Exile on Waveland

:wink:

It's neither odd nor a quirk. IU isn't good and Crean mainly schedules garbage teams (so few chances for quality wins pre-conference). Althought Stony Brook has been Pomeroy top-100 this year...

Right. I think they finish third or fourth. But if you're the third or fourth best team in a conference -- at least one that does not include some juggernaut at the top -- then you have some chance to win the conference. I think Michigan State is a juggernaut. Greta point guard(Appling), another great wing(Harris or Dawson), and a great post player(Payne). I thought before the season they were in the Big Ten. And they still could be, but I don't think they've lived up to that just yet. I am with you, though, that I would be pretty surprised if a team other than Michigan State won the league. Looking forward to the IU-Michigan State game Saturday; certainly could be ugly, but Assembly Hall can make things difficult on superior opponents (yes, yes, homer officiating, blah blah). You guys really need that one. The Big Ten schedulers did you no favors early on this year. If Michigan State gets that one that's pretty big, like you said there won't be a lot of teams come into the fake Assembly Hall and win. Yeah. Not the best way to start the league for such a young team: at Illinois Michigan State at Penn State Wisconsin I'm thinking 8-10 (isn't that was Sosa said earlier?). Hoping for a couple more wins than that, which, depending on who they come against, should be enough for a tournament bid. Overall, the schedule is a bit fortunate: don't play at Ohio State or at Iowa. Not sure how much I trust this team to win any road game, but there are definitely a few that are potentially winnable (Pomeroy has them favored in four -- which I would bite your hand off for a 4-5 road mark). And, yeah, would be a big (even if nationally under-appreciated) win for Michigan State. IU should still do well at home, and I'd be surprised if they don't get at least one big scalp.

Right. I think they finish third or fourth. But if you're the third or fourth best team in a conference -- at least one that does not include some juggernaut at the top -- then you have some chance to win the conference. I think Michigan State is a juggernaut. Greta point guard(Appling), another great wing(Harris or Dawson), and a great post player(Payne). I thought before the season they were in the Big Ten. And they still could be, but I don't think they've lived up to that just yet. I am with you, though, that I would be pretty surprised if a team other than Michigan State won the league. Looking forward to the IU-Michigan State game Saturday; certainly could be ugly, but Assembly Hall can make things difficult on superior opponents (yes, yes, homer officiating, blah blah).

Right. I think they finish third or fourth. But if you're the third or fourth best team in a conference -- at least one that does not include some juggernaut at the top -- then you have some chance to win the conference.

Iowa is currently No. 15 in Pomeroy, so they're not exactly some deep darkhorse. They're very deep and thus well-positioned to survive both the micro (individual games) and macro (entire conference schedule) attrition that is the Big Ten season. Their depth also allows them versatility. They finished 10-10 in Big Ten games last year, in an exceedingly strong league. That included a four-point loss to Indiana (No. 3), two three-point losses to Michigan State (No. 9), and a four-point, double overtime loss at Wisconsin (No. 13). I said last year that I thought they could be top-10 good this year; they've lost two tough games against very good teams so far (I figured with more experience they'd turn the tough losses into wins this year -- they haven't yet and some teams never move past the "losing close to top teams" phase). I don't think they'll win the league but I would not be surprised to see them finish second. I think they might be better than Ohio State as is. I really like them as a sweet sixteen type team, but I can't see them winning the conference. Still a very good team. I just think that Michigan State is winning the conference. Agreed.

Iowa is currently No. 15 in Pomeroy, so they're not exactly some deep darkhorse. They're very deep and thus well-positioned to survive both the micro (individual games) and macro (entire conference schedule) attrition that is the Big Ten season. Their depth also allows them versatility. They finished 10-10 in Big Ten games last year, in an exceedingly strong league. That included a four-point loss to Indiana (No. 3), two three-point losses to Michigan State (No. 9), and a four-point, double overtime loss at Wisconsin (No. 13). I said last year that I thought they could be top-10 good this year; they've lost two tough games against very good teams so far (I figured with more experience they'd turn the tough losses into wins this year -- they haven't yet and some teams never move past the "losing close to top teams" phase). I don't think they'll win the league but I would not be surprised to see them finish second. I think they might be better than Ohio State as is.

