Carson's elongated birthday celebration

Someone we've managed to extend Carson's birthday into a series of events spanning about 3 weeks. First, she gets to open presents as they arrive in the mail (which I think is crime).
























Then she goes to see the "High School Musical" musical with her friends and then have cupcakes afterwards.





















































Tyler was there for cupcakes (we stayed home and played "Scooby Doo - Mystery Mayhem" instead of going to the musical).

And then her actual birthday is next Tuesday and then I'm taking her to Chicago the following Friday.

That girl is totally lucking out this year.

Some pictures from Montpellier

As always, click on the picture to see the full-size image.


This is a picture of my hotel (to prevent anyone from getting overly jealous).


Who says Europe is different than the U.S.? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and hamburgers!


Here's a statue and water fountain combo - and some kids in the background who had just gotten drenched playing in the fountain (sound familar?).


On the other side of the fountain above, there's a loooooong avenue to walk down. Pretty.


Here's a big square full of restaurants. This is where the TMNT picture above was taken.


This is the building where the conference is happening. It looks substantially nicer than the hotel.


Another long esplanade... this time with flowers.


Big arches never go out of style.


A statute with a big monument in the background. Speaking of big monuments...


...here it is close-up. Not sure the photo does it justice. It's big. Really big.


Here's a couple pictures of an ancient roman aquaduct. I need to explain to Tyler how impressive it is that the Romans could build multi-level structures using arches to move water around and have them still standing more than two thousand years later.


And for Carson, here's a picture of some crazy pigeons who were noisily taking a bath in some water near the aquaduct. They were having a ball.

I'm taking Carson to American Girl in Chicago

For her 7th birthday.

We're going to have lunch at the AG Cafe and see the American Girl Revue show.

We'll also check out a couple Chicago area museums while we're there.

I'm also learning how to braid her hair.

It's a good thing that I'm comfortable with my masculinity!

18 year old recruits and national titles

Most recruits enter college when they are 18 years old. So, in their lifetime, what teams (and conferences) have won national titles? Here you go:

2007 - Florida
2006 - Florida
2005 - UNC
2004 - UConn
2003 - Syracuse
2002 - Maryland
2001 - Duke
2000 - MSU
1999 - UConn
1998 - Kentucky
1997 - Arizona
1996 - Kentucky
1995 - UCLA
1994 - Arkansas
1993 - UNC
1992 - Duke
1991 - Duke
1990 - UNLV

ACC - 6
SEC - 5
Big East - 3
Pac 10 - 2
B10 - 1
Other - 1

So the B10 has ONE national title in the last 18 years. The ACC and SEC account for 11 of the 18 titles. What about the 18 years prior to that?

1989 - Michigan
1988 - Kansas
1987 - Indiana
1986 - Louisville
1985 - Villanova
1984 - Georgetown
1983 - NC State
1982 - UNC
1981 - Indiana
1980 - Louisville
1979 - MSU
1978 - Kentucky
1977 - Marquette
1976 - Indiana
1975 - UCLA
1974 - NC State
1973 - UCLA
1972 - UCLA

B10 - 5
Big East - 5
Pac 10 - 3
ACC - 3
Big 12 - 1
SEC - 1

(I'm using current conference affiliation above for Marquette and Louisville)

Conclusion?

The B10 needs to get better. Now.

Therapy with Dr. Bob (Trout-style)

Dr. Bob: Ah, welcome back, Terry. Has it been a year already? Time flies, eh?

Me: Hmmpf.

Dr. Bob: Yes, well, court ordered therapy is no treat for anyone. Have a seat. How is your wife?

Me: Fine.

Dr. Bob: And how are your kids?

Me: Fine.

Dr. Bob: And how is your job going?

Me: Fine.

Dr. Bob: I see. And what about your obsession with Indiana basketba...

Me: This is actually a really interesting part of the year because the season just ended so we're all talking about next season and the new recruits and other recruits we might get and how much the other players will improve and who might transfer and...

Dr. Bob: Remember our breathing rule? Actually, I'm a bit relieved that you seem so upbeat. I watched the first half of the UCLA game and...

Me: (covering ears) Verboten!!

Dr. Bob: I beg your pardon?

Me: We've all decided to block that game from our memories. You know, like childhood trauma.

Dr. Bob: You're comparing a basketball game to childhood trauma? I'm not sure that's healthy.

Me: Yes, yes. Healthy. Very important. Anyway, the point is that we don't talk about such things.

Dr. Bob: And by "we" you mean the internet forum thingies that you read with your, um, "friends"?

Me: They're less my friends and more like my family. My brothers and sisters. Aunts and uncles. Cousins twice removed.

Dr. Bob: I get the idea. So, in spite of the UCLA... er, the end of the season, it sounds like you and your friends enjoyed the season?

Me: Enjoyed?

Dr. Bob: Yes. Enjoyed. You're a fan, right? You follow Indiana basketball because you enjoy it, I assume?

Me: Hmmmm... yes, maybe there's something to what you say. Enjoyment. I remember enjoying Indiana basketball... long ago... in the days of my youth... Calbert .......

