XZero771679666304

Corpas looked lacking in the velo department. Parker looked like he was throwing fairly hard (and pretty good overall).

I don't think anyone actually thinks that. It's obvious that they're bffs and that's why he's been so vocal. Also, I don't get the problem with saying "we'll address it at the end of the season". If an AD/whatever isn't actually committed to you, why would you want him to say he is? So you can be blindsided at the end of the season? So everyone can play some silly game of pretending things aren't really as they are? That's just stupid. And if Bruce and/or his coaching are so fragile that being told his job status will be assessed later precipitated a total team collapse (which I don't believe for a second)...well then he should have been fired long ago. I'd rather be told my job is in jeopardy than to be mollycoddled with BS platitudes.

Mateo throwing BP.

What? Was yesterday's even in HD? Today's looks like HD from a consumer camcorder. The audio today has been bad. Yesterday's was just as bad, imo.

He sure did. That earned some points with me, lol.

Ha http://www.theonion.com/articles/john-calipari,27596/

Bob sure loves him some Campana.

Two really solid ABs from Stewart. He really worked the count in both until he got pitches to hit and he stung them both.

LOL @ Demp buzzing ARam's tower.

It's nice of Izzo to show support for his colleague, but Thomas really wasn't left with much choice.

Zero, did you see Lendy Castillo also? Any thoughts or observations on his stuff? It looked like he was throwing fairly hard, but was all over the place. I wasn't paying as much attention to him, though. Rhee looked the best of all the pitchers today, imo.

I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it. It's long been apparent how invested he is in the University and the program and it would have been wonderful if he could have been a "lifer" type coach. But for everything he brought in terms of sincerity, honesty and loyalty, he lacked in the ability to discipline and coach from a strategic standpoint, and it's a damned shame.

Were you actually watching, or just get that from box score? If you were watching, any scouting observations on him? Fast? Sharp breaking ball? Would love to see some young pitcher emerge as being legit. Watching. Nice movement on the breaking stuff and the change looked really good and got swings and misses. He didn't appear to be throwing particularly hard, but there wasn't a velo displayed. He was throwing primarily offspeed and breaking pitches.

Rhee looked impressive striking out the side in the 8th.

Apparently today. The Broncos signing Manning would make for a glorious [expletive] storm.

I think makeover is quite the right word. If Howard stays (I like the move making him interim head coach), I don't see much roster upheaval coming. Obviously Jerrance is key to keeping the players/commits we have now, much more than Bruce was. Keep him and make a good hire and I don't see any real program "downtime" (outside of this year). Even if we just lose Leonard I think the team can snag a tourney berth next year, given the aforementioned things happen. As for the revelry, it's a positive move but like I said earlier, it's not without it's downside. Weber is a really, really good guy and it's a damn shame he wasn't a better coach. He is a very honest, genuine guy. I agree with everything you've said. I gave some thought to the idea of dumping Jerrance, but I think we need to keep him on staff for the reasons you mentioned. These young guys will need some continuity, and I think getting Jerrance to buy into the next coach will be key. There's just been so much negativity hanging over the program, going back to the infamous car crash, that I don't think we ever got our feet back underneath us. Every program has its problems, but I think when the decision was made to keep Smith around, we really lost our way and put talent ahead of developing a culture of teamwork and accountability. You don't dumb Jerrance. If the next coach doesn't want him then he can dump him. But, I'm thinking any coach is gonna want a recruiter that Cal wanted on his staff. Especially considering how important being able to recruit Chicago is. Keeping Jerrance is not only preserving current players, but saving a lot of work in the future trying to build inroads in Chicago (and Peoria, for that matter).

I don't think makeover is quite the right word. If Howard stays (I like the move making him interim head coach), I don't see much roster upheaval coming. Obviously Jerrance is key to keeping the players/commits we have now, much more than Bruce was. Keep him and make a good hire and I don't see any real program "downtime" (outside of this year). Even if we just lose Leonard I think the team can snag a tourney berth next year, given the aforementioned things happen. As for the revelry, it's a positive move but like I said earlier, it's not without it's downside. Weber is a really, really good guy and it's a damn shame he wasn't a better coach. He is a very honest, genuine guy.

And hopefully with a more compelling lineup. No disrespect to Edgar Gonzalez, Joe Mather, etc.

The battle for the final two rotation spots is going to be interesting.

Game on WGN today, though listening to Hawk and Stone has been painful. They were getting their yuks at the expense of sabermetrics for a bit, which made my head hurt. The lineup today is uninspiring, as was Travis Wood.

Sounds uncomfortable There's a puerile joke about somebody's mom not thinking three johnsons sounds uncomfortable to be made here, but I'm feeling lazy. But it's probably hawkeyecub's mom. Well it's obviously SOMEONE from Iowa Just what are you insinuating here? The nerve of some people.

Sounds uncomfortable There's a puerile joke about somebody's mom not thinking three johnsons sounds uncomfortable to be made here, but I'm feeling lazy.

Objectively I want the Hawks to do well. It'd be good for the conference, the state, and it would breathe life into what had become an utterly one sided rivalry. But subjectively I want to see the Hawkeyes get crushed every time they step on the court and I want to hear the pitiful, wailing lamentations of the people over it.

That's what I love about Iowa fans. Give them an inch of success and they get cocky/mouthy as hell. Growing up amidst that is what has made me hate Iowa so. Well Iowa fans are the only fans of any team that do this. I am probably more bitter about this as an Illini fan who grew up just outside of Iowa City. Every year I had to hear about how Iowa was better than Illinois (which they almost never were, and that was when Iowa wasn't terrible), how Iowa's failures were always due to some bizarre or unfair circumstances or how Iowa was about to become a national power. Every uptick in success was the sign of an impending meteoric rise, or so I was incessantly told. Yeah, fans of many teams to this, but our experiences, biases and hatreds are purely subjective. Mine are very subjective. Taking that into account, I think Iowa fans might want to temper the bravado a bit, at least until they look something better than hot garbage for more than half a season. You guys look to be on the upturn, but I wouldn't pencil the team in for a top half finish next year, just as I wouldn't write the Illini off as a bottom half team in 2012-13.

Basically, prior to Howard, the best recruiting talent Weber could land was Jamar Smith and Chester Frazier. However, those teams also overperformed. So, Howard is bringing in fantastic talent, but Weber hasn't been able to use it well. Hopes are that a new coach and a new offensive scheme that actually utilizes the talent would be a good thing, and Howard would continue to facilitate that talent rolling in, instead of watching it leave for Duke/UNC/Kentucky/Kansas all the time. An offensive scheme of any kind would be an improvement. It's hard to overstate just how ridiculously bad Weber's offensive "scheme" was, especially this year. It was tragic comedy to watch. Coaches often relieve an unfair percentage of blame assigned for failure, but in this case the reverse might be true. And if Howard stays and we hire a coach that recruit, well, so much the better.