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(10/03/16 9:04pm)
We learned one thing on Sunday morning, this Colts team is simply not very good.
The Colts traveled across the pond to London to play a divisional foe in the Jacksonville Jaguars. Many were excited, and many probably thought this would be a trip that they would never want to forget.
After their 30-27 loss to the previously winless Jaguars, now all they want to do is forget.
The Jaguars aren’t any good. They have playmakers like Blake Bortles, Allen Robinson, and others, but they merely aren’t a team that will give most NFL head coaches worry. Many even thought that their head coach Gus Bradley was going to be without a job after this weekend.
Instead the Colts gave the Jaguars their second win in their last ten games.
Who else did they beat in that span?
Oh yeah that’s right, the Indianapolis Colts.
What’s the problem with the Colts? They don’t learn. They never make adjustments. Not their head coach, general manager, or their players. It seems as if the same thing occurs week in and week out. Go down by double digits in the first half and see if Andrew Luck can lead them to a miraculous fourth quarter comeback.
Of course that isn’t head coach Chuck Pagano’s game plan every Sunday. No one in his or her right mind would actually do this and think that it would succeed in this league, but it sure does seem like that’s what the Colts are trying to do.
What did the Colts struggle with in their first game of the season against Detroit? Offensive line play.
What did they struggle with against Denver? Missed tackles and turnovers.
What did they struggle with yesterday? Every damn thing besides running the ball and kicking. It was a team effort of sheer lousiness.
Do you notice a trend?
Nothing changes. No one makes adjustments. It’s the same problems week after week. The best teams in this league make adjustments every week to better their team, but not the Colts. Sure they probably try, but is trying simply enough?
Money is made in this league off of outcomes, not effort.
Luck was sacked on Sunday for a career high six times. Yes, they started three rookies in Ryan Kelly, Joe Haeg, and Austin Blythe on the offensive line, but the biggest problem wasn’t the rookies. They struggled, but no one expects rookies to come in right away and not struggle. It was their $43 million investment Anthony Castonzo.
Ever since Castonzo got his money in 2015 he has regressed. He continues to get beat, as he did twice yesterday, leading to Luck lying helplessly on his backside.
Does everyone remember what happened to Roy Hibbert after the Pacers gave him a $58 million contract?
He vanished.
The similarities of the Hibbert/Castonzo comparison is producing a lot of worry in Indianapolis.
Now in no way do I think it’s all his fault, as GM Ryan Grigson fails miserably to put quality players on the field and the players failed to show any effort yesterday, but I’m going to rip on Pagano a bit for a moment.
Pagano always mentions that he doesn’t want his offense to go fast because he is worried the defense will tire too quickly and get stuck on the field for too long. A valid argument, but what about teams like Atlanta and Pittsburgh? They go fast and it seems to work.
Why do the Colts have so much success in the fourth quarter? It’s because they are losing by double digits and are forced to play a hurry up, no huddle offense that works with ease.
When the Colts play fast it equals points. It’s that simple. Fast equals points. It basically has Luck’s entire career, and it did for some of Peyton Manning’s career as well, but instead of making adjustments, Pagano and the Colts coaching staff keep trying to establish the run and play slow in the first half.
Stop being so damn stubborn and try something new. Get creative. If you try the no huddle offense and it proves to be disastrous then okay that’s understandable, at least you tried, but how does one find out anything in life unless they give it a go?
Here’s another argument.
Pagano doesn’t call plays, as some head coaches in the NFL do not. That’s not an issue at all, as it is just a personal preference for many. Pagano gets paid to get the little things right.
He gets paid to get his team prepared for games. He gets paid to manage the clock correctly. He gets paid to provide discipline within his players, and he continues to fail.
The Colts were looking at a fourth and one to continue the game in the closing minute and their running back Frank Gore, who just cracked the top ten of NFL career rushing yards, is no where to be found? Even if you’re not going to give him the ball, his presence in the backfield drastically affects the defense, especially during a game where Gore had 68 yards on 16 carries (4.3 average).
One more thing.