Dr. Bob: (snapping) Terry! Stay with me here. I admit I'm a little surprised. After all our conversations about Mike Davis... long, painful conversations... I thought that now that Kelvin Sampson was the coach things would be back to, um, normal.

Me: I thought so too. And I tried to get back. I watched all the games I could for the first time in years. And I liked the team. But whenever they'd start to struggle, started missing shots... losing rebounds... stuff that every team does... I'd start having flashbacks to the Davis era. My brain knew that it was different, by my heart would hold me back.

Dr. Bob: Ah, yes, battered fan syndrome. Very common. Did you continue to have obsessive thoughts about the team?

Me: Well, doc, obsession is really in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? I mean what might seem obsessive to one person might be perfectly normal for someone else.

Dr. Bob: I mean classic obsessive fan behavior. Staying awake till 3 in the morning because you're so excited after a win. Daydreaming about the team winning a national title. Paying any attention to recruiting. Blogging about basketball during the off-season...

Me: Oh, no... I'm fine. Really.

Dr. Bob: Uh huh. So how do you follow the team nowadays? Any changes?

Me: No, pretty much the same. I go to Peegs for new, the forums for discussion, I visit Big Ten Wonk.... Omigosh!!

Dr. Bob: What? What is it?

Me: (curling into fetal position) Beeeetraaaaaayed.... beeeetraaaaayed...

Dr. Bob: I can't understand you with your thumb in your mouth.

Me: Oh, sorry. It's just that Big Ten Wonk has decided to stop blogging exclusively about Big Ten basketball and is branching out to all of college basketball.

Dr. Bob: So? What's the big deal?

Me: (eyes glazing over) What's the big deal? Egads! This conversation is becoming Edvard Munch-level horrific. Ye Gods, will this session never end? If we don't stop this soon, I'm going to need to George Bailey myself into a frozen river.

Dr. Bob: Terry? Is that you?

Me: (shaking head) Hmmm... what? Sorry, what were you saying?

Dr. Bob: Uh, let's change topics. Having you been taking your medication? Is it helping with your manic-depressive episodes?

Me: Not really. Everytime we lose I am convinced that every player on the bench is the second coming of Michael Jordan and every player on the floor is the second coming of Pat Knight. And everytime we win I am convinced that Sampson is a coaching genius who could lead a team full of Pat Knights to a title. There's a voice in my head who tries to tell me that the truth is always somewhere in between, but it's hard to listen. Carl.

Dr. Bob: Carl? Who?

Me: The voice in my head. His name is Carl.

Dr. Bob: I see. Um... still, based on our conversations last year, surely the absence of Marco Killingsworth has made you enjoy the season more.

Me: Who?

Dr. Bob: Marco Killingsworth. Played for Indiana last season? We had several discussions about his defense?

Me: Not ringing a bell, doc.

Dr. Bob: Is this one of those "verboten" things?

Me: ...

Dr. Bob: Uh huh. Fair enough. Anyway, I'm guessing that next season should be pretty enjoyable. I hear Indiana is bringing in a pretty good player next season. What's his name... EJ something? Eli Jordan?

Me: Do you mean Eric Gordon? Or Eli Holman? Or Jordan Crawford?

Dr. Bob: Whomever.

Me: Whomever? Whomever?! Aren't you from Bloomington? How can you not know who Eric Gordon is?!

Dr. Bob: I am from Bloomington. Bloomington, Illinois.

Me: (long pause) Illinois.

Dr. Bob: Yes. Um, Illinois. Why are you looking at me like that? Perhaps we should end things a little early today, okay? Nurse! NURSE!!


(Background: Trout is the handle for a longtime poster on Peegs' Forums who resurfaces every year or two to make a post about his fictional conversations about IU basketball with his therapist. I blatantly stole his idea for this post... I mean, this is an homage to Trout. Trout, wherever you are, get back in the game!)

Gleefully overrating our recruits!! (next season - part 3 of many)

Here's a good summary article about IU's recruits from the Indianapolis Star -> Recruits make IU a Big Ten contender

We all know about all-everything Eric Gordon, so I'm going to ignore him (for perhaps the first and last time). As I mentioned in a previous post, our returning players + Gordon look like quite a good starting lineup. But we've got some compelling recruits on the way that aren't named "Eric."

9. Jamarcus Ellis - Ellis is an intriguing prospect. He's a JUCO player who has put some really amazing numbers against good competition - 15.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game. One question is, can he play point guard? In the end, I think the answer will be that no one will play point guard next season, but we'll have 3 "combo" guards on the court at the same time quite a lot (Ellis, Gordon, and Bassett). There's a lot to be said for having 3 guys on the court who can all pass, shoot, drive, and finish. Ask Illinois 2005 about that. (This is not to say that Ratliff won't see gobs of minutes... I'm sure he will... he just doesn't fit my "combo guard" theme here). Ellis will play a lot.

10. Eli Holman - I've already discussed Eli in a previous post. Suffice to say, he has all the earmarks of a sleeper recruit.

