IU 100 W. Carolina 52

This one was a laugher right from the get-go. DJ had 3-pt plays on the first 2 possessions to make the game 6-0 and this game was over. DJ and Gordon absolutely dominated the early part of the game. Gordon hit his first 5 three-pointers and every one of them was spectacular. Going between the legs and then draining a 23-footer. Another one he came hard to his left, but then he squares up beautifully and swish. Another one he didn't catch cleanly but still gathered it up and as Chris told me "I don't even think that one hit the net". Meanwhile, DJ continued to dominate the inside and DJ and EJ combined for 25 of IU's first 26 points and that was all in the first 8 or 10 minutes of the game. Gordon cooled off after that and only hit 1 out of his other 6 three-pointers (still 6-11 from the arc ain't too shabby). However, the additional one he hit was probably the best out of all of them. Gordon had started taking the ball to the basket because the jumper wasn't going anymore. However, in this case, he started to drive hard, then planted his right foot and did a right hand reverse between the leg dribble and swish. This move happened so fast that I actually had to play it in slo-mo to realize that he had done a reverse between the leg dribble. Amazing. After DJ and Gordon put this game out of reach, then some of the other guys got involved and it was blowout city. Overall Team Performance: A Western Carolina is awful, but this was a dominating performance. Gordon and DJ both playing well at the same time makes IU unstoppable. D.J. White: A+ Now he's playing like an All-American. DJ logged his sixth straight double-double with 21 points (7-9 FG) and 11 rebounds in just 24 minutes. He set the tone with his back-to-back 3-point plays and was a dominating force whenever he was on the court. Dunks and big rebounds all over the place. He had a nasty put-back dunk on a Gordon missed FT that was awesome. Mike White: C- Big Mike did his thing in the 1st half, but had an awful 2nd half. To start the 2nd half, he committed 3 fouls in only 50 seconds. He sat down for the next 12 minutes, then when he came back in the game, he committed another foul within 10 seconds, so that was 4 fouls in exactly 1 minute. Impressive. Jordan Crawford: A- After coming back from suspension, Crawford has been taking advantage with back-to-back good games. Bassett had been struggling and has now been suspended for the last 2 games, so it might be interesting who gets the majority of point guard minutes when they are both available. Crawford had 19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 0 turnovers. He also had a great tomahawk dunk on a fast-break. The only negative was his outside shot (0-4 from 3PT). Jamarcus Ellis: B+ Just another typical game for Ellis -- 9 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals. Sampson also mentioned that Jamarcus did a great job in the classroom with a 3.2 this semester. Very nice. By the way, Sampson said that the team had a great semester in the classroom, so I'm hoping that means there will not be any more suspensions for grades. Eric Gordon: A See above. DeAndre Thomas: B- DeAndre had some nice post moves and also had an impressive dunk. After a great zip pass through a 2-3 zone from his buddy Jamarcus, the big fella went up and threw it down with one-hand. Had 8 points on 4-6 FGs, but did not manage a rebound in 19 minutes of play. Lance Stemler: B- Stemler had his typical hustle plays and also logged 6 rebounds and 3 steals. However, we really need him to knock down the open jumpers and he was only 1-7 from the arc in this game and all 7 of those shots were wide open. Of course, that goes without saying because Stemler only shoots when he is wide open. It's not like Stemler is out there trying to pull off Gordon-like moves. Brandon McGee: C+ The good = 7 rebounds. The bad = 0-4 3PT FGs. Kyle Taber: B+ 6 rebounds and a block in 12 minutes. Brett Finkelmeier: B- Made both his FTs for his first points of the year, but also had a turnover. Adam Ahlfeld: C- Did not make it into the box score in 2 minutes of play. AJ Ratliff: DNP (suspension) Expected to back for their next game against Coppin State next Saturday. Armon Bassett: DNP (suspension) I still haven't heard anything other than it's a game-to-game suspension. Eli Holman: DNP (injury) Injured wrist, but I haven't heard how severe the injury is. Go Hoosiers!

Odds & Ends

KY Game: No Gordon. No Bassett. No problem. Yes, we learned that Kentucky really does stink this year, but that was an impressive win for the Hoosiers. They built a solid lead and never looked back. DJ with his 5th straight double-double. Nicely done. "Jordan's Better" Some fans and media types did not care for the "Jordan's Better" chant at Assembly Hall. Come on. Joe Crawford is a senior at Kentucky who is playing against his kid-brother Jordan who is a freshman at IU. If little brother lights you up in a HUGE rivalry game between your two schools, then I think a chant of "Jordan's Better" is pretty mild. Suspension Updates: Armon Bassett Still suspended. Sampson isn't saying much, but he did say that Armon will not play again Saturday. Sampson is still saying the suspension is game-to-game and that "Armon still has some work to do". Even though his comments have been brief, it sounds like Sampson is more pissed off about Armon than he was about Crawford. Or maybe it's just the fact that it is the 3rd guard to be suspended this year. A.J. Ratliff Earlier, it was reported that this Saturday would be his first game back. However, the 1st semester finals are this week and it now looks like all the grades and paperwork will not be completed before Saturday's game. Nobody seems to really know for sure, but Saturday is looking doubtful. Of course, the fact that the 1st semester is finishing up also makes me a bit nervous with this team. Will someone else not make grades and get suspended for 2nd semester? I sure hope not. Sounds like a good poll question, I think I'll add one (see right). Injury Updates: Eric Gordon Last week, Sampson sure made it sound like Gordon would play against Kentucky and he didn't. This week, Sampson is saying that he fully expects EJ to play this Saturday. We shall see. No need to rush him back against Western Carolina, but he has been practicing this week, so it does sound like he is good to go. Eli Holman Hurt his wrist in practice. X-rays did not show a break, but they are still concerned about possible ligament damage. Some additional notes from iuhoosiers.cstv.com: Eric Gordon leads the league and is eighth in the nation in scoring (24.3) and is seventh in the league in field goal percentage (53.4), second in three-point field goal percentage (50.0), and in free throw percentage (83.8). He has made (62) and attempted (74) more free throws than any other player in the league. The last freshman to lead the Big Ten in scoring was Minnesota's Kris Humphries (21.7) in 2004. The highest scoring average by a freshman in league history was set by Purdue's Glenn Robinson (24.1) in 1993. D.J. White was named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second straight week (12/10) after averaging 22.5 points and 13.0 rebounds against Kentucky and Tennessee State. He is currently eighth in the league in scoring (14.8), first in rebounds (9.1), second in field goal percentage (62.2) and sixth in blocked shots (1.78). He became the 41st member of the school's 1000-point club (1,006) against Kentucky. In the Last Four Games The Hoosiers are enjoying their second four-game winning streak of the season and will look to match their longest streak from last year at five games against Western Carolina. Here are some notes comparing numbers against the first five games of the season. The Hoosiers are dominating the boards winning the battle 38.2 to 28.5 since the Georgia Tech game. Senior D.J. White is averaging 18.3 points and 13.0 rebounds per game during the win streak. He started off the season by averaging 12.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in the first five contests of the year. Junior Jamarcus Ellis also has nearly doubled his early season scoring averaging 12.0 the last four games compared to 6.2 in the first five games of the season. Senior Lance Stemler is averaging 7.8 points during the winning streak. Senior Mike White has contributed 6.0 points and 5.0 rebounds since pulling off his redshirt against Georgia Tech. He is second on the team to D.J. White with 11 offensive rebounds in the four games. Some other names from IU's past: Bud Mackey Recently told a newspaper that he had enrolled in a high school in the Atlanta area. He also said that Sampson told him that he was still welcome at IU if he would consider going to junior college. The Hoosier Scoop (Herald Times blog) did some digging and the high school said they have never heard of him and it also does not appear true that Sampson ever made that offer to Mackey. Furthermore, the Hoosier Scoop reported that Mackey lived at three different households during high school and Senderoff never knew which house he would be at. Therefore, some of the impermissible phone calls were a result of calling 3 houses to try to reach Mackey. I still think the impermissible calls were inexcusable; however, if there are circumstances like that in the report that the NCAA is reviewing, I would hope that would lead to IU's self-imposed penalties being sufficient. Robert Vaden For UAB (7-4 this year), Vaden is averaging 18.5 points, 3.4 rebs, 2.5 assts, 2.4 turnovers, 41.1% FG, 81.3% FT, 41.7 3PT. Patrick Ewing Jr. For the 7-0 Hoyas, PE2 is averaging 5.3 pts and 3.9 rebounds. Next Game: At home against Western Carolina. Saturday at 7pm CT on the Big Ten Network. Prediction: IU 80 W. Carolina 69

Top Reasons - IU vs. Kentucky

First, all reports are that Gordon will play Saturday.

Heading into this Kentucky game, some IU fans think that IU will win this game easily. They point to KY's Gardner Webb loss, the fact that the game is at Assembly Hall, and that there is a lot of turmoil under new head coach Billy Gillespie, including the recent announcement that one of their best players off the bench, Alex Legion, plans to transfer.

I would tend to agree with these points, but I think this game will be a close one and for that reason, I am including my Top Reasons for Concern. Of course, this will be followed by my Top Reasons IU will beat Kentucky.

Top Reasons for Concern:

(1) It's a rivalry game

(2) Gardner Webb Loss is overblown This was only Kentucky's second game under their new head coach and new system. They came out flat and went down 14-0 to start the game and never recovered. It happened. It's done. And it doesn't mean that KY is horrible. Kentucky's only other loss was to North Carolina and I think we'd all agree that they are pretty good.

(3) Held 2 Opponents to 40 pts or less Yes, it was against Nobody and Nobody St., but that's still putting the clamps down. In fact, they have held their opponents 35 pts, 40, pts, 52 pts, and 54 pts in their 4 wins. Again, all 4 were against cupcakes, but IU has been giving up 70 points in their "easy" games.

(4) KY has the better Crawford Jordan's older brother, Joe, is a senior on Kentucky and is their leading scorer at 18 points per game.

(5) Gordon may not be 100%

(6) Turmoil There has been talk of some turmoil in Kentucky-land, but I think IU can match just about anybody this year in that category.

(7) They have a good coach It may take a while for Gillespie to get his system in place, but any team with a good coach in college basketball is a dangerous team.

