IU 49 UCLA 54

Well, I guess you have to touch on the negatives that cost them the game, so here they are: (1) FT Shooting (2) Inbounds play (3) 13 points in the 1st half The FT shooting killed the Hoosiers. FT % was the one advantage they had over UCLA going into the game, but it failed them. IU goes 10-21 from the line and that doesn't even incorporate the missed front ends. The inbounds play -- to come all the way back and not be able to get the ball inbounds to have a chance to tie or win is extremely frustrating. They had 3 attempts at it. UCLA knocked away the first two and finally stole the 3rd one. Yes, it was a poor pass from Stemler, but you have to have better inbounds plays to get guys open. 13 points in the 1st half is inexcusable. I don't care if it's tough defense, I don't care if you're ice cold, and I don't care that you held them to 20 points. At some point, you have to DO SOMETHING. Why keep running your same offense if it's clearly not working? Granted, you don't want to panic and they ran the same offense in the 2nd half and scored 36 points. But I think there is a time where you have to sense that your team is in a draught and do something different. After the final game of the season, I hate to call out individual players. There are plenty of things that could be picked apart for all the IU players (several had horrendous FG shooting nights, several had horrendous FT shooting nights, etc.). However, A.J. Ratliff was so bad that I think it has to be mentioned. His head was completely up his ass. The box score has him listed with two turnovers which is an absolute joke. I'm assuming they are counting the back-to-back possessions were he made horrible decisions and an even worse passes. Then, there was another one shortly thereafter where he got the offensive rebound and then lost it out of bounds. I'm not quite sure how that is not a turnover. Even on D.J.'s dunk, Ratliff just got lucky that his mistake ended up in the hands of D.J. for the dunk. He also had some stupid fouls that led to 3-point plays. Just terrible. Now for some of the positives out of the game..... The effort out of IU was simply outstanding. They fought and they fought and they fought. We said before the game that they would need to play tough defense and rebound to give themselves a CHANCE. Well, they did that and they did have a chance, but in the end, they couldn't hit their shots and couldn't deliver in the final minute. But the fact that they came all the way back from a 16-point 2nd half deficit to tie the game was truly remarkable. Chris, Shana, and I were jumping around and squealing like schoolgirls. I am trying to hang on to that feeling of absolute jubilation when they made that comeback as opposed to the extreme frustration that they couldn't complete the mission. D.J. White was the man. He was playing some inspired ball. The box score is listing him with 14 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. But that can't be right, it felt more like 37 rebounds and 13 blocked shots. Stemler FINALLY hit some shots. I was pumped when he hit his first 3. But the second one where he knocked down a deep one while he was guarded was amazing. This was the point where I actually thought we were going to win the game. Stemler obviously had some bad moments as well, but the fact that he finally knocked down some shots was the main fuel of the comeback. I think I'll go ahead and stop here. Early in the 2nd half, it was starting to just feel embarrassing, but the Hoosiers kept fighting and as always, I am extremely proud to be a Hoosier. I really, really liked this team and it's disappointing that it had to come to an end. In the next week or so, I'll do a full season recap and it's impossible to not already start thinking about what is to come next year. Indiana University is still the greatest place on earth. Go Hoosiers!