sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Didn't catch the name of the woman who sang the NA but she did a fine job. Very tasteful and understated.
The word on the street is that the onion rings, the sweet potato fries and the chicken tenders served on the lower level of the Dome in the NE corner, closest to Hendricks, are very good. The Saranac even better.
Indiana had about 25 people behind their bench and another 100 or so people scattered throughout the Dome. A little surprised at that turnout but it was a weekday night, so it is understandable.
IU started out in man. They are not a big team and there were what appeared to be major mismatches at several positions. They did not play very good defense early, TC got a number of open looks and made them pay. CJ and TE were able to beat their men for quality shots pretty much at will early in the game (as well as during the middle and the latter part; you get the idea).
Crean did a very poor job preparing IU for the SU zone. They did a terrible job attacking it most of the night, spent a lot of time just rotating the ball slowly around the perimeter. Regularly got the ball in the areas of the zone where responsibility for the space is shared between two defenders, which in the SU 2-3 usually leads to traps, and tonight, it led to a turnover more times than not.
On the positive side, I do not believe he kissed any of his players full on the lips.
The Hoosiers eventually got some open looks from the outside that the little Yogi kid converted, and they did some damage inside drawing fouls (Vonleh is already good and is going to be a monster in time). They even took the lead for a bit before a late rally got SU back in control at the end of the half.
The second half was dominated by the SU defense. IU was unable to get good looks at the basket and didn't score a basket for an incredibly long stretch...11 or 12 minutes I think. They sometimes got free throws, usually a result of the ref calling a foul on SU away from the ball. Really strange job by the refs, who called post play extremely tightly, and for the most part let the teams play everywhere else.
Lots of blocks by SU when IU got the ball inside. Lots of steals by SU as well; they really made the Hoosiers look like a bad team. Not sure they are a good team; if they finish in the top 4 or 5 of the B1G, it will not reflect well on the strength of that conference.
Props to TC for another excellent day. He continues to shoot close to 50% from the 3 point circle, is getting better with his floor game and his defense is good as well. TE also had a great game; in my opinion he was the best player on the court by a large margin. Played excellent defense, got a lot of steals and strips, distributed the ball really well, converted shots in the paint, drew fouls, and even rebounded the ball well. His numbers the last 4 games are quite incredible. I think he has something like 26 assists and 3 turnovers. The opposition hasn't been great but it certainly hasn't been the Sisters of the Poor either. It is fun to watch him destroy team after team, isn't it?
CJ got in foul trouble (I think every SU player over 6'7 did except JG) which affects his PT and aggressiveness, didn't shoot it great but was still solid out there. JG was kind of quiet too; this wasn't a day when he had a lot of touches. But he did okay when he had chances.
All three centers piled up fouls at alarming rates, fueled by the desire to battle Vonleh for position in the paint. I have never seen so many fouls called away from the ball. Part of this was driven by a dirty play by an IU player who pushed TC hard into the support beam for the basket while Trevor was defensiveless, in midair, attempting to lay the ball into the basket. He was ejected immediately. Earlier in the game, another IU player was called for a flagrant foul that looked like an elbow to the head of RC.
Anyway, the hard fouls by IU kept escalating as they fell further and further behind and were more and more humiliated. So the refs called the game really tight from the hard foul on TC and it really became unwatchable.
Good effort. JB said after the game he was really surprised and pleased at the effort by his players; he expected a major crash and burn in the 2nd half because of the wear and tear of the Hawaii trip. I think he really likes this team right now.
SS was introduced near the start of the game, as the replay boards showed highlights of the BC game and it was announced SU had become bowl eligible. He got a really big ovation. The crowd by the way was announced at 26K, which looked legit. It was pretty loud but the blowout nature of the game prevented extreme raucousness. The students had a great turnout; all 3 sections on the lower deck and almost 2 full sections of the upper deck. They were loud too. Still waiting/hoping for some new stuff from them (we tried to help provide some ideas).
SU continues to solidify its hold on a protected seed in the East, and 4 games in Buffalo and NYC to get to another Final Four. I am pretty happy with things so far.
