Sometimes this happens: We post two of my columns within hours, so I’m apologizing to members of my IndyStar text group – more than 3,000 have signed up! – for sending back-to-back texts with each link. But they get the story first, and sometimes I write a lot, and it happened this week:
An unplanned, emotional column on the NBA’s pointless, pitiless punishment of the Pacers … right before I’m writing live from the Indiana basketball game against Michigan State.
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So I’m texting and apologizing, and all over town cell phones are lighting up – hey, 3,000 is no small number! – and what happens next forms the weekly Mailbagg™.
Doyel: Is anyone but the Assembly Hall student section coaching IU basketball?
Doyel: Leave the Pacers alone, NBA commissioner Adam Silver. Fix your league.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver vs. “tanking” Pacers
From: Bo W.
Well, now I’m all depressed about the Pacers. Spot on, but I just can’t face reading about the Hoosiers now. I’m sure it’s on point too, but Mondays are bad enough. I’m going to go hug my dog now…
Hugs for you AND your dog, Bo.
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From: Gary W.
Thank you for skewering the NBA and Mr. Silver over this nonsense $100,000 fine and finger-pointing. Mr. Simon has too much class to blast him in public, but glad someone is defending the franchise that tries and tries and tries – even with its inherent disadvantages.
When I’m not ripping someone in our city, I’m really good at sticking up for our peeps! When I’m not ripping our peeps. Hey, this job requires a little of both.
1 / 8
See photos from the Indiana Pacers against the Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers guard Kobe Brown (24) rushes up the court for the ball against Memphis Grizzlies guard Rayan Rupert (32) on Sunday, March 1, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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See photos from the Indiana Pacers against the Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers guard Kobe Brown (24) rushes up the court for the ball against Memphis Grizzlies guard Rayan Rupert (32) on Sunday, March 1, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
2 / 8
See photos from the Indiana Pacers against the Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers guard Quenton Jackson (29) goes in to dunk the ball Sunday, March 1, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
3 / 8
See photos from the Indiana Pacers against the Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) loses control of the ball against Memphis Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. (1) on Sunday, March 1, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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See photos from the Indiana Pacers against the Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers gather together Sunday, March 1, 2026, ahead of the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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See photos from the Indiana Pacers against the Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers guard Kobe Brown (24) fights for the ball against Memphis Grizzlies guard Rayan Rupert (32) on Sunday, March 1, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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See photos from the Indiana Pacers against the Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers guard Quenton Jackson (29) dunks the ball Sunday, March 1, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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See photos from the Indiana Pacers against the Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers guard Kobe Brown (24) searches to pass the ball against Memphis Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. (1) on Sunday, March 1, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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See photos from the Indiana Pacers against the Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle yells to players on the court Sunday, March 1, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
From: Bob S.
Spot on! I only wish you could send this article directly to Silver’s screen and force him to read it!
Oh, he saw it. Almost every time I write angrily about the NBA, someone close to Adam Silver lets me know about it. And that, to quote my man Forrest Gump, is all I have to say about that.
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Doyel: NBA commissioner Adam Silver owes Pacers $100K, and an apology.
On IU basketball loss, Darian DeVries, Trent Sisley and…Quinn Buckner?
From: David H.
It’s crazy about Sisley. I half expect him to get called to go into the game, and when he strips off his warmup, he has his street clothes on underneath!
Well, we’ll always have Sisley’s pregame dunking routine. It’s awesome.
From: Tim M.
I wondered why Sisley and Tayton Conerway didn’t play much. I doubt DeVries will read your article, but hopefully someone around him will.
Maybe someone from the NBA will show the IU coach.
From: Scott W.
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I still blame Quinn Buckner for the fall of IU basketball. If he wouldn’t have kept Woodson around a year longer than he did we might have had Dusty May.
We may never know the extent to which Quinn was running things – for sure he had an influence; how much, who knows? – but the rise of Michigan under May, a former Bob Knight student-manager who grew up in the shadow of Assembly Hall, is so painful.
Doyel in happier times, in 2023: After Mike Woodson, FAU’s Dusty May has next – right?
Doyel in 2025: Woodson’s support dwindling as Quinn Buckner nearing end as IU Board Chair
From: Randy R.
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I disagreed with you the other day about Darian DeVries’ coaching, and about this team. I was wrong. I have given up on this season – and am beginning give up on this likable coach. This whole team is likable. What a pleasant group of wealthy young men. They just don’t have the proper talent or proper coaching. Apathy approaches.
You did disagree with what I wrote about DeVries from the Purdue-Indiana game, Randy – you weren’t the only one – and I’d planned to use in last week’s Mailbagg. But then Rondale Moore news broke, and that changed everything.
