Latest / Podcast on the Brink / POTB 552: IU's Rose Bowl win, the Oregon rematch and IU basketball's 2-1 Big Ten start

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POTB 552: IU's Rose Bowl win, the Oregon rematch and IU basketball's 2-1 Big Ten start · Podcast on the Brink

• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of Podcasts on the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Rink Tuesday, January sixth. It's been a couple of weeks
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: since our last episode back on December eighteenth. Obviously a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: lot has gone on with IU athletics since that time.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Indiana basketball picks up a couple of wins later in
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: December at home, and then resumes Big Ten play a
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: couple of days ago at home by beating Washington. The
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: bigger story, obviously football going out to Pasadena winning the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Rose Bowl decisively over Alabama thirty eight to three. The
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Hoosiers are now set for a Friday matchup against Oregon
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: in the CFP semi final, rematch from a game that
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Indiana won the season out in Eugenie josh pose of
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Inside the Hall is back with us. Josh, I guess
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: it was a good time for us to begin more.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I guess say consistent steady coverage of Value football this season.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: When we talked about this last spring, you were obviously
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: very enthusiastic about the opportunity to cover the football team.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: He done a great job all season, covered a ton
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: of games in person, went to the Big Ten Championship,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: went to the Rose Bowl. You'll be headed down to Atlanta.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: How improbable is this run in your mind based on
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: what the expectations were entering the season for this team.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's as improbable as last season, but
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I would still put it up there in one of
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: the most improbable things to happen in sports history, given
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: the last two season, in the first one hundred and
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: thirty six seasons of Indiana football. As actually having a
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: conversation with someone. The other day, we had one A
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: and one B as top sports stories ever, and it's
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: miraclon Ice and this if Indiana wins a national championship.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: I think miraclon Ice has the upper hand because it's
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the United States and the geopolitical ramifications of those games
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: against the USSR. But I think they're right with each other.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: These are improbable stories about teams that shouldn't be where
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: they are, and Indiana football is continuing to defy sports,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: defy college football, and beat the heck out of Alabama
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: at the Rose Bowl. That doesn't happen anywhere but a movie.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you knew Signetti, if given the opportunity to
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: do that, was going to take advantage. We saw just
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: how and again not that Indiana has run the score
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: up on any opponent this season. I think that's kind
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: of a misconception, and with people who didn't watch the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: team closely this season, there were plenty of fourth quarters
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: and even this game against Alabama that they obviously emptied
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the sidelines and put some backups in. Alberto played late
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: in the in the Rose Bowl win, But the precision
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: with which Indiana executes for such a long period of
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: time when the game is in the balance, there's no
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: let up. It's all gas, no breaks, and so I
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: think it was has to be one of the more
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: satisfying moments for Indiana fans ever, just to see the
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: total dominance over Alabama and that win. I think a
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: lot of people anticipated being a close game. There was
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: people obviously who were picking Alabama to win going in
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the game, which I think was fair just based on
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: historical precedent. But if you've watched this team this season
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: enough and followed it closely, it's hard to pick against
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: these guys at this point. They're they're as well oiled
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: to a machine as you'll find in college foot to execute,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and I think the biggest compliment that you can give
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: them is they're not going to beat themselves. You're going
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: to actually have to go out and do something to
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: beat them. They're incredibly well disciplined on both sides of
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the ball. Special teams is excellent. So it's been in
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: terms of coaching organization, it's been one of the more
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: remarkable seasons I think in college sports history, just in
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: terms of coaching and infrastructure. But I want to go
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: back to the Rose Bowl the experience. What was that like?
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: You know, obviously I had some family out there. My
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: sister made the trip with her family to watch the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: game and was trade in text with her a little
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: bit and her husband before the game. Just kind of
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: setting the scene for me in terms of how many
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: IU fans were there. But I'm curious as someone was
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: there as a part of the media. You got to
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the stadium super early, you were around in the days
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: leading up. Did it feel like an IU takeover of
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Pasadena on the ground?