11. Brandon McGee - I think one of the reasons Allen struggled last season is that when he and White were on the floor, neither could guard the PF position. For some reason, we still think of "PFs" at the college level as big bruising types, but for more often they are lithe 6-7 to 6-9 guys who aren't post-up players, and this is what I like about McGee. He sounds like a great fit, especially long-term when partnering with guys like Holman in the post.

12. Jordan Crawford - Spent the last season trying to transition to point guard at prep school, and his assist numbers (8.5 assists per game) suggest that this was time well spent. Given the current talent in the backcourt at Indiana, I suspect that unless Crawford is a huge surprise he'll just get spot minutes as a freshman. But Ratliff will be gone after this season, Gordon might be gone, and both Gordon and Ellis will certainly be gone after two seasons, so the playing time is there to be had for Crawford as his career continues.

And it looks like these won't be our only recruits, but I'll wait until all that falls into place before commenting.

More one-sided optimism (next season - part 2 of many)

5. Eli Holman is the quintessential "surprise impact" player. Although he isn't incredibly highly-ranked (he's ranked #79 by Rivals), his ranking is clearly hurt because of his suspension, plus he's arguably the perfect fit for Indiana next season - a long, athletic shotblocker to partner with DJ White inside on a team that doesn't need him to be a great scorer, so he'll have the luxury of developing his offensive game on a team with plenty of other offensive options. In other words, the things he does well are just what the team needs, and the things he doesn't do well are things the team doesn't really needs. Perfect fit.

6. Kelvin Sampson has had these guys for a full season and now he gets them for a full off-season. After the Mike Davis era, it's easy to forget that basketball players tend to improve from year to year, and that at Oklahoma this was considered a strength of Sampson's -- player development. Now that the players understand what Sampson wants and Sampson understands what the players' strengths and weaknesses are, I'm really looking forward to seeing the improvement from guys like AJ Ratliff, Armon Bassett, and Lance Stemler. IMO it's clear that those 3 guys are capable at playing at a different level than they played at last season. Having a real coach should pay dividends -- here's one area where I expect it.

7. Gordon is as close to a sure thing as we see in college basketball, so I'm going to include him as a "known quantity". Thinking ONLY about returning players + Gordon, our starting lineup looks like this: Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon, AJ Ratliff, Lance Stemler, DJ White. Based on how all those guys were playing at the end of last season and assuming even MILD improvement, that looks like a very good team... without even factoring in the new guys. By "very good team" I mean "no brainer NCAA tournament team" and "threat to make the Sweet Sixteen". It's a nice feeling to head into a season knowing that Indiana is playing for NCAA seeding, not for an NCAA invite.

8. The B10 looks as strong next season as it has in a long time, due in no small part to coaching changes. Michigan State and Ohio State both look like Top 10 teams, and the bottom of the B10 looks less bad with everyone returning at Minnesota and Northwestern (plus Tubby), so it looks like a strong conference from top to bottom. On the other hand, assuming Oden goes pro, there are no "scary good" teams in the B10. Last season was obviously OSU and Wisconsin then everyone else. I think next season OSU and MSU will not head into games against Indiana (home or away) assuming a win. Or, to make a long story short, Indiana does not need to improve by leaps and bounds to win the B10.

The glass is half-full! (next season - part 1 of many)

First I'm going to avoid listening to my annoying, internal "voice of reason" (SHUT UP!), and look at next season with cream and crimson-tinted glasses.

1. Eric Gordon is a consensus Top 5 recruit (actually he's a consensus Top 3 recruit). Last season, the consensus Top 5 recruits were Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Brandon Wright, Tywon Lawson, and Chase Budinger. There's no reason to think that Gordon won't have a similar impact as those guys. He's a pure scorer, and unselfish player, and IMO his game translates really well to the college level (in other words he doesn't look like a guy who was great in HS but can't get his shot off in college).

2. Indiana's offense was effective last season because we had multiple guys who could hit 3 point shots (especially Wilmont, Ratliff, and Bassett). However, we didn't have many guys who could really create off the dribble due to ballhandling issues (especially with Wilmont, Ratliff, and Bassett). As far as we know, the addition of Gordon and Ellis completely changes that dynamic. These guys attack the basket, can finish, and can get to the foul line. This should not only make our offense more consistent (harder to shut down completely, but should also open things up inside for DJ, who will be able to score in more ways than just posting up.

3. It's incomprehensible that Stemler's shooting slump could be as bad as it was last season - he's proven over multiple seasons at the college level that he can shoot at a high percentage.

4. DJ White was a lot better at the end of last season than at the beginning. If he starts next season where he left off and continues to improve, he's going to be a force to be reckoned with by the end of the season (if he isn't already).

More later....

Xavier Keeling is transferring

It's official - Xavier is leaving the team.

Good luck to Xavier - I enjoyed his effort on the floor and I hope he does well wherever he ends up.

Scuttlebutt is that Joey Shaw is also likely to transfer to get closer to home in Arizona. I like Joey as well, so I hope he sticks it out, but it doesn't look good.

