2009 Puerto Rico Tip-Off

• iuhoosier11

  The O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off kicks off Thursday @ 11:30 am with Dayton taking on Georgia Tech. Looks like some good match-ups throughout the tourny with Villanova being the obvious favorite. The IU/'Ole Miss game will be on ESPN2. I'm looking forward to seeing if the Hoosiers can hang with a team like Mississippi. Should be fun!
  
  First Round Thursday Nov. 19th
  Dayton vs. Georgia Tech 11:30 am
  George Mason vs. Villanova 2:00 pm
  Indiana vs. Mississippi 5:00 pm
  Boston University vs. Kansas State 7:30 pm
• patriots34

  Whoever gets out of the top half of the bracket is the clear favorite... 3 out of those 4 are ranked in the top 25.
  
  Go Flyers!
• wildcats20

  

  Nova will run through that. They shouldn't have any problems. IMO.
• Azubuike24

  

  I'd love to see a Villanova/Mississippi match-up. That is a great match-up for the Rebels who can match Nova in the backcourt. This is a decent field.
• Laley23

  

  Mississippi cant play Villanova, unless its in the losers bracket. The Hoosiers are gonna take down the Rebels!
• milehiiu

  Laley23 wrote: Mississippi cant play Villanova, unless its in the losers bracket. The Hoosiers are gonna take down the Rebels!

  First real test of the new season for our new look Hoosiers. Should be interesting. So far Watford, Creek and Elston have looked good. But they are all freshman ,and overall this is an underclassmen laden team.
  
  I wish I could share your enthusiasm. But IMHO , it is too early in the season for this young team to come together so soon. I do expect them to drop a few surprises, once the B10 campaign starts up, however.
  
  
  GO HOOSIERS !
• iuhoosier11

  milehiiu wrote:

  Laley23 wrote: Mississippi cant play Villanova, unless its in the losers bracket. The Hoosiers are gonna take down the Rebels!

  First real test of the new season for our new look Hoosiers. Should be interesting. So far Watford, Creek and Elston have looked good. But they are all freshman ,and overall this is an underclassmen laden team.
  
  I wish I could share your enthusiasm. But IMHO , it is too early in the season for this young team to come together so soon. I do expect them to drop a few surprises, once the B10 campaign starts up, however.
  
  
  GO HOOSIERS !

  I really think this will be a good game. IU needs to limit turnovers and shoot better from the free-throw line. It looks like they match-up good with the Rebels. Pritchard will need to play big and stay out of foul trouble. Go IU!
• iuhoosier11

  IU's shot 24 0f 43 from the stripe as a team in the first 2 games. 55% will kill them in close games. Has to get better!
• newarkcatholicfan

  

  Dayton
  Villanova
  Indiana
  Kansas State
• Laley23

  

  Milehigh, I was really kidding. I think IU loses 2 and wins 1 in this tourney. I think we can beat Dayton, but thats it. Even that will be a huge task.
  
  Watford has been a beast and Creek has shown great ability to score in multiple ways. Elston has great enthusiasm and has MUCH better offensive skills and shooting touch than I would have thought. I think its going to really depend on how Verdell and Jeremiah play in this tourney to see how well IU can fare.
  
  One thing I know for sure....it is fantastic to have some real TALENT on the court again!!!
• reclegend22

  

  Can't wait to get a glimpse of bailer Taylor King.
  
  He's averaging 11.5 points a game in Nova's first two games, and has hit 3-of-6 from three.
  
  Will be weird watching him for a different team, but, then again, smoker never really fit in at Duke either.
• milehiiu

  Laley23 wrote: Milehigh, I was really kidding. I think IU loses 2 and wins 1 in this tourney. I think we can beat Dayton, but thats it. Even that will be a huge task.
  
  Watford has been a beast and Creek has shown great ability to score in multiple ways. Elston has great enthusiasm and has MUCH better offensive skills and shooting touch than I would have thought. I think its going to really depend on how Verdell and Jeremiah play in this tourney to see how well IU can fare.
  
  One thing I know for sure....it is fantastic to have some real TALENT on the court again!!!

  OH. OK. Yeah, I see us going one win for three too. But being much more competitive than last year. Got to remember that this is a very young team that is just now learning how to play together.
  
  Watford is the second freshman in a row to start his career off with a double double, after Pritchard did it last year. And Coach Crean just said on Tuesday that Watford hasn't even scratched the surface as to the things he is capable of doing. Crean feels that Watford can be a very special player in time for IU.
• Laley23

  

  milehiiu wrote:
  
  OH. OK. Yeah, I see us going one win for three too. But being much more competitive than last year. Got to remember that this is a very young team that is just now learning how to play together.
  
  Watford is the second freshman in a row to start his career off with a double double, after Pritchard did it last year. And Coach Crean just said on Tuesday that Watford hasn't even scratched the surface as to the things he is capable of doing. Crean feels that Watford can be a very special player in time for IU.

  Watford will play in the NBA, no doubt in my mind. I think it was when he was an 8th grader or freshman or something he was on the cover of Slam magazine as the next big thing. He had a down AAU one year and plummeted in the rankings, to around 50. Had a good JR year and was up in the 30s, and then had a DYN-O-MITE senior year but didnt rise. I personally thought he was a top 20 kid in his class last year (I saw quite a few of the HSers and he was better than a lot of the kids ahead of them.
  