All of the above are reasons for concern, but IU will still win the game by a score of 74-70 and here are the Top Reasons why:

(1) Assembly Hall It's been a long time since KY has had to go into Assembly Hall and face IU's home crowd.

(2) Jordan Crawford Yes, Kentucky has the better Crawford, but it will still be a big lift for IU to get Jordan off of suspension.

(3) Gordon Even if not 100%, it is still pretty simple. Gordon plays, IU is better.

(4) We have a good coach They may have a good coach, but he is in his first year. We have a good coach and he is in his second year. Advantage IU.

(5) D.J. White Do I hear 5 straight double-doubles?

So there you have it, it will be close, but IU will win this one 74-70.

Go Hoosiers!

Boycott All Things Kentucky

I'm calling for a boycott of all things Kentucky this week. So that means no Kentucky Fried Chicken, no moonshine, no listening to bluegrass, no betting on horses, no going to the dentist, no watching Ashley Judd movies, and of course no inbreeding. And for those of you that live in the Cincy area, it would be appreciated if you fly the bird at one Kentucky fan per day until Saturday. I also thought it would be fun to take a look back at the poll question from last year. Most HATED Kentucky player: Tayshaun Prince - 3 votes Rex Chapman - 3 votes Patrick Sparks - 3 votes Richie Farmer - 3 votes Scott Padgett - 2 votes Travis Ford - 1 vote Jamal Mashburn - 1 vote Antoine Walker - 1 vote Tony Delk - 0 votes Nazr Mohammed - 0 votes

Gordon Hurt, IU Wins 84-72

The big story after this one is the injury to Eric Gordon. With about 6 minutes to go in the first half, Gordon drove the lane, jumped in the air, got twisted around, and fell hard on his back-side. After limping up and down the court once or twice, he came out of the game and did not return. He was clearly in pain and was holding his lower back. After the game, Sampson said Gordon was fine and expected him to be back for the Kentucky game this weekend. Also, Terry Hutchens of the Indy Star reported that he talked to both Eric Gordon Jr. and Eric Gordon Sr. after they returned from the Bloomington hospital for x-rays. They told Hutchens that the x-rays were negative and it was a bad bruise. EJ said he'd be OK, but Hutchens said he was still limping badly. So, it sounds like he should be fine, but the big question is when. Hopefully, he'll be ready for his one and only show-down with Kentucky. Interestingly, Gordon was not playing all that great but the Hoosiers held their biggest lead of the game at 36-17 when he left the game with 6 minutes to go in the first half. That 19-point lead was thanks to a great start by IU where they jumped out to a 17-4 lead in the first 8 minutes of the game. D.J. White was the key to the fast start as he scored 10 of those 17 points on 5-5 shooting. From that point to the point where Gordon got hurt, nothing too exciting but IU continued to slowly build on their lead and it looked like this one was going to be a laugher. Even after Gordon got hurt, it looked like IU was going to cruise. They were still up by 16 when Tennessee State hit a 3 at the first half buzzer to pull within 13 at halftime. Still, nothing to be worried about, but IU did allow Tennessee State to score 18 points in the final 6 minutes of the first half....not good. D.J. White was an absolute beast in the 1st half with 20 points on 8-8 FGs and 6 rebounds. However, the Hoosiers came out sloppy after halftime and suddenly Tennessee State hit a 3 and the lead was down to single-digits at 9 points. Tenn St had a guy by the name of Bruce Price that caught fire and IU could not stop him. However, I would argue that their effort put toward stopping him was pathetic. Let's just hope that Bassett was dead tired from being IU's only guard left standing (Gordon - hurt, Ratliff - suspended, Crawford - suspended). IU played very sloppy the entire 2nd half and the game stayed right around the 9-13 point mark for the first 12 minutes of the 2nd half. Then, with 7 minutes to go, Tenn St hit a 3 and cut the lead to 7. At this point, Tennessee State had outscored IU 41-29 over the last 18 minutes and since Gordon left the game. So, needless to say, IU missed Gordon tremendously. Obviously, he can score points in many different ways, but I am guessing that Sampson would have also challenged EJ to stop this Bruce Price guy and I am guessing Gordon would have done so. And I do think Bassett and Ellis were dead tired. IU was playing their 7th game in 15 days and they were playing this game after getting back from Southern Illinois at 2:30am Sunday morning. Even before Gordon got hurt, Bassett and Ellis were playing about 35 minutes per game without Ratliff and Crawford. Anyway, back to this disgusting 7-point game with 7 minutes to play. The description of what happened next should be prefaced by the fact that Lance Stemler had missed very badly on all 3 of his 3-pt attempts to this point. But when they needed it most, Stemler hit back-to-back 3s to push the lead right back to 13 and then IU kept the lead at 12 points are higher for the rest of the game. Also, Bassett had badly missed on all 4 of his 3-pt attempts, but he finally hit one shortly after Stemler's pair. Overall Team Performance: D+ Tennessee State is not nearly as good as Chattanooga or Illinois State. This is a team that IU should beat 90-55. Or if Gordon gets hurt, they should still beat them by about 84-60. Aside from the first 10 minutes of the 1st half, the defense was horrible yet again. Sampson had to go back to the 2-3 zone because the man-to-man defense is awful. IU's 3-pt shooting was bad. They finished 4-16 and 3 of those came within a couple minutes. Also, Tenn St put on a press and IU looked terrible against it. Bassett's ball-handling and passes were atrocious and Ellis was just too aggressive with some of the passes he tried to make. On the positive side, they did win. I don't care how ugly it is, but there is still a big difference between playing bad in a 12-point victory over Tenn St versus losing to Tenn St. So, the fact that they won the game automatically gets the team to a D-. Then, the play of D.J. White lifts the team grade to a D+. More on DJ below. D.J. White: A DJ posted his 4th straight double-double and finished with 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots. And this wasn't just in the absence of Gordon because DJ scored 20 points in the first half, most of which was done with Gordon still in the game. In fact, the only reason DJ doesn't get an A+ is that he cooled off a little in the 2nd half (3-8 FGs). Sampson said that DJ has gotten better in every game and I would agree. I'm not sure why he started the season so slow, but he has looked very good in the last few games. Eric Gordon: C Gordon really wasn't looking too good before he got hurt. He was 1-4 from the field, including 0-2 from the arc. However, as usual, he did a good job getting to the line and he was 6-6. He did miss a dunk on a fast break that probably would have been his best one yet if he could have gotten it down. But it didn't take him long to redeem himself. On the very next possession, Stemler found Gordon on a back-door cut and he threw down one of his signature tomahawk dunks. And because he had just missed a dunk, this one seemed to have a little extra mustard. Often times, Gordon gets away with a loose handle on the dribble because he is so strong. However, sometimes he tries to dribble through traffic and when he starts to lose the handle, he tries to keep going and dribbling. At some point, I think he just needs to stop and grab the ball. Twice tonight, he tried to keep a dribble alive for half the length of the court only to ultimately lose the ball. Once Big Ten play arrives, every possession is so important that I would prefer him to just grab the ball any time he starts to lose the handle. Of course, on many occasions already this year, he is able to keep dribbling and either converts or gets fouled, so maybe I'm getting picky. If you haven't noticed, my grades are pretty tough on the fabulous freshman, but that's just because he is capable of some big things. If he puts it all together, he is going to hang 40 on somebody. At Illinois would be nice. All that said, the Hoosiers clearly missed him tonight. On the offensive end, he not only scores, but his defender goes with him everywhere he goes. That, in turn, opens the lane and the post area for everyone else. And defensively, I think Sampson would have put him on the Price guy that lit us up for 34 points. So, get better Eric, we'll need you against Kentucky. Armon Bassett: D Since his hot start, Bassett hasn't been able to throw it in the ocean. I think they mentioned that he was 9 for his last 38 or something. I don't know if that included tonight, but he was 2-11 tonight. His shot looked bad, his ball handling was bad, his passing was bad, his decision making was bad, and his defense was worse. Don't worry Armon, I'm still a huge fan. You just looked like crap tonight. We'll chalk it up to being tired due to all your fellow guard teammates bailing on you. Jamarcus Ellis: B Another double-double for J-Ellis and nearly a triple-double. Actually, nearly a quadruple-double. Unfortunately, one category was turnovers. So, we'll start with the bad. Jamarcus had 7 turnovers tonight. Mainly bad passes and usually just trying to do too much. Fortunately, he was also successful in many of his attempts to make things happen. His previous two double-doubles were in points and rebounds, but tonight's were points and assists. He finished with 10 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. Lance Stemler: B+ He was headed for a D+ until he made those back-to-back 3s when the game got really scary at only a 7-point lead. Other than that, he had a typical Stemler game -- some hustle plays combined with some bad plays. But those were a couple of big shots. Especially since he had missed his first 3 attempts badly, I figured he was going to miss his next 10 attempts like he did last year. So, I was really glad to see him bounce back and hit them when they really counted. Mike White: A- I really like Mike White. You know when he is in the game, bodies start flying. I love it. And not only did he have 8 rebounds, he chipped in with 11 points including 5-8 from the line. Brandon McGee: B- McGee contributed with 7 points in 13 minutes, but often looked lost out there. DeAndre Thomas: C Limited minutes again since Mike White clearly offers better defense and better rebounding. Was it just me or did the big fella try to dunk twice tonight? The first one looked like he got fouled and they didn't call it, but he got the rebound and put it in anyway. I wasn't paying attention to the final seconds of the game, but I think he tried to dunk again. Anyway, I think I like rotating Stemler, Mike White, and DeAndre. Sampson has the ability to use different looks. If he wants the hustle plays and possibly an additional spot-up shooter, he can go with Stemler. If he wants rebounding and toughness, he can go with Mike White. And if he wants an additional offensive threat in the post, he can go with DeAndre. Once Sampson has the same luxury with the guards by getting everyone healthy and off suspension, it will make a big difference for this team. There were definitely some stretches were Bassett and Ellis just looked tired on defense and sloppy on offense. Ideally, Sampson could quickly turn to his bench and tell Crawford and Ratliff to get in there and hopefully that would get the Hoosiers back on track. Tonight, Sampson's hands were tied, he had to keep Bassett and Ellis in there. We'll definitely keep our eye on the health status of Gordon this week. Early reports sound pretty good, but then again, I wouldn't be surprised if IU doesn't give any definitive information to keep Kentucky guessing. Go Hoosiers!