The Jaguars were setting up for a punt with roughly 30 seconds left and the Colts lined up in a punt block formation, with no one back to catch the ball. Why does this matter?
Think about this: if you’re in that situation all the punter is trying to do is get the ball off as quick as possible. He doesn’t care how far it goes or how good of a punt it is, his job is to not get it blocked in that situation. And how often do punts actually get blocked in the NFL?
So instead of putting someone back to call fair catch, the Colts came with an all out punt block, didn’t even get remotely close to blocking it, and wasted six valuable seconds as the ball was bouncing around in their own territory.
Now some will think this is just over-analyzing the situation, but that’s what head coaches get paid to do. They’re paid an awful lot to not make those small, critical mistakes.
I put much of the blame on owner Jim Irsay. It is no secret that both Grigson and Pagano didn’t get along last season, but Irsay decided to bring them both back and extended their contract to four years anyway.
How in the hell does that make sense? I still have yet to understand the decision nearly nine months later.
I’m not saying fire Pagano and Grigson right now, but at this rate both are going to be without a job at the end of the year (or sooner).
After their loss on Sunday the Colts are now 3-8 in their last 11 games that Luck has started. They have also given up 34.5 points per game in the 26 losses of Luck’s career. I don’t care how good he is, if you’re giving up almost 35 points per game no quarterback will be able to be successful.
Thanks to the worse than mediocre talent in the AFC South, the playoffs are not completely out of the question, but it’s time to re-think some things in Indy.
(09/27/16 12:46am)
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Colts and Andrew Luck decided to take their fans on another jolting rollercoaster ride for their 26-22 win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.
It was a game that had many people uneasy on a beautiful, 82 degree Sunday afternoon where the retractable roof and window to Lucas Oil Stadium was….closed?
From the much needed 10-0 Colts lead in the first quarter, to the boneheaded interception and fumble by Luck that lead to a tie game at the half, finally to a fourth and seven with a 0-3 start to the season looming at the other end; they sure didn’t make it easy.
But, they got the job done.
Earlier in the week, wide receiver T.Y. Hilton talked about his disappointing start to the season. In Indy's first two games, the struggling Hilton had only 10 catches for 120 yards. Decent, but not up to his expectations. He told the media that after the loss to the Denver Broncos he apologized to his teammates in the locker room, telling them it wouldn’t happen again. He later on Wednesday called his own shot.
“We’re 0-2, and we can’t go down 0-3,” said Hilton to reporters. “I have to make plays. I guarantee I’ll make plays Sunday.”
He is a man of his word.
Hilton had eight receptions for 174 yards, including the game-winning touchdown reception of 63 yards with 77 seconds remaining. But it wasn’t just the 63-yard reception that stood out. Hilton made plays throughout the game; something he knew needed to be done with Donte Moncrief inactive. He had a couple of beautiful catches near the sideline in the first half, and kept up his workload in the second half.
When the Colts had their season slowly tumbling to shambles before them, on their 20 eyeing a fourth and seven, he was there again, barely picking up the first down on a ball that didn’t meet him in stride from Luck. Two plays later, Luck didn’t dare to make the same mistake again, hit him in stride, and Hilton scurried into the end zone to give the Colts the 26-22 lead.
The Ghost had returned.
“That’s what they pay me for,” said Hilton, who signed a 5-year $65 million contract before the 2015 season.
The Colts finally received some good news before the start of the game on Sunday. Previously sidelined Vontae Davis, T.J. Green, Trent Cole, and Henry Anderson all made their way back to the playing field Sunday.
And it showed.
Yes, the Chargers are dealing with more injuries than almost anyone; besides Phillip Rivers their three best offensive players Keenan Allen, Antonio Gates, and Danny Woodhead all didn’t play due to injury. And yes, Rivers missed some wide-open receivers and was let down with some dropped balls, but we won’t let that damper the mood.
The Colts secondary drastically improved, forcing Rivers to hold the ball for far longer than he is comfortable. Rivers has always been a quick releaser, meaning he dinks the ball five yards down the field and allows his receivers to do the rest, but defensive coordinator Ted Monachino and the defense entered Sunday’s game well prepared.
