1 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,360 You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home 2 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:19,920 Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Gas, 3 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:21,600 Galen Clavio, Scott Caulfield joining you. 4 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:29,120 Happy 4th of February to Sunday and Indiana lost yesterday, but 5 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:30,760 that wasn't the headline from the day. 6 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,600 We got a chance to see all of our beautiful friends out of the 7 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,280 upstairs pub and elsewhere in Bloomington and it was a lot of 8 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:38,920 fun. Got the team team up with our 9 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:43,520 back home network folks, some we call doing the work podcast. 10 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:49,200 We had the Ex's and Joes out. The Amanda Foster was there with 11 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,440 the women's basketball pocket. It was great all the way around. 12 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:56,000 Scott was awesome hanging out with you yesterday and the game 13 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,640 didn't go the way we hoped it would, but we had minimal 14 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:02,640 exposure because of the three times we went on the microphone. 15 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,080 We had hope for two of them. It was only in the post game, 16 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,720 which we didn't talk very long in that it's like, wow, that was 17 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:10,560 really bad. I'm sorry that that happened. 18 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,000 How are you doing? It was good to see you 19 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,000 yesterday. Hope and great to see you, man. 20 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,920 Yeah, hope and change. Those events are always a a ton 21 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:18,120 of fun. It's great to see people. 22 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:20,040 It's it. The community is really what's 23 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,920 what's fun about this? It's good to you know, there are 24 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:26,160 moments not to get to like behind inside baseball or behind 25 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,560 the curtain. But there are moments you know 26 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:31,920 as a 45 year old guy who's been doing this for you know 15 plus 27 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:34,160 years where you're like man what what am I still doing? 28 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,240 Like why am I firing up a machine on Sunday morning? 29 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,120 I have kids. I can spend time with them. 30 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,600 You know, like why am I talking. They're really happy that you're 31 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:43,960 in the other room. They're probably like, that is 32 00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:46,280 my dog. Just my dog came in. 33 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:47,640 It wouldn't be a crimson's cast that a dog. 34 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,800 But it's like, you know, then you go to these events, it's 35 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,480 like, Oh yeah, it's really great to see people in the community 36 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:57,120 and people who want to hear. And I know, like I'm not, you 37 00:01:57,120 --> 00:01:59,360 know, I'm not only a remember, I'm also a user. 38 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,640 You know, like, I know when you know when IU things happen and I 39 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:03,840 know that like you're podcasting. 40 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,480 I'm excited to hear that even though I'm not doing it. 41 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:08,520 So I totally get it. It's great to meet everybody. 42 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,320 It is. It is one of the the really cool 43 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:13,680 benefits of of having done this for so long. 44 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,680 And I, you know, big credit to Jared and you know Ryan, Coach 45 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:19,520 and Andy and everyone at Assembly call because they 46 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,120 really did a great job of kind of pushing the community forward 47 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,120 and creating these events. And so it's awesome. 48 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:25,880 It's just we got to start picking either got to start 49 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,360 winning some weekend games or picking better weekend games. 50 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,680 To come to It's funny, one of Your all's favorite podcast 51 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,720 guests is of course Zach Singer, who occasionally pops on. 52 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,800 We were actually talking with with one of our listeners last 53 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:43,240 night who noted that every time he's feeling down, he puts the 54 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:47,120 podcast that I did with Zach on immediately after Purdue lost to 55 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,800 Fairly Dickinson and that you haven't. 56 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,040 If you haven't, go back and listen to that because it's it's 57 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:55,040 tremendous content. But I was texting with Zach this 58 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,680 morning because he was expressing concern for me as a 59 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:02,280 human being after Indiana surrendered 48 points to Penn 60 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:04,120 State in the second-half yesterday. 61 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,960 And I told him we'd do in the live show at, you know, during 62 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:08,680 this game. And he's like every live show 63 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,480 you do goes bad. You should pick a game you 64 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:14,120 expect to go badly. And I had to be honest with him 65 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,640 and respond well. I kind of expect every game to 66 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:19,200 go badly at this point. So I'm not even sure what game 67 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,960 we would choose. Certainly nobody could have 68 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:25,600 thought at the beginning of the year, you know what, We're going 69 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,720 to struggle at home against a Penn State team that lost the 70 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:30,320 heart of their team last year and. 71 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,280 Started sending the emails out to us, you know, kind of was 72 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:34,760 like, man, that that's like there wasn't a deal. 73 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:36,360 They have a lot of logistical things. 74 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:37,960 They want to do a weekend. But like, man, that kind of 75 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:39,040 sucks. Like we're just going to have 76 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:40,600 not, you know, just talk about a blowout. 77 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,480 Like, well, we did, realizing that it was like we did. 78 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,680 It's just the wrong way around. It's like, so I guess this is 79 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,800 humorous on all of our parts. I don't know what we did to get 80 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,400 this much punishment, but I guess, you know, it's like I'm, 81 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,240 I'm looking forward to Yukon 30 years. 82 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:57,240 We're now really paying penance for all their titles. 83 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,200 But like, we, yeah, we're on Galen, 'cause we won three and 84 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,080 then, you know, 300 night and then it's just like now we're 85 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,680 penance for 50 years, I guess. I don't know what it is. 86 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,080 It is wild. I I have a theory on that later. 87 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,160 Before we get to that, just a quick reminder folks, we are 88 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,760 brought to you by Home Field apparel, your place to go for 89 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,880 the finest in college fashions, the softest fabrics, the coolest 90 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:17,720 designs. They've got some new stuff 91 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:19,399 coming out. I'm going to be dropping some 92 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:21,720 info tomorrow on it. I think you're going to enjoy 93 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:23,840 it. It's it's it's looking good. 94 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,800 An IU refresh a bunch of other refreshes that have popped up 95 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:31,680 lately. If you're a Duke fan and there's 96 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:34,120 a couple of you out in the crowd, I'm you know who you are. 97 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:37,240 They've got new Duke stuff, they've got new North Carolina 98 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:39,760 stuff, There's this awesome Wisconsin bomber jacket that's 99 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,080 floating around. So you know if you got an itch 100 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,760 you want to scratch outside of of IU, which reminds me of 101 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,400 something Scott said yesterday comes up to me in the middle of 102 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:52,520 the of the this part where Penn State's outscoring IU 48 to 30. 103 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,560 He's like, you know you and I, we're both still relatively 104 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:57,400 young. It's not too late to find 105 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:02,880 another team to podcast about He he was kidding kind of. 106 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,240 Yeah. But first option is like this 107 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,160 home field sell their apparel and if they do then like maybe 108 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:10,800 we're free agents. Like maybe we'll go. 109 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,360 I'm thinking it's kind of like it's it to me. 110 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,400 Obviously we'll never give up podcasting about IU, but from a 111 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,600 fandom perspective, you know a lot of times if if you're like a 112 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,600 Detroit Tigers, you know supporter or you know a a a 113 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:27,960 Bengals supporter, you may like, pick just a second team that you 114 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,480 can root for and occasionally feel good about yourself. 115 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:32,440 Maybe we may even be thinking about that. 116 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:33,200 I don't know. But anyway. 