IU @ Southern Illinois

I'll be heading down to Tom's house for the game, so my postgame recap won't be posted until Sunday. In the meantime, feel free to add your prediction and your pre-game, in-game, or post-game comments. Let's get the prediction out of the way: IU 67 S. Illinois 63 Top 5 Reasons Why IU Will Win: (1) Defensive Strategy Yes, it's true that our defense stinks up the joint, but I think Sampson will at least employ a defensive strategy in this game that will lead to victory. SIU's best player (Falker) plays down low and as a team they are known for their toughness and grittiness. However, they are not necessarily known as a great shooting team. Therefore, I think IU will focus on stopping Falker by trying to deny him touches and collapsing down on him when he does get the ball. IU needs to make SIU shoot jump shots and then control the rebounds. (2) IU's Role Players SIU is going to have two really strong defenders that match up pretty well with Gordon and DJ. Therefore, I think it will be important for IU to get big contributions from their role players. Ellis, Stemler, and Mike White all stepped up big-time against Georgia Tech and I think it will be important for them to do the same against SIU. (3) FT Shooting I think SIU is a pretty good FT shooting team, but IU has done a good job getting to the line. In a game like this, it will be important for IU to win the FT battle in both attempts and obviously makes. (4) 3-PT Shooting 3-pt shooting is big in every college game, but for IU on the road, it seems to be one of their biggest problem areas. All year, Bassett could get some pretty good looks with all the attention Gordon gets and I think he is going to knock some big ones down in this game. And even with tough defense, Gordon can still knock a couple down. And I still say if Stemler starts hitting 3s with any regularity, this team gets to be very tough to defend. (5) Tom and I are watching the game together IU is undefeated when Tom and I watch a game together (excluding games they lost). Also, it should be noted that this is the game that 10 out of 22 voters predicted as IU's first loss. Of course, the other 12 votes were for a later game so we are all wrong. Nonetheless, this is obviously a game that has many of us concerned and I certainly do not think it will be easy. But I think Cook made the point earlier in the year and that is if IU is truly "back", then these are games that they have to win. Last year's team was bad on the road. This year's team looked horrible on a neutral site. So, why do I think that IU can pull this game off against a very good mid-major team on the road? Well, that's what this whole post was about so if you still aren't convinced, then you are probably predicting IU will lose this game. I'm sticking with an IU victory 67-63. Go Hoosiers!

IU 83 Georgia Tech 79

What the hell was that? That was a weird game. I don't even know where to start. I guess let's start with two things I definitely didn't expect: (1) Jordan Crawford suspended indefinitely. (2) Mike White is in the game. First, related to Crawford, he is actually suspended for 3 games and will be back for the Kentucky game, even though the ESPN Bottom Line flashed that he is suspended indefinitely about 172 times during the game. I did some quick internet searches, but could not find the exact reason why. Everything simply stated "violation of team rules". So now half of our guards are sitting on the bench in neckties. Then, all of the sudden, I see Mike White enter the game. He was supposed to be redshirted this year, but Sampson just said in the postgame conference that the Xavier game showed him that they needed more maturity and more toughness. As for me, I really like the move. I think it gives us a lot more flexibility with our lineup. Going into the year, depth was supposed to be one of our strengths. However, with Mike White planned to redshirt, Eli Holman and Brandon McGee not yet ready, and Ratliff on suspension, we were only a 7-man rotation. Then, add a Crawford suspension and it would have been a 6-man rotation without Mike White. More on Mike White in the report card. Then, there was the bizarre ups and downs of that game. One minute, I would be really impressed with IU, then the next minute it would look like we were the worst team in the country. Overall Team Performance: C Without losing sight of the fact that they won, it is clear that this team has a lot of holes and a long way to go to be a true Top 10 team in the country. Of course, now that we lost, we dropped to #15, which seems to be more appropriate. And now for the broken record portion of the report card -- our defense sucks. Especially the start of both halves. G-Tech scored 24 points in the first 10 minutes of the game and 15 points in the first 6 minutes of the 2nd half. They also opened the 2nd half with a 7-0 run. This team is giving up way too many easy baskets. IU did manage 83 points, but with only 10 assists. The good news -- players like Jamarcus Ellis and Eric Gordon were converting on their one-on-one moves. Most likely, IU will have a lot of success with one-on-one moves because they have some very talented offensive players. But I still contend that this team is much more dangerous when they either play inside-out, drive and kick, or drive and dish. There was one IU possession that I thought was perfect and the color-man even said that was IU's best possession of the night. Gordon drove the lane and everyone collapsed, he then kicked out to Stemler but it was kind of a lazy pass so the defense responded in time, then Stemler kicked to Bassett, again the defense responded but Bassett drove into the lane to again cause the defense to collapse, Bassett then kicked to Ellis and Ellis knocked down the 3. That is how I envision the IU offense working -- break the D down by driving and then make the extra pass until the high percentage open shot is there. Interestingly, Sampson said in his postgame conference that Gordon has such a soft touch that he would rather EJ just loft it up on the rim rather than throw a 90 mph pass that goes whizzing past DJ's ear. I guess I would have to agree with that since Gordon threw DJ about 4 or 5 Brett Farve type passes right out of bounds. DJ then returned the favor late in the game by rifling one off of Gordon's leg out of bounds. Those two aren't quite on the same page just yet. Gordon was called for palming on his first two touches and then had several bad passes to total what the box score is calling 8 turnovers. And I think that is being generous. DJ added in 4 turnovers, which means our best 2 players combined for 12 turnovers. Not good. So, in this case, I guess I would have to agree with Sampson....if Gordon drives and a big-man steps over to help, still just try to get it up on the rim and a few good things can happen -- Gordon is really good so he might just make it, Gordon is also good at drawing the foul and hitting his FTs, or DJ is in good position for an offensive rebound if he misses. Anything would look better than Gordon whizzing it out of bounds and then DJ putting his hands up to try to catch it a few seconds later. Eric Gordon: C So, we already mentioned the turnovers. Not good. A couple things have happened in the last couple of games. First, after scoring around 30 points in each of his first 3 games, teams quickly realized that they cannot leave him, no matter what. In addition, he is going to draw the other teams best defender. The second thing that happened is that the competition greatly increased. Xavier and Georgia Tech were able to throw defenders at him that could match (or nearly match) his size, strength, speed, and quickness. So, EJ has definitely struggled and been frustrated the last two games, but I can already see him starting to adjust. It seemed that he made an adjustment in the second half tonight. Rather than going full-speed all the way to the basket (which was leading to turnovers in the 1st half), it looked like he was starting to use his first step to get by the defender, but then he was slowing down and using his strength to finish the play. I think he will continue to adjust to the tougher competition and he'll be just fine. For those of you seeing him for the first time tonight, I think you still were able to see some glimpses of what makes him so special. Hell, he still managed 29 points even though he played like shit. But you still got to see the drive to the basket and the (what's quickly becoming his patented) tomahawk jam. And then finally late in the game, you got to see him dribbling at the top of the key and then just drain the 24-footer right in that guy's face. Also, you repeatedly got to see him find a way to get to the basket and either finish or get to the line. The thing that was missing tonight was his passing. In some of the past games, he has also gotten into the lane and made some brilliant passes for easy baskets, but tonight it was turnover city. I think I could go on about Eric Gordon forever, but I'll try to keep it to just two more points. The first is that I thought he was horrible in the 2-3 zone. He was completely flat-footed and all they had to do was throw it to the wing on his side and they had an open 3-pt attempt. I think Sampson needs to ride EJ and challenge him in every facet of the game. He seems to be the type of kid that can handle it and will respond. On offense, they don't seem to run any plays for him. He just comes down and stands outside of the 3-pt line. Eventually, they give it to him and he makes something happen on this own. With a talent like that, shouldn't they be running him off screens and being more creative in the way they get him the ball? And with the way teams are face-guarding him anywhere within 30 feet of the basket, shouldn't the back-door be open? They mentioned tonight that he has 0 offensive rebounds on the year, which doesn't surprise me because the only time he is inside the arc is when he is driving with the ball. D.J. White: B 18 points and 14 rebounds is a monster line and exactly the type of line we would like to see out of DJ. However, I would swear that he left 25 points and 20 rebounds out there on the floor. It just seemed like there were several more rebounds that he should have come down with and his FT shooting was awful tonight. He didn't quite get the 10 FG attempts that I was hoping for, but he did go 6-9 from the floor, so I still think that should be a focal point of many of their half-court trips. 18 & 14 is very nice though. I'm thinking about adding "+" to that B by his name. Nope, not gonna do it. Armon Bassett: B No scoring tonight, but his 6 assists were big. I can think of at least 4 of them that led to 3-point baskets. Did a nice job of driving and kicking. Especially when Ratliff comes back, it will be important for Armon to continue to drive and kick. Armon's defense = it stunk very much bad. Jamarcus Ellis: A Yes sir, he does it all. In the second half, IU got off to another bad start and then things were pretty dicey there for most of the half. At some point, Jamarcus decided he was going to take over and do some scoring and he went on a roll. Unfortunately, he then committed his 4th foul and had to sit out a bit. But I really liked his determination and his fight in the second half. This is the type of guy you could have on your team at the HPER and never lose a game in 30 years. 15 points and 7 rebounds tonight. Amazingly, the 7 rebs will lower his average. Lance Stemler: B+ I'm telling you, if Stemler can hit those open 3s like he did tonight, this team is dangerous. He was 3-6 from the arc tonight and all 3 of them were big -- the first was to blow open IU's biggest lead of the first half, the second was to take back the lead after being down 2 in the second half, and the third was fairly late in what was still a tight game. Unfortunately, Lance was outmatched sometimes on the defensive end, but if that gets to be too big of a problem, that's when you bring in Mike White or Big Dre. I just think that Stemler does enough of the small things (take charges, dive after loose balls, play good help defense) to make a big difference for this team if he can knock down the open looks. His 15 points were big tonight with Crawford suspended and Bassett not scoring much. Mike White: A Sure, a little frustrating that layups are so difficult for a D-1 player, but I have to give Mike White a world of credit. He's been told that he is going to redshirt his senior year. I don't care how much of a "team" guy you are and I respect that you say the right things and act with integrity in the public eye, but this still has to eat at a guy privately. Nobody wants to redshirt, much less their senior year. Then, he is suddenly called on to come in and play his first game of the season in a Big Ten/ACC matchup. And he came in and did his thing. See ball, get ball. I loved it. He was like a human bowling ball in there. He went after rebounds and he went after them aggressively. But I thought the biggest thing was his defense. I know we all love Big Dre, but I thought Mike White was a big upgrade defensively. I think it is a great move to activate good ole "40 Cent". It now gives Sampson a lot more flexibility with how he uses the #4 position. If he wants a low-post offensive threat, it's Big Dre. If he wants a hustler and hopefully someone who will hit the 3, it's Stemler. If he wants toughness and rebounding, it's Mike White. I like it, I like it a lot. Once Crawford and Ratliff's dumb asses come back, then suddenly Sampson will have a deep team to work with. Of course, 3 new additions over the next month or so probably won't help the team cohesiveness that this team is already lacking, but it definitely will be for the good of the team in the long run. My hope is that this team is playing their best basketball in March and I think that is a very real possibility. DeAndre Thomas: Incomplete Only 2 minutes. I think Sampson saw this as a game where they needed Mike White's toughness and I would agree. Big Dre will have his moments, but tonight wasn't his style of ball. Kelvin Sampson: A Although I am not exactly happy where this team is in their development, there were 3 things that I liked out of Sampson: (1) Activated Mike White (2) Suspend Jordan Crawford -- don't know what he did, but it sends a no-nonsense message to the team. (3) Kicked the whole team out of practice on Sunday and made them practice twice on Monday. Sampson wasn't happy with the defensive effort in practice on Sunday, so he kicked them all out of practice. It would appear that Sampson is trying to send his message, I just hope the team responds. Damn, this is way too long. Thank you to all those that read all of this and I will really try to be more brief in the future. Go Hoosiers!

