X's and Joe's

Bob and Mike take a little detour from their typical college basketball deep dives to discuss the most exciting current topic in Indiana sports: college football!

They share their own college football stories, look around the college football landscape, and discuss the encouraging beginning to the Curt Cignetti Era.

Two videos mentioned during their discussion:

• 1991 Florida State at Michigan
• 1979 Holiday Bowl: Indiana v BYU

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Bob, Mike, and special guest Beau Haynes discuss the past, present, and future of the vaunted blue-blood head coaching job. How much have things really changed?

Segment 1: What Makes A Program’s Blood Blue?

• Which program are at the top of the social register and how did they get there?
• How do their fans and the program set expectations and maintain “standards?”
• The search for the next Lama, Pop, or Godfather: why are blue-blood hires different?

Segment 2: Do These “Blue Blood” Designations Really Matter Anymore?

• Why do prospective hires see offers they can refuse?
• Do 18-year-old kids really know about the history of Chuck Taylor?
• How have some programs broken into the country club locker room?

Segment 3 and Wrap Up

• Does the modern landscape allow for true blue bloods anymore? 

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Bob and Mike look back at last season and trace some highs and lows from different teams that went heavy in the portal to build their rosters.

Segment 1: How The Portal Worked Well For Some

1. The Levels of Success In College Basketball (Chart 1)
2. South Carolina
3. North Carolina

Segment 2: How It Didn’t Go Well For Some Others

1. Reviewing The Chip Stack Theory
2. Washington
3. Missouri 

Segment 3 and Wrap Up: Indiana’s Portal Haul

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Bob and Mike are joined by Galen Clavio to reflect on one of the most tumultuous times in the history of Indiana University sports: the final years of the Bob Knight.

Segment 1: The End of the Beginning to the Beginning of the End: Closing Out the Breaking Away Years

1. Plaid Jackets to Sweaters, NapTown Rising, and Cowboy Bob Riding Off -- Life in the Mid 80s
2. Moving Past The Brink -- Cracks in the Foundation and Facade 
3. A New Sheriff Comes To Town -- Is The Town Big Enough For The Two Of Them

Segment 2: Paradise Lost

1. “We Need Players”- America’s New Public University Has An Obsolete Athletics Department 
2. “Has The Game Passed Him By”- How Changes In The Game Impacted Mindsets
3. “Death By A Thousand Cuts”- The True Meaning of Zero Tolerance

Segment 3 and Wrap Up: Why This Still Matters?

Next up, in episode 15, Mike and Bob will be looking at some transfer portal case studies to determine how some teams found success and others found the floor last season.

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On this edition of Xs & Joes, Bob and Mike discuss a topic of paramount importance to so many college sports programs across the country: history and legacy. How much does it actually matter for present-day winning?

Segment 1: How To Define Programs’ Legacies?

1. A Winning Tradition: Past Performance Does Not *Necessarily” Predict Future Results
2. A Program’s Mount Rushmore: The Images That Represent Who You Were And Are
3. Are You Cover or SI or Game Of The Week Worthy: The Changing Landscape of Media

Segment 2: Blue Bloods/New Bloods: Leveraging Your and/or Others’ Histories

1. How Some Traditional Powerhouses Have Reinvented Themselves
2. How Other Programs Have Broken Through- Temporary and Consistent Performers
3. Are We Down or Dilapidated- When Does A Program Become “Grey Gardens”

Segment 3 and Wrap Up: Traditions and Fight Songs 

And Mike and Bob tease a special guest for episode 14: Galen Clavio!

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On this edition of Xs & Joes, Bob and Mike record an episode they’ve been wanting to record for a while: a deep dive on freshman expectations.

Elite-level freshmen arrive on campus with high expectations, but at what level of fairness to them? How much is reasonable to expect from a freshman?

That’s the main topic this week.

Bob and Mike open with discussion about their summer travels, Tony’s book, Austin Render’s new BHN podcast The Dribble Drive.

And, of course, they discuss Homefield’s Sweet Summer Seven Subscription Box.