The word on the street is that the onion rings, the sweet potato fries and the chicken tenders served on the lower level of the Dome in the NE corner, closest to Hendricks, are very good. The Saranac even better.
Indiana had about 25 people behind their bench and another 100 or so people scattered throughout the Dome. A little surprised at that turnout but it was a weekday night, so it is understandable.
IU started out in man. They are not a big team and there were what appeared to be major mismatches at several positions. They did not play very good defense early, TC got a number of open looks and made them pay. CJ and TE were able to beat their men for quality shots pretty much at will early in the game (as well as during the middle and the latter part; you get the idea).
Crean did a very poor job preparing IU for the SU zone. They did a terrible job attacking it most of the night, spent a lot of time just rotating the ball slowly around the perimeter. Regularly got the ball in the areas of the zone where responsibility for the space is shared between two defenders, which in the SU 2-3 usually leads to traps, and tonight, it led to a turnover more times than not.
On the positive side, I do not believe he kissed any of his players full on the lips.
The Hoosiers eventually got some open looks from the outside that the little Yogi kid converted, and they did some damage inside drawing fouls (Vonleh is already good and is going to be a monster in time). They even took the lead for a bit before a late rally got SU back in control at the end of the half.
The second half was dominated by the SU defense. IU was unable to get good looks at the basket and didn't score a basket for an incredibly long stretch...11 or 12 minutes I think. They sometimes got free throws, usually a result of the ref calling a foul on SU away from the ball. Really strange job by the refs, who called post play extremely tightly, and for the most part let the teams play everywhere else.
Lots of blocks by SU when IU got the ball inside. Lots of steals by SU as well; they really made the Hoosiers look like a bad team. Not sure they are a good team; if they finish in the top 4 or 5 of the B1G, it will not reflect well on the strength of that conference.
Props to TC for another excellent day. He continues to shoot close to 50% from the 3 point circle, is getting better with his floor game and his defense is good as well. TE also had a great game; in my opinion he was the best player on the court by a large margin. Played excellent defense, got a lot of steals and strips, distributed the ball really well, converted shots in the paint, drew fouls, and even rebounded the ball well. His numbers the last 4 games are quite incredible. I think he has something like 26 assists and 3 turnovers. The opposition hasn't been great but it certainly hasn't been the Sisters of the Poor either. It is fun to watch him destroy team after team, isn't it?
CJ got in foul trouble (I think every SU player over 6'7 did except JG) which affects his PT and aggressiveness, didn't shoot it great but was still solid out there. JG was kind of quiet too; this wasn't a day when he had a lot of touches. But he did okay when he had chances.
All three centers piled up fouls at alarming rates, fueled by the desire to battle Vonleh for position in the paint. I have never seen so many fouls called away from the ball. Part of this was driven by a dirty play by an IU player who pushed TC hard into the support beam for the basket while Trevor was defensiveless, in midair, attempting to lay the ball into the basket. He was ejected immediately. Earlier in the game, another IU player was called for a flagrant foul that looked like an elbow to the head of RC.
Anyway, the hard fouls by IU kept escalating as they fell further and further behind and were more and more humiliated. So the refs called the game really tight from the hard foul on TC and it really became unwatchable.
Good effort. JB said after the game he was really surprised and pleased at the effort by his players; he expected a major crash and burn in the 2nd half because of the wear and tear of the Hawaii trip. I think he really likes this team right now.
SS was introduced near the start of the game, as the replay boards showed highlights of the BC game and it was announced SU had become bowl eligible. He got a really big ovation. The crowd by the way was announced at 26K, which looked legit. It was pretty loud but the blowout nature of the game prevented extreme raucousness. The students had a great turnout; all 3 sections on the lower deck and almost 2 full sections of the upper deck. They were loud too. Still waiting/hoping for some new stuff from them (we tried to help provide some ideas).
SU continues to solidify its hold on a protected seed in the East, and 4 games in Buffalo and NYC to get to another Final Four. I am pretty happy with things so far.