117 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,720 All that said, home field apparel, if you interrupt you, 118 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,880 it's like it would be funny for us to just like we still do IU 119 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:41,560 basketball, but it's like we just every game. 120 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:43,760 It's like, you know, Galen, that game against Penn State 121 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,960 yesterday really, really reminded me against about the 122 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,000 Auburn, Mississippi State. And then we just talk about that 123 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,680 for 30 minutes. No, but anyway, if you're 124 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,240 interested in Auburn gear or Mississippi State gear or 125 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:57,800 Indiana gear, go to homefieldapparel.com, use the 126 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,520 code home 23 and take 15% off your first order. 127 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,800 Also a reminder, we're on sub stack crimsoncast.substack.com. 128 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,320 We've got VIP videos. I've actually got one already 129 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,320 recorded that will be coming out with this podcast, and if you 130 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,840 subscribe it's it's 50 bucks a year, $5.00 a month. 131 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:18,360 Check it out. Some good insights that we don't 132 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:20,240 put on the regular podcast 'cause that would be too much 133 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,640 content. You know, we I we realized that 134 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,520 we can't just put all of our thoughts out there all the time. 135 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:29,920 This is a way to get some extra thoughts though, and it's a 136 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,160 great way to help support the podcast in the community. 137 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,640 So thank you all. Anyway, let's get to, well, 138 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:36,520 Scott, you had something you want to talk about before we got 139 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:38,640 into this though, right? I'm gonna say as you thought, 140 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:40,000 I'm gonna say for the VIP, so there you. 141 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:40,600 Go. There you go. 142 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,880 Even better. So let's talk then about this 143 00:06:44,280 --> 00:06:45,840 situation. I mean, we can talk about the 144 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:49,320 game a little bit. Indiana, we said at halftime in 145 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:54,640 our live show at upstairs, when Indiana was only up by 4:00, we 146 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,760 talked about how the problem with this Indiana team all 147 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:02,000 season has been. They just don't seem to be able 148 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,680 to put anybody away. Now, that was under the idea 149 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,400 that Indiana had played better, by and large, in that first 150 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:10,840 half. You'd gotten a great first half 151 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:13,000 out of Kalio Ware. You gotten some good 152 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,720 contributions from almost all of the folks in the starting line, 153 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:17,360 if you hadn't really gotten much off the bench. 154 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,200 But it felt like, OK, Indiana's going to seize control of this 155 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,120 down the stretch. Penn State's not very good. 156 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,320 They're, you know, they're missing Kanye Clary, who's been 157 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:28,680 their leading scorer this year. It's like this feels like 158 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:30,320 something that Indiana will do well with. 159 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,120 And then Penn State comes out and goes on a 14 to two run. 160 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,120 And then after a short break when Indiana scores a couple of 161 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:41,560 buckets, Penn State goes on a 10 nothing run and all of a sudden 162 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,720 the game is essentially out of hand. 163 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,440 It's it's it's 61 to 48 with 11 minutes to play. 164 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:52,520 And I don't think Indiana got closer than but 11 the rest of 165 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:54,880 the way they might, they might have gotten it to 9 at one 166 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,520 point. Scott, it went from we're 167 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:01,800 concerned that again IU is kind of playing down to its level of 168 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,720 competition to wow, Penn State played down to their level of 169 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,840 competition in the first half. Like, it's that that, you know 170 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,800 this was one of those through the looking glass games where 171 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:16,840 your entire perspective of what the team actually is changes. 172 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,720 And instead of, well, gosh, they lost some hard games against 173 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,360 really good competition in Wisconsin, Illinois and Purdue. 174 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,920 But they've more or less done what we expected them to do 175 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,840 otherwise, losing at home by 14 to Penn State and giving up 176 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:34,240 almost 50 points and a half to Penn State without the guy 177 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:35,640 that's done a lot of their scoring. 178 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,120 It it's like how bad is this team? 179 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:39,919 Like we've we've joked about, well they're, you know they're 180 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:41,799 not going to they're at least they're going to avoid Wednesday 181 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:44,880 in the Big 10 tournament. Maybe. 182 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:49,760 But they might not be one of the the top 12 teams in the 183 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,960 conference at this point or the whatever it is, the top 11 teams 184 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:57,800 in the conference. And that is both dispiriting and 185 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:00,400 just kind of like it almost feels like it came out of 186 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:02,200 nowhere. And yet it's not surprising in 187 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:03,400 the least. All at the same time. 188 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:06,400 That's a great way to put it. It came out of nowhere. 189 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:08,480 But it's not surprised. I mean, I would kind of say 190 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:10,600 thank God it's not next year because we'd be like, are we 191 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:11,920 going to be in the Big 10 tournament? 192 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,000 Because there's the bottom what four teams don't make it, but 193 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:16,960 that? Given our history in the Big 10 194 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:18,720 tournament, that sounds like a blessing. 195 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:20,680 But anyway, go ahead. That's great. 196 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,000 Like we just advocate the Big 10. 197 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:24,800 We might just say, hey, no, we're good. 198 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:27,240 We're out. Like even just we want, we want 199 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:29,760 Washington to feel at home. We don't want them to feel 200 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:31,520 excluded to start things off with. 201 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:33,800 You know, Huskies, go ahead and take it. 202 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:35,440 It's fine. Just just you take the bid. 203 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:37,880 It's like how they they don't get, they don't get a full 204 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:39,400 revenue share. We're not going to take a full 205 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,320 Big 10 tournament chair, dude, it's it's tough. 206 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,400 It really is tough because like you you go back to feel like I 207 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:48,520 feel like Tom Korean when he took the job like it's Penn 208 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:49,920 State. It's Penn State. 209 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,160 Like this is not one of the elite teams in the Big 10. 210 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,320 It is one of the, you know, statistically worst teams in the 211 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:59,600 Big 10. And and this game, you know, I 212 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:02,160 you you said it well, it's like it's not. 213 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:04,680 It didn't come out of nowhere, but it also kind of hit you and 214 00:10:04,680 --> 00:10:07,160 I don't and I don't even know, like I'll just kind of go with a 215 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:09,040 couple of thoughts here. Like, you know, we mentioned 216 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,960 this at halftime at upstairs, just the lack of bench 217 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:14,240 production. You look at it at the end of the 218 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,920 game, you know, Anthony Walker plays 5 minutes, CJ Gunn plays 219 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,320 11 and I'm not knocking these just didn't provide much. 220 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,640 You know, Anthony Leo came back to earth, had 14 minutes, no 221 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,080 point. So you're basically relying on 222 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:28,800 your starting line up, all four of those guys, you know you've 223 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:31,800 always this season mentioned on defense, so you give let Penn 224 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:35,120 State, you know get 1.37 points per possession. 225 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,360 We've always talked about 3 point shooting, which again I 226 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,160 think that's just this is the feature of the Mike Woodson era. 227 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:42,280 So get used to it. But it's like again, they shoot 228 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:45,960 26%, they shoot more threes, but they did they make a lot less of 229 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:47,800 them. You know, free throws I guess 230 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:49,360 are better. We're shooting 84%. 