1NDy

2012-2013

• IHSAA football champs (LC Bears)
• NAIA football champs (Marian Knights)
• NCAA Athletic and Academic All-American (Cody Zeller)
• NCAA All-American (Victor Oladipo)
• NCAA Academic All-American (Jordan Hulls)
• WNBA champs and Finals MVP (Fever/Tamika Catchings) 
• B1G Sixth Man of the Year (Will Sheehey)
• #1 Ranking and B1G champs (Hoosiers)
• Brad Stevens and Frank Vogel (b/c why not)
• #1 seed and nation's best guard (Skylar Diggins)
• 7 top awards plus Athletic and Academic All-American (Manti Te'o)
• NCAA D1 football Coach of the Year (Brian Kelly)
• #1 Pick leading team to 11 wins/playoffs (Luck/Irsay)
• NBA All-Star and emerging superstar (Paul George)
• Leukemia Survivor and CoY  (Chuck Pagano)
• NFL Coach of the Year and Coord of the Year (Bruce Arians)
• NFL GM of the Year (Ryan Grigson)
• NCAA men's soccer champs (IU)
• NL Central champs (Reds)
• B1G baseball champs (IU)

Indy Diagnosed with Championship Fever

There was Katie Douglas courtside, epicenter of the final couple seconds of Championship-clinching Game 4. She hadn't scored in weeks, but she deserved this moment just as much as Tamika Catchings, who won Finals MVP. When the injured star was out, the rest of the team stepped up and overcame tough obstacles to bring home the championship. This marks the 2nd professional championship won in Indianapolis this year (Superbowl) and first pro basketball title since the ABA championships in the early 70s.

Coach Tom Crean reminds us MSU, UM and O$U are the current champs, and while it's nice to be in the (natl) title conversation the real challenge is improving everyday... Trickle-down leadership, starting with Watford. One reporter asked him to comment on the state of basketball in the Midwest, with Louisville, UK, and Michigan all contending. He then reminded her of O$U, Illinois and the rest of the B1G as well as Cincy, Butler and Notre Dame.

Speaking of ND, for the 4th straight year, Football Irish are #1 in grad rate, and likely top-5 in GPA too (Academic All-Americans Mike Golic and Manti Te'o). ESPN Gameday will be in Norman this Saturday as your Irish take on the Sooners in a  primetime matchup featuring a pair of top10 teams. If only Keith Jackson was calling it... WHOA NELLY!

Guess Who's Bizzack

After a 6-month hiatus I am declaring myself back!  My excuse is I couldn't comfortably blog with the lack of hardware (ie. physical keyboard) and connectivity (ie. LAN), but now that I have those back you can expect more of my rambling nonsense...

Let's start with the NFL Draft -
Colts own the #1 pick and its no doubt they'll go with Andrew Luck. After that, its RGIII, then who knows. Well Jim Irsay is hosting a contest via Twitter that lets anyone guess the 32 picks (in order) to win a BMW. I entered my picks Tuesday and here's what I got:

1. Luck (Colts)

2. Griffin (Redskins)

3. Kalil (Vikings)

4. Richardson (Browns)

5. Claiborne (Bucs)

6. Blackmon (Rams)

7. Gilmore (Jaguars)

8. Tannehill (Dolphins)

9. Cox (Panthers)

10. Barron (Bills)

11. Keuchly (Chiefs)

12. Ingram (Seahawks)

13. DeCastro (Cardinals)

14. Floyd (Cowboys)

15. Kirkpatrick (Eagles)

16. Poe (Jets)

17. Upshaw (Benglas)

18. Reiff (Chargers)

19. Wright (Bears)

20. Coples (Titans)

21. Mercilus (Bengals)

22. Glenn (Browns)

23. Hightower (Ravens)

24. Martin (Steelers)

25. Brockers (Broncos)

26. Perry (Texans)

27. McClellin (Browns)

28. Smith (Packers)

29. Zeitler (Lions)

30. Fleener (49ers)

31. Hill (Patriots)

32. Konz (Giants)

We should see 2 Golden Domers (Harrison Smith and Michael Floyd) being drafted in the 1st round.

Tonight is also the final night of NBA regular season games. The artist formerly known as Ron Artest recently received a SEVEN-game suspension for a vicious elbow aimed at Thunder star James Harden. The weak suspension is further proof that David Stern is a fucking asshole that doesn't treat all franchises equally (big market = preferential treatment). Despite this disadvantage, the Indiana Pacers still managed to finish as a 3-seed in the East. The acquisition of David West and George Hill solidified a strong starting five, and adding Barbosa to the bench provides a deeper roster with many capable defenders and scorers. Coach Frank Vogel recently emptied the bench in the first half against the Pistons, and still won. Spurs and Bulls coaches may get more consideration for CoY, but Vogel should definitely be in the conversation. Also, I believe Larry Bird should win Executive of the Year for piecing together the 5th-best team in the league -despite not having a single star on the team.

The Hoosiers are the early favorites to win the 2013 NCAA Championship, Vegas odds have been set at 7:1. Louisville, Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, UNC, MSU, and OSU are also contenders. The Hoosiers will be 'oversigned' by 1 scholarship, but Crean seems okay with that for now. 

