Disqus - Friends of JerryCT

Re: Mike and Mike campaign for Dan Dakich, I shudder

bz — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:28:14 -0000

i haven't listened or watched these guys in a while and now i remember why. they get stale after a while and they rarely disagree with special guests, even if only after the interview, and they never as the difficult questions.

if they say that they would endorse dd for the permanent position, they obviously haven't watched any part of the last six games.

Re: Game Thread: Indiana vs. Arkansas

bz — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:00:02 -0000

why mike white? PUT IN KYLE TABER! this is just one reason why you'll lose your WHOLE title, not just the interim tag!!!!!

Re: Game Thread: Indiana vs. Arkansas

bz — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:21:15 -0000

they say that good shooters shoot themselves out of slumps. how many games does that normally take?

Re: Game Thread: Indiana vs. Arkansas

bz — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:52:02 -0000

so long 2007-2008. i was excited to usher you in the door and i'm even more excited to see you go.

don't let the back door hit you on the way out.

Re: The Morning After: That’s that

bz — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:14:32 -0000

great post e. i will disagree with you on one point. i don't know that i'm angry with the players, but i am close. the reason is that no matter how difficult things got (and the phone thing and ks leaving WERE difficult), i can understand the players not playing as well, but i can't accept their obvious lack of effort. over the last eight games there were too many examples of a lack of hustle and too many players whose body language gave away the thoughts in their heads. when things get bad, the basketball court is supposed to be the one place where they can forget their problems for 40 minutes and just do what they do best. i equally blame dd for not doing whatever it takes to get the guys to play with an "us against the world" mentality, but at the end of the day it's the kids that have to give it their all on the court, not dd.

i'm really hoping for a head coach who is a supreme motivator; someone who can come in and get the players to buy in to a "we're not rebuilding, we're already good" mentality. (is it a sign of nerdness if i used a semicolon on a blog comment)? i can't get visions of bruce pearl walking in to a recruit's family room in a crimson sport coat out of my head.

Re: ITH Super Happy Fun Time Coaching Search: Bruce Pearl

bz — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:00:35 -0000

the tournament is overrated?! you begin every season with the goal of winning the national championship, not winning the big ten. yes winning the big ten is important. consistantly being at the top of the big ten establishes a team as a 2nd tier team (wis.), do it consistantly enough and you can be a top tier school (mich st.). consistantly contending for (and winning) a national championship is what makes a program legendary. i don't want to root for a school that will always be solid, but never dance to "one shining moment."

Re: ITH Super Happy Fun Time Coaching Search: Scott Skiles

bz — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:12:07 -0000

i second that.

Re: Report: Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis dismissed

bz — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:45:21 -0000

seriously. if this is an april fools' joke, it's not a good one. it's too close to being believable.

...what...it's not an april 1 joke...CRAP!

Re: Report: Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis dismissed

bz — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:56:07 -0000

i know that dd is the coach and authority right now, but we ALL know that he is NOT the next head coach. i am really hesitant to endorse and INTERIM head coach making permanent decisions for a basketball program when they KNOW that when the loose the interim portion of the title they are going to lose the whole title.

with that said, it hasn't been so long since i was 20. i made some stupid mistakes. i did some dumb things (send me an email if you would like some entertaining details). i say all this to make the point that while i was in college, i never put my scholarships in jeopardy. i never skipped mandatory study sessions or meetings with profs. while i was young and stupid, i was smart enough to understand that when an authority figure told me to be somewhere and do something (for a grade or a starting position), i did it. i didn't challenge my club volleyball coach just because he was a club coach, i did what i was told to do.

to rehash: i don't like dd making permanent decisions that affect this club's future. i dislike even more giving these kids passes because the are "emotional kids."

Re: Tom Crean the choice for Indiana

bz — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:46:04 -0000

here, here!!!

Re: Tom Crean the choice for Indiana

bz — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:49:34 -0000

i know several people here over the last couple of weeks have said that they don't like crean for this reason or that. he hasn't been in a lot of people's top 5's, but i think this is going to be a GREAT hire!

Re: A new sense of direction for Indiana basketball

bz — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:03:40 -0000

i am on record as saying that i really liked crean. i definitely had him in my top three. after listening to his press conference, i love him. he is enamored by the tradition that is hoosier basketball. he wants to unite the hoosier community. he knows that it might not happen overnight, but his team WILL play hard, WILL compete, and WILL regain the glory. it's hard not to smile!

i actually wore my one of my iu t-shirts when jogging today. i haven't done that in a while. it's good to be a hoosier!

Re: The Aftermath: Eric Gordon

bz — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:53:47 -0000

i really feel like if ej stayed another year, he would have (finally) received some superior college coaching and could have refined his skills turning himself into the top overall selection of the 2009 draft. he would have make much more money with going #1 and would have raised his game to a level that he would have been a starter for most nba teams (and an all-star for the pacers). if i were in his shoes, i would love to say that i would have seen reason, realized that i need more coaching and need to get better, and that the money will be better next year. but...i just don't think i can say that. the turmoil that is iu basketball right now, the rapport with yet another new coach, the lack of championship talent, and the millions that are being waved in my face right now are just too much to turn down. though i wish he would have staid, it is with selfish motives.

how will i remember him? it depends on what his nba career becomes. if he's a perenial all-star, i'll brag about all the times i watched him on tv, how he was one of the greatest players to go to iu. right now, i see him a blip on the iu screen. i will never truly appreciate what he did for iu basketball because of the horrible, tumultuous, depressing, (etc, etc, etc) year this has been. no matter what he becomes at the next level, i will always follow his name with a slow shake of the head, acknowledging what might have been.

