Dick Allen

Think about what a blowout this would be if Indiana actually had a decent coach.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:57 AM) That's basically what they do. Sometimes it works out and they get Michael Thompson, John Shurna or Drew Crawford. Much more often, they end up with Sterling Williams, Nick Fruendt, Jeff Ryan or Mike Cappocci. It's really hard to compete in the Big Ten when you typically only have 3 or 4 guys that belong in the league. And Michigan definitely runs a variation of the Princeton, they play with their center up high and rely on driving/cuts. They allow a lot more improvisation because their players are actually good. One thing I couldn't understand about NU yesterday was that zone defense they were in. I know they had some foul trouble, but if Woodbury or McCabe could make a 5 foot shot, Iowa would have won by 30. The middle of the lane was wide open every time down the floor. You would think if these guys were so smart, they would have made some sort of adjustment.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:51 AM) Chris Collins has to be able to get a better offer than Northwestern, right? Even a midmajor would offer a better road to the big time than NW. It's like the Cubs manager job. You know you will fail, but if it does work out, you'll be able to live off that the rest of your career, and it's not like he would need a national title. Make one Final Four or even Elite Eight, he probably has his choice of any open position for huge money. Collins supposedly wants the NU job. He's supposedly a great recruiter. If he could get NU to at least slighly relax their entrance requirements for some players, you can get decent quickly. The other thing to consider, the only Big 10 coach who makes less than Carmody is the Penn State coach. They probably will have to up the ante there.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:40 AM) I think this is a big part of the issue. Any proven coach is probably going to laugh at them when they call. A couple of stories related to this... 1) Jim Calhoun was considering taking the job before he went to UConn. Unfortunately, he talked to Bob Knight first, who basically told him he'd be crazy to consider it. I believe the money quote was "coaching graveyard". Obviously the rest is history. 2) At one point, they were talking to Tommy Amaker, back when everyone wanted Duke assistants. He gave the administration two transcripts and asked if they would be able to get in. Administration told him no, and Amaker moved on. Those two transcripts were Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley. They've had some coaches with pretty decent resumes in the past and the typical winning percentage is like .300. Carmody has been the most successful they've had since one stretch in like the 50's. Amaker is supposed to be a real phony of a guy. It seems the media favorite if Carmody doesn't return is Chris Collins. That would be a tough gig as your first head coaching job, but if he made it work, he'd be like Gary Barnett was many years ago. Wanted everywhere and able to name your price.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:36 AM) Take the Orange sunglasses off there for a minute. Been some bad/missed calls both ways. Let the game play out. It wouldn't be an Illinois basketball game without several posts about unfair officiating. That's been going on since Lou Henson was practicing his traveling call every opposition possession.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 01:21 AM) They should really go in a different direction. I like Bill Carmody, seems like a great guy, but it hasn't worked out. It will be weird to see Northwestern run a different system, though. There's no reason they can't be competitive. The injuries are not his fault, but I really doubt that is a tournament team if everyone stays healthy and passes their classes. Their new facilities which are either being built or about to begin construction will help them. Carmody seems like a good guy and probably is a good coach, but it isn't working at NU. Of course you can say that for every NU basketball coach, so the problem is probably not with the coaches. Chances are the next guy is going to fail. I wonder if Carmody even wants to come back. He must be sick of the beatings and all the job speculation the last couple of years, but I would imagine he's gone either way.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 02:23 PM) Again, why even have a regular season then? Because those upset chances between the #120 teams vs the #10 teams should be during the season. The Big Ten will have 2 8-10 conference record teams in a tournament to win a National Championship. The "why even have a regular season" because the tournament has too many teams ship has already sailed.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 02:29 PM) Because we know that the current system is fun and exciting and not over drawn out nor too short. It works perfectly after the long NCAAB season. One more game wouldn't make it any less interesting. In fact, the first round could be played on the higher seed's homecourt.