Top 5 Reasons IU will beat Georgia Tech

Here are the top 5 reasons IU will beat Georgia Tech: (1) Assembly Hall IU is undefeated under Kelvin Sampson at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers shoot the ball much better at home and the crowd seems to help them defensively. Once IU is able to get a couple turnovers and Gordon or Crawford goes in for a big dunk, the Hall gets rockin' and the Hoosiers usually cruise to victory. (2) D.J. White gets 10+ FG Attempts Although far from dominant, the last 3 halves of basketball for DJ have been his best ones of the year. He's finally starting to rebound and I think the Xavier game showed Sampson that DJ needs the ball more. DJ was 7-9 against Xavier while the rest of the team shot a horrible percentage. On the year, DJ is leading the team in FG% at 64% but he is only averaging 7 FG attempts per game, which is 4th on the team. Out of those 7, a couple of those are usually offensive rebounds and a couple are usually dishes from a guard for a dunk. That means that DJ is really only getting 3 or 4 shot attempts from posting up and using his post moves. DJ needs to do a much better job of posting up and the rest of the team needs to do a better job of feeding him and Sampson needs to be a better job of coaching both. I think we all figured DJ and Gordon would combine to average 40 points per game. Currently, we're getting that, but it's Gordon averaging 27 and DJ 12.2. I think this team is much more dangerous if there is more balance. Perhaps Gordon at 23 or 24 and DJ at 16 or 17 per game. Aw, screw it, let's keep Gordon in the upper 20s, but still have DJ up his effort to 16 or 17 per game. In theory, IU's half-court offense should be nearly unstoppable when they go through DJ. I like DJ's 1-on-1 post moves against almost anybody in the country (especially now that Greg Oden is no longer in college basketball). Also, it's pretty clear that opposing teams are not going to leave Gordon no matter what. So, it would seem that you could use that to your advantage when trying to give DJ room to work. And if they do double-team DJ, he should be able to pass out of it and this team is good enough to either score or to make another extra pass for the open shot. So, I say, go to DJ early and go to DJ often. He needs at least 10 FG attempts. (3) Eric Gordon Enough said. He's going to be a huge factor in every game they play. (4) Ellis Does It All Jamarcus Ellis is currently leading the team in rebounds, assists, and even tied for the lead in blocked shots. His rebounding has been incredibly impressive at 8.4 per game and although he occasionally tries to thread the needle, he has made some great passes. These things don't make headlines, but they sure do help the team win games. I expect more of the same against Georgia Tech. (5) Finally, a Good Draw After years of playing Duke, North Carolina, and Maryland in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, IU finally gets a break by playing Georgia Tech at home. I'm not saying this game is a guaranteed win, but it sure beats having to play UNC or Duke. Prediction: IU 81 Georgia Tech 71 Let's hear your prediction. Go Hoosiers!

Chicago Invitational Debacle

IU got their first true test on Friday night when Illinois State cut it to 2 in the 2nd half, but the Hoosiers responded well and ultimately won that game 70-57. That set-up tonight's championship game of the Chicago Invitational Challenge against Xavier. And I'm sure you know by now, tonight's result was not a good one as IU falls 80-65. Obviously, when you only shoot 1-15 from the arc, you are going to struggle. However, I still think the biggest problem tonight was again defense. If the Hoosiers were stronger defensively, you can possibly survive a poor shooting night from 3-point range. Tonight, they simply could not get stops when they needed them. Not only that, but they weren't even forcing tough shots, they were often giving up layups. The game started tight and you could tell that Xavier was going to be a formidable opponent. But then just about everything that could go wrong did actually go wrong for IU in the 1st half. Gordon picked up his 3rd foul and had to sit out the last 7 minutes of the half. Then, with 5 seconds to go in the half and IU down by 9, DJ has the ball in good position in the low post. He takes a dribble to back down his defender, the defender flops, and DJ gets whistled for his 3rd foul of the 1st half with only 2 seconds to go. Then, to add insult to injury, Xavier throws the ball the length of the floor, some jackass catches it and hits a 12-footer at the buzzer to make it 40-29 at half with Gordon and DJ both with 3 fouls. Ouch. But the disappointing thing about this game is that IU never even made a run in the 2nd half. This is college basketball where every team makes a run, but the game was never close again and IU just simply got their ass kicked. They played hard and the effort was there, but they just are not good enough defensively. To make a run, you have to make stops and they could not get a stop to save their life. They would play tough defense early in the shot clock, but then would have a break down, and Xavier was a good enough team to make the right passes and finish the plays. Even if the Hoosiers could get a stop every once in a while, their offense was just bad. Bassett's shot was way off tonight. He hit IU's only trey, but it took him 7 attempts. Gordon got 20 points, but that was only due to 12-12 from the line. He never got into a rhythm and never got anything going. DJ was the only guy that shot the ball well as he was 7-9 from the field, which begs the question as to why they don't go to DJ more and why DJ doesn't demand the ball more. Giving up 80 points in this type of a game is very concerning. This was a game that was mostly played in the half-court and was very hard fought. The fact that IU only scored 65 points is not what surprised or concerned me. But the fact that they gave up 80 is extremely troubling. I would have hoped that this IU team could have a cold outside shooting night, but still find a way to win a game like this by a score of something like 65-61. What might be even more concerning is that they played very hard tonight, so it's not an effort thing. I think it's going to take some time for all of these new guys to play well together on the defensive end and play Sampson's style of defense. Unfortunately, they don't have time because 3 of their next 4 games are against tough opponents in Georgia Tech, Southern Illinois, and Kentucky. So, if they don't get it figured out, they could be collared with another loss or two or three and suddenly our "special season" is starting to look very average. Very disappointing. They never even made a game out of it in the second half. Writing this crap is supposed to be therapeutic for me, but I still feel like I'm going to vomit, so I am going to stop now. I'd be interested in hearing everyone else's thoughts. My final thoughts are that I think the Chicago Invitational Challenge is a stupid tournament and Tom Earth remains the only good thing to ever come out of Chicago. Go Hoosiers.

IU 95 UNC Wilmington 71

Well, it was another horrible start for the Hoosiers. UNC-Wilmington got out to a 18-8 start by the first TV timeout. Once again, horrendous defense. Big Dre had it going early with 6 of IU's first 8 points, but that was the only bright spot out of the first 5 minutes of the game. In addition, Gordon started 0-3 and picked up 2 quick fouls. Gordon had not scored as of the 10 1/2 minute mark. Then, by the 10 minute mark, he had 5 points, and then added another layup a minute or two later. So, he can fill it up quickly even when it seems like he might be a little off. Stemler was a big spark off the bench with several hustle plays and IU finally took their first lead of the game with about 8 minutes to go after a couple nice drives to the basket by Bassett. From that point on through halftime, Bassett and Gordon took over with each of them scoring 16 first half points. The best backcourt in the nation might just be in Bloomington, IN. After the 18-8 start, IU outscored them 44-14 for the rest of the half. Also, after a couple timeouts, you could really see the defensive intensity pick up. Once this IU team decides to play defense, it's lights out. They forced 17 turnovers in the 1st half, which is what you want to see out of an athletic IU team that is playing a team like UNC Wilmington. Overall Team Performance: B They need to play 40 minutes of defense, not only 10 minutes. Eric Gordon: A- Well, the 3-pointer wasn't falling early. So, what does Gordon do? How about taking the ball to the basket and either finishing himself, going to the FT line, or finding a teammate for an easy basket. And another thunderous dunk. This dunk was frickin' awesome. Gordon got the ball at about half-court and had a 2-on-1 fast break. He took a couple dribbles and then just went hard to the rack and threw it down with authority. He puts his dunks down with such power that it scares me that he will hurt his shooting hand. By the way, I mentioned the 3s weren't falling for Gordon. Well, I just checked the box score and he was 2-5 from the arc. If 40% is an off night, I think we're still in good shape. He also went 12-13 from the line, which is why he is so tough to stop. Add on 5 assists and 3 steals to his 30 points and that is not a bad night's work. Armon Bassett: A- Bassett continues to impress. He had a couple bad turnovers and some defensive lapses, but his offense is looking stellar this year. 4-5 from the arc for 19 points. D.J. White: B- Again, I think DJ will show his value in lower-scoring games against better opponents. However, I would still like to see DJ be more aggressive. He had some nice dunks on good passes from teammates, but other than that, he just seemed to go with the flow. We will definitely need more out of him once the schedule starts to get more difficult. Jamarcus Ellis: B- Didn't seem as active in tonight's game, but still pretty solid. Lance Stemler: A- Stemler was everywhere tonight. He did a nice job on the boards, was diving left and right for loose balls, and played some tough defense. Unfortunately, Holman and Stemler bumped heads and the fear would be if Stemler suffers another concussion. So, we'll try to keep our eye on any word on Stemler. DeAndre Thomas: A- Big Dre did a great job opening both halves with some really nice post moves. He does a nice job posting and then using his big body to back the defender down. He opened the game with 6 early points and then also had 4 early points to start the second half. I think starting a fresh DeAndre and bringing Stemler off the bench for a spark has already proven to be a good move. Also banked in a FT, which seems to be a lost art. Jordan Crawford: B- Jordan got an early earful from Sampson for bad defense, but responded very well to play pretty good the rest of the 1st half. Another guy that can put some points on the board in a hurry. He also had 2 dunks in half-court sets. I would have to say that he is probably the guy that gives Sampson the most headaches. Tons of talent -- makes some incredibly good plays, but also makes some bonehead plays. Eli Holman: B+ Probably only played 20 seconds in the first half, but had an offensive rebound and kicked it to Bassett for a trey. Also played decent in the garbage minutes. McGee, Taber, and Ahlfeld also got some garbage minutes, but I had stopped paying attention at that point. Go Hoosiers!

