IU 121 N. Ala. 76

The main thing that I took away from this exhibition game is that this is the most athletic Indiana basketball team ever. In addition, the talent level might be as high as it has been since 1992. I'm telling you right now that you will want to switch to a TV service with the Big Ten Network because you are not going to want to miss any games this year. Overall Team Performance: B Offensively, they looked great. They have so many weapons. The biggest change for this year's team will be their ability to penetrate. With the ability of Gordon, Ellis, and Crawford to penetrate and make plays, this will be a huge improvement over last year's team. Defensively, they didn't look that great at times, but that often happens in exhibition games. They shot better from the FT line in the 2nd half, but the 6-12 effort in the 1st half had me concerned. D.J. White: A- 13 pts, 11 rebs, 6 assts, 3 blks, 0 turnovers. Played an all-around solid game. D.J. won't need to average 20 points with all the weapons on this team, but he will need to be able to pass out of the double-team. He did a nice job of that today, but N. Alabama's double-team wasn't quite the same as UCLA's. Lance Stemler: C+ Lance didn't do a whole lot today, but I have a feeling he will have some opportunities to shine this year. With all the attention that Gordon and D.J. will get, Stemler will get some good looks from the arc. Hopefully, he'll be able to knock them down. Armon Bassett: A- I thought Armon looked great. He had several nice drives, converted a couple 3-point plays, hit a couple treys, and dished out 5 assists. I really like the way he plays and I love the toughness that the starting backcourt of Bassett and Gordon brings to the table. Jamarcus Ellis: A- I think I am really going to like this guy. He's just solid all-around and appeared to be a leader out there. 6 steals - you gotta like that. Eric Gordon: B Here's how good Eric Gordon is going to be -- he had 24 points on 10-16 shooting and I am giving him a B. Ok, maybe he deserves a higher grade for today's game, but I am just trying to make the point that he can play even better. I have a feeling that there will be several occassions this year where we say "Gordon had a quiet 20 tonight." If you saw today's game, you got to see that Gordon does have the full arsenal on offense - a couple of dunks, a couple of driving layups through traffic, a couple treys, and a couple mid-range jumpers. But my favorite two plays of the game were both alley-oops from Crawford to Gordon. The first one was kind of a bad pass from Crawford, so Gordon adjusted in the air to make a one-handed catch with his left-hand and lay it in. On the second one, Crawford was actually fouled when he tossed it up over his head and then Gordon came flying in to grab the ball and attempted a double-clutch reverse dunk. He actually missed the dunk, but it was such an incredibly athletic play that I watched the replay on my Tivo about 10 times. This is going to be a lot of fun watching this kid play this year. DeAndre Thomas: B The big fella fouled out in just 12 minutes of play, but the most important thing was that he showed he can play the game. In addition to those 5 fouls in 12 minutes, he also managed 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Overall, I was very impressed with the big guy and his ability to give D.J. breaks or play with D.J. will be something the Hoosiers did not have last year. Jordan Crawford: A+ Wow. I don't know that I have ever seen a debut like this one. 30 points on 10-11 shooting that included 6-6 from the arc. He was simply on fire. Obviously, you can't expect this going forward out of Crawford, but he definitely showed that he has plenty to contribute to this team. In fact, he wasn't even recruited for his scoring, but he definitely looks like he can fill it up and has a good all-around game. He even had 2 dunks, including one in a half-court set. It's pretty nice to have a guy like this coming off your bench. Brandon McGee: B+ 12 points and 6 rebounds in just 12 minutes of play. Another indication of the talent level of this recruiting class. He looked pretty good to me and he has been rumored as a possible red-shirt candidate. Eli Holman: B+ Yes, a little raw, but he can definitely block and alter shots. He had 3 blocks and 6 rebounds in just 14 minutes. The good news is that this team has so many offensive weapons that all they need out of Eli is defense and rebounding. A.J. Ratliff: F A.J. should be used to seeing this grade. Very disappointing out of a senior. I think we all know that college life can have its distractions, but by the time you are a senior, there's no excuse for it. Kelvin Sampson: F We'll just get this out of the way -- there's no excuse for further phone call violations. Sampson and his staff should have been extra, extra careful in this area. Very frustrating and very disappointing. Bobby Knight had a good way of dealing with controversy over the years....WIN! So, that's what Samspon and this team need to focus on....WINNING! In case you missed it....Michigan State lost their exhibition opener to a Division II school called Grand Valley State or something like that. Go Hoosiers!