DISQUS

I think when the smoke clears after the season you will find that Tom Pritchard is by far
the best player we have coming for 2008/2009. He was playing along side a top rated
forward however the kid got hurt and is out for the season. That made Tom the go to guy
and he has been great! He is a big and strong and loves to rebound and mix it up under
the basket. He can run the floor,has good hands and a nice shooting tough. He is a keeper.

Well let me be real positive I think be will run the Gophers out of the building..
DJ will have a monster day and EJ's shot will come back and he gets 35 tonight.
Be real, did anyone at the start of the season pick IU to win at Michigan State?
Now I know none of us thought they would loose by 30 but it is just one loss.
Nearly 75% of those who did pre season projections had IU with a record of
15-3 in the big ten in a 1st place tie. Also 80% of us had them with a regular season
record of 26-5. They will meet both of those projections,DJ will be Big Ten player
of the year and EJ will be the big ten leading scorer. Now did we project loosing
our coach before the end of the season-No. Did we know that some of the teams
be beat early would be weak=No. But take out the loss to MSU and we lost to
Xavier A-10 champs and in the top ten,UCON ranked and near the top of the Big
East and 2 losses to #9 and Big Ten leader Wisconsin. One of those losses was on a last second lucky 3 point shot. Has IU played poorly and awful the last 3
games-yes but we won 2 of 3. These kids hit Bottom Sunday and will come
out charged up and ready for senior night and the rest of the season. Then after
they cut down the nets at the Final Four IU will sign a great coach for the future. I know you think I am crazy and I am looking through rose colored glasses but hey it beats being down in the dumps and depressed. My team to yell for is IU.
Go Hoosiers!! Go Big Red!! PU lost last night and Wisconsin is next.

Do any of you know Eli Holman's status?? Is he being red shirted,is he injured? If not,
we are really missing out on what he could add on defense. In high school he averaged over 11 blocked shots per game. He has a huge wing span. I just think he has a great upside that we are not using. I am OK with keeping him out until next year if he is a red shirt. If he isn't the coaches blew this one and used up a year of the kids scholarship. I have tried to find a direct answer about this but I keep getting the runaround. I hope one of you can answer this question? Thanks

Earlier this year I read a post here that said something like" Ellis was fast becoming their favorite player". Others commented the same so what went wrong?? His head is messed up. He was a vital part to IU's team but now it sound like many of you think he is a poor player. I think for IU to win he must perform like he is capable of doing. He was a stat stuffer and now I believe to get him that way again requires an attitude adjustment from coach DD. Find him a seat on the bench and leave him there until he decides this is IU Basketball and 110% is required for him to see playing time. It's
not to late to coach these guys and get them ready for the big dance.

Many of you surprise me with your comments. What did you think would happen
when we fired the head coach these guys loved? A Sampson lead IU team beat these guys by 19 a couple of weeks ago. If we love IU basketball it is time to support this team more than ever. They have won 24 games for our school in the regular season so far and they can get 26 wins in the regular season. It has been a long time since any IU team did this well. Next week is senior week and several players, DJ included, will play their last home game for IU. I hope the fans get control of their emotions. Seems like many of you are more upset than the players. They need ALL of us for the remainder of the season. Many of you seem to have given up on IU. I happen to love my school and our teams. Win or loose I have loved IU for 42 years. One bad game can't change my support for IU. No matter who coaches IU they will loose games and have bad games. Coach K just got 800 wins but
he also has lots and lots of losses. FANUP GO HOOSIERS!!!

Big A ... I am with you on Calipari and we do not want anyone connected with
PU! Kravitz dislikes IU and bashes us every time he gets a chance. Really I do not think he likes any Indiana teams with the exception of Purdue. Leave
it to him to bring up the color issue. What an idiot. I am not trying to defend
Sampson but the NCAA has it in for IU and it starts with their leader. He isn't
over the Knight thing. I think Dan has handled the media and the players very
well so far. There is a lot to be said about someone who LOVES IU basketball
as much as he does.

Best shot at the title has to be Wisconsin,then IU and then PU. Don't forget that MST and OSTU need wins. MST needs at least one victory over IU or Wisc. to help their NCAA seed.
OSTU must beat PU at home to even get in the NIT and maybe if they do well in the big ten
tourney they might get a NCAA bid. Their problem is no wins over any of the top 4 Big Ten
teams. If IU wins at MST they will at least get a share of the title. Who knows maybe they all
have 3 losses which was the thought of the BT coaches at the start of BT play.