Numbered thoughts (Brutal Honesty edition)

1. I have really enjoyed watching Kelvin Sampson coach the team this season. He has displayed leadership, humor, maturity, class, and skill. Although I think he has been appropriately criticized for his previous NCAA violations, he strikes me as a guy with a lot of integrity who also doesn't take himself or his position too seriously. I'm really happy that he's the head coach at Indiana. Remember that statement while reading the rest of this post.

2. I'm not sure whether to be snide, amused, or confused by all the discussion about whether or not DJ White will go pro. Folks, DJ is not going pro. He is not choosing whether to stay or not... he does not have the option to play in the NBA next season, and there's no reason to believe that he's a guy who would turn pro in spite of having no draft prospects. He might very well participate in the some pre-draft camps just to get the exposure, but there's basically no chance that he'd get drafted in either round. DJ is a very good, slightly under-sized college center, who makes up for his lack of height by being bouncy and by having a nice mid-range jumper. The interesting question is whether DJ will ever make an NBA roster... I personally think it's a long shot. This is not a criticism of DJ, because I think he's a very good player and seems like a really good kid. I just don't think he's attractive to NBA teams and I think it's possible (maybe even probable) that he won't be a first round pick two years from now either.

3. My goal for Indiana next season is simple - a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Winning the B10 depends on how good the rest of the B10 will be. I suspect that MSU will be very, very good next season, and Indiana could be a Top 10 team and still not win the B10. Obviously OSU could be #1 next season, depending on who goes pro. But what I want is for Indiana to head into the tournament as a team with a legitimate shot to make the Final Four. Not favored to make the Final Four, but a contender. Here's how I look at it -- 4 seeds are barely expected to make the Sweet Sixteen. I don't know what the percentages are, but I bet that less than 50% of 4 seeds make the Sweet Sixteen... some get upset in the first round and then they face a 5 seed in the second round in what is essentially a pick'em game. Then they usually have to face a 1 seed in the Sweet Sixteen (if they make it that far). IMO, there's a world of difference between a 3 seed and a 4 seed. A 3 seed can make the Elite Eight without being an underdog in any of the first three games. Note that my goal is not to make the Final Four or the Elite Eight, because the NCAA tournament is just crazy. Good teams with good coaches can get beat by worse teams with worse coaches... in fact it happens all the time. I'm not going to stake the entire season's success on that single elimination format. But I do want Indiana to be a feared team heading into the tournament... not the popular pick for getting upset in the first round. A 3 seed.

4. That said, I think a 3 seed is definitely a stretch goal for this team. Losing Calloway is huge. Losing Wilmont would normally be huge, except we're bringing in that Gordon kid, who apparently is pretty good. But we have two big question marks heading into next season. The first is decision-making. The difference between Indiana having a GREAT group of guards next season or a very good group of guards will come down to decision-making. Ratliff has big issues in this space, Bassett is learning but still struggling to find a balance between attacking and not making mistakes (in other words Bassett can go a long period of time without making a bad decision... but it usually corresponds with him not being aggressive). Gordon will be a freshman. IMO this is on Sampson. We all wanted a real coach for exactly this reason - we need Sampson to mold these guys into good decision-makers. I think he can do it, but it'll take the whole season. The other big question mark, not unlike the last 5 years, is...

5. Interior depth is still a problem. I think it's difficult to overstate just how much Stemler, Mike White, Allen, and Keeling struggled this season. Stemler came in known as a 3 point shooter. And he certainly shot them (did you know that Stemler shot more 3s than Bassett this season?). I'm actually perversely confident that Stemler will get his shooting touch back and be very good next season, but I'm not sure I have any justification for it (other than loving the idea of having 4 guys on the court that all shoot over 40% from 3 point range... mmmmm). While I think Holman will contribute, I suspect it'll be more as a backup for DJ than having them on the court at the same time (because I think they play the same position). I think we'll see McGee backing up Stemler. Last season, Sampson had DJ for 35 mins a game. He had Stemler, MWhite, Allen, and Keeling to give him the other 45 mins he needed in the post. I think he got about 20% of what he needed out of them. What will the percentage be next season? If it's closer to 80%, I think we'll get that 3 seed.

6. Scoring 13 points in the first half against UCLA in the second round of the NCAA tournament was embarrassing. It is Sampson's job to get the team mentally prepared for games. It was one half, and as I said above, crazy things happen in the NCAA tournament, so as far as I'm concerned, I call the whole thing a "do over!". But if Indiana completely lays an egg again in a big game in the next season or two, it's going to make me very worried. There's no shame in losing to UCLA and I'm happy with the way we battled back... but it'll be awhile before I can completely forget looking at that nauseating one-three on the halftime scoreboard next to "Indiana". I have no interest anymore in trying to rationalize why the bad play on the court is not actually the fault of IU's coach.

7. I would LOVE to see Tubby Smith leave Kentucky and go to Michigan. I like Tubby Smith and I hate Michigan, but I don't enjoy hating B10 teams... I really want to root for every B10 team. If Tubby Smith went to Michigan, I would immediately start rooting for them. That would be fun. Then if Minnesota could somehow luck into finding a good coach, the B10 could start looking pretty scary.