IU 100 Longwood 49

Well, it's not often that the IU football team steals the headlines, but I think we need to start with a shout-out to the Hoosier footballers. What a great win on Saturday. Terry Hoeppner's dream and mantra was "let's play 13". Although IU was bowl eligible already with 6 wins, the fact was that they were not going to a bowl game unless they beat Purdue and got to 7 wins. So, if there was ever a game to win for Hep, it was Saturday's Old Oaken Bucket game. Not only did they win the game, they did it in dramatic fashion and with Jane Hoeppner on the sideline. I think it's safe to say that there's no crying in football, but I have to admit that I was a little teary-eyed at the end of that game. Although it's not a guaranteed bowl game, it certainly does look like IU will get invited to a bowl game and I think's it's fantastic that this year's football team was able to fulfill Coach Hep's dream of playing 13! On to the basketball game report card: Overall Team Performance: B+ Games like this are often tough to determine how well you played because it was such a huge blow-out. However, the defense looked to be slightly improved and IU only gave up 5 field goals in the entire second half. That said, the defense still looked pretty bad, especially as it relates to ball screens, switching, and help-side defense. As for the offense, they looked really good. They play well as a team and are very unselfish with the basketball. They ended up with 6 players in double-figures and won the rebounding battle by 13. DeAndre Thomas: A The big fella got the start and made the most out of it. I was very impressed with his post play and his passing ability. In addition, he was active on the boards and on defense. In just 15 minutes, he had 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. D.J. White: B Again, not really the type of game where DJ is going to dominate, but I would like to see him doing a better job on the glass (only 3 rebs). When he did get the ball in the post, he was effective with 4-5 FGs and 4-5 FTs. Jamarcus Ellis: A Wow, another 11 rebounds which gives him 20 rebounds in his first 2 games. He reached 10 rebounds with 15 minutes still to go in the game. He had several very good passes (5 assists) with many of them being to Big Dre. Armon Bassett: A- Another very good game for Armon. 14 pts, 5 assts, 4 rebs. His shot continues to look good as he knocked down 3-5 from the arc. Eric Gordon: B+ Only another 5-8 from the arc and another thunderous dunk to put together a line of 21 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, and 2 steals. Gets docked on the grade a little bit due to being loose with ball-handling (3 turnovers) and getting toasted on a back-door cut. But again, his offensive skills are amazing. The 3-pointers are just so effortless. Jordan Crawford: A- I think it's going to be nice having his offense coming off the bench. He came into this game and hit his first 6 field goals, all of which were off the dribble. He finished 7-10 and put up 16 points off the bench. Lance Stemler: A- Hey, looked who showed up. 12 points, 4 rebs, 3 assists, and 2 steals. That's a heck of a lot better than all zeroes. And the most promising thing was that he hit 2-3 from the arc. Brandon McGee: B 2 pts and 4 rebs in 12 minutes. Looks lost on defense sometimes. Eli Holman: B+ I like hearing that Eli is the first one in the gym and the last one to leave because his upside is huge. He could be a big-time shot blocker and had 2 in this game to go with 6 rebounds and 4 points. Go Hoosiers!

Predictions and Odds & Ends

IU hosts Longwood at Noon ET on Sunday. This game will not be nearly as nerve-racking as the Chattanooga game. This game will be over early and IU will cruise to a 97-65 win. Other Odds & Ends:

• IU's freshman single-season scoring record is an even 500 points by Mike Woodson. We might as well start the countdown for Gordon now -- he only needs 467 points to tie that record. By the way, Calbert Cheaney is 2nd on that list with 495 first-year points.
• This Sunday, Gordon has the opportunity to be the first IU player to score 30 points in back-to-back games since Alan Henderson did it in 1994. To put that in perspective, Mick was still in his 20's.
• Kelvin Sampson needs just 23 wins to reach 500. I think it would be a major disappointment if he did not reach that mark this year. Generally, IU likes to put a picture of me, Tom, & Cook in the IU basketball calendar when such coaching milestones are met, just as they did when Bob Knight logged his 700th win.
• Armon Bassett's opening game performance was overshadowed by his backcourt-mate. He hit the 20-point mark for the 3rd time in his IU career and set career highs in rebounds (6) and 3-pt FGs made (4).
• Tom will be going to the Longwood game, which separates the IU Hoops blog readers into 3 categories:

(1) Those who follow the Hoosiers and attend multiple games per year (Tom is in a category by himself, keep us the good work buddy).

(2) Those that watch every IU game -- whether it requires subscription to a special $100 package or whether they are lucky enough this year to be getting the Big Ten Network. Actually, I wouldn't say lucky to be getting the Big Ten Network because I know most of us who have DirecTV originally got it because they were the first to offer the ESPN College Basketball Game-Plan.

(3) Those that have cable through one of the stubborn cable companies that do not carry the Big Ten Network.

• Poll Results -- Most IU fans see the game at Southern Illinois as a tough one for this Hoosier team and I would agree. An interesting game to keep an eye on will be on Thanksgiving day when Southern Illinois plays at Chattanooga.
• Reminder -- The post-game report card for Sunday's game against Longwood will be delayed because I will be at Lambeau Field to ensure the Packers roll on to an 8-1 record.

Go Hoosiers!

How Good Is Eric Gordon?

So, just how good is Eric Gordon? Well, "good" is not the word that I would start with. "Great" might be where I would start and if I had a better vocabulary, there would be some additional fancy superlatives that would be appropriate. I've been trying not to over hype the freshman phenom after only one game in an IU uniform, but I can't stop myself. As the passionate Hoosier fans that we are, we have to really enjoy it when things are going well because we certainly are a miserable bunch when things are not going so great. It's now been 72 hours since Gordon's debut and as I reflect on his performance, I am more and more impressed. We knew we were getting a great offensive talent and he certainly delivered offensively. And as mentioned in the post-game recap, I was pleasantly surprised with the way he stepped up his on-the-ball defense to really turn the tide of the game. But there was one area that potentially concerned me about Gordon and that was that maybe he was too laid back and maybe he was too even keeled. Would he have the fire inside to put the team on his back and take over a game? Would he show the attitude and intensity to will this team to victory? Because I expected a nice easy win in the first game, I certainly did not think we would get answers to the above questions in Gordon's first game. But not only did we get those answers in Gordon's first game, he provided those answers with a resounding yes. After scoring an impressive 15 points in the first half but still finding his team losing, Gordon took the game over in the second half. He poured in an additional 18 points, threw down a thunderous dunk to get the crowd going, played tough and aggressive defense, and had a fiery look in his eye. It was that look and a little bit of attitude that made me realize that this is truly a special player. So, there you go, now I have over hyped him. I'm sure he will have games when he struggles, but he has such a well-rounded game that he has other options. For example, if he can't get his jumper to fall, he can take it to the basket and try to get to the line. Another impressive characteristic is that Sampson says that Gordon doesn't go through many highs and lows, he just simply works hard all the time. I am incredibly anxious to watch Gordon and the Hoosiers play again. On the national scene, Gordon is not the only freshman having an early impact. There are some very talented freshmen across the nation. After two games, Michael Beasley of Kansas State is averaging 31 points and 19 rebounds. Kevin Love of UCLA is averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds. Those two big guys were usually in the top 3 or 4 ranked recruits in the nation and appear to be very good players. Then there was the comparison of O.J. Mayo and Eric Gordon and the debate of who should be rated higher at the guard position. They are both extremely talented shooting guards. However, after watching a couple high school all-star games, I quickly knew that we had the better player. From just those all-star games, you could tell Mayo was a "me" player and Gordon was a team player and a winner. Thus far, we only have one game of evidence of college ball and at quick glance, both players had pretty even debuts. Gordon had 33 points and Mayo had 32 points. The interesting statistic was that Mayo launched 27 shots to get his 32 points, while Gordon only needed 15 attempts to get 33 points. If Mayo wasn't shooting, he was turning it over as he chalked up 8 turnovers in his debut. Oh, and one more thing, Mayo's team (USC) lost. It looks like Mayo played his second game tonight and he only took 12 shots for 16 points, but he had another 5 turnovers. It seems there are plenty of other freshmen making a big splash -- a freshman from N.C. State tonight scored 30+ on perfect 12-for-12 shooting, Syracuse has a couple talented freshmen, Derrick Rose is looking good at Memphis, and the Big Ten has some nice looking rookies as well with Kosta Koufas at Ohio State and Purdue's top 5 class. Even with all these other freshmen making headlines, I have to tell you that I couldn't be happier with our boy, Eric Gordon. Go Hoosiers!