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 02:23 PM) Again, why even have a regular season then? Because those upset chances between the #120 teams vs the #10 teams should be during the season. Then why have 65 teams in the tournament? Why not make it 16? Let's really make it interesting, and screw these conference tournaments.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 02:09 PM) Why even have a regular season? That sounds terrible. How many of the 65 teams in the tournament have a legitimate chance of winning it? Adding another round brings in more revenue and takes every slight off the table. And if one of the top 10 teams lose to a team ranked #120 or lower, they would have probably not won the tournament anyway.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:58 PM) From 1985-1994, 15 teams made the tourney with a losing conference record. From 2001-2012, 10 teams have. How many of them won their conference tournament? And your numbers still suggest on average about 1 a year. Personally, I think they should get rid of the stupid play in game and just add another round and make it a 128 team field. Let just about everyone in. You can take RPI and all that crap, the bottom line is the top 65 teams aren't in the tournament. Just make it 128. They will make more money.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:37 PM) Basabe looked like a monster his freshman year and regressed. Marble was injured for a key game they really needed him. All those early painful losses by razor thin margins and the horrible January conference start. White and Oglesby have been up and down all year, and then you have two freshman in Gesell and Clemmons, and they've battled some injuries as well. All things considered, things are still looking so much better than the end of the Lickliter years...but it is quite annoying to see how well Alford is doing in New Mexico after he just up and abandoned the program and left it in horrible shape and perhaps the legacy of the most unpopular coach in school history after replacing the most popular in Dr. Tom. Losing Ben Brust, Cody Larson and Aaron Fuller was another crushing blow. So the one year Lickliter was successful recruiting and they lose those kids to Wisconsin and Florida. They definitely have to make the tournament next year...those are fair expectations, it will be Year 4 for McCaffrey and seven years removed from an NCAA appearance if they miss again with a loss to MSU. Basabe has been pretty good this year. Brust hurt, Larson was a bust anyway and Fuller wasn't a difference maker. Marble stayed on board and Basabe decommitted from Sienna to come with Fran, so the Hawks did OK there. White is really good. I think Woodbury will be a beast when he gets a little stronger. He was pretty much a stiff this season, but is aggressive. I think he just wasn't used to playing against anyone his size. He could make a big leap next year. Gessell and Clemmons had their moments but as Al McGwire used to say, the best thing about freshman is they become sophomores. Oglesby had one of the worst shooting percentages in the nation, and supposedly doesn't miss in practice. It's all in his head. If he can get that straighten out, you're looking at a team that can do a lot of damage in the future.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:35 PM) I was just watching Jalen Rose and Digger Phelps on ESPN talking about U of I/Minnesota/Iowa and they're fairly clueless. Their main point was that you shouldn't be in the tournament if you are under .500 in conference and Iowa could/should be in with a win over NU. THEY DIDN'T BEAT ANYONE THIS YEAR!!! Well, okay, that's a slight exaggeration: they beat Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota at home (and I guess Iowa State), but you just spent the last couple minutes s***ting all over the last two teams. The 4 teams that they only played once were MSU, Michigan, OSU and Illinois, so why should we care that they had one more conference win than Illinois and Minnesota? Truth be told, lack of big wins or not, Iowa right now is just as good of a basketball team as Illinois or Minnesota and they are in. Iowa has to beat NU, beat MSU and win another to get in. If Iowa is 9-9 in the Big 10 without beating anybody, the 8-10 teams who have beaten good teams have some brutal losses. But that is how it is. Its not like any of them are going to win. Many years ago, back when Jalen was playing and Digger was coaching, that was a general rule. If you weren't at least .500 in your conference, you were NIT bound at best.