Forcing Rivers to hold on to the ball longer inevitably led to more pressure and a flustered Rivers. He threw for five touchdowns and had a 81.9 and 85.6 quarterback rating (QBR) in his first two games, but didn’t find the end zone and had a QBR of just 62.8 on Sunday. The defense also forced three turnovers.
Healthy bodies lead to results.
Of course it wasn’t all good for the Colts. Luck keeps giving his critics something to shout as he struggled with turnovers yet again. Their offensive line, which played well in the first half with rookie Joe Haeg (notice the holes between Haeg and Ryan Kelly in the first half for Gore?) getting his first career start at right guard, struggled in the second half when Joe Reitz left with a back injury. Their running game faded in the second half.
But a win’s a win.
This team was one play away from going 0-3, something they haven’t done since 2011 when Peyton Manning missed the entire season with an injured nerve. Since the current playoff format took effect in 1990, only five 0-3 teams have made the postseason and nobody has done it since the 1998 Buffalo Bills.
A huge win.
The Colts have a new mindset going into this Sunday’s peculiar matchup in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars (9:30 am ET). They will leave Thursday afternoon, electing not to choose the path of most teams and spend most of the week in London prior to the game to get acclimated to the time change. They no longer have to play with the worry and pressure of getting the first win of the season, so look out for a more relaxed team on Sunday.
One win is good, but everything isn’t just dandy because you beat the Chargers at home. Lose again this week to a winless divisional foe? All the troubles resurface. Win? It keeps the ball rolling. Time to get back to work.
(09/19/16 11:50pm)
The turnover, the view of only green turf ahead, an easy touchdown opportunity; a memory of the RCA Dome and the 2006 AFC Divisional Playoff bout against the Pittsburgh Steelers that no Colts fan wants to relive.
We all remember. It was a decade ago when the Colts arguably had their best team ever.
The Steelers were up 21-18 in the final minutes when Gary Brackett’s helmet jarred the ball loose from Jerome Bettis’ fingers, when Nick Harper picked it up and saw nothing but history being made before his eyes, when it was all lost.
Harper tried to make a cut in the middle of the field and his leg gave out on him. He was stabbed the night before by a steak knife that impeded him in scoring a potential game winning touchdown, which led to the Mike Vanderjagt missed field goal. The Colts season had unexpectedly ended.
Devastating.
We all tried to forget, but when Darius Butler had nothing but space after a Brock Osweiler interception his hamstring gave out, falling to the ground helplessly. The remembrance of 2006 and Harper gloomed over Indianapolis once again.
Of course the two situations aren’t identical. Harper’s mishap ended the Colts season, Butler’s came mid-way through the second quarter in week two, but it was still pivotal.
The Denver Broncos were leading 10-3 when Butler, who was supposed to be blitzing on the play, made a great read and intercepted Osweiler on a screen pass. Fifteen yards later and only a touchdown in sight, Butler went down in pain.
It would’ve been a game-changer, evening the score at 10, and would’ve given the Colts the momentum they so desperately were looking for. Any time your defense can score a touchdown against the best defensive team in the league certainly takes a heavy load off of Andrew Luck and the offense. Instead they had to settle for a field goal.
A defense shattered with injuries, a play that explains their young 2016 season better than words.
It’s as simple as this; the defense is hurting. Their secondary is depleted. Coming into the game Patrick Robinson, Trent Cole, T.J. Green, Henry Anderson, and Vontae Davis were all inactive. Then Antonio Cromartie, Rashaan Melvin, and Butler all were injured in yesterday’s game.
The injuries keep coming, and the Colts keep struggling.
Now in no way do I want you to think I’m making excuses. In my column last week I clearly stated that I don’t do excuses. All these players being hurt doesn’t mean their linebackers like Sio Moore, who is becoming a liability on defense, are suddenly incapable of tackling. It doesn’t mean that Erik Walden and Robert Mathis can no longer get to the passer, but it doesn’t help.
