IU 100 W. Carolina 52

This one was a laugher right from the get-go. DJ had 3-pt plays on the first 2 possessions to make the game 6-0 and this game was over. DJ and Gordon absolutely dominated the early part of the game. Gordon hit his first 5 three-pointers and every one of them was spectacular. Going between the legs and then draining a 23-footer. Another one he came hard to his left, but then he squares up beautifully and swish. Another one he didn't catch cleanly but still gathered it up and as Chris told me "I don't even think that one hit the net". Meanwhile, DJ continued to dominate the inside and DJ and EJ combined for 25 of IU's first 26 points and that was all in the first 8 or 10 minutes of the game. Gordon cooled off after that and only hit 1 out of his other 6 three-pointers (still 6-11 from the arc ain't too shabby). However, the additional one he hit was probably the best out of all of them. Gordon had started taking the ball to the basket because the jumper wasn't going anymore. However, in this case, he started to drive hard, then planted his right foot and did a right hand reverse between the leg dribble and swish. This move happened so fast that I actually had to play it in slo-mo to realize that he had done a reverse between the leg dribble. Amazing. After DJ and Gordon put this game out of reach, then some of the other guys got involved and it was blowout city. Overall Team Performance: A Western Carolina is awful, but this was a dominating performance. Gordon and DJ both playing well at the same time makes IU unstoppable. D.J. White: A+ Now he's playing like an All-American. DJ logged his sixth straight double-double with 21 points (7-9 FG) and 11 rebounds in just 24 minutes. He set the tone with his back-to-back 3-point plays and was a dominating force whenever he was on the court. Dunks and big rebounds all over the place. He had a nasty put-back dunk on a Gordon missed FT that was awesome. Mike White: C- Big Mike did his thing in the 1st half, but had an awful 2nd half. To start the 2nd half, he committed 3 fouls in only 50 seconds. He sat down for the next 12 minutes, then when he came back in the game, he committed another foul within 10 seconds, so that was 4 fouls in exactly 1 minute. Impressive. Jordan Crawford: A- After coming back from suspension, Crawford has been taking advantage with back-to-back good games. Bassett had been struggling and has now been suspended for the last 2 games, so it might be interesting who gets the majority of point guard minutes when they are both available. Crawford had 19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 0 turnovers. He also had a great tomahawk dunk on a fast-break. The only negative was his outside shot (0-4 from 3PT). Jamarcus Ellis: B+ Just another typical game for Ellis -- 9 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals. Sampson also mentioned that Jamarcus did a great job in the classroom with a 3.2 this semester. Very nice. By the way, Sampson said that the team had a great semester in the classroom, so I'm hoping that means there will not be any more suspensions for grades. Eric Gordon: A See above. DeAndre Thomas: B- DeAndre had some nice post moves and also had an impressive dunk. After a great zip pass through a 2-3 zone from his buddy Jamarcus, the big fella went up and threw it down with one-hand. Had 8 points on 4-6 FGs, but did not manage a rebound in 19 minutes of play. Lance Stemler: B- Stemler had his typical hustle plays and also logged 6 rebounds and 3 steals. However, we really need him to knock down the open jumpers and he was only 1-7 from the arc in this game and all 7 of those shots were wide open. Of course, that goes without saying because Stemler only shoots when he is wide open. It's not like Stemler is out there trying to pull off Gordon-like moves. Brandon McGee: C+ The good = 7 rebounds. The bad = 0-4 3PT FGs. Kyle Taber: B+ 6 rebounds and a block in 12 minutes. Brett Finkelmeier: B- Made both his FTs for his first points of the year, but also had a turnover. Adam Ahlfeld: C- Did not make it into the box score in 2 minutes of play. AJ Ratliff: DNP (suspension) Expected to back for their next game against Coppin State next Saturday. Armon Bassett: DNP (suspension) I still haven't heard anything other than it's a game-to-game suspension. Eli Holman: DNP (injury) Injured wrist, but I haven't heard how severe the injury is. Go Hoosiers!

