IU 77 W. Michigan 69

Well, it's a team that I think they should have beat by 20 or more, but a win is a win. Another horrible first half for the Hoosiers -- they were losing the entire half and were down 30-27 at the half. Clearly, they got it going in the 2nd half by putting up 50 points. I thought the main thing that changed the game was the aggressive 2nd half play by Calloway and Bassett. They were aggressive with the ball and that led to a lot of points. IU has been getting contributions from about 8 guys per game so far this year. But tonight, it was just 5 players that did all the damage -- Calloway, Bassett, Wilmont, Ratliffe, and DJ were all in double-figures. Nobody else scored except for Stemler and he only had 2 points on a layup. Overall Team Performace: C- Kind of a tough grade for a win, but really it's a pretty easy grade to assign because it was a clear-cut F in the 1st half followed by an A- in the 2nd half. 20 minutes of basketball just isn't going to cut it in the Big Ten. D.J. White: B+ 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots. Those numbers speak for themself. He did an excellent job helping out and blocking shots, but he did a relatively poor job on his own man. That's a tough task when you're being asked to bail out your teammates, but he still needs to do a better job on his own man. Even so, this is exactly the type of performance we need out of D.J. Lance Stemler: D- Managed to make a wide open layup which is his only basket in the last 3 games. After 0-3 from the arc tonight, that makes him 0 for his last 11 on 3-point attempts. He also had 3 turnovers in just 15 minutes. Those results earned him some splinters in the 2nd half. He was brought here to shoot and just appears to be in a slump right now. Tonight's looks were good ones, he just couldn't get them to go down. He'll be back. Roderick Wilmont: B- Good numbers with 14 points and 6 rebounds, but those seemed to be the only plays where he did anything worthwhile. To say that Wilmont operates with a green light would be an understatement. After he scores a quick 5 points to push IU's 6-point lead to an 11-point lead (their largest of the game at that point), he proceeds to jack up some deep 3s on the next two possessions and misses both. It was late enough in the game that IU probably should have run some offense to take a little time off the clock and make sure they got a good shot. But then again, that's what I love about Wilmont. If he had hit one of those to give him 8 straight points and IU a 14-point lead, that place would have erupted. It didn't quite work out that way tonight, but he still had some key buckets in their spurt to take the double-digit lead. A.J. Ratliffe: A- Sampson challenged him to have back-to-back good games and he responded. What I really like to see is that you can tell he is playing with confidence. He had 4 or 5 moves tonight that were so silky-smooth, you could tell he was just playing. He wasn't over-thinking, he wasn't tentative, he was just playing. I've complained in the past that he is athletic enough and talented enough that he should be filling the b0x score. Well, how's this for a stat line -- 13 points, 7 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and 0 turnovers. It should also be noted that Ratliffe had a nice tomahawk jam on a break-away. Earl Calloway: B+ Earl was up and down tonight, but there was definitely more good than bad. I like it when he plays aggressively. I'm willing to accept a few mistakes if he is playing aggressively and making things happen. He did just that tonight. He had his mistakes -- 4 turnovers and some over-agressive defense led to some easy W. Michigan layups. However, that aggressive play also led to 20 points, 3 assists, and 4 steals. Those 20 points included 10-11 from the line. He can stop shooting 3s though. Unless he starts hitting a couple, I think he is better off taking it to the rack even if he is wide open. Armon Bassett: B+. Wait, correction to an A- for the dunk. Along with Calloway's aggressive play, I think Bassett's effort in the 2nd half may have been the biggest factor in IU pulling out the victory tonight. All 12 of Bassett's points came in the 2nd half on 5-7 shooting. I don't have a very good memory, but I remember all 5 of Bassett's baskets because they were all big-time plays. He was nailing jumper after jumper off the dribble and they were nothing but net. And then he also got out on a break-away and had a nice two-handed dunk. He even added a little flare to it. It was "get out of the recliner" good. I played it back 10-12 times on the Tivo. To me, seeing a little guy dunk in basketball is like a triple in baseball. Something about seeing a little guy get up and throw it down is impressive. Errek Suhr: D Played 10 minutes and literally had all zeroes in the box score except 2 fouls. It almost looked like mono had caused Ben Allen to shrink by a foot. Shaw, M. White, Keeling: D Each played 5 mintues, each did nothing. Kelvin Sampson: C+ You just can't go a whole half without getting something going. A 4 or 5 minute stretch is one thing, but a whole half is a problem. Of course, the players missed a lot of wide open looks in the 1st half. I think they were 2-13 from the arc at halftime and most (if not all) of those 13 shots were good open looks. It's hard to peg that on the coach. I really liked the halftime adjustment -- he clearly told Calloway and Bassett to be aggressive with the ball. They were driving the ball and good things were happening. They would either finish themselves, go to the foul line, or kick for easy shots. This is the way they should be playing offense all the time. You have to put pressure on the defense by driving the ball. I'd like to see more of this philosophy. Telecast: F How in the world is Laskowski getting paid to do IU games? I just don't understand it. He has updated from "stuff shot" to "dunk shot". Wow, so exciting. And then you had the yahoo doing the play-by-play. I don't even know who that was, but when Mike White entered the game, he said that Mike Davis entered the game. That's not a funny thing to say to us scarred IU fans. Poll Results Favorite Hoosier on this year's team: 6 votes - D.J. 6 votes - Wilmont 1 vote - Shaw 1 vote - Suhr IU will beat W. Michigan by: 2 votes for 1-12 points -- CORRECT 8 votes for 13-25 points 1 vote for 26-plus points 1 vote for IU losing Current opinion of the Sampson hire: 3 votes for excellent hire, program is headed back to elite status 9 votes for liking it, but need to see proof on the court 2 votes for could've done better, could've done worse 0 votes for hating it Go Hoosiers!