IU 49 WI 62

Son of a bitch. You just can't pull that shit when you are playing the #13 team in the country at their place. IU tried to pull their typical crap of only playing 5-10 minutes of basketball. Well, that just ain't gonna work at Wisconsin. Once you are down by 20 on the road in the Big Ten, you're done. IU made a nice 17-2 run to cut it to 5. In fact, they cut it to 5 with 7 minutes left, so they had plenty of time to get over the hump. But they couldn't get the defensive boards or play defense without fouling or hit the big shot to do it. Who the hell am I kidding? Get over the hump? They got outscored by 8 points down the stretch. How's this for disturbing? That 17-2 run took 5 minutes. They were down 46-26 with 12 minutes to play and then it was 48-43 with 7 minutes to play. So, the other 35 minutes of this game, IU WAS OUTSCORED 60-32. Now, that's just getting your ass kicked for 35 minutes of a 40-minute game. I've been patient and I've kept the faith, but I think a lot of those questions that I asked earlier in the week were answered tonight. The answer: we suck. Sampson just isn't pushing the right buttons with these guys to get them to play hard for 40 minutes. I honestly thought they would come out with some tenacious defense after that UConn loss. Instead, they came out flat as a pancake. I also thought it was a horrible move by Sampson to come out in the 2-3 zone to start the 2nd half. That's not going to work against Wisconsin. Once IU went down by 20 frickin' points, they finally started playing tenacious defense. And guess what, they went on a 17-2 run. Somehow, some way, Sampson HAS to get these guys to play defense like that all the time. The Gordon 10-0 run was impressive. We need more of that out of him. Go ahead, take over the game, I'm fine with that. It's a very fine line, though. You want him to dominate and take over a game, but you don't want him pressing too much because that's when he gets out of control. But he can be tough, if not impossible, to stop when he gets it going. Something is really wrong when D.J. White has 22 points and 17 rebounds and you still get your ass kicked. Ellis did a nice job pulling down 13 boards, but unfortunately, he could not come away with some of the biggest rebounds of the game. When IU had cut it close, they forced Wisconsin to miss a couple times but then gave up offensive rebounds that really took the life out of their comeback bid. This even happened with Brian Butch having a horrible game. Wisconsin was 3-20 from the arc (of course, IU was 3-21, so I guess that's not a very good point to make). Bassett and Stemler had some big opportunities in this game and came up empty. 0-5 and 1-6 from the arc, respectively. The 4-spot is killing us -- Mike White, Stemler, and DeAndre all sucked tonight. Why the hell is A.J. Ratliff still allowed to wear an IU uniform? What is wrong with this team? Why can't Sampson get this team to put it all together? 49 points. What a joke. Even though there are a lot of problems with this team, I still point to the defense. If they would play tenacious defense like they did in the middle of the 2nd half, this team would be incredibly tough to beat. And wouldn't you know it, when they played that tough defense, it led to 17 points in a 5 minute span. That's a hell of a lot better than 32 points in the other 35 minutes. To add insult to injury, I think Illinois State lost this week, which probably means that IU will have exactly 0 wins against the RPI Top 50. But when cooler heads prevail, we'll still be tied for 1st place in the Big Ten with our only loss at Wisconsin. So, if they can get their shit together, they can still definitely take a run at a Big Ten title and hopefully enjoy a nice March as well. However, my head is still steaming because we stink. We really are not a very good basketball team right now. I can't figure it out. I keep going back to the defense. Yes, they turn it over too much and take some bad shots and don't really run an offense. But whenever they play their 5-10 minutes of good defense per game, it always leads to good offense. Ok, I think I have said that 3 times already. I'm done talking about this bullshit game. But I'd be happy to hear all of you vent. In closing, I blame Andy.

The Season Starts....Now!

Overall Record: 17-2 Big Ten Record: 6-0 Ranking: #11

Pretty good, right? Well, I'm not so sure.

Over the past 15 years, there have been too many years where the Hoosiers have had to scratch and claw to get to 20 wins so that they could be a legitimate bubble team. In fact, I even remember a year where we hoped for a tournament birth after only 16 wins because of an incredibly difficult schedule. And here we are this year with a minimum of 13 games left to play and only in need of 3 wins to get to 20.

But how good is this team?

Should we be pleased with the fact that this team does have 17 wins and they are currently 6-0 in the Big Ten? The 2 losses have come against a ranked Xavier team and a UConn team that is a few votes away from being ranked. Both Xavier and UConn are big, strong, and athletic teams that can give a lot of teams trouble on any given night. And even though IU has not always played well in their 17 wins, they have at least played good enough to win.

Or should we be concerned that this team has only played 2 decent teams - Xavier and UConn - and they got beat handily by both? IU's schedule has been incredibly easy to this point.

What concerns me is that this team is not fundamentally sound -- they don't play good defense and their offense is kind of puzzling. With Kelvin Sampson teams, you can expect that type of offense (I have never understood what his offense really tried to accomplish) but you also expect defensive teams that are tough and physical and can get stops. This year's team has simply relied on their talent to overcome their many mistakes and break-downs. Against a light schedule, they have been able to get to 17-2.