Odds & Ends

KY Game: No Gordon. No Bassett. No problem. Yes, we learned that Kentucky really does stink this year, but that was an impressive win for the Hoosiers. They built a solid lead and never looked back. DJ with his 5th straight double-double. Nicely done. "Jordan's Better" Some fans and media types did not care for the "Jordan's Better" chant at Assembly Hall. Come on. Joe Crawford is a senior at Kentucky who is playing against his kid-brother Jordan who is a freshman at IU. If little brother lights you up in a HUGE rivalry game between your two schools, then I think a chant of "Jordan's Better" is pretty mild. Suspension Updates: Armon Bassett Still suspended. Sampson isn't saying much, but he did say that Armon will not play again Saturday. Sampson is still saying the suspension is game-to-game and that "Armon still has some work to do". Even though his comments have been brief, it sounds like Sampson is more pissed off about Armon than he was about Crawford. Or maybe it's just the fact that it is the 3rd guard to be suspended this year. A.J. Ratliff Earlier, it was reported that this Saturday would be his first game back. However, the 1st semester finals are this week and it now looks like all the grades and paperwork will not be completed before Saturday's game. Nobody seems to really know for sure, but Saturday is looking doubtful. Of course, the fact that the 1st semester is finishing up also makes me a bit nervous with this team. Will someone else not make grades and get suspended for 2nd semester? I sure hope not. Sounds like a good poll question, I think I'll add one (see right). Injury Updates: Eric Gordon Last week, Sampson sure made it sound like Gordon would play against Kentucky and he didn't. This week, Sampson is saying that he fully expects EJ to play this Saturday. We shall see. No need to rush him back against Western Carolina, but he has been practicing this week, so it does sound like he is good to go. Eli Holman Hurt his wrist in practice. X-rays did not show a break, but they are still concerned about possible ligament damage. Some additional notes from iuhoosiers.cstv.com: Eric Gordon leads the league and is eighth in the nation in scoring (24.3) and is seventh in the league in field goal percentage (53.4), second in three-point field goal percentage (50.0), and in free throw percentage (83.8). He has made (62) and attempted (74) more free throws than any other player in the league. The last freshman to lead the Big Ten in scoring was Minnesota's Kris Humphries (21.7) in 2004. The highest scoring average by a freshman in league history was set by Purdue's Glenn Robinson (24.1) in 1993. D.J. White was named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second straight week (12/10) after averaging 22.5 points and 13.0 rebounds against Kentucky and Tennessee State. He is currently eighth in the league in scoring (14.8), first in rebounds (9.1), second in field goal percentage (62.2) and sixth in blocked shots (1.78). He became the 41st member of the school's 1000-point club (1,006) against Kentucky. In the Last Four Games The Hoosiers are enjoying their second four-game winning streak of the season and will look to match their longest streak from last year at five games against Western Carolina. Here are some notes comparing numbers against the first five games of the season. The Hoosiers are dominating the boards winning the battle 38.2 to 28.5 since the Georgia Tech game. Senior D.J. White is averaging 18.3 points and 13.0 rebounds per game during the win streak. He started off the season by averaging 12.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in the first five contests of the year. Junior Jamarcus Ellis also has nearly doubled his early season scoring averaging 12.0 the last four games compared to 6.2 in the first five games of the season. Senior Lance Stemler is averaging 7.8 points during the winning streak. Senior Mike White has contributed 6.0 points and 5.0 rebounds since pulling off his redshirt against Georgia Tech. He is second on the team to D.J. White with 11 offensive rebounds in the four games. Some other names from IU's past: Bud Mackey Recently told a newspaper that he had enrolled in a high school in the Atlanta area. He also said that Sampson told him that he was still welcome at IU if he would consider going to junior college. The Hoosier Scoop (Herald Times blog) did some digging and the high school said they have never heard of him and it also does not appear true that Sampson ever made that offer to Mackey. Furthermore, the Hoosier Scoop reported that Mackey lived at three different households during high school and Senderoff never knew which house he would be at. Therefore, some of the impermissible phone calls were a result of calling 3 houses to try to reach Mackey. I still think the impermissible calls were inexcusable; however, if there are circumstances like that in the report that the NCAA is reviewing, I would hope that would lead to IU's self-imposed penalties being sufficient. Robert Vaden For UAB (7-4 this year), Vaden is averaging 18.5 points, 3.4 rebs, 2.5 assts, 2.4 turnovers, 41.1% FG, 81.3% FT, 41.7 3PT. Patrick Ewing Jr. For the 7-0 Hoyas, PE2 is averaging 5.3 pts and 3.9 rebounds. Next Game: At home against Western Carolina. Saturday at 7pm CT on the Big Ten Network. Prediction: IU 80 W. Carolina 69

Top Reasons - IU vs. Kentucky

First, all reports are that Gordon will play Saturday.