IU Inks 4 Recruits

As expected, the Hoosiers received 4 signed Letter of Intents today. If you prefer a very brief summary of each player, I provide one below. Or for more details, click here for IU's press release that includes a background of each player as well as Sampson's comments on each player. Overall, the recruiting class is ranked nationally at #15 and second best in the Big Ten (behind Ohio St). I have to say that I am very pleased with the recruiting class. To follow up a Top 5 recruiting class with the #15 recruiting class is a very good crop of young players over a 2-year period. I know a lot of people are saying this could have been a Top 10 class if Kevin Jones would have announced IU today instead of West Virginia. Or it could have even been back-to-back Top 5 classes if the Hoosiers would have been able to keep Tyler Zeller in-state. The problem is that every team could look at every class that way. In the end, you are going to lose more recruiting battles than you win. Let's take a closer look at the recent Jones and Zeller recruiting decisions. As for Jones, something in my gut tells me that any player that decides to go play for Huggins does not belong in an IU uniform. It doesn't sound like his priorities were to play winning team basketball. Also, he is a similar type player as Devin Ebanks. IU clearly had Ebanks as their #1 target and they landed him. Jones would have been a bonus. Now Zeller is a completely different story. This one hurt a little more. Zeller would have given IU a solid recruit at all 5 positions and probably would have given them a Top 5 class. However, IU has a proven history of tall goofy white guys playing like....well, tall goofy white guys. And finally, the stinging truth about this one is that if Carolina offers and you don't mind not being close to home, you take Carolina over Indiana. That will change after IU wins the national title this year, but the fact is that IU has not been a truly elite program for the last 15 years. Even with the recent recruiting losses of Zeller and Jones, I still really like this recruiting class. It is a well-rounded class in a couple ways. First, it's well-rounded in that they landed a true point guard, a shooting guard, a wing player, and a nice-sized forward. Also, it's well-rounded because they landed a 5-star, a 4-star, and a pair of 3-stars. Obviously, the 5-star players can come right in and play, but if they play well, they can also go right on out after a year or two. But if you can land the right type of 3-star players, these are the guys that get better every year and are invaluable as juniors and seniors. It sounds like IU may have landed a couple a 3-star players that fit this very mold -- maybe not the most athletic players but they work hard and have high basketball IQs. Anyway, on to the brief summaries: Devin Ebanks - IU's prize recruit, the #2 small forward in the nation and #13 player overall. Described as a true scorer that can shoot the 3 and put in on the floor to create. Assuming Gordon is one and done (and he will be), Ebanks will help fill that big scoring void. Best operates in space and at 6-8 can play the 2, 3, or 4 spot. Terrell Holloway - 4-star true point guard. Came on board after the Crack Mackey situation. Matt Roth - described as a prolific 3-pt shooter. If he can truly be a sharp-shooter and hold his own on defense, he could fit in nicely on this team where other guys create and then kick to him for the dagger. Tom Pritchard - a 6-8 or 6-9 big body that will work hard and willing to do the dirty work. However, supposed to also have a nice touch on his jumper and at the FT line. Go future Hoosiers!

#8 IU 99 Chattanooga 79

If you didn't watch this game live or track it on the internet, don't be fooled by the final score. The Hoosiers got everything they could handle from Chattanooga. The Mocs opened the game with a quick 7-2 lead. IU slowly started to play better and took an 11 point lead around the mid-point of the 1st half. At this point, I was feeling pretty good and thought the Hoosiers would continue to build this lead and put the game away. But then Chattanooga completely out-played IU the rest of the half. It included a 12-0 run and shockingly IU found themselves trailing 50-46 at half. Yes, that's right, they gave up 50 points in the first half to Chattanooga.

Sampson's halftime speech must have been a good one as the Hoosiers came out strong in the second half. The crowd started buzzing when a dunk by D.J. made it 50-48. And then the crowd and the IU players went absolutely wild when Bassett dished to Gordon on a fast break for a monster tomahawk jam. He threw this thing down with some serious power and the crowd went crazy. That made the score 50-50 and forced a time-out.

IU took the lead but the game stayed under 10 points until about 9 minutes to go in the game. At that point, Gordon hit a 3 to give IU a 12 point lead and the Hoosiers finally blew this one open.

Let's not kid ourselves, this game was practically won by Eric Gordon himself. And it's not because he set an IU freshman debut record with 33 points (of course, that helped quite a bit). But it was his defense on the their point guard that really set the tone. He is a very good on-the-ball defender and he barely let their point guard get off any shots in the 2nd half after he lit us up in the 1st half. I think these quotes from Chattanooga's coach tell the story (from iuhoosiers.cstv.com)

"He scored 33, but I thought he was the difference in the game defensively. They came out in the second half and put Gordon on our point guard and he did a great job. Talk about size on the point. He was very physical and did a great job defensively." On the different pace between the first and second halves: "We played at the pace we wanted to in the first half. I really feel like the difference in the game was Gordon defensively and the way he man-handled our point guards in the second half. We couldn't get off the ball screen. We couldn't get off the plays. He was very physical. He's got great size. He's got great speed. He was dominating defensively, which disrupted everything that we wanted offensively. That young man changed the complexion of the game. That's why he's a pretty special player."

Overall Team Performance: C-

The defense in the 1st half was a joke. Absolutely horrible. Probably the biggest problem is the team defense -- how guys are switching or jumping out on screens, when to help, when not to help, etc. I think this will come over time as the newcomers play and practice more in Sampson's system, but they have a LONG way to go right now. Even the guys that have been there like D.J., Stemler, and Bassett looked lost at times. So, I think a lot of that has to do with not being confident in what their teammates are doing. Again, I think Sampson will get them there, but it will cost them some losses if they don't get there in the next couple of weeks.

Even though the most glaring issue appears to be the team defense, some of these guys are horrible individual defenders as well. I would give Jordan Crawford an F on his defense tonight. He was completely lost every time down the floor.

The other disappointing thing was the rebounding. IU got beat on the boards 34-32. IU's big men did not get it done on the glass. D.J. only had 4 boards, Stemler had 0 in 16 minutes, and DeAndre only had 3 and 2 of those were offensive on his own misses. What's even worse is that D.J., Stemler, and DeAndre only had 3 defensive rebounds combined. So, it's bad enough that the team defense is horrible, but when they did finally get a stop, they didn't get the rebound. Part of that is that there were a lot of 3s and a lot of long rebounds. The good news is that our guards did an excellent job clearing the defensive boards as Bassett, Ellis, and Gordon combined for 20 defensive rebounds! Even so, there were a lot of rebounds that our big guys should have brought in and they didn't.

My other concern was that IU looked tired. They didn't look like they were in game shape. I would have thought the Bahamas trip on top of the two exhibition games would have had them ready, but I guess nothing prepares you for the games that count.

Offensively, the team looked great. They went 14-25 from the arc and 23-31 from the line. They pass the ball well and were definitely knocking down the jumpers.

The important thing is that the first game is under their belt and it's in the W column.

Eric Gordon: A+

What a debut. 33 points on 9-15 FG, 7-11 3PT, & 8-10 FT. He added 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and a block. After 15 points in the 1st half and his team still losing, he took over in the 2nd half with 18 points and some tough defense. He did it all. On of his 3s, he went between the legs with the dribble and then drained a 24-footer. And I already told you about the dunk that changed the momentum of the game.

The only small negative would be that he sometimes loses control of the dribble when he goes into explosive mode. If you haven't seen him play yet, you'll know what I mean by explosive mode once you see him. Generally, on his 3s, he kind of lulls the defender, squares his body, and nails it. But when he decides to take it to the hole, he explodes. And if he keeps control, he is going to go right by the first 4 guys and over the 5th guy.

I think Sampson made a great move by putting Gordon on the point guard in the second half. With his size, strength, and quickness, he can shut a guy down. But he certainly wasn't immune to some of the team defense and off-the-ball problems. He also had his share of being a step late.

But overall, he was outstanding.

D.J. White: B-

Kind of a strange up-and-down game for D.J. I think he will really find his stride in conference play when it is more of a half-court game. He was effective when he got the ball on the block tonight and went 5-7 from the field. But he just didn't get that many touches in the post. I think IU needs to do a better job of getting it to him because he has proven that he can score on the block. Unfortunately, he could have had a few more attempts but he fumbled a couple of balls for turnovers (3). He had 2 blocks, but it is the 4 rebounds that I found disappointing.

D.J. needs to own the glass this year. He should be shooting for a double-double every time out. He did hit 7-10 FTs, so that was good to see. I'm not worried about D.J., I just don't think the 100-point games are where he shines.

Scary moment in the 2nd half when D.J. went up for a block and got his legs taken out. He landed hard on his shoulder and his forehead bounced off the floor. At first, I was scared it was going to be a broken arm or separated shoulder, but it ended up just being a cut above his eye. He walked off the floor bleeding, but later returned to the bench with some stitches a bandage above his eye. With the game comfortably in hand, he did not re-enter the game.

Lance Stemler: D-

It seems that IU fans have a "fall guy" every year and I was really hoping Stemler would have a good game tonight so we could avoid this. But I just took a glance at the box score and it is brutal: 16 minutes, 0 points, 0-2 FG, 0-1 3PT, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 1 turnover, and 3 fouls. So why not an F? I do recall a couple nice hustle plays early in the game. I'm keeping the faith. Lance is going to come up big for this team a couple times this year. He WILL hit a big 3 at some crucial moments.

Armon Bassett: A-

IU's starting backcourt was pretty special tonight. You're willing to look the other way on 4 turnovers when you see 20 points (8-10 FG, 4-5 3PT), 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. His shot really does look greatly improved and a couple of his 3-balls came at some key points when this game was still close. His defense also looked terrible at times, but he looked like he may have still been slightly hobbled by that ankle sprain.

Jamarcus Ellis: A-

Led the team in rebounding (9) and assists (6). He does all the little things that are going to help this team win games. You can also tell that Jamarcus and DeAndre have played together a lot because Ellis found the big fella with some nice passes on several occasions. Ellis also seems to have a lot of emotion, but what I like is that he seems to celebrate more when his teammates do something big. Even though he plays with a lot of emotion, he also seems to be the guy that comes over to a teammate to calm them down if they are upset by a call or something.

DeAndre Thomas: B

Definitely going to play a big role on this team. It's nice to be able to bring him in and still have an inside offensive threat while D.J. is on the bench. And when D.J. and DeAndre are both on the floor, they can be a tough combination. DeAndre missed some easy ones, but he also converted some tough ones. The most important thing is that he comes in and he is active down low. He only had 4 fouls, which now makes my prediction of a season-long average of 5 fouls per game impossible.