Segment 1: Help Is On The Way: What Are Expectations Placed on First Year Players?

• What Do Coaches Expect? (Slides 1-4)

• How Does That Match Up To Players’ Views On Their Roles? 

• Should Fans Be More Realistic In Their Expectations?

Segment 2  Crossing The Sinai Desert: How To Judge A Freshman’s Contributions? 

• What Does A High Level Freshman Performance Look Like?

• What Does A “Failed” Freshman Year Look Like? 

• What Is A Good Baseline Of Expectation? 

Segment 3: The Future of Freshmen

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On this edition of Xs & Joes, Bob and Mike step back into their wheelhouse: busting myths … or in this episode’s case, maybe killing sacred cows?

They open with a wistful goodbye to the Irish Lion and discuss everyone’s most beloved collegiate apparel company.

Then it’s time for a frank discussion about the film that helped cement Indiana’s reputation as the basketball state in the minds of so many.

Segment One dives into the real story that inspired Hoosiers: the Milan Miracle.

• What really happened in 1954?
• How did the timing of Hoosiers’ release impact its cultural significance?
• Why it is still such a great and relevant movie

Segment Two then dives into the misguided mythos of Hoosiers.

• Native Indiana players always have a reputation for punching above their weight
• Personal fan preferences are superior to proven methods by winning programs
• Teams should win more with less talent

Bob and Mike close with a discussion about the recently deceased Tates Locke, who had a strong Bob Knight connection, and another Indiana-based basketball movie.

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On this edition of Xs & Joes, Bob and Mike welcome Coach Adragna to the show.

They open with a discussion about how they all met and discuss Tony’s background as a coach. This includes discussion of how Tony proposed to his wife, which any IU fan will be able to appreciate.

Then they turn their attention to the strange marriage between coaching and analytics. How should analytics be used to analyze and improve a team’s performance? How are they actually used? How could they be used better?

Then they dive into Indiana’s incoming transfers and what IU fans should expect from the revamped roster.

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On this edition of Xs & Joes, Bob and Mike turn their attention to the transfer portal. They discuss some misconceptions and myths, how it’s impacting the Sweet Spot, what we’re learning about the best way to balance portal recruiting and high school recruiting, and much more.

Segment 1: Why Would a Kid Want to Leave “My School”?

1. Misconceptions and Myths- Things Aren’t Always What They Appear To Be
2. Current State of The Portal in Summer 2024- Overviews of Where Things Are
3. Applying Metrics to Players To Estimate Impact- We’re Going to Talk BPM (Slides 1-2)
4. And more.

Segment 2: What are some of the early findings with the Portal? 

1. How is The Portal impacting the “Sweet Spot”? (Slides 3-4)
2. When is The Portal a proactive choice or a reactive decision? (Slide 5)
3. What is the best path for an incoming coach? (Slide 5)

Segment 3 and Wrap Up

• Summer Deeper Digs: How Can You Help?
• Plus, More Fun Stuff Coming…

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On this edition of Xs & Joes, Bob and Mike turn the topics over to the listeners. We gathered a bunch of questions in Substack and Discord, and they go deep on the answers.

Among the questions and topics discussed:

• Mike explains his scoring system for individual players
• Does Indiana need a full rebuild?
• Are IU fans delusional in the expectation that IU will ever achieve relevancy within the conference, let alone nationally?
• Who would be your ideal 6 players for IU to add to next year’s team?
• The widespread utilization of outside consulting groups/3-party vendors across college basketball
• What is your guys’ demeanor as you watch IU games?
• What happened to NIL being about repping local businesses or getting a portion of merch sales?
• Is Mike's expertise used professionally (reimbursement) by teams, leagues, coaches, ADs etc., etc. at either collegiate or professional level and in what way?
• What are the effects on IU, both negative and “positive,” with Purdue making a run to the Final Four for the first time in 44 years?
• In the top performing teams, are there any clear trends with regard to positional size leading to more wins?
• And … what is the greatest decade for rock and why is Mike wrong saying it's not the 70's?

And more.

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