Latest / Podcast on the Brink / POTB 544: Takeaways from IU basketball's exhibitions and an IU-Maryland football preview

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POTB 544: Takeaways from IU basketball's exhibitions and an IU-Maryland football preview · Podcast on the Brink

0:17
Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of Podcasts on the Brink, Friday,
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Speaker 1: October thirty first, a day that kids look forward to
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Speaker 1: every year. It is Halloween, but we're not talking Halloween
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Speaker 1: here on Podcasts on the Brink, We're talking I You
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Speaker 1: Basketball and IU football with Josh Pose inside the Hall.
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Speaker 1: Before we get to Josh, quick reminder, if you enjoy
0:42
Speaker 1: the show, please leave us a five star rating and
0:45
Speaker 1: review over on Apple podcast and Spotify. And if you're
0:51
Speaker 1: watching this on YouTube, we are. I just looked about
0:54
Speaker 1: one thousand, about eleven hundred subscribers away from ten thousand,
0:58
Speaker 1: so we'll continue to grow our numbers there. If you
1:00
Speaker 1: enjoy the show the video podcast, continue to like the
1:04
Speaker 1: videos over there, subscribe. And I also wanted to mention
1:06
Speaker 1: Ryan As recently introduced a new format for film session
1:11
Speaker 1: this season. It's very good. I recommend if you haven't
1:15
Speaker 1: had a chance to go check those out. He's done
1:17
Speaker 1: one on Tucket Derees from the first exhibition game. Lamar
1:19
Speaker 1: Wilkerson was the focus from the Baylor exhibition, which we're
1:22
Speaker 1: going to talk about well, Josh. One other brief note
1:25
Speaker 1: that we're not going to get into too much on
1:27
Speaker 1: the show. Von Carvala, a class of twenty twenty six
1:32
Speaker 1: wing originally from Wisconsin now playing at Belavis, the prep
1:35
Speaker 1: out in Arizona's going to announce his college decision Saturday afternoon,
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Speaker 1: coincidentally the same time as IU football will be kicking
1:43
Speaker 1: off against Maryland on CBS, so you might have to
1:47
Speaker 1: go dual screen if you want to watch the announcement.
1:49
Speaker 1: It's going to be streamed over on the Belvis to
1:50
Speaker 1: Hoops YouTube channel. Josh, Happy Halloween. Thanks for coming back
1:58
Speaker 1: on the show. I know you're had a little family
2:00
Speaker 1: excursion right now, so I appreciate you taking the time
2:04
Speaker 1: to to join us. What what's the what's the plan
2:07
Speaker 1: for for Halloween? If you I'm a little too old
2:09
Speaker 1: to dress up, but you're still uh you know, a kid,
2:13
Speaker 1: I guess right, still in college. So yeah, what's the
2:17
Speaker 1: what's the what's the get up tonight for Halloween?
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Speaker 2: It's all reliable for me. It's it's coach Mike Dicta
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Speaker 2: Dow Bears. I have the sweater vest, I have the
2:26
Speaker 2: fake mustache, I have the Aviator sunglasses. Don't have a
2:30
Speaker 2: super Bowl trophy, but uh, I gotta go Mike Dica
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Speaker 2: and I have some family here who love Da Bears,
2:38
Speaker 2: and so do I, but they grew up in the
2:42
Speaker 2: Dicca era, so I am. I'm set for a good
2:46
Speaker 2: win against the family.
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Speaker 1: Had I known this before, I would have actually had
2:51
Speaker 1: you put the costume on for the podcast. I actually
2:54
Speaker 1: been on a special trade for the YouTube audience. Uh
2:58
Speaker 1: Josh poses Mike Disha, But no, that would be I need.
3:02
Speaker 1: I need a picture when you're in full costume, at
3:04
Speaker 1: least just to see what it all looks like. But
3:06
Speaker 1: you were with me court side on Sunday at game
3:10
Speaker 1: rich Sfield House. It was I don't want to say
3:13
Speaker 1: lighter than expected crowd because we kind of knew a
3:15
Speaker 1: couple of days before that ticket sales maybe weren't as
3:18
Speaker 1: brisk as everyone would have hoped. But still I think
3:21
Speaker 1: roughly forty five hundred people were there. It was a,
3:25
Speaker 1: in my opinion, a pretty high level game between two
3:28
Speaker 1: teams that are completely new this season and Baylor in Indiana. Oh,
3:34
Speaker 1: some things to take away, obviously, But you were down
3:36
Speaker 1: in Puerto Rico, you were at the Marion exhibition game.
3:39
Speaker 1: But I think this is maybe our first chance to
3:41
Speaker 1: see Indiana against a high cow. I don't want to say,
3:45
Speaker 1: Mega wasn't a high caliber opponent, but this is, you know,
3:48
Speaker 1: a better gauge of kind of where this team is.
3:50
Speaker 1: What were your thoughts on how India played on Sunday
3:54
Speaker 1: and kind of some some takeaways coming out of that game.
3:57
Speaker 2: I thought they played as good as you could play
4:00
Speaker 2: for an exhibition game, Alex. It wasn't great, but it
4:04
Speaker 2: wasn't completely ugly. There were some things to take away
4:08
Speaker 2: the rebounding, defensive rebounding, Indiana was outside, but then if
4:12
Speaker 2: you look at points in the paint, Indiana one thirty
4:14
Speaker 2: four to twenty eight. So it was a give and
4:17
Speaker 2: take and you'd never really guess that those two would
4:20
Speaker 2: have been so separate from each other, just based on
4:24
Speaker 2: how people talk about Indiana size and how the rebounding went.
