Recent content by formerlybis

I think putting yourself out there is commendable, of course, so kudos for that. With all the roster turmoil for almost every team, the confidence interval is so much wider than it used to be.

The more impressive thing about this schedule to me is there's only one real cupcake (the fightin' Gottliebs). NC State is another quality opponent if you count P5s, but is outside the top 122, too.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Someday it'll happen. But that's a program that everyone says this same thing literally every year. Tonje was nobody noteworthy. Before that, Storr was nobody noteworthy.

This is oh-so-correct. There was a last-season B10 preview from a Hoosiers perspective I revisited recently, and there were some big misses. For example, the Wisconsin preview talked about replacing Hepburn with Freitag and barely mentioned John Tonje at all. Not picking on the Indiana guy -...

Personnel does matter, but even the best college basketball mid-rangers still shoot those at a lower make percentage than the average for close 2s. Purdue was high-volume mid-range and had some of the best make percentages, but TKR and Loyer were still only around 50% (Braden Smith was much...

I tried to look up the ratio of close 2s/far 2s/3s (both offense and defense) for CSU vs. MN, but it's more work than I have time for today. This would give you a clue about both offense and defensive style, as well as whether analytics is understood and incorporated. The simplistic idea is to...

I agree that the struggle is a struggle (I kid - I’ve done a similar thing many times). Having a competent coach is > talent. Who would you rather be a team with boatloads of talent with a terrible coach like Indiana under Woodson or a team of players who fit each others’ talents with a coach...

There seems to be a trend of P5 teams scheduling games at pseudo-neutral sites. For example, last year, Wake Forest played Michigan in Greensboro instead of at their home floor in Winston-Salem. MSU & Michigan seem to routinely schedule games in Detroit, Illinois in Chicago, etc. etc. I'm not...

If a player is not currently in the portal, they can’t transfer. They missed the window. Players in the portal just need to find a place before the fall semester.

Hoiberg has a massive buyout, negotiated by the previous AD. They can't really do better than him anyway, so keep running it back. He was a pioneer in building yearly rosters with rentals before that was mainstream, but that advantage is gone.

First off, I don't care to hear from him. Move on. But, second, there was some logic to the hire at the time. Pitino had low equity with local AAU folks and Johnson was the antidote. Also, if he was successful, he might be easier to retain being a hometown guy and alum. Yes, he had downsides...

Without looking it up, I seem to recall that these in-season tournament games count as one game schedule-wise. If you play 3 games, it still counts as one, allowing you to play more games than what the NCAA would otherwise allow.

Almost all of these are close geographically. Gonzaga/St. Mary’s and Georgetown/Providence are rivals for different reasons. If we’re talking B10 and not the traditional geographically close rivals, MSU and UW is an underrated one - there was more heat in the Ryan era, but it’s consistently...

What is true for every program that relied more on development and "system" is that that way really can't work anymore. Your system has to be simplified so new players can pick it up within a short time on campus. Getting players who fit still matters, but don't count much on roster continuity...

One of those wealthy alumni is Mat Ishbia, who played for Izzo, made his money in the mortgage business, and is owner of the Phoenix Suns. He's given major dollars to MSU already - nobody has done anything close to that for MN.