So where does this team go from here? They still play Wisconsin twice, Michigan State twice, Ohio State twice, and Purdue once. Will they rise up, improve, and win a Big Ten title? Or will their weaknesses be exploited by these better teams?

And regardless of what happens in the Big Ten, is IU ripe for an upset in the Big Dance because of some of these weaknesses and a weak Big Ten conference?

The answer lies ahead in the outcomes of the remaining schedule.

But I want to hear from my fellow Hoosier fans on what you think about these questions.

IU 63 UConn 68

And that's exactly why I hate this UConn game in the middle of the conference schedule. Here we are at 6-0 in the Big Ten, yet I am incredibly pissed off as I am typing this. One thing is for sure -- the Hoosiers better not sit around and cry about this one (like I am), because they have a HUGE game coming up at Wisconsin. If they can win that one, the season is immediately back on track. Well, it's pretty clear that big, strong, and athletic teams (like Xavier and UConn) give IU trouble. The 2-pt FG shooting was horrible. At one point, IU was 5-33 from inside the arc. That's just crazy. You had Mike White and DeAndre missing layup after layup. And then DJ and EJ were missing shots that they normally make. They also got out-rebounded 44-28. Ouch. With their poor shooting and poor rebounding, it's amazing they only lost by 5 points. However, they did open up with 3-point baskets by Gordon, Ellis, and Bassett to build a 9-0 lead. But from that point to about 5 minutes to go in the game (so about the middle 30 minutes), they got outscored by 20 points. And that was the stretch where they went ice cold and couldn't rebound the damn ball. Late in the game, Crawford and Stemler came in and knocked down some shots. And after that incredibly ice cold middle 30 minutes, I think IU scored on 9 of 10 possessions. However, once again, I think it was their defense that let them down. You can only make a run if you get stops at the defensive end. I think IU was down 11 with about 6 minutes to go and then they scored on 9 of 10 possessions. But 3 or 4 minutes later, they had only cut the lead to 5 or 6 because they were giving up layups, dunks, and offensive rebounds on the other end. The guards were not stopping penetration at all and then big men rotations were either late or they had to leave their man which led to a dunk or offensive rebound. I think the guards need to do a better job stopping penetration. On a positive note, Bassett's jump shot is looking pure. He was 6-8 from the arc today, which makes him 13-16. Impressive. Frustrating loss, but there just seemed to be a lid on the basket for the Hoosiers today. It was really strange. They were 11-20 from the arc which kept them within striking distance, but they could not buy a basket inside the arc. Again, if they can win at Wisconsin, they are right back on track and in great shape. But it ain't gonna be easy to go into the Kohl Center and get a win. Judging by the looks on the faces of Sampson and the players, they are going to be hungry. I think it's going to be a good game and I think the Hoosiers will win that one by a score of 68-64. Go Hoosiers.

IU 65 Iowa 43

Yes, that's right, IU gave up only 43 points. I know Iowa is deliberate on offense and they had a lot of unforced turnovers tonight; however, 43 points is still a great defensive effort for this IU team. Overall Team Performance: A- There were times in the first half that I was frustrated because they were letting Iowa hang around. However, DeAndre hit a shot at the halftime buzzer to give IU their first double-digit lead of the night. The Hoosiers never looked back and held Iowa to 17 points in the 2nd half. Yes, they held the whole Iowa team to 17 points for the entire 2nd half. If you recall the game in Iowa City, Justin Johnson scored 19 points in the final 1:55 of that game. Offensively, IU was OK and it still wasn't exactly an overall team performance that makes you say "wow", but if they can start playing better defensively, this team will be tough. DeAndre Thomas: C+ DeAndre had 1 assist to 4 turnovers, but the one assist was an absolute beauty. Out of a timeout, they got the ball to DeAndre at the top of the key, he dribbled once to his left, then did a reverse pivot with a dribble back to his left, and then dished a one-handed bounce pass to a back-cutting Eric Gordon for the tomahawk dunk. DeAndre also had the aforementioned halftime buzzer shot that was nice. Other then those 2 plays, DeAndre did not do much else. By the way, DeAndre got the start tonight and Mike White only played in the mop-up minutes. Not sure why. D.J. White: A- Not really a dazzling box score with only 4 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, and 0 blocks. But I don't really grade on stats. I still thought DJ was solid tonight with 19 points on 8-13 shooting. And even though I hate the way IU hedges ball screens, I thought DJ did a great job of it tonight. Armon Bassett: A I think this team is 10 times better when Bassett is in the game vs. when Crawford is in the game. Armon looked really good tonight. He went another 2-2 from the arc, which makes 7-8 in his last 2 games. He also had a great hustle play where he ran down a loose ball in the corner and then passed to DJ for a big dunk. Also had 3 assists and 0 turnovers. Jamarcus Ellis: B- Jamarcus was out of control quite a bit tonight. It looked like he was trying to do too much at times. But, as usual, he still finishes with a pretty good stat line of 12 points, team-leading 8 rebounds, team-leading 4 assists, 2 steals, and 4 turnovers. Eric Gordon: A Even though he was 0-3 from the arc and only had 17 points, I thought this was one of Gordon's better all-around games. He was under control and had several drives with beautiful finishes that included 3 finger-rolls and 2 tomahawk dunks. And don't let the 0-3 from the arc fool you, he did hit 2 shots from the corner with only a toe on the line, so he did still nail some jumpers and finished 7-11 from the field overall. Gordon also added 3 assists and I think all 3 were to DJ, which is good to see those 2 starting to get on the same page. I remember earlier this year, Gordon kept whizzing fast-balls past DJ's ear. The really impressive part of Gordon's game was his defense. It wasn't perfect defense, but it was pretty darn good. He had 3 blocked shots and 4 steals and a few more defensive efforts that led directly to turnovers. Jordan Crawford: D- Horrible defense, horrible shot selection, and 4 turnovers. A.J. Ratliff: F 6 minutes, 2 fouls, 0-2 from the arc. Useless. One of his missed 3s was a poor shot with 19 seconds in the half when IU could have held for the last shot. Fortunately, I think Iowa ended up missing a FT and then DeAndre scored at the buzzer, so it didn't cost IU but it was still a dumb shot. It is very clear that Sampson has not been happy what he has seen out of Ratliff. Lance Stemler: C Stemler's role is hustle plays and hit the open 3. Tonight, hustle plays.....check. Hit open 3s.....[sound of crickets]. After being hot from the arc in recent games, Stemler was 0-3 tonight and 2 of the misses were very bad. Everyone just cross their fingers and hope & pray that we are not headed into one of those ice-cold spells. I don't think that will be the case, but you never know. Well, it hasn't been dominant, but 17-1 and 6-0 in the Big Ten is very impressive any way you slice it. Go Hoosiers!