8. Has Ed DeChellis been fired yet? I've been out of the loop the last week and a half.

9. I think Alford should leave Iowa, even though I think he's done an excellent job the last two seasons. It's good timing on both sides.

10. I'm rooting for Ohio State to win it all. I know a lot of folks dislike OSU, but I'm a B10 guy at heart. After that, of the teams that have a real shot of winning it all (Florida, Oregon, Kansas, Pittsburgh, UCLA, UNC, Georgetown, Texas A&M, Memphis), it's hard to know who to pull for. I dislike Florida and Memphis a lot. I respect UNC, UCLA, Kansas, and Georgetown, but I don't want to see them have more success. I'm ambivalent about Oregon and Pittsburgh. So I guess I wouldn't mind seeing A&M win it all... and Acie Law deserves it. The dude has icewater in his veins.

But I'd take Butler over any of 'em.

Indiana freshmen double-figure scorers - the last 25 years

2006-07:
none

2005-06:
none

2004-05:
DJ White (13.3)
Robert Vaden (10.2)

2003-04:
none

2002-03:
Bracey Wright (16.2)

2001-02:
none

2000-01:
Jared Jeffries (13.8)

1999-00:
none

1998-99:
none (Haston at 9.9)

1997-98:
Luke Recker (12.8)

1996-97:
AJ Guyton (13.6)

1995-96:
none

1994-95:
none

1993-94:
none

1992-93:
none

1991-92:
Alan Henderson (11.6)

1990-91:
Damon Bailey (11.4)

1989-90:
Calbert Cheaney (17.1)

1988-89:
Eric Anderson (11.9)

1987-88:
Jay Edwards (15.6)

1986-87:
none

1985-86:
Ricky Calloway (13.9)

1984-85:
none

1983-84:
Steve Alford (15.5)

1982-83:
none

In 25 years, we've had four freshmen score more than 15 points a game - Steve Alford, Jay Edwards, Calbert Cheaney, and Bracey Wright. Calbert leads the group with 17.1.

The perfect non-conference schedule

At work we call this a "thought experiment". At home we call this "bullsh!tting." Six of one, half dozen of the other. Anyway, I was thinking - what's the perfect non-conference schedule? Part of the problem, obviously, in building a schedule is that you don't know in advance how good teams are going to be. I'm pretty sure when this season's schedule was set that people weren't thinking that Southern Illinois would be significantly better than Connecticut. Plus you also don't know how good Indiana is going to be, and there are pre-existing contracts and unknown games in the ACC-B10 Challenge and pre-conference tournaments. So I thought, what if it were up to me to build next season's pre-conference schedule, knowing what I know now about how good Indiana will be, with the following conditions:
1. I get a clean slate - no pre-existing obligations matter
2. I assume that every team will be exactly as good as they were this year (using Pomeroy's RPI Ratings)
3. There are 13 pre-conference games
4. There are no pre-conference tournaments
5. Every team will agree to play Indiana wherever I tell them to

Here's what I came up with (order matters):

Detroit (RPI:197) - Home
Toledo (RPI:87) - Home
Bradley (RPI:46) - Road
Duke (RPI:9) - Home (ACC-B10 Challenge)
Butler (RPI:33) - Conseco
Kansas (RPI:15) - Road
Indiana State (RPI:142) - Home
Wright State (RPI:81) - Home
Kentucky (RPI:11) - Home
Southern Illinois (RPI:5) - Home
Valparaiso (RPI:155) - Conseco
Kent State (RPI:78) - Home
Western Michigan (RPI:143) - Home

Here's the reasoning I used:
1. My best guess is that Indiana will be approximately the 15th best team in the country next season.
2. The purpose of the pre-conference schedule is to a) prepare the team for the B10, b) build a resume for the NCAA tournament, c) make money for the school, and d) provide positive exposure for the program.
3. Don't schedule anyone under 200 in the RPI. Beating Western Illinois by 52 points does absolutely nothing for the team. The worst B10 team are generally ranked between 150-200, so having a few of those games still prepare you for the B10, yet they don't crater your SOS.
4. Make sure you are scheduling enough "should win" games to build a good record for the NCAAs. You could schedule road games against the top 13 teams in the country and guarantee yourself the best SOS ever, but we wouldn't even be a bubble team in that scenario because we'd head into the B10 with a 3-10 record.
5. The schedule should be tough. It should challenge the team with a variety of different opponent strengths and styles.
6. Indiana has a regional recruiting base in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan. Schedule games against teams in those states. First, it means the college kids on your team don't have to spend unnecessary time traveling. It ensures regional interest. Potential recruits will watch your games. And your own fans will have a better opportunity to travel to away games.
7. Road experience is important, but shouldn't be overdone. Schedule a couple tough road games, but have most of the games at home. Home games for Indiana generate extra income that the athletic department desparately needs and they make the fans happy. This season the only marquee home game we had was Southern Illinois - and most people didn't know it was a marquee game at the time.
8. Start the season with a couple easier games.
9. Do not, under any circumstance, schedule a fricking non-conference game during the B10 schedule.

