You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home
Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cascade
and Clavio Scott Caulfield joining you on a Sunday, August
4th. As it is rapidly becoming
football season, we just had the Pro Football Hall of Fame game
this past week and college football around the corner.
We've we've got updates on NCAA violation allegations, we've got
people rating strength of schedule.
We got a bunch of stuff going on all over college athletics.
So plenty to talk about as well as some basketball news both
past and present. Scott, good to see you again.
How are things? Doing well, yeah, we're getting
to that point where there's kind of these two points in the
football season. I think we're like a week or two
away from where people start putting on like Instagram or
Twitter or whatever social media, like, you know, there's
football every weekend for the next 32 weeks or whatever we're
getting. I think we're like a week or two
away from that. And then, you know, in February,
you get the, you know, we, we, this is the last weekend with
football for the next 4 1/2 months or so.
But I think we're like a weekend away from a point where we will
have football every weekend from now until the end for, you know,
early February. Yeah, we're, you know, we're in
it right now and that's a good thing.
It's one of those things where I, I look around the landscape
and I'm like, well, you know, on the one hand, yes, it's true.
We're going to have a bunch of football coming up.
That's, that's how it works. The, the, the other thing
though, I think is important that I always try to keep in
mind with all this stuff is like, it feels like, you know,
social media, people are out of things to talk about.
So like people feel like that's an easy way to get attention.
Like, oh, we've got two weeks until football starts again.
They just like they post it. It's like you have nothing else
to say. Yes, we're aware.
Everybody knows when the calendar is like we don't need
updates. You're not special for noticing
like when a a kick off date starts.
Yes, I know that people are excited, but I do think that on
social media sometimes there's a little too much insincere
excitement about when these things get started, largely
because it's like an attention grabbing thing.
And realistically with The funny thing about all of that is it's
different with the NFL and the NFL launches and it's like we're
in it. You've got a great Thursday
night game normally to start things off, you've got a really
intriguing slate of opening weekend games and college
football just doesn't work that way.
You normally get one or two decent games during the first
week, which isn't even. Sometimes it's not even called
the first week. It's called week zero.
And many teams are just playing, you know, the absolute dregs of,
of FBS or they're playing FCS teams.
So it's like, yeah, we've got football back.
But then it's it's like watching a dog, like slowly stretching
itself before it can be bothered to get up and walk across the
floor. It's like, you know, this is not
really, We're not launching ourselves fully into anything.
No, agree. Well, there's always one game in
the first like three or four weekends of college football
that's like, it's like Texas and Michigan or something like that
where if that's not a good game, then it's like, well, that week
is over. Why not keep?
Rankings the same for another. Week it's the thing and this is
it's it's. Something that we'll talk about
more, I think as we get deeper into this whole, you know, the,
the settlement if it ends up happening and the, the way that
college sports conduct themselves.
Like there's such an anti, but how do I put this?
There's there's very little attention really paid to like
the product as it's, it's, it's 'cause it's all these individual
products, 'cause there's no core consolidation or partnerships.
Everybody just kind of off by themselves.
So it's like Saturday the 24th of August, we've got our first
football games, but it's Delaware State, Hawaii, SMU,
Nevada, Montana State, New Mexico.
And then the headliner at noon is in Ireland and it's Florida
State, Georgia Tech, a game that I don't know that I'll even be
able to be bothered to watch, you know, and then the next week
or later on that week, you've got games on Thursday and they
all uniformly suck. Like the, the only game I look
at there and I'm and it's on Fox.
So I guess good for us. Maybe the only game I look at
there and I'm like, oh, I want to watch that maybe is North
Carolina, Minnesota. I mean, you've, I try not to
voluntarily watch Minnesota football too many times
throughout the course of the season just for my own health.
And OK, I guess I'll watch that because all of the other options
that day stink. And then even, you know, that
Friday, that Saturday, that Saturday, we've got Indiana,
Florida International, you got a couple of good games, You've got
Clemson, Georgia, you've got Penn State, West Virginia.
I guess you've got Miami, FL That'll be fun.
Of course we won't get to see it because we'll be at the IU game.
It's the same time of day, but. No, to your point, like it's
because there's no one in charge.
It almost feels like we should just you and I are both playing
NCAA Football 25 like we should just let that SIM a season
because I in my in my dynasty, some of the games in the first
couple weeks are better than this.
It's just, it should just be like the NCAA is like, all
right, we're putting EA Sports in charge of our schedules from
now on. Like we'll.
Just we'll run a. SIM and whatever the dynasty
says the schedule is, that's what the schedule is going.
To be given how bad the SIM results are in NCAA 25, I don't
know if you've noticed this, but like you know you, you're ending
up with teams that have like four or five losses in the
College Football Playoff and you've got like Alabama losing
to Louisiana Monroe in these Sims it's.
Plain and one of my Sims is like unbelievable.
It's where? Where did this come from, right?
Yeah. So maybe we don't want EA
running, although to some degree EAEA has put out a product as
well conceived as the college football season is, that is not
very so, yeah. I know not talking like the one
game thing I have to say playing it more and more is like they
have a section where you can change the apparel of your
coach, but it's like you have AT shirt or a long sleeve
windbreaker and that's it. It's like, why did you build
this entire menu set up to do cult, you know, coach
appearance. You have two options.