231 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:51,840 But this is one, you know, we keep pushing the ball into the 232 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,720 paint. It's one of those games where 233 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,080 you know, you look at and it's like all the issues that been 234 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,000 having kind of all came up at once. 235 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:01,760 You you slightly get better offensive rebounding. 236 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,480 So I guess that's good. But you know the this team's 237 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,960 inability ability to give up big runs comes in again. 238 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:12,200 So it's like you I don't even quite know where to like focus, 239 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,200 like here's one of the problems because there's like 7 or 8 240 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:16,800 problems. They're all intertwined, but 241 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:18,880 they all seem to pop up all the time. 242 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:23,280 See, and that's where I think trying to diagnose individual 243 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,840 issues misses the point and we've tried to do that some. 244 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:28,840 We've highlighted, you know, whether it's the defense or the 245 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,760 free throws or whatever. But look, ultimately when I 246 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,240 watch this team, and I'm not the only one that feels this way, 247 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,440 this was expressed actually quite a bit yesterday as well. 248 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,120 This team does not feel like they are on the same page with 249 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,840 each other. They do not look like they have 250 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:47,880 chemistry with each other and then you add on top of that. 251 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:54,000 There's not really a coherent plan or idea that is adaptable 252 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,920 throughout the course of games. You know, the thing that stuck 253 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,800 out to me about the game yesterday as much as anything 254 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:04,360 else is that Penn State in the second-half realized that they 255 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,920 could pressure Indiana pretty well with with full court 256 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,400 pressure, and it completely disrupted everything Indiana 257 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,240 wanted to do. Now, I don't think that Mike 258 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:17,240 Rhodes deserves any kind of like Mensa award for figuring out 259 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:20,160 that an Indiana team that doesn't have a ball handler 260 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:23,200 other than Gabe Cubs is going to struggle against pressure. 261 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,200 But the fact that Indiana seemed to be uncertain about how to 262 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,760 handle it, The fact that Indiana's offense, while it 263 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,000 wasn't bad yesterday, only hit 9 field goals in the entire 264 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,880 second-half. And and you know, to me, the 265 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,760 biggest issue and and where I think the lack of cohesion 266 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:44,480 really sticks out is that Indiana allowed Penn State for 267 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,520 the game to score 1.37 points per possession. 268 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,920 Yes, Penn State hit some tough shots, but I mean they hit 12 269 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,720 threes. They were 54 percent, 55% from 270 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,320 three. They, you know, they, you know, 271 00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:58,760 Penn State didn't turn the ball over. 272 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:00,200 They were passing all over Indiana. 273 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:05,280 Penn State ended up with 17 assists on what, 31 made 274 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:10,080 baskets. They were so easily able to move 275 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,000 around what Indiana wanted to do, Indiana looked uncertain. 276 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,400 There's a great video breakdown of Gabe Cubs and Malik Renew 277 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,240 blowing a defensive assignment that led to an open 3 pointer. 278 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:20,880 And it's like it's it's everybody's fault. 279 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,880 But it's it really goes back to this idea that it's hard to 280 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:28,440 watch this team even when they have played well and not get the 281 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:32,640 sense that what they're being asked to do is not really 282 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:35,160 working. And on top of that, they don't 283 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,280 seem to be on the same page with each other as a team. 284 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:40,200 So it's like, I don't even think you can. 285 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,400 You can certainly point the finger at Mike Woodson and his 286 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,200 staff and they deserve, I think, a lot of criticism. 287 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:48,640 You can also point the finger at the roster and say this team is 288 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:51,920 not playing like a coherent unit and it really hasn't all season. 289 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,760 And when you look at what I mean, this is a Penn State team 290 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,720 that lost to Bucknell by 9 at home. 291 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,840 It's a team that lost to Minnesota by 9 at home. 292 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,240 But you look at what Indiana's done on the course of the season 293 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:09,560 and they, you know, this is, you know, there's nothing surprising 294 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:10,760 here. They've really not accomplished 295 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:12,200 anything. Like it's hard to look at any of 296 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:16,040 the wins on Indiana's schedule and say, well, that was a really 297 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:18,960 impressive victory. You know, even that Michigan, 298 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:21,800 you know, the one on the road in Michigan looks less and less 299 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,920 impressive as Michigan keeps dropping games at home to other 300 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:27,280 teams that are ostensibly worse than Indiana. 301 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:31,200 So I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that when I 302 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,400 watch this team, they're not really fun to watch. 303 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:37,480 They're they don't look like they're having fun and it always 304 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:41,040 feels like Indiana is 1 bad possession away from everything 305 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:43,320 going South in every single game. 306 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,760 And it's almost, to some degree a surprise that it hasn't gone 307 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,280 the wrong way in some of the other games that they have 308 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,560 barely won. I didn't think we would get to 309 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:55,000 this point. You know, the early part of 310 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,760 February, but it's hard. It almost feels like it's gotten 311 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,600 slightly worse as opposed to getting better, and this ended 312 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,360 up kind of being the nadir of the season thus far. 313 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:07,280 It was interesting doing this with a game watch and being 314 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:10,360 around a lot of other similar minded IU fans, 'cause I can 315 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:13,440 just say we we had lots of conversations about IU 316 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,320 basketball. You know, the the tone overalls. 317 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:21,200 Pretty concerned, I would say concerned and turning toward 318 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:24,080 negative very quickly. And again, this is a small 319 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,800 sampling size of, you know, fans at the upstairs pub who are fans 320 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:32,400 of podcasts but a lot of concern and and a lot of feeling of that 321 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:35,000 and you know you you mentioned something that I wanted to hit 322 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,320 from you at your podcast last week with Zach Osterman. 323 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:41,040 Osterman said something that really struck me that I've I've 324 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:42,440 thought about a lot with this team. 325 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,880 And honestly, the last couple of probably like last six years, 326 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:48,600 you know, he was mentioning how he has a friend who's a Virginia 327 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:50,840 basketball fan and Virginia's had a lot of success. 328 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:53,400 But the fan, you know, his his buddies, like, I just it's not a 329 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,200 fun, it's not fun to watch. Like it's just like that team is 330 00:15:56,200 --> 00:16:00,040 not a ton of fun to watch. And it kind of crystallized in 331 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,560 my mind like I'm kind of in the same boat with where we're at 332 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,880 now that even when we win, even we're beating Maryland or 333 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:08,680 beating Michigan like a there's this kind of rate. 334 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:11,240 You know, Razor's edge, we're kind of walking where it's like, 335 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:13,280 are are we going to be able to put this away. 336 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:15,920 You know, the Iowa game that we won, It's like we know they're 337 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:17,880 going to come back and can we hang on? 338 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,640 But then just the style of play, you know, just for me at least, 339 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:23,800 it's just not a ton of fun to watch. 340 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,960 Even when you're winning, it's like it's it's very grinded out. 341 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:30,800 It's like a land war in Asia. And I I just that's what's 342 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:32,960 tough. And then when you lose and all 343 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,400 the flaws are laid out, it's like it's even less fun to 344 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,720 watch. And I I do think that is some of 345 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,840 what some of this angst is is coming from is that you know the 346 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:44,720 losses aren't great but even when you win it's not like a 347 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:47,360 super fun enjoyable night of basketball. 