Jordan Crawford: C+

The box score looks pretty good with 13 points (4-7 FG, 2-4 3PT, 3-4 FT), 3 assists, and 0 turnovers. However, I really can't get over how bad his defense was. This is where you miss Ratliff. I never thought Ratliff's defense was spectacular, but his defense is about 50 times better than Crawford's right now.

By the way, there were some interesting internet rumors about Ratliff earlier today -- the Herald Times blog (aka "The Hoosier Scoop") posted the rumor that Ratliff was being kicked off the team for failing a drug test. They clearly called it out as nothing more than a rumor, but they posted it nonetheless. Apparently, some of the fuel of the rumor had to do with Ratliff not being at the 2nd exhibition game. Later today, the same blog posted that the rumor had been dispelled and that IU Public Relations stated that Ratliff is still on the team and that he is only academically ineligible for the first 9 games.

Brandon McGee and Eli Holman only played the final 3 minutes and did not do anything.

Kelvin Sampson: B

I thought he could have used some time-outs when the tide was turning against the Hoosiers in the 1st half. Basketball is such a momentum game that I think you need to use your time-outs to break that momentum. Sampson usually does this, but he didn't seem to do it tonight. Also, I thought Crawford was bad enough defensively that he should have been pulled from the game a couple of times. My guess is that Sampson knows he is going to play a big role on this team so he wants him to play as much as possible. Like I said earlier, the move to put Gordon on their point guard seemed to work very well and the halftime speech must have been a good one. After giving up 50 in the first half, the IU defense held them to 29 in the 2nd half.

Referees: D-

The officiating wasn't actually that bad, but it's how Steve Welmer makes the call on a ball that goes out of bounds that drives me completely crazy. Instead of just pointing in the direction of the team that gets the ball, he feels the need to first point 3 times at the guy that last touched it. And then he points out how and where it touched him. Do we really need all that? Do I really care that the ball grazed #42's ass-cheek? No, I just want to know whose ball it is!!!

Jeff's Prediction: B+

Prediction: IU 99 Chattanooga 68. Actual: IU 99 Chattanooga 79. Pretty impressive to nail IU's score on the head, but I clearly underestimated how bad IU's defense is.

Bottom Line: If Sampson can get this team playing defense and rebounding, it will be a special season. He's got a lot of work to do with these guys on the defensive end. Sampson's strengths are defense and rebounding, so I am still confident that this is going to be a very good year.

Next Game: Sunday vs. Longwood at 11am CT on the Big Ten Network.

Go Hoosiers!

IU 111 vs. UNC-Pembroke 62

Overall Team Performance: B- Offense: A; Defense C- Again, the defense looked horrible in the 1st half and you could tell that Sampson was not happy. He even said in his halftime comments that they were only playing defense for 5 or 10 seconds per possession. Apparently, Sampson's half-time "talk" worked because they held Pembroke to 27 points in the second half. I'm confident that Sampson will get them playing defense. He held out Brandon McGee the first half because the coaching staff was not happy with his defensive intensity in practice. McGee responded well in the second half (see below). Injury Update: Bassett tweaked an ankle and did not play in the 2nd half as a precautionary measure. They play their first game in less than 48 hours, so we'll have to see if he is able to go, but it did not sound serious at all. Eric Gordon: A We have to start here tonight because the freshman was outstanding. He scored 8 points in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the game and had all 24 of his points at halftime on 8-10 shooting that included 6-6 from the arc. Simply amazing. Even though he didn't score in the 2nd half (0-3), he still played very well. He played about 10 minutes in the second half and played mostly point guard. Although he only had 3 assists, he really had some great passes and set guys up very well. It just turned out that a lot of the good passes ended up with the shooter getting fouled instead of converting for the assist to be credited. In addition to the 3-balls, Gordon also had a nice reverse lay-in on an alley-oop and had 2 left-handed blocked shots in the 2nd half. I now understand why Bruce Weber's voice is the way it is -- it's because he is still feeling the kick in the balls from losing Gordon. D.J. White: B- D.J. only managed 3 FG attempts and finished with 10 pts, 3 rebs, and 3 blks. Not exactly the line you want from your star big man. But this just wasn't the type of game that D.J. was going to excel in. UNC-Pembroke started 4 guards and a slashing forward and played a packed-in zone for pretty much the whole game. IU launched 30 treys (making 18 of them) instead of getting it down low to D.J. Lance Stemler: B+ Stemler was solid with 6 points, 5 rebounds (including 3 offensive), and several other loose ball plays. That's what we need out of him. Nicely done. Jamarcus Ellis: A- The tale of two halves. Scoreless in the first half, but then exploded for 15 points in the second half. At one point in the second half, Ellis and McGee combined for 21 straight IU points on 8-8 shooting that included 5-5 from the arc. He's not supposed to be much of an outside shooter, but he hit 3-5 from the arc. He's a lefty and while the 3-balls did not quite look Cheaney-esque, they still went in. I don't think that will be his forte, but he also dished out 8 assists in the game, which is another piece of evidence that this guy does it all and fills the stat sheet. 6 steals in the first exhibition game and now 8 assists in the second one. He hasn't done much on the glass yet, but I know he averaged about 7 boards in JuCo ball, so we might see some nights where he fills up that category as well. Of course, we are only going on two exhibition games, but my take on Ellis is that he is a very good defender off the ball (good with help and good in the passing lanes), but seems to struggle defending on-the-ball. I really like this guy. Armon Bassett: A Unfortunately, he tweaked his ankle and did not return, but he looked really good up until that point. He was playing very well with 15 points and 4 steals in just a half of play. His shot was looking very good as he drained 3-5 from downtown. Hopefully, the ankle is not serious, but the good news is that it didn't appear to be and Sampson even said he may have been able to go back in if it was not an exhibition game and they did not have their first regular season game in 2 days. But then again, you never know with these things, he could wake up tomorrow with a lot of pain and swelling. Let's hope not. DeAndre Thomas: B- Normally would get a lower grade, but as mentioned in D.J.'s write-up, this just wasn't the type of game for the big fellas. Jordan Crawford: C+ Well, he definitely came down to earth after that incredible performance in the first exhibition game. He was actually horrendous in the first half. His jumpers were way off the mark, he missed both his foul shots, had some ugly turnovers, and played some bad defense. But then he came back strong in the second half and actually finished 11 points and 6 assists. As mentioned in the player preview, I think we can expect a lot of highs and lows from Jordan this year. Brandon McGee: A If Crawford had the eye-opener performance in the first exhibition game, it was McGee that took that honor in the second exhibition game. Wow, this guy looks really good. As noted above, he did not play at all in the first half because of poor defense in practice. He came in the second half and immediately missed a 3 and then committed a stupid foul on the rebound. At this point, I was thinking that I could see why he seemed to be down the depth chart. From that point forward, he only managed to make 7 of his next 8 shots, which included 4-5 from the arc. And not only did he pour in 18 second half points, he also grabbed 7 rebounds in the second half. I was very impressed for someone who currently stands in the 8-10 range of the rotation. Eli Holman: B+ Word is that Eli has been working very hard before and after every practice. If he keeps up the hard work, stays out of trouble, and keeps his grades up, he could be a special player some day. Again, he is very raw, but he's got long arms and a natural ability to block shots. And even though he is raw and not the smoothest player offensively, he did show-off a nice lefty jump hook tonight and went 3-4 from the field and 2-3 from the line for 8 points in 10 minutes. Go Hoosiers!

Indiana Basketball - Schedule Preview

We just posted our player preview (see below) and now we preview the IU schedule. The Gardner-Webbs, Grand Valley States, and Findlays of the world have shown that you can't take anything for granted, but I'm feeling like a cocky s.o.b., so I am going to chalk up victories in the first 4 games against Chattanooga, Longwood, UNC-Wilmington, and Illinois State. The next three games should provide a different flavor for the freshmen and JuCo transfers. Those games will be against Xavier or Kent State (neutral site), Georgia Tech (part of ACC-Big Ten Challenge), and their first true road game will be a big challenge at Southern Illinois. I think this 3-game stretch will tell us a lot about where this team is. Most likely, these teams will be bigger, faster, and much better defensively than the opening four games. In addition, it will also be a test of where the Hoosiers are defensively. The defense is currently Sampson's biggest concern. They are extremely talented on offense, but have not looked very good on defense in the exhibition games. The good news is that Sampson focuses on defense and held a practice this past week where 100% of the practice was defense. The Hoosiers then have Tennessee State (win by 40) before they "welcome" Kentucky into Assembly Hall. I think Kentucky will bounce back after the Gardner Webb loss, but I like the fact that this game is in Assembly Hall. I'm hoping IU can beat Kentucky and Tubby Smith (now coaching Minnesota) twice. That would just have an all-around good feeling. I actually like Tubby Smith as a coach, but he is forever linked to Kentucky and we must destroy him. After the big Kentucky show-down, Indiana finishes the non-conference schedule with Western Carolina, Coppin State, and Chicago State. For these 3 games, www isn't just the start of a web address. Oh man, that was weak. Why am I still typing? Why am I not backspacing over that weak commentary. Too late now, I must press forward. The Big Ten schedule opens with two on the road -- at Iowa and at Michigan. If you want to win the Big Ten, these are exactly the types of games you have to win. Last year, the top 8 or 9 teams pretty much held court at home. But if you want to win the conference, you have to win on the road against both the lower and middle tier of the Big Ten. Again, these two games should tell us a lot about where this team is -- are they a Top 10 or even Top 5 type of team or are they struggling to put it all together? We shall see. Personally, I think both Iowa and Michigan hired good coaches, but I also think this year will be an adjustment year and the Hoosiers will prevail. The first home conference game is against Illinois and the towel-boys will be busy with Weber crying all over the place. This one's a win for the Hoosiers, but it ain't gonna be pretty when Gordon and IU head to Illinois. Next three games are @ Minnesota and home against Penn St and Iowa. If the season is going as planned, I like our chances during this stretch. Then we have the odd non-conference game against UConn. This year, it's at Assembly Hall, so I am hoping can take care of business in this one. Following UConn is a trip to Madison to play the Badgers. The Kohl Center may be the toughest place to play in the Big Ten and Bo Ryan always has Wisconsin playing tough. Home against Northwestern before heading to the game at Illinois. This one might just get a little media attention. Gordon is going to hear it big-time from the Illinois fans, but I don't see him being bothered by it. Hopefully, Gordon will leave Bruce Weber speechless because I really can't stand to hear him cry or whine anymore. After the win at Illinois is a tough 4-game stretch, but fortunately 3 of them are at home. It's at Ohio State followed by a 3-game home stretch against Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Purdue. This year, the Big Ten did expand the conference schedule to 18 games instead of just 16, but that still leaves 2 teams that you only play once. Unfortunately, the Big Ten was not smart enough to preserve rivalries and we only play Purdue once. That's just wrong. With the only IU-Purdue game at Assembly Hall, we better make sure we take the rivalry this year. By the way, Purdue has an outstanding recruiting class and I think the rivalry is headed in the direction of being a battle at the top of the Big Ten again, instead of in the middle of the Big Ten as it has been for the past decade or more. Then at Northwestern and home against Ohio State before the Hoosiers travel to Michigan State. If the prognosticators are right, this trip to East Lansing could be for the Big Ten title. The Hoosiers finish the Big Ten campaign with a home game against Minnesota and then at Penn State. If there is a conference title on the line, I would certainly hope that IU could finish the deed with these two games. At this point, you hope the Hoosiers are healthy and peaking so that they can make a post-season run. Go Hoosiers!