I'm like at least have a pack pack that I can buy.
Like I I get like it takes time to build more, but like why even
somebody had to build the menu for two options, like give me a
visor or something. Anyway, that's it.
No, you're I'm with you 100%. Anyway, before we get too
sidetracked, let's talk about Home Field Apparel, our sponsor
here on the big the Back home network.
The Big Home Network. That's a new one.
Let's see if we can work that into your your reads later on.
Yeah, I feel. Yeah, but no home field apparel.
Your place to go for the finest in college fashions the
software. Options didn't say play football
for your coach. They they really do.
I think I'm actually kind of disappointed in EA that they
didn't just sign home field apparel as the in like think
about the like the the the downloadable content or the in
game purchases that you could have had with home field apparel
where it's like, I'm going to buy this shirt for my coach and
I'm going to get a copy of that shirt sent to my door.
I mean that that to me, I hate, I hate in game purchases.
That's an in game purchase I would make Scott.
It's on EA, not on home field, 'cause I know, I know Connor and
home field would get that done. But yeah, you could have a whole
level where like if you're coaching IU, you could wear the,
you know, Saint Peter's shirt where you're playing Purdue and
like and like have a complete like mesh up of like this is me
talking back as my digital coach when I'm playing Purdue.
No, it, it would be great. So EA call up Connor, get this
done. It's in the game guys.
Come on, let's make it happen. No home field apparel.
Having a great week. They ran a, we talk about this
often get on the home field newsletter, get on their text
thread and or I guess it's not a thread, but it should be.
I would love to text with other home field people, like other
customers, but they had a a special earlier this week for
those who were on the distribution list about 25% off
some premium products. There was some pullovers, some
some shooting shirts, a couple of hats, a couple of jerseys,
some really cool stuff. And if you were on their e-mail
list, but you can easily sign up for it, home field apparel.com,
you get 25% off like you're in at that point.
But the big news, Scott, is these new premium boxes that are
going to be coming out from home field football boxes across the
spectrum of college football. This looks like a an absolutely
tremendous collection. And you know, we're talking
about a curated box that's got a hat, it's got a, you know, a
T-shirt. It's got several other things in
it. And if you go to home field
apparel and and sign up, you're going to you're going to get a
chance to see what all of this looks like.
They're going to start dropping these boxes very soon in terms
of making them available. Here's the full list of the
Platinum Box Contest exclusive T-shirt, exclusive long sleeve
exclusive hoodie, exclusive hat or ringer T socks, koozie, and a
Platinum pass, which gives you 20% off of later releases
throughout the course of this upcoming football season.
Scott, we don't know when it's going to drop yet.
Why we do actually for Indiana, I think I just saw this
yesterday. Indiana's I think is dropping on
the first day on the 9th, or at least they're announcing it.
So it's the fourth right now. You may be listening to this on
the 5th while you're watching US on YouTube or going into work,
so go ahead and get on the mailing list so you can have
early access to this because I got a sneaking suspicion these
aren't going to be around very long.
Agreed. On the and the that stuff is
always good and like the, the, the, the, the, the things that
are limited with home field are awesome, like the bomber
jackets, like they and they they're hard to restock.
So I'm I'm with you. I've already signed up for it.
I'm ready to go. So let's first of all, just make
sure that you go to homefieldapparel.com sign up on
their on their website. You'll you'll be glad that you
did. And we thank them for being a
sponsor of the back home network.
Also, just a reminder, we're on sub stack
crimsoncast.substack.com free subscription so that you can get
all of the podcasts delivered right to your inbox.
Also, AVIP option, if you like to financially support the
podcast, we record some extra stuff and send it your way.
I had one earlier this week. Scott's going to record one
after this podcast, and we'll have more of those as the
seasons start to roll. Let's go ahead and dive into our
topics for today. Scott, we're going to start off
with the news. This is definitely hodgepodge
podcast. That's fine.
Hey, this is what you get. This is the potpourri section of
Crimson cast. Given that, I mean, at this
point we're just waiting to dive into the deep end of the
football season pool. And so let's just we're going to
scrounge up whatever news we can because we wanted to talk to you
folks directly. So let's go to the first topic,
which is Victor Oladipo. Congratulations.
Alongside several IU notables from history, you have been
named to the IU Hall of. Fame in athletics This is
obviously great news for Victor, who just recently announced his
retirement from professional basketball.
He had kind of a. A star crossed time in the NBA
as as many people are aware, but he is part of a group that also
consists of Kayla Bashor who's field hockey former great and
and coach of the team, Kevin Barry from men's swimming, Danny
O'Rourke from men's soccer, Max Skirvin, long time radio
broadcaster and Jody Yin from women's tennis.
That's your group for the 2024 Athletics Hall of Fame class.
That's the 39th class of IU Hall of Farmers on the athletic side.
And it was great news, I think for for Victor Oladipo and and
great recognition for him. Scott, it's interesting, you
know, because I think as we think back on that time period,
which is now over 10 years ago, as sad as that is, you know, I
think everybody had an expectation on that team that
Cody Zeller was going to be the real deal.