4:27
Speaker 2: But at the same time, I thought it was a
4:29
Speaker 2: really good test for both teams. But for Indiana, after
4:33
Speaker 2: those first four games, you had he had an idea
4:37
Speaker 2: of what this team would be like, but you saw
4:40
Speaker 2: it against a team just at Indiana's caliber, that bubble team,
4:44
Speaker 2: that at large team in Baylor. They're not what they
4:47
Speaker 2: used to be at least yet they receiving a vote
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Speaker 2: I think or two. But I think it was a
4:53
Speaker 2: good chance for us to see and Darren DeVries to
4:56
Speaker 2: see how his team stacks up against Division one, a
5:00
Speaker 2: high major caliber opponent, did.
5:05
Speaker 1: In the way Indiana played on Sunday? Did it make
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Speaker 1: you any more? Did it make you more optimistic or
5:10
Speaker 1: less optimistic as to what this team can be this
5:13
Speaker 1: season in terms of their spot in the Big Ten
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Speaker 1: and what they can ultimately become by the end of
5:18
Speaker 1: the year, or not at all because you don't really
5:20
Speaker 1: take much much out of it since it's an exhibition.
5:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, it didn't move me either way, because I remember
5:27
Speaker 2: watching the Tennessee game last year and thinking, Oh, this
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Speaker 2: team could be really, really good. The only difference is
5:33
Speaker 2: that Tennessee played it differently than Indiana did last year.
5:36
Speaker 2: Both of these teams, Indiana and Baylor played like they
5:39
Speaker 2: wanted to win the game this year. So I'd say
5:42
Speaker 2: it didn't move me, But if it had to, it
5:45
Speaker 2: had been a little bit more optimistic about this team.
5:49
Speaker 1: One thing that you were talking to me about is
5:51
Speaker 1: we kind of watched the game. I had noticed it
5:53
Speaker 1: as much, but I noticed it as the game went along,
5:56
Speaker 1: and you pointed it out pretty quickly. The chemistry between
5:59
Speaker 1: Lamar Wilkers and and Tuker debris. Is that something that
6:02
Speaker 1: you saw pretty quickly in Puerto Rico. Is that something
6:07
Speaker 1: that maybe has been building over the course of the
6:09
Speaker 1: fall And are you surprised at those two? It does
6:13
Speaker 1: look like in many ways that they've played together for
6:15
Speaker 1: a lot longer than what four or five months is
6:18
Speaker 1: what they've been together dating back to early summer in Bloomington.
6:21
Speaker 1: But you can just see that they both kind of
6:24
Speaker 1: know where the other one likes the ball, and they
6:27
Speaker 1: had a couple of plays where it's just they had
6:30
Speaker 1: the synergy of two guys that have been teammates for
6:33
Speaker 1: a lot longer than they have been.
6:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, you could you could see it a little bit
6:36
Speaker 2: in Puerto Rico, But the first marrying of the Marrian
6:39
Speaker 2: exhibition game, that's when you started to see it a
6:42
Speaker 2: little a little more. And they had I believe, like
6:45
Speaker 2: two months to figure that out and learn each other
6:47
Speaker 2: a bit more than they had going into Puerto Rico.
6:50
Speaker 2: But it more starts off the floor with me. At
6:53
Speaker 2: Big ten media day, you could tell that they were
6:55
Speaker 2: really close. They joked about how each other was older
6:58
Speaker 2: than I think AARs is older than Tucker but Tucker
7:02
Speaker 2: still is called the old head of the group. You
7:05
Speaker 2: could tell that it's built off the floor that that
7:09
Speaker 2: led to Tucker knew where Lamar was going to backcut
7:13
Speaker 2: to Lamar knew where Tucker wanted. Every shooter wants it,
7:17
Speaker 2: but he would get the pass right to Tucker's tip
7:20
Speaker 2: pocket for a three. So those two they didn't really
7:25
Speaker 2: have it because Tucker was struggling so much in Puerto Rico,
7:28
Speaker 2: especially from three. But you can see the growth between
7:32
Speaker 2: them because they are the two leaders, especially on the
7:35
Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball.
7:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, Lamar, I thought in particular, he didn't have his
7:42
Speaker 1: best offensive game in terms of his shooting, but the
7:44
Speaker 1: fact that he was able to get to the line
7:46
Speaker 1: like he was is very encouraging from the standpoint of
7:49
Speaker 1: it wasn't an opponent that lacked athleticism or size on
7:53
Speaker 1: the wing. He was doing it against the team that
7:55
Speaker 1: you know. I don't want to make any conclusions before
7:57
Speaker 1: I've seen most of the Big Ten, but I would
7:59
Speaker 1: say and correct me if you think I'm wrong. I
8:01
Speaker 1: would say Baylor are on the wing and guard positions
8:04
Speaker 1: is going to be as athletic or more athletic than
8:07
Speaker 1: what seventy five percent of the teams are going to
8:09
Speaker 1: face in the Big ten. So the fact that he
8:11
Speaker 1: was able to get to the line he like he did,
8:14
Speaker 1: I thought was an encouraging thing. And Tucker the thing
8:18
Speaker 1: about him that really stands out, Like you said, he's
8:20
Speaker 1: not shot the ball. I don't think up to the
8:23
Speaker 1: way he can potentially so far in these exhibition games.