Odds & Ends

Great quote from Sampson on his radio show: It was reported after the Minnesota game that Ratliff played only a couple minutes because he was sick. Here's Sampson's take: "A.J.’s biggest problem at Minnesota was not his temperature of 101. It was his inability to guard his man." #5 Tennessee just lost to Kentucky -- Another spot available for the Hoosiers if they can get a pair of home wins this week against Iowa and UConn. Wisconsin Wisconsin went to an impressive 6-0 in conference play tonight. Although they limped to a home victory against Michigan, I have been very impressed with Wisconsin. I honestly thought they would be down a little bit after losing Tucker, but this team looks as good if not better than last year's team. Flowers and Hughes have been great at the guard position. Butch is having a good year. Landry shows flashes of greatness. Krabbenhoft actually leads the team in assists. Then, if Butch or Krabbenhoft comes out, they bring in another guy in Stiemsma that looks just like Butch and Krabbenhoft. I swear those 3 guys could be triplets. They also have a couple 3-point shooters that they bring off the bench. And finally, they might just have the best coach in the Big Ten. Right now, they are playing great team basketball and I definitely consider the Badgers a Big Ten title contender. (Note: don't read this as some sort of lovefest toward Wisconsin and think that Jeff likes all Wisconsin pro teams, so maybe he is pulling for the Badgers as a second-favorite team. Definitely not. In fact, my living in Wisconsin had led me to really hate the Badgers and all my Badger co-workers -- what a bunch of idiots. They embarrass themselves anytime they try to talk basketball. Anyway, I think you get the point, I don't like the Badgers, but I do respect them and they have me a bit nervous now. I thought the Big Ten would be a 2-team race between IU and MSU, but Wisconsin is looking strong as well.) Michigan State I doubt that Michigan State is going to lose any more ground in the Big Ten standings any time soon. There next 5 games are @Northwestern, Michigan, Illinois, @ Penn State, and Northwestern. Bad News for IU: Wisconsin and Michigan State play each other only once. Purdue and Ohio State have been looking pretty good and would appear to be putting together pretty solid tournament resumes at this point in the season. Prediction: IU 74 Iowa 63 Go Hoosiers!