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: From the moment I got to the Las Vegas airport,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: I had a hunch that there is gonna be an
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Indiana takeover. My flight it was full of Indiana fans.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: I think there was one Alabama fan ah and people
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: were talking to each other. Everyone was friendly, and you
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: could tell that this felt something different for Indiana rather
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: than Alabama. You get to the I got to Lax,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: same thing, hotel, same thing, walk around town near Crypto
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: dot Com Arena, there's a nice like stadium district. No Indian,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: no Alabama fan. To be insight like, there was more
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Michigan and Ohio State fans that were watching their teams
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: play than Alabama fans just walking around town. Then you
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: get to the stadium and we didn't really get to
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: see the outside and all the festivities because it was
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: it was a trential downpour. But as people went in,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: you could see the red and white cream of Crimson
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: if you if you will, but you could see the
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Indiana logos, you could see the big ten championship shirts,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: so you knew it's gonna be Indiana. And then the
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: time by the time the teams ran out onto the field,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: it was like whoa, Like this is for real. And
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: then towards the end of the game, it wasn't a
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: football game for the last quarter and a half. It
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: was a party. You got John mellencamp on there. It
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: was an extreme takeover that people. I saw people crying.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: I saw people hugging, just tears of joy throughout the
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: entire not even Indiana side of the stadium, it was
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: the entire stadium.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: How from just from what you thought about this game
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: going in into what actually transpired, were you stunned at
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: the outcome just in terms of how decisive it was
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: or was it once you saw because Indiana came out
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: with that shaky first drive. I think Mendoza took a
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: couple of sacks, and I think a lot of people thought, well, oh,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: this might be something, right, But then, as we've seen
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: with this team, you know, there was a little rush
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: to shake off maybe that first drive. But then this
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: kind of goes back to coaching and adjustments and kind
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: of getting things settled. Once they kind of got into
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: a rhythm. It was just an onslaught as the game
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: went on, and they were not giving an inch defensively,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and the precision with which Mendoza was thought this. I mean,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: he had more touchdown passes than he did incomplete passes,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: which is hard to believe. And then the running game
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: has been so consistent all season. But I think that
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: that balance between the two just makes Indiana incredibly difficult
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: to game plan for and stop stop. But I'm just
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: curious just the margin. Was that something you saw coming
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: entering the game, or was that completely just exceeded your
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: expectations of how Indiana would play in the game.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: In hindsight, I should have expected it before the game.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: I couldn't even give a prediction. I just didn't know.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I didn't have the feel of win or lose or
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: what was about to go down. I knew that Indiana
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: was a team that was locked in from their media
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: media availability. They were locked in. But the hindsight is
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: of it all is Kurtzignetti sat at that joint presser
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: with Kaitlin de Boor. I was just looking around the
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: room and you could tell he was ready to just
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: get onto the football field and show what his team
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: was made of. It actually reminds me of the Illinois game.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: His his his actions, his reactions to some questions during
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: the press conference he had the day before, is We're
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: just going to go in here and kick somebody's butt
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: so he can prove to our proof to everybody else
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: that the other team stunk. So in hindsight, yeah, I
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: probably should have seen a five touchdown game. But I
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: don't think anybody even predicted it except for the one
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: guy I saw on TikTok.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: So, what do you think the biggest contributing factor to
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: that was in terms of on the play field, Indiana
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: being so much better than Alabama. Obviously the talent is,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: you know, depending on what you think of the recruiting rankings,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: and everyone talks about five stars and four stars in
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Alabama compared to Indiana's no five stars on their roster,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: and a bunch of guys that they've just coached up
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and developed over many years, even going back to obviously
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the James Mattison days. So many guys that came over.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: But what did you see is maybe the biggest reasons
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: why Indiana was able to win as decisively as it did.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: It's as simple as dominating the trenches. The Indiana offensive
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: line got so much push. I think that it was
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: a heavy hembyat eighty nine on eighteen carries in a
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: touchdown Kailon Blackhead ninety nine yards and a touchdown on
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: fifteen carries. Like Indiana's push on the offensive line against Alabama,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: who had a stacked offense or defensive line of five
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: stars in all SEC type talent, they just they got
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: it done. And then on the flip side, even without
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Stephen Day, Daniel Duke Way came in and he played great.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Mario Landino played great, and they were just rushing after
