Today I read an article explaining how difficult it was for a smaller program such as St. Peter's to compete with the so called Blue Bloods." The article stated that the facilities, and budget of the "Blue Bloods" would turn any NBA G league team green with envy. The article implied that talent, facilities and budget make it inevitable that these kind of teams will triumph over the smaller schools. Does anyone know how I.U. compares to these schools in regard to facilities, and budget. From what I've read, I.U. is comparable or superior to these teams in regard to facilities and budget. The only area where I.U. is deficient is in regard to coaching and talent. Good coaching gives you success which enables a school to get better talent. That being said, isn't it true that I.U. has never had the talent level that the current "Blue Bloods" possess. Traditionally, they have always done more with less. I would like other people's opinion on this issue.

Bo Boroski, everyone’s favorite referee is retiring to concentrate on his business. Sad news, lol. ( Had dinner with a relative last night)

Jackson-Davis moved up to No. 46 in Bleacher Report's mock draft by Jonathan Wasserman.

He is anywhere from No. 31 to undrafted.

I still think he get's selected in the 50's. He seems to fit what a lot of NBA teams take in that range.

A lot of people made a big mistake last night.

While most were mad at the completely unacceptable final four, or wondering if Will Smith & Chris Rock were really acting...

60 years of pent-up Brilliance happened. I'm so glad I took Mrs. Shades of Crimson to witness it.

Context:
I've seen CSN twice, (Once with Croz coked out of his mind, once completely sober - LOL) Stephen Stills & Neil Young individually - but my wife never did - & due to odd twist of fate we had to give up our tickets to the reunion tour back in early 2000's. She wanted as close as possible to having some of that experience before these 4 legends passed - she got a great taste of it.

Simple yet impactful 3-piece staging with candles burning around the stage/instruments. NO lighting effects to speak of, except on the backdrop during "Cathedral" & "Wind on the Water"

Graham & his two associates (including the great Shane Fontayne on lead guitar) calmly walked out, Nash thanked the crowd for naming the city after him, and promptly announced a "different" start to the show and launched into Find the Cost of Freedom and then Military Madness with different lyrics slamming Putin. The crowd was hooked.

They did two sets with a 20 minute break in between (to go pee according to Nash) and two encores. The setlist on setlist FM already posted this morning is accurate. It can't tell, however, the great stories & banter Nash had with the audience.

He did the Hollies "Bus Stop" as a tribute to his childhood friend Allan Clarke , explained the train ride that led to "Marrakesh Express" and closed the first set with a tour de-force triple: A mesmerizing rendition of the Beatles "A Day in the Life", followed by a show stopping "Cathedral" and closing with an almost as good as Still's "Love the One You're With".

After the break, He was determined to really become an intimate artist with world class musicianship. Done.

Busting out a clever rendition of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" he then went deep & personal into his catalogue for "Simple Man", "Taken at All" and the only CSN song from their 1st album not played at Woodstock, "Lady of the Island" (Which he calmly noted was for Joni when they were together).

He praised Stephen Stills for coming to his hotel room one night with a song he said almost made him cry: (4 + 20) Then turned around and jammed "Country Girl" from Deja Vu, just to get his tip' of the hat to Neil Young in the performance.

Just as with the 1st set - he hit a triple - the previously mentioned "Wind on the Water", "Just a Song before I Go" and the finale "Chicago" -- which along with "Cathedral" were the only two songs he sat behind the keyboards for - generally rotating through a bunch of acoustic guitars specifically tuned for each song brought out by his tech.

After the obligatory & well deserved standing ovation , they returned for an acapella rendition of Buddy Holly's "Everyday" and wrapped up with - of course- "Teach Your Children" with the crowd singing the chorus.

Many stories, many musical highlights. While his keyboardist was spot on, I loved Shane's guitar work & backing vocals. We were sitting 8th row stage left right in front of him and he was playing every note he should - and none he shouldn't. Fabulous.

Although his story about "Our House" was wonderful, it is well known. As is "Cathedral", so I won't repeat them here due to time/space constraints.

The absolute best Story was "Just a Song before I Go" --- About winning a $500 bet with a dope dealer - that he couldn't write a great song in two hours - before catching a plane back to L. A. from Hawaii. While that part was humorous, the money shot happened just a couple of weeks ago.

They were playing a show in So. Carolina and one of the stage attendants that worked at the arena handed Nash a small envelope backstage telling him this is very important. Nash said he thought nothing of it, stuffed it in his pants pocket and forgot about it until the next morning. Getting up he said he reached for the same pants and remembered the envelope from the night before - in it was (drumroll please) a check for the $500 from the family of the drug dealer, (now passed away) along with an apology for never having settled the bet almost 50 yrs before.

I hope this summary has given some of my fellow music lovers a small taste of a living legends performance last night. My wife, was beyond pleased that I took her and so that has put me in good shape for awhile. (wink)

Anyone else go last night?

So with this past season coming to an end, I know the women's team has a few commits lined up already in Lexxus Bargirlesser from MI (top 70 recruit), Yarden Garzon, one of the top European players who has played well for the Israeli U20 team in the past and 6-2 Lilly Meister from Minnesota.