I don't think people really quite anticipated that Victor
Oladipo would supernova into the type of star that he became at
IU, particularly in that last year, but really in the last
couple of years that he was in an Indiana uniform.
Yeah, I mean, I so the the question I posed to you was, you
know, is he, is he the right first choice from that team?
The second question that I want to get to is how many players
from that team do you think will make the IU Hall of Fame?
You and I are both flying a little bit blind because I'm not
sure we know the exact requirements.
Maybe because. I've looked, I've looked all.
Over I can't find criteria. We they have to have gone to IU.
Like there are some things we can't just start putting in for
new players, you know, but Victor Oladipo just announced
his retirement from basketball. No, you're, you're right, You
know, no question Zeller was the bigger recruit and he it did
kind of signal this is a real thing happening.
And when he when Zeller showed up, the the team got
demonstrably better. But also Oladipo was taking
massive leaps every year in getting better.
And that sophomore year of his, which was Zeller's freshman
year, you know, he really stepped up in some categories,
but it was really his junior year where he became, you know,
nationally ranked in offensive efficiency in his, you know, his
his shooting, you know, it's it's interesting.
I think Zeller was the more important recruit and maybe was
more important for the program. Oladipo was was the better
player and has also had a better NBA career and also had some
time with the Pacers, which doesn't hurt.
But you know, if you're just looking at the IU point, you
know, Oladipo played three years and, you know, had had that
moment in the tournament. I think it was Temple.
We were playing in the second round.
Are his junior year with the 1/8 or the 19?
Seed, I would I would hesitate to say definitively that Oladipo
was a better player than Zeller, but I think he was certainly as
good. If you look at the numbers from
that year in terms of, you know, Victor Oladipo finished that
2013 season 37th in the country and offensive efficiency, he
finished. 20th in the country and two point field goal
percentage, which is nuts for a swing man like you know Cody
Zeller finishes with a 56% shooting percentage.
That mean yes, you would expect that given that he was 611.
Victor Oladipo finished with a 64% two point shooting
percentage on 236 shots, which is insane.
He was seventh in the country in effective field goal percentage.
He was 8th in true shooting percentage.
He was 19th in the country in steel percentage.
He was off the charts that. Year he was Co defensive player
of the year nationally and he and this is the thing I think
people forget. I had forgotten it until this
announcement. He was the consensus All
American first team on that IU squad.
It wasn't Cody Zeller. Cody Zeller was second.
And Cody Zeller kind of, it was the difficulty of having other
good players at his position during the same year.
But it just kind of highlights how important Victor Oladipo was
not just to that team, but also to the previous year's team
where he wasn't quite as efficient, but was absolutely a
a key player in terms of of of that team kind of making a leap
above and beyond what we thought they could do.
And you know, I think to some degree when you think.
About Victor Oladipo, he's probably Tom Crean's greatest
accomplishment in terms of a development process.
And you know, you think about Oladipo coming in value.
Well, of course, I mean, but even actually, I would even
argue if you want to throw Dwyane Wade in there, like
Dwyane Wade was a good player who just had academic issues.
Yes, he blossomed at at Marquette, but I mean, Dwyane
Wade went on, I think we saw him in the NBA like that.
That's a that's an all time like Top 40, top 50 player in the
NBA. Victor Oladipo wasn't, but
Victor Oladipo developed into a player at the college game who
was among the best in the country and came out of relative
obscurity. Like he wasn't as obscure as a
lot of people have made him out to be.
It was not. I mean, he had a lot of offers,
not maybe from top teams, but he had, I think Notre Dame offered
him. There were several other schools
that offered him during that time period.
But I think Creme deserves a lot of credit for developing him in
a way where he really saw what he could become and then became
it while he was at IU. And partly that into being the
second overall draft pick in a draft that also included Cody
Zeller, who was also drafted in the top ten.
I mean, it was, it was really a fascinating blossoming and one
of the more unexpected ones, I think you could say, in Indiana
history perhaps. Yeah, I did at some point.
I'll continue doing the series of like, kind of redrafting some
IU players. But Oladipo's being draft second
by the Magic is a fascinating draft because the Cavs whiffed
on that and they picked Anthony Bennett, who, like doesn't go
down enough as like one of the biggest busts.
I feel like when you and I were growing up, there was always
like the, you know, Sam Bowie bust called like Bennett played
like 2 1/2 years in the NBAI mean, he was the number one pick
and like basically never played. Had the Cavs picked Oladipo?
There's a whole alternate reality where Oladipo is playing
on those LeBron Cavs teams that are going up against the
Nuggets. There's also a chance that he's
part of the trade that gets Kevin Love to the Cavs.
Like it's, I mean, again, alternate reality, you don't
know, but there's a world where Oladipo could blossom next to
LeBron and Kyrie and be in, you know, have his NBA career look
even more different because suddenly he's at these high
stakes games. Also being I think only the
second number one pick for an Indiana University player behind
Kent Benson. And obviously the Cavs messed
that up because he had a much better career than Anthony
Bennett did. But it's just another weird
hypothetical that could have gone there.
But, you know, going into that season, I think, you know, there
was talk of maybe Oladipo could be a first round pick.