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Ty Simpson. If it wasn't Ty Simpson, it was Austin
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Mack and I think it was only twenty three yards
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: of rushing for Alabama. That is the difference in the game.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Alabama struggled all year running the football. I think they
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: only had like forty five yards against Oklahoma. But the
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Indiana secondary is too good to pass the ball on,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: as we saw with in this game, and they're also
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: very stout in the run game. So Alabama couldn't get
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: anything going. So I gotta go with the defense. And
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: what's more impressive is that there was one penalty from Indiana.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I know, there's only penalty from Alabama, so as Signetti
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: would say, they might have just been keeping their flags
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: in their pockets for this game. But no taunting penalties,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: no one sportsman like penalties. Everything was cleaned from the
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: defense and the only penalty was that holding penalty on
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Carter Smith. Well Roman Hendy picked up twenty one yards
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: on the next play, So they don't shoot themselves in
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: the foot in that game. So the trenches it wins.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: It wins college football games. That'll win you games. The
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: defense and big plays wins wins your national championships, and
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: that's what Indiana got.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: So looking ahead to Friday, obviously it's a rematch with Oregon.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Who Indiana. That was its signature win of the regular season,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: going out to Eugene winning. I believe it was thirty
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: to twenty of that game. It was closer, obviously than
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: the score suggested. The game was in the balance there
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. Indiana kind of pulls away a
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: little bit there late, but entering that game, I haven't
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: looked at the line today, but I think yesterday I
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: saw Indiana three and a half point favorite. I'm not
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: sure if that's gonna how much that's gonna move, if
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: at all, going into Friday. But what do you see
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: as kind of the keys in this game for Indiana
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: being able to go down to Atlanta and get a win.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Obviously they're still in Bloomington right now. There's going to
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: be some media availability today this afternoon, and then they'll
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: head down to Atlanta, I think on Wednesday, arrive Wednesday night,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: do some media stuff also on Thursday, I believe, and
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: then get ready for the game on Friday.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: It's really tough because these are two very evenly matched teams.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I think Fernando Mendoza didn't play very well in that
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Oregon game up until about the fourth quarter. Elijah Surratt
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: was out of his mind in that fourth quarter, especially
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: on that game winning drive after the pick six. Looking
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: at the numbers right now, I think the running game
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: still needs to get going against Oregon to open up
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: a big pass play, to open up some dinks and
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: doings down the field. And yeah, I can't really fault
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: the defense because they gave up thirteen points on the
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: road against Oregon. The biggest key to the game, in
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: my opinion is Indiana's pass rush. I don't have any
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: worries after what I saw against Alabama. But Dante more
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: is also grown since the last time they played him,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: which was six sacks. So that offensive line that they're big,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: they're physical, but Indiana's they played to their motto like
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I wrote about, fast, physical, relentless. They are going to
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: try to get to Dante Moore. If they make him uncomfortable,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: he will falter. He had two interceptions I think in
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: back to back throws against Indiana. I really think even
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: without Kellen Wide, without Stephen Daley, who both played in
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: that game, I think getting to Dante Moore putting pressure
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: on him that will help that secondary the linebackers on
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: the blitzes. So I think that's what it'll be. I
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: don't expect it to be a low scoring game by
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: any stretch of the imagination, but I think there will
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: be a couple of plays that Indiana can make defensively
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: that will flip the momentum of the game.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: How big is the run game of Oregon a factor
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: in this game? Because obviously Alabama wasn't able to run
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the ball at all against Indiana and that really limited
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: their their upside offensively. How how well do you expect
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Oregon to be able to run the ball against the
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Hoosiers in this rematch.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: They're not They're that West Coast spread and they're not
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: much of a run They don't have much of a
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: run game, but they still have guys that can break off.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Against Indiana, they had thirty carries for eighty one yards.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: It's a really good day for the Indiana defense. So
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: if they can establish the run and get put behind
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: the sticks, on second third down, allowing that likely pro
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Indiana crowd to get on their feet, make noise, potentially
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: get Oregon into a silent count in an inside stadium.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: That's when Oregon will start to struggle and they'll have
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: to lean on Dante more in that in that zero
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: coverage situation where Indiana is all out blitzing them.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: So you mentioned the potential for a very heavy pro
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Indiana crowd down in Atlanta, and I was kind of
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: wondering that kind of as I saw the bracket come out,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: thinking ahead, you know, if Indiana beats Alabama, what's the
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: crowd going to look like? If they like Texas Tech? Why?
