–Stephen Curry LAUNCHED 15 three’s against the Sooners yesterday in a 4 point defeat. He only made 6 of them. Taking 29 shots to score 44 points isn’t the type of efficiency a team looks for from their PG.

–Bryant Barr had a lousy game, only connecting on 1-9 field goals.

–Davidson showed their explosiveness for sure. Oklahoma had a 21 point lead and in a blink of an eye Davidson had it down to 7. It was a very entertaining game to say the least, even if I was reminded of my blah high school b-ball days of actually driving past a defender (rare) to only then absolutely brick an 10 foot floater. I’m talking about you Bryant Barr.

–Blake Griffin scored 25 and pulled down 21 boards. Brother Taylor contributed quite a bit too, scoring 16. Willie Warren looked like a stud, some kind of Baron Davis, Anthony Morrow hybrid.

–Indiana squeaked by IUPUI 60-57. Indiana led by 11 at halftime against the cupcake half-brother.

– The Friars of Providence out gunned the Dartmouth… hold on… Big Green. And Friar Blog just wants to be able to watch his friggin team play some basketball.

STAT of the DAY

Seth Curry, Liberty guard and younger brother of Stephen Curry, led the team in scoring with 18, but did so on 17 shots from the field. Liberty got bit by UNC-Asheville 84-56.

Post from: EveryJoe

North Dakota State doubles up opponent

At a Fighting Illini Comedy Tour Fighting Illini Meet and Greet Tour held in Peoria, Illinois on Thursday night, men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber had this opinion to offer on the upcoming Big Ten men’s basketball season, “The league should be wide open and we can be right in the middle of it. I do know one thing, though. I think Indiana will suck. Don’t put that on the Internet.”

Don’t worry Coach Weber, said statement will never, ever appear on the internet.

IU blog Cannot Falter thought Weber’s comments were “odd” and “bizarre”. I’m wondering why they didn’t just say Weber’s comments were a lame attempt at getting a few laughs. Everyone knows Indiana will not be a good team for a couple of years, it doesn’t take a great coach to figure that one out Bruce.

InsidetheHall was a little more fiesty with its reaction. They mentioned that Weber is still feeling bad for himself over Eric Gordon’s decision to decommit from Illinois two years ago.

At any rate…

If new Indiana Coach Tom Crean didn’t already have enough material to motivate his players with, he certainly has some extra good stuff to throw his player’s way when his Hoosiers meet up with the Illini this year.

Maybe Coach Weber should start a school wide comedy tour and try to jab at other teams in the Big Ten? I mean, coming from a coach that led last year’s team to a 16-19 record, he sure the heck as a lot respectability beaming from his figure. Certainly the pinnacle of basketball success is a 16-19 record. Now if he had just lost one more game, then all bets would have been off. But as long as you keep that L column total under 20, you’re free to spout off about anything.

But Weber might have an uncanny knack at comedy, akin to his uncanny ability to recruit players who cannot score, because what else is funnier than comparing a dysfunctional shot chucker transfer from Kentucky to arguably the most complete basketball player on the planet, “The players have nicknamed him (Alex Legion) ‘Kobe.’ He has a ways to go, but I understand the comparison. He can score, but he doesn’t guard anybody and we just had to teach him a new word. Pass. When he gets his first assist, everybody should give him a standing ovation because that will be his first one.“

So the Alex Legion—Kobe comparisons have begun. Weber won’t have to worry about this statement gaining much support, something tells me that it’s the first and last of its kind.

As always any questions, comments, Wal-Mart references and beefs are appreciated.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Alex Legion– Kobe comparison

This mess can be attributed to Kelvin Sampson, who all in all committed 5 major violations (along with Indiana), while at Indiana according to the NCAA. But I’m not here to bore you with all the details of Sampson’s wrongdoings.

I’m here to introduce the 08/09 Indiana basketball team, a completely revamped team in which many freshman and junior college recruits will be asked to play huge minutes.

Let’s start out with the seniors…

The Hoosier’s 07/08 seniors included D.J. White, Lance Stemler, Mike White, Adam Ahfield, and also A.J. Ratliff, who had left the team for good in February. The Hoosiers will sorely miss D.J. White, but nobody else out of that class will be missed too much.