8:27
Speaker 1: He's obviously still working his way back into things. He
8:30
Speaker 1: missed a significant amount of time last year. He's fully healthy,
8:33
Speaker 1: but you know, any player who's coming back from an
8:36
Speaker 1: injury that's season ending, it's going to take them some
8:38
Speaker 1: time to get the rhythm back. But he does all
8:40
Speaker 1: these little things that impact winning, you know, the assists,
8:43
Speaker 1: the rebounding, and defensively. You look at him sometimes and
8:47
Speaker 1: you think, you know, yeah, he could get blown by
8:51
Speaker 1: at times, or he could be at a disadvantage from
8:54
Speaker 1: an athleticism standpoint, but he always knows where he's supposed
8:56
Speaker 1: to be. Such an intelligent player. You know, it's a
8:59
Speaker 1: cliche to say coach's son, but in this instance, he
9:02
Speaker 1: really does know the ins and outs of the system
9:04
Speaker 1: and knows where he needs to be. And I think
9:05
Speaker 1: that's such a valuable team thing for this Indiana team.
9:08
Speaker 1: That's bringing a whole you know, a ton of new
9:10
Speaker 1: guys together and trying to still figure things out. Even
9:12
Speaker 1: though they have had these extra practices in the summer,
9:15
Speaker 1: the exhibition games. I think those have been helpful. But
9:18
Speaker 1: I don't think you can expect this team to just
9:19
Speaker 1: be firing on all cylinders when the regular seasons start,
9:22
Speaker 1: because it's a brand new team with a ton of
9:24
Speaker 1: new faces and a brand new system and coach.
9:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're going to figure it out. And actually it
9:30
Speaker 2: was a lot of people's first game watching this team.
9:34
Speaker 2: I've had the luxury of seeing them for all their
9:36
Speaker 2: exhibition games, but everybody said to me before the game,
9:39
Speaker 2: ob Tucker is much bigger than I thought he was,
9:42
Speaker 2: and he is. He is. He's much more filled in.
9:46
Speaker 2: He doesn't really look like a guy. He kind of
9:48
Speaker 2: has the Evan Fitzner build, a lot more athletic. I
9:53
Speaker 2: didn't mean to bring up a name like that, but
9:56
Speaker 2: having the five assists, six rebounds, two blocks, two steals,
9:59
Speaker 2: eight points, it's really impressive. And he's it's always been
10:04
Speaker 2: known that he's going to lead this team, just leadership wise,
10:08
Speaker 2: maybe not on the floor. But filling up the stat sheet,
10:11
Speaker 2: not only on offense or on defense. While his offense
10:14
Speaker 2: really struggled and his shooting gets there, Indiana is gonna
10:18
Speaker 2: have to find a way. And Lamar getting to the
10:21
Speaker 2: line eleven times, he's gonna have to find a way.
10:24
Speaker 2: They're getting inside the paint when their shots aren't falling.
10:27
Speaker 2: They have the IQ, the basketball IQ to say, Hey,
10:31
Speaker 2: our shots aren't falling, we're gonna still take them, but
10:34
Speaker 2: we're gonna try to get some two point shots. We're
10:36
Speaker 2: gonna hit a mid range, We're gonna go drive to
10:37
Speaker 2: the lane, draw file, And that's what's gonna impress people
10:40
Speaker 2: this year. They're not going to try to shoot themselves
10:42
Speaker 2: out of slumps. Yeah.
10:44
Speaker 1: I think Tucker, just seeing them up close at that
10:48
Speaker 1: exhibition game, watching him go through warlcks, watching him shoot,
10:52
Speaker 1: I was thinking, this guy's got a real chance to
10:54
Speaker 1: play in the NBA for a while because with that
10:57
Speaker 1: size and that ability to space the floor and shoot
10:59
Speaker 1: him with just how smart of a player he is.
11:02
Speaker 1: And you look at kind of what the NBA has
11:03
Speaker 1: gone to in terms of a ton of three point shooting,
11:06
Speaker 1: and with his size, I think there's a chance that
11:08
Speaker 1: he's a long time pro. I'm not saying that it's
11:10
Speaker 1: definitely gonna happen, but I think he's gonna be a
11:12
Speaker 1: guy if he can stay healthy all season play up
11:14
Speaker 1: to his potential. You know, his age obviously works a
11:18
Speaker 1: little bit against him, but you know, I think there's
11:20
Speaker 1: examples of guys. You know, Duncan Robinson's a great example
11:23
Speaker 1: coming out of Michigan who has made a living and
11:25
Speaker 1: made a ton of money in the NBA just by
11:27
Speaker 1: being a knockdown shooter. And I think Tucker in many
11:30
Speaker 1: ways has a more rounded skill set than what Duncan
11:33
Speaker 1: Robinson did coming out of Michigan. So he's a he's
11:36
Speaker 1: a player. I think Indiana fan should really be excited
11:37
Speaker 1: about watching the season. Another guy that I think coming
11:41
Speaker 1: out of the exhibition that you have to be encouraged
11:43
Speaker 1: by their players taking Conaway because defensively he is so
11:49
Speaker 1: far as advertised in terms of the pressure he puts
11:52
Speaker 1: on the ball. His positioning kind of knowing where to
11:54
Speaker 1: be can get a little bit over aggressive at times
11:56
Speaker 1: with the fouling, but I think given the context of
12:00
Speaker 1: no one was going to foul out in that game,
12:02
Speaker 1: maybe he was a little bit more aggressive than he
12:04
Speaker 1: would be in a normal game, but offensively. I remember
12:08
Speaker 1: talking to Darren Devrees over the summer for an interview
12:11
Speaker 1: for the site that we did, and he talked about
12:15
Speaker 1: Tayittan's kind of a guy that you have to live
12:16
Speaker 1: with some of the risks that he takes, particularly offensively,
12:19
Speaker 1: because he makes some plays that are kind of head
12:22
Speaker 1: scratching at times, but oftentimes they work out and you
12:25
Speaker 1: kind of have to live with that. We kind of
12:26
Speaker 1: saw some of that on Sunday. That last bucket that
12:30
Speaker 1: he scored. He kind of just took it upon himself
12:32
Speaker 1: to go right in the lane and score and get fouled.