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: You know, I figured Texas Tech would obviously travel a
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: lot better than Oregon just kind of based on the distance.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Are you expecting a similar makeup with the crowd just
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: in terms of what we saw in Pasadena, or do
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: you think Oregon will represent a little bit better than
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Alabama to do out there. That's a that's a tough
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: trip and expensive trip to come. And for Indiana fans,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: obviously there's Indiana fans everywhere. There's a strong amount of
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Indiana fans down in the Atlanta area. To begin with,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: and it's not a bad drive down from Indiana, you know,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: from Bloomington. I think seven seven and a half hours
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Indye probably something similar. So definitely something where folks could
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: even if they can't come till game day, they could
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: wake up and drive down Friday morning and be there
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: in plenty of time. So it feels to me like
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be another pro Indiana crowd. I'm just curious
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: to see how big that crowd ends up being.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: I dare I say it might be a little bit
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: more than the Rose Bull Okay, I think it was
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: about seventy percent is what people are figuring. It was
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: seventy thirty. Oregon fans are great. They're great at outsin stadium,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: but you don't really see them traveling when you when
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: you watch these Marque road games like the Penns Date
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: white Out, which granted is a cross country, but it's
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: they don't travel very well. And if you think it
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: like you go into the mindset of all right, am
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: I going to make this cross country travel for the
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: first round or for the quarterfinal, semifinal, or national championship.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Most people choose the national championship and just try to
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: bet their money on that, especially because it's Miami. No
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: no offense to Atlanta. But i'd I think it's a
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: little bit warmer in Miami right now. So I would
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: expect a very very pro Indiana crowd just because Indiana's
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: I know, Oregons never won a national championship, but they
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: seem to be there a lot. They seem to be
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: in this kind of situation a lot Indiana fans. It's
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: a driveable distance, They're all over the country. There'll be
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: people from all over the over the globe and then
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: not maybe not the globe, but the United States being
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: there for Indiana. So yeah, I'm going to go seventy
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: five to twenty five Indiana in fans, I don't want
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: to get like clipped. Yeah, I'm good, I gotcha.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: So last thing on football, just I want to get
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: your quick thoughts on the other semi final ole Miss
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: in Miami. Who do you like it quickly? Who do
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: you like in that game? And maybe also if Indiana
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: warts in advance, who do you think they match up
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: better with out of those two teams.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: I've gone back and forth. I think Miami wins this
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: game because ole Miss's staff is currently in Baton Rouge
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: recruiting the players that are on the team. I think
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: that they benefited from playing a team that they're already
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: familiar with. In Georgia, Miami they're not familiar with. I
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: think Indi end would rather play Old Miss because of
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: just how good Ruben Bain and that Miami defensive line is.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, it's Carson Beck
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: at their quarterback. That game's a toss up. To me.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Both of these games are toss up. I'm gonna lean Miami, actually, but.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: You think they would rather play Ole Miss.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: I think so because you don't really want to play
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Miami on their home field. Yeah, that's where you wonder.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: I wonder what the home field advantage would even feel
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: like there though, because it's a National Championship game. I
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: just took a quick glance at the ticket market for
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: that game, and you're looking thousands of dollars just to
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: get in that game, so obviously not going to be
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: like your standard home game. I think Indiana fans would
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: obviously travel travel world, but obviously playing just in I mean,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: just like it would be a huge advantage for Indiana
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: to play a game in Indianapolis or even in Bloomington,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Obviously it's going to be somewhat of an advantage for
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Miami kind of being and able to you know, stay
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: in their own sleep, in their own beds, and uh
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: be around kind of their home area that they used to.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: So it'll be interesting to see how this is. You know,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. These games are going to be
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: fascinating to watch coming up here in a couple of days.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: I want to it's been the last ten minutes or
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: so talking some IU basketball. Obviously, the Hoosiers played on
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Sunday night played really well offensively against Washington. Defensively obviously
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: didn't play quite as well. But I thought, just in
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: terms of being good basketball to watch, it was actually
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: a lot of fun to watch for both teams. You