IU 81 Penn St 65

Well, I guess you would say it was a typical game for the Hoosiers -- not exactly a stellar performance, but they did enough to win the game. This game was tied at 54 midway through the 2nd half, but then IU went on a 27-6 run to put this one away. Watching it, you did kind of feel like it was a matter of time before the Hoosiers would pull away. But you have to give Penn St some credit, they came into Assembly Hall without their best player and made it tough on IU. As opposed to the Minnesota game, I didn't feel like IU played horribly while Penn St was hanging around. It was more that Penn St was playing out of their mind. They had guys draining 3s in this game that were shooting 15% and 20% from the arc for the year. I thought Jamarcus Ellis was the difference-maker in this game. He was the one that would break the zone with either a nice skip pass, or getting into the lane to draw the defense and then kick, or getting the ball down to DJ, or faking a pass one way to get the zone to move and then throwing a quick pass the other way for an open shot. I really liked the way he attacked the zone. In addition, Sampson put Ellis on Cornley in the 2nd half. I thought this was a curious move because Cornley is a beast. Jamarcus certainly did not shut Cornley down, but he did make him work extremely hard for everything he got. Ellis was all over him. DJ came alive in the 2nd half and played very well. He did miss a double-double but 22 points and 7 rebounds is still solid. I think IU really needs to focus on getting him the ball more. I thought Gordon had a very good game. He had a well-rounded game by pulling down some rebounds, making some nice passes, and playing tough defense. He still had a couple out of control plays, but overall, I thought he was a little more under control today. Of course, he seems to play well when the competition is a step down. Now, I'd like to see him step up against some of those teams that play tough defense because he certainly has the talent to do so. Bassett came up big by knocking down 5-6 from the arc and Stemler was solid. Stemler hit his only 3-point attempt and I think he has now hit something like 9 of his last 14. That was basically the 5 that played the entire second half. So, I think I'll stop there and get my butt over to Kristin and Troy's house for the Packer game. Oh, by the way, the important thing is that the Hoosiers keep on winning, especially in a week where something like 15 teams in the Top 25 suffered a loss. Go Hoosiers!

IU 65 Minnesota 60

Well, I was in a really good mood until that just happened. I was just putting the finishing touches on what was a pretty lengthy post-game recap and my post disappeared. If IU would have lost this game, I would have just given up on this post, but since they won and I am in a great mood, I'll give it another try. I am still kind of pissed because I had some good stuff and it's not all coming back to me. Anyway, what a crazy game. How in the world did they win a game where they couldn't hold on to the ball. It was ridiculous. IU looked like grade-schoolers out there. They couldn't dribble, they couldn't pass, they couldn't catch. It looked like every last one of them had double-vision or something. In my last post that disappeared, I had not yet seen the box score and I was pretty sure they had 30 or more turnovers, but I just checked and they had 26. That has to be wrong, it seemed closer to 40 to me. The game had a horrible feel as soon as we joined it in progress. They are telling us that Gordon picked up a ticky-tack foul in the opening seconds and then we get to watch him go in for a charge and get his second foul just 3 minutes into the game. Have a seat, EJ. Then they flash that IU has 7 turnovers in the first 5 or 6 minutes. The crowd is going wild and I am thinking that this is not looking good at all. However, all of the sudden Stemler hits a 3 and IU has a 1-point lead. So, then I am thinking that IU weathered that storm without any damage and actually have the lead. Of course, that was short-lived because seconds after Stemler's 3 to take the lead, Ratliff fouls a 3-point shooter for another 4-point play. So, Ratliff has barely played the equivalent of a full game and has given up two 4-point plays. It should be noted that Ratliff did not see the floor in the 2nd half, so Sampson must be as impressed with Ratliff's play so far this year as some of you guys. IU chalked up a whopping 15 turnovers in the 1st half alone, but the good news is that they were shooting the ball well. Especially in one stretch where they went on a 17-0 run after being down by 6 to take an 11 point lead. This was mainly due to Crawford catching fire and hitting 4 triples. He is definitely streaky. IU managed to go into halftime with an 8 point lead. However, somewhere in the mix, Gordon came back in for a few minutes but he picked up his 3rd foul. When he first came back in with the 2 fouls, you could tell he was playing cautiously, but that was a good thing. Twice, he drove the lane under control and made nice passes for two assists. However, he got careless on defense and bumped a guy out of bounds to get his 3rd foul and had to sit the rest of the half. Then, DJ also picked up his second foul and had to sit the last 3 minutes of the 1st half. So, even after limited minutes for Gordon due to 3 fouls and 15 team turnovers, IU still managed to put up 40 points in the half due to hot shooting. The first 15 minutes of the second half were even worse. IU continued to turn the ball over at an alarming rate. In fact, I was convinced that they had to have more turnovers in the 2nd half, but apparently they only had 11. Pretty scary when you are talking about a half of college basketball and you are saying "only 11 turnovers" in the half. Anyway, it was still really ugly. Even when they would hold on to the damn ball long enough to get a shot up, it was only after they nearly turned it over. Every pass was dangerous - they were either ill-advised to throw it in the first place, or they were lazy passes, or they were simply inaccurate passes. It was nuts. And they couldn't dribble either. I am pretty sure that Gordon only shot 3s before getting to IU because it looks like he has never dribbled a basketball before. He couldn't catch the damn thing either. He had two outlet passes for fast-breaks that he couldn't get a handle on. It was crazy. And none of the other guards were any better. Crawford, Bassett, Gordon, and Ellis were all over the place. And to make matters worse, IU went ice cold when they did manage to get a stinkin' shot in the air. 16 minutes into the second half, IU had only scored 12 points and found themselves down 56-52. I thought IU was finished at this point. Their 8 point halftime lead had now turned into a 4 point deficit. They couldn't get the ball up the floor and they had missed four or five 3-point attempts in a row and Gordon even missed the front-end with about 4 1/2 minutes to go in the game. Fortunately, they played good down the stretch and came away with the win. It started when Crawford hit a jumper in the lane with 4 minutes to go to end a huge draught for the Hoosiers. Then, with IU down 2 and a minute to play, IU worked the ball and got it to Stemler at the top of the key and Lance drained it baby! I've kept my faith in good ole Stiffler for moments exactly like this and Lance came through big time. Then, on Minnesota's next possession, Gordon played outstanding defense and forced Minnesota to throw up a prayer that was nowhere close. Gordon then got fouled and nailed both FTs to give IU a 3-point lead with about 30 seconds to play. On Minnesota's next possession, they got a wide-open look at a 3 but they missed and IU got the rebound. Stemler got fouled with 5 seconds left, he nailed both freebies to seal the victory! I can't possibly do a report card because everything had 2 angles in this game. For example, as a team, it was their sloppiest performance of the year and they deserved to lose, but they found a way to win on the road against a pretty good Minnesota team and that is a big-time win. Another example - Eric Gordon was atrocious for most of the game but he was 4-4 from the line in the final minutes and had an outstanding defensive stand inside of a minute. As for DJ.....just another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Normally, I would point out his 3 turnovers as a negative, but you really don't notice 3 turnovers when Gordon had 7, Bassett had 4, and Crawford had 4. The box score is interesting for this game. Not only did IU have 26 turnovers, but Minnesota had only 11. That's 15 extra possessions we gave to them. However, some other areas of the box score definitely show how IU still found a way to win this game. And this stat really surprised me because there were a couple possessions where Minnesota got a few offensive rebounds, but IU outrebounded them 42-26. The FT line was also huge for the Hoosiers. Even though IU had 7 fewer attempts, they still made 1 more FT than Minnesota. IU was 12-14 including 8-8 in those key last 4 minutes of the game. Minnesota was just 11-21. In fact, you could just look at overall shooting as the difference. When you boil it down, the goal of basketball is to put the ball in the basket. The shooting was a big difference for IU in the first half to get that 8-point lead, but even the overall shooting percentages for the whole game really favored IU: FG% -- 47% for IU to only 40% for Minnesota 3-PT% -- 41% for IU to only 18% for Minnesota (including 0-7 in the second half) FT% -- 86% for IU to only 52% for Minnesota One final note is that I think Ellis continues to come up big for this team. Even though he looked as shaky as everyone else, he was only tagged with 2 turnovers while leading the team with 6 assists and pulling down 9 rebounds. No matter how ugly, I really do think this could prove to be a huge win for IU. Teams are going to have a tough time going into Minnesota and coming out with a win. Also, IU already has 1 more conference road win than they had all of last year when they went 2-6 on the road. 3-0 on the road in the Big Ten is very impressive and they are now 4-0 on the road overall. Go Hoosiers!