Maybe Rick wasn't the best example but there are dozen of examples where a good mid-major coach could not handle the big school. I am not for or against anyone. I happen to
think Bennett is a good one to interview. I was just trying to get you guys to understand
what is hot for the moment is not always best. This has to be a good choice this time. We
don't have time or money to keep starting over every 2 or 3 years. We need someone good who will build IU back to where we all want,win,follow rules and help kids get an
education. If that is a good young coach or a seasoned coach I don't care. What worries
me is who's picking!

There are hundreds of examples of coaches going from weaker teams to the big boys and failing. They could win in the minors but when they stepped to the majors they failed. For example coach Rick at Louisville. He was great at Kentucky but he was horrible when he tried to jump to the NBA and coached Boston. IU must be careful not to hire a rookie coach from a lesser team and think he will be a superstar at IU. There is something to be said about learning from a Master coach and putting in your time. Look at Bo Ryan at Wisconsin and Tom Iz. at Michigan State they were assistants to great coaches for many years before they got their dream jobs. They will be in the hall of fame someday. There are some guys out there that grew up
with a basketball in their hands,( like Bennett at Washington State), that may do very
well at a top 10-15 school but he only has 2 years of coaching under his belt and most
of his players someone else recruited. IU can't stand another failure and set back because we jumped to hire the latest splash in the pan. I know you want to write Dakich off, but he should be interviewed with others and the Best fit for IU hired. The
idea of Greenspan picking a coach bothers me a whole lot more than hiring Dan.
If IU does not plan on keeping Greenspan why would we want him picking a Coach??
It seems to me that IU first needs to make a decision about him before we allow him
to pick another problem. Coolers heads should be conducting a coach's search not
Greenspan!

Perhaps you need to take another poll. After the Michigan State game some people
seem to think the media and ESPN have gone over the top with this story. The poll now on the Hoosier Scoop site shows some change. Even the articles in the Star show comments from Purdue fans who think ESPN and Dick were shameful with their comments. I think if he lied he should be fired and Greenspan should go also. If IU'S investigation this week does not support the NCAA comments that he lied then I believe he should remain as coach until a final ruling is done in June.

If you are CEO of a company and the IRS is investigating your company for tax problems
you pretty much know if you have a problem. Trying to cover it up or lie to the IRS is NOT
your answer because if they catch you it will be ugly. You need to come clean,tell the truth
and cut your loses. It is hard for me to believe that the President and Athletic Director do
not know if Sampson is guilty. They know or they are complete idiots! So the answer
should be easy. Option#1 Fire him if he lied. Option#2 Defend him if he didn't. Now I guess there could be things that the NCAA found that IU did not, if so, do Option#3 and
suspend him until IU can investigate the new info. Once that is done go to Option # 1
or #2. Failure for IU to make a clear cut direction in this matter just adds to the black
mark if Sampson is guilty and we lose faith in our college's ability to reason properly.
Letting him coach on a game by game basis is just stupid!

I too liked Ratliff and thought he was primed to have a good season but it seems he does
not have his head screwed on right. We can hope he would return and give us some
good minutes. His long reach could help up top on that zone. I am more concerned
about Ratliff the person. He needs to get his degree and look beyond the basketball
court. I hope he is getting good advice but you have to wonder?

Snipper, If it is easy to win 20 games 11 seasons in a row then why are there only 2 coaches in NCAA division 1 with that record?? To just say Sampson had 11 easy seasons is bogus. He coached in 2 big name conferences to get that record. He took teams deep into the NCAA tournament,including the final 4. I guess Coach K had easy schedules also. The games IU lost
this year are to good teams. Look at their records. They are all in the top twenty. I don't see any black marks yet,but you may be right only time will
tell. As for right now I like a positive spin on this team and coach. You have
a right to your negative spin but I hope you are wrong.

I know this will be hard for some of you but Sampson now has 11- 20+ win seasons in a
row. There is only 1 active coach with more Coach K at Duke. He has 12. Sampson has been National coach of the year 2 times at a football school! He has and will show
he knows what he is doing in spite of the fact that many of you seem to think you would
do better. This team is 20-3 and he has them headed into the next 3 games with some
very positive road wins. Guys, he knows what he is doing!! Do you think DJ White would
be this good if he was still coached by Mike Davis??? Or do you think Jordan Crawford just got better without his coaching?? I think not! You guys have been on the man the whole season> Just step back a miniute. Our 3 losses are to ranked teams.
Time to fan up and give this team and it's coaches some credit!