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:09 PM) I wonder if an Iowa win against NW gets them in, with Minnesota now out? Seems the Gophers are usually in the Top 20 at some point in a season and completely fade out. Probably, Iowa would need to be MSU to seal it, a huge task. If they would have only beaten Nebraska on the road or not had a ball that was halfway down rim out against WI and then go on to lose in double OT, it would already be a done deal unless they somehow managed to lose to the Wildcats. It would be the first time in the NCAA's since 2006, when we lost to one of those direction Lousiana schools with an almost 20 point lead in the 2nd half and a 3 seed (Horner, Brunner, Haluska team, can't remember if Tyler Smith was also on it). I saw one of those "bracketologists" on TV the other day. He claimed not only would Iowa have to beat MSU, they would have to get to Sunday to get in. They were so close to being a really good team this season. I think they lost 5 conference games where they had the lead the last 2 minutes. Its one of the pitfalls of having a young team. They should be really good next year. Only losing May, and supposedly Uthoff has been their best player in practice, although that usually is the standard line for guys who aren't playing, and Jok seems to be a pretty good recruit. He was really highly thought of as an 8th grader. Supposedly Weber offered him a scholarship. Injured his knee, had surgery and really struggled. Apparently the surgery was botched up. Had another surgery and was really good this year. He lives in Des Moines but I think he's from the Sudan. Maybe he can be Loul Deng II.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 12:11 PM) Isn't Phil Rogers the Baseball Perspective guru for minor league evaluations for the Chicago teams and the current reason why the Sox minor league system is lambasted as much as it is? I thought I heardthis a couple of years ago. The man loves his cubs and is a f***ing moron. Baseball America

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 08:26 PM) Exactly, try to win the Super Bowl now, worry about the rest later. Plus, guys get hurt, upset, slow, etc. Some of those roster decisions take care of themselves. That's right. If they play well enough to garner huge contracts, you've had a few nice seasons. And attrition is a huge part of the NFL.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 08:48 AM) Check his years. He said Konerko's inconsistent "2004" season. He hit 40 HR and drove in 100+ runs in 2004. I know. He was off a year. Paulie wasn't too popular in 2003. Talk radio was abuzz with calls for his release.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 08:09 AM) You need to review your years. Konerko was done and needed to be released in 2003. If you listened to Soxtalk, he needed to be gone after his age 32 season in 2008. Wrong side of 30, declined a few straight years. Since then he's only averaged about 30 homers 100 rbi and a .380 OBP. Ramirez has his flaws, but its not inconceivable to believe he could do better offensively than last season. A rookie as the replacement isn't going to do any better, and if his contract is so terrible, wouldn't you think other teams that actually would have to pay it would think the same thing? The problem with many posts when getting rid of players is they say so and so sucks, trade him and get back some great prospects. In what world do bad players owed a lot of money net you good prospects? One big concern I have with Ramirez is his age. We really don't know if his listed age is accurate. I would think it's almost impossible to 100% verify a Cuban refugee's age. If he's several years older than listed, the downward trend would be harder to snap. If he's 31 or 32, I would think there would be some sort of rebound to get close to a .725 OPS.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 12:47 PM) Thing is, if he waits until he's at the point he was before and without any discomfort, he'll be out for 18+ months. He's never going to know until he actually plays. I tend to agree with you. It's kind of like not wanting to jump in a pool because it's cold when you know you will have to anyway. Just get in. If he's good to go medically, he might as well play. That's the quickest way he will get back to full strength. It will also be the easiest way to see exactly where he is at and how far he needs to go over the summer. Sitting the rest of the year, IMO, would be doing himself, not even considering the Bulls, a disservice.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 11:47 AM) Do you know Derrick personally? Because I know I don't. I've always heard he was a class act and family man and blah, blah, blah, but then he did have somebody take the SAT for him so he could get into Memphis. So honestly I really don't know what to think about his moral fiber. Bottom line is that I'm just getting sick and tired of this crap. He really needs to ass out there and play. He's to the point of no higher risk of re-injury and he says he has no limitations. What the hell is the problem? He's never going to have his confidence back until he actually gets out and plays. I think he's just afraid to fail and I don't like that. He's the biggest superstar in Chicago since Jordan, and if I were to ask myself would Jordan being playing by now if all circustances were the same, I know the answer would be yes. I agree he needs to play, but