Heading into this Kentucky game, some IU fans think that IU will win this game easily. They point to KY's Gardner Webb loss, the fact that the game is at Assembly Hall, and that there is a lot of turmoil under new head coach Billy Gillespie, including the recent announcement that one of their best players off the bench, Alex Legion, plans to transfer.

I would tend to agree with these points, but I think this game will be a close one and for that reason, I am including my Top Reasons for Concern. Of course, this will be followed by my Top Reasons IU will beat Kentucky.

Top Reasons for Concern:

(1) It's a rivalry game

(2) Gardner Webb Loss is overblown This was only Kentucky's second game under their new head coach and new system. They came out flat and went down 14-0 to start the game and never recovered. It happened. It's done. And it doesn't mean that KY is horrible. Kentucky's only other loss was to North Carolina and I think we'd all agree that they are pretty good.

(3) Held 2 Opponents to 40 pts or less Yes, it was against Nobody and Nobody St., but that's still putting the clamps down. In fact, they have held their opponents 35 pts, 40, pts, 52 pts, and 54 pts in their 4 wins. Again, all 4 were against cupcakes, but IU has been giving up 70 points in their "easy" games.

(4) KY has the better Crawford Jordan's older brother, Joe, is a senior on Kentucky and is their leading scorer at 18 points per game.

(5) Gordon may not be 100%

(6) Turmoil There has been talk of some turmoil in Kentucky-land, but I think IU can match just about anybody this year in that category.

(7) They have a good coach It may take a while for Gillespie to get his system in place, but any team with a good coach in college basketball is a dangerous team.

All of the above are reasons for concern, but IU will still win the game by a score of 74-70 and here are the Top Reasons why:

(1) Assembly Hall It's been a long time since KY has had to go into Assembly Hall and face IU's home crowd.

(2) Jordan Crawford Yes, Kentucky has the better Crawford, but it will still be a big lift for IU to get Jordan off of suspension.

(3) Gordon Even if not 100%, it is still pretty simple. Gordon plays, IU is better.

(4) We have a good coach They may have a good coach, but he is in his first year. We have a good coach and he is in his second year. Advantage IU.

(5) D.J. White Do I hear 5 straight double-doubles?

So there you have it, it will be close, but IU will win this one 74-70.

Go Hoosiers!

Boycott All Things Kentucky

I'm calling for a boycott of all things Kentucky this week. So that means no Kentucky Fried Chicken, no moonshine, no listening to bluegrass, no betting on horses, no going to the dentist, no watching Ashley Judd movies, and of course no inbreeding. And for those of you that live in the Cincy area, it would be appreciated if you fly the bird at one Kentucky fan per day until Saturday. I also thought it would be fun to take a look back at the poll question from last year. Most HATED Kentucky player: Tayshaun Prince - 3 votes Rex Chapman - 3 votes Patrick Sparks - 3 votes Richie Farmer - 3 votes Scott Padgett - 2 votes Travis Ford - 1 vote Jamal Mashburn - 1 vote Antoine Walker - 1 vote Tony Delk - 0 votes Nazr Mohammed - 0 votes

