The Excitement Keeps Building for IU Bball

Gordon gave his verbal to IU!  Holy Shitake mushrooms!!!  I know, I know, I know.  Calm down.  Tonight will definitely be Midnight MADNESS!  Assembly Hall will be packed.  I wish I could be there.

Man, Weber has to be PISSED about Davis getting the boot. 

Touch Every Line

I'm getting REAL excited about college basketball right now.  I like what I'm hearing about the offseason workouts. 

Junior guard A.J. Ratliff said the new staff quickly got his attention. In one early workout, Ratliff didn't touch the baseline during a sprinting drill. The punishment -- the entire team ran extra.

Ratliff said he missed the line by an inch.

"I
can remember it like yesterday,'' Ratliff said. "Coach (Ray McCallum)
raised his hand and said, 'Coach, A.J. missed a line.' And he put
everybody back on the line, and this was after we had ran a ton. And he
just ran the dog mess out of us.

"From then
on, he started using that as his slogan: Touch every line. He said
that's what we're going to do. We're not going to cut any corners on
the court, in the classroom or in our personal lives."

Luckily, I have a free preview of ESPNU which will be at the Midnight Madness event in Bloomington tonight. 

Earl Calloway is hilarious

This quote made me laugh.  When asked to compare Marco Killingsworth to Mike "King Kong" White he said, according to the Hoosier Insider blog, "the difference is that White can jump higher, rebound better, block more shots and step outside and hit the 15-foot jumper, too."  I'm not the smartest person but, to me, he's saying White is an upgrade.

Greenie was green today

If you missed it, Mike Greenburg from the Mike & Mike show dressed up in a green leprechaun outfit this morning.  The show was broadcasted live from the Linebacker Lounge.  Hat tip, to Irish Round Table.

Karma

I have always been a firm believer in karma.  And MSU and Johnelle Smith, just received a dose of it last weekend against Illinois.  After Illinois defeated MSU in East Lansing for their homecoming game, Illinois planted their flag.  Every time I think of it, it gives me a huge smile on my face.  It looks like MSU is starting its annual implosion a little early.  And did you see Johnelle slap his own face during his press conference?  Like I said earlier, the L stands for Looney.

How much do you think Michigan will be favored by this week?  At least as much as MSU was favored by against the Illini (26).  Heck, I'll put a 10-spot down right now for a 34 point spread.

Wow! What a finish!

I went through the total range of emotions Saturday night.  From a beer-induced rage (I actually said Charlie should bench Quinn to wake him up) to disbelief and elation.  For a while, I switched to Comedy Central during commercial breaks just to get a laugh.  Luckily the Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again was on.  I scared my poor, sleeping wife by screaming after the 1st Lambert interception and TD.  :^)  Sorry, honey.  What made it so sweet was that it happened against MSU and John L. (which from now on stands for Looney) Smith.  After the flag planting that MSU did at ND stadium last year, it was redemption.  Seeing all those MSU fans after the game in shock was priceless.  And then Looney sends 3 players to go out to the 50 yard line to make sure ND doesn't plant a flag in their stadium.  Sorry, John.  ND has class.

Domer Law Blog is selling an autographed football

The football is signed by Brady, Shark, Zibby, Rhema, and Darius.  He is selling it because of a family emergency.

This is why I love Charlie

He told the hacks from the SB Trib and Irish Sports Report, Jeff Carroll and Bob Wieneke, that he was not taking questions from them because of the total hack job they did on a series of articles. Then, Carroll asked sheepishly a few days later, "Will you take a question from me, Charlie?" Freaking hilarious!

UPDATE: Here is SB Trib's take.

Marco in the wrong type of news

Well, here is the leader of last year's IU basketball team getting in trouble for harassing a woman.  What a standup guy!  The Knicks should sign him right now.  Heh.

Marco is old school fat

According to stats released by the NBA, Marco Killingsworth has a body fat content of 19.0%. That is just amazing. No wonder he gets winded so fast.

The State of Hoosier Nation

I'm liking the enthusiasm and proactiveness that Sampson is bringing to Hoosier Nation.  I love the warm weather and all but he is getting me real excited for fall.

New
Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson is working to improve IU's relationship
with the state's high school coaches. When a scheduling problem left
the local coaches' convention without a speaker, Sampson stepped in and
spoke for more than 30 minutes. He also has started an "elite" camp to
connect IU with area prospects. . . .

Sampson announced as new IU basketball coach

After the total shock has wore off, I really like this guy. At first I was uneasy about the grad rates, then I thought, "Wait. This is Oklahoma after all." Another thing about those grad rates, JUCO players don't count. And from what I hear, there were QUITE a few playing for Sampson over the years. He has had 9 straight 20 win seasons. Heck, IU hasn't had one since 2002. And that was only because it went deep into the NCAA tourney. I'm excited to see his brand of basketball. I hear it is a motion offense with a very stringent D. Hopefully, it won't take the team almost a whole season before they start to gel (like Calloway this year). Top priorities are to bring this team together, recruit Indiana HS players hard, and bring the fanbase together.

Why I love March Madness

This from the Rocky Mountain News brings a tear to my eye:

The Patriots' at-large selection roundly was criticized by many,
including CBS commentator Billy Packer. George Mason's fans chanted
Packer's name during the postgame celebration.

That's AWESOME! Packer's a fool and CBS should fire him not just for this. He's basketball's version of Keith Jackson.

Coaching Carousel

I can't take it anymore! I need to know who the new coach for IU basketball is! Greenspan is driving me nuts! Cincinnati hires a new coach less than 24 hours after it loses in the NIT for crying out loud. That makes me think that the next coach for the beloved Hoosiers is still coaching. Or was until last night (Mark Few?). Whoever it is, I have confidence Greenspan will make the right decision. He did pretty good with Hep.

