Rex Hudler

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 10:36 PM) The salary thing makes it sound like Howard is staying to me. He better be. I don't think he can keep him. Keeping an assistant that some wanted to be the head coach can only undermine his authority. It wouldn't likely be a good idea, unless they know each other and have some kind of professional relationship (coaches clinics, conventions, etc).

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 05:28 PM) First his recruiting sucked. Then once he got that turned around, his coaching suddenly went to s***. . Sounds like to me he wasn't recruiting the right guys.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 28, 2012 -> 12:45 AM) Hmmm....interesting, I always heard the opposite, that he was a jerk and pretty self-centered. Maybe my Hawkeye bias, haha. I did spend a lot of time around the team from 1988-1990, I was one of Roy Marble's "tutors/ghostwriters." Makes me feel so old to see his son now playing for Iowa. remember Mark Jewell?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 08:55 AM) Weber coached in the far superior MVC, won at a much better rate, won the league twice, and went to the sweet sixteen. Groce is 34 and 30 in the MAC, never finished higher than third, and did go to the sweet sixteen. Oh yeah, Weber coached in the state while Groce never has. Yeah, I think its safe to say Bruce Weber was a lot better hire than John Groce Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson are available. Bruce Pearl too!

Time for a brief soapbox moment... All-American basketball teams have gotten stupid. Since when did the all-america "team" become the 5 best players? It irriates me when you can have an AP All-American team with no guards. This year's first team: Thomas Robinson Anthony Davis Draymond Green Doug McDermott Jared Sullinger I could live with three guards or even three forwards and a center, but there is not a guard in this group.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 26, 2012 -> 11:49 AM) Exactly. I like getting guys that can recruit in second or third tier conferences and have shown the ability to win tournaments and tournament games. I think those guys are the types of hires that stay and are successful. Groce basically recruited a national title contender for Matta, and then went to OU in a football state and won some tourney games. I wonder if Mike Davis is still on his Christmas card list. He should be for those gifts!!

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 26, 2012 -> 06:01 PM) I know Armon Bassett also transferred there. He was a stud as a sophomore at IU, but then left in the post-Sampson exodus. Heavy rumors he was also one of the dudes dealing, though. Yeah, he transferred to UAB and got kicked off the team there before his transfer year was up. Tex, there is zero doubt Groce knows top talent. He was a top level recruiter for Ohio State for several years. Recruiting should be his strength. When I heard Illinois was looking at him, I thought it seemed like a pretty good fit.

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Mar 24, 2012 -> 10:53 AM) I agree. I've seen a few people say they aren't even a top 5 team if you combine the best teams of the past 5 years. I think their incredible. Davis and MKG are future STARS in the NBA. Gilchrist is just on another level. He's just an awesome player, does everything. Agree, UK can beat everyone left in the tourney by 10+ if they play like they did last night. Sucks that IU had to be in their bracket, as I think they could have beat ANYONE but UK last night. If you would have told me before the game last night we would score 90 and only have 8 turnovers, I would have bet the house we would be headed to the Elite Eight!

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Mar 24, 2012 -> 09:53 AM) That was one hell of a game. Saw a few reporters tweet that no one was even talking crap while walking out because of the game they just witnessed. Zeller is going nowhere, Watford may enter, but I don't think it would be a wise move. What would make Indiana a top 3 team next year? A speedy, smart, McDonalds AA point guard and an athletic beast to put next to Zeller. What do they do? Add just that, and then some. Crazy how far IU has come. They are going to be disgusting next year if Watford returns. Probably the favorite to win the whole damn thing. Exciting times. No one is stopping UK this year. They are incredible. You're right. Kentucky fans knew they were in a battle and everybody was respectful after the have, even the asses seated in front of us. The guy behind me reached our, shook my hand and said we have them all they could handle. Many commented how IU was back and would be very gold next year. It was such a well played game and everyone on both sides respected that.