Finally, lets talk tech. I recently added the new Google Docs mobile app (called Google Drive) and browsed over the comments to see what others were saying. The chief complaints were users mad at the file size of the app (approx. 15MB); usually this isn't a concern because we just move the app to our SD card, but this is one of those pesky apps that has to be installed on the phone's memory, which is limited to a couple hundred Megabytes. It got me thinking, if we can store 64 GB on an SD card (something the size of a postage stamp folded over) why can't these mobile phones have that much storage space built-in? Maybe you're one of those people who can't download new apps until you delete old ones, I know I've been there. Why do the 2011-2012 phones have less storage space than 2001-era iPods & digicams? Ponder that

Coach K, Williams, Pitino... Painter, Brey, Stevens

Do NCAA coaches win games [and Coach of the Year awards] because they're that good or because they recruit Indiana's amateur talent?

Is there any doubt that this is still the mecca of hoops? Indianapolis is tied with L.A. for most consecutive drafts represented (5) and they are still killin it in the pros: EJ, Jeff Teague, George Hill, Mike Conley Jr, Josh McRoberts, Gordon Hayward, Courtney Lee, Rodney Carney and former #1 pick Greg Oden.

It can't be understated how significant a feat it is for Tom Crean to lock up all the Elite talent for the next 4 years; hopefully that translates to the same postseason success as the coaches above.

Its Indiana

With the announcement of Cody Zeller choosing to take his hoops talent to Bloomington next year, Hoosier Nation is excited for the future of Indiana basketball. In the past couple months Tom Crean and his staff have received commitments from Zeller (Mr Basketball?) and Austin Etherington to suit up in the candy stripes next fall; as well as Hanner Perea, Peter Jurkin, and Ron Petterson (Broad Ripple HS) in 2012, and two more top-10 nationally ranked recruits in the 2014 class: James Blackmon and Trey Lyles (Tech HS).
There appears to be a direct pipeline from the AAU squad Indiana Elite as they look to continue their national dominance on the collegiate level. Add another commitment from Yogi Ferrel (Park Tudor HS), it's possible that in 2 years the Hoosiers roster will feature 10 former Elite players. The chemistry of being teammates for so long will be a major advantage, as proven by Greg Oden & Mike Conley's championship reign.

Galaxy of Stars update

Here is a rundown of the previous week's news:

First, former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis got the axe. Then the Colts win their 21st consecutive regular season game against the white-hot Titans. Then Greg Oden is done for the season and All-Star Danny Granger tears his plantar fascia. Then Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate announce their plans to enter the NFL draft. Then Tom Crean gets his 200th win, and first "big road win" by defeating Pittsburgh @ MSG in the Jimmy V Classic. Finally, Notre Dame hires 2009 Coach of the Year Brian Kelly as the new coach.

Now I'm left contemplating this site's new banner.

Hoosiers 2009 class ranks top 5 nationally

Christian Watford joins Bobby Capobianco, Derek Elston, Maurice Creek and Jordan Hulls as incoming freshman committed to playing basketball for Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers starting next Fall. Rivals had previously ranked IU in the top 10 in the nation before Watford made his announcement and now has them at #4. Bob Gibbons says they may be right there with UNC's #1 '09 class - and that's without including the addition of Georgetown transfer Jeremiah Rivers (Doc's son), who won't be eligible to play until after this season.
The depth at forward, however, will be missed this year during Crean's inaugural season of the 10-yr contract. The Hoosiers new Head Coach takes over a program in which only 1 scholarship player remains from the Sampson Error, and even he (Taber) is a former walk-on.
Hopefully no additional NCAA penalties await us from the impermissible phone calls and the alarming dropout rate.

Bonus (via InsideTheHall): BAWA!!!

Marvellous Marvin and Crean's Cream

It may be too soon to comment on this, but Tuesday's shooting in Philly has been linked to Marvin Harrison directly. What we do know is that the Colts' Pro-Bowler owns a club (Playmakers) where the altercation happened and the gun used that injured a man's hand. Ballistics link #88's gun (found at his carwash) to the six bullets found at the scene of the crime, where a boy was also injured from shattered glass during the incident. What's not surprising is that none of the eyewitnesses are giving statements, other than the victim saying Marvin is NOT the shooter.

First IU dismissed Armon Bassett and JaMarcus Ellis for being insubordinate, then Eli Holman throws a tantrum in the coaches office and requests a transfer, now DeAndre Thomas is being released for unknown reasons; that accompanied with the graduation of Seniors DJ White and Lance Stemler and the departure of lottery-bound Eric Gordon, Jr leaves new Head Coach Tom Crean very few options at practice (2-on-2? knockout? 21/tips??). Jordan Crawford and Kyle Taber started a few games last year, so there will at least be some continuity from the Sampson Era (or Error), but I wonder if any Elite program has ever hit the bottom so quickly? That doesn't even consider any NCAA sanctions that may be announced this summer, or the additional scholarships IU may lose due to poor grades. The Hoosiers might go from twenty-five wins to twenty-five losses in '08-09.