Big Ten Tournament

I had planned on doing a recap of the regular season, but I think I will wait do a full recap once the entire season is over. However, I have added plenty of poll questions for you to ponder as we head into the postseason. Looking ahead to Friday's game, if Penn State wins, we should be prepared since that was our last game. Therefore, we will spend our time looking at our more likely opponent -- Illinois. Or Ill-annoy as Chris likes to call them. Taking a look back at the two Illannoy games….neither were very pretty. But the game at Illannoy was some of the most brutal basketball I have ever seen in my life -- that's when IU had a stretch of scoring only 19 points over 30 minutes. Needless to say, if they play like that, they'll lose. Now the game at the real Assembly Hall was a little better -- still kind of an ugly game, but it was played at a little bit higher level with more points scored. Wilmont and D.J. were solid and Bassett was tough down the stretch. What are the keys to a win on Friday? Here's what I think and I will try to add some measurable numbers. (1) D.J. & Wilmont have to be solid. They don't necessarily have to be spectacular, but they do need to be solid (at least around their averages). (2) IU hitting their 3s. Can't be just one player, need 3-balls from multiple sources. Preferably 8+ as a team from at least 4 players. (3) IU can't go foul crazy. Both teams will play tough D, that's a given. But the key for IU is to do so without fouling. Illannoy needs to shoot less than 18 FTs or IU needs to have within 4 FT attempts of Illinois. (4) Don't let McBride kill you from downtown. 3 or less treys is acceptable. (5) Rebounding -- A wash is acceptable. (6) Turnovers -- A wash is acceptable. So, now that I have typed this out, I think the most important factor and IU's competitive advantage is their 3-point shooting. I think if you contain McBride in this area, you most likely contain Illannoy. And for IU, they have several players that can hit the 3s, they just need to do it. You know that Wilmont and Ratliff will fire away and get their attempts and usually one of them will knock down a few. But when Bassett, Stemler, Calloway, Shaw, and Suhr can hit some 3s, this team really explodes. Obviously, you need D.J. to stay out of foul trouble and be solid, but that is a given. I think the 3-point shooting will be the biggest factor. Prediction Time -- I certainly don't expect another performance like the one against Penn State, but I do expect the Hoosiers to hit enough 3s to carry them to the win. Of course, I just looked up the box scores and found that the Hoosiers only hit 8 treys in the two games combined against Illannoy (5-17 in the win and 3-9 in the loss), so I think Illannoy defends the 3 well. But what the hell, I'm sticking with that as the key factor and the Hoosiers will get 8+ treys from 4 or more different players and will win a tough game 65-61. By the way, if Penn State would pull off the upset over Illannoy, then I like the Hoosiers to win that game 75-64. Go Hoosiers!