12:34
Speaker 1: It wasn't like he was looking for anybody else. It
12:36
Speaker 1: was like, this is my ball, I'm going to go
12:38
Speaker 1: get the bucket. I think that aggressiveness is something that
12:42
Speaker 1: is going to be a an asset to Indiana at times.
12:45
Speaker 1: Like I said, it could be to his detriment, but
12:48
Speaker 1: I think for him, striking the balance between playmaker and
12:51
Speaker 1: being aggressive and kind of trying to get the ball
12:53
Speaker 1: into the paint and look for his offense is an
12:55
Speaker 1: encouraging thing as you watch him. What are your impressions
12:59
Speaker 1: so far? If Tate and are you, you know, high
13:03
Speaker 1: on him in terms of what he can bring to
13:04
Speaker 1: this Indiana team this year.
13:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really high on Taton Connorway just because of
13:09
Speaker 2: the brand of basketball he plays. He's not afraid to
13:14
Speaker 2: get in there, take a charge, try to get a steal,
13:16
Speaker 2: go out for a steal. But another thing is with
13:19
Speaker 2: his defense is that I think I said it to you, Indiana,
13:23
Speaker 2: he and Indiana as a whole just didn't get back
13:25
Speaker 2: cut for how aggressive he he was. There was never
13:29
Speaker 2: a time where he was getting beat on the back
13:31
Speaker 2: door cut, which was very impressive. So you're gonna take
13:34
Speaker 2: that and you're gonna look at that and you say
13:37
Speaker 2: he's playing really, really good defense. And then Indiana kind
13:41
Speaker 2: of lacked that kind of I'm gonna take the ball
13:43
Speaker 2: and I'm going to go score a guy last year.
13:45
Speaker 2: And to see him do that in an exhibition game,
13:47
Speaker 2: and he's not Lamar Wilkerson, he's not Tucker de Breeze.
13:50
Speaker 2: He just went and took the ball and said I'm
13:52
Speaker 2: going to win this game for my team, and he did.
13:55
Speaker 2: Sometimes he's gonna miss. But the brash confidence that he
13:59
Speaker 2: has and we saw it, I think he had eighteen
14:01
Speaker 2: first half points in the second game against Mega in
14:05
Speaker 2: Puerto Rico, and didn't play really the second half, but
14:08
Speaker 2: we saw the offensive flashes. He gets two feet in
14:11
Speaker 2: the lane, he'll pass it out. I think there was
14:13
Speaker 2: a couple times where he didn't just go up and score,
14:16
Speaker 2: if memory serves me right. But that's where you're gonna
14:19
Speaker 2: have that head scratching moment. But he's gonna find guys
14:22
Speaker 2: in transition on the run. He was the guy that
14:24
Speaker 2: was pushing the ball and he's really he's really exciting
14:28
Speaker 2: to see.
14:29
Speaker 1: Yeah. The thing I like about Hm too is he
14:31
Speaker 1: always seems to have a smile on his face. Just
14:33
Speaker 1: from talking to him, getting a chance to talk to
14:35
Speaker 1: him this summer, and seeing some of the pictures of
14:39
Speaker 1: him just kind of in these public events, and even
14:41
Speaker 1: saw a couple of pictures of him from the Han
14:43
Speaker 1: and holl hoops last night. He seems genuinely happy to
14:46
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to play basketball Indiana, and I think
14:49
Speaker 1: that is something that can be contagious on this team
14:52
Speaker 1: in terms of just he's one of the obviously the
14:54
Speaker 1: leaders on the court in terms of running the team,
14:56
Speaker 1: but he's just a guy that I think other players
14:59
Speaker 1: are drawn to and like to be around, and he
15:01
Speaker 1: really has worked his way up through the ladder of
15:04
Speaker 1: college basketball, spending time at a couple of different junior colleges,
15:07
Speaker 1: I believe, then going to Troy and working his way
15:10
Speaker 1: up through there. So he's a guy that's you know, older, experienced,
15:14
Speaker 1: and I think is going to be a huge asset
15:16
Speaker 1: to the scene. The last thing I wanted to kind
15:18
Speaker 1: of touch based on is just the front court situation,
15:20
Speaker 1: because I think the biggest question mark you mentioned it
15:22
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier, the rebounding coming out of that game.
15:25
Speaker 1: Reed Bailey didn't have his best showing against Baylor, a
15:29
Speaker 1: little bit more athletic maybe than, as I mentioned, than
15:33
Speaker 1: some of the opponents that he's going to be facing
15:35
Speaker 1: this season. But what what's just kind of your your
15:39
Speaker 1: sense of how this front court rotation is going to
15:41
Speaker 1: work out? Is going to Are there gonna be games
15:43
Speaker 1: where Indiano is gonna be able to ride read a
15:45
Speaker 1: little bit more than what we saw against Baylor, and
15:47
Speaker 1: Sam Alexis won't be needed as much. And there's probably
15:49
Speaker 1: gonna be some games as well where Indiana is gonna
15:52
Speaker 1: have to heavily rely on Alexis because as we saw,
15:55
Speaker 1: he's their best friend protector, blocked a couple of shots
15:57
Speaker 1: against Baylor. I think he's their best rebounder too. I
16:01
Speaker 1: think that's kind of the biggest lingering question for a
16:03
Speaker 1: lot of people is just how this front core situation
16:06
Speaker 1: is gonna work out. So how do you kind of
16:08
Speaker 1: size that all up right now? And the balance between
16:11
Speaker 1: how they used Bailey and Alexis.