  I have been following IU since 2005 as part of the student media (god, I miss it....graduated in May). It was fantastic and I got to see a lot of the players develop. Of course none of this years team...
  
  I never saw Creek get to play because when I was around this past summer he was not cleared. I did see him play pick-up games, but no structured stuff. I have seen Watford play more carefree than he is right now, and Crean is 100% correct. Dude is an animal. Right now he is focusing on running the offense and trying not to mess up early in his career. I think by the time B10 season rolls around, Watford will feel comfortable to ad-lib a little more on offense and we will see his true skills come out.
• milehiiu

  I just got word that Matt Roth broke an ankle in practice today.
  
  Too early to tell, but he may be gone for the year.
• Laley23

  

  milehiiu wrote: I just got word that Matt Roth broke an ankle in practice today.
  
  Too early to tell, but he may be gone for the year.

  That stinks for him. Indiana wont really miss him all that much minus the teams who zone us, but even then we have 5 other very good shooters in Hulls, Watford, Creek, Jones, and Elston who have all hit the 3 ball at a very good clip through 4 games this year.
  
  The biggest loss is moving forward towards next year. He is about to lose months of work on his conditioning and ability to improve his lateral quickness (defense) which is 99% of the reason he can barely crack a rotation of 11 players. This is a very big set back in that regard.
• milehiiu

  Laley23 wrote:

  milehiiu wrote: I just got word that Matt Roth broke an ankle in practice today.
  
  Too early to tell, but he may be gone for the year.

  That stinks for him. Indiana wont really miss him all that much minus the teams who zone us, but even then we have 5 other very good shooters in Hulls, Watford, Creek, Jones, and Elston who have all hit the 3 ball at a very good clip through 4 games this year.
  
  The biggest loss is moving forward towards next year. He is about to lose months of work on his conditioning and ability to improve his lateral quickness (defense) which is 99% of the reason he can barely crack a rotation of 11 players. This is a very big set back in that regard.

  
  Matt was destined to be the tenth man off the bench this year. IMHO. So currently he is effecting our depth. However, if one of our other three point shooters were to go down during the year, than the impact of his loss will be more greatly felt.
  
  
  Hey Laley. You say you were a part of the student media. Was that the IDS or WIUX ? And if so, would I recognize your name ?
• Laley23

  

  WIUX, you may know the name. Are you part of it or were you and what year(s)?
• milehiiu

  Laley23 wrote: WIUX, you may know the name. Are you part of it or were you and what year(s)?

  I am an old timer. But I did work WIUX when it was WIUS last century. I live in Denver, but listen to most all of the IU games on WIUX. Even listened to the little 500, so I have heard a lot of the kids, and have communicated with them via the station's e-mail.
  
  Do you know Brady Stiff ? He did a ton of games both FB and BB last year. He graduated in the Spring of this year, and interned at WGN radio in Chicago this summer.
• Laley23

  

  lol, yeah Brady was my class. Have you seen his new website/blog/whatever. Here is the link, the Neal that is another part of it was actually my roommate for 3 years. If you heard Neal do ay games you probably heard me as well. We did a lot of broadcasts together. Our show was "The Wake Up Call" when it was really early in the AM and then last year we had "The Final Whistle"
  
  BTW, I think it was still WIUS my first year (2005/6).
• milehiiu

  Laley23 wrote: lol, yeah Brady was my class. Have you seen his new website/blog/whatever. Here is the link, the Neal that is another part of it was actually my roommate for 3 years. If you heard Neal do ay games you probably heard me as well. We did a lot of broadcasts together. Our show was "The Wake Up Call" when it was really early in the AM and then last year we had "The Final Whistle"
  
  BTW, I think it was still WIUS my first year (2005/6).

  
  
  Oh Yeah ! Know all about Brady's newest internet offering. I missed the morning sports shows, but tried to catch as many afternoon shows as I could..... so I am sure I have heard you. In fact, I am listening to today's afternoon offering right now.
  
  Great to have met you again. Who wudda thunk on this great new website. Looking to be a part of this forum during the college season. Hope to see more of you along the way !
• Laley23

  

  Im hear all the time! Although I did just get a job with a local station as a broadcaster/crew member. So I will probably miss a lot of game threads during the year of the various teams. Which sucks, cause I love posting while watching...
• milehiiu

  Laley23 wrote: Im hear all the time! Although I did just get a job with a local station as a broadcaster/crew member. So I will probably miss a lot of game threads during the year of the various teams. Which sucks, cause I love posting while watching...

  Congrats on your new job. I just let Brady know about this site. We'll see if he joins us
  
  I used to follow JJ Huddle for years..... only for High School football and only during the season. Then they banned me. Cause I would not pay their fee.
  
  Then FreeHuddle happened, and I can see myself hanging here all year long.
• pbuck

  Nova wins this Tourney IMO
• milehiiu

  pbuck wrote: Nova wins this Tourney IMO

  Yeah. And they are the highest ranked team in the tournament.... seems like a safe bet to me.
• Mulva

  

  Georgia Tech up 57-56 on Dayton with just over a minute left.