There you go - the perfect non-conference schedule!

All B10 team award predictions

These are who I think WILL get voted onto the first and second all-B10 teams, not who I personnally think should be included.

POY: Alando Tucker
COY: Thad Matta

First Team All B10:
Alanda Tucker - Wisconsin
Greg Oden - Ohio State
Drew Neitzel - Michigan State
Adam Haluska - Iowa
Carl Landry - Purdue

Second Team All B10:
DJ White - Indiana
Michael Conley Jr. - Ohio State
Kammron Taylor - Wisconsin
David Teague - Purdue
Geary Claxton - Penn State

If I were voting, the only thing I'd change from the above list would be Alford for COY.

Movie Review: "Bridge to Terabithia"

Karen and I took the kids to see Bridge to Terabithia last weekend. I thought it was just wonderful -- I even cried during the movie, which is not exactly a common occurrence for me (the last time a movie made me cry was Hotel Rwanda, though obviously they're slightly different movies). First of all, any movie that stars kids is always a crapshoot, because good child actors don't exactly grow on trees. But I thought Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb were outstanding. It was a movie that required genuine emotions, not your typical kitschy kiddie movie, and they both delivered.

The plot was engaging and I thought it managed just the right amount of obviousness (is that a word?) in the symbolic links between the make-believe Terabithia and the real world. In other words, and I don't think it ruins the movie for people who haven't seen it yet to say this, the kids make up their own world to help them deal with the problems they face in the real world, and the movie shows this in a way that is obvious enough for kids to understand but not so obvious that it thumps them over the head with it.

Obviously this is not the "feel good movie of the year!", since Karen and I spent a good portion of the movie crying, but that's also what made it so good -- it's a movie that doesn't shy away from tragic events yet is accessible to kids.

Very highly recommended, even for adults to see by themselves.

Movie Review: "Flags of our Fathers"

I think Clint Eastwood is a wonderful director. Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven, Mystic River, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil... the guy knows what he's doing. Of course, he has also directed Absolute Power, The Rookie, and Bronco Billy, so he's not exactly a sure thing. For all its hype, I think Flags of our Fathers is somewhere in the middle of those lists. It's a pretty good movie, but I think it's baffling to see it getting 2 Oscar nominations and there were even people saying it should get nominated for Best Picture (though once people saw Letters from Iwo Jima it seems a lot of folks forgot about Flags because they thought Letters was so superior).

The most interesting thing about Flags was the backstory of how the famous flag picture came to be taken. Of course, Eastwood knows this, so he trickles the story out in a series of flashbacks and flashforwards and maybe even some flashsideways, but I think this is one of the problems with the movie. There was so much flipping between the soldiers in battle and the soldiers back in the States that it made the movie feel disjointed. I don't mind a little artistic license when it comes to playing with time in movies (i.e. Memento) , but I thought Eastwood overdid it here.

The movie also seemed to be asking what it means to be a hero, which I didn't think was particularly novel or compelling. Not to mention that one of the characters in the movie was so obviously a hero by any standard that it kinda ruined the question.

Don't get me wrong, Flags is a good movie and certainly worth seeing. But I don't think it quite reaches greatness.

Numbered thoughts on Indiana

1. I don't think we can hang the Michigan loss on Tommy Amaker - he did everything he could to help us win. I realize this is beating a dead horse, but everytime I watch Michigan I just shake my head at how horrible Amaker is. I mean, Lester Abram, Dion Harris, Brent Petway, and Courtney Sims are all SENIORS. According to RSCI, they were ranked #49, #22, #62, and #52 nationally as recruits, and all have played extensively for Amaker for four years. And they still can't take care of the ball. I mean, IU had trouble taking are of the ball earlier this season as well. Then Sampson focused on it and two weeks later our turnovers take a precipitous plunge. It's an embarrassment for the entire B10 that Michigan has continued to employ Amaker. Yeah, he's clean, and apparently that's quite an accomplishment at Michigan. But c'mon, can they really not find a coach that's both clean AND a decent coach?

2. Injuries are part of basketball and every team deals with some types of injuries every season. But that doesn't mean that don't matter, and in my opinion Indiana wins at Michigan with a healthy Calloway. Calloway is extremely important to this team, and I was actually pretty impressed with Indiana's play at Michigan considering we didn't have Calloway and DJ spent half the game on the bench. We needed the win, but I thought we battled through some tough circumstances.

3. I really, really like Armon Bassett. He's been a pleasant surprise all season, and although he needs to work on his shot selection, that's not unusual for an offense-oriented freshmen. I'm sure Sampson will work that out in time, and in the meantime I'm enjoying watching him play, and I think he's going to be a key part of this team for four years. But he is NOT a point guard, in any shape or form. Wilmont does a better job of looking for his teammates than Bassett... and that's saying something. You can tell that whenever Bassett has the ball, he's thinking, "What can I do with this that will end in me getting a shot?" That's a great attitude in a shooting guard... but not a point guard. The question of who is going to play point guard next season continues to loom large. I would also add that this is NOT a criticism of Bassett - it's an observation. Bassett is just being the player that he is.

