IU 67 OSU 74

I still contend that there is no freakin' way that Greg Oden is 18 years old. You know that feeling when something is just not right. Well, I finally figured it out and as the old saying goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire". You just won't believe where I found the smoke. Let me take you back to the playing days of Robert "The Chief" Parrish. You see, The Chief did not leave the game on his own terms. If you recall, late in his career, he was busted for receiving some wacky tobacky in the mail. Although, I don't know how you can really fault a Chief for taking a few hits on the peace pipe. Anyway, while smoking some of that doobage, he dreamed up a grand scheme to get back in the game. What was that grand scheme, you ask? GROW A BEARD AND ENROLL AT LAWRENCE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL UNDER THE NAME OF GREGORY ODEN. ************ There is a lot of parity these days in college basketball, but you know what still separates the great teams from the pretty good teams? It's how often they win the big games. Sure, there are plenty of upsets to go around this year in college hoops, but the great teams win the big games more often than not. I don't know about you, but I am tired of IU competing in these games but still losing them. Granted, this year's schedule has all of these big games on the road -- @ Duke (without Stemler), @ Kentucky, @ UConn, and @ Ohio State (without Ratliffe and without OSU making a return trip to Bloomington). Even so, I'm tired of losing these games -- it's been going on at IU for the last 12 years and that is why IU has fallen from elite to bubble. What a great opportunity the Hoosiers had tonight. If they pull off the win tonight, they then have 15 games remaining in the Big Ten with none of those games against Ohio State and only playing Wisconsin once and that game is at Assembly Hall. Instead, they competed their asses off to keep it a close game throughout but just couldn't get it done in the end. Now, you're 0-1 in the Big Ten and you've got another tough game against Michigan State this week that feels like a must win (Note: I feel like all IU games are must wins). You do have to give credit to Ohio State. Robert Parrish (aka Greg Oden) is a phenomonal talent and their other freshman can flat out play as well. Add in some solid experienced players, that other tall dude that was dunking all night, a good coach, and you have a team that will be very tough to beat. Overall Team Performance: C+ Hey, it was a great effort and their were times that they bounced right back when it looked like OSU was getting ready to deliver the knock-out blow, but it's still a loss. It's concerning when you hit over 50% of your 3s and 100% of your free throws and you still lose by 7 points. That tells me that even with a hot shooting night, you got outplayed in every other aspect of the game. I thought the defense was pretty crappy tonight. I know Greg Oden is a freak of nature and he's going to get about 4 dunks in every game. But their whole team was dunking on us after severe defensive breakdowns. D.J. White: somewhere between an A- and D+ I'm really struggling with this grade. On the one hand, he was clearly outplayed by Oden. That, in of itself, is not too concerning, but I really didn't like the plays where he just out-hustled him down the floor or missed a block-out on a free throw (even though that tip-in was definitely goal-tending). On the offensive end, 3-14 just ain't gonna cut it. He either needs to be more convincing that he is getting fouled or he needs to convert on those shots. Now, on the other hand, I thought D.J. worked his ass off tonight. And I thought he did exactly what IU needed him to do and that was go right after Oden. I liked that he didn't back down and he did eventually get Oden into foul trouble. I'll give Oden the credit of great defense on many of D.J.'s misses. However (and I hate to do this because I've really been trying not to let officiating get under my skin), I really thought that Oden and Hunter definitely fouled him on 3 or 4 of those. One of them really made me mad because D.J. got hammered, no call, and OSU goes down and hits a 3 in transition. What looked like could have been a tie game was now a 5 point lead. Anyway, that's over and done with. But if we meet Ohio State in the Big Ten Tourney, I will want D.J. to play the same way. Take it right at him. Unfortunately, by the time Oden picked up his 4th foul, D.J. was on empty. Now that I've talked it out, I really liked the way D.J. played and attacked. If he continues to play that way, I think he will get some of those calls, but more importantly, I think he'll knock down a lot of those shots. So, we're going to go with a B for D.J. tonight. Lance Stemler: C+ Foul trouble again cost him some minutes tonight. Glad to see the shooting stroke is definitely back. Earl Calloway: C- His defense on Conley was horrible on several possessions. It was usually Conley's penetration that led to the dunks. Armon Bassett: B Similar to D.J. in that the results weren't always there but I did like the way he played. He seems to dribble with a purpose -- he makes the defense work. Roderick Wilmont: C- They could've really used some of his steals for easy layups or something like that to get over the hump. Other than hitting a couple jumpers, it didn't seem like he did a whole lot. Ben Allen: C- I'm not wasting my time talking about Bendeman anymore this year until he does something good. Joey Shaw: A- I know that his defense was horrendous and he did miss a couple open shots, but he single-handedly came in the game in the first half and kept the Hoosiers in the game. Without him coming in and knocking down his first 4 shots in only a few minutes, this game may have been over at halftime. You have to like a freshman that comes into his first Big Ten game on the road against the # 6 team in the country and he comes out guns blazin'. Xavier Keeling: B Came in and did exactly what he was asked to do. Mike White: did not play 2 theories on why Mike White does not play -- either he is the worst practice player ever or it's Doc Pearce's theory that maybe he's sleeping with Sampson's daughter. Kelvin Sampson: C- Winless in big games. I wasn't sure about the 1-3-1 at the end of the game -- they lucked out on the first possession because Ohio State missed a wide-open 3. But the very next possession, they got another wide-open 3 and delivered the dagger by knocking it down. Poll Results As for the % chance of beating OSU, 4 votes at 20% was the most popular choice, with 10%, 30%, 40%, and 60% each receiving 1 vote. I've left the other poll questions up for now in case people have not had a chance to way in yet. Go Hoosiers!