348 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:49,640 And I think people are getting a little bit tired of that. 349 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:51,360 I think the same thing would happen at like Virginia. 350 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:54,120 Like if they, they be hard hit, hit a swoon, like they're 351 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,840 probably going to, you know, have a quicker turn than like a 352 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:01,720 maybe a place like Alabama where you know, it's it's a lot, it's 353 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:04,119 a lot more like fun up tempo, a lot more like contemporary 354 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:05,160 basketball. So I don't know, I was just 355 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,280 thinking about that, but I heard a lot of similar people talking 356 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:09,920 about that yesterday in our game Watch. 357 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:13,640 No, I heard some of those conversations as well and I'll, 358 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:16,280 I think I forget if it was when I was talking to Zach or if I 359 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:20,680 was one of the other podcast, but I'll, I'll say this, you can 360 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,880 have success with almost any style that you want to play as a 361 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:29,160 coach. The style, if you're going to 362 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:35,920 play like this is going to be very dependent on people having 363 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,000 something to look forward to when they're watching your team 364 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,120 play. What I mean by that is I guess 365 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:43,880 the success of the style in the eyes of people is, is going to 366 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,080 be dependent on how how successful is the team. 367 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,280 So like, yes, a Virginia or you know, some of these other teams 368 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,960 that that play this very unique structured style of play. 369 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:56,920 Wisconsin historically has been an example of this. 370 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,080 If you're winning, you're willing to accept almost 371 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,760 anything. If you're not winning, you're 372 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,520 going to be pretty upset when things aren't going well. 373 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:11,280 I think the problem here is that Indiana, it's not a fun style of 374 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,160 basketball on the offensive side. 375 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:17,440 It's not a fun approach on the defensive side because it just 376 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:22,040 gives up so many open shots. There really isn't an argument 377 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:26,760 being made about why this is a good style of play and we don't 378 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,640 get that from Mike Woodson in the post game press conferences 379 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:32,120 or in his media availabilities. I mean, Mike Woodson just kind 380 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:36,280 of does what and says what Mike Woodson feels at the time. 381 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,800 And I don't think that he's done a great job of being an 382 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:40,760 ambassador for the way that his team's playing. 383 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:43,440 You know, and we heard the first couple of years essentially 384 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:47,800 allusions to the idea that, well, we have to play this way 385 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,120 because we have this particular type of player and we have to 386 00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:51,720 structure the offense a particular way. 387 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,320 And it's like, well now we've got a whole other like, I know 388 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,360 almost an entire season of results after that that say no, 389 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:00,600 this just seems to be the way that you want to play 390 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:04,240 basketball. Very post centric kind of a it 391 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,400 it it's not even a glacial pace in terms of possessions but 392 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:12,040 everything feels slow and cumbersome on offense and that 393 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,520 just does that. You know, it isn't good and I 394 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:18,280 think the problem is that it makes players look bad in the 395 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,080 system by and large. You know, we were had a lot of 396 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,000 conversations yesterday where we were talking about, you know, 397 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:29,080 Braden Smith and we were talking about players on other teams and 398 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:33,640 this idea and we've talked about this before you, it's easy to 399 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:35,040 say, well, we just need better players. 400 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:39,680 We got to recruit better this or that, and yet we've seen players 401 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,480 leave Indiana and play well elsewhere. 402 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:44,440 In some cases. We've also seen players come to 403 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,520 Indiana and play nothing like you would expect them to play. 404 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,240 It just feels like the way that Indiana chooses to play ends up 405 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:53,960 having a negative impact on how everybody looks and that's a 406 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:57,920 real bad spot to be in. So it's it's really frustrating 407 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:00,040 for fans. It's frustrating for us because. 408 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:04,360 The, the team is not like categorically awful, but they 409 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,400 they're both not fun to watch and they're not particularly 410 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:09,520 competitive and that's the the statistics show that. 411 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:11,960 You know what Scott, I was going to say you mentioned earlier 412 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,800 like Penn State being statistically you know one of 413 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:17,600 the worst or the worst team in the conference. 414 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:21,840 And I'll note that this morning on Ken Palm, Penn State's ahead 415 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,600 of Indiana and Ken Palm. Now Penn State is 93rd. 416 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:27,000 Indiana dropped from 89th to 100th. 417 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:30,080 The only other team in the Big 10 that is worse than Indiana 418 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,320 and Ken Palm right now is Michigan. 419 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,960 And they're only one spot worse. They're 101st and Indiana is 420 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,400 100th. And whereas at least Michigan's 421 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,000 offense works occasionally, they're 56th in the country and 422 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,120 offensive efficiency and 189th in defensive efficiency. 423 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:47,320 Indiana's like the only team that is equally bad on both 424 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:51,200 sides of the ball as of this morning, Indiana's 102nd and 425 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:54,160 offensive efficiency nationwide and 101st in defensive 426 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:57,560 efficiency. They may be actually be playing 427 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,400 like the worst team in the conference at this point and 428 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,320 that's pretty inexcusable. I want to go back to your Braden 429 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,160 Smith point because I was talking about this a lot 430 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,200 yesterday with a bunch of different people and you know it 431 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,400 it still kind of irks me because I'm, I'm in Westfield. 432 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:12,520 My wife's a teacher at Westfield. 433 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,320 My wife had Braden Smith in class like he's he was like, 434 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:16,320 man, that would have been really cool. 435 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:18,640 Like that would have been cool to just, you know, from just a a 436 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:20,720 kid who I saw play here in high school. 437 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,400 But anyway and who's you know found a spot there but you know 438 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:29,960 I think that the corollary is very apartment because you know 439 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:33,280 if he comes to IU, the question really is does Braden Smith 440 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:35,920 become what he is now. And I think you have a perfect 441 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,000 example of you know you've got to we have Gabe Cups. 442 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,600 We recruited Gabe Cups. Recruiting rankings aren't 443 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:44,360 everything but Gabe Cups is a four-star recruit, right, rated 444 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:46,400 90. You know Braden Smith is a three 445 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:48,840 star recruit, 88. So I mean they are similar. 446 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,480 If anything Gabe Cups was a higher level recruit. 447 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,680 He's come here and he doesn't really have a system that that 448 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,440 that benefits what he does well kind of almost highlights 449 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,040 everything that he can't do and and it makes you wonder like if 450 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:04,640 we had gotten Braden's OK Braden Smith comes to IU does Braden 451 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:06,840 Smith start playing like Gabe Cubs because he doesn't have a 452 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:08,920 system to go into. And the even scarier part is 453 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:12,120 like if Gabe Cubs goes to Purdue, does he just become 454 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:15,000 Braden Smith because they have a system and they can plug him 455 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,680 into a system and they understand how you know how how 456 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:19,360 to utilize things to best effective. 