I, I mean, I, he blossomed into a lottery pick throughout the
year, but I don't think going into that year, anybody thought
what he had done the last two years made him a lottery pick
going into that season. So that that really is a pretty
remarkable, you know, trend up to the number two pick because
there's not a lot of guys who go in the top three in the NBA
draft that 12 months out, nobody has them in that category.
And Oladipo definitely is in that is in that group.
You asked the question about which other players on that team
would make the IU Hall of Fame. I mean, I think the other clear
cut case here is for. Well, yes, there's actually two
other clear cut cases. I have.
I have four I think that'll make.
It I think, I think we have the same 4.
I'm guessing you're 4 Oladipo, Zeller, Watford and Yogi
Ferrell. OK, I have 5 then.
I think. There's a world where Jordan
Halls gets in just based on the Bloomington connection, the what
he did with that team kind of being a great three.
I I could see not he would be the fifth one.
And dude, making the hall famous and being even in the discussion
is a great a great a great accomplishment.
But I I could see a world where being from Bloomington, I mean
my shooting ability, I could see Halls making.
It I'm not sure if being from Bloomington should be part of
the criteria for being in the IU Hall of Fame and not, and again,
not the Jordan Halls. I mean, I love Jordan Halls as a
player. He was clearly very important
player. I do.
I'm just not sure if if depending on what you're looking
at in terms of the, the history of of the Hall of Fame for IU,
but there are several basketball players that are in the Hall of
Fame already. You know, it's so it's almost
like there's there's an over abundance to some degree of
basketball, which you would expect here at IUI.
Mean, if you look at the players from men's basketball, it's a
ton of players and and coaches. You know, I and again, that
team, like that 2013 team, is an interesting one to parse in as
much as it's. A group that didn't win a title,
didn't even make it past the Sweet 16, but did win a Big Ten
title. And and is, you know, kind of
restored excitement around IU basketball.
When I look at the names of the players that were on previous
teams, I mean, it would be interesting that like if Jordan
Holes made it and say Greg Graham still not be on the team
because Greg Graham is not on not in the Hall of Fame right
now or that. That you know that the guy that
we both have. I'll just ask this and again,
we're in rarefied air. I love all of these guys.
I'm not knocking, but if you is Watford making it on the the
Watford shot like if you take that shot against Kentucky out
who did have a better career? Was it Watford or Holes?
Well, and that's a good question.
I mean, I think, you know, from the standpoint of being a a
contributor on a regular basis, they both certainly have an
argument, you know, to to be in there.
I mean, you look at better offensive rating over his
career. Well, he did.
But you know, I think you can even you can look kind of dive
individually. I mean, Christian Watford became
one of the most consistent kind of non guard scorers of that
era. And the one thing I would say
separates Watford from holes is the fact that he hits that shot
against Kentucky. You can't take that away.
I mean, it's just part of the process.
I mean, their, their, their careers track very closely.
But I, you know, I'll also note that it, you know, when you,
when you look at the, the last year that both of them are
there, Watford is, you know, he's, he's contributing to more
possessions. He's shooting 3 pointers at a
higher rate than Jordan Holes is and, and shot, you know, just
about, I think 60 fewer, but he still shot 124 that year.
It's an interesting debate. I think both of them would be
interesting cases. I just when you think about
impact that individual players have, I look at Watford and I
often think to myself, well, you know, he has a very.
Similar career to Holes in terms of productivity and they cover
the exact same time they were in the same class.
But I would say that Watford was probably slightly like he had an
exclamation point on his career and and Holes unfortunately just
didn't. And that doesn't mean that what
Holes did was not important and that it shouldn't be recognized.
I just wonder if you're talking about if you had to go either or
with the Hall of Fame for them. It's a tighter argument than
maybe some might think. I didn't realize Great Graham
was not in it. Yeah, that was brought up on the
Discord. People, people were not happy.
It's. And it's, again, it's one of
those things where what are you going to recognize?
I mean, a lot of it is it's kind of an interesting conversation
about if you look at the players that are in the Hall of Fame.
And this is, again, it's one of those things where you look at
players that are in the Hall of Fame.
And I bet if we'd stopped somebody on the street and we
said to them, you need to name, you know, half the players that
are in the Hall of Fame for IU basketball, I bet.
They wouldn't be able to do it. I'm talking about IU fans here.
You know, there's certainly there's guys you would expect
Bobby Wilkerson, and there's obviously Isaiah Thomas and John
Laskowski. What?
Obviously not that we're arguing this at all, but to your point
on Watford, it's like Keith Smart is it?
I'm looking at it now. Keith Smart is in and I would
say if you take away his shot against Syracuse, I'm not sure
he really had a career to be in the whole thing.
But but like you hit a game-winning shot to win a title
that's. A huge shot, meanwhile, doesn't
count. Meanwhile, Daryl Thomas, who was
just as important and was here much longer, is not in the Hall
of Fame. So that's again, it has nothing
to do with their individual like it.
It doesn't make one player, I think, less good than the other.
And again, it's like you don't have Greg Graham, but you have
Alan Henderson in the Hall of Fame.
You have Brian Evans in the Hall of Fame.
Now Evans, I think there's some special circumstances there
because he was essentially he had to carry the team for an
entire season as a senior, just like Henderson had to carry the
entire team as a junior. And you added into their earlier
career projections. But yeah, it's an interesting
time all the way around. What do you think makes it next?