The star…

With Eric Gordon’s departure for the greener pastures of the NBA, one would think winning next season would be a grind without him back, but not an insurmountable task.

But taking into consideration the dismissal of Armon Bassett (11.4 ppg in 29 games) and Jamarcus Ellis (6.8 ppg in 32 games) from the team when Dakich was still at the helm, and no welcome back handshake from Crean, the immediate future of the team looks very dim.

More bad news…

DeAndre Thomas (3.6ppg in 32 games) was asked by Crean not to return, as was Brandon McGee, just recently dismissed last week. And one cannot forget about reading the story of Eli Holman’s tantrum in the coach’s office. Eli will transfer to Detroit.

So that leaves a once storied Indiana program in a world of hurt. And it’s a little worse of a hurt than it seems right now. Many media outlets are reporting Indiana will have 3 players back from last year’s team, but in all actuality Indiana is only returning one player, sophomore Jordan Crawford (9.7 ppg in 30 games). No disrespect for walk-ons here, but returning senior Kyle Taber and sophomore Brett Finklemeier are not what you would call rotation type players at the Big Ten level, not many walk-ons are. However with that being said, Crean just might be forced to give a few walk-ons some serious playing time next year. And with just 9 players currently on the roster, the walk-on tryouts should be nothing short of controlled chaos.

The newbie’s at Indiana…

According to rivals.com and other recruiting sites, Indiana does not boast a single 4 or 5 star recruit for the 08/09 class. Now this really does not mean a whole lot in terms of the overall talent coming to Indiana, but in all honesty, 4 and 5 star recruits have a much better shot at being very good players at the college level than do the lower star recruits. Despite it, Indiana is still ranked in the top half of the conference in terms of the strength of the 08/09 recruiting class. I won’t even get into talking about all of the high level recruits who decided to change their mind and attend college elsewhere after the Sampson ordeal.

The JC’s

Junior college transfers Devon Dumes and Tijan Jobe will step right in and probably start. 6’2 Dumes is from Vincennes JC and scored 16.9ppg last year. Interestingly enough Dumes has played DI basketball before, scoring 8.1 ppg in 32 games with the Eastern Michigan Eagles in 06/07. Dumes will have 2 years of eligibility left.

Jobe is a 7’0 footer from Olney Central JC. Jobe is a native of Gambia and has only been in the States for 4 years. At Olney Jobe scored just 4 ppg. But Olney’s coach Mike Burris has said Jobe’s game has a lot of upside and he compares him to former Marquette big man Ousmane Barro.

“His body and game are better suited at the (major) college level. He runs, he’s raw offensively but he can really defend. He’ll dunk everything within 5 feet. He’s got a lot of upside and potential to his game and he’s a high character kid.”

source

Jobe sounds like starter material on a 10 win team doesn’t he?

As for the other set in stone newcomers, there seems to be a heavy allotment of 3 star guards.

From scout.com

Verdell Jones is 6’4 and is rated the 32nd best point guard in this class.

Nick Williams is 6’4 and is rated the 36th best shooting guard in this class.

6’3 Matt Roth has a 3 star rating like the other guards, but it not rated at all in terms of shooting guard rankings.

Rounding out the class is 6’8 big man Tom Pritchard (3 star), but for Big Ten purposes you might as well call him a small forward. Pritchard is not rated in terms of power forward rankings.

So the rebuilding process has already hit Crean pretty darn hard. I have to wonder if he regrets his decision to leave a pretty well stacked Marquette team. But complacency is never a good thing and maybe Crean wanted nothing to do with it. I’ll give Crean credit where it’s due. He has started to mold this program back into one of class and respect, and for that he should be commended. This rebuilding process looks to be a grueling one just by the looks of the 08/09 season, but Crean is the man for the job. He put Marquette squarely on the map with a Final Four appearance and multiple other tourney berths, so why can’t he get Indiana back onto the map too?

In 1 or 2 years, no way. But in 3 or 4 looks like a safe bet.

Post from: EveryJoe

Cleanup in Hoosierland