457 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:22,000 And that when I start talking about those things, that's where 458 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,200 I get really, really sad. Because that's a massive 459 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,120 structural issue that just bringing more dudes in isn't 460 00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:31,080 really going to solve. Because at some point you do 461 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,440 need to have a structure where you can take players and utilize 462 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,360 things to their best ability. And that means either you have a 463 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:41,480 your Wisconsin where you recruit guys specifically for your 464 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:47,120 system or you have a coach where he changes his system based on 465 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:49,280 the players that he has year over year. 466 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,560 It it feels like we're kind of in no man's land. 467 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:52,560 Like we're not in the deep water. 468 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:53,920 We're not in the beach. We're right in the middle 469 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:55,680 getting slammed by the by the Breakers. 470 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,280 And it's like we we have kind of a pretty inflexible system, but 471 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,120 we're and the system doesn't quite work well enough and we're 472 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:04,920 recruiting some guys who fit it, some guys who don't and like it. 473 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,680 Just it feels like we're in the middle on everything and it's. 474 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,400 It's frustrating, yeah. I mean, I I just keep going back 475 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:17,040 to this idea that Indiana can thrive under the right 476 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,000 conditions with the right recruits. 477 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,440 But again, it's like Jalen Ujafina was able to come in and 478 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:24,920 be successful last year. But that's a very special 479 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,960 talent. And I just, I do worry, and I 480 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:32,600 think it's it's a valid thing to point out that for whatever 481 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:36,640 reason, you plug a bunch of players who are talented players 482 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:41,000 into Indiana's system and they just seem to struggle to do the 483 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,760 things you need to do throughout the 40 minutes of a basketball 484 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:48,720 game on both sides of the floor. And that is something that has 485 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,720 been consistent. And again, it's not just a Mike 486 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,040 Woodson thing, It also happened with Archie Miller. 487 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,760 I don't understand the reasoning why other than both coaches seem 488 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:02,160 to be or seemed to be attached to particular styles of doing 489 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,840 things that either just didn't work manifestly in Archie 490 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,720 Miller's way or in Mike Woodson's case just seemed to be 491 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:10,760 out of step the most out of those players. 492 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,880 And that is it. It's a tricky proposition and it 493 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,080 can change. You know, I mean you look at 494 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:19,480 I'll, I'll use North Carolina as an example. 495 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,280 You know North Carolina looked kind of dead in the water last 496 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:24,880 year as a program. They they were 20 and 13 but 497 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:27,160 they lost pretty much every game against a good team. 498 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,800 They just weren't impressive. They missed the NCAA tournament. 499 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:35,040 They missed the niti think or maybe they turn NIT bid down and 500 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,720 a lot of people were like, well, Hubert Davis can't coach. 501 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:39,920 There's real problems and you know, they look real good this 502 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:40,920 year. They just beat Duke. 503 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,920 They're ten and one in the ACC. They have really, really high 504 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,640 level talent and and they've been able to take advantage of 505 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,280 that. The excuse on the Indiana front 506 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,160 has been, well, Indiana doesn't have the talent to do XY or Z or 507 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,320 it's been, you know, it's a rebuilding year. 508 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,640 It is a rebuilding year, but it's one of those years where 509 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,200 there's no reason why Indiana has to look this bad. 510 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,040 We see teams do rebuilding years. 511 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,200 Even North Carolina, who again didn't look good last year, they 512 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,960 were 43rd and Kenpump, they were around 50th in both offensive 513 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,960 and defensive efficiency nationwide, they were not. 514 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,440 This Indiana team, which has, you know, Mike Woodson, was 515 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:18,920 saying in the press conference yesterday that nobody had noted 516 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:21,680 that they haven't been full strength since, you know, 517 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,160 December, beginning of December. And that that the implication 518 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,880 there seemed to be that that was an explanation for why Indiana 519 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:30,920 was struggling. And it's like, I don't think 520 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,800 that that's really a a reasonable argument that 521 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,280 injuries are the reason Indiana's playing this badly. 522 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,480 You know, the part of its roster construction and the injuries 523 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,960 have certainly hurt what was already poor roster 524 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,560 construction. But the idea that if you're not 525 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,240 at full strength, you're just not going to be able to compete, 526 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:53,720 I mean that's never worked at a place like Indiana, that is that 527 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,360 has never been a reasonable excuse as far as people are 528 00:25:56,360 --> 00:25:58,800 concerned. And I don't think it should 529 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:02,520 start being that now because it feels like the problems are just 530 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:04,680 a lot more fundamental right now with this team. 531 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:09,640 And many of them are as as much focused on inspiration as they 532 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,720 are on schematic. Well, and I I. 533 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:15,320 Two things to hit here, like the the the thing that makes me 534 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:17,960 nervous about moving forward and you talked about this I think in 535 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,760 your podcast with Jared last week about like just you know, 536 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:25,800 how do we fix this moving forward based on how you 537 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:27,040 construct the roster and you know. 538 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,440 You get a lot of talk and I. Heard it yesterday, but you 539 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:31,480 know, nil. We have nil money. 540 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:32,760 Like, you know, the portal. Like we can hit that. 541 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,680 And like, I look back like, let's not forget. 542 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,200 And I was very positive of how we did last offseason. 543 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,320 You were too. A lot of us were like last 544 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,400 offseason going into this year, like we hit what I would 545 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,560 consider a home run in the offseason. 546 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,000 Portal You signed Khalil Ware, who's one of the top 4? 547 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,480 Four or five? Recruits in the portal like he 548 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,680 was one of the top guys. You got a five star in Mackenzie 549 00:26:55,680 --> 00:27:00,560 Embaco to recommit to IU. So you got the top three recruit 550 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:04,200 in you know in Portal you got a five star recruit to recommit 551 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,960 and then you got Peyton Sparks who well not a five star like 552 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,760 that's a very solid player from a mid major conference. 553 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,400 Like to me that's a that's a home run that's a great 554 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,320 offseason. It turned into this you know 555 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,720 season of games to just be like hey we're going to do better 556 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,800 after less success. We are now going to do better 557 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:24,480 than that. Like I just don't know if that's 558 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,760 possible. Like last offseason was kind of 559 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,400 a home run win to get the the a five star recruit to get the 560 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,480 best nil transfer and to get a good Mac player like that's 561 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:38,080 great To just do better than that is is to me it's like 562 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,760 that's you're asking for things that are not logical to to get 563 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,280 that again and again. Yeah, I mean. 564 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:48,080 You can do that, but I don't think Indiana has demonstrated 565 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,560 an ability to recruit consistently at that level. 566 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:56,840 And even Even so, even last year with the roster Indiana had was 567 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,920 a pretty up and down year in terms of, you know, it took 568 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:02,200 until around this time of year for that team to really hit its 569 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:03,400 stride. And at the end of the day, they 570 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,440 didn't even make the Sweet 16, didn't make the Big 10 title 571 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:08,200 game, didn't win a regular season title. 