Because I, I think we would both agree that and I, I had
actually, I kind of put Yogi more in the 2016 team.
I knew he played on that team. Just kind of, I look at his, his
Hall of Fame career is going to be based on that Big 10 title he
won as a senior. I would say both him and Zeller
would be two of the next to go in.
Who do you think? Would it just be Zeller based on
age or like who do you think is the next most?
I, I think, I think there's more time now between Zeller's career
and the present. So I think Zeller from that team
would be the next one. And yeah, it's, it's interesting
because I, I just, I'm curious to see again, it'd be not, and
I'm sure there's criteria somewhere.
I just have not been able to find the specific criteria.
And it's not really a serious thing.
It's more of a fun thing to debate rather than something to
get mad about, which some people I've seen have been getting mad
about online. But it was in the, the Hall of
Fame, I guess. It's really not something to get
upset about. But that's the kind of thing to
think about I think is, you know, if you're looking at Yogi
versus Cody, Cody was a key part of the two best teams and and
you know that Indiana's had in quite a while.
I think that will be factored in and and I think Yogi will get in
eventually. It's just going to be a little
bit after Cody. I think so.
Is there anybody after Yogi that you think has a legitimate case
to be in the Hall of Fame? Oh, I think Trace Jackson Davis
will make it, yeah. That's not yes.
Yeah, you're right. I mean, I I don't see how you
wouldn't have Trace Jackson Davis in such a.
Dumb question, I'm sorry at the minute you said that just.
I mean, one, some might say it's a dumb question.
Some would say, wow, that was a great set up, Scott.
I mean, look at look at you just just grooving something down the
middle of the plate for your podcast partner.
I appreciate that. Thank you.
You're. Welcome.
Anyway, Congrats again to Victor Oedipo and to the rest of the
group. I think that that's.
Yeah. You know, again, it's one of
those things Indiana was one of the first teams in the.
Conference to start an athletics Hall of Fame for itself and it's
cool how much it's grown over time and you know, it's if you
know anything about IU athletics just in general, it's cool to
see some of the names in there and realize that you know, these
are the people that have helped to build the legend that most
people bask in and enjoy as IU fans.
Yep, Yep. So.
Let's let's switch gears. There was another announcement
that came out regarding the Hoosier Hysteria date and format
for this upcoming season. So they've announced that
Hoosier Hysteria is going to be taking place on Friday, October
18th as part of homecoming weekend, which is that's cool.
You know, you're going to have that that on Friday and then
you'll have the game, the football game on Saturday.
But unlike the previous several years, Hoosier Hysteria is going
to go back to a scrimmage based format where you're going to
have the women come out. Terry Moran's going to make a, a
public address and then there's going to be two quarters of
scrimmage for the women's team and then they're going to
introduce the men's team. Mike Woodson will talk and
they'll play 1/2. Since there aren't quarters in
men's basketball, they'll play 1/2 of an inner squad scrimmage.
Scott, this if you're a 90s child, you, you're like, wow, I
remember this. We we don't, I don't think we're
going to have to show up at midnight with a canned food item
this time around. But this has been something that
I think some of the the older fans have would have preferred
because the Hoosier Hysteria setup has been very Instagrammy
over the course of the last several years, I think would be
the best way to put it. And being able to actually sit
there and watch the team play. While there's been a little bit
of that at the end of some of the Hoosier Hysteria's, it's
always felt kind of awkward and like outside of the main realm
of of what it's supposed to be here, this becomes the main
show. And I like that.
I mean, I'm excited that we'll just kind of get them, get to
see them play. Because honestly, like as as
we've learned in the NBA All Star game, from my perspective
at least, the skills competition stuff, the dunk contest and the
three-point contest, that stuff gets pretty old pretty fast.
It looks the same every year. It doesn't really show you
anything. This will be a nice change, I
think and and it'll be something that the fans can focus on other
than those things. Yeah, as you were talking, I was
thinking early in the Crean era, they had a scrimmage on
Homecoming weekend. Also, I remember, I remember
like going over to Assembly Hall after the game because I was
excited to see what is Jeremiah Rivers going to look like and.
Was that the Was that the infamous game?
Was that the So it was the one time we saw Ghee Mark Michelle
in an IU uniform? Yes, yes.
I mean, well, we might still see he might still be drafted.
He still got eligibility. That's true.
And.
I remember that game, my wife being like watching Danny Moore,
like he's gonna be good. And I'm like, all right, like
simmer down, like he's gonna try really hard.
And so, but I don't think that was, I think that was just a
scrimmage. I think that was in the nadir of
basketball was like, hey, we still have a basketball team.
Come see yes, I mean, I remember in the night days growing up in
Bloomington, we would bring a canned food item and it was
hysteria was fun because they're like they'd come out and they
would just run drills and play scrimmage.
It was like it was so no frills. You know, I I, I look at this
very much like, you know, some music today or kids saying
Skibbity. It's like this is not for me
anymore. So like if if this event, if
this is what is going to bring in more recruits, that's great.
Like like whatever is going to get people hyped up and bring in
more recruits, That's great. Maybe you do scrimmage just a
couple years, then you go back to the skills competition.
