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(03-29-2020 02:58 PM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  IU was probably in, but they were far from impressive.

Does this buy Miller another couple of years? Or are his buttocks looking a bit red?

At some point, Indiana needs to realize they are no longer a blue blood. High schoolers don't look at Indiana the same way they do Duke and Kentucky, and probably never will. That doesn't mean they can't compete for a national championship, but expectations need to be in line with reality. Indiana hasn't won a national championship since 1987 and has been to only one Final Four since then -- and that was almost 20 years ago. This is who they are. Archie Miller is a good coach and he'll have them in the tournament most years if they give him a chance to settle in for the long haul.

(03-29-2020 01:02 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(03-29-2020 12:30 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  

(03-29-2020 11:50 AM)doss2 Wrote:  Will Travis Steele be on the hot seat next year.

NIT 2nd round loss 2019
Would have been NIT 2020

Nah. He beat UC this year.

Yeah, I think he's safe for now. If he misses the tournament next year though, he'll be coaching for his job in 2021-22. I'm not super impressed with him thus far, so I hope he does just well enough to hang on and Xavier settles into mediocrity. Or even better yet, maybe he'll run the program into the ground and it will take years for a new coach to rebuild. I'm cool with that scenario as well.

If he misses the tourney next year, I think he will be out the door. 3 years of no NCAA (They likely were out this year) won't cut it.

There's no way you could've watched Dayton this year and thought they were overrated. They finished #1 in the country in FG% (.525), including one of the best 2P% (.623) in NCAA history! They were also top 30 in 3P% (.371) and the best passing team in the country. Toppin was a stud, but they had so many good pieces around him. How many years before UD ever has another player of the year and a #1 seed? I feel terrible for all of my friends that went to UD.

I so wanted to see a Dayton-Gonzaga game. Those two offenses would've likely made for the game of the tournament.

I thought Dayton would get bounced in the Sweet 16. Good team but they were ripe for an early exit.

As with everything it depended on matchups. Kansas was going to be my championship pick unless they had a particularly problematic draw or one of the other contenders had an incredibly favorable draw.

It was pretty wide open other than Kansas. Really sucks for Dayton fans as this is the kind of generational team they are unlikely to see for a long time.

(03-29-2020 04:19 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(03-29-2020 02:58 PM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  IU was probably in, but they were far from impressive.

Does this buy Miller another couple of years? Or are his buttocks looking a bit red?

At some point, Indiana needs to realize they are no longer a blue blood. High schoolers don't look at Indiana the same way they do Duke and Kentucky, and probably never will. That doesn't mean they can't compete for a national championship, but expectations need to be in line with reality. Indiana hasn't won a national championship since 1987 and has been to only one Final Four since then -- and that was almost 20 years ago. This is who they are. Archie Miller is a good coach and he'll have them in the tournament most years if they give him a chance to settle in for the long haul.

I have a colleague who is a diehard Hoosier fan. While he admits there is a lunatic fringe that expects IU to be winning a national title every year or so, he was very disappointed this season in the quality of play and consistency of performance. He's not ready to run Archie off just yet, but he too admits IU has fallen from the super elite level they occupied years ago. They may or may not get back up that ladder with Michigan State, Michigan and OSU consistently performing at a high level these days.

Related to that, I think I heard that they have the longest streak of any P5 in not winning a bowl game. Their football is on the upswing, but again, I'm not sure they'll ever exceed middle of the pack in that competitive conference environment. It's certainly not a destination for top tier football talent.

(03-29-2020 09:04 PM)BigDawg Wrote:  

(03-29-2020 01:02 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(03-29-2020 12:30 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  

(03-29-2020 11:50 AM)doss2 Wrote:  Will Travis Steele be on the hot seat next year.

NIT 2nd round loss 2019
Would have been NIT 2020

Nah. He beat UC this year.

Yeah, I think he's safe for now. If he misses the tournament next year though, he'll be coaching for his job in 2021-22. I'm not super impressed with him thus far, so I hope he does just well enough to hang on and Xavier settles into mediocrity. Or even better yet, maybe he'll run the program into the ground and it will take years for a new coach to rebuild. I'm cool with that scenario as well.

If he misses the tourney next year, I think he will be out the door. 3 years of no NCAA (They likely were out this year) won't cut it.

Yes, maybe so. Their fans are none to happy with him from some of what I read. I don't have data, and we may never see any since they are a private school, but my sense is they had more empty seats @ Cintas this year than I've seen before and they were advertising single game tickets frequently on social media.

The bloom is off the rose--at least a little for X basketball. This season, every school took a hit when the NCAA Tourney was cancelled but X missed out on that paycheck last season too. Men's basketball pays the bill for athletics there.

Even in a diminished Big East, Villanova remains elite; Georgetown and Marquette have been up and down but are big brands with national championship pedigrees and much better academic stature than X. The folks in Norwood may have reached their high water mark under Chris Mack.