Because of the scarceness at corner, defensive Ted Monachino can’t run the defense he wants to run. He can’t send extra guys into the box and call up as many blitzes as he likes, knowing his secondary needs help in the back end. He can’t trust his corners to go one-on-one against most wide receivers in this league, which we clearly found out yesterday. The man needs some kind of help.
But yesterday, the problem wasn’t with the defense. Yes, they missed tackles, a lot of big tackles. Yes, they still don’t look like they can stop the top-tier offenses of this league, but this wasn’t their fault.
This was Luck’s fault.
Luck struggled.
On a day when your defense only gives up 19 points (only one touchdown), one has to like their chances with Luck under center. Instead Luck was 21/40 for 197 yards and one touchdown, with a quarterback rating (QBR) of only 61.8. He also threw a pick six to Aqib Talib, a turning point early in the fourth quarter. That’s just not going to get the job done, not even close.
It started early. In the first couple of drives Luck was missing everything long and high, leaving his receivers in dangerous situations, a situation that knocked receiver Donte Moncrief out of the game. You could tell his internal clock was going faster than usual.
Can you blame him? Ever since coming into the league he has taken the most quarterback hits out of anyone with 375, Ryan Tannehill coming in second at 364. With an offensive line that everyone knows struggles, and going up against that Broncos defense, my internal clock would be racing too.
The offensive line didn’t play error free yesterday, giving up five sacks for 27 yards, but some of those sacks came late when the game was out of reach. No the offensive line didn’t play great, but they played good enough to get the job done. There were countless times Luck had time to stand in the pocket, to survey the field, to find nobody open.
Their receivers couldn’t get open, and when they did Luck didn’t look sharp. How can you blame the offensive line?
Many began to harp on tackle Joe Reitz. It was 26-20 and the Colts had the ball with minutes remaining, trying to put together another game winning drive. Many were glued to their TV’s waiting for something great to happen. They sure didn’t have to wait long. Von Miller forced a strip sack on the first play beating Reitz easily from the right side, which was scooped by Shane Ray and scored for the second defensive touchdown of the day. The opportunity had been lost.
Immediately tweets were sent dogging Reitz and the offensive line. Do you people understand that is the best athlete in the game getting it done? What could Reitz possibly have done? Maybe next time the Colts won’t decide to play Miller one-on-one, something they had been doing all game (even with a tight end). Coaching?
In the end it leads the Colts to a familiar feeling, starting the season 0-2 for the third straight season.
Panic in Indianapolis? You bet.
Should there be? Hell no.
I wrote a similar story last year when most Indiana Hoosier basketball fans panicked after a slow start. “Fire Crean!” some hollered. “Fire Pagano!” some are saying today.
What did Aaron Rodgers remind his fans a couple of years ago? “Relaaaaaax.”
There is a reason the season is 16 games. If you have given up hope in this team, shame on you. There is plenty of time to evolve, to get better, however it does need to happen quickly with Houston (2-0) and the Titans (1-1) both ahead of the Colts in the AFC South.
Remember what happened two years ago when the Colts started 0-2? A five game winning streak. Last year? A three game winning streak. This team has bounced back before, they can do it again.
In the next three weeks they play San Diego at home, Jaguars in London, and the Bears at home. No cakewalk, but these are three winnable games. Then they go to Houston for a primetime game on Sunday night. Next, at Tennessee. They are more than capable to go on another five game winning streak again.
Am I crazy? Maybe.
It all starts with this week. This week might be one of the biggest the Colts have had in awhile. 0-3? Forget about it. Then this team is in big trouble, some people losing jobs trouble, and I am sitting here looking foolish saying they are going to win five in a row. 1-2? Completely different story. Different mindset. Different confidence. Hopefully different players (getting some healthy bodies back).
Frustrated? I understand I am too. But frustration isn’t equivalent to giving up. Trust the process, the Colts will be just fine.
(09/12/16 8:59pm)
You would think when your team puts up 35 points that you would come out with the win, right?