16:13
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be personnel based for the opponent's
16:17
Speaker 2: personnel that Indiana's gonna have to really adjust and no
16:20
Speaker 2: One's gonna be adjusting to Indiana's bigs this year. I
16:25
Speaker 2: really did like Sam Alexis in the back to the
16:27
Speaker 2: basket role that he had. We talked to Darren Debries
16:31
Speaker 2: during Big ten media days and he said he's gonna
16:33
Speaker 2: be more Bartie. We've enjoyed his back to the basket.
16:36
Speaker 2: We can see him shoot a three, but we want
16:39
Speaker 2: him to go back to the basket. While Reid kind
16:41
Speaker 2: of stands out as a stretch five, Red Daily kind
16:45
Speaker 2: of was quiet, like you said it was it eighteen minutes,
16:49
Speaker 2: Alexis had twenty five, and he was more brash. He
16:51
Speaker 2: was four or five from the field, Like, there's gonna
16:54
Speaker 2: be games where one steins in the other doesn't. I
16:58
Speaker 2: think that'll be the major already of the season. They're
17:01
Speaker 2: not both gonna go at the same time. I think
17:03
Speaker 2: I wrote about it the Big Ten media, like the
17:05
Speaker 2: notebook I had that they're gonna play two bigs. They
17:08
Speaker 2: went to it for a little bit, but they didn't go,
17:11
Speaker 2: they didn't stay in it. They didn't play well in that.
17:14
Speaker 2: So I and they succeeded when one or the other
17:17
Speaker 2: was on the floor. That said, there's gonna be teams
17:20
Speaker 2: that have that give Indiana no choice to play two
17:23
Speaker 2: bigs on the floor at one time. So they're gonna
17:26
Speaker 2: have to adjust and find a way to work together
17:29
Speaker 2: in that system.
17:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're gonna also have to kind of balance right
17:38
Speaker 1: now the lack of depth, and I don't know that
17:40
Speaker 1: they can necessarily afford to play both of them together
17:43
Speaker 1: for too long because they have to be aware that,
17:47
Speaker 1: you know, if one guy gets in foul trouble, the
17:48
Speaker 1: other guy's gonna have to play a ton of minutes.
17:50
Speaker 1: There's really no one else to kind of eat up
17:52
Speaker 1: those of those minutes. I mean, I guess, and a
17:54
Speaker 1: pinch you could play some Trent Sisily as an undersized side,
17:58
Speaker 1: but that's really kind of stretching it. Josh Harris looks
18:00
Speaker 1: to be out for quite a while and he's not
18:03
Speaker 1: a center either. So if there's one thing just personnel.
18:06
Speaker 1: While I was looking at this roster that Indiana maybe
18:08
Speaker 1: lacks is its depth at the five, and I think
18:10
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to be really careful about how they
18:12
Speaker 1: navigate the minutes for those two. But Josh, want to
18:15
Speaker 1: switch gears. You obviously have covered IU football as closely
18:20
Speaker 1: as anybody this season, your covers on Inside the Hall.
18:23
Speaker 1: A lot of people have reached out and told me
18:25
Speaker 1: how much they've enjoyed it. It's been going great so far,
18:28
Speaker 1: and what a what a first year to cover football
18:31
Speaker 1: and Inside the Hall Indiana. Yeah, I think coming into
18:35
Speaker 1: it you may disagree with this. I didn't think there
18:38
Speaker 1: was a chance that India was going to be eight
18:39
Speaker 1: to o at this point of the season. You know,
18:41
Speaker 1: I thought it was, you know, maybe nine to three,
18:43
Speaker 1: ten and two best case scenario season. Especially after last year,
18:47
Speaker 1: you think, you know, that was kind of a once
18:49
Speaker 1: in a lifetime season. But here we are again, Indiana
18:51
Speaker 1: eight to o headed to Maryland, this season are this
18:54
Speaker 1: weekend for a three point thirty kickoff on CBS. You
19:00
Speaker 1: didn't seem to think that there's any chance that this
19:02
Speaker 1: is kind of a trap game or a game that
19:04
Speaker 1: Indiana overlooks, just because this is the same scenario now
19:08
Speaker 1: several weeks in a row, Indiana kind of comes in
19:10
Speaker 1: as a heavy favorite, has been taken care of business.
19:13
Speaker 1: So maybe a two part question, is there any chance
19:16
Speaker 1: that Indiana goes into this game and has any trouble?
19:18
Speaker 1: And two, why have they been able to continue to
19:24
Speaker 1: just dominate opponents on a weekend week out basis? It's
19:27
Speaker 1: not like they're more Obviously they've got a ton of talent.
19:31
Speaker 1: They've got a lot of good players, but it's not
19:32
Speaker 1: like they're a roster full of five star players. Obviously
19:36
Speaker 1: we know Kurt Signetti, but this team just seems on
19:39
Speaker 1: a mission to accomplish something and accomplish things that we've
19:42
Speaker 1: never really seen before in Bloomingson.
