rawaction

My predictions before the year. Pretty close on most of them. 1. Falcons won first 8. Not exactly right, but they were the last undefeated team. 2. Part right. No Brees injury. Sproles and Graham did miss time. And the defense was the worst ever statistically. 3. Green went over on catches (97), just under on yards (1350), and 11 TDs instead of 12. 4. Yeah, way off. 5. Russell Wilson part was right. Locker missed time. Cam started poorly. Kapernick helps my case though, I guess. And mobile QBs did take the league by storm this year in general. 6. No major complaints out of Pittsburgh, Ben had some minor things to say at one point. 8-8 instead of 7-9 7. Brady didn't get hit too much, but the Pats did rush for over 2100 yards and were 7th in the league in rushing. 8. Didn't happen. Finished a distant 12 in yards. 9. 3 of the "outs" right. Only 1 of the "ins" 10. Called the winner. Runner-up was pretty close to making it in.

It literally makes no difference. The play doesn't stop after a hold. The play would still play out and still be a safety because of the penalty in the end zone. It was actually brilliant to blatantly hold like that.

Straight to ESPN where we will be subjected to him spewing nonsense every weekend... You deserve to hear it if you watch ESPN.

Love the live audio!

Punt team grabbing their asses off. Makes sense. Worst case, it's still a safety and time still runs off.

Only if it's intercepted and called a TD.

Jim is going to go sit in the middle of the field at the end isn't he?

Leon Sandcastle was pretty legit. Montana stain was pretty good too.

The theory I heard is that he really hit the weights hard and had to get used to shooting with a bulked up body.

Not with his contract. I doubt Baez will be better than Castro defensively when he arrives at the big leagues, because of how much bigger he'll be. Baez will look great at 3B. Castro's listed at 6'0 190 lbs and Baez is listed at 6'1 205 lbs. Are you expecting Baez to grow or add weight? Otherwise, I don't think an inch and 15 pounds is that much of a difference. I could see Baez easily being 215-220 ish and growing another inch. He looks "long" for 6'1" as it is.

Emery has mentioned needing a field stretcher this offseason. Doesn't sound like he thinks Hester is that guy. And if they get 1 that makes Hester the #5 WR. With Weems around, that makes Hester expendable as a returner. There's no way Hester is on this team next year. If they can trade him great...if not he gets cut. FWIW, Cutler has said he thinks Hester can excel in a new offense.

Wow. Thats a pretty impressive stat from Oladipo. Thats what I meant by Hardaway Jr. seeming inconsistent. He scored his points late and vs Hulls and Ferrell when IU went with Sheehey on Burke. But only 4 points allowed when he spent at least half the game on guys that combined for 43 points is amazing. Hollowell did a good job defensively and on the boards. Watford and Hulls picked their spots to score well. I think the last 3 games they have played the best they have all season. As for the conference, I think the Minnesota game is winnable on the road but I don't know about the others. At this point, I kind of expect to win 1 more of those 4. Hoping for a win in Columbus vs a team I don't think I'd as good ad Mich St. but they will have some ability like Wisconsin to slow the game down and keep the game in the 50-60 range. Plus it would keep us #1 for more than one week.

Yeah not even similar players. If anyone on the IU team compares to a star its Hulls to DWade.

I didn't feel like Hardaway really got into a rhythm felt like he would disappear for minutes at a time. Good win. Gotta protect home court. Probably only #1 for this week. Don't expect to win in Columbus.

Ugh. Take care of the ball and this is a double digit lead. Not getting anything from the bench other than defense. Yogi needs to play all 20 next half.

Shouldn't you be rooting for an IU win so they come to Champaign as the #1 team and set up for a potential let down?

Yeah, and he's the type of big body that could give Zeller some trouble. I don't really see the other 2 as really offensive factors, though McGary and Morgan's numbers are similar.