let's face it, you asking if someone knows Derrick personally because of their opinion is no different than asking if you know him personally considering you said anyone who thinks Reggie is not Derrick's puppet is a fool. From all accounts, Reggie is the dominant one in their relationship. Also keep in mind, BJ Armstrong is Derrick's agent. Considering his Bulls connection, I really doubt he would advise having Reggie spout something like what he did off, and if the Bulls aren't about winning and all about making money, why didn't they ask Reggie considering Adidas is paying DRose somewhere around $200 million, why they signed a max contract when taking less could have helped with the talent level around him. Reggie is an idiot. Most people know this. Derrick doesn't, or at least won't publicly acknowledge it. It's sort of like Ozzie and Oney. It could be you are right and Reggie is just saying what Derrick says in private. I just think there's a better chance its Reggie Rose trying to be significant.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 10:54 AM) I lean towards agreeing with you there. Garza never struck me as being any good just better than the absolute filth we've surrounded him with. Only guy I'm confident with going into the season is Bushrod, and if Louis' rehab is going well him too. I still think Carimi can be good. He has yet to be healthy. He was awful last season, but who knows. There have been several NFL people who expect some sort of leap from him next season. If Louis rehabs well and Carimi comes around, the line should be really solid. That's several ifs though, and chances are a lineman or 2 or 3 will go down.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 10:50 AM) Thing that bothers me is that while Derrick did come out and say that those were Reggie's opinion he never said that Reggie was wrong. He did say he was and the Bulls goals were the same. Reggie mentioned the Bulls were all about selling tickets: “I have always felt that the Bulls organization’s goals have been the same as mine and that is to bring another championship to this city.” Derrick is never going to throw his brother under the bus. I wish he would, and maybe Reggie has a point, at least with Asik and Korver . They are the guys they could have kept and paid more luxury tax. Hindsight says Asik probably is now worth the money. I don't think many thought he was worth the money, let alone the extra tax when he left. But how much better would they really be? Could Noah and Asik play at the same time?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 09:37 AM) If it really bothered Derrick, he'd threaten to cut Reggie's ass off, and we wouldn't hear from him again. I don't know. Reggie has always had influence on Derrick. The other thing is, how do you know Derrick didn't say exactly that after the comments? If Derrick's real reason he hasn't come back is because of the roster, why doesn't he say that, and what purpose does having Reggie say it serve? The Bulls are over the cap. It's not like they can go out and sign whoever Reggie wants them to sign. Derrick is a playing basketball genius. I don't know if he really is intelligent enough to be as calculating as some are suggesting. He might think his brother is a smart guy. Smarter than him, and just defer.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 12:22 AM) We already have a guy we took last year who has drawn comparisons to Aaron Hernandez, I'd have to pass on Eifert. If Cooper and Warmack are gone then I'm hoping for Ogletree at 20. If Ogletree is gone too I would go WR just for the hell of it. The Vikings have a huge need at WR (right now anyway) and they pick behind the Bears so taking a WR of the board would make the offense even more dynamic and hurt one of our competitors. Pollian thinks the Bears need a burner. He thinks that's all that is missing now on the offense.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 08:04 AM) Derrick's the one with the money. Reggie works for Derrick. Reggie may have the I.Q. of a piece of construction paper, but I think he's at least smart enough to realize he can't risk pissing Derrick off or the gravy train is over. Logically that would make sense, but Reggie Rose has always been sort of a jerk. He's not going to change now. Derrick said he has his back because they are brothers. I have a brother who I don't always agree with but I have his back and he has mine. Sometimes blood is thicker than money, and I also doubt Derrick is really running the show. All the reporters talk about his "handlers". Derrick is a great basketball player, but as everyone knows, if you needed someone to take the ACT for you, he's not your guy. If Derrick isn't playing because the team around him isn't strong enough, do you really think that would be something Derrick would come up with and would tell Reggie to get it out? I think it is far more likely it would be something Reggie would plant in Derrick's head. Derrick is living Reggie's dream. Reggie is going to try to be as significant as he can be.