Like you. I think it got very repetitive
just watching kids take threes and dunks just like I think I
mean, I went to the All Star event this year in Indianapolis
and it was fun to go see it. I like watching it.
But after, you know, three or four miss dunks, like, all
right, this is this is getting old.
But these events are just, you know, high level recruiting
events. These are, you know, I'm playing
a lot of NCAA Football. It's a lot of my references now
like this is sending the house. This this is just an event to
get recruits. So, you know, I'm fine with it
so long as it continues to get recruits.
And we've seen Mike Woodson is doing really well in the
transfer portal and he's, you know, seems to be doing better
in recruiting. So like this seems to be
working. He seems to have his finger on
the pulse of what what needs to be done for that.
So that that's my only thing is like, will this work for
recruiting? You know, in the end, I don't
think we're going to get much out of this because I remember a
couple years ago when the team played in like the Puerto Rico
or like they, they went in the Caribbean, They played some
games like, Oh, we learned so much.
Then they came out and just none of the things that we saw there
turned into what we what actually happened.
So I don't think you're going to get anything important out of
this. I, I think from an enjoyability
point of view, it'll probably be a little more fun for
basketball. Piers who, who like watching
basketball are just are excited to see basketball again.
You'll see something that that symbolizes more of that.
Maybe it won't be as loud, but there probably will still be
fireworks and you know, intros and all that.
But again, as long as this helps with recruiting, I think it's a
good thing. Yeah, I agree with that.
I think it's ultimately who knows.
I mean, I think to some degree you can still have the pomp and
circumstance of the announcements and the the the
bright lights and everything beforehand, but you just don't
necessarily need. To to dawdle around and do all
the other stuff that's been going on.
You know, you can, you can just focus on kind of going out,
doing a scrimmage. I I think a lot of the things
that we assume recruits are interested in now are less
important than perhaps they were even a few years ago simply
because, you know, you're getting your money, you're, you
know, you're getting your NIL money, you're, you're going to
be in there. Well, OK, I mean, that's that's
like what's more important is what's happening in in the room
outside the stadium where that's being discussed and so.
Our our NIL sucks, but we have a great hysteria night.
It's like that's not getting a lot of people into that that
that college. So all that said, we'll see how
this looks. I mean, you know, the the show's
been fine. It I just.
I just don't think that, you know, you look at some of the
the the hysteria esque programming that you've seen at
other schools, Kentucky or Duke or whatever, and it's just like
it's hard to ever see IU like fully getting invested in that
kind of a presentation. You don't with.
Them coming in in a Harley or something.
We did that already. Did did he do that?
That was something, it was a car they used to, they used cars.
Remember that? That was a couple years ago
where him and Terry Moran came in and like classic automobiles.
But but he I mean, I wasn't even thinking about that.
I was thinking about just the light show stuff and all of the
you know, it just to some degree.
I think they're the appetite for that may be waning nationwide
and it's more about like let's get to the let's get going with
things. So much is going on on social
media to help promote the players and things along those.
Lines that you may not need a whole event for that because
again this current concept of these hysteria like programs
really started about 15 years ago in earnest and very much I
think are going to feel like a moment in time as opposed to
being like the way that it should have been done so we'll
see I mean maybe I'll be wrong and maybe it's a situation where
we'll. Sorry, it does feel like it was
a point in time when schools, you know, they had nothing else
to spend money on. They were, you know, spending on
facilities and spending money on these events to kind of show how
into it we are, where now they can spend money on NIL
collectives and actually, you know, funneling that money to
the players. And that that seems to be more
obviously that's more of a draw for a player than we have a
really cool light show. Yeah.
So we'll see what happens with that.
It's hard to believe that's not that far away.
I mean, it's it's two months, 2 1/2 months basically until we
get to basketball Hoosier hysteria.
So wow, it's wild just the the the calendar flies faster than
we think that it does. Couple other quick things.
We're not going to make this an immensely long podcast, but
didn't want to touch on some news from the the good old wide
world of college football, as as we mentioned, that's getting
started soon. But I had to chuckle about this
today. At 11:55 in the morning, there
was a a note on ESPN that new Michigan head coach for football
Sharon Moore is one of seven members from the 2023 football
program accused of violating NCAA rules in a draft of the
notice of allegations coming from the NCAA to Michigan, which
is this continues to be the most hilarious thing on the planet.
I mean, obviously Michigan won the national title in football
last year and that's never being taken away from them.
And and that's fine. I mean, there's every, every
national champion has some degree of violation lurking
under the surface. What's hilarious about the
Michigan stuff is that this is the only school I can ever
remember to have their head coach suspended twice during the
course of the year. They win the title and now their
replacement coach, because that coach, of course, left because
he knew this was coming, Scott. He knew this was coming.
The guy they put in to replace him apparently committed Level 2
violations and including the David Conner Stallions are our
favorite character from last year.
The guy who was suspected of having LED a far-flung spying
operation on scouting other teams.
The day that news broke of his situation, Sharon Moore went in
and deleted 52 text messages that he shared with Connor
Stallions and then had to produce them later as part of a
report. It.