572 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:09,880 I mean, it was, it was a good season. 573 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:14,240 But you can't look at that and say that's the model, 'cause 574 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,600 that's not a repeatable model. And so look, ultimately, I, you 575 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:20,080 know, it's funny. I mean, there's a lot of 576 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,760 discourse right now about the direction of the program. 577 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,200 And I think that's natural. After losing 4 out of your last 578 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,560 five, five out of your last seven, losing at home by 14 to 579 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,360 Penn State for the first time in a decade, you know you lose to 580 00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:36,440 Penn State and now you're staring down the barrel of Rd. 581 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,400 games at Ohio State and Purdue, home games against Nebraska and 582 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,680 Northwestern, both of whom are, you know, squarely in tournament 583 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:44,800 contention. You got to go back and go to the 584 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,600 same Penn State team on the road that suddenly doesn't look like 585 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:50,080 a win. And then you got to come home 586 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,320 and play Wisconsin. I mean, that is, that is a 587 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,480 brutal stretch of six games Indiana's got coming up. 588 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,240 And you know, I don't, I'd be surprised if they lost all of 589 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,320 them, but I wouldn't be shocked because the way that they're 590 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,640 playing right now and those particular teams, like all of 591 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,480 them, have in common a core element, which is that they all 592 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,280 seem to have a system that the players have bought into. 593 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,680 They all seem to be squads that their teams, you know, work well 594 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,840 together on. So I do worry about how this 595 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:23,600 looks long term. And I think as I talked about 596 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,480 with Zach, there's just not a lot right now on the horizon to 597 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,840 make IU fans excited about the future. 598 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,760 Yes, Liam Mcneely, that's an exciting recruit. 599 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,080 That's the only guy signed, you know, and you know, perhaps 600 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:38,400 these things can be addressed in the Portal in terms of you get 601 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:40,480 guards in the portal, you're going to have to at this point. 602 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:43,920 But that doesn't get around the fundamental problem of the 603 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:47,360 system that Indiana is choosing to play does not seem to be 604 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,560 compatible with winning at a high level consistently. 605 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:53,960 It's hard to say for sure whether the problem with this 606 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,240 year's team is more chemistry based or more system based. 607 00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:59,640 The concern is right now it's both. 608 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:02,040 Are both going to be able to get fixed in the offseason? 609 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,360 Are you going to be able to do a culture transplant off of what 610 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,480 you've got this year? I mean historically that 611 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:12,280 generally doesn't happen. So it's concerning. 612 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:14,400 It really is and I I don't know what the answer to it is, but 613 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,280 it's an interesting thing to look at right now is you've 614 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:17,920 still got quite a bit of the season left. 615 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:19,760 Again, I I. Say, like, I don't know if you 616 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:21,360 can get more talent than you got this offseason. 617 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:23,920 But I also think, like, Woodson has shown, he's not like we all 618 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:25,400 kind of went into the season like, all right, now that you 619 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:27,080 don't have Trace Jackson Davis, maybe they're going to, you 620 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:28,640 know, revamp their offense. They did. 621 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,480 Like, he is not shown in his time here. 622 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,320 He's really willing to change his systems and his ideal. 623 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,440 So the idea that he's just going to trash everything and 624 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,520 completely come up with a new system next year is really going 625 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,880 against his entire life. Like everything he's done is. 626 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,680 It doesn't show that. The thing about this, you know, 627 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:52,120 I I like to kind of look back to things that now are a little 628 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,800 more hardened in our mind. And you know, for the most part, 629 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,120 everybody would say no one's going to come out and be like, 630 00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:58,720 hey, you know what, The Archie era was awesome. 631 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,200 Like, nobody comes back. We look at that era as like that 632 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:02,920 just didn't work. They were stuck in the mud. 633 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:07,560 Nobody like looks back glowingly on the Archie era when you look 634 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:10,240 at his four teams. The Ken Palm ratings for those 635 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:15,280 teams are 715234 and 50. Looking at offense and defense 636 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:21,440 just year to year 92658232 652674. 637 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,400 His last year the team was ranked 50th and Kenpom 70th and 638 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,800 offense 43rd and defense metrics aren't everything, but they 639 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,520 really do get a good snapshot of where a team is. 640 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,600 This year's Indiana team is, as you mentioned, their 100th and 641 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:37,800 Kenpom 102nd in offensive efficiency and 101st in 642 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,640 defensive efficiency. This is off the radar bad 643 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,120 compared to the Archie's. All of Archie's teams were 644 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,560 better than this. You know numerically the the the 645 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,760 two worst teams you have to go back to Crean's first and second 646 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:53,440 year when we are digging out of a hole and and this is where 647 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:56,280 again like I look at you know looking back to what we said 648 00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:58,560 going into this season. I remember doing a podcast with 649 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:01,600 Alec Bozich and it's like we have more five star talent on 650 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,480 this roster then we've that was my that was my thought of how we 651 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,400 were going to get back is like we we have more talent on this 652 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:09,080 roster. I think we've had in years we 653 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,400 have 5 star talent, we're bringing more five stars. 654 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,080 And this is how you get it up to that. 655 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:15,520 And yes, you can have step backs. 656 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,320 You could have a year, you know, where we were kind of already 657 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,640 baking in a step back by being like if we get the, you know, 658 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,480 10-9 seed in the NCAA tournament, that's not great, 659 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,480 but that's a step back. The idea of not only you're not 660 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:31,400 even making the NIT, but you're going to be historically bad, 661 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,800 like a team that had that you haven't been this bad in 1314 662 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,280 years. Like there's really no reason. 663 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,520 And you can talk about injuries. It's like, OK, you lost Xavier 664 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,000 Johnson. Like Xavier Johnson was also not 665 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,120 a big part of the last year's team because of injury. 666 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,400 Like you didn't lose two of your core players. 667 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,880 You didn't lose any of those guys you got in the Transport 668 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:52,000 Portal. It's offseason. 669 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,560 Like yes, it should affect your team. 670 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:56,320 Like it affected the team last year. 671 00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:58,840 Maybe that team could have, you know been a 3C in the NCAA 672 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:00,560 tournament could have been a step or two higher in the Big 673 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,520 10. They didn't just fall off the 674 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:05,280 face of the earth And so that this is what really concerns me 675 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:07,800 and for people who just yeah, you know it's a rough year like 676 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:10,680 rough years or one thing off years or another. 677 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,840 This is like just horrifically bad. 678 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:18,200 Like just everything is bad and I I that's where I'm very 679 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,200 concerned for that. And again like I'm not sure how 680 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:23,960 it gets better. I'm sure it hopefully it will 681 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,520 but I just don't know. But I just, I think people need 682 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,040 to take a moment and realize this isn't just like ah we 683 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,120 missed the mark a little bit like you are. 684 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:35,320 This is way off the mark. This is more in line with the 685 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:39,600 2010 season than any other season in the last 15 years. 