19:44
Speaker 2: I think this question the two two parts answered with
19:47
Speaker 2: one name. It is Kurt Signetti. I think Indiana has
19:50
Speaker 2: a chance to have a little bit of a stinker
19:53
Speaker 2: this week. It's their first road game since earning that
19:56
Speaker 2: number two title. It's the first road game since the
19:58
Speaker 2: Oregon game. So and College Park isn't the hot bed
20:06
Speaker 2: for college football right now by any stretch of the imagination.
20:09
Speaker 2: Maryland's kind of struggling right now. But this team is
20:13
Speaker 2: different because Kurtzignetti's mindset instilled into them. Every Monday, he
20:19
Speaker 2: comes in with an opening statement and he likens every
20:22
Speaker 2: team to probably the greatest team of all time. This week,
20:26
Speaker 2: we're gonna keep the theme here. He likened them to
20:29
Speaker 2: the eighty five Bears. Nearly. He talked about their defense
20:32
Speaker 2: and how they have takeaways and they stuff you at
20:37
Speaker 2: the line. They're gonna win you, they're gonna beat you
20:39
Speaker 2: in the trenches. Well, he said the same thing about
20:41
Speaker 2: how UCLA was a great football team in Indiana one
20:44
Speaker 2: by fifty. So I think that Indiana as a mentality
20:49
Speaker 2: as a team, as the players, it's kind of hard
20:52
Speaker 2: to go out there as twenty one point favorites and
20:55
Speaker 2: you're gonna have to play your best and it's difficult
20:59
Speaker 2: to do it on a weekly masis. But their coach
21:02
Speaker 2: won't allow anything different than forty fifty point wins. They're
21:07
Speaker 2: the only team with a conference win of fifty plus
21:10
Speaker 2: and They've done it twice this year. The three of
21:13
Speaker 2: their last four home games have been fifty plus point victories.
21:17
Speaker 2: This team isn't normal. This is a very good team.
21:21
Speaker 2: Maryland is struggling. They have a freshman quarterback who's only
21:24
Speaker 2: been sacked twice. But if I bring you back to
21:27
Speaker 2: the last Indiana road game, Dante more and Oregon had
21:30
Speaker 2: only been sacked once and he got sacked six times
21:32
Speaker 2: in the game. And he has defensive line he's still
21:35
Speaker 2: Signetti caled Mikyle Kamara Kamara out by name. I think
21:39
Speaker 2: he has a big day and this defensive line is
21:42
Speaker 2: just going to recavoc all day.
21:45
Speaker 1: Oh. I'm sure the defensive line is well aware that
21:47
Speaker 1: he's only been sacked twice, so they're probably going to
21:49
Speaker 1: try to double that on Saturday. Won't surprise me if
21:51
Speaker 1: that happens. Fernada Mendoza right now kind of at the
21:55
Speaker 1: top of the most of the Heisman lists, depending on
21:59
Speaker 1: where you look, what's gonna have to happen from here
22:02
Speaker 1: on out in your mind for him to actually win
22:04
Speaker 1: that award? How important are do you think? It's more
22:08
Speaker 1: based on how if how Indiana continues to play as
22:11
Speaker 1: a team or his individual stats that are going to
22:13
Speaker 1: ultimately decide if he wins an award, because you know,
22:16
Speaker 1: I think a lot of it's gonna be also depending
22:19
Speaker 1: on what happens in that that Big Ten Championship game,
22:22
Speaker 1: because I think the voting closes maybe a little bit
22:25
Speaker 1: after that game, and that that's gonna have a big
22:27
Speaker 1: part of it too, is assuming Indiana gets there. But
22:29
Speaker 1: do you think this is more about Obviously Mendoza's played terrific,
22:34
Speaker 1: but do you think Indiana has to keep winning big
22:37
Speaker 1: uh for him to continue to stay at the top
22:39
Speaker 1: of the list.
22:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, outside of Travis Hunter, it is a team award.
22:45
Speaker 2: If you if you are succeeding, you are having those
22:47
Speaker 2: Heisman moments with your team, you are going to win
22:50
Speaker 2: the Heisman Trophy awards. So that that Big Ten Championship game,
22:53
Speaker 2: like you said, Julian Sane right up there with Mendoza
22:56
Speaker 2: as the front runner for the Heisman. So whoever has
22:59
Speaker 2: that Heisman moment in Indianapolis on December sixth. It might
23:04
Speaker 2: not be Ohio State because they haven't beaten Michigan in
23:06
Speaker 2: five years, so I can't really say that for sure
23:09
Speaker 2: that they're going to be there. But Fernanda Mendoza is
23:12
Speaker 2: in a perfect position right now. The next four games,
23:15
Speaker 2: the final four games of the regular season, the teams
23:17
Speaker 2: are one to fourteen. He has a chance to stat
23:19
Speaker 2: pad and you'll come to see it. Indiana won't put
23:22
Speaker 2: out a Heisman campaign, I don't think, at least maybe
23:24
Speaker 2: they'll do it at the bye week between Wisconsin and
23:27
Speaker 2: Purdue and try to fluff something up. But you're gonna
23:31
Speaker 2: see Indiana at first single situation, second and goal inside
23:34
Speaker 2: the five, and they usually run the ball. They're going
23:37
Speaker 2: to pass the ball, and they're going to show that
23:40
Speaker 2: he is the Heisman. They're gonna pad his numbers, and
23:44
Speaker 2: I think that he wins it based on stats in
23:47
Speaker 2: Indiana going into that Big Ten Championship game, even with
23:50
Speaker 2: the loss, having the Heisman moment in that game going
23:53
Speaker 2: down on a long drive after an interception like he
23:56
Speaker 2: did against Oregon. No other quarterback has the amount of
24:00
Speaker 2: those moments. The Iowa game, Illinois just throttling them and
24:06
Speaker 2: scoring on eight straight possessions. So I think he can
24:09
Speaker 2: put a fork in everyone in that Big Ten Championship game.
