Dead Dog Alley

I'm sure that Kansas fans are lamenting the fact of the impending end of their conference championship streak, now that Iowa State is going to be loaded. That said, Jacobson should have been a lot better than he was while he was here. He had decent size, was definitely a good enough athlete, and is definitely a smart guy. You'd expect him to be a decent enough shooter, with a few good post moves, to be good at some of the intricacies of the game, to be a smart defender. For the most part he did not hit those expectations here - he attacked the glass almost as much when he was shooting as when he was going after a rebound (he sure hated backboards apparently as it seemed he was occasionally trying to break when he was throwing up shots), didn't ever do much with his back to the basket, really didn't seem to be great at the finer points, and generally wasn't a great defender (with some noticeable exceptions like against Swanigan). Maybe sitting out a year, and not having to concentrate on being physical enough to play in the Big Ten as opposed to becoming a better player, will help, and I'd say there's a good possibility of that. The same with Ed - they spent so much time trying to make him a physical presence in the Big Ten that I think may have precluded his improvement in other areas. The Big East might be good for his game as well. Also it should be noted that instead of Hans Brase replacing Jacobson in the Nebraska rotation, now Jacobson will possibly be replacing Hans Brase at Iowa State.

I didn't realize that DeMonte Williams had re-committed after he had gotten a release. So - my mistake there. But losing Tillmon hurts for them, they are really thin up front. They have some decent players back but not much depth.

Illinois might struggle to finish above 13th in the conference, with their graduation losses and recruiting class falling apart.

Michael Jacobson is to Bill Laimbeer as John Turek is to Bill Walton.

The best in game instruction I ever heard Danny give his players: "Run the f**king offense!"

Antoine Carr, Cliff Levingston, and Xavier McDaniel. No mid major team will ever have a front line that good again. Primarily because the NCAA won't let anybody that's not a big money school put together that kind of talent without it leading to a probation.

I think that overstates the case. I don't think anybody would be up in arms if he doesn't come here, because we've been down this road twice already, and also based on his career nobody will be expecting him to be a superstar or anything, just a nice addition to the roster that fills a void. And he must not have badmouthed Nebraska all that much since his freshman year roommate at Louisville and close friend is now here. If he wants to come here, he'll come here. If he doesn't, he won't. It's pretty cut and dried IMO.

He only played 3 games his second year at Louisville, when he was coming off a sports hernia surgery. Then he missed his entire third season at Georgetown with a torn ACL. So, he'd almost surely get a sixth year if he tried to get it.

We've only had six freshmen ever score in double figures. Three were the all time leading scorers in program history (Hoppen, Fort, Piatkowski), two went on to not average double figures over their careers (Jake Muhleisen, Ryan Anderson), and one was the biggest flame-out in program history who came back 40 lbs heavier his second year after an offseason regimen of magic herbs and cheeseburgers (Joe McCray).

If Thad Matta is still alive in 11 months...he might be on the market.

Maryland? He wants to fight for playing time with Bruno Fernando?

Unless you're playing Purdue or Michigan State - if you have to double the post with Okeke in the game, then he probably won't be playing much. If you have to double with Jordy in, then Jordy better be putting up big numbers on the offensive end.

Yes, this is our second graduate transfer ever.

Just to make sure, this is April 21 and not April 1, right?

Don't be knocking Drake - outside of a 1-10 start last year and an 0-10 finish, they were a respectable 6-4.

Iowa State loses 66.3 ppg of offense and returns 14.6 ppg. There's a pretty good chance they'll finish last in the Big 12 next year.

Woops, I was wrong about that. I was thinking 1992, but we were down to 9 again in 2000 (Danny's last year, and were down to 8 after Belcher sat out - and it was a disaster.)

Well...the last time we had nine available scholarship players we went to the NCAA Tournament (we had ten total, but one redshirted). And the last time there was a Copeland and a Gill on the same team, that team went to the NCAA Tournament. If that means anything...

Starters would have been Pitchford, Shields, White, Petteway, Webster; it would have taken some extreme chemistry problems to make that lineup not work. But extreme chemistry problems are why that lineup didn't happen in the first place.

Jody only played more than 20 minutes in a game twice last year. I think it's a stretch to assume he averages much more than 20. I don't know that Duby would give you double figure minutes because there's much better offensive options on the team - but that would mean Copeland, Roby, McVeigh filling in at the 5 for a few minutes, which would work against some teams but not others. From the video Ernst posts up better than anyone we've had since....well, maybe Leslie Smith. He was listed at 6'9", 215 at Iowa State.

Answer: yes. Also, AWIII would likely have stayed if we had won more two years ago. And probably WP and maybe even TP stick around for another year if 2015 doesn't go down the toilet. Then 2016 looks a lot different, and maybe AWIII stays and 2017 looks a lot different. But --- that's not what actually happened.

No team, anywhere, in the history of the sport, has played 18 games in the first semester.

Obviously he was looking at housing in the area.

Zombie Thad Matta would win a lot of games here.

Hey, you're overlooking the fact that this job has been a stepping stone for coaches to get prime gigs like Southern Miss and Duquesne. Who could pass on that?