IU 62 Illinois 58

I'll keep this short because I think you all know what I typically say after games like that and that's "at least they won". At the end of the day, that's what is important. A home loss to Illinois would have been devastating. With the win, they have won 10 in a row, they should be ranked in single-digits later today, and IU & Wisconsin are now the only two unbeaten teams in the Big Ten. That leads me to the biggest news of the weekend in the Big Ten and that was Michigan State's performance (or lack thereof) at Iowa. The Spartans only scored 36 points and lost 43-36. That's pathetic, but it sure is good news for IU's conference title hopes.

I thought the clear-cut player of the game for IU was Armon Bassett. He scored all 11 of his points in the 2nd half with 3 big treys including one with 40 seconds left and then sealed the game by sinking a pair of free throws in the final seconds. I also thought he played well defensively in the 2nd half by applying good ball pressure.

As a team, it was the defense once again that got them into trouble in the 1st half. You are playing against an Illinois team that has lost 4 in a row and can't throw it in the ocean. But IU's lazy defense allowed Illinois to shoot 50% in the 1st half and they only forced 3 turnovers. IU's defense was doing absolutely nothing to force turnovers or force tough shots. In turn, their offense wasn't looking good and part of that is because they did not force turnovers to get extra possessions and/or easy baskets.

After going down by 7 early in the 2nd half, IU finally turned on the switch and turned up the defensive intensity. If IU wants to be one of the better teams in the country, they need to play with that intensity on defense for 40 minutes. But once they did turn it on, they started forcing turnovers and tough shots and they were able to turn a 7 point deficit into a 6 point lead. I thought IU might put them away when Crawford had an open look for 3 that would have put them up 9, but he missed and Illinois hung around until the final possession. It was a crazy final minute with a lot of loose balls and chaos, but IU was able to hang on to the victory.

DJ was solid with another double-double (15 pts, 10 rebs), but I thought Bassett was the difference maker. Illinois was playing great defense on Gordon and DJ had his hands full with Pruitt, so IU really needed someone to step up. It was a pleasant surprise for Bassett to come through because we weren't even sure if he would be able to play with his ankle injury.