Now that Davis will officially be gone...

Why not open who the new coach will be up for speculation?

I have 3 guys who I think can get the job done.

1. John Beilein, head coach West Virginia. He has worked some real magic over there. He has turned a Big East bottom feeder to an annual Sweet Sixteen team.
2. Karl Hobbs, head coach George Washington. He was an asst. coach under Calhoun at UConn for a number of years and helped cultivate Rip Hamilton and Ray Allen, 2 NBA All-Stars.
3. Tom Crean, head coach Marquette. He led Marquette to the Final Four last year and has coached Dwayne Wade. Before that, he was an asst. under Izzo at MSU. Helped cultivate Mateen Cleaves and Sweet Moe Pete.

Those are my candidates. Who else would you add?

Vaden Quote After UConn Game

"I feel like we could have played harder than what we did,'' Vaden
said. "We cut the lead down and we made it a game. But we could have
fought harder and maybe got a win. We just didn't bear down in the
first half."

Ummm, what? WTF? Is he calling out his team? Man, I hope so. I hope he is calling out somebody in particular. Marco. Sorry to tell you this Marco, but if you want to make in the next level, you have to be able to run. No room for 6-8 (I'm pretty sure he is 6-7 or shorter) slow guys that can't jump and tire out after 4 minutes of play in the 2nd half.

Charlie Weis Signing Day Presser

I love this quote:

That's what gets you fired, playing guys just
because, "He's a senior, so I'm going to play him because he's a
senior." You got to play the guys that give you the best chance of
winning.

Hmmm, I wonder who that may apply to? Could it be the Molder of Men (Ty)?

Lame Hoosiers

This may be an overreaction, however the coaching search needs to begin. This team may win only one or two games on the road this year. They just lost to two teams they should've beaten. They just aren't getting it done and it is time to start thinking about next year and the next coach. Clearly they are not in that top tier of teams in the Big 10, let alone the country. I have no confidence left in them. I thought that they would come out against Minnesota hungry from how things transpired in Iowa. They didn't show me anything. They are toothless. Granted, they did fine the first 5 minutes. It was the other 15 in the 1st half that sucked. I really like Mike Davis. And I thought this would be the year. Losing DJ was too much. Marco isn't the answer.

Hey guys you don't have to always settle for an open 3! Does any one shoot a pull up jumper anymore? It seems like Vaden does every once and a while, but that's it. Ratliff would be a 1st round pick at the next level if he could handle some point guard duties. He is a big disappointment. He should be taking it to the hole every time! Of course it is kinda hard when Killer is camping out under the basket, clogging the lane. Hey Killer, if they can't feed you in the post, how about throwing some screens or maybe a pick and roll?!

IU Comes Up Lame Against Iowa

Wow! Too many homer calls were made by the refs!! How does Ratliff foul out by playing 9 minutes?!! Nine minutes! Suhr fouled out, too. I am glad to see Kline play more. He deserves it and he knows his role. Other than Vaden the rest were lame. How many layups can Wilmont miss in a game? Kinda curious what finally made Davis sit Marco for the 1st 12 minutes of the 2nd half. Man, was Ratliff pissed last night! That's good to see. Hopefully, IU will come out with some passion Sunday against Minnesota. That would be great to see! It's IU against the world!!

Good Home Win

IU won a big game on their schedule last night beating Illinois 62-60. While it was a good win, there are a few things that I didn't like:

1. IU started the game having 3 points 6 minutes into the game. If that happens on the road, they might as well pack it up.
2. The Hoosiers let a 15 point lead with 8 minutes left dwindle to 1 in the last minute. Great teams go for the kill.
3. Marco's behavior was inexcusable. I have heard he was elbowed and pushed right before he put his elbow to the throat of an Illini. Either way, just play the game.

A couple things I did like:

1. Roderick Wilmont. He jump-started the team last night and picked up Vaden's slack. He overall made things happen. I didn't know he could dunk! All I have seen from him were layups.
2. IU fixed what happened at MSU and rebounded the ball. We had an +8 advantage 39-31. That's what wins in the Big 10. Its a rough league and you can't give the other team more chances to score than you.
3. IU almost made as many FTs as Illinois attempted. I remember back to a time when this was a common occurence and it needs to happen more.

Next is PU at home. Should be a blowout but it probably won't. I hope it is!

Weis happy Trojans lose

I hear that the day after the championship game he was quite chipper that USC lost. I guess this is not surprising news. However, it goes it against the grain of what he said to USC after the ND game.

I am torn. On one side, I was hoping that ND would be the ones to break the USC streak. On the other side after ESPN has been total homers of USC this past month, I am glad the Longhorns beat them. I don't know if I could take ESPN saying that this team would beat all past teams for the next eight months.

The Laura Quinn Bowl

Did you get to see it? Was a football game going on? I couldn't tell. Tostitos should ask for their money back b/c she had more airtime than they did. OK!!! We get it! She is the older daughter of Brady and the girlfriend of Cro-Magnon Man. Can we focus on something more relevant to the game? I'm hating the way that the sports media is going. Part sports, part Hollywood, and part gossip. Me? I just want the sports part. Forget the rest.

Anyways, the Irish end up losing 34-20. And we can now hope that some of these freshman coming in will help in the speed dept. ND is in dire need of some on both sides. My god! Hmm, lets see we will just let Smith sit back in the pocket and freaking pick the D apart. Um, that is what ND does. Not the other @#$%^&* team! Something was not right. The O was not in rhythm the whole game...Shark had more drops than he had all season...frustrating. Here's to next season!