Instead of entering the locker room high and mighty after Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions, the Colts were left with their eyes glued to the floor wondering what had just happened. I’ll tell you what happened: they got thoroughly embarrassed in front of 70,000 plus people.
Not just the offense, not just the defense, but the coach as well.
The Colts, and their head coach Chuck Pagano, have no idea how to start a game, or season, for that matter. What do I mean by this? They come out flat way too often. Is that coaching? The player’s fault? We don’t know, but someone, or something, isn’t getting them ready to start games.
Let me explain.
In the 2014 season the Colts started 0-2, losing at Denver and then to Philadelphia at home. That season consisted of games where they started themselves in a hole, going down 24-7 at half against the Broncos and 28-0 at the half against the Cowboys.
Then in 2015 they once again started the season going 0-2, losing to the Bills and Jets. The 2015 campaign consisted of games where the Colts were caught looking at the scoreboard down 17-0 against the Bills, 10-0 against the Jets, and 20-0 against the Saints, all at halftime.
Do you sense a trend?
And then there’s yesterday’s game, where the Colts saw themselves once again down 21-3 and fighting to keep the game in reach minutes before halftime. They lost, started the 2016 season 0-1, and have the reigning Super Bowl champions in the Denver Broncos for week two. Oh, and that game is at Denver, by the way. I’m not saying they are going to lose by any means, but that’s no easy task.
In those six games combined, before counting the touchdown the Colts scored with five seconds to go in the first half yesterday, Pagano and his gang are looking wide-eyed and utterly astonished at a 120-10 deficit in the first half alone. If you just muttered holy (bleep) to yourself under your breath while reading this, you’re not alone.
And then that leads us to Pagano’s press conference, where it seems as if he’s almost saying the same thing time and time again.
“Slow start, again. We got to find a way to get that fixed,” Pagano said. “We can’t come out going three and out -- and then give up a 9-10 play drive for a touchdown, and then go three and out again. Then the defense goes out there and we have a 15 play drive, and then we go three and out again, and the next thing you know it’s 21-3 and you’ve dug yourself a huge hole, which has happened too many times.
“I know this team knows how to finish, but we need to figure out a way to start.”
I’m fed up with the slow starts; the laid-back, slow pace of the offense in the first half, and I’m not alone.
“I’m tired of talking about slow starts. I’m tired of being apart of slow starts, disappointed in myself in being apart of a slow start,” Andrew Luck said in annoyance after the game. “We know at home we have to start faster to give us a chance to win. It’s hard to win in the NFL, it really is, and when you go down 21-3 to a team, it’s that much harder.”
Maybe they should start taking the words they say literally, and actually start playing faster. In the last drive before the half, where Donte Moncrief caught a two-yard touchdown pass with five seconds left, the Colts offense played with a sense of urgency and the results showed. Smoothness, like Mozart on the piano, everything flowed in perfect rhythm. That carried into the second half.
There are more troubles to this team than just slow starts. The Colts defense couldn’t tackle yesterday, and Pagano has no idea how to manage the clock at the end of games. He is also clueless on when to or not to challenge calls, but that’s a statement that will be discussed another time.
“If you expect to win in this league, you can’t give up that many points,” Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said, via Mike Wells of espn.com. “Any other team, that would have been a blowout. Defensively we played like s--- and we have to play better.”
Well D’Qwell, thanks for your honesty. You aren’t wrong.
Now some are making excuses. The defense can’t tackle because they’re missing this guy and that guy and so on. I don’t do excuses. No one gives a damn about excuses. Excuses get you nowhere. Yes they’re beat up. Yes they’re missing Vontae Davis and Jerrell Freeman, who might be their two best tacklers on the team. I don’t care. Next man up. You’re getting paid because Ryan Grigson thinks you can get it done. Tackling is one of the most basic, fundamental aspects of the game. Do your job.
“Defensive 101, have to make tackles,” Robert Mathis said via Wells. “You do things like that, you breathe life in the offense. Have to do a better job getting guys on the ground. You always want to be trusted to close the game. Wasn’t able to do that.”
