Sounds Familiar, eh?

Mike Freeman of cbssports.com had an interesting article today on Calipari.

Some of it sounded very familiar.  Take a gander at these closing comments:

Kentucky fans will flame message boards and threaten to burn down my house but in their blue and white hearts they know what I'm saying is true. They're holding their noses and enjoying the ride just like many others are.

Put on a surgical mask and take a deep breath, Kentucky fans. It's your turn to root for your for-now hero while looking over the shoulder and waiting for the NCAA to knock at the door.

Sounds familiar, right?  Actually, Kentucky fans didn't threaten to burn down my house, they only wished me dead in a plane crash.  Innocent enough, I guess.

Regardless of which threat they choose, the beauty of it all is that they react that way because they know it's all true.

House of cards, Kentucky fans.  House of cards.

Say It Ain't So, Mo

Say it ain't so or say it is so, but just say something, Mo.  If you haven't been following the recruitment of Moses Abraham, let me just tell you that the last 48 hours have been very interesting.

I'll attempt to recap it for you now.  Please be aware that I am going by my recollection only.  Mainly because I am lazy, but also because most of this story is based on fan comments, rumors, and unnamed sources.  In fact, it's my belief that many of the IU blogs are now referring to each other when they say "a source close to the situation tells me...."  Regardless, if you are a junkie for any IU basketball related content, then the last 48 hours have actually been fun.

So, Moses Abraham is 6'9" and 235 pounds.  He was virtually unknown 6 months ago.  He came to the United States from Nigeria about 5 or 6 months ago and played his senior season in the D.C. area.  The word on the web is that he has a huge wing span and is an excellent shot blocker.  Good size and athletic.  Somewhat raw on the offensive end.  I even read "not Tijan raw, but still raw".  I've seen anywhere from 4-stars to not rated.  His recruitment heated up the last couple of months and he took visits to Georgetown, Maryland, and Tennessee.  His visits to Seton Hall and IU (senior night against NW when we actually won) were cancelled due to Moses having the flu.  Cancellations of visits regardless of the reason provided usually means that the kid is no longer interested in that school, but all reports were that Moses was truly sick.

Even with the IU visit cancelled, IU was still considered a contender with Georgetown being the leader.  Then came this past Sunday.  Reports from IU outlets were that Abraham was down to two schools -- IU and Georgetown.  However, as I started reading more on Sunday, I came across an article in the Washington Post that also said he was down to two schools, but those two schools were Maryland and Georgetown.  Regardless of which schools, all outlets were reporting a decision on Sunday night around 7 pm.

So, like many IU fans desperate for some good news, I logged on to Inside the Hall, The Hoosier Scoop, Hoosier Hype, and Peegs and started refreshing each site one at a time and kept doing it over and over and over and over again.  I know it sounds pretty pathetic, but each site had a lot of fan comments and chatter, so it was actually entertaining to read all the new comments that would pop up.  7pm came and went with no news, but eventually there were "sources from the Abraham camp" that said the decision would come at midnight.

For me, no problemo.  I'm a night owl anyway and they're talking Eastern Time to boot.  So, I took a break and then re-started my 4-site refresh routine.  Nothing but comments from fans and word from a Georgetwon site that Moses attended the Hoyas Selection Show party, which obviously would be bad news.  Then there was a lot of commentary about whether he could be there during a "no-contact recruitment period", followed by news that it was a public place, blah, blah, blah.  It should also be noted that Crean was in D.C. on Sunday to watch Oladipo play, but also a lot of speculation whether he was going to try to see Abraham, followed by the no-contact stuff, blah, blah, blah.  But I couldn't help myself and stayed online until 1:30am CT (2:30am ET).  Still no news.

Monday comes and IU fans are still clamoring for information....anything they, I mean we, can get our hands on.  On Monday night, I felt like I was in an episode of Seinfeld when I joined a live blog/chat to discuss the lack of news.  It was put on jointly by Inside the Hall and The Hoosier Scoop and they said they had more people join that discussion about nothing than their live blogs/chats of IU games during the year.  At this point, it was pretty clear that this whole situation had taken on a life of it's own.

At some point in the night, Hoosier Nation got word from the Abraham camp that there would not be a decision on Monday night.  With that, I think most Hoosier fans went to bed thinking that this must be good for IU.  If the decision was truly down to IU and Georgetwon and the final decision was Georgetown, then most thought the decision would have been announced Sunday or Monday.  Many thought the longer this takes, the better chance for IU.

