bukie

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And you can make as much of it as you want(that Soler agrees to, of course) an actual signing bonus, preventing your Samardzija issues with salary escalation. I was assuming some of that reported 4/$27M would be a signing bonus. If he signs and that ends up being the total, I hope that's the case. The biggest bonus in the 2011 draft was what, $8.5M with an MLB contract (Hultzen)? I could definitely see Soler pulling at least that.

If the dollars are correct, I think Kaplan just found his new pet hate project.

I think that's the relatively unknown Grinder Ball Rule #14: Being a grinder requires impeccable nails.

Georgie.

The general problem people had with trading Wells at that point was that the rotation was paper thin as it was, and that there wasn't going to be anyone else of value that could step in and be decent. Considering how the season went after even the first member of the rotation went down, it was a pretty valid concern.

IU has played six home games and is coming off a game with an, admitted, huge disparity in free throws. It's hard for me to consider numbers from six games very dispositive. Further, IU has played Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, and Wisconsin on the road -- which no other team has -- meaning IU's road stats likely are skewed in the other direction and will change. I would like to see the full-season numbers, and then numbers from previous seasons, before any actual conclusion is made. It's hard to claim a trend based on an unbalanced six games from one season. That said, outside of the most irrational, I doubt you'll find IU fans that don't believe Assembly Hall offers an advantage in this regard. In the Big Ten, every team receives such an advantage. Is IU's advantage more significant? I'd say most likely because officials -- actually humans in general, as studies have shown -- react to crowd noise and extraneous factors when making decisions. And Assembly Hall is probably/possibly the loudest stadium in the Big Ten (anecdotally, it seems that way to me . . . but I haven't been to Nebraska . . . haha). Just FYI, those are the season numbers, not conference only. It bears out what I was saying, Illinois generally doesn't go to the line a lot, but nobody goes to the line as much as IU did last night.

I'm curious if Deng's contract included a bonus for making an All-Star appearance. Because if it did, the All-Star selection could push the Bulls into the luxury tax.

There are a decent amount of Hispanics in Chicago (I think the 2010 Census was 32.9% Black, 31.7% White, 28.9% Hispanic...but it's difficult to classify perfectly because there were two separate ethnic questions), but the majority are Mexicans. If he's looking for a large Cuban population, it's all Florida, all the time. EDIT: FYI, Miami is 70% Hispanic, 19% Black, and 11% White. 34% of that 70 is Cuban.

I assume that every post from illiniguy and sulley is unnecessary and flippant hyperbole.

Sorry, from the Abell missed jumper at 11:16 to the Zeller missed layup at 4:17, IU converted a 3, layup, or FT on 10 of 11 possessions mostly with Leonard on the bench.

Were all 13 of those calls bad calls? If not, then it should affect the game's conclusion. You're not allowed to commit fouls and stay on the basketball court. You guys keep harping on 2-3 calls on Leonard, when most of the 26 fouls called on Illinois were undisputable....yet you guys keep dismissing my point that Illinois could not stop IU from getting into the paint at will. Paul, Henry and Bertrand all had legit fouls. Hell, Paul didn't really feel like playing anyway. I'm saying your position is largely a chicken-egg scenario. Every little tap was getting a foul call, so the defenders were unable to stay close on their assignments to avoid picking up even more fouls. From the time Leonard went out with his 4th with 12:29 left until IU went up 67-55 at 5:00, every single IU possession ended with a made 3, a made layup, or FTs.

I'm looking at the play by play and I'm confused by what you said. Indiana got into the bonus with 13:44 left. Leonard's 4th foul was an offensive one (the moving screen) with 12:29, and it looks like Indiana got into the double bonus with 8:20 left after a foul by Henry. Am I missing something? Nope. IU was in the double bonus with 15 minutes to play. End of story. The hyperbole is unnecessary and flippant.

I'm looking at the play by play and I'm confused by what you said. Indiana got into the bonus with 13:44 left. Leonard's 4th foul was an offensive one (the moving screen) with 12:29, and it looks like Indiana got into the double bonus with 8:20 left after a foul by Henry. Am I missing something? I meant the moving screen, just ballparking the time left. I could've sworn that Leonard foul put them at 9 for the second half.

Like I said, it reminded me of the Illinois-Arizona game in 2001, where Illinois was whistled for 36 fouls and Arizona shot 56(!) free throws.

Illinois was whistled for their 20th team foul down 3 with 15 minutes to play. That sent Leonard to the bench with 4, while Paul, Henry and Bertrand had 3 each, and IU was in the double bonus for the final 15 minutes of the game. I think that may have affected the game's conclusion, yes.

And it's mostly frustrating because Illinois actually played well offensively, and there's no more frustrating game to watch than when the opponent scores 40% of their points at the free throw line when your team typically doesn't foul a lot.

Call me crazy, but I have to think the 27 shot FT difference was caused, in large part, by 1 team going to the hoop aggressively and 1 team not at all. Illinois made 12 layups, Indiana 14. Both made the same amount of threes. Illinois made 5 extra 2 point jumpers, and took 8 additional shots (9 threes, IU had one additional 2-point attempt than Illinois). How many of Illinois layups were fastbreaks or off of lose balls? IU had 1 layup not in the half court. The Zeller dunk early in the 2nd half. At least 1/2 of Illinois were from fast breaks or lose balls. Three. They also missed one off a transition play, so four total. Most of them were Leonard in the block or Paul driving the lane.

Call me crazy, but I have to think the 27 shot FT difference was caused, in large part, by 1 team going to the hoop aggressively and 1 team not at all. Illinois made 12 layups, Indiana 14. Both made the same amount of threes. Illinois made 5 extra 2 point jumpers, and took 8 additional shots (9 threes, IU had one additional 2-point attempt than Illinois). But, but, but, they drove more. They may have, most of the layups were Leonard, who shot three FTs.

Call me crazy, but I have to think the 27 shot FT difference was caused, in large part, by 1 team going to the hoop aggressively and 1 team not at all. Illinois made 12 layups, Indiana 14. Both made the same amount of threes. Illinois made 5 extra 2 point jumpers, and took 8 additional shots (9 threes, IU had one additional 2-point attempt than Illinois).

The Illini typically don't get into foul trouble. Other than the Minny OT game where Leonard fouled out on the single worst play of the year, the highest # of fouls Illinois has been called for was 18. Today? 30. Nobody's saying Illinois should've shot more FTs. Just constant bailout calls kept Paul and Leonard on the bench for 10 minutes each. Call me crazy, but I have to think the 27 shot FT difference was a major deciding factor in the game.

No, they didn't. 42 free throws and 28 fouls suggests they got away with nothing. You may not want to hear it, but it was one of the more one-sided officiated games of the year. How else were they going to call it? Over 1/2 of Illinois shots were jump shots over 16 feet. Over 1/2 of IUs were layups. Illinois let IU to the rim at will. How do you even up the FTs in a game like that. Not agreeing with the original post. Don't think Illinois got away with anything, but it's not like IU was hacking guys at the rim because Illinois didn't even try to get there for the most part....while on the other end, they did nothing to stop Hulls and Oladipo. Hulls and Oladipo had full confidence after the first 5 minutes that any time they drove the lane, even if the shot didn't fall they'd get bailed out with a foul call. Every time.

Feet set or not, you can't throw an elbow into the defender and initiate contact. Anywhere but Bloomington it's an offensive foul.

No, they didn't. 42 free throws and 28 fouls suggests they got away with nothing. You may not want to hear it, but it was one of the more one-sided officiated games of the year.

That game was like Arizona 2001 all over again. And there is no Penn State game at home.