Gordon Hurt, IU Wins 84-72

The big story after this one is the injury to Eric Gordon. With about 6 minutes to go in the first half, Gordon drove the lane, jumped in the air, got twisted around, and fell hard on his back-side. After limping up and down the court once or twice, he came out of the game and did not return. He was clearly in pain and was holding his lower back. After the game, Sampson said Gordon was fine and expected him to be back for the Kentucky game this weekend. Also, Terry Hutchens of the Indy Star reported that he talked to both Eric Gordon Jr. and Eric Gordon Sr. after they returned from the Bloomington hospital for x-rays. They told Hutchens that the x-rays were negative and it was a bad bruise. EJ said he'd be OK, but Hutchens said he was still limping badly. So, it sounds like he should be fine, but the big question is when. Hopefully, he'll be ready for his one and only show-down with Kentucky. Interestingly, Gordon was not playing all that great but the Hoosiers held their biggest lead of the game at 36-17 when he left the game with 6 minutes to go in the first half. That 19-point lead was thanks to a great start by IU where they jumped out to a 17-4 lead in the first 8 minutes of the game. D.J. White was the key to the fast start as he scored 10 of those 17 points on 5-5 shooting. From that point to the point where Gordon got hurt, nothing too exciting but IU continued to slowly build on their lead and it looked like this one was going to be a laugher. Even after Gordon got hurt, it looked like IU was going to cruise. They were still up by 16 when Tennessee State hit a 3 at the first half buzzer to pull within 13 at halftime. Still, nothing to be worried about, but IU did allow Tennessee State to score 18 points in the final 6 minutes of the first half....not good. D.J. White was an absolute beast in the 1st half with 20 points on 8-8 FGs and 6 rebounds. However, the Hoosiers came out sloppy after halftime and suddenly Tennessee State hit a 3 and the lead was down to single-digits at 9 points. Tenn St had a guy by the name of Bruce Price that caught fire and IU could not stop him. However, I would argue that their effort put toward stopping him was pathetic. Let's just hope that Bassett was dead tired from being IU's only guard left standing (Gordon - hurt, Ratliff - suspended, Crawford - suspended). IU played very sloppy the entire 2nd half and the game stayed right around the 9-13 point mark for the first 12 minutes of the 2nd half. Then, with 7 minutes to go, Tenn St hit a 3 and cut the lead to 7. At this point, Tennessee State had outscored IU 41-29 over the last 18 minutes and since Gordon left the game. So, needless to say, IU missed Gordon tremendously. Obviously, he can score points in many different ways, but I am guessing that Sampson would have also challenged EJ to stop this Bruce Price guy and I am guessing Gordon would have done so. And I do think Bassett and Ellis were dead tired. IU was playing their 7th game in 15 days and they were playing this game after getting back from Southern Illinois at 2:30am Sunday morning. Even before Gordon got hurt, Bassett and Ellis were playing about 35 minutes per game without Ratliff and Crawford. Anyway, back to this disgusting 7-point game with 7 minutes to play. The description of what happened next should be prefaced by the fact that Lance Stemler had missed very badly on all 3 of his 3-pt attempts to this point. But when they needed it most, Stemler hit back-to-back 3s to push the lead right back to 13 and then IU kept the lead at 12 points are higher for the rest of the game. Also, Bassett had badly missed on all 4 of his 3-pt attempts, but he finally hit one shortly after Stemler's pair. Overall Team Performance: D+ Tennessee State is not nearly as good as Chattanooga or Illinois State. This is a team that IU should beat 90-55. Or if Gordon gets hurt, they should still beat them by about 84-60. Aside from the first 10 minutes of the 1st half, the defense was horrible yet again. Sampson had to go back to the 2-3 zone because the man-to-man defense is awful. IU's 3-pt shooting was bad. They finished 4-16 and 3 of those came within a couple minutes. Also, Tenn St put on a press and IU looked terrible against it. Bassett's ball-handling and passes were atrocious and Ellis was just too aggressive with some of the passes he tried to make. On the positive side, they did win. I don't care how ugly it is, but there is still a big difference between playing bad in a 12-point victory over Tenn St versus losing to Tenn St. So, the fact that they won the game automatically gets the team to a D-. Then, the play of D.J. White lifts the team grade to a D+. More on DJ below. D.J. White: A DJ posted his 4th straight double-double and finished with 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots. And this wasn't just in the absence of Gordon because DJ scored 20 points in the first half, most of which was done with Gordon still in the game. In fact, the only reason DJ doesn't get an A+ is that he cooled off a little in the 2nd half (3-8 FGs). Sampson said that DJ has gotten better in every game and I would agree. I'm not sure why he started