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: have so many Big ten games where you can describe
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: it as a rock fight where there's no offense, there's
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: tons of physicality, you know, repsolutes control of the game.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: I didn't think this game on Sunday night was that.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: What were your takeaways just on how Indiana came out
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: and played after the long wayoffs. Was curious to see.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: One of the things. The more I looked at their roster,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: I guess the more I understood it, But for Washington
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: didn't necessarily understand them playing the two bigs as long
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: as they did, because they started the game with the
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: mindset of all right, we're not going to guard connorway
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and right and we're just gonna let them shoot threes.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: And they made five in a row to start the game.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: So you would have thought that at some point they
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: would have maybe adjusted their strategy, But they really ran
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: with the two big lineup for so long, and I
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: think I thought it really put them at a disadvantage defensively.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Now I think we'll see later in the season when
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Indiana plays a team like Michigan. We was obviously playing
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: as well as anybody in the country other Big Ten
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: teams like Michigan State or Purdue that throw the ball
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: into the post more and can kind of punish you
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: at the rim, it be an advantage. But playing those
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: two bigs, I feel like, really set the tone for
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: how Indiana started the game off offensively and was able
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: to get going from the perimeter, and then from there
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Washington really could never stop that momentum.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: No, it actually was a perfect ninety to eighties score
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: for one of those eight PM tips on a Sunday
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: because there was no energy in the building beforehand. There
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: wasn't much energy throughout the game, but you'd get some
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: roars from the crowd. But I think that they're kind
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: of just a throne together team and Danny Sprinkle's doing
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: the best he can with what he has. But when
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: you would you gotta believe that they're they're two of
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: their best players are big men, so you gotta got
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: to keep them on the floor. As it pertains the
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: three point shooting for Indiana that those first five threes,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: it was it was bizarre what was going on because
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: they Washington just refused to guard Tayton Connorway and connor
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: En right now. I know they're not the best three
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: point shooters, but they're still college basketball players. If you
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: give them an open three, they're gonna make it.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: But especially after they make like one or two in
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: a row, you know, it's like it would continued for
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: five in a row.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like you would think that they were like, all right,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: let's close out a little bit harder. And I know
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Tatan Conorway doesn't have like the most inspiring shot in
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: the world. You don't even know he's shooting sometimes sometimes
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: it looks like a pass the way he shoots, But
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: you would have thought that they would have figured that out.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: But I think that Indiana's defense struggled. But it's one
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: of those things where it's your first game back, you
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: don't really have the physicality, and you Darren DeVries said
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: in his radio show on Monday, Monday that is, yeah,
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Monday was yesterday that they did play at practice. They
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: played a game. I think they played forty minutes on
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: the thirty first on New Year's Eve, just to get
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: the physicality back. You wanted them back on the twenty seventh,
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: so they didn't have too much time at home. He
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: said he spent the time walking on the treadmill after
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: eating all the food, as we all did. But I
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: think that that game, getting the physicality back on New
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Year's Eve helped them on January fourth on Sunday, and
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: it'll help them get back into the swing of things
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: on Wednesday against Maryland, Saturday against Nebraska, and so on
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: and so forth.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: So what are your thoughts just right now on where
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: this team is. Because they're eleven and three, they're two
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and one in the Big Ten. You look at the
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: schedule and you say they're probably going to need to
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: win ten big ten games to feel decent about their
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: chances to make the tournament. I don't think. I think
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: with their metrics where they are, which say whatever you
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: want about this team and what its upside is, what
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: its potential is, its ceiling is probably getting into the
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: tournament winning a game or two at the most. It's
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: four is obviously missing the tournament because we've seen them
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: already lose a road game to Minnesota, saw them lose
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the not very good Kentucky team on the road. Obviously,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: the Louisville loss was expected. They're a solid team. They're
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: going to be a really good, really high seed in
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the NCAA tournament. But we've not seen Indiana really beat
