Indiana Continues To Be The Most Embarrassing 'Basketball School' In The Country
These are all tweets from big J's, I haven't even gotten into the fan portion yet because I don't think our server can hold that many tweets embedded. Plain and simple, Indiana is the most embarrassing 'basketball school' in the country. It's been that way for years upon years, even a couple decades now. You can't take away what they did in the 70s and 80s. But, uh, that was nearly 40 fucking years ago. We're talking about our generation and just since 2000, they've been hit with sanctions, missed 9 NCAA Tournaments (yes, some due to sanctions), have had 4 different coaches and advanced to the Sweet 16 just 4 times. That's fucking gross. Oh and before people scream UCLA, remember they made 3 straight Final Fours from 2006-08. And in 3 of those Sweet 16 games? They've given up 100 points twice and scored 50 against Syracuse because they refused to acknowledge Syracuse played a 2-3 zone.
But this is about what's going on now. This is about ANOTHER loss to Purdue. This is about ANOTHER season where Indiana just isn't relevant. Nobody gives a shit about Indiana anymore and that's where it's scary for the program. The moment that happens, just kiss any sort of relevancy and chance of being 'Indiana' again good bye. That's where this program is trending. Sure, you can say 'hey they are 8-6!' Who have they beaten? Maryland, Penn State? Those are two of the bottom 4-5 teams in the Big 10 for me along with Indiana. That's not something to write home about. Providence and Stanford? You can't sell a program on mediocre wins like that as your best wins.
It's not even like it's a recruiting problem. Two of the last three classes were ranked in the top-15 nationally. They've gotten 8 of the top-15 recruits in state the last 3 years. The problem is they can't build a roster worth a damn. They can't shoot outside of 5 feet. The whole offense is please Trayce Jackson-Davis bail us out. They haven't had a top-50 offense under Archie, when he had three top-40 offenses at Dayton. Speaking of Archie, let's check in on some fans (seriously, I can't link all the tweets. There are too many):
Listen, I get the frustration. Every school in the state - Butler, Notre Dame and Purdue - have all been more successful than Indiana. Think about that for a second. Your biggest rival in Purdue kicks your ass every year and keeps improving while you're just stuck in nothing. Now, I've clearly fought with Indiana fans with years. Screaming about the WatShot typically and how that moved Indiana into a new phase. Uhh what happened since then? One successful year where you made the Sweet 16 as a 1 seed and scored 50 points. Congrats on the popcorn box though.
I've always maintained that Indiana is a top-15 job for a coach in the country. They have a massive recruiting base with awesome recruits. Just look at some of the names who came out of Indiana high school basketball the last few years: Jaren Jackson, Paul Scruggs, Jordan Poole, Romeo Langford, Tyger Campbell, Aaron Henry, Isaiah Stewart, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Keion Brooks. That's just from the classes of 2017-2020. Now look at who has been the least successful college player. The Indiana players. Where's the development, where's the offense? Sure, you can talk about Langford's wrist and everything but he never really looked right at Indiana. They have the facilities, they have everything you want. They just aren't successful. That's a program problem right now.
College basketball is better when Indiana is relevant, but there's no sign of that coming any time soon. This is a bottom-4 team in the Big 10, yeah, it's a loaded conference but that doesn't matter. This is the most embarrassing basketball school in the country and it's not close. Even UCLA is turning it around. Taking out the Big East due to lack of football, Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, UNC, etc have all been wildly successful. Indiana is just stuck in the 70s and 80s. Hate to see it.
PS: This is my favorite comparison and fake trade yet