What bothers me about their statement is the fact that it was to the "fans of both teams".
What about to EJ,the team,IU coaches and to EJ's Family???? They are not mentioned
because Weber,Guenther and team are not sorry and still blaming Ej,family and coach
Sampson for their bad season. I really hope Weber continues to cry about this. Maybe
he will cry himself into getting fired!!

I know you all want the old and tired motion offense but give it up. It is not going to happen! So take a look at the box score. Take out Gordon and White. The rest of the team was 5 for 27 or 18.5% and 1 0f 14 from three land or 7.1%. We lost because we could not make shots. Bassett who was leading the big ten from 3 was 0 for 5. He,Lance and everyone had open shots and they were terrible. IU has not beat WU at their home since 1998. Bo Ryan is 57 and 2 against big ten teams at home. Go look at your pre season
projections. Did any of you really think we would win at Wisconsin or Michigan State?
Making shots is IU's problem and until everyone starts shooting better including Ratliff,
who you all think is our savior, this team will have problems getting wins on the road.
I know everyone wants to blame coach but the players lost this game. Ratliff has to play
and act like a senior before he deserves playing time. He has done nothing on or off the
court to just get playing time because he shows up. He and others need an attitude
adjustment before they get to play. He has been over rated his whole career and having
an attitude will not help his team or him. There will be life after Wisconsin.

MIKEY M, thanks for the article about Jimmy Rayl !!

Before they had the 3 point shot there was a player who would
start shooting just after he crossed the 10 second line. Early 60's
I think. He never saw a shot he did not like and he was an Indiana
boy. He was truly a long range bomber. You young dude's guess
who?? As for the last 40 years Eric Gordon is tops!!

Postman E Thanks for such a positive spin on the game. This
team really is blessed with talent and if coach can continue to push
them to be better every game we are in for some great games. I
hate when folks get down on freshman. EJ is special and we can't
use his skills to judge the other freshman and new guys. As a
group I think they are doing very well and the record shows it. Now
lets Kick some Illinois butts this weekend!!!!

Tom has it right. There are 2 teams in the country that go to the
line more than anyone IU and North Carolina. EJ is a great shooter but 86% at the line is a better average than anything he shoots! He had more points than any IU freshman in history at his 1st Big Ten game. I hope he goes to the line 30 times a game if he can. Most of us grew up playing or coaching the Bob Knight motion offense so it drives us crazy not to see all the screens and movement of players but this is what IU does now so you can let it continue to drive you crazy or change and be happy. Why do you think NC goes to the line so much? They go one on one to the hole. The 2 teams are 26 wins and one loss. Also DJ
and Stemler are seniors and road tested. These freshman are not so if you can't get the ball to EJ and Bassett is hurt then DJ and Lance were our best percentage shooters at the line in the game. I believe last year IU was 2-6 on the road in big ten play
so we already have 1 road win. This is a good team!

Postman, I know it is just a post but Big A at the bottom refers
to "My Take" so it is not just a post. It is his opinion on the schedule and all I want is more topics. He has beat this horse
enough as others have said. As for basketball knowledge I would
put my 46 years of coaching and playing up against anyone. I have thought that Big A has knowledge about the game. That is why I want him to move on to other topics and have fun. This is a great IU team and coach thinks they are ready for the big ten so lets support them and have fun we can't change a thing about the past. I am sorry if i hurt anyones feelings that was not my intent. Go Hoosiers!

BIG A, Now we know your opinion for the 80TH time. Please pick
a new topic and start talking about the team,its players,the games
and the Big Ten. I am starting to worry that you can't report on
anything productive. Maybe you really don't know anything about
basketball so you keep repeating the same old tired stuff. Show
me some good reporting about these things. We believe you can!

I know DJ had a great game and another double double but
did you notice that Ellis also had a double double with 10 points
and 10 assists to go with his 7 rebounds. It has been a long time since a small forward had 10 assists.

Tom, Sorry,but after 8 games his 3 point shooting is .364 3rd best behind EJ and Bassett and his overall shooting percentage is .459 better than starters Bassett and Ellis. On a team full of guards and small forwards that's not bad. So you need to make a decision and back the whole team and its players like a true IU fan or continue to send sour grape messages. Most fans have players they like better than others. WE ALL KNOW WHO YOU DON'T LIKE SO HOW ABOUT SOME COMMENTS ABOUT WHO YOU DO LIKE!! More of your same old comments serve no purpose. Thanks

OR....... is Bassett hurt more than IU is telling us????? Guards must get back on defense even if we play man to man!! I wonder but
you can bet Sampson had them watching tape for a long time on
this and other teaching items. Its only one game and a lot of new
players. They will get better probably starting tomorrow night.
Go Team