Here is my biggest question regarding our opponents.How are they going to keep up with our pace for 40 minutes?

A good argument could be made that a more experience DD , a Jr Hanner , and occasionally sliding Troy to the 4 may already be the answer up front….

Throw in Holt, with possibly April , or Max playing in the front court at times and the subs are a lot scarier than 15 minutes of Jeff Howard…That is 3 pairs of legs and 15 fouls between them and EACH is a much better athlete than Jeff.Our record might not improve by a lot but we should be much more difficult to contain for 40 minutes….Could be a HUGE difference in our rotation if 2 or 3 of these guys can step in for us and produce ..

Lol Bo is basically Knight without the multiple Final Four trips and National titles up to now…Jokes aside this guy is a threat to get it done and I Respect Him A Lot as a Coach.

For everything we lost up front in Noah we widened the athleticism gap in the back court even further.If we come close to finding an answer in the post it will be on them to find one for our dribble penetration which is now complimented with strong shooters..

I honestly like our chances of offsetting their size advantage better than several of the predicted top B1G teams since we should be even quicker.There is danger in losing our longest player with no clear replacement as of now but a committee of players could replace Noah’s 11 points 10 boards and block per game …Had NV averaged 20-25 per game I might feel differently

Regardless they are a legit National Title contender and it is Indiana who has more to prove this season.I just like how we matched up with them as of last season as much as I hated the match up when it was Brusewitz , Bergerren, and Evans vs Wat, Cody ,and Elston or Will the years before.

Stanley Johnson is going to be a MONSTER.

See I like UNC’s mix of players this year. Macadoo is another player who I’d consider an addition by subtraction. He seemed uninterested at times. Didn’t make anyone better. They have players who can easily fill that void and seem more team oriented. They have a Spurs type feel to me this year. Just smart and team oriented guys. Honestly I’m very upset we didn’t land Meeks. Most underrated player in the country this year. I knew he was a good passer but holy crap he might be the best passing big man I’ve ever seen. He’ll have two athletic cutters in Tokoto and Pinson to feed and maybe the best scoring pg in the country to throw it out to on the perimeter.

A lot of these 5 star kids are lazy towards the end of their high school career, but he had better high school competition being from Chicago than most HS big men. Good thing he is going to a veteran coach who is one of the greatest to ever do it. I imagine the first time he sniffs good competition it’ll light a fire under his butt.

Also I wouldn’t call that title luck. They played 5 games before that, and Butler went back to the championship the next year, after losing Heyward I might add. They’ve had a lot of talent the last few years with Parker, Rivers, the Plumlees, and Hood, but as an all-around team. I’d pass

Arizona was a shell of itself last year in the tournament. The one athletic freak Arizona lost ends up being a addition by subtraction in my mind.Very one dimensional Gordon was. Stanley Johnson has a great all around game. If this was baseball you’d call him a five tool player. Kentucky was sort of athletic but more in the front court and their guards weren’t the sort of lighting quick guards that have caused Wisconsin difficulties. And Baylor? Has there been a season where Baylor isn’t the most overrated team in the nation?

I respect Kansas, but they’re young. UNC hasn’t looked scary to me at all the past few seasons. I know they’ve had some good runs, but they just seem streaky against the big boys.
Duke has choked HARD 2 out of the last 3 tourneys. I’d go so far as to say they wouldn’t have even won the title in ’10 if it wasn’t for their usual “lucky seeding” and getting to play Butler in the Final. K is a great coach, but I think his best years are behind him. Okafor is a beast, but he was able to play lazy in HS and hasn’t proven he can dominate D-1 talent.

Ehh I’m not big on the whole platoon idea (I might just be a hater but I don’t think so lol). I mean idk if it’ll work but it seems like it has a lot of holes. I’d take Duke’s, UNC’s, Kansas’, and Arizona’s starting five over theirs. Depth is always a good thing, but besides fresh legs,role players (which they don’t have) provide a change of pace.

As far as Duke goes, I’ll never pick a man who has four rings to choke. They’re a much more well rounded team than they have been the past few years. They have a great balance of shooters, play makers, athletes, and role players. Jahlil Okafor is an absolute monster. Best big man I’ve seen in years. Tyus Jones is a phenomenal passer who himself can score inside an out. Justice Winslow doesn’t get near the amount of attention that he should and I think he ends up having the best college career of the big 3 on his old AAU team (Oubre and Jackson).

Your crazy

Didn’t mean to be insulting, notwithstanding that my comment could hardly be taken as anything other than that. And no, I had not read ahead to see you claim that comment. I’m happy to debate the point, but not sure there is much reason to since I agree with you that we should fall somewhere in the 3rd-6th range. “On paper,” however, we are much better than 10th.

He has Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky… Kaminsky can be a serviceable big man in the NBA… Dekker has disappointed me though. I don’t think he can be on Gordon Haywards level at any point.

It’s all a wash really. The table above says more about the quality of the seeding because but you’re really playing versus the field. “Expected” doesn’t account for teams that over or underachieve or those that are merely bad choices.

In 2011 Butler also beat Southeast #1 Pitt and #2 Florida to get to the Final Four. If Wisconsin was expected to win that was only about the committee.

With 14 teams, a top 6 finish is about the same as a top 4 finish back when there were actually 10 teams.

I’m guessing your expectations are top 3 year in, year out. Whether that’s fair or not is only up to you. But keep mind that since 1989, we’ve finished in the top 3 in 12 out of those 25 seasons. Is that really a “new” reality or just reality?

Interesting look inside the narrative but it doesn’t tell the full picture.

You also have to layer in the teams Bo lost to. In other words, just because his seed correlated to an expected outcome doesn’t mean it was a success if they lost to a lower seeded team.

For example:
2007-08: yes as a 3 seed a Sweet Sixteen is “expected” but they lost to a 10 seed (Davidson aka Steph Curry). Sorry, but that’s not “expected.” They should have advanced but instead got blown out.

2010-11: as a 5 seed yes they reached their expected Sweet Sixteen, but once again lost to a lower seeded team (Butler #8).

2012-13: That’s a mistake you listed. Technically a 2nd round game with the new play-in labeled as the “first round.” But really Wisco lost to #12 Ole Miss.

2005-06: A 9 seed losing to an 8 is not “expected” in my opinion. Thats a total toss up.

Some people are on a witch-hunt today, and against whom? Against some of the staunchest and most loyal IU fans.

ROFL!

I don’t need to. I got the Bo Ryan voodoo doll, remote control, lol.

Don’t stick your hand in there!