Might as well post while I have a second

It's getting to be a crazy time of year for me at work & school, but I start getting free time just around the time that Midnight Madness starts. (Wow, only 5 weeks?)

IU Men's Soccer had a nice couple of West Coast wins to bounce back after a head-scratching 4-0 defeat from Dartmouth. I watched the overtime 0-0 tie with Akron on the Big Ten network. Former Hoosier hardman Caleb Porter is coaching the Zips, and his Hoosier roots show in his team. I was pretty impressed with Akron, and IU was somewhat lucky not to come away with a loss. The Hoosier fundamentals & decision-making in the attacking third of the field were somewhat lacking, but IU was the deeper and more-talented team and did seem to wear down the Zips as play went on. However, the Zips did seem to be the better-coached, or at least the more veteran squad. Maybe last weekend shows that Frietag is finally getting through. There's a lot of potential here, as long as the Hoosiers can start working for quality chances instead of taking the first 20-yd power blast available.

If you're looking for a good team-by-team daily preview of next season, Joel Welser has a good top 144 run-down at College Hoops Net.

Also, for some Indiana basketball views and news, the Hoosier Report looks at Crean's MU teams per-possession stats, which are encouraging, even if he won't have the same experienced personnel on hand this season. But Jody Demling is singing the praises of Crean's recruiting efforts for the 2009 class. I admit, I'm also impressed now that he's snagged combo forward Christian Watford, and has another good big man in his sights. Not a bad comeback considering all of the fallout in the wake of the Sampson dismissal. But, it's not as if there are any true blue-chippers here, and these guys will be freshmen next fall, meaning that it'll probably be three seasons from now before we can get a real good look at what a Crean-led Hoosier squad will look like.