Re: The Aftermath: Eric Gordon

bz — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:54:42 -0000

sorry. perennial, not perenial.

Re: The Aftermath: Eric Gordon

bz — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:06:40 -0000

i criticized his game over the final month of the season. it doesn't mean i don't appreciate him. it means that for as much pub as he gets, as great as his game is, as uninjured as he said (over and over) that he was, he was supposed to improve throughout the season (he didn't) and should have been at his best in march (he wasn't). if he didn't want the pressure that comes from playing in front of us "unappreciative," then he should have gone to indiana state or bowling green.

Re: Don Fischer interviews Tom Crean

bz — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:18:04 -0000

well said!

Re: Stern and Brand ponder new age limit rule

bz — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:15:14 -0000

playing in the nba is a PRIVILAGE not a right. there is no law that says an employer HAS to employ someone or that someone HAS to be employed. that's capitalism. i turn people down for jobs every day. it's not their right to work for me, it's a privilege. this in turn makes it my privilege to employee who i wish.

certainly it would behoove me to employ the best and most talented, but sometimes the best and the most talented aren't necessarily the same person. i can hire a kid straight out of high school, but there is a lot i'm going to have to teach him. he may have raw skills, but he doesn't have the experience of being in this position before, and he most likely won't have a developed business acumen or an understanding of common business principles. i also will question his ability to represent my company when put on the spot. in short, he may become my best salesperson, but he's not going to be for a while. most business people would rather hire a kid out of college who is more likely to succeed sooner rather than later. he's still going to take some polishing, but only a couple of months, not years. i can take the best and the brightest right out of high school, but i'm going to have to educate them on my own dime and time. see any parallels?

everybody's favorite success stories are bryant, mcgrady, and garnett (lebron doesn't count because he is in a league of his own). those three weren't anything more that sixth or seventh men their first two years in the league. it wasn't until their third year that they because starters and started posting the numbers that we are used to today.

nba owners and gm's have established a practice of hiring kids straight out of college who don't have the experience, acumen, or savvy to contribute in the same way that they can contribute after if they had attended college, but the thought of losing out on that potential is something there are willing to pay for.

this age rule has come about because there is more talent in the association that ever before and gm's/owners feel like they can afford to miss out on the potential because of all of the options that will give them immediate returns. a day will come when there isn't enough talent to go around and they will look for ways to get around the rule in order to get the best talent back to the association.

edit: sorry that was so long. these fingers just kept on going.

Re: Stern and Brand ponder new age limit rule

bz — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:27:34 -0000

a. i'll look at their resume, but if it only says high school, it gets weeded out.

b. it's not solely their age at all. i specifically said that it was because of their experience. it just so happens that because they are young, they don't happen to have that experience. it is my right as an employer to require a certain amount of experience.

you are right in that the union has a certain amount of power in whether or not this happens, but the fact of the matter is that the nba does have the right to require a certain amount of experience outside of high school.

Re: Bennie Seltzer, Kelvin Sampson and Indiana

bz — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:00:07 -0000

i trust coach crean, but i am VERY uncomfortable bringing in someone who is so closely associated with sampson.

i have no problem with judging him by his association with ks. ks wreaked some much havoc on the iu program that anything related to him should be considered a cancer. it's not a double standard. iu will be synonymous with ks for quite a while. he will be talked about, along with the damage he did, for years to come. as many years as he set us back, i don't want to have anything to do with him.

Re: Report: Crean to go on the road for 10 days

bz — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:54:05 -0000

this surprises me. i really hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the butt.

Re: Open thread: Friday the 13th in Seattle

bz — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:44:35 -0000

i tend to think that the ncaa will be nice to us. reasons:
a) we sacrificed our coach and our season already. we may as well have given ourselves a post season ban last year because, let's face it, we didn't really show up for the first round.

b) we have restricted our head coach with the amount of contact he can have with recruits already.

c) we have a new coach who is saying (and doing) all the right things about running a clean program for the sake of the program. program comes first, wins come second.

d) we have turned over our entire roster. (we still have the two troublemakers in fink and taber, but now that their buddies are gone, the will be forced to go to class and behave).

adding penalties to this program seems like overkill to me. the mess has already been cleaned up. there is no point it making it worse then it already will be. if they are really desperate to punish someone, why don't they go down to tallahassee or socal. there's definitely more to find there.

Re: Should IU block Jordan Crawford from transferring to Kentucky?

bz — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:13:42 -0000

as just about everyone else has already said, just let him go. this isn't the team/coach that he committed to anymore. the only school i would even consider blocking would be detroit mercy.

Re: Bruce Weber: ‘Indiana Will Suck’

bz — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:56:21 -0000

do i really need another reason to hate weber? no, but i'll always take another. good job brucey. your chances at beating a team that "sucks" as much as iu will just went down substantially.

Re: Bruce Weber: ‘Indiana Will Suck’

bz — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:57:01 -0000

i hate bruce weber, but i don't know if i hate him that much!

Re: Skullets on the prowl

bz — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:33:46 -0000

that is incredible! i thought i was back in college for a second.