Anyway, I really appreciate the humility here, Randy. And also I’m blown away that you were Rick Mount’s teammate at Lebanon High (something you told me last week). I went looking for Rick about a decade ago, and found him in the most ridiculous way possible.
Doyel from 2015: Desperately seeking Rick Mount
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Indiana chases Chicago Bears, ghosts MLS
The weekly reader Mailbagg isn’t about the readers at all – it’s all about me, right down to the double-g at the end of the word Mailbagg! Clever, right?
And readers went gaga this week for one of the best sports columns they’ve read in, I don’t know, forever.
Sure wish I’d written it. Sigh.
From: Me!!!!
I don’t do this often, but when a staffer writes a story that just blows me AWAY, I share it here. And this story answers questions many of you have asked me:
Why is Indiana flirting with the Chicago Bears?
What happened to all that MLS-to-Indianapolis momentum?
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Our metro columnist James Briggs answered both questions in a piece I wish I was smart enough to write:
Metro columnist James Briggs: Why is Indiana chasing the Bears and ghosting MLS?
From: Jeanette H.
Thanks for promoting Briggs story, deserves attention!
Maybe try appreciating his work a little less, and mine a little more … Jeanette.
From: Ron G.
I don’t live in Indy, I don’t live in Hammond, but this Bears bruhaha is ridiculous. It’s aimed at giving a $1 billion middle-finger to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and if we have that damned much money to throw around, then give it to the public schools where it is needed! I’m not a soccer person, don’t know much about it, but I do know that Indy – and the areas around here where the kids play it so much – would go absolutely bonkers over MLS in Indy. Count me firmly with Briggs.
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Try standing more flaccidly with Briggs, and more firmly with me … Ron.
From: Marc F.
Any fool could see the Bears are using Indiana as negotiating leverage with sites in Illinois. Obviously, our politicians can’t resist falling for one the simplest con jobs in pro sports.
Some would say your first two words summed up the leaders of our state government. Not me. Me? I’d tell you to stick to sports. And to the IndyStar’s only (and still!) sports columnist … me.
The Colts gave quarterback Anthony Richardson permission to seek a trade and the whole thing just sucks. Richardson never should’ve turned pro as soon as he did. He never should’ve been drafted as soon as he was. And he never, ever, should’ve been given the Colts’ QB1 job as soon as he was.
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Otherwise? The whole thing turned out fine!
Sigh.
Doyel: Colts’ doomed Anthony Richardson experiment just blew up in everyone’s face
Doyel: Can Colts afford QB Daniel Jones and WR Alec Pierce? If not, the one to keep is clear
From: Charles P.
Who cares about the “weasel” who talked Richardson into entering the NFL Draft? They are on every campus in the country. It’s a fast way to make a buck!
Their prevalence doesn’t make them OK. Lots of cockroaches in some kitchens. Does that make them OK??
From: Tim Z.
The Colts weren’t the only ones overestimating Richardson’s talents. He was a top-10 draft prospect on every mock draft I remember.
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I’m not interested in excuses. With all the time, resources and expertise invested I scouting THAT position, I find a mistake of this magnitude to be unacceptable.
From: Rick B.
Looks like I’m retiring my AR5 jersey a lot sooner than I expected. I know it was a risk/reward situation, but he’s such a phenomenal young man, I couldn’t help but show my support by wearing his jersey.
I never meant it as a backhanded compliment, but the real thing: Anthony Richardon is a GREAT young man, and your heart breaks that he couldn’t figure it out here. And probably won’t figure it out anywhere.
From: Rick B.
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Wait… The locker Richardson was using when he broke his orbital bone was made out of wood?!?
Yeah. Another thing hindsight shows, but in real time, how could NOBODY suggest he not use a wooden locker as a training apparatus? Unacceptable, leaders in the Colts locker room. Shame on all of you.
Not printing these
From: Rick P.
I get your “no texts after 9 p.m.” rule – and why you apologize for the occasional, additional text when you have two columns at the same time – but, IMHO, anytime is the right time to get any and all your texts! Speaking from experience, you’d have fit in well at Our Lady of Perpetual Guilt Catholic grade school.
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Thank you!!!!! Man, my therapist is nodding at your final line. But my pastor is frowning at it Rick!
From: John E.
Thank you, Gregg. James Briggs’ columns are generally worth reading. This one is highly insightful. Your unselfish nature by promoting colleagues is just one reason you are a refreshing voice in the “me first” media ecosystem.
You’re a good man, John. Next time you write me, though, try to put me first.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers tanking, IU basketball losing, and IndyStar readers reacting