Also, Pagano, do your job.
What in the hell is he doing taking a timeout with 1:15 left with the Colts on the Lions’ 12-yard line?
“We felt like it was more important at that time to get back, get gathered, get a call in and get settled because we still needed the touchdown,” Pagano said. “We felt like they still had to go however far they had to go to get in field goal range and we can close it out.”
Well, he’s not wrong. But why call the timeout so fast? It was after a pass to T.Y. Hilton for no gain that Pagano immediately rushed over to the ref to call a timeout. Why not wait a little and run some valuable time off the clock? Or why not wait and see if Jim Caldwell, head coach of the Detroit Lions, is going to use one of his three remaining timeouts?
Instead, Pagano called the timeout and gave a nonsense excuse after the game. You wanted to get the right personnel? Run the clock down and then call your timeout. There was no business at all that the Colts should have given the ball back to Matthew Stafford with 37 seconds left and all three timeouts, especially with the way that defense was tackling. If you’re the Colts, you’re going to win or lose the game on that drive. You’re either going to score a touchdown to win the game, or you’re going to turn it over on downs. It’s as simple as that.
Of course it wasn’t all negative Sunday afternoon. Luck answered critics that he was just fine, throwing for 385 yards and four touchdowns, with a passer rating of 119.5. The offensive line played better than expected, giving Luck plenty of time in the second half to find the right receiver. Offensive Coordinator Rob Chudzinski called a good game in the second half, finally getting the tight ends involved.
But that doesn’t matter, because the Colts started with a loss instead of a win. It’s time to get to work.
(03/15/16 1:05am)
Selection Sunday; it’s a national holiday to many--a holiday when people sit on the edge of their chairs awaiting the news to see if their favorite team made the field of 68 or not; a day where fans sit frantically trying to find out where, when, and whom their team will play; a day of complete idiocy this year.
Let’s rewind for a minute. The NCAA selection committee is a ten member committee responsible for selecting, seeding, and bracketing the field for the NCAA Tournament. This group of ten is made up of school and conference administrators, which are nominated by their conference, each serving five-year terms.
On the Tuesday before Selection Sunday, the committee arrives in New York City where they spend the next five days debating and configuring the final bracket.
This leads us to today.
The days after the Selection Show where everyone is left utterly clueless and dumbfounded.
Of course, I understand this is no easy task. The selection committee receives gripes every year, some fair and some not. This year, and basically every year, I never really have a problem with who did and did not make the final 68 teams. It is nearly impossible to produce the bracket without the media complaining (they complain about everything). If you’ve ever noticed the media in their minds are never wrong, but that is an issue and column I will discuss some other time. Now I must say, Tulsa getting into the tournament over teams like San Diego State and Monmouth is preposterous, but I have other, more imperative, complaints.
My main argument this year: the seeding and placing of teams throughout the bracket is the most idiotic entity I have ever seen the selection committee make.
Joe Lunardi, an ESPN member and the producer of Bracketology, said that “the committee’s performance is slipping, year over year, and it’s my job to point that out when necessary.” Lunardi also added “what you have is a selection and bracketing process that appears to have gone off the rails.”
It all begins with the number one overall seed of the tournament, Kansas.
The committee, which is agreed on by all, awarded the number one overall seed to the Jayhawks, but can someone please tell me why they are playing in the South region instead of the Midwest?
According to ncaa.org and the 2015-16 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Principle and Procedures for Establishing the Bracket “teams will remain in or as close to their areas of natural interests as possible.” No, your eyes aren’t playing games on you, that quote is in bold. Why? Because on the website the exact quote is shown in bold in bigger font than other scripts throughout the page, generally meaning it is of more importance right?
Not according to this year's bracket.
Now can someone confirm that Lawrence, Kansas is in the Midwest? I’m not that crazy am I? So according to the Principle and Procedures for Establishing the Bracket, why Is Kansas not playing the regional in Chicago (one hour non-connecting flight), but playing it in Louisville (a four hour connecting flight)? I mean, this should be a no-brainer, right?
