IU 71 Ball St 57

Before we get to the report card, let's cover a few odds & ends. First, the poll questions have been updated and I am interested to see some of the voting results as we head into the Big Ten. Also, I am leaving the Knight question out there for a few reasons: (1) He hasn't actually broken the record yet (2) He might say something really crass after he breaks the record (3) Some people may not have seen that poll question over the holidays Switching gears to some prized recruits -- IU recruit Eric Gordon and Purdue recruit E'twaun Moore squared off recently. Gordon netted a career-high 50 points to lead North Central to the victory. He was 17-24 from the field including 4-7 from the arc, 12-13 from the line, and added 11 rebounds. Moore had 28 in a losing effort, but he took 30 shots including 2-15 from the arc. Now, on to the game. Not exactly the most exciting game, but they've now won 4 in a row to get their record to 9-3 heading into Big Ten play. They will certainly have to play at another level when they go to Ohio State on Tuesday night. I think it will be an interesting game. D.J.'s best game this year was against Randolph Morris and Kentucky, so hopefully he can play well against Oden and Ohio State. Also, it will be interesting to see if IU's defense can hold OSU in check or will they simply have too much talent. All I know is that I am really looking forward to the Big Ten season because these last 3 Hoosier games have kind of been snoozers. A couple very scary moments in this game that I am hoping don't lead to any bad news over the next couple of days -- Ratliffe and Wilmont both took very ugly spills in this game. Ratliffe went up to try to block a shot and got twisted around and landed with all his weight on his left arm. This was only 2 minutes into the second half and he did not return. They were looking at his left wrist. They good news is that they never took him back to the locker room, he just sat on the bench with ice on it. Hopefully, he will be good to go on Tuesday. Wilmont was driving in for a layup when he got twisted around in mid-air and landed awkwardly in his leg. To me, it initially looked like a definite ACL-type knee injury. He was in some pain initially, but then got up, shot his free throws, and stayed in the game. But you never know how adrenalin can keep you going, but then it swells up the next day. So keep your fingers crossed that everyone is ready to play on Tuesday. Overall Team Performance: C- This game was tied at 22-22 with 5 minutes to go in the 1st half, but then the Hoosiers closed out the half with a 12-0 run. They followed that up with a 19-6 run to start the second half and this game was over. Ball State hit a few 3s late in the game to make it only a 14-point victory but the game was never in doubt after IU's big run. Just like the fans are ready for Big Ten basketball, it looks like the team is ready for Big Ten basketball. I'm not saying that to mean they played at a high level, more from the standpoint of they are ready to play in those intense big games. Western Michigan, IUPUI, and Ball St back-to-back-to-back were nice for the win columns, but they aren't the easiest games to get up for as a player. That said, there is no reason that they shouldn't be beating these teams by 40 or 50 and that worries me a little. If they don't starting playing a full 40 minutes of basketball, they are going to have a long year in conference play. D.J. White: B- Ball State outrebounded IU tonight and D.J. had 0 rebounds in the first half. That's unacceptable. He did bounce back with 4 boards in the 2nd half and had a pretty good night from the floor with 16 points on 7-10 shooting. A couple big dunks and a few blocked shots never hurts either. Lance Stemler: B- Had some foul trouble, but it was good to see him knock down 2-3 from the arc. He had that 3 game slump where he couldn't throw it in the ocean, but all other games he has shown that he will knock down the trey when he gets a good look. He's definitely one of the keys that could make or break this Hoosier team. If he has a hot shooting night, this team will be tough to beat. Roderick Wilmont: C+ Led the team in rebounding again with 7 and managed to get his 12 points. However, he seemed to be just going through the motions sometimes. He also gets docked for two of the biggest bricks from the line that I have ever seen. He is just flat out a horrible free throw shooter. By rule, you can do whatever you want in the half-circle to shoot a free throw as long as you do it within 10 seconds. I think Rod should try a dribble, spin move, dribble, jumper for his free throws because toeing the line just isn't working for him. A.J. Ratliffe: B- Only 13 minutes due to leaving the game with the left wrist injury. Had a decent game going with 8 points up to that point. Just did some quick internet searching to get his injury status: Sampson said after the game that X-rays were being taken and that the hand received the impact, not the wrist. The X-rays ended up being negative and he is a game-time decision for Tuesday against Ohio State. Earl Calloway: C+ Just average. Had some sloppy plays, but played decent overall. Did hit 2-3 from downtown which was good to see. If he can hit a couple outside shots every now and then, teams won't be able to play off of him. Armon Bassett: C+ Similar to Earl, just an average game with some good and some bad. Errek Suhr: D+ 18 minutes of nothin'. Ben Allen: C- Didn't enter the game until 11 minutes to go and IU leading by 25 points. There's a good chance he will have to see significant minutes in the Ohio State game and it worries the shit out of me that Sampson hasn't yet found a way to get him to provide some type of production. Mike White: C Nothing but the final 6 garbage minutes of the game. Sampson really hates this guy. Joey Shaw: B A little surprising, but Shaw also didn't enter the game until 11 minutes to go and IU leading by 25 points. However, he came in and was very active. So active that he managed to commit 4 fouls in his first 4 minutes of play. However, he also drew 3 fouls and knocked down 5 of 6 freebies. Add in a dunk and another field goal and suddenly he had 9 points and 3 rebounds in only 9 minutes of play. Xavier Keeling: B+ He was actually first off the bench when Stemler and D.J. got in a little foul trouble. Again, "X" was on the floor when the Hoosiers went on their 12-0 run to close out the first half. During that run, he forced 2 turnovers and had a nice assist on the fast break. He also had a great play where he legally screened a defender on a 3-on-2 fast break so that Shaw could get to the basket with an easy layup. Kelvin Sampson: C+ It's tough to grade a coach after 3 cupcake teams. We will quickly see if Sampson has this team ready by opening Big Ten play with OSU, MSU, & PU. Telecast: F I usually Tivo these games so that I can watch them after the boys go to bed to avoid any distractions (and to avoid being a bad father). But I now honestly think that I would rather hear "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Hey Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Watch this Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Hey Daddy, DADDY, DADDY, DADDY, DADDY, HEY DADDY, DADDY, DADDY, DADDY, WATCH THIS DADDY, DADDY!, DADDY!, DADDY!, HEY DADDY!, DADDY!, DADDY!, WATCH THIS DADDY!, DADDY!!!!!, DADDY!!!!!, DADDY!!!!!, HEY DADDY!!!!!, DADDY!!!!!, DADDY!!!!!, WATCH THIS DADDY!!!!! At least then I wouldn't have to listen to Laskowski and whatever poor schlep of a play-by-play guy that they stick with him. In tonight's game, the play-by-play guy is calling the game and says "Wilmont for a wide-open 3, it's GOOD!" Laskowski follows that up with "he really likes the wide open shot" in his library-voice. Pathetic. And the play-by-play guy kept referring to Sampson as Calvin. I know it's not quite as common as John or Tom, but if you look at Kelvin and say Calvin, there's something wrong with you. Poll Questions The results of last week's other poll questions were 4 votes for IU beating Ball St by 11-20 points (CORRECT), 3 votes for a 21+ blowout victory, and 1 vote for a loss. Also, it was a unanimous vote for Testicle Tech as Ball State's new name. Go Hoosiers!