Today's news has been a confirmation of that line of thinking.  There have been some reports today that the delay in the decision has been mainly due to IU still being in the picture.  And now, as of tonight, it appears that Abraham will visit IU.  That news is very good news for IU fans and now I just hope that it leads to even better news in the form of a commitment.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

There's still two schools of thought here.  One is that this is IU's golden opportunity to close the deal.  The other is that Mo might just being doing this to appease certain people in his "camp" who might be pushing him to at least visit IU before making a decision.

Another interesting thing about this is that this kid is not The Savior even with a name like Moses Abraham.  My concern with this recruitment getting this much attention, people might think he is supposed to be a savior.  Don't get me wrong, I hope IU lands this kid, but I would see him coming in and competing with Capo and Pritchard and Bawa.  Competing is the key word.  I don't see him coming in as a guaranteed starter by any stretch of the imagination.  But anything that can potentially help IU get better, I am all for it.  And if the 5-spot is going to give you little to no offense, then it would be nice to at least have a shot-blocker on the defensive end.  I'm just sayin'.

And the final angle in all this is that IU would have room on the roster next year, but it would make them oversigned by 1 the following year.  Or something like that.  I actually haven't been looking at the scholarship numbers all that closely because I do expect at least one transfer this off-season, so it probably won't matter in the end.

Now that I've taken the time to type this, I should probably go check some other sites to make sure I haven't missed any comments from "kelin blab" or "4guards" or "Chronic Hoosier".

Moses Abraham....you have to love that name.

Untitled

The most troubling thing about this loss is that now we leave it in the Selection Committee's hands.  If the committee screws us on Selection Sunday by shipping us out west or something like that, we only have ourselves to blame.

The second most troubling thing was that the Hoosiers led this game for the first 32 minutes and then it turned into a complete laugher and they lose by 15 points!  If this season wasn't the second season of our worst nightmare and if we weren't so used to complete collapses at the end of games, I would be devastated right now.  Actually, I am devastated right now, but not as much about this single game, it's more related to how far we've fallen and how much of a long struggle it is to return the glory to old IU. 

I can't say I was ever too confident in this game even though IU got out to that hot 8-0 start.  That opening 8 point lead was their largest lead of the game.  Even though Northwestern never led in the first 32 minutes, they were staying close even while they were shooting horribly from 3-point range.  I believe they were 2-22 at one point.  So, in my mind, I knew that if they starting hitting from downtown, this game would turn in a hurry.  It's almost like I can see the future.

The Hoosiers also looked very shaky against NW's half-court 1-3-1 and the turnovers proved to be costly.  After NW's 1-3-1 helped them come back and get the regular season finale into overtime, IU knew they would see plenty of it in this game.  Therefore, you know they worked on it extensively in practice.  Unfortunately, the best weapon against those types of defenses is experience.  Experience or supreme talent.  The Hoosiers have neither.

I have to tell ya that I like Verdell Jones at the point.  Verdell was only responsible for 1 of today's turnovers and he had 6 assists.  In fact, in the last two games at the point guard position, Verdell put up 38 points, 12 assists, and 5 turnovers.  VJ III may have some turnovers, but I think his productivity at the point far outweighs any turnovers. 

Also, if playing 3 guards, I think Rivers is actually better at the 3-spot and flashing to the middle.  From there he has the ability to get some layups or quickly feed another player as he did a couple times today. 

If only playing 2 guards, then Christian Watford needs to be at the 3-spot.  I think Watford is far more effective at the 3 than he is at the 4.  Far more.

I'll have much more on these types of things before we call it an offseason.  Still to come before the blog takes a break:

• Outlook for next year and beyond
• How good is Maurice Creek?
• BAWA
• The rumor mill
• Any updates on recruiting or the new assistant coach

Hang in there, Hoosier fans.

Timing of McLeod Firing is More than a Little Odd

In case you missed, Assistant Coach Roshown McLeod missed Saturday's NW game and was fired on Sunday.

Crean is being very vague about it and McLeod has been tight-lipped but plans to issue a statement tomorrow.

The Hoosier Scoop captured Crean's comments from his radio show.  In typical Tom Crean fashion, he talked for a little while, but didn't really say much.

