stud LT is brought in and Webb is moved to RT in this situation and then an early pick is used on a LG. Hopefully, with a full camp Carimi can really be an asset at RG and Webb can go from a bottom 1/3 LT to a middle of the pack or better RT. But that also has the potential of being a disaster on the right side of the line if both guys play like they did at various times last year. Of course with a stud and a top 20 pick on the left side, you can pretty much line up a TE or RB to chip to the right on every pass play.

I kinda want Michigan St. to win this game. I know if they lose IU is in 1st place all alone, but if Michigan doesn't lose this game, they probably aren't going to lose the rest of the B1G regular season. Penn St. and Purdue is the extent of their road schedule with 4 games left at home (IU, MSU, ILL, Penn St). A loss puts Michigan at 4 losses in the conference, and even if they win out, IU would tie for the conference if they win all the games they will be favored to win (losing at UM and MSU). Michigan St. still has to go to Ohio St. and Michigan, so hopefully that would be 2 losses for them. That would mean a 3-way tie if IU loses at MSU. But a win there and they probably win the conference outright. Though I think IU has a better chance to win in Ann Arbor than East Lansing.

I added a premier RT and a first round pick at OG. How is that Ok with the garbage? Webb is most likely going to start somewhere on the OL. Carimi will get every shot to also.

Lane Johnson has a shot to be there at 20. After that it's RT or OGs on the board. I could live with Webb at LT and sign a Vollmer at RT. Webb-Fluker-Garza-Carimi/Louis-Vollmer could be an average OL with potential to get better once Garza is replaced and the OGs settle in.

Bushrod has the ties to Kromer, but he was actually worse than J'Marcus Webb last year. Hopefully Kromer and Emery (who looks at PFF) realize this. I also don't know that Ogletree makes it past the Giants, unless Lane Johnson is still on the board.

National Football Post giving IU's recruiting class some love. With IU's defense the last 30 or so years, I'd imagine 3-4 of these guys may be able to start Day 1. The offense has been able to score with anybody (except Wisconsin) in the last few years, and have 3 potentially productive options at QB. If a few of these kids pan out, could be looking at a bowl team really soon.

That is pretty impressive.

Make me an offer.

Subtracting the 3 minutes of the Illinois game from 5:50 to 2:50 left in the 1st half has Illinois outscoring Indiana by 11. I guess Indiana wasn't trying for those 37 minutes either. And you guys say IU fans are insufferable. I wasn't the one that said IU beat themselves.