Another region complaint I have is for Villanova, the number two seed in the South region.
According to the complete seed list (a list of 1-68 of tournament teams), Villanova is ranked seventh while Xavier follows them at eight. If Villanova was placed before Xavier, why is Xavier in the Philadelphia region while Villanova is in the Louisville region? Regardless of which team was ranked higher, according to the quote I mentioned above on the NCAA, wouldn’t Xavier (Cincinnati) much rather be in Louisville than Philadelphia? Now you might be thinking this wouldn’t be fair to North Carolina to potentially play Villanova in Philadelphia, where Villanova is located, but then why is Miami and Baylor going to Providence to face Buffalo and Yale respectively? Be consistent.
Undoubtedly, I could be nit-picking a little there. I will respectfully disagree, but I understand your point.
The biggest mess of this bracket is the seeding. Why is Texas A&M (26-8) a three seed while Kentucky (26-8) a four when Kentucky just beat A&M in overtime to win the SEC Championship? The head of the committee chair Joseph Castiglione tried to explain on ESPN and made a fool of himself, saying Kentucky has lost to many teams outside of the tournament field while both A&M and Kentucky have lost to five.
Both the Big Ten and SEC Championship games on Sunday don’t mean a thing, as if the committee is too lazy to factor those games into the tournament. Kentucky beats A&M, doesn’t get rewarded, Michigan State beats Purdue, doesn’t get rewarded.
Don’t even get me started on the Big Ten, who took a backhand to the face from the selection committee this year. It starts with Michigan State, who won a Big Ten tournament championship, went 29-5, is looking like one (if not the) best team in the country and doesn’t get a one seed. Indiana, who won the Big Ten regular season championship outright, getting a five seed. Purdue, who might have the best big men in the country, went to the Big Ten championship game and lost to Michigan State, as a five seed. Also Maryland and Iowa are five and seven seeds respectively. I don’t have much objection with Maryland and Iowa because I believe both have been overrated all season long, but both Indiana and Purdue not being in the top four seeds?
Laughable.
Here's where the committee’s egos get in the way. Schools like Wichita State and Kansas won’t play in the regular season, the committee made sure they played in the tournament last year. Indiana and Kentucky won’t play in the regular season, they make sure there could be a potential second round matchup this year. Texas and Texas A&M are two other teams that don’t play in the regular season, but could meet in a second round matchup this year.
Sense a trend?
It’s as if the committee takes it into their own hands and forces teams to play that won’t in the regular season.
But what about Duke? Mike Krzyzewski says he will never schedule Maryland again after the Terps bolted for the Big Ten. It just so happens that Duke and Maryland get a four and five seed this year respectively, but the committee makes sure they are both in separate regions. Where is the consistency?
The committee members will go on television telling you there are no bias, blah, blah, blah. Of course there is a bias. Money talks, ratings talk. Do you think it’s a coincidence that SportsCenter tweeted minutes after the East bracket was announced about a possible Indiana vs. Kentucky matchup? Of course not. Why do you think some teams have the easiest road every year while others have the hardest? This is not dumb luck or a thing of chance people, there is and always will be logic behind this.
Good job, committee. You did about as bad of a job as CBS did with the selection show this year, and that’s a hard one to top.
(03/04/16 9:13pm)
Remember back in November and early December when Indiana basketball fans were practically shoving Tom Crean out the door? Bloomington, and the state of Indiana as a whole, was a hostile environment.
It all began with the much-anticipated trip to Maui, where the Hoosiers participated in the Maui Invitational. The hype didn’t last long, as they lost their opening game to Wake Forest by four. Freshman Bryant Crawford made a driving layup with 3.2 seconds to play to seal the deal against the 13th ranked Hoosiers. Keep in mind that same Wake Forest team is currently 11-19, 2-16 in the ACC, and have dropped 14 of their last 15 games.
Voices of people nagging Crean started to chipper. It didn’t get any better the next couple days, or week for that matter.