I thought Ratliff played a little bit better (not a lot better, but a little). It looks like he is getting into the swing of things. He made a couple nice defensive plays and went 2-6 from the arc. Sure, I'd like to see a better 3-pt shooting percentage than 33%, but in a game like that, the two that he did make were big ones.

Gordon had his typical game. Struggled at times and had his share of turnovers, but also made some great plays. Illinois put Randle on him in the 2nd half which is a tough match-up. He still found a way to lead the team in scoring with 17 points by getting to the line 10 times.

Ellis didn't stuff the stat sheet as much as he has in past games, but he still made some great plays. Both JuCo guys also got into some scrums with Randle and Pruitt. Ellis kind of lost his cool and pretty much gave up his 4th foul and put Randle on the line at a key moment down the stretch. Not the smartest play, but I still like the fire. This guy fights hard and want to win.

I wish someone would have lost their cool and sucker-punched Bruce Weber. He has to be the most annoying human on the planet. I think there is something wrong with him.

Next game is at Minnesota and I think that will really be a tough one. IU better come out playing with defensive intensity in that one. If they don't, they will suffer their first conference loss. One thing I like about Sampson is that he always analyzes the game and speaks to the problem areas. He always talks about the team learning from every game and striving to get better. In his post-game comments, he clearly identified the effort in the first half as the issue. Hopefully, they will watch the film and see how the game changed when they turned up the intensity in the 2nd half. One thing I like about this team on the road is the way they get to the FT line. If you can score some easy points at the FT line of the road, you have a great chance to win. So, I am predicting another road win for the Hoosiers:

IU 77 Minnesota 72

Go Hoosiers!

IU 78 Michigan 64

Since this game was on ESPN, I'm hoping everyone got to watch it and I would like to hear from everyone as to what they thought about the Hoosiers performance. Overall Team Performance: You tell me I really don't know how to grade this team. They really look like crap at times, but they have enough talent to overcome it and usually put together a solid 10 minutes that makes the difference in the game. I'd love to see a solid 40 minutes, but I don't think you are going to get that out of this team. To start tonight's game, I thought their defense was again horrible. IU built a lead only because Michigan kept missing wide-open 3s. I think they only made 1 out of their first 12 shots from the arc. However, I was thinking to myself that they probably will start hitting some of those. But I also had the thought that Michigan just flat out sucks and may not hit anything the whole game. Unfortunately, my first thought was right and Michigan got hot at the end of the 1st half including heaving in a 3/4-court shot at the halftime buzzer to cut IU's lead to just 6. Of course, now I am convinced that IU gives up more 4-point plays AND half-court (or longer) shots than any team in history. But the bottom line was the Hoosiers found themselves still in a close game at halftime after it looked like they might cruise to victory. I blame that on their defense (and Gordon sitting out the last 8 minutes with 3 fouls). The good news was that the solid 10 minutes of basketball came at the start of the 2nd half. Michigan hit an early 3 to cut it to 5, but then the Hoosiers blew this thing open with some great offense, decent defense, and ugly play out of Michigan. Overall, a nice easy victory against a poor Michigan team. But any easy victory on the road is a very good sign and this team is now 3-0 on the road. Even though it was at Iowa and at Michigan (2 bad teams this year), I still really like the fact that the Hoosiers have 2 conference road wins under their belt. It seems that the last 5 or 6 years, winning on the road in the Big Ten has been nearly impossible and I think it started to be a mental thing for a lot of teams. But now, guys like Gordon, Ellis, and Crawford probably aren't thinking that way. Also, this marks a 9-game winning streak for the Hoosiers, which is the longest since the '92-'93 season. Unfortunately, we really haven't played anyone yet. Kentucky blows and Southern Illinois is not as good as people thought. So, the only real team they have played is Xavier and they beat us handily. Nonetheless, we are 13-1 and I can certainly live with that. One final note before we get to the individual player report card. The Bassett injury worries me. It's a bone chip in his ankle and it sounds like it probably won't fully heal until he has surgery after the season. They are hoping he can give it a go again this weekend against Illinois to see if he can play through it. I think this team needs him and if he can't go or if he's not worth a shit, that could spell a little bit of trouble for IU. D.J. White: A+ 21 points and 22 rebounds. That's the most rebounds for an IU player since Alan Henderson had 28 in a game in 1992 and the first 20/20 night for a Hoosier since Henderson in 1995. D.J. was simply awesome. He was clearing every single board. Of course, it helps when Michigan shoots 19-60. D.J. was also impressive on the offensive end and had a great steal and dunk. He left a couple turn-around moves short, but other than that, he was great. That gives him 9 double-doubles in his last 10 games. And I believe his last 3 rebounding efforts have been a then career-high 15 rebounds against Chicago St, a then career-high tying 15 rebounds at Iowa, and a new career-high 22 rebounds tonight at Michigan. 52 rebounds in the last 3 games, not bad. After D.J.'s very slow start, he is now averaging an impressive 16.7 pts and 10.9 rebounds per game. Mike White: B Big Mike did his usual thing and that's all we need. Jordan Crawford: D Jordan had an F going for the first half, but made a few nice plays in the 2nd half. He was kind of making me laugh. He played 38 minutes and looked dead-tired the entire game. Sampson's hands were a little tied because of the Basset injury and Gordon's 3 fouls in the first 12 minutes. But I also think Sampson was making him play through it and maybe sending Jordan a message that he needs to work harder in practice if he's not in game shape. I mean his tongue was dragging on the floor for most of the game. Again, the 1st half for Crawford was atrocious. He put up 3 horrible 3-points shots including one on what should have been the final possession of the 1st half. Of course, his horrible miss led to the 3/4-court shot by Michigan. His defense was terrible at times and he turned it over 7 times. However, the thing I loved about Crawford is that he just kept going and going and kept trying to get the job done. Eventually, some things started to go his way. He got a couple of steals and led a nice fast-break and fed Gordon for a big-time tomahawk dunk. A couple plays later, he finished nicely on a fast break (although it looked like he went up for a dunk and his legs didn't cooperate, but at least he had the sense to lay it in). Later, he received a nice pass in a half-court set and threw down a nice dunk. But again, I do like that even though he wasn't playing that well, he stayed after it and made some positive things happen. He still managed to finish with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. So, I like that he is doing some good things, but tonight, many of the negatives were glaring. Jarmarcus Ellis: B Minutes were a little down due to foul trouble, but continued to play a solid all-around game with 7 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. Eric Gordon: You tell me