the season so slow, but he has looked very good in the last few games. Eric Gordon: C Gordon really wasn't looking too good before he got hurt. He was 1-4 from the field, including 0-2 from the arc. However, as usual, he did a good job getting to the line and he was 6-6. He did miss a dunk on a fast break that probably would have been his best one yet if he could have gotten it down. But it didn't take him long to redeem himself. On the very next possession, Stemler found Gordon on a back-door cut and he threw down one of his signature tomahawk dunks. And because he had just missed a dunk, this one seemed to have a little extra mustard. Often times, Gordon gets away with a loose handle on the dribble because he is so strong. However, sometimes he tries to dribble through traffic and when he starts to lose the handle, he tries to keep going and dribbling. At some point, I think he just needs to stop and grab the ball. Twice tonight, he tried to keep a dribble alive for half the length of the court only to ultimately lose the ball. Once Big Ten play arrives, every possession is so important that I would prefer him to just grab the ball any time he starts to lose the handle. Of course, on many occasions already this year, he is able to keep dribbling and either converts or gets fouled, so maybe I'm getting picky. If you haven't noticed, my grades are pretty tough on the fabulous freshman, but that's just because he is capable of some big things. If he puts it all together, he is going to hang 40 on somebody. At Illinois would be nice. All that said, the Hoosiers clearly missed him tonight. On the offensive end, he not only scores, but his defender goes with him everywhere he goes. That, in turn, opens the lane and the post area for everyone else. And defensively, I think Sampson would have put him on the Price guy that lit us up for 34 points. So, get better Eric, we'll need you against Kentucky. Armon Bassett: D Since his hot start, Bassett hasn't been able to throw it in the ocean. I think they mentioned that he was 9 for his last 38 or something. I don't know if that included tonight, but he was 2-11 tonight. His shot looked bad, his ball handling was bad, his passing was bad, his decision making was bad, and his defense was worse. Don't worry Armon, I'm still a huge fan. You just looked like crap tonight. We'll chalk it up to being tired due to all your fellow guard teammates bailing on you. Jamarcus Ellis: B Another double-double for J-Ellis and nearly a triple-double. Actually, nearly a quadruple-double. Unfortunately, one category was turnovers. So, we'll start with the bad. Jamarcus had 7 turnovers tonight. Mainly bad passes and usually just trying to do too much. Fortunately, he was also successful in many of his attempts to make things happen. His previous two double-doubles were in points and rebounds, but tonight's were points and assists. He finished with 10 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. Lance Stemler: B+ He was headed for a D+ until he made those back-to-back 3s when the game got really scary at only a 7-point lead. Other than that, he had a typical Stemler game -- some hustle plays combined with some bad plays. But those were a couple of big shots. Especially since he had missed his first 3 attempts badly, I figured he was going to miss his next 10 attempts like he did last year. So, I was really glad to see him bounce back and hit them when they really counted. Mike White: A- I really like Mike White. You know when he is in the game, bodies start flying. I love it. And not only did he have 8 rebounds, he chipped in with 11 points including 5-8 from the line. Brandon McGee: B- McGee contributed with 7 points in 13 minutes, but often looked lost out there. DeAndre Thomas: C Limited minutes again since Mike White clearly offers better defense and better rebounding. Was it just me or did the big fella try to dunk twice tonight? The first one looked like he got fouled and they didn't call it, but he got the rebound and put it in anyway. I wasn't paying attention to the final seconds of the game, but I think he tried to dunk again. Anyway, I think I like rotating Stemler, Mike White, and DeAndre. Sampson has the ability to use different looks. If he wants the hustle plays and possibly an additional spot-up shooter, he can go with Stemler. If he wants rebounding and toughness, he can go with Mike White. And if he wants an additional offensive threat in the post, he can go with DeAndre. Once Sampson has the same luxury with the guards by getting everyone healthy and off suspension, it will make a big difference for this team. There were definitely some stretches were Bassett and Ellis just looked tired on defense and sloppy on offense. Ideally, Sampson could quickly turn to his bench and tell Crawford and Ratliff to get in there and hopefully that would get the Hoosiers back on track. Tonight, Sampson's hands were tied, he had to keep Bassett and Ellis in there. We'll definitely keep our eye on the health status of Gordon this week. Early reports sound pretty good, but then again, I wouldn't be surprised if IU doesn't give any definitive information to keep Kentucky guessing. Go Hoosiers!