The Hoosiers followed their disappointing loss with a disappointing win, if that’s even a thing. Apparently to many people in Bloomington it is. I’ve never been one to grasp this idea; as for me a win is a win. It’s a green W in the column instead of a red L. It might not be pretty, but it’s still a win right? Hoosier faithful didn’t feel the same way.
They snuck past St. Johns winning by 10. Don’t let the 10-point win fool you, the game was close throughout. The Hoosiers then fumbled their way to a three-point loss against UNLV, committing 21 turnovers. I don’t know if it’s even possible, but the Hoosiers had a miserable time in the beautiful island of Maui, going 1-2 in a tournament where many expected them to compete in the championship game against Kansas.
The voices started ringing throughout Kirkwood.
The Hoosiers couldn’t be happier to come back to their humbly abode of Assembly Hall. They walloped Alcorn State by 42 before their trip to Durham for the BIG10/ACC Challenge against Duke. The Hoosiers were left with a bitter taste after Maui, and wanted to fix that in the intimidating environment of Cameron Indoor Stadium. They did the exact opposite of that; the complete opposite as a matter of fact. They got an old fashion whooping against the Blue Devils, losing by 20 in a game that wasn’t close from the beginning.
The voices turned into hollers, as Crean was half way out of the door. Just look back on your Twitter feed and see what some fans had to say after their loss to Duke; it was brutal.
Now what?
The Hoosiers responded with a 12 game winning streak. Yes, their schedule isn’t the best, ranked 12 out of 14 in the BIG10, but it’s not easy to win 12 in a row no matter whom you play. If people haven’t noticed yet, it’s extremely hard to win on the road this year, with tons of top ranked teams falling.
What changed for the Hoosiers?
It’s rather simple honestly: not as many people need to get their shots. What do I mean by that? When the Hoosiers had the ball too much was going on. James Blackmon Jr., Kevin Ferrell, and Troy Williams were all looking to get their shot and it was becoming too complicated for everyone. Also, too much focus was being put on the offensive side of the ball and there wasn’t much focus on the defensive side of the ball.
After the news broke that Blackmon was expected to miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury, something clicked for this team. Role players like Robert Johnson and OG Anunoby have came in and filled their roles perfectly. One might be bring into concern that both Johnson and Anunoby average 8.2 and 4.3 points per game respectively, but it’s not just about points people. Anunoby and Johnson understand what they can and can’t do. They don’t shoot the ball 20 times expecting to average 15 plus points per game. They play defense, extremely well if I might add, Anunoby especially.
The Hoosiers have been one of the hottest teams in college basketball down the stretch, surging in the polls. They were unranked in week 14 of the season but have risen to 12 in the latest poll. Yes, they took a beating by Michigan State on the road, but they beat a top 20 Iowa team twice, beat a 17 Purdue, and have a big game Sunday against 14 Maryland. Oh and don’t let me forget, they are the outright BIG10 Champions. No big deal right?
Crean now sits back in his office with two BIG10 Championships in the last four years. He has done a fantastic job with the team this year. Whether it has been injuries to their best offensive player (statistically) in Blackmon Jr., Johnson and Juwan Morgan who was injured in the previous game at Iowa, Crean has faced adversity throughout the whole year, never backing down. This is his best coaching season of his career at IU.
My one question is Hoosier fans do you still want Crean gone? Some of you even wanted him to get fired after the Duke game. Where did all of you “Fire Crean” supporters suddenly disappear to? The Hoosiers just came off a three-point win at Iowa that secured them the outright BIG10 regular season title.
As soon as something goes wrong with the Hoosiers all the blame is on Crean, which I understand. The coach is responsible for how his team produces, and some of Crean’s play calls and late game strategy is rather questionable, but what happens when they win? No one gives Crean the credit he deserves. Sure they struggled in the beginning of the year, but they’ve played great since. And a word of advice for you basketball fanatics, it’s not how you start the season; it’s how you finish it.
So for all of you so quick to push Crean out the door don’t trip over yourselves while you praise the team for how well they are playing now.
Keep your mouth shut and let the season pan out, it’s a long one.