With that, there are still several spots available and I noticed last night that Sydney Parrish from Oregon (and HSE for HS) entered the portal, and a top 100 kid from Ohio who we had previously offered de-committed from West Virginia. Curious to see how involved we get with either of these two, as I would LOVE to see Parrish return to Indiana!

First off, what man slaps? Secondly, judging by the picture, Chris clearly knows it’s coming and is already “acting.” Third, who doesn’t try to avoid a direct punch or slap?

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MONDAY'S SHOW:

🚨 Don Fischer
🚨 Charlie Miller
🚨 Dustin Dopirak
🚨 Jim Reamer
🔥 The NCAA Men's & Women's Final Four is set
🔥 Brian Walsh named new #iubb assistant
🔥 Reflecting on this era of #iuwbb
🔥 Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars

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Any one notice in the latest episode where they are showing a film session of fast breaks there are clips of IU ? Think from 81 Championship game. You can see Landon, Wittman and Kitchell at least. Its short clips and they go fast but it is them for sure.

Just starting to go to concerts again. What shows have you gotten tickets to since music is starting back up? In 2021 I got tix to Jamey Johnson, Blackberry Smoke and Straight No Chaser last year and ended up not being able to go to any due to covid issues. Did go see Psychedelic Furs locally. This year I bought tix to Yacht Rock Revue, Flogging Molly and Whiskey Myers. I boycott many of the bigger shows locally because I hate the big outdoor concert venue in Charlotte due to the horrendous traffic and parking mess, so I only go to shows there once in a blue moon.

What shows are you planning to see in 2022?

See he just signed a 10 day contract with the Celtics

In portal. Would be a nice pick up

When can we fire Mercer and bring back Tracy Smith?

Indiana is one of nearly two dozen schools to reach out to West Virginia SG transfer Sean McNeil, sources tell Rivals.

McNeil averaged 12.2 points and 37% from three last season. Career 37% shooter from deep on 4.7 attempts per game.

He just entered the portal today so just passing along. Long way to go here.

Thoughts? Signed off by DeSantis. I have an opinion but I’d like to hear yours.

It would be nice.

So Indiana lost 4 players and only 3 freshman coming in. So, if everyone else returns, what would be the best position to get a solid player for with the one remaining scholarship?

Serious cheating going on with the NIL per a conversation with a high profile coach.
offers behind the scenes being made.
Wow this is gonna end up putting teams on probation.

FM

On a zoom call this morning head coach Tom Allen said Rod Carey has been added to the Indiana staff. He will be the quality control coach.

Carey played at IU and has been a head coach at both Temple and Northern Illinois in the past. He has led his teams to 7 bowl games as a head coach.

38th best recruit out of high school

Got interested in the stat that Purdue had lost to 17 higher seeds in the tourney, #1 among all schools, so took a look at that v. IU's record.

Looks like seeding started in 1979. Since then Purdue has lost 17 times to higher seeds, and won 11 times against lower seeds. But IU isn't better. We are 8-14.

Purdue does have the worst losses, for the most part:

1. Purdue. 12 seeds---#3 v. #15 St Peter's 2022
2. Purdue. 9 seeds---#4 v. #13 North Texas 2021
3. IU. 9 seeds---#4 v. #13 Richmond 1988
4. IU. 9 seeds---#4 v. #13 Kent St. 2001
5. Purdue. 8 seeds---#2 v. #10 Texas 1990
6. Purdue. 8 seeds---#3 v. #11 VCU 2011
7. Purdue, 7 seeds---#1 v. #8 Georgia 1998
8. Purdue 7 seeds---#5 v. #12 Ark. L.R. 2016

Interesting, over the same years there haven't been many huge upsets by Purdue or IU, at least based on seeding. The biggest was Purdue at #10 seed beating #2 Miami in 1999. IU's biggest was only 4 seeds---#5 IU over #1 Duke in 2002.

Now....I went through this pretty quick so there could be a mistake here or there................

-nm

Reading about the run that St Peters made: Holloway's salary was something like $260,000 a year. Calipari's $7+ million salary is larger that the athletic department budget of St. Peters.

For the past 20 years IU has been ratcheting up all coaching salaries in order to remain competitive. Crean and Archie were paid many millions of dollars to be fired for performing well below expectations. Woody is now being paid comparable money to right the sinking ship. Pragmatically IU did not have a choice.
Dane Fife was making about $350,000, the other coaches didn't listen to him and now he is going to be paid another years salary to go away.
Private financing groups are now popping up so that student athletes can be compensated more fairly. Some might get $10,000 but some will make closer to $500,000 or more.
And how is this being financed? In part by asking you for donations! And by raising the cost of a college education. Thank God two guys ponied up $10 million for Archie so that he can now be paid to fail at Rhode Island. His new contract is back-ended do that he can double-dip.hetting paid by both schools.

If I recall correctly, IU athletics lost $25 million for the most recent Covid year. So my question is: Where does this end?

I think this that college athletics is now officially broken. Don't get me started on AAU basketball. Also it's just a matter of time before schools have an epiphany and give substantial college credit to athletes for being on a team. Maybe it's time to start following the G-league.