With the Kansas loss, tonight's game is literally a battle for the #1 ranking. Michigan and Florida are the best 2 teams in the nation, IMO. But obviously if IU wins, they leap Michigan and I don't think Florida can make a claim over IU for #1. As for the game tonight, I think it's going to come down to who shoots the ball the best. They gotta stop Hulls, we gotta stop Stauskas. Burke v. Ferrell and Hardaway v. Oladipo are going to be amazing matchups to watch. Really like our guys on D, and to potentially get those guys in foul trouble with their attacking styles. Not that Burke won't get 20 and 8 regardless, but part of me is hoping Yogi can Appling him, get him into foul trouble early and keep him from establishing any rhythm. Granted Burke is a different player this year, but last year IU held him and Hardaway Jr. to 11-34 shooting. Tim Jr. in particular is prone to poor shooting games on the road. IU shoots way more FTs than Michigan, so if Zeller inside and Watford driving against heavier guys can get a couple of their bigs in foul trouble, I think we can win. But they'll attack Zeller themselves in the post and try to get him into trouble. IU also has more depth, but has to get something from that depth or it doesn't matter. Abell has to give them some good minutes. Sheehey has to do his thing. Hollowell may even have to play some minutes at the 3 on Robinson. IU is also going to have to be pretty patient as Michigan doesn't turn the ball over very much, so that cuts out a lot of IUs offensive output on the fast break.

Bulls are basically 6-deep tonight. Mohammed and Teague have each played less than 7 minutes. Deng and Gibson have combined to play all but 4 seconds according to the gamecast.

Less than 2 weeks before the deadline. The following players are available. 1B/OF- Adrian Gonzalez- 480.5 SP- Edwin Jackson - 421.5 SS- Ian Desmond- Exempt 3B- David Freese- Exempt Right now, I have 1705 points. I'm also willing to trade 3B- Chase Headley- 555.75 points, if it means that I can fit 2 players under the cap instead of 1. Would also give up Troy Tulowitzki- 149.25 if I get a similar potential top end player that is a cheap keeper due to injury also.

Correct. Iowa has been wearing them for over a decade and it's fairly standard across the country. The idea is that the braces prevent their knees from extending too far in any direction helping to prevent acl tears, hyperextension, etc. for players who often have other players falling at their knees. And since they are offensive linemen, it doesn't matter if the braces slow them down at all.

So...the four No. 1 seeds? Right, because L'Ville is playing so amazing right now. Creighton would be my #5 The only team I've moved out of my preseason Final Four is NC State, they can't play a slow tempo. Can't see IU making it. Someone is gonna give them a matchup nightmare along the way. I think Michigan is far superior right now. And no, Saturday's outcome will not change my mind on that if IU wins. As an IU fan, I agree. I think Michigan's the best team in the nation. And I fully expect the Hoosiers to go down in the 2nd weekend of the tourney at some point. But I really don't know that there are any really bad matchups for them except a team like Wisconsin who forces them to execute in the half court by getting back on D, taking care of the ball, and keeps them off the offensive boards. But even that's iffy if Oladipo keeps playing as well as he has in the 1/2 court recently and Yogi keeps knocking down shots. Teams with athletic 6'10"- 7-footers will give Zeller trouble inside. If he gets into foul trouble and the outside shots aren't falling, then they will lose. Don't necessarily think that's a matchup issue as IU can still win with a big scoring 30 (as shown last night) as long as Zeller stays in the game and IU outshoots the other team from outside.

Most do wear knee braces as a precaution. Pretty much every lineman in college wears double braces. Theres no way every OL has had surgery on both knees.

Hard to argue with your first three. I'm not as sold on Louisville though. I think Louisville just has too much talent and will put it together when the time comes. Indiana/Michigan should be fun. I hate that the game in Ann Arbor is the last B10 game of the season. I feel like it will be overshadowed by the B1G and NCAA tourneys (which is maybe a good thing if UM doesn't win). I'd rather this one be at Michigan. Oh well. I think its pretty well determined that the committee looks at the last handful of games maybe even moreso than conf tourneys. I'd rather this game be in Ann Arbor too as if IU loses they are probably done in the B1G race. I'd rather lose there than at home at this point. At least would still have a shot with a home game at the end even with a road loss this week.

Definitely. I like the fact that Saturday is late night at Assembly Hall. Crowd should be nuts.