I'll got with mostly that, but a little worse for Michigan and Indiana, and Illinois ahead of Indiana and maybe Minnesota.

That is really, really disappointing. He showed a lot of potential (as you say, to be a solid four-year player). It's especially troublesome because IU lacked interior depth -- and may especially lack such depth next year if Vonleh leaves. Not good. I'm expecting basically what I'm expecting for every IU road game (at least against decent competition). Ugliness.

This is all obviously true, but the problem is that City started splashing cash knowing full well that they had unlimited reserves of cash going forward. The Bale money was a one-time windfall. Mess that up, and they're back to the old budget. Spurs aren't walking the tightrope over City's net. Yeah, that certainly should be an addendum to my points. City could afford to make mistakes spending; they could always just out-spend their mistakes. Spurs cannot. If they blew this chance, it will set them back awhile.

The high defensive line absolutely killed them yesterday, especially coupled with the lack of aggressive pressing. Lack of pace with a high line is death against Suarez. That was a Dusty Baker-esque level managerial decision.

The early signs aren't good, obviously, but it can take awhile for soccer teams to mesh. It took a few years after City started splashing the cash for them to become very cohesive. And they maybe are only starting to do so continentally. Whatever, I don't care. 5-0, 5-0, 5-0; Suarez 17 goals, Spurs 15.

Take it easy on us, IU. I really doubt that will be required. IU's best win is currently against Pomeroy No. 126 Stony Brook, and their only win against a BCS conference team is No. 149 Washington. Notre Dame, at No. 58, would be by far IU's best win. IU is athletic and has a lot of potential, but they're pretty far from being a very good team. I would expect this to be a close game. Yeah and this is the last chance to get a quality non conference win. Must win for IU. Agreed. With the soft schedule, IU was ever going to have a strong non-conference resume. But without a win today they will lack any credible non-conference win. Win today, and, squinting a bit, you at least have one decent win and a one-point neutral-court loss to UConn. Not much, but not nothing either.

Unless something changes, I'm not going this year. But it's been a lot of fun in the past. Enjoy.

Take it easy on us, IU. I really doubt that will be required. IU's best win is currently against Pomeroy No. 126 Stony Brook, and their only win against a BCS conference team is No. 149 Washington. Notre Dame, at No. 58, would be by far IU's best win. IU is athletic and has a lot of potential, but they're pretty far from being a very good team. I would expect this to be a close game.

Yep. Our offense is bad enough. Net runs are net runs. Real runs are cooler than hypothetical runs.

Fire Alford, amirite?

Brutal.

Jeez, really?

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE

About time, yikes.

First one, nightmare: Germany-Chile-Portugal Second one, dream: Croatia-Uruguay-Algeria (Not saying nightmare/dream as the absolute worst/best possible outcomes.)

Figures to be a great field. Excited.

Yeah, I was worried Vonleh was almost playing too well, but I didn't mean I wanted him to play that poorly. Ha. Either way, as ugly as it was, I think last night was promising. Nothing from Vonleh. Little from Williams. Mostly crappy game from Ferrell. And they still had a chance to beat a ranked opponent at a neutral site.

I think it's becoming more possible every game that he's one-and-done. Obviously, he has yet to play upper echelon talent, but he looks very much the part of a big-time pro prospect. While he is a step below the upper tier prospects, he very well could find himself at the top of the second tier. If so, it's hard to expect him to return. I sure hope he does though. Luckily for IU it's a loaded draft maybe you'll get a break and have him stay because of that. Right, that helps a lot. He has a ceiling in this year's draft that he would not have most years. From what I've seen--and, again, it's always difficult to tell after five games against less-than-stellar competition--he would have been drafted very highly last year. He's a better pro prospect than Zeller, surely.