This whole thing is hilarious to me, mostly, and not because I'm
going to stand here and say that Michigan needs to vacate their
title. That's never going to happen,
first of all. But.
The level of sanctimony that comes out of Michigan
specifically on everything and especially this like this was
this whole situation was turned into a oh, the NCAA is
persecuting us and oh, we're being treated so unfairly.
And you know, we're we're going to have to just, you know, we're
just going to operate on it in our own best interests and we
should drop out of the NCAA. All this garbage, this stuff
keeps, it's not going away. It keeps popping up and it just.
It highlights why, frankly, and those of you who have been
listening to the podcast for a long time know this, but most
people's least favorite team in the Big 10 is Ohio State.
And I understand why Ohio State fans are generally awful.
Michigan's always been my least favorite team in the conference.
If we beat Ohio State one day, I'll be happy.
If I'm there in the building when we beat Michigan, I will be
thrilled. I will rush the field myself.
I've always felt that way. I know you know exactly what you
get with Ohio State fans and they know exactly who they are.
Michigan fans act like they are above everybody else in the
conference. This is like this is Minnesota
level cheating guys. This is this is like bottom of
the barrel stuff as far as I'm concerned.
The sanctimony needs to go away. I would like a little bit of
humility out of Michigan people. And yes, I know these are just
allegations, but these are pretty well established things
at this point. Like we, we know what's
occurred. It's just funny to me that this
keeps popping up for Michigan. They cannot get away from it.
And they happen to name a head coach who was smack dab in the
middle of the most recent round of allegations.
I think that's tremendous. No, you're right about Ohio
State because they're like the Maurice Claret thing in like
2004 or whatever. There's like, yeah, whatever.
Like Terrell Pryor. Yeah, I know it's yeah, like the
title still counts. Like whatever.
You know, it also does feel, you know, a little bit like it was a
point in time where, you know, you and I lived through the 80s
and 90s when like, you know, there were real allegations like
SMU ended their football programs a little bit before our
time. But you know, I, I remember USC
like that was a huge deal. Like USC Bush gave back a
Heisman. Like, they, they pulled stuff
back. You know, they, they change all
the record books. It, it does feel like, you know,
these are high level violations. I just think it's like nothing's
going to happen or whatever happens isn't going to matter.
Like the NCAA can barely keep the teams in the conferences
they want to keep. Like they're, they're suing
everybody everywhere. They're losing lawsuits.
It, it does feel like these are all crimes in a city.
It's it's almost like, you know, Roadhouse, we're just like
crimes are being committed all over the place.
And it's like where, where are the cops?
Like, well, the cops are not here.
And, and yes, like these are crimes.
These are level 2 problems. It doesn't feel like anything's
going to happen. And even if it does, it's not
going to have the same gravity that these kinds of things
happened a couple years ago. So while I, I agree with all of
your sentiments, it it does, it does get annoying because it's
like Michigan kind of timed this all right?
Like if you were ever going to start getting level 2
violations, like now was the time versus again IU, we send
like 3 extra text messages and we just have to like just flog
our flog our basketball team for 12 years just to get back to.
Well, you know, this was we, we, we picked the wrong time to do
violations. Michigan.
No, no, no, no, no. There was we picked the right
time to do violations. We picked the wrong way to react
to the violations. We keep saying over and over
again, again and again. It's just this what pisses me
off so much about how IU responded in in O8 when all this
was going down. Nothing was achieved by
flagellating yourself in front of the NCAA and begging for
mercy. Like literally nothing.
Nothing was achieved. And, and, and we get example
after example after example of other schools, you know, loudly
proclaiming their their, you know, moral superiority and then
doing this and then absolutely not apologizing for it and
saying, well, no, they're actually making all of it up,
which we know is crap. So yeah, it's it's unfortunate,
but it's just kind of the reality.
It's why you know it when, when I get in debates with people
occasionally about NCAA rules. This was before like the.
Current era where? Obviously the rules are kind of
out the window at this point in terms of payment.
Somebody should tell the NCAA that, by the way, like someone
should note to the NCAA, you know what?
Policing even collectives is kind of a waste of your time at
this stage because you're going to lose.
But that's a separate thing. But pre NIL collective, you
know, people will be like, well, at least we do things the right
way. And I was like, we don't even do
things the right way. Like it's not like we never
cheated. It's that we cheated and then we
like threw ourselves on the mercy of the court and that but
didn't even the court didn't even impose anything.
I you did. It was just the whole thing was
like ludicrous on its face. And it, you know, when you look
at the success that schools have had by blatantly breaking NCAA
rules, knowing that they cannot be effectively punished for
breaking those rules, like, what's the point of the rules?
There's no teeth to them. There's no like, like Michigan.
Yes, they might get a slap on the wrist.
They might have to suspend a coach for a few days.
That didn't bother them last time.
And I think with Michigan, it's the worst of all of these
schools. You expect an SEC school to
cheat? You expect Florida State to
cheat? You expect Ohio State to cheat?
You expect, you know, the USC, it's not a shock when they cheat
Michigan to hold themselves up as somehow morally superior,
which they do in every single possible way.
And then to just blatantly engage in this stuff and then
act like they don't have any responsibility it, it takes the
entire conceptualization of college athletics as being
anything other than a professional sports pursuit by a
different name. You know it just it.