686 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:42,360 Really the the biggest analogue, right? 687 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,280 Now from a statistical perspective, is the 2004 season 688 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:49,400 where Indiana was 94th and Ken Palm their, their offense was 689 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,280 120th. Their defense was actually 690 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,280 slightly better compared to the rest of the country that year at 691 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:57,480 72nd than it is this year. When we're talking about that 692 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:00,080 season as a comp, that's a system's failure. 693 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,080 Like that's something that has to be addressed. 694 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:06,160 And so I am at this point, you know, and a lot of people have 695 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,760 expressed this like it kind of feels like the season's done, 696 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:11,760 you know, and it's because it's not just the results. 697 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:17,000 It's also like Alec Lasley had a tweet earlier today, and you've 698 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:21,320 brought this stat up as well. Indiana has. 699 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:25,159 They've lost their games by an average of 14.7 points per game 700 00:34:25,159 --> 00:34:28,040 this year. Seven of the 9 losses Indiana's 701 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,440 had so far this season have come by double figures, you know? 702 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,639 So when they have won, it's generally been close. 703 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:39,400 When they've lost, it's generally been blowouts and it 704 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:42,880 feels like Indiana is losing momentum, not gaining it. 705 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,800 I I mean, I said yesterday Indiana, and it's true, Indiana 706 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:50,360 has shown some improvements defensively, but they gave 707 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,440 almost all of that improvement up yesterday. 708 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,520 Like statistically speaking, they submarine what improvements 709 00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,200 they had made. And again, it feels like one, 710 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:01,760 you know, something leaks on one side of the boat and they plug 711 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:03,680 it and then something else leaks on the other side of the boat. 712 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:07,560 It is. It is bizarre watching this team 713 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,560 struggle the way that they're struggling and hopefully it it 714 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:12,560 needs to get fixed. I mean, I'll say this like I'm 715 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:18,440 the the, you know, the the whole idea at this stage that somehow 716 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:24,080 this isn't or can't be addressed is not acceptable. 717 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:26,080 And I'll keep going back to this. 718 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,600 The whole idea of Indiana basketball being something 719 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,200 special and they're needing to be a higher standard. 720 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:36,440 I mean that is ultimately what we get a lot from Mike Woodson, 721 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,560 from the program as a whole. And that's fine. 722 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:41,680 And I think we all think IU basketball is special. 723 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:47,080 But this is the latest and probably the most stinging of 724 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,280 these seasons that just come, like, significantly short of 725 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,080 expectations. Because yes, this was supposed 726 00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,960 to be a year where the deck got reshuffled a bit. 727 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,560 This is not reshuffling the deck like this is opening the deck 728 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:01,800 and finding out that a bunch of cards are missing and not 729 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,400 knowing how to fix them. I don't know what the plan is. 730 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,600 Like, what do you, what do you tell people that are coming 731 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:08,360 here? What are you showing them to 732 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:11,040 say, Well, this is actually an outlier. 733 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:14,040 Here's how we want to play and here's why you would want to 734 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:16,440 come to Bloomington because you mentioned something earlier. 735 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:20,000 It's not just about nil money. Like, Indiana's got tons of nil 736 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:21,840 money. Indiana's got tons of resources 737 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,600 available. Players want to be sold on a 738 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,560 vision. They want to say, oh, I see 739 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,680 myself succeeding in that role. And that's the thing with the 740 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:33,280 guards. If, like, it wasn't that IU 741 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:34,760 didn't look for guards in the portal. 742 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,400 It's like guards, I think, looked at Indiana and said there 743 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,280 are better options elsewhere. This season has done nothing to 744 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:42,480 make that look better. In fact, a lot of ways I think 745 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,400 it's made it look worse. That's a real concern going into 746 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,600 this next year, unless you can sell a different vision from 747 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:50,080 what's currently out there right now. 748 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:51,560 And so that's going to be the thing to watch. 749 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,040 I mean, you know, the season's not over. 750 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:55,680 Indiana can turn it around. Maybe this game ends up being a 751 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,960 kick in the ass as opposed to an indicator of how they're going 752 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,760 to play the rest of the year. What worries me is this is kind 753 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:05,080 of this feels like this game is always a possibility when this 754 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:06,560 team takes the floor this season. 755 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:10,160 And I think it's more likely that it is how they're going to 756 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:13,880 play the rest of the year than be the outlier and and be the, 757 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:17,000 you know, be the the down cycle of of what is otherwise a good 758 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,160 rest of the season. Yeah, I mean the the thing. 759 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:22,720 That concerns me is you look at that, you know that they beat 760 00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:25,600 Morehead State, North Alabama, Kennesaw State like awesome. 761 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:28,480 But you go back and look like the the last you know multiple 762 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:30,440 game-winning streak against Semi. 763 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:33,960 You know the good teams was Louisville, Harvard, Maryland 764 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:35,880 and Michigan. And you look at the rest of 765 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:40,400 this, the schedule ahead of us and you know I, I I like you, I 766 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:42,760 don't know where the wins are going to come from. 767 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:45,600 I don't see them losing out. But I think it's going to be 768 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:47,240 really hard. You know, you mentioned momentum 769 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:49,320 and this team losing momentum. I I see it really hard for this 770 00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:52,360 team to win two games in a row or three games in a row and kind 771 00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:54,880 of right the ship, like I can see them winning one and then 772 00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:56,440 going back. And it is kind of a bummer to 773 00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,280 look at a season and be like all right after December 29th, 774 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:02,080 you're not going to win two games in a row the rest of the 775 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:04,760 season like that. That's that's really tough. 776 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:07,800 That's just really tough and that's you lose momentum of a 777 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,400 fan base of a program of a team like everything just kind of 778 00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:13,520 that was the Archie problem is everything just got stuck in the 779 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,680 mud and was kind of like this cart is not moving and that that 780 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,160 is what is really concerning. But I think we can leave it 781 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:21,240 there. But more to talk about as we go 782 00:38:21,240 --> 00:38:22,800 into February. Yeah, it doesn't feel. 783 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:24,760 Like things are going to change anytime soon. 784 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,960 There was 1 stat I can't find. I can't because they don't. 785 00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:30,560 Like, they don't. Like Woodson hasn't changed. 786 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:32,920 Like he's not coming out and saying they're going to change. 787 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:34,440 They're not yelling at you. But it's like that's the 788 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:36,920 frustrating part is like we said, well hopefully things will 789 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:38,400 change. Like there's there's no evidence 790 00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:41,600 in his coaching history at IU or his coaching history at all like 791 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:43,600 that they're going to change. He just doesn't. 792 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:45,920 There's no history of him coming in and being like, all right now 793 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:48,280 we're going to run this. Like the big change is he ran 794 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:50,800 2-3 zone against Louisville for for 12 minutes. 795 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:52,160 The There's I. Can't. 796 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:56,840 I still can't find the stat, but IU under Woodson, it's something 797 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,640 like they're like 3 and 17 now against. 