Indiana Basketball - Player Preview

Today, we will take a look at the upcoming Hoosier basketball season. We'll start with a player preview and then will later have a post that takes a closer look at the schedule. As always, your comments are encouraged and appreciated. In addition, please take a moment to vote on the poll questions.

D.J. White We have to start with the All-American candidate. You have to admire D.J.'s decision to come back to IU for a couple reasons -- first, it was the right decision and second, it makes IU one of the best team's in the country which is what all of us care about. I expect D.J. to have a big year. Now that he is another year removed from the injury-plagued season, I think he is entering this season feeling great about himself and feeling great about his team. He has worked extremely hard in the off-season and has embraced the leadership role on a team that includes 6 newcomers.

Because of the infusion of talent to this team, I don't think that D.J. necessarily has to make a big leap in his scoring average, but another small step up would be nice. However, he does need to be a major threat and the offense needs to go through him on a good share of the half-court possessions. When he is single-covered, he needs to score and I think he will. It's the double-team where we need to see improvement. Last year, D.J. only had 40 assists to 62 turnovers. This year, I think that assist number needs to go way up. If teams are willing to double-team, IU needs to make them pay and it starts with D.J. making quick and correct decisions out of the double-team. Personally, I'd like to see those assist numbers approach 100 for the year (or around 3.0 apg). Obviously, fewer turnovers would also be better, but I think the key is making those good decisions out of the double-team and getting those assist numbers up. The good news is that this year's team has both shooters and slashers that can finish inside so I do think this will be an area of improvement this year.

And finally, D.J. just needs to be a monster on the glass and on defense with blocking shots. The good news is that the big man options of DeAndre and Eli should prove to be much better than Bendemen, which should allow D.J. to be more aggressive and not quite as concerned about fouls (but we still do need him on the floor for 30 minutes a game). Lots of teams have talented guards but many of them do not have a real good big man. If D.J. has a big year, this team has a great season. Wow, this turned out to be a lot longer than the 2 or 3 sentences I had envisioned for each player. I will try to get to the point faster on the rest of the players because I know everyone only has 4 hours per work-day dedicated to reading this crap.

Last Year's Numbers: 13.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 2.3 bpg

This Year's Forecast: 15.7 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 2.4 apg, 2.4 bpg

Accolades: 1st Team All-Big Ten; 2nd Team All-American; Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament that includes a big enthusiastic signature D.J. celebration as the closing clip of "One Shining Moment". I'm crying real tears right now just thinking about it.

Eric Gordon

All I can say is call your cable company and tell them to go to hell because you want to watch Eric Gordon this year. This kid is special. He can shoot it from anywhere in the gym and he can put it on the floor with an explosive first step. He can take it to the rack and finish with power or he can finish with finesse. And he hits his free throws. He's got good size at 6-4, he's strong, he's tough, and he's a very good on-the-ball defender. Things to work on might be off-the-ball defense and ball handling. He's a pretty good ball handler already but wants to improve so that he can possibly play point guard at the next level, which will be next year. I don't think there is any point in Hoosier fans holding out hope that he'll stay because he has the size, stength, skills, and game to paly in the NBA today. He is definitely one and done, but I really think we are going to enjoy the one that we have him. All you have to do is watch EJ play for 5 minutes and you can understand why Bruce Weber still cries himself to sleep every night. For those of you that don't know, EJ stands for Eric Jr.

So how good will Gordon be this year as a Hoosier? Well, one of his best qualities is that he is very humble, he's a team player, and he lets the game come to him. Because he is so skilled offensively, I am sure there will be times where we wish he would be more aggressive. But for the long-run good of the team, I think he is going to be a perfect fit. Guys like O.J. Mayo might average 30 points this year at USC but he is a head case and he's going to put up 30 shots a game. Whereas Gordon is very efficient and seems to know when to shoot the jumper and when to blow by someone. Also, I've even heard him say that if his shot is not falling, he knows he can take it in the lane for some easy deuces and some free throws.

This Year's Forecast: 20.3 ppg

Accolades: Because of how he fits in with this team, he will be the most valuable freshman in the country, but he will get snubbed and will not win the National Freshman of the Year award. He will win the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and he will be 1st team All-Big Ten and a 2nd Team All-American.

Armon Bassett

After a very nice freshman season where he averaged 10 points per game and 3 assists per game, Bassett moves to the starting point-guard position this year. One question for this team is how Armon will handle the point. I think Bassett will be solid at the point and this team has the advantage that 3 of the newcomers (Gordon, Crawford, and Ellis) are pretty good ball-handlers. So, if a team does have a scrappy defender that is giving Bassett fits, they can simply have one of the other guys handle the ball because Bassett is also good at the 2-guard position.

I love Bassett's toughness and determination. Word is that he has worked very hard on his game and coaches have seen non-stop improvement out of him on the defensive end. He's also worked hard on his jumper and has the ability to get into the lane. He needs to improve on last year's overall shooting percentage of 38.6% and I think he will. Another good thing about Bassett at the point is that he shot 83% from the line last year. In those end of game situations where you are trying to hang on to the lead, it is good to have ball-handlers that can hit their free throws. Bottom line, I expect another solid year out of Bassett.

Last Year's Numbers: 9.5 ppg, 3.0 apg

This Year's Forecast: 8.8 ppg, 3.9 apg

Jamarcus Ellis

I'm already referring to him as the glue. This guy does it all. Look for him to flirt with a triple-double at least once this year. Not a great shooter, but he can handle the ball, he can penetrate and create, he's a great passer, and a very good rebounder. He's 6-5 with long arms and he already showed in the first exhibition game that he uses his length and athleticism on the defensive end to lead the team with 6 steals. Sampson thinks he might lead this team in assists and I bet he also leads the team in steals.

This Year's Forecast: 6.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.9 apg, 2.4 spg

Lance Stemler

Stemler does not need to be a hero, he just needs to be solid. Last year, after a concussion and ankle problems, he went into a deep freeze. With all the attention that Gordon and DJ will be getting this year, I think Stemler will will get some very good looks at the basket. If he can knock those shots down with regularity, this team will be approaching unbeatable status. Other than knocking down the open shots, we just need Stemler to play his role, which is playing hard, diving on the floor, and helping out on the boards.

Last Year's Numbers: 6.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 33% 3PT

This Year's Forecast: 5.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 37% 3PT

Jordan Crawford

Well, Crawford probably raised expectations after his 30 point debut on 6-6 shooting from the arc. However, I don't expect that level of performance on a consistent basis. That said, I was extremely impressed with his offensive skills. He can handle the ball, he's a good passer, and he definitely had his shooting stroke in that first game. I think he has a lot of work to do on the defensive end and it looks like he might be a streaky shooter. In the second exhibition game, he had a horrible first half and his shot looked terrible, but then he came around a bit in the second half. At this point, he definitely looks like he will be the first guard off the bench and looks like he could play the point or off-guard position. I think he will definitely get his share of minutes and if he plays well, Ratliff may have his work cut out for him to get some minutes. One thing I really like about him is that he can play the point and has some nice size at 6-4. My guess is that we will probably see a lot of highs and lows out of Crawford this year.

This Year's Forecast: 7.4 ppg, 3.6 apg

DeAndre Thomas

The big fella is going to need a nickname. He looks more like an offensive lineman than he does a basketball player, but after losing 50 pounds since his arrival in Bloomington, I was impressed with his footwork and quickness. In addition, he appears to have good hands, he can finish around the basket, and is supposed to be a pretty good passer. Even though he fouled out in just 12 minutes in the first exhibition game, I was quite impressed with the other things he did in those 12 minutes. It looks like he will be the first big man off the bench and will be a major improvement over Bendeman. I don't think he will put up huge numbers, but I do think he will be a positive influence when he's on the floor.

This Year's Forecast: 4.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 5 fouls per game

A.J. Ratliff

Really disappointing for a senior to be academically ineligible. It will be interesting to see what happens when he comes back. Hopefully, it will just add another weapon to a team that is on a roll. I do think that AJ will see some minutes when he comes back, but the question will be what he does with those minutes. AJ has been an incredibly inconsistent player in his career and that may not fly if Crawford is playing well. However, with the other athletes on this team, the style of play might be better suited towards AJ's game.

Last Year's Numbers: 9.3 ppg, 41% 3-PT

This Year's Forecast: 7.1 ppg, 42% 3-PT

Eli Holman

Very raw offensively, but the Hoosiers don't need him to score. All they need him to do is come in and block some shots and rebound. It will be interesting to see how he develops this year because his up-side is huge.

This Year's Forecast: 2.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.0 bpg

Brandon McGee

Until last week, I thought McGee was the top candidate to red-shirt, but it sounds like he has really been impressing the coaching staff. He has surprised some with his ability to shoot and is a very good athlete at 6-7, so he brings some versatility. He was very impressive in the 2nd exhibition game and looks like he could really have a good career at IU.

This Year's Forecast: 3.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg

Mike White

Surprisingly, it looks like Mike White may end up being redshirted. For more on that, click here.

Brett Finkelmeier, Adam Ahlfeld, Kyle Taber.

Mop-up time only.