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I don't think a tournament team yet. Washington's not going
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: to make the tournament and all like unless they turn
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: things around, so they're gonna have to get some some
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: wins here coming up relatively soon. But I'm curious it's
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: kind of where you are on this team and their
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: ultimate destination where they end up. Do you feel like
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: this Do you still feel like this is a team
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: that can make the tournament? Are you less optimistic than
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: you were before the season. For me, I'm you know,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: someone asked me recently kind of where I was at
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: in terms of making the tournament. I genuinely feel like
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: it's kind of a fifty to fifty thing at this
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: point because there's so many games coming up that are
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: winnable games. But I think the big piece is the
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: is the finding some success away from Assembly Hall. I
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: think there's gonna be a lot of games in Indiana's
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: going to be able to win at home, but losing
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: to Minnesota kind of put them in a bad spot
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: just in terms of I think you have to probably
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: get two or three Big ten road wins, and you
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: look at the schedule and you say, where are they
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: going to come from? Well, Maryland on Wednesday is a
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: great opportunity. Rutgers coming up on the road another opportunity.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Ohio State later in the season on the road could
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: be an opportunity. We've seen them falter a bit, and
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: who knows how that looks by the end of the
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: season if things aren't going well. They also have the
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: trip to la usc has already lost a Big ten
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: home game. They lost it home to Washington, So that's
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: another one you look at and say, could they get
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: that one. But then when you also have the fact
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: that they're going to go to Michigan State, they're going
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: to go to Michigan, they're going to go to Illinois,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: they're going to go to Purdue. Those none of those
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: look like good opportunities for wins. So you know, you
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: kind of find yourself looking at the schedule and say,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: all right, where are these wins gonna come from? And
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I think getting a win Wednesday is pretty pivotal, but
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: long win did there. But I'm kind of curious just
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: where you are with this team and the chances to
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: make the tournament.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: I'm right there with you. I think it's fifty to
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: fifteen right now. I think it might be a little
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: bit more. I have this weird optimism about this team
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: that they'll be able to figure it out in Big
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: ten plays. There is a learning curve for all these
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: guys playing their first Big ten games. I think football
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: is giving them a disadvantage of For Saturday's game, I
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: think they'd be able to beat Nebraska in front of
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: a full house with a raucous crowd and potentially a
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: chance to get that top ten victory. But I don't
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: know what that crowd's going to be, like will there'd
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: be a football hangover that people don't show up at.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: I believe it's noon on Saturday. That's a big opportunity.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: The week after that, I think is also a Saturday,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Iowa comes to town. That's another top twenty five team
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: that you probably that Indiana probably should win that game
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: in front of a great crowd. But I just don't
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: know how this team I saw them in Puerto Rico
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: create their own energy. They've been able to create their
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: own energy when Assembly Hall hasn't been packed this year,
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: But against a high quality opponent, will they be able
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: to create that energy? Feed off the energy that the
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: fans have For the road games. You look at the Michigan,
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Michigan State, Purdue Illinois games, but the rest are really
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: toss ups. Like Wednesday's game, I think that they'll be
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: able to beat Maryland. They haven't really had an identity
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: under Buzz Williams yet. UCLA usc USC looked awful last
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: night against Michigan State just happens to be a very
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: good team. An he's lancing, But there are opportunities for
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: big ten road wins. I think there's seventeen big ten
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: games left, there's there's a path to ten eleven wins,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: but they got to start stacking them here in the
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: near future.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you look at what's really been And I was
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: working on the Maryland preview this morning and I was
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: trying to figure out, so in these three losses that
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Indian has had, what's kind of been the common theme. Well,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: they've sent their opponents to the free throw line. A Ton, Louisville, Minnesota,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: and Kentucky all shot really high amount of free throws
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: in those games. And Indiana's shot very poorly on three
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: pointers and all three of its losses They've I think
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: shot twenty seven percent on threes and combined on their
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: three losses, which is not good enough. So not to