Again, Eric Gordon is tough for me to grade. He completely dazzles me with his shooting, dunks, and all-around offensive plays. But he also turns it over too much.

He has that explosion capability, but sometimes I think he uses it at the wrong time. If there is a clear lane that can be taken by exploding to the basket, that's when he is good and I am 110% in favor of exploding to the basket for one of those tomahawk jams. However, when there is traffic and 3 guys in front of him, he still tries to dribble through it. And not only does he try to dribble through it, but he tries it with that same explosive move with big steps and pushing the dribble way out in front of him.

I think this is an area that Sampson really needs to try to coach him. He is strong enough and quick enough that he doesn't need to always drive in full throttle. In fact, he is generally much more effective when he takes it down a notch. I noticed 3 times in the second half where he drove to the basket under control and 2 of them he finished with an easy layup and I think he got an assist on the other. If he just slows down a little bit so he can retain control of the ball, he is much more effective.

How about those 3-point shots though? He is amazing. I actually think Sampson needs to get him more rest. Gordon has had several games already where he hits his first 2 or 3 or 4 or even 5 treys of the game, but then he goes cold. Then, he often hits again out of halftime and then goes cold. When he has fresh legs, his 3 point shot is pure. To steal Mr. Harrell's line from earlier this year, I don't even think that first 3-pointer hit the net (or the second one for that matter). He also had that fade-away 17-footer in the second half that was sweet. And as mentioned earlier, the tomahawk dunk. I love watching him play.

And one thing is for sure, the Hoosiers play much better when he is on the floor. IU probably outscored Michigan by 25 points during the 28 minutes that Gordon was in the game tonight.

A.J. Ratliff: D

Definitely still some rust. This knucklehead has now fouled out of both his games and is 1-7 from the arc. I think he was 0-3 from the arc tonight when he finally popped out to the top of the key and drained one. I was hoping that would get him going but then he nearly air-balled his next one. I have to be honest that I was surprised to look at the box score to see he had a career-high 6 assists, so I give him credit for that but I'm not changing his grade of a D because that's what it felt like to me as I was watching the game.

DeAndre Thomas: B+

Came in the first half to give D.J. a quick breather and scored in the low post on back-to-back possessions. Nicely done. Came in the second half to give D.J. a quick breather and fouled some people. Who cares.

Lance Stemler: B

You all know that I don't ask a lot out of Lance. Basically, I want to see the hustle plays and make the open 3-point shots. Stemler was 1-1 from the arc and I'll take it.

Brandon McGee: F

Cherry-picks for a two-handed dunk. Ok, fine, it's garbage time, I can live with a little cherry-picking especially when it leads to an IU dunk. But then he cherry-picks again. First of all, play some defense. But anyway, he goes down and tries to pull off a windmill and got stuffed by the rim. Idiot.

Go Hoosiers!

IU 79 Iowa 76

Well, only because IU did end up winning this game, I am going to start by giving some props to an opposing player. This game was tied at 34 at halftime and it was still tight midway through the 2nd half. Then, IU had a really good stretch and had finally built around a double-digit lead with 5 minutes to go. At this point, the game appeared to be over as IU went up by 13 with only 2 minutes to go. But then Justin Johnson for Iowa started to look like Reggie Miller at Madison Square Garden. Going back to 1:55 in the game, he scored an amazing 19 points by hitting 6 straight 3-pointers that included a 4-point play. Even more amazing was that he scored 16 points in the final 1 minute of play. Here's how that final minute went.