24:12
Speaker 2: But it's gonna be the stats he puts up in
24:14
Speaker 2: these next four.
24:15
Speaker 1: Is there any concern this week with the status of
24:18
Speaker 1: Aidan Fisher. I know Signetti mentioned him as being probable.
24:22
Speaker 1: Is there any lingering concern there? Do you expect him
24:24
Speaker 1: to be able to play?
24:26
Speaker 2: I think he's gonna play. Everyone's saying, oh, sit him.
24:29
Speaker 2: It's just Maryland, or it's just Penn State, or name
24:34
Speaker 2: the other two in Wisconsin, Purdue. That's how Kurt Signetti works.
24:38
Speaker 2: If Aiden Fisher is gonna play, or if Aden Fisher
24:41
Speaker 2: is healthy enough to play, he is going to play
24:44
Speaker 2: because Indiana can't take any risk of losing one of
24:46
Speaker 2: these games. I think he'll be fine. He was walking fine.
24:52
Speaker 2: The only reason I think he was out of the game.
24:53
Speaker 2: I think if that was a one score game at halftime,
24:56
Speaker 2: he's still playing. I think it was a three four
24:59
Speaker 2: score game at that point, so he was taken out precautionary.
25:03
Speaker 2: I think the MRI they said that they were going
25:05
Speaker 2: to do MRI X ray probably came back negative. If
25:07
Speaker 2: he's probably the only issue right now I think is
25:10
Speaker 2: Brendan Frankie, who got hurt on that opening kickoff. I
25:14
Speaker 2: think at the end of the press conference, after Tzignetti
25:16
Speaker 2: was talking about his favorite candy and the Signetti impersonator.
25:20
Speaker 2: He said that Franky's listed as questionable. That's the only
25:23
Speaker 2: other injury concern for Indiana right now, is it.
25:27
Speaker 1: That's not really necessarily a big deal either, right. They
25:30
Speaker 1: have guys that can compensate there they do.
25:33
Speaker 2: But Frankie hit that was fifty fifty eight yarder, so
25:40
Speaker 2: he would be if he can get back for a
25:43
Speaker 2: big ten championship game or later in the season to
25:46
Speaker 2: kick in the cold, that would be, that'd be that
25:49
Speaker 2: would suffice it for Indiana.
25:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's crazy looking at the ESPN FPI rankings and
25:55
Speaker 1: the projections the rest of the season. This is Indiana's
25:58
Speaker 1: second toughest game remaining just based on the FBI, and
26:01
Speaker 1: they've got a ninety zero point four percent chance to win.
26:04
Speaker 1: That kind of tells you how dominant this team is.
26:07
Speaker 1: I mean, is not to look through this game and
26:10
Speaker 1: not to look past it, not to say anything can happen.
26:12
Speaker 1: Obviously it's and that's kind of what Kirk Sett Kurtz
26:15
Speaker 1: Signetti has emphasized to his team. Anything can happen on
26:18
Speaker 1: a given Saturday in college football. But are are all
26:22
Speaker 1: eyes in your mind? Kind of on that Penn State
26:24
Speaker 1: game on November eighth, then what happens there in terms
26:27
Speaker 1: of Indiana being able to run the table and get
26:29
Speaker 1: through this season undefeated.
26:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, these next two road games are the ones that
26:35
Speaker 2: we'll see. Will Indiana go twelve and ero they can
26:38
Speaker 2: fly by Maryland and Penn State. Their records kind of
26:42
Speaker 2: deceiving in my eyes. They still have the bones of
26:45
Speaker 2: a really good football team, so I think that game
26:49
Speaker 2: will be closer. But if they get their their breaks
26:52
Speaker 2: feeding off of them this weekend in Columbus against Ohio State,
26:55
Speaker 2: which they probably will nitty lyon stadium. Is that it
27:00
Speaker 2: was called Happy Valley, I'm just called Happy Valley.
27:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, Hebby Valley.
27:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, that that place will be dead. So it won't
27:08
Speaker 2: be that much of a concern for Indiana crowd wise
27:12
Speaker 2: as we thought it would be at the beginning of
27:15
Speaker 2: the year. But I think that the Penn State game
27:20
Speaker 2: will tell us who Indiana is. Can they go in
27:23
Speaker 2: on the road in a potentially tough environment and do
27:26
Speaker 2: what they've done all year? Are they going to struggle
27:28
Speaker 2: like they did against Iowa? Either way, a win would
27:33
Speaker 2: be a win and they'd get to the Big Ten
27:34
Speaker 2: championship game. They'd be a moretal lock with the disaster
27:38
Speaker 2: going on up in Madison and up in West Lafayette
27:41
Speaker 2: where they're winless in conference place. So these next two
27:44
Speaker 2: games on the road will give us everything we need
27:47
Speaker 2: to know about Indiana's future for the Big Ten Championship
27:50
Speaker 2: and well beyond.