4. Before the season, everyone in the country and on this board agreed that Ohio State and Wisconsin were obviously the class of the B10, and that no one knew who the 3rd best B10 team was going to be. Like pretty much everyone else on this board, I really hoped Indiana could be that 3rd best team (though in my case I doubted it would happen). Well, right now, ignoring the unbalanced conference records and standings and all that stuff and just using my own eyes to gauge the situation -- I think Indiana is obviously the 3rd best B10 team. I'm happy about that.

5. Different people can say the same thing and mean completely different things, and different people can read the same thing and reach completely different conclusions, and I think somewhere along the way a lot of that has been happening regarding Sampson, Mike Davis, and this year's talent versus last season. Here's what I think, articulated as clearly as I can:

5a. I think Sampson is an enormous step up from Mike Davis.

5b. I think Davis was a terrible coach, but I think his faults have become overblown in the minds of IU fans (and they were overblown while Davis was still here), particularly with regard to his game prep and game coaching. I've heard many times here that "We would've lost this game under Davis" and I just shake my head. We won a lot of big games under Davis... and we lost quite a few of them as well. We beat #1 MSU in Davis's first season, and finished well ahead of where I thought we would. We obviously made the FF in his second season. And we had several seasons where in my opinion our talent level was not very good. Other than last season, I don't think Davis was squandering highly talented teams - he was struggling to get much out of mediocre talent. Davis was bad, but he wasn't the only factor in our performance the past six seasons.

5c. I think Sampson is a wonderful coach, but I think his skills became overblown in the minds of IU fans this season. Maybe we're still suffering from Bob Knight hangover and want to get back to the point where we're able to worship the ground that our coach walks on, but that's silly. Sampson is not the best coach in every facet of the game in the entire nation... and that doesn't mean he's a failure either. It's absolutely amazing to me how badly Indiana fans seem to want to deify their coach... all it took was 14-4 start to the season and we're convinced that Sampson can walk on water and the team will never have a down game or lose intensity ever again. it's absolutely amazing to me how quick Indiana fans are to criticize our coach after a couple losses... all it's taken is a few completely predictable road losses and now Sampson doesn't know how to use time outs or coach offense or teach shot selection. Listen, Sampson is an experienced coach, an excellent leader, and knows what he's doing.... that doesn't mean we'll win every fricking game. Sampson is good, but he isn't the only factor in our performance this season.

5d. Regarding talent, I do think that this team has significantly less talent than last season. First, remember that Indiana went on an impressive 5 game winning streak during the 5 games that DJ White played in - and we were 12-10 in the rest of the regular season games, so DJ's talent did have an important influence on our record last season. Add Marshall Strickland, Robert Vaden, and Killingsworth to the mix and that was quite a talented team, IMO. This year's team isn't very close to that level, and I've mentioned that I think this is one of the least talented teams at Indiana in many years - but that doesn't make them untalented by B10 standards and certainly not by THIS season's B10 standards. Indiana is used to having quite a bit of talent, so there's a big difference between comparing our talent to previous Indiana teams versus comparing our talent to other B10 teams. The point is that I think Sampson clearly has something to work with this season, but I also don't think this Indiana team was somehow only a good coach away from greatness.

6. One final thought - I think there's an obvious explanation for Indiana fans' manic depressive attitudes. We are all really, really, really tired of watching Indiana field mediocre/decent/good teams that sometimes tantalizingly approach really-good-to-great status but can't quite get there. We don't want to hear about talent deficiencies, or coaching problems, or leadership issues, or justifications for recruiting losses, or anything else... we don't want explanations or rational analysis... we want to be able to watch a GREAT INDIANA TEAM again. Until we get there, we're going to try to argue that each Indiana team could be great until such time that it becomes obvious that they aren't great, and then we're going to get depressed and pissy about it for awhile. I think we're going to see this same cycle again next season as well (in other words, I don't think we'll be a great team next season either). I completely understand (and feel) this emotional response.

B10 fouls and foul differentials

I decided to do some geeky number crunching. The following numbers are for all B10 games as of today.

My first question was "How many fouls on average do the various B10 teams get called for?" In other words, if I tell you that Indiana played Northwestern and got called for 16 fouls and Northwestern got called for 14 fouls, that doesn't really tell you anything unless you know how many fouls a team gets on average. Here it is:



The way to read this chart is to say "In B10 games Indiana gets called for an average of 21.18 fouls per game."

Obviously, Indiana leads the B10 in fouling, while OSU and Wisconsin gets called for the fewest fouls.

Next, I asked mysefl, "Alright, but different teams play different styles that tend to draw different amounts of fouls from their opponents, so how does that break down across the B10?" Here it is:



The way to read this chart is to say "In B10 games Indiana opponents gets called for an average of 18.82 fouls per game."

Note that once again Wisconsin leads the B10 in drawing fouls. But also note Northwestern on the other side. Northwestern opponents don't foul them much at all. Bizarre.