• IU up 71-60 with exactly 1:00 to go, Johnson hits a 3 to make it 71-63.
• IU up 73-63 with :41 seconds to go, Johnson converts a 4-pt play to make it 73-67.
• IU up 75-67 with :20 seconds to go, Johnson hits a 27-footer to make it 75-70.
• IU up 77-70 with :14 seconds to go, Johnson hits a 3 to make it 77-73.
• IU up 78-73 with :04 seconds to go, Johnson banks in a 3 from 5 feet inside half-court to make it only a 2-point game.
• IU hits one FT to make it 79-76 with :03 to go, Iowa rebounds the missed 2nd FT and has a chance to tie, but fortunately DJ stole the outlet pass and time ran out. And it's a good thing DJ stole it because the pass was headed toward Johnson at half-court. Even though he would have had a tough time getting a shot off in time, this guy could have thrown it over his head from half-court and it would have gone in.

Fortunately, IU made most of their FTs down the stretch. They went 8-10 in the final minute. Of course, the two misses were on the last 2 possessions, but 8-10 down the stretch was still good enough to hold off one of the most amazing shooting performances I have ever seen.

All in all, I'm not really sure what to make of this game. As this game was playing out during the first 30 minutes and it stayed a close game, I was obviously concerned. But what really concerned me was that I didn't think IU was actually playing that bad. The reason this concerned me so much was that it made me wonder if maybe we just aren't very good. If we are playing decent yet we are still tied with a bad Iowa team, then either we really aren't that good or it really is that tough to go on the road in the Big Ten.

The good news is that IU ultimately did wear down Iowa and did finally build a double-digit lead. If it hadn't been for Johnson catching fire, IU would have cruised to a double-digit win. And this is a team that they should have easily beat by double-digits. Iowa had lost a starter to injury last week and lost another player to injury in the early part of this game. So Iowa did not have much of a bench and I think IU's depth was probably the key factor in IU eventually pulling away in the 2nd half.

Overall Team Performance: B-

I'm still not sure about this team. The defense is still giving up way too many easy baskets. I still don't understand why IU has their big men hedge so far on ball screens. It seems to be the main factor that leads to the easy baskets. And I don't blame the players for this because it is pretty clear that is how they are being coached to do it. But I don't see why it's a good thing for DJ to defend the guard on the dribble out to 30 feet from the basket, then the IU guard finally recovers and DJ has to go find his man who is usually all the way in the lane by now. Any good guard is finding the big man who then has an easy basket or IU rotates but then they kick out to a wide-open 3.

I just don't understand it. If anyone else does, please let me know. With the way IU is defending the ball screen, they would probably be better off just straight switching. It may lead to some mismatches, but at least they would have defenders in place rather than allowing wide open shots. But I think the real answer is that the guards need to do a better job getting through the screens. They know it's coming, so they need to see it and then either go over the top or go around, but they have to fight like hell to get through that screen. And every once in a while, you may need to go through the screen and if your elbow accidentally catches a rib or your knee accidentally catches a groin, so be it. But unless some guard is using the ball screen and nailing a bunch of 3s, I don't see the benefit of having our big men hedge like that.

D.J. White: A-

DJ didn't have his 10-ft jumper going like he has been, but still had another huge double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds. In fact, it seemed like he had 20+ rebounds. He has been owning the glass lately and I believe this makes 8 out of the last 9 games that he has had a double-double. DJ also had back-to-back dunks during that key stretch for IU to get them to a double-digit lead. I would have docked DJ for some defense, but I think he is playing the way he is being coached, so I'm not going to put that on him.

Mike White: C

Didn't do much of anything.

Armon Bassett: C

I had an F for Armon, but I just read on peegs.com that he has an ankle injury that he aggravated. He played the first 3 minutes and looked horrible, especially on the defensive end. I thought he got benched because of his defense but apparently it was an injury. Anyway, he did not return after those 3 minutes.

Jamarcus Ellis: A+

Check out this line: 15 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals.

And not only that, I thought this was his best game on defense. This is going to sound strange because Johnson had 29 points, but he actually did an outstanding job defending Johnson. He held Johnson to 10 points for most of the game. Then, in that final minute, I don't even know if Jamarcus was in the game the whole time. I do know it was Ratliff who fouled him on the 4-point play and Gordon was right in his face on another and then two of them were from nearly half-court. So, those 19 points weren't on Ellis.

Ellis continues to be a great all-around player. Tonight was a bonus because he added some scoring.

Eric Gordon: B

Gordon is really tough to grade. I mean he only set another IU record tonight by scoring 25 points in his Big Ten freshman debut. It was good to see him hit a couple 3s because his shot had really been off in the previous 2 games -- he shot only 20% FGs and 19% 3PT against Coppin St and Chicago St. Of course, in those same 2 games, he did manage to go 24-24 from the FT line. His FT streak ended at 25 straight, but he still went 9-11 tonight.

Tonight, Gordon did play a big role in the 2nd half when IU started to build its lead. Sampson got the ball in his hands more and he made some things happen including a spectacular 3-point play.

Unfortunately, he is still struggling with the turnovers. He gets going too fast and is either loose with the dribble or fