1:30 ESPN2 at home.
Go Hoosiers!

Update on 2023 5-star KJ Evans from national writer Travis Graf.

The formula for success these days is clear, especially in the NCAAs.

I actually feel like we’re closer than it probably feels right now. Obviously depending on who ends up on our roster.

But it’s obvious defense is a priority for Woodson. And I bet athletes and shooting will always be on his wish list.

The defense part of that is usually the hardest thing to coach and execute. So having that seemingly established is a great start.

nm

I looked at the last 10 Big 10 Tournaments (not counting 2022) to find out if the fatigue of extra games hurt teams in the NCAA Tournament or not. I logged each NCAA Qualifier from the Big 10, along with their Seed earned, number of NCAA Tournament Wins, Day of their last BTT game and whether or not they had a bye.

Looking at the resulting chart (below) a few things stand out, which I might use going forward in filling out my brackets.

1. -Teams that win on Thursday, but lose on Friday, do amazingly well in their first round NCAA Tournament games.
2. -Teams that lose on Saturday, whether they had a bye or not, tend to underachieve relative to expectations.
3. -Teams that play on Sunday, whether they had a bye or not, tended to overachieve relative to expectations.
4. -Teams that qualified for the NCAA, in spite of losing on Thursday, were right at expectations

Here is the chart...



I used this site to calculate expected NCAA Wins based on Seed https://bracketodds.cs.illinois.edu/seedadv.html

Lastly, if we look at Sunday Winners vs Losers we get...

Winner expected to have (based on Seed) 24.79 NCAAT wins and 6.49 Sweet 16's. Actual was 27 wins and 8 Sweet 16's
Loser expected to have (based on Seed) 16.55 NCAAT wins and 4.29 Sweet 16's. Actual was 17 wins and 6 Sweet 16's

Hopefully what I did here makes some sense! I'll put the full spreadsheet here in this thread later today, just in case anybody is interested enough to look at it more closely.

They play out of their heads on both ends. Every man is locked-in. Wonderful fundamentals. Aggressive. Active. That team ain’t gonna beat themselves. Like mini-Wisconsin, but much more likable.

And first double-digit seed to beat UK in… 30 games (!).

Bloomington North vs. cathedral. Both look long and athletic.

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Devin not an Archie fan. Only reason I saw this is cuz Hulls liked it. Looks like Jordan not an Archie fan either.

Well I answered my question from the other night. Was St. Mary's that good or was I.U. that bad? Tonight's game against UCLA answered that for me.

Spring Break

It's being reported that it's a 5-year $230 million fully guaranteed deal. It had been reported that he was down to the Falcons and the Saints before this broke. Evidently, if true, the Browns are willing to wait on him since he is almost certainly facing suspension by the NFL at some point down the road. Baker Mayfield has indicated a desire to play for the Colts, but the question is, are the Colts interested in him.

I am a CMW supporter, however, sometimes I cringe with his NBA-style platoon system. Too many times this season I have been left wondering where's the scoring going to come from with the second unit on the floor. It happened again Saturday when both TJD and X were on the bench at the same time. They both can't play forty minutes, but he needs to stagger their bench time as they are our two best scoring options at this time.

With 5 minutes left.... slowed things down because they were short on players.... but got them out of their rhythm.

Baylor has huge advantage with their crowd there.

A lot of flopping by Baylor players as well

Ask their husbands to have sex using code words cracks me up. Been married 26 years and that crap ain't happening around here.

More like honey, your Roman package came and I threw it in the trash.

My teen daughter and two friends just came by and watched a couple minutes of the Iowa game with me and that commercial came on. Awkward. 😂

Centerville moves on to the State next weekend with a 55-39 win last night, they have won 28 straight this year. Cupps had are great game, only 11 points (don't shoot that much) but had quit a few assists, steals, free throws down the stretch to help seal the game (tough noised kid always gives 100%). Rich Roff who didn't have good game last week when IU came over to watch had 11 rebounds, 22 points, (several 3's) and excellent game, would not have won with out his play last night. Rich for the year shot almost 50% from 3 (just had an off game last week) I think he would bring something to this team it has not had since the Knight years when we had the good 6'6 to 6'8 shooters(I hope we sign him). I have watch Him play all year and he has only had a couple of games all year that his shot was not falling even when his shot is not on he plays great defense, rebounds, finds the open man, excellent all around player. We would have been one of the top teams in the Big Ten this year if we would have had one or two player that could actually hit a shot from three when they were wide open. We had the defense most of the time. We still could make some waves if we make the Dance, if we play like we did the last few games.

LOL!! This certainly eases the pain of the St Mary’s loss. Calipari only gets great talent, but he sure cannot coach.

Their men lost in the first round in Indy, their women lost to Princeton in the first round in Bloomington today and IU baseball beat them 20-7 in Bloomington Tuesday. That’ll teach them to stay on their side of the Ohio. Glad we won’t have the hillbilly hoard in AH Monday

Like in the first game, IU has been hitless in the first three innings while Xavier has built up a lead with Braydon Tucker on the mound. In the 1st, a couple of doubles gave Xavier a 1-0 lead. In the 4th, two singles sandwiched around a walk loaded the bases and a SF scored a run, and a double scored two more runs to give XU a 4-0 lead. IU went down in order in their half of the 4th. Bothwell replaced Tucker on the mound in the 5th. Tucker numbers were 4 IP, 4 runs all earned, 1BB, and 7 Ks.

I think the Big Ten should move their conference season up one week and the Big Ten Tournament end one week before selection Sunday and then just play one non conference game on selection weekend. I think it would really help their Big Dance success.

In a state where basketball is a religion, Indiana University cannot field a team that can shoot. We have Callaway, Leal, Phinisee, Kopp, and Parker-Stewwart who at one time in their basketball careers were scorers. Not any more. Also, once upon a time IU recruited Indiana HS kids who could shoot like Alford, Kitchel, Wittman, Hulls, etc., often from small schools in the state. Now we ignore those kind of Indiana kids [i.e., Connor Essegian, etc.]. We all remember those former players who grew up dreaming of playing for IU and when they got offered dedicated their lives to IU. Today, with stars like Kopp, Parker-Stewart, etc. IU can no longer shoot a respectable % from the 3-line. Doubt me or want to attack me? Just check the stats first and you will hold your fire. In my lifetime, IU has built its tradition on kids who could shoot the lights out [Jimmy Rayl, Steve Alford, etc.] but today IU cannot shoot. Why? I feel like we have some high powered coaches on the IU bench and in practices who are not fulfilling their capabilities. How could IU have Woodson, Fife, etc. working with the shooters every day and yet, the shooters DID NOT improve this year? Something is wrong when a gifted coaching staff cannot improve D1 level talent from the first practice to the final game!

Facts:

• ⁠Praised Putin constantly, called him a "strong leader", has peddled statements like "he's done a really great job outsmarting our country"

• ⁠Trump dismissed and cast doubt about Russian hacking, particularly when the U.S determined that Russia hacked the DNC in 2016, while ironically enough, he encouraged Russian cyber attacks on national TV saying, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,"

• ⁠When addressing Russian election interference and cyber attacks, Trump proclaimed "I don't see any reason why it would be Russia" after speaking directly with Putin, defending Russia and trusting Putin over our own intelligence agencies. Later he "corrected" himself, claiming that he meant to say "wouldn't" instead of would

• ⁠Trump suggested the U.S. work directly with Russia on cybersecurity

• ⁠Almost directly after the 2016 election, Trump sought to weaken U.S. sanctions on Russia, while he was even open to lifting sanctions

• ⁠Trump dismissed the notion that Putin was a "killer", downplaying the idea that Putin resorts to using violence and oppressive tactics to crush political opponents. He defended Putin, rationalizing his ruthless despotism in the process, declaring, "There are a lot of killers. Do you think our country is so innocent?"

• ⁠Trump shared highly classified U.S. intelligence with Russian officials in the Oval Office in 2017

• ⁠Trump repeated Kremlin talking points related to the Russian annexation of Crimea, reiterating things like, "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were."

• ⁠Trump constantly attacked NATO, aligning himself with Putin

• ⁠Trump thanked Putin for expelling hundreds of U.S. diplomats as a retaliation for sanctions

• ⁠Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum while Republicans were working on a deal with Oleg Deripaska, one of Putin’s most trusted oligarchs, on an alumina plant in Kentucky

• ⁠According to congressional testimony, Trump declined to publicly condemn a Russian attack against Ukrainian military vessels in November 2018, even though the State Department prepared a statement for him

• ⁠Trump congratulated and gave legitimacy to Putin's re election win in 2018, a victory said to "lack genuine competition"

• ⁠Sergei Skripal, an ex Russian spy that defected to the UK, was poisoned. Sanctions were announced, Trump attempted to rescind them, while asserting that the U.S. was being "too tough on Putin"

• ⁠When congress passed new sanctions against Russia in 2017, Trump was very reluctant to signing the bill, and probably wouldn't have signed it if the bill didn't pass with veto-proof majorities in both houses

• ⁠In 2017 it was reported that Trump was considering returning spy bases to Russia

• ⁠Trump praised and highlighted pro-Russian leaders in Europe. Far right European leaders with close ties to Putin. He even met a Kremlin ally at the Whitehouse

• ⁠When Trump withdrew troops from Syria, it gave Russia and Putin an opportunity to control abandoned U.S. outposts and checkpoints

• ⁠Trump froze U.S. aide for Ukraine in it's war against Russian proxies. He repeated Russian disinformation surrounding Ukraine as well

• ⁠Trump made requests to bring Russia back into the G7 and invited Putin to the 2020 G7 summit

The invisible twins they are!