Zeller is going nowhere. Watford on the other hand, may try his hand at the NBA. Don't be surprise if he doesn't test the waters like Michigan's Trey Burke is. I think Watford is a very good player and very versatile. I'm not sure he is a 1st round pick though and another year could only help him. My gut tells me he won't be back. Hope I'm wrong. Game tonight was exhausting. The place was electric and the pace was crazy, especially in the 1st half. I'm not sure if the players needed halftime, but the fans did! I was proud of the way IU played tonight and the whole season. There were a few bumps along the way, but I think most any IU fan will tell you they were ahead of schedule. The game tonight was very well played. Both teams combined for only 14 turnovers. That's 14 turnovers and 192 points scored. IU lost for three reasons tonight... 1. FT's - Kentucky wouldn't miss. They hit 35-37 FT's and the 2nd of the two misses came in the final minute. They outscored IU from the line by 22 pts. IU lost by 12. Do the math. 2. IU has no answer for Kidd-Gilchrist. He killed us offensively, made plays on defense and hit all 10 FT's. Defensively, IU has no answer. 3. Rebounds - Anthony Davis playing the whole 2nd half opened up backside rebounds on missed shots. 2nd chances really hurt IU in the 2nd half. Without Davis' presence, IU rebounds with UK and there is no decisive advangtage. It sucked the Hoosiers couldn't win it, but it was a helluva atmosphere and I'm glad I made the drive over!

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 22, 2012 -> 07:45 PM) Green is type of guy who should get drafted in the 22-30 range. I agree. I have him going #26 or 27 to either the Kentucky Colonels or the Virginia Squires.

Big Ten #2 about to go down...

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 22, 2012 -> 07:23 PM) I understand what happened there, Jordan Taylor has won many games for Wisconsin its his senior year, he took the shot. Im sure Bo Ryan told them what to do, and I guarantee that unless someone was wide open, it was going to be Taylor taking that shot. Brust was open, maybe that pass is the better play, but there were 4 seconds left and at that point you at least need to get something at the basket. It was what they didn't do before 4 seconds were left that hurt them. I'm not just knocking Wisconsin, teams do it all the time. It's the Jimmy Chitwood approach. They had enough time to make a pass or two and find someone open. They only needed two. It's even possible Taylor could have gotten the ball back if he gave it up. If not, that meant they were really squeezing him, which should have left someone else open for an easy bucket. Easier said than done, I know. It just drives me nuts when you lose, not getting a decent shot. Regardless, sorry your boys lost tonight. I was definitely rooting for them. I know it sucks when the season ends in disappointing fashion. I fear that is what will happen to IU tomorrow night. Either way, I'll be there in Atlanta in red!!

I hate it when teams play the final seconds like Wisky did there. IU used to do it all the damned time and never got a good look at the basket. #31 (can't spell) could have bailed them out by catching that shot but it slipped from his grasp. That still wouldn't have excused the poor approach at the end. I was really hoping Wisky could pull it off. Great game, just a dissapointing ending. You'd hope to at least get a decent shot, especially since they didn't need a 3 to win.

Any truth that Illinois and Smart met today?

