bad day at the office. our defense has been pretty stout this season. i'm not surprised we didn't score. i am surprised we gave up 4. so far this year, the questions have been about the attack, not the defense.
I don't think IU is as bad as they looked last night but let's also give Notre Dame some credit. They are a very solid and obviously well-coached team and they played very well. They aren't usually 4 goals better than IU, but they are a legit national title contender that has played one of the toughest schedules in the country.
I agree. ND looked tough - and I mean physically/mentally tough - much tougher than we were. I'm not saying we got roughed up. I'm saying that we didn't go into tackles, etc., w/ the same intensity. Plus, they have Gallagher (a TRUE Irish), a truly dangerous striker (something that we don't have). I agree that ND deserve their ranking and RPI. Now I'm worried about playing the only team that beat them...
i didn't intend to take anything away from nd. they're great. they definitely have championship potential.
Watching MD beat OSU and the commentators just said that the B1G tourney semis and finals are at Grand Park in Westfield, IN?
I saw that also and I have to say if Indiana is somehow upset early in the tourny , just how many fans are going to be showing up in this place going forward to the Championship game. My point is the BIG officials could have egg on their face with an empty venue (if the Hoosiers lose early). If they had allowed the BIG champion (a Md win or Wisky does this on Friday coming up) to host the semi's and the finals you know there would of been a pack house in Ludwig. Has to be more to this story for this venue change. Could be a case for the future where the Maryland officials are posturing to get the BIG tourny to the Germantown MD venue or possibly in the new DC United Stadium (forthcoming) where the ultimate plan is to rotate the venues in different areas but dang put the tourny in the warmest site please...... Notre Dame still discolored for 2013 NC handballs calls. Tman
the big ten tournament has been set at campus locations for many years until just recently. maybe the last 2 seasons? this isn't much different from that except instead of being in bloomington, it's an hour and a half closer to the other schools. i would imagine the schools prefer to have the location set ahead of time so they can get their logistics down if they make the semis.
Correct. Up until 2014 (the first season of the expanded B1G) the tournament (quarters through finals) was always at a predetermined campus site. Now the B1G is just using a neutral site that is fairly central to most of the teams and a soccer-specific venue.
seems odd that this wasn't announced prior to the start of the season. Given that MD, now, seems destined to win the B10 this year, the appearance of impropriety is simply baffling. I can see where MD fans may be justifiably upset - not to the nuttiness of the ND "stain". It is, what it is. I generally like the pre-arranged location because it's easier to plan, but I question the timing.
we don't know whether this was a mid-season switcheroo to ******** maryland or whether the nerds just didn't get the website updated before the season, do we? i'm not against f'ing maryland, but when in doubt, i say blame the nerds.
That's the key - can you imagine winning the quarters and then wondering where the semis/final will be played? Flights, hotels, practice venues, etc. Poor asst. coaches have been dying. Indy airport is easy to fly into. Plenty of hotels on the north side of Indy.
1-1 at half against the cards. lillard scored for us on a set play. they scored when their #9 beat crevistan and lillard to a cross on another free kick. ref has kinda sucked. tanner got smoked at midfield that led to a chance for louisville. toward the end of the half, fives got laid out inside their box, and it was another no call. we're just not creating anything in the attack. ballard isn't creative, and he doesn't threaten the goal enough for us to really have a chance to win anything this year. we don't have anyone on the bench who can do it either. i don't know why we can't find a target forward who can consistently score. it seems like all the other big time programs have a new forward banging in goals every year, but we're always hoping one of our underclassmen has developed over the spring and summer. who was the last dangerous true forward we had? will bruin? and he was a freitag guy... eta: anyone seen a comparison between freitag's 6 seasons on the bench versus yeagley jr.'s? i was just looking at wikipedia and... freitag: 86-32-9 overall. 21-9-6 in big ten. 1 reg season and 2 big ten tournament champs. 1 nc. yeags jr.: 72-39-20 overall. 19-14-7 in big ten. 1 reg season and 1 big ten tournament cham. 1 nc.
2-1 hoosiers final. he gave us a penalty in the first minute of the second half, and we held on from there.
Nice first goal. Lillard finally back on track? I certainly hope so. The penalty was a little soft, but the defender did grab Thompson in the box (shades of Trump!) and Chico called it. We had some other good chances which were blocked by good team defense. They had some very good long range shots, some of which were well saved by Webb. We looked a little tired late, but got it done. My hat is off to Fives, who courageously headed out a dangerous ball knowing that he'd take a hit (and I believe was also playing with a knock he'd taken earlier), and sealed the win. Back to the B1G.
One big difference is that Frei's NC came on the heels of Yeagley Sr's last NC, with Yeagley's players. We also had a penchant for bowing out of tournament games by going dormant offensively after we got a lead and bunkering, which didn't ever work. Hyacenth hasn't turned into the effective target forward that they were hoping for. They tried AJ up there, but evidently didn't like what they say, so they're sticking w/ Ballard. His real attributes are his anticipation and his finishing - his shot is hard and heavy (and sometimes on target!) Last night IU had a great flurry of shots against #2 L'ville very late in the game despite looking tired. You rarely say that in the Freitag days. OTOH, he wouldn't have been let go in that manner in 90% of schools with that record.
2-2 draw at ohio state. i didn't see the game. only followed on twitter. that made it sound like their first goal was another unlucky one to give up. we're 2-0-4 in the conference now, and that's good enough for second. jeesh. our remaining games are against 3rd place michigan state and 4th place wisconsin. maryland has locked up the title so now we're playing for second. that sucks.
another 0-0 draw away at wisconsin last night. we're now 8-1-6, only 1 game over .500. we have games against SLU and michigan state and at least 1 big ten tournament game left. that means we need 2 wins to stay eligible for the ncaas, right?
Draws count as half wins, half losses when calculating such things, so you guys are completely fine. Might as well start practicing penalties now though
The NCAA Pre-Championship Manual is vague on the subject...here's what it says: Twenty-four teams will be selected at large. To be considered for the at-large selection process, a team must have an overall won-lost-tied record of .500 or better. It doesn't say how to calculate the won-lost-tied record. You can go back and look at previous history to see how won-lost-tied was calculated. In 2013, for instance, Creighton received an at-large bid with a record of 9-8-2. Using 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie, that was not be a .500 record. Using 2-and-1, it was a .500 record. EDIT: Stand by, that is a .500 record! I know there's another example. In the RPI formula, Part I (winning percentage) uses 3-and-1 while Parts II (OWP) and III (OOWP) uses 2-and-1.
Ohio State, 2014. 9-8-4 and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Using 3-and-1, 9-8-4 translates to 31 points in 21 games (.492). Stphnsn, note that Indiana's current 8-1-6 record translates to .6667 under 3-and-1 and .7333 under 2-and-1. So the Hoosiers are totally fine either way.
I was there. It was a very tightly contested, physical match. Center was a no autopsy-no foul kind of guy and that played right into the hands of a VERY physical Badger squad. They are big, strong and tall. Don't really use the midfield, just boot it up to #10 and hope he does something special. And he did, but we were fortunate not concede. They dominated the first half, we played them even in the second, and then we dominated the OTs. I think Wisc got tired. I think both sides hit the woodwork. Lomeli (in for Webb) did very well. Not flashy, but very effective. Maybe that's what we need. We had a couple of intense scrambles in front of their net but just couldn't put it away. What else is new? Lomeli and Mehl started in place of Webb and Creviston, so there was a little less leadership on the field and that might have cause some of the early lethargy. They aren't hurt, so there is a possibility that Coach is looking forward to next year? BRF (go Cubs!)