It takes it all out of the equation as far as I'm
concerned. What was funny too is like, you
know, when the couple years ago when the Fab 5 documentary came
out. Yeah, and.
By the way, who had the fab? Five.
Sorry, go ahead. Yes.
Like, but then but then there was an undercurrent of like, you
know, it's really it just sucks that there's not a banner up in
the, you know, Chrysler for that that final four run.
It's like, yes, because they she like, that is what vacating
means. Like, yeah, you have to take it
down. You can't just be like, man,
that was a fun team. Like, you know what, we're just
going to put it back up. Like, yes, like Reggie Bush
still doesn't have his Heisman. Like these things.
Like it doesn't mean you didn't go.
But it's like, I love that undercurrent of like, man, it's
just like it's just they they only people play it like that's
just really not fair. They don't get to have a banner,
their final four banner up. It's like, yes, because you
cheated, like that was your punishment.
Yeah, it's it's it's really a joke, but it's it's a joke we're
used to at this point. And it's just it's really a
shame that IU destroyed its basketball program and and
almost its entire athletic department.
Over something that nobody else cared about.
Yeah, that's that's the thing that it's just, it's amazing to
me. But that's another podcast for
another day. Anyway, I think, I think that's
probably all. Anything else you'd like to talk
about before we wrap this episode up?
This. Is a This is a real small one,
but like I said multiple times, I'm playing in Sibley 25, but I
have a dynasty, a couple dynasties going in one of my
dynasty. Let me pull up the picture.
How do you have time for multiple dynasties?
I, I do them poor, I do one very well.
I, I have another one where I'm like, it's, it's with my 2-2 of
my cousins. One of with just had a child.
So like we know that that one's that kind of not going to happen
for a while. But I went with my
brother-in-law and we've been playing pretty regular anyway.
In in the first year of the dynasty, Indiana was ranked like
10th. At one point, Rourke was in the
Heisman Trophy finalist. Now this meet, this is a video
game. I'm not like, I'm not taking
bath salts and think this is real.
But having played these games for years in the past, there
have been situations where, you know, I'd be playing.
It's like, man, Boise State is good every, you know, in like
2005 game, it's like you'd be like, man, this Boise State team
is like really good in this game.
And then they're good in real life.
I'm not saying these are real corollaries, but sometimes these
video games, when you play them enough and you start seeing
teams pop or you're like, why is Kansas State always really good
in this dynasty? Sometimes there's something
there. So there, there's maybe there's
something there. Maybe EA Sports has seen what
Indiana football is going to be doing.
This could all be nothing. We could be O and two going to
the UCLA game, but just and not for nothing, in one of my
dynasties, Indiana's a pretty dominant football team.
So there, there you go. I think we should put up a
banner for that. Just, you know.
I mean, give, let's, let's do it.
I will say one thing I did forget about on the football
front. Tom Fornelli from CBS Sports put
out a a a a top to bottom strength of schedule ranking for
the Big 10 like like hardest to easiest.
And I wanted to note that the schedule that he rated as the
easiest in the conference was Indiana great, which?
I think it's tremendous. That's great, you know, and
that's, that's with playing. Michigan and Ohio State, which
Rutgers, for instance, does not have to do.
Rutgers is ranked 17th. But Indiana, and it's fun.
It's weird to say this, especially since we've been
criticizing men's basketball for not having a better schedule.
But good job Scott Dolson and Kurt Signetti for scheduling to
where you need to be, which is three-week non conference
opponents. And then you got a pretty nice
draw in terms of, yeah, you got to play Ohio State and Michigan,
but everything else feels pretty winnable or at least
competitive. And that is a good spot to be.
And that's exactly where IU football needs to be at this
point. Yeah, no, for anybody who's out
there who's an IU football fan and their friends are going to
give them, you know, guff about this, tell them to who cares?
Great. Who cares?
Like we're trying to win games, We're trying to get to a bowl.
Like we've done the hard schedule thing and hasn't done
us very well. Like that's fine.
You go. Go right ahead, Michigan.
You guys play a tough schedule like we will.
We will try and get to our six wins and we'll see you later.
No, I think it's great, by the way.
One last postscript on that Michigan story.
NCAA investigators determined that Connor Stallion's was on
the sideline of a Central Michigan Michigan State game
scouting Michigan State, and he was in a disguise on the.
Sidelines, which is even better. Just there's some tremendous
memes floating around Twitter right now on this front that I
would recommend everybody go check out for your own amusement
anyway. If you can find the disguise,
that's not a bad Halloween costume.
Like it's still Halloween costume time like.
I feel like it would be bad, but we did that last year too.
I. Know I I know it's like two
years in a row we're doing. But anyway, all right, we'll go
ahead. Good and wrap up.
Thanks again to all of you for listening.
Scott, good to talk to you again.
We'll be back with more regular programming coming up as we wind
our way closer to football. We'll have Taylor back on and
talk to my you football depth chart stuff coming up soon for
Scott. I'm Galen.
This is Crimson cast. Thank you to Home Field Apparel
for being our title sponsor and thanks to the rest of the Back
Home Network. We will catch you.
Folks, on the flip side, bring back the bison.
So long, everybody.