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I feel like this happens every year with either Cincy or Uconn in the conference tourney.

Holy horsefeathers. Ok, damn. Shitty calls down the stretch to keep Michigan in it (last 2 IU fouls were bogus at worst, extremely weak at best). But helluva shot to win it.

Relax, we're getting Hicks today. How much is Freeman gonna cost? That 46M isn't going to go as far as we probably want. Now, there's still some opportunity to drop more dead weight and free up cap, but I'd really like some more DB help too, which won't be cheap. I don't think they'll sign Freeman. Definitely makes since to gauge his pricetag though and potentially drive up his price. I think the focus will be Akiem Hicks. Then I think the Bears focus on a DB or two (SS foremost, maybe a cheap vet CB for depth) and settling the Miller/Bennett situation at TE. Bennett and Rolle seems like the only real places to save some money, but they'll have to replace their 7-8M saved by spending that much on their replacements. Should have plenty of money for Hicks, Miller, a S like Bruton from Denver, maybe a CB like Patrick Robinson (who the Bears have shown interest in), a backup TE (Gresham in Chicago today also), and any cheap 1-year guys they want to bring in. Then in the draft, I'd focus on the best front 5 pass rusher available at 11. Buckner or Rankins on the DL. Shaq Lawson or Noah Spence at OLB. Then I think the next 2 picks go toward DL/OLB (whichever not picked in 1st), a CB with some size/length, a developmental QB or OL.

I'll take a couple teams. Probably most familiar with the Steelers and Dolphins of the available teams.

Pretty crazy to go from Shea McClellin and Christian Jones to Danny Trevathan and Jerrell Freeman at ILB. Two of the bottom 10 LBs in the league to 2 just below pro-bowl level LBs.

I kinda feel like Bob Knight with the conference tourneys. You played 18 games in the conference this year to determine who was the best team. Granted, now you have 96 teams in conference and unbalanced schedules, but I never know how much to want to win at these things. Obviously, if you're a bubble team you want 2-3 wins. If you're a solid in, you want to try to improve your seed. But if you're the conference champion, how much do you really need to win the tourney too? For IU, B1G regular season title outright should be good enough for a 3 seed. 1 seed looks impossible unless you annihilate Michigan St in the finals. And even then, they'd clearly be the worst 1 seed. I think I'll take a win over Michigan, whatever happens vs. Purdue and be fine with my 3 seed in Des Moines, and some rest to get Johnson, Hartman, and Morgan healthy.

I think it should go to Valentine too. But Yogi will get strong consideration. He's the unquestioned leader and best player on the conference champion.

Yeah, pretty remarkable. Best coaching job Crean has done at IU. Really happy for Yogi. IU has gotten all out of him we could have hoped for. Comes in as a freshman as the missing piece to a great team. Then will end as the leader of a conference championship team and possible B1G player of the year. Last time a Hoosier was on 2 outright conference championship teams was Matt Nover in 1989 and 1993. Sunday vs. Maryland is a chance to go out on Senior night for the 1st time in school history with the men's and women's teams going undefeated in Assembly Hall.

IU is an Ohio State home win tomorrow away from at least a share of the Big Ten title. Pretty good year with the 2nd best player missing most of it. Going to be the 2nd time in school history, the men's and women's basketball teams and football team go to the postseason in the same school year.

Soler Baez Ross Do you want another two infielders instead? LaStella and ?? Think we'd do better for a PH bat from an OFer. Also, one of our outfielders is going to catch sometimes. Yes. I think another guy that can play IF is more necessary than another guy that can play OF. There are 4 guys out there already who should get 500 ABs, even if 1 of them catches games. Bryant and Zobrist both can play OF, Baez is/was working in the OF. The Cubs are probably going to keep a 5th OF, but I think an IF provides more flexibility.

Why is a 5th OF necessary?

So....the Hoosiers' shooting got a little better in the 2nd half.

Underwood, McKinney, Cease, Jimenez, Edwards. Underwood won the coin flip. Plus, I think I like him more than most on this board.

I think most basketball players who are frontcourt players who even venture out beyond the 3pt line, and then find themselves completely wide open should be expected to make those 3s in those situations. Granted, they shouldn't be in those situations that much. And again, the only person this applies to is Bryant. And Bryant hit ONE three. Hardly a case of "guy getting lucky dooming the opponent". Juwon Morgan also made a 3, but his 6 three point attempts is in proportion to his 27 overall shot attempts, that you can't completely determine him to NOT be a shooter.