Then the question was "If we ignore home versus away and just look at foul differentials in ALL games, what teams get the biggest advantages?" Here it is:



The way to read this chart is to say, "In B10 games Indiana gets called for an average of 2.37 more fouls than their opponents." Again, this has nothing to do with homecourt.

Then I asked, "For a given team, how many more fouls do they get called for on the road versus at home?" Here it is:



The way to read this chart is to say, "In B10 games Indiana gets called for an average of 4.43 more fouls per game when they are on the road versus at home."

Note that Indiana and Purdue are far and away the worst of this group - the Hoosier state teams pile up the fouls when we leave home. Also note that Michigan actually gets called for FEWER fouls when they leave home.

Then finally I asked myself, "What is the homecourt advantage for each team -- how many fewer fouls do they get called for at home versus the number of fouls called on their opponents at home?" In other words, the chart above looks at Indiana in Assembly Hall versus Indiana on the road. The chart below looks at Indiana in Assembly Hall versus our opponents in Assembly Hall. Here it is:



The way to read this chart is to say, "In B10 games, Indiana's opponents are called for essentially the same number of fouls as Indiana."

Note again that UW and OSU see huge advantages at home, and once again Northwestern is completely bizarre.

I've got en Excel spreadsheet with the raw data if anyone wants to run other calculations.

There were a lot of question marks for this team heading into the season

Now that we're 23 games into the season, I decided to take a look back at some of those question marks. It's easy to forget that our most frequent starting lineup last season was Monroe, Strickland, Wilmont, Vaden, and Killingsworth -- in other words we lost four starters. Granted, DJ White was only a non-starter due to injury, but we're still replacing a LOT of minutes and production. Wilmont is the only returning player who averaged more than 20 minutes a game last season... and he averaged 22. Five new players plus DJ's return from injury -- it's not surprise that most Hoosier fans are happy with the way this season has gone to date.

Anyway, he's my recollection of the biggest question marks heading into the season (at least MY biggest question marks).

#1. Who will be the other post presence inside to help DJ White?
So far, the answer seems to be "no one". It's kind of unfortunate that with five new faces (Bassett, Shaw, Mike White, Xavier Keeling, and Lance Stemler) and our pressing need in the post, I would characterize both of the new perimeter players as a "pleasant surprise" and all three post players as "struggling to contribute". Add to that Ben Allen's difficult transition, and I'd say our biggest question mark has gone unanswered.

#2. Will AJ Ratliff come out of his sophomore slump?
It took a long time, but I think it's fairly safe to say the answer is "yes", he's out of his slump. I still think there's another level where Ratliff can play, but he's been consistently good on offense, he's rebounding well, and his offense is coming around. I very happy with where AJ is right now.

#3. Will Earl Calloway become the point guard that he showed glimpses of late last season?
I'd say this is a resounding yes. IMO, there were some folks on here whose expectations for Calloway were out of whack with his performance last season. Sure, he obviously had potential, but lots of players have potential. After a rocky start to begin the season, I think Earl has become a big reason why IU is winning games. His decision making has really improved, and his defense is wonderful. He also seems to have a knack for driving the lane and hitting a big shot when we need one.

#4. Wilmont is a guy who can shoot the team to victory... or defeat. As a senior, will he become a consistent positive force?
I think Wilmont is still struggling a little bit when it comes to scoring within the offense. He hasn't been quite as streaky as last season when it comes to hitting his shots (and shooting almost 38% from 3 point range when you shoot as many as Rod does is very good), but it seems like some games he says "I gotta be The Man" and shoots 20 times and then the next game he says "I gotta be part of The Team" and he shoots 5 times. I still think Wilmont is having a very good senior season, but I wish we could know what we were going to get from Rod in any given game with a bit more certainty.

It's really too bad that Allen, Stemler, Mike White, or Xavier Keeling haven't been a huge surprise, because with the way the rest of the team has developed, I think we'd be a seriously dangerous team right now. Instead, I feel like we're trying really hard to compensate for our big glaring weakness... and mostly being successful at it.

testing

I'm checking to see if we can operate with two display names with one Google account

Shawless

I thought the IU vs Illinois game was very similar to the Wisconsin contest in that I thought the Illini were playing very well throughout and IU was "hanging on" for dear life. Of course, that is always my warped view.
Since four of our remaining six games are on the road, this was a crucial victory. Somehow, somewhere we need to steal a road win so we can finish 10-6 in the B10, which should be a lock for 3rd place. Onto the game...I am not a fan of Lance Stemlers play, either on the offensive end or the defensive end of the floor. I kept complaining about his play during the game, but understood that he could potentially be a bigger threat on offense than Mike White or Xavier Keeling...so I felt some compassion for Sampsons substitution pattern. After the game, reading the box score, I noticed that Joey Shaw played 2 minutes (I don't recall seeing him in the game) and, believe it or not, I completely forgot that he was sitting there on the bench while Lance was logging 19 minutes of action. I don't understand this?? Is he hurt? Is he in the doghouse? Whazzup?