IU 84 Penn St 74

Sorry for the late posting. I'm sure everyone has at least read about the Penn State game if they were not able to watch it on Saturday, so I'll be brief. Overall Team Performance: B- They won on the road and that's the most important thing. They didn't play particularly well especially on the defensive end, but they found a way to win. If you didn't see the game, the 10-point margin is misleading. IU did not get their first lead until mid-way through the 2nd half. Their defense was horrendous in the 1st half and allowed Penn State to build a double-digit lead. Wilmont single-handedly kept IU in the game by pouring in 20 first half points. IU made a nice run to close the lead to 1 point at halftime. In the second half, Wilmont kept shooting but unfortunately he had cooled off quite a bit. The good news was that Ratliffe came in and hit a few 3s of his own. Bassett wasn't playing very well up until he hit two big 3s during the stretch where IU finally took the lead. I thought DJ had a really solid game. Penn State's zone defense was not letting him get any good looks, but DJ was a monster on the offensive glass and got most of his points on put-backs. Stemler was a no-show, Calloway showed no brains, and Shaw barely even played. Bendeman and Mike White were solid in their limited minutes. Roderick Wilmont: A- 25 points and 12 rebounds. He took a lot of shots (some of them bad shots), but he played hard and kept the Hoosiers in the game in the 1st half. A.J. Ratliffe: A- A.J. has looked great in the last 2 games after coming back from the wrist injury. D.J. White: A- He worked hard to earn his points. 14 points and 11 rebounds is a solid effort. Earl Calloway: C- Some very poor decisions, such as pulling up for a 3 on a 1-on-4 fast break. Armon Bassett: B Struggled for most of the game, but hit a pair of big 3s during a key stretch in the 2nd half. Lance Stemler: D- No factor in the game. Joey Shaw: C- Only 3 minutes. Not sure if that was just because AJ & Rod were playing well or if he did something wrong. Mike White: B Had a nice blocked shot and a couple hoops. Ben Allen: B I can't remember what they were but I do remember Chris and I talking that Bendeman actually did a couple things right. Xavier Keeling: C+ Generally plays solid aggressive defense, but committed some stupid fouls on Saturday. Poll Results: 7 people correctly predicted a 10-19 point win, but I don't think it came as easily as anyone had hoped. 2 people had predicted a blow-out and 3 people predicted a close win. All 9 votes were for Brian Cardinal as the most hated boiler, although there was a write-in for Brad Miller. I wasn't too surprised by this -- Cardinal was pretty easy to hate. I think his little face-wipe thing he did at the FT line sealed the hatred in the eyes of IU fans. What an idiot. As for best coach in the Big Ten, no big surprise here -- 8 votes for Bo Ryan, 2 votes for Izzo, and 1 vote for Matta. Hopefully, by this time next year, Sampson will be getting some of those votes, but I think we all want to see results on the court first. Go Hoosiers!