“I want Roshown to be successful,” Crean said. “I think what happened with us is it became abundantly clear that I needed to make a change. It became clear to our staff that we needed to make a change. The only thing that’s worse than looking at the time was being indecisive. I wasn’t going to be indecisive. That’s where it’s at. Frankly, I’d like to keep it there. I really don’t want to have to go any further than that. I want to continue to coach this basketball team this season the best way that we can, Continue to recruit the way that we are, get this program pulling in the same direction in every area in what we’re trying to accomplish, what we want from Indiana, what Indiana deserves from us, certainly with the recruiting. It’s gotta be pulling in the same direction and that’s what I want to focus on, and I’m going to do my best to leave it at that and focus on that. I’m not being evasive, but that’s where I’m leaving it…. The decision’s been made. That’s the way it is.”

Obviously, Crean is trying to downplay the timing, but I have to admit that the timing does seem very odd.  There has been speculation that Crean was not happy with McLeod's recruiting and his handling of the big men (I know, a picture of Tom Pritchard popped into my head too).  However, if McLeod's performance is the ONLY issue, then you simply wait until the season ends on Thursday or Friday.  So, I think there has to be more to it than that.

Since this blog has absolutely no journalistic integrity, let's FUEL SOME SPECULATION:

• Maybe Crean has his eye on a new assistant and wants to be sure he can act as soon as the season ends. 
• Perhaps Crean has his eye on a recruiting target or targets and has an assistant in mind that can help him land said target(s). 
• Could it be disciplinary?  McLeod was not at the game on Saturday, then fired on Sunday.  Hmmm.
• What if McLeod made too many phone calls?  Wouldn't you just shit a [insert your answer to the poll question here]!?!?!?!

Now that I've thrown that out there, let's just hope that Crean had made up his mind and figured there was no plus side to waiting even though the season is nearly over.

Things Are Right in the World Again, IU WINS!

Indiana beats Northwestern.....finally, things feel normal again.....even it is only for a brief moment.

The best part about this game was that it was four freshmen that led the way:

* Jordan Hulls - A career-high 24 points on eight 3-pointers in just 12 attempts.  Only Matt Roth and Roderick Wilmont have made more triples in a single game.  Hulls also added 4 assists.

* Derek Elston - A career-high 17 points, 8 rebs, 1 stl, 1 blk.

* Bobby Capobianco - A career-high 8 points, career-high 7 rebounds, 2 stls, 2 blks.

* Christian Watford - A double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, 2 stls, 1 blk.

The only other player that truly contributed was Verdell Jones with 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists.  Nice numbers by Verdell, but he struggled with his jumper today and had some tough turnovers in crunch time.  However, it was interesting to see him running the point today.  I liked it.

Coaches always say that it is not who starts a game that is important, it's who finishes the game.  Especially a close game.  Well, today, it was the four freshmen noted above along with Verdell that played in overtime and they were fantastic.  While the 11-game losing streak was extremely painful and included an average margin of defeat of more than 20 points per game in the last 8 games......forgot where I was going with this point.  See what happens when I merely mention the previous 8 games, I get too distraught to even finish a thought.  Ah, now I remember, my point is that we saw some very positive things from 4 freshmen and a sophomore today.  And from a fan's perspective, we sure needed that.

A few plays that stuck out in my mind from today's game and all 3 involve said freshmen:

* Watford with a great defensive rebound and quick outlet pass to Hulls who pushes the ball up the floor and deep into the lane.  Hulls makes a nice pass behind him to Elston who finishes with a tomohawk!

* This one isn't just one play, it's eight of them.  That's right, the eight 3-pointers from Jordan Hulls including one fairly late in regulation to answer a NW three and he nailed another in the overtime.

* The final one came with 1:26 to go in OT when Bobby C grabbed an airballed desperation three from Hulls and laid it in to beat the shot clock buzzer and got fouled.  The team and fans went crazy.  He made the freebie to put IU up by 7.  In fact, Capabianco was 4-5 from the line in the final 1:26 to help seal the victory.

And so it was, an 11-game losing streak that looked worse than last year.  But on this day, Senior Day I might add, the freshmen made this day a very good one for the Hoosiers. 

Now, if they can just string together an 11-game winning streak, then the Hoosiers will be NCAA champions for the 6th time.

GO HOOSIERS!