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: oversimplify it, but if they're going to win a road game,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: I think they have to avoid foul trouble, especially the
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: key players like Lamar Wilkerson. I mean Lamar Wilkerson played
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: thirty nine minutes the other night he played. He had
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: I think three thousand second that but he played the
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: first half without a foul. That was what allowed him
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: to play so many minutes in the second half. They've
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: got to avoid foul trouble to their key players. They
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: have to be able to keep you know, Alexis obviously
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: in Bailey on the floor as much as possible too.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Both of those guys can't afford only being able to
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: ride one of them because you got to interchange them
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: for breaks and things like that. And then it's the
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: three point shot. If Indiana can make ten, eleven, twelve
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: three pointers at a reasonable rate, I think they've got
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: a chance to beat a lot of teams in this league.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: If they can't, then you kind of wonder where the
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: offense is gonna come from. And Maryland, I think, is
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: gonna be a very interesting environment because their fan base
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: is pretty much checked out on this team already. It's
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: seven and seven overall, they're zero to three in the
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Big Ten, and there's not a lot of optimism for
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: what's to come the rest of the way. Maryland basically
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: has no chance to make the NCAA tournament barring a
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: miraculous turnaround. Their best player, for l Payne, is hurt
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: right now. It looks like he could be out for
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: an extended period of time, although Buzz Williams has been
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: very coy about giving updates on when he might play again.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: So who knows. Maybe he suits up tomorrow against Indiana,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: which have obviously changed in things, but there's not gonna
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: be a ton of energy in that building, and Indiana
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: is going to have to go in there and play
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: focused and play for forty minutes in order to wait.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: You know, I've said this for a long time. I
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: don't think I think people. You look at the analytics
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: for this game and it's, you know, eight, nine to
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: ten point win for Indiana. But unless you're a really good,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: a certain NCAA tournament team, winning on the Big ten
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: on the road in the Big ten is difficult to do.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: And I think the teams that make the tournament are
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: going to be able to go out and win three
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: four Big ten road games. So far, we've seen Indiana
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: falter at Minnesota, So tomorrow night is a prove it
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: game for me. If Indiana can go there, take care
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: of business, figure out a way to win, then I
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: think you have to feel a lot better about their
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: chances to make the tournament.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that it'll set the tone for the
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: rest of the season. You had to slip up at Minnesota,
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: but it was those first two games in December. Who's
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: going to remember that come March, but you have a
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: string of tough games ahead. I think it was in Nebraska,
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: Michigan State, Michigan State.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: And then at Michigan.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that that's then at which they might not
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: be very good. But it's still the rack or exactly
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: whatever you call it. Uh, But for sure, I think
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: it'll set set the tone for what is to come
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: the rest of the season. We'll know, we'll learn about
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: this team and it's future. It's ceiling that that'll shift. Uh.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: The ceiling and floor will shift tomorrow based on the
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: how they play. Maybe not the result. If they win
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: by one like then it might just stay the same,
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: but how they play will be it will be important
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: to the rest of the season.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: Well, Josh, thanks for making the time, and we gotta
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: go to this. I guess virtual media availability for a
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: football here in about forty five minutes talking, you'll be talking.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: I'll just be observing for defensive players for this year's
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: team before you head down to Atlanta. Tomorrow's safe travels.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Be looking forward to your coverage the rest of the
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: week here on Inside the Hall. I'll be in Bloomington
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: on Saturday for the game against Nebraska. It might might
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: be the lowest attendance in terms of IU media for
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: IU basketball Big Ten home game that we've ever seen. Realistically,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think most people are going to be
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: down in Atlanta. I don't see a lot of people being
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: able to make it back for a noon tip after
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: a really late game on Friday night. So we'll have
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: you covered there inside the Hall for both the football
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: game on Friday and the basketball game on Saturday. If
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: you enjoy the show you watch on YouTube, like the video,
• 33:44
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• 33:47
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• 33:50
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• 33:53
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• 33:55
  Speaker 1: of Podcast on the Brink.