27:52
Speaker 1: So before we go, it is Halloween. Josh Kurtztignetti told
27:56
Speaker 1: us on Monday that his favorite Halloween candy I believe
27:59
Speaker 1: Snickers in recent cup is what he mentioned. I kind
28:03
Speaker 1: of I pulled the list of the top ten Halloween candy,
28:06
Speaker 1: so I'm just gonna I was gonna have you power
28:08
Speaker 1: rank these, but again, ten candies is a lot to
28:11
Speaker 1: kind of remember empower rank. I'm just gonna ask you
28:14
Speaker 1: buy or sell on each of these. When you are
28:18
Speaker 1: going through that bag of candy that you're gonna you're
28:20
Speaker 1: gonna collect, You're not gonna collect candy tonight, surely. I
28:22
Speaker 1: hope Mike Dick is not gonna go pick up candy.
28:26
Speaker 2: I'm gonna steal candy from the I'm not stealing candy.
28:29
Speaker 2: I'll find my own candy.
28:32
Speaker 1: I used to joke with my kids, candy tax thirty percent.
28:35
Speaker 1: Get them prepared, you know, for the real world. You
28:37
Speaker 1: gotta pay taxes in life, So I'm gonna take thirty
28:39
Speaker 1: percent of your candy and you kind of have to
28:40
Speaker 1: get ready for the real world that way. But I'm
28:42
Speaker 1: just gonna give you. I looked up a list of
28:44
Speaker 1: the top ten candies, and I'm gonna have you buy
28:47
Speaker 1: or sell each one, and we'll see if I'm gonna
28:50
Speaker 1: get a better feel for your candy taste. Recy cup,
28:54
Speaker 1: oh bye, Okay, Snickers.
28:59
Speaker 2: And the day I'll buy that.
29:02
Speaker 1: How about regular Eminem's?
29:04
Speaker 2: Oh sell big time? Cell?
29:07
Speaker 1: Why why? Why?
29:08
Speaker 2: Not?
29:08
Speaker 1: A fan of the regular Eminem's.
29:10
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's a taste of version for
29:13
Speaker 2: having too much as a kid, But I'm an almond
29:16
Speaker 2: Eminem's or peanut M and M's and miss me with
29:19
Speaker 2: the peanut butter eminems. Those are the words. But that's
29:21
Speaker 2: the worst of the bunch.
29:23
Speaker 1: That's my favorite eminem Don't don't do not do not
29:26
Speaker 1: hate on the peanut seanut butter eminem. You kind of
29:30
Speaker 1: let us write into the next one, Peanut M and M's.
29:31
Speaker 1: I assume that's a buy.
29:32
Speaker 2: For you based on your major buy. That's that's one
29:35
Speaker 2: of the biggest buys. Skittles I've grown up, So that's
29:41
Speaker 2: that's cell.
29:43
Speaker 1: Derreck Rose would be very disappointed. He was a big
29:45
Speaker 1: skills guy, and I know you're Chicago sports fan, so
29:48
Speaker 1: I believe he. I believe he had he had a
29:50
Speaker 1: Skittles machine in his house, so I don't know if
29:52
Speaker 1: you ever saw that. But sour Patch kids.
29:57
Speaker 2: Oh who, going back to my younger days, I'm gonna
30:03
Speaker 2: go sell. I like them a little bit more now,
30:05
Speaker 2: but I'm not gonna take it any over some of
30:08
Speaker 2: the other ones that I think are on this list.
30:11
Speaker 2: Kid Cat, Yeah, no, no, that doesn't do anything for me.
30:16
Speaker 2: I'm gonna sell that one too.
30:18
Speaker 1: Hershey the traditional, good old Hershey bar.
30:23
Speaker 2: I'll buy that good chocolate good, not much of a crunch,
30:27
Speaker 2: but it kind of melts in your mouth once it
30:28
Speaker 2: once it hits your once it hits the tongue.
30:31
Speaker 1: Good with s'mores, right, that's I mean, you gotta have
30:34
Speaker 1: perfect milky Way sell.
30:39
Speaker 2: I don't understand the fascination behind milky Way for some people.
30:42
Speaker 1: And last, but maybe not least in my mind, but
30:45
Speaker 1: maybe at least for some people, Twicks.
30:49
Speaker 2: I'll buy it. I kind of like the wafer.
30:52
Speaker 1: It's the only one with the way, So what is
30:54
Speaker 1: your favorite? What is your favorite?
30:57
Speaker 2: And it's not even close. It's Reese's pecis Okay, you
31:01
Speaker 2: will never be able to get me away from that.
31:04
Speaker 2: I so I'd like to eat Rece's pecies. It's not
31:07
Speaker 2: a Halloween thing for me. Popcorn reces PC's in.
31:11
Speaker 1: There, like buttered popcorn.
31:15
Speaker 2: No, like regular popcorn like I have it. I don't
31:18
Speaker 2: even know what it's called, but popcorn reces PCs. You
31:22
Speaker 2: get that like sweet and salty flavor. I mean, you
31:26
Speaker 2: can't beat it. Watch a movie with that. I'm all in.
31:30
Speaker 2: I'm like salivating right now thinking about it.
31:34
Speaker 1: Well, there you go, just what you wanted on your
31:37
Speaker 1: Halloween afternoon. Josh pose's candy taste, but had it felt
31:40
Speaker 1: like we had to, you know, with Signetti giving us
31:43
Speaker 1: his his rankings, it felt like I had to quiz
31:45
Speaker 1: Josh on his pretty pretty good taste in candy. There, Josh,
31:48
Speaker 1: I question your your takes on the M and M.
31:53
Speaker 1: But we can we can address that off off air.
31:55
Speaker 1: But have a good weekend, have a good Halloween everybody.
31:58
Speaker 1: As always, thanks for listening. If you enjoy the show,
32:01
Speaker 1: please leave us the rating and review over on Apple Podcasts.
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