798 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:04,520 I think it's like Michigan, Iowa, Rutgers and one other team 799 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:07,960 like the the the the soft middle of the Big 10 or even though the 800 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:10,720 lower reaches of the middle. And the problem is ultimately 801 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:12,880 that that's the teams. It's kind of like when we talk 802 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:14,840 about football, like when Tom Allen would be like, well, you 803 00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:17,720 know we have to play Michigan and Ohio State every year and 804 00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:20,080 it's like, well, the problem is that you're losing against all 805 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:23,160 these other teams that you have to win against if you're going 806 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,720 to be competitive and that like to to. 807 00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:28,560 Have. Already lost this year to 808 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:30,880 Nebraska, Rutgers and Penn State? 809 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:36,200 That, you know, that's about as easy of a stretch as you will 810 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,080 get in terms of Big 10 play because this, this conference 811 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,720 isn't good. But this conference is also not 812 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:44,360 awful. And it is really. 813 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,000 Yeah, it is. It is really frustrating because 814 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,080 all of these teams seem to be playing better than Indiana at 815 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:50,880 this point, except for maybe Michigan. 816 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:54,280 So anyway, no need to belabor the point further. 817 00:39:54,720 --> 00:39:56,520 And it's like at this point I'm not even. 818 00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:57,960 I mean, I'm. I'm irritated. 819 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:00,280 I'm not mad because. Yeah. 820 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:03,040 This just kind of feels like the natural order of things with 821 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:05,240 Indiana basketball. That might sound fatalistic, but 822 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:09,040 this is who Indiana is. And man, that has got to change. 823 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:12,920 And that's probably the biggest disappointment is that I don't 824 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:17,320 see or feel any kind of fire or intensity either coming off the 825 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:20,760 podium when the coach is talking or in the way that the players 826 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:24,640 are reacting on the floor. This team is easy to get down, 827 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:26,520 you know they're easy. And we've seen this with Indiana 828 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,120 teams in the past. This is not the first Indiana 829 00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:30,120 team that's had this. But it's really frustrating 830 00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:34,840 watching this kind of devolve because it doesn't feel like 831 00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:39,040 anybody's got the will to fix it within the system right now. 832 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:41,080 And sometimes you get seasons like that. 833 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:44,400 But the fact that there's still a lot of basketball to play and 834 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,160 it could get significantly worse is a real concern. 835 00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:50,120 And I I do worry about the psyche of the program as a whole 836 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,120 moving forward and the way it affects fans. 837 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:54,160 I mean, we talked with people after the game. 838 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:57,440 People were less angry and they were more just kind of 839 00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:00,800 fatalistic. And it was like, well, OK, that 840 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:02,520 sucked. But that wasn't a surprise. 841 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:05,800 And man, that is a terrible place for the program to be 842 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:07,600 right now. Like that is that is that has 843 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:09,760 been the thing I think that's been the most jarring to me is 844 00:41:10,240 --> 00:41:14,280 how how quickly and understandably IU fans have 845 00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:18,800 settled in to this. This is who we are mentality and 846 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:22,000 they're not wrong but they that needs to get changed. 847 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,560 It does. And and it also and you might 848 00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:28,040 need to correct me here because you're in Bloomington more like 849 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:30,360 I'm not in Bloomington as often but the thing that kind of 850 00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:33,120 struck me at the upstairs yesterday is that hey they've 851 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:35,520 expanded the place is awesome. But that's that's the First off, 852 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:37,160 but then after. The. 853 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,760 Game. The place flooded with students. 854 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:41,440 I know you and I. It's like you. 855 00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:44,200 You and I are are are big into sports and we would be bummed 856 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:45,840 after losses. We'd still go out and have a 857 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:51,120 good time and so I could be misremembering some of this from 858 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:54,560 my college days. But it was kind of interesting 859 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:57,160 to me just how most of the students were just like, all 860 00:41:57,160 --> 00:41:59,200 right, you know, but that the game was like, it was something 861 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:01,560 like, it's an event, we go to it like and you know, we lost 862 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:02,800 whatever. Like they just move on like 863 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:04,320 having a good time and that, yeah, you're making that. 864 00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:06,280 I'm probably reading too much into that. 865 00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:08,800 Here's the thing I. Think you and me and like, 866 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:11,080 really hardcore sports fans are different? 867 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:13,520 Yeah, you're probably right. You know, because yes. 868 00:42:13,720 --> 00:42:17,600 And look, I think there are moments where, you know, you've 869 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:21,120 got college campuses where it's a huge deal if the team does 870 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:23,680 well or poorly, but at the end of the day, there's a lot more 871 00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:25,600 students for whom it isn't that big of a deal. 872 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:27,880 And those are a lot of times the people that you're seeing out. 873 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:30,720 So I, I, I, I live here, I work with students. 874 00:42:30,720 --> 00:42:32,680 I think that you might be reaching a little too much on 875 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:34,880 that, but it's something that I think a lot of people would look 876 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:36,960 at and say, why isn't this a bigger deal? 877 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:41,960 And ultimately, it's not a bigger deal because IU 878 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:44,040 basketball just hasn't been good. 879 00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:47,840 Like, good good like top of the line good consistently over the 880 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:50,760 course of the last 25 to 30 years. 881 00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:52,800 It's it's nice when they're doing well and people will get 882 00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:55,360 excited. But it's it's no longer 883 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:58,320 something people live and die on, especially like college 884 00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:00,840 students. Because if you were, you would 885 00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,800 have like, you'd be bounced around like a yo-yo for a while. 886 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:05,640 Like, yeah, you would, you would be, you would be on the 887 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:09,720 precipice at this point anyway. So any final thoughts before we 888 00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:11,200 wrap up? No, no, we'll have. 889 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:13,200 We'll have more to talk about. Want to thank everybody for for 890 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:14,680 listening. I'm ready for showing up and 891 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:16,520 let's, let's, we'll stay there. We'll, we'll keep going. 892 00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:17,080 Yeah. No. 893 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:19,800 We'll yeah, we'll be fine. Well, Indiana, big week this 894 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:21,920 week, go on the road to Ohio State. 895 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:24,640 That might be the most winnable game left on the schedule, given 896 00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:26,240 how bad Ohio State is defensively. 897 00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:29,400 And then of course they got to travel to Purdue on the 10th. 898 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:33,240 So we'll see what happens moving forward. 899 00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:36,560 But Purdue looking really good, they play against Wisconsin 900 00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:38,720 later on today, so we'll see where they're at in the big 901 00:43:38,720 --> 00:43:42,480 scheme of things in Indiana not looking so good 13 and 95 and 902 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:47,040 six and staring down the barrel of some not nice stuff down the 903 00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:50,120 Pike here in the Big 10 play. So anyway, thanks to all of you 904 00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:52,400 for listening. We'll keep this one relatively 905 00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:55,400 short. Be sure to tune in later on this 906 00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:56,920 week. We'll have more content coming 907 00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:00,480 at you. And if you have any comments or 908 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:02,320 questions, you can always go to the sub stack, leave a note 909 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:06,040 there or you can track US down on Twitter. 910 00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:08,480 For Scott, I'm Galen, this is Crimson Cast. 911 00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:10,440 Thanks for joining us once again. 912 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:14,400 And we will catch you folks On the flip side, bring back the 913 00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:15,560 Bison. So long, everybody.