Have tickets and hotel room ready to go in Atlanta!! Watched the IU-UK game from Dec again today and it gave me some hope. I still think this will be a very tall order, but our guys won't back down and won't be intimidated. Kentucky has so many weapons that if they all play well we won't have much of a chance. Then again, I think that applies to most teams playing UK this year. A few tidbits from the first game: 1. UK was down 1 at halftime. They shot 68% in the 2nd half and still lost. 2. IU got hot and his 7 threes in the 2nd half, most coming from Watford and Sheehey. 3. Terrence Jones was non-existent, so much that Vitale blasted him repeatedly in the 2nd half. 4. Anthony Davis got into foul trouble which made life much easier. 5. Despite Davis' foul trouble, IU did not do a very good job of getting the ball into Zeller. 6. Verdell Jones III played a lot. Derek Elston, Matt Roth and Remy Abell, all who are playing regular minutes now, did not play at all. Daniel Moore played a handful of minutes but rarely plays now. 7. Both teams had turnovers - IU 18; UK 17. Both teams attempted 17 FT's. 8. IU had no answer for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. None 9. Marquis Teague was terrible in the first half, their best player in the 2nd half after not starting. 10. I tried to get to 10, but that's all I got. IU can win if UK doesn't hit 3's at a high percentage. They will get good looks. Lamb and Teague could hurt IU's chances badly with a good shooting night. Oladipo has to play under control, yet be aggressive. If we go at them hard early we can pick up some fouls. IU needs a full 40 minutes from Watford. Lately he has a tendency to get most of his points in a short period and somewhat disappear in other parts of the game. Foul trouble for Zeller or Hulls would likely end IU's chances. The only thing that could have made me happier than a win Friday night is if Vandy had not beaten them in the SEC Tournament Final. Knocking UK out of the NCAA Tournament would taste very sweet. It would be sweeter if we put their only two losses of the year on them. That said, let's hope IU doesn't get beat by 20. Go Hoosiers!!

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 08:59 AM) Hmmm... 5-1 isn't bad. That's weak! You can't call a bunch of 8/9 & 7/10 games as upsets and pat yourself on the back. The only "upset" you picked was VCU over Wichita State. Ok, I'll give you USF too. But that's it. You should have picked Indiana over VCU. That appears to be the big upset of the day Saturday... at least if you listen to talking heads on TV.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 07:23 PM) That second half was awful bball Yes, it was! I'm freakin tired. Happy, yet tired!!

Heads, I'm your biggest guest ISU fan tonight. As far as Indiana, I am absolutely loving that everyone thinks we're overrated, can't win outside of Assembly Hall, are unathletic, have no depth, no experience. Keep picking us to lose "experts". I am not predicting an upset of Kentucky in the sweet sixteen, but if we get there and beat them, watch all these "experts" talk about how good IU is and act as if they saw it coming. Back to reality. I am enjoying the underdog role. We're a 5-6 point favorite and no one thinks we'll win. I went to a VCU thread and they have no clue about our team, like most of these national pundits. They say we're hurt because we lost our point guard (Verdell Jones III was not our PG), they say we're unathletic and will do everything we can to slow the tempo. They think Zeller is our only good player. We have weaknesses, it just seems no one knows what they are. IU will win today if they stay composed, attack the press and score off it, not just beat it. If they are pesky on defense and keep VCU (which is not a good offensive team) from scoring runs it will be that much tougher for them to organize the press and make it effective. I'm not guaranteeing a win, nor predicting a blowout. But IU will win if they push the tempo and keep their composure.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 12:23 PM) None of those would have involved me having something to do Thursday night The Atlanta regional is Friday/Sunday so your Thursday night is still free.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 08:59 PM) The difference between Temple and USF cheerleaders is staggering. I can only imagine. Did you see the Lehigh cheerleaders? Let's just say... not good.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 10:29 PM) And Barkley is dumber than the lane violation I said the same in a different way in the general NCAA basketball thread two minutes ago.

The best thing CBS has done as far as coverage is utilize their sister stations to show all games. The worst effect of that is having to listen to these NBA guys who don't have a clue about the college game. I don't want to listen to guys who don't call college basketball all year b**** about the referees for making calls because they disagree with the rules. Charles Barkley is brutal and has no business in the studio. It's ALMOST as bad as when we had to listen to all of the NFL guys call the BCS games when Fox had the contract.

Notre Dame blew up at the end with a lane violation and an "intentional" foul in the last 2.8 seconds. And once again, the announcers don't know the lane violation rule. Kellog at least recognized that it was a correct call, but he stated more than once that the player can not come from behind the 3-pt line before the ball is released. The rule states you can't cross that line until the ball hits the rim, blah blah blah. It doesn't surprise me that the NBA guys wouldn't get it right, but Kellog should know better.

Brackets? Who cares about your stinkin' brackets!!