DISQUS

Not to mention, Alford let a felon play for his team which in turn alienated his fan base and had his entire student body turn against him. By the end, they had a few thousand people showing up for games.

I'm not mad that Crawford played bad in one game during his freshman season. I think most would agree that he has exceeded expectations already this year.

I am concerned with how sluggish and tired he looked. Is fatigue going to be an issue? Hopefully, Bassett will be back soon and some of the pressure will be off Crawford, but what was going on last night?

DWade is one example and happens to be one of the best players in the league. For every ONE Wade you can count handfuls of big 2 guards (Kobe, TMac, Kevin Martin, Manu Ginobili, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton) who are at least 3 inches taller than EGordon. Therefore, Gordon is in fact considered undersized.

Conley was a top 5 pick last year, so discrediting Rose by saying he is similar to Conley doesn't work.

Kelin - you question Rose's ability to defend. I recognize you probably have watched Gordon play plenty and haven't had the opportunities to watch DRose. I think if you watch him, you'll realize he's a hell of a defender.

Gordon over Rose because he can sell tickets? I think NBA "people" recognize the financial success of the Suns and would accept drafting a pass first point guard like Rose.

How is Rose not a pure point guard based on NBA standers? What is your rationale here?

As a freshman:
Nash, 8 PPG, 2 APG, 2.5 RPG
Kidd, 13 PPG, 7.7 APG, 5 RPG
Rose 14.4 PPG, 3.9 APG, 5.3 RPG

I think at least this point in his career, Rose is right there with the pure point guards you state he is not nearly like. I'm not saying he is currently as good of a player as Nash and Rose. I am saying he is a PURE point guard, as Nash and Kidd are referred to as PURE point guards.

I'm a big IU fan and love what Gordon does on the court, but I'm also a big NBA fan and am confident that Rose is right there with Gordon as an NBA prospect.

Rose is a true point guard - the type of player that is rare in today's NBA.

Gordon is an undersized shooting guard who cannot/will not/should not be converted to a point in the NBA.

Kelin, as you point out, at this point Rose may not appear to be as good of a player as Gordon to some, he projects slightly better to the NBA game. Plus, as a shooting guard, Gordon will be asked to defend players on a nightly basis that are bigger than him. Rose will be defending point guards that are the same size as he is.

I think the bottom line with Stemler is he is fine for what he is: a streaky, slow-footed perimeter shooter. He is too slow defensively to defend at the 3, and too short to defend 4's. So by my account, if he is your 7th man or so, then he's fine. The fact that he is our starting power forward is not fine. We are asking him to do more than he is capable of, and therefore are disappointed that he cannot meet these unrealistic expectations.

I think we need more explanation around Mike White no longer redshirting and Crawford's suspension. I had seen that he will be suspended for three games. Is this definite? Could it be longer?

With Mike White coming back, isn't this just KS telling us that Holman is not ready and Stemler will never be ready? I can't help but think that if we had Mike White then maybe the Xavier game could have been closer.

Great win last night. Stemler furthered my point that on a championship team, he's your seventh man or so - not one of your top five.

One thing to add: I caught the Duke-Illinois game last night. If Coach Webber thinks that Trent Meachem, Chester Frazier, and the McCabe kid are going to stop EG23, Bassett, and Crawford, he's sadly mistaken. Anything less than a sweep of the Illini this year will be a dissapointment.

Not that I'm looking ahead or anything...

Well summed up points here. Thanks.

good stuff.

http://www.pocketfives.com/5AF2766B-1582-4452-B...

Ray,

So you're saying that a verbal noise that a person NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN THE GAME is more harmful than a certain playing missing open 3's continually, losing his man on defense, turning the ball over, etc?

I'm sure this isn't what you are implying, so please clarify your point. Thanks.

"Chattanooga was a bad matchup for him because their bigs were faily quick:? My lord.

Shaun Pruitt, Jamelle Cornley, Brian Randle, Kosa Koufos, Patrick Patterson, Randal Falker, Matt Shaw, Mark Coury, Alade Aminu, Jeremu Smith, Mike Williams, Perry Stevenson.

What do these guys have in common?

ALL better than the garbage Chattanooga through at IU and ALL will be playing against our beloved Lance Stemler this year.

I don't mean to put words in your mouth, but if the point is that Chattanooga was a bad matchup and that is why Stemler played bad, then I guess Stemler will be bad all season.

Tom - Here, Here! You couldn't have summed it up better...

Recognizing your points about "booing" Lance Stemler, I think the bigger issue is why he is a fixture in our rotation.

See my post above, but clearly I think if he is in your top 5, you won't be making it to the final four.

As I wrote: "In my opinion, this shouldn’t even be much of a situation though. Stemler is a middle of the bench player for IU. He is a power forward that cannot defend the post and cannot score inside. He cannot play small forward because he is not quick enough on offense and cannot guard a wing player. So what is he? He’s bad."

I would much rather see Holman or DeAndre out there each game. Both give you a better chance to win "today" and "tomorrow".

Fans don't want to boo. They want their players to play well and to win games. Booing is more of a natural reaction to bad play. Stemler is bad. If you're reaction to bad play is to boo, then boo his ass.

In a literal sense, you are allowed to boo. The language on the back of your ticket allowed. Throwing things on the court or disrupting the game is prohibitive.

In my opinion, this shouldn't even be much of a situation though. Stemler is a middle of the bench player for IU. He is a power forward that cannot defend the post and cannot score inside. He cannot play small forward because he is not quick enough on offense and cannot guard a wing player. So what is he? He's bad.

Illinois' one signing yesterday

"I'm going to get good coaching, and I'll be able to play right away. And they have the things to help me succeed in my major, forest management."

-Illinois basketball recruit, Stan Simpson

Glad to know the forest management program at Illinois is drawing kids to their program...

I'm glad that others say that he kept not mentioning Eric Gordon - really odd.

Jones to W. Va

After the first half which saw Kevin Bridgewaters score in double digits (12?), Kelvin Sampson assigned Gordon to defend him. The second half was very different than the first for Bridgewaters. Gordon played almost flawlessly, and I wouldn't make a point of criticizing his defense.

My first half thoughts:
-Our defensive rotation is slow and has lacked effort.
-The announcing of this game is awful. When Gordon goes up for a layup and misses off the backboard, it's a missed shot, not an "allyoop".
-Let's continue to see Thomas and D.J. get the ball on the low block. When they have gotten these opportunities, they have scored efficiently.
-Why does Kelvin love seeing Lance Stemler out there? He has gotten burned on defense several times, brings nothing to the table on offense, and is undersized.
-Is Mike White redshirting this year? Is this a foregone conclusion?
-I predict by Big Ten play our starting 5 is Bassett, Gordon, Crawford, Thomas, and DJ.

I've got the young group in a blowout.

Do Work???

Mike DeCourcey wrote a great column about the unfairness around the firing of Senderoff.

http://www.sportingnews.com/experts/mike-decour...

Definitely worth the read.

Great stuff guys. Thanks for the follow-up.

Can we get some further information on Terrell Holloway? What can we expect from him? Can he shoot the ball from the perimeter? What did his high school team do last season? Why wasn't he looking at any schools in the northeast? Is he a scorer or more of a distributor?

Thanks.