Uh, everyone on IU does shoot and can make a 3. Granted, Morgan and Bryant have only made 3 this year, but they are 3-6 and 3-9 respectively and you really can't complain about one made 3 each by those guys who were wide open, especially when IU got 1-6 from 3 guys that combine to hit 41% of their 190 3pt attempts in Zeisloft, Hartman, and Niego. If IU doesn't go far in the tournament it's because they won't be shooting in Assembly Hall where they pretty much always shoot like that. Point was all IU had in the second half was 3's from guys who don't normally shoot them. That's not a recipe for a win streak in the tournament. IU was outshot, out rebounded and out assisted at home. You're not going to win too many games that way. As for Purdue, per usual Painter couldn't make adjustments until it was too late. He continued to try and cram it down in a traditional set when it wasn't working. After it got out of hand he tried a small ball lineup that emphasized movement. The lane was no longer clogged and the offense sprung to life. Too little too late. Painter did it out of desperation. He should have done it when Hammons got his 3rd foul and IU started to pull away. They only had 2 3's all game from guys who don't normally shoot them. They had 1 combined from their 2nd and 4th most productive 3pt shooters. They were outrebounded by 2 against a team that has 3 post players that would be the biggest on IUs roster (and they combined for 39 points). And IU won the turnover battle 13-4. Hitting 3s, not getting destroyed on the boards (IU 8-4 offensive boards), and winning hustle/steals stats will always the recipe for winning against a team that has a huge size advantage. I can only assume you're referencing Williams as a "guy who doesn't normally shoot 3s", but you'd be wrong.....as he averages 1.8 attempts per game and makes 33%. Or maybe it's Bielfeldt, who shoots 1.7 per game, but makes 42%.....again, you're wrong if you think that.

Uh, everyone on IU does shoot and can make a 3. Granted, Morgan and Bryant have only made 3 this year, but they are 3-6 and 3-9 respectively and you really can't complain about one made 3 each by those guys who were wide open, especially when IU got 1-6 from 3 guys that combine to hit 41% of their 190 3pt attempts in Zeisloft, Hartman, and Niego. If IU doesn't go far in the tournament it's because they won't be shooting in Assembly Hall where they pretty much always shoot like that.

How it works in Bloomington. They'll light it up on familiar courts, unless they start turning the ball over or Troy Williams plays like a dumbass.

A complete bed-wetting. It's like they forgot everything that made them win all but 1 of their last 16 games.

So.....just turned on the IU / Michigan game about 15 minutes ago. Have yet to see Michigan score. 25-0 run to end the half. We're down 11.

Thomas Bryant coming out party today. Coming out, as in.....he's definitely not staying his 2nd year in college.

Last year at this time you had UK and Virginia undefeated, Gonzaga with 1 loss. Year before was Arizona, Wichita, Syracuse who were unbeaten and there were several 1 loss teams in the top 5-10. It is weird to have 3-loss teams in the top 5, but there's typically a handful of really good 3L teams in the top 10.

I don't think so. I called this win streak in the other thread after the ND game. The schedule has been pretty easy so far, but it's not just winning the games, it's how they are winning. They have had a couple slow starts. They've had some road wins in this streak. They've dominated home games. They actually eeked out a low scoring game vs. Wisconsin. I think this team just has a different look. Everyone seems to know their role and play it well.

Good post.

Nothing better than watching great players be great on huge stages, when you have no stake/preferences in the game.

Uthoff may be the player of the year. Iowa matches up perfectly with our weaknesses. That being said if we don't give the ball away over and over and hit our free throws we've got a chance. It's crazy to think Iowa lost to a d2 school and has a legit shot at a national championship. yeah, I didn't have much expectations after the Augustana game and considering how good the football season was going it was hard to care. Then the Iowa State loss was a punch to the gut. I still wonder if only having 1 true center won't hurt them but if they shoot well it's hard to figure out who would beat them. The IU/Iowa games should be fun. Both teams should be 10-1 or 11-0 heading into the first meeting in a couple weeks. Both teams can light it up, rebounding per game is the same. Could be "first team to 90" wins type of games. I'd imagine B1G POTY would be between Uthoff, Valentine and Yogi.