NCHoosier32

Yeah, I knew I had heard that somewhere. Scares the crap out of me. Hard to imagine that he isn't ready to bust his tail and be in the next draft, but you never know.

I'm not overly worried about defense. I mean XJ and TG should be very solid. Ware seems legit as a shot blocker. Reneau will be improved and just needs to be able to guard a big. If Mbako isn't a great defender immediately, I'll live with that if he is a legit scorer. I mean, the more I think about it, it seems weird that we're not in the preseason top 25. Three 5 star recruits, XJ, and Galloway? Solid frontcourt depth. I totally get the chemistry question mark, but aren't a lot of teams in the same boat when it comes to that?

See... I don't know about the front court need part. I know Ware and Reneau both want to be in the draft next year, but will they be? Then you have Sparks back. Eh, I don't know though. Spin it the other way and assume both Reneau and Ware are gone, then it's a huge need. Either way, this would be absolutely HUGE!

This is suddenly exciting! Seemed so unlikely and now seems very encouraging. Given the choice of position, I would have loved to get Boogie seeing we could still be pretty solid upfront next year depending on who all is back. That said we can always use another 5 star!

I definitely have to go with coaching and chemistry, but Mbako is definitely my second choice. I just feel like we need him to be what I think his high end is.

Seems the chemistry part will be a big question for all programs going forward with the portal situation, right? On paper, we look to start three 5 star recruits at 3,4,5 spots and the most experienced PG in the conference along with a much improved Galloway. Pretty excited to see how it all shakes out. No reason that isn't a top 25 talent team. Seems like we can count on XJ, Galloway, and Reneau to give us solid roles. Not sure what to expect from Ware, but seems like a worst case scenario is a long, versatile forward that can rebound, block shots, and provide versatile scoring when he's on. My big concern is that I feel like for us to be on the high end of our potential, Mbako will need to show that he is a solid 3 at this level. I think he will and feel like he could lead us in scoring. If not, I think we'll have a big hole. I don't see why we'd expect Galloway to take a step back shooting wise unless he starts trying to take too many and forces bad shots. I don't know what to think about the other guys you mention. I love our frontcourt depth and hope Cupps will surprise people.

That doesn't mean all cops are like that or that they always try to escalate things, right?

I think it is a shame where this conversation has gone, but would like to say this - if I were at a Taco Bell at 3am and created a scene and the police were called... then I refused to leave and deescalate the situation, I would expect to get arrested. Just honestly what I'd expect. I don't have any personal stories to tell about the police, (although I have been arrested) but I do fear them in the aspect that I am supposed to follow the law and they are supposed to enforce it.

I totally get that we all live different lives. We all have different challenges. I don't get where this is very relevant to the fact that he was at TB at 3am causing enough of a scene to get the police called then having his window broken and wrestled to the ground and that we search for reasons why that behavior is okay. Also get that some police officers are not good people, but don't get why we assume that all or bad. I'd rather avoid politics, race debates, etc on here and talk about Hoosier basketball.

This is also a great point

This ^^^

Whole situation just really sucks. I mean I am admittedly old school about nearly everything. That said, I guarantee I did nearly all the bad things possible when at IU. Whatever went down here doesn't mean MM is a terrible kid or that we don't want him. However, it always amazes me how people come on here and tell everyone to not overreact and then start coming up with all of the possible scenarios that could make it not that bad. Okay, but it could also be that it really is that bad or worse than what we are thinking just as easily. Fair or not, no one cared what NCHoosier did in college, but athletes are in the limelight. You have to know that. It looks bad for our school/program when athletes are arrested. I don't really see how that could be an argument. My thought would be that most of the time these guys get out of the trouble due to special treatment, so it is entirely feasible that what he did left the police absolutely no choice when he could have just gone home. Why has he at TB at 3am? I know why I was there back then and it wasn't good. Why get to a point with an employee that the police are called? Most importantly, you get to a point where they break the window and have to physically interact? I'm honestly trying to decide if I'd feel better if alcohol was involved? I mean, I have been saying all along that if we are going to be relevant this season, he will be the key. If he isn't our leading scorer, I think we'll likely be average. If he's what I hope, we could be good. I'm certainly not clamoring to give up on him or whatever, but I do see this is a major concern.

yes

sorry sir. glad you are here to defend him.

sorry sir. won't question you again. please don't sic your buddies on me!

i do my best not to interact with you, but i think it is strange that JHS is the one you are constantly all over.

solid and a little jealous. as a teacher, i gotta pick and choose when to splurge for that. Old Scout isn't bad though. cheers!

love that excuse. i'm working on some bourbon well before tip!

all right. i feel like i have been pretty positive for me. here comes the pessimism: i just started putting my predictions for all remaining games and realized it makes more sense to say this... the only games i would likely take the Hoosiers on would possibly be home vs. Iowa and Michigan. maybe home vs. Illinois?

it's really hard for me to imagine winning this game. a win would get me pumped, but to be honest, a loss won't get me all that upset. not gonna change how i think this season is going to go.

i always have and always will watch every minute of an IU bball game that i can. don't care if we lose all of the rest, i'll still be watching. not very optimistic over here though. very disappointing season. we'll never know wat might have been if we had X and Race. now i'm just hoping we gel and improve so much that we make a big run in the B1G tourney.

i don't know. i struggle to say JHS is our problem. that's just my opinion.

i agree. my thought is that Juwan Howard looked good for a little while bc he has Martelli on his bench. eventually we see it isn't enough and he isn't a very good coach and a maniac on top of it, but if Woodson had someone with solid college coaching experience, i think it would help.

see, my memory is so bad. i guess he was good his senior year right? i used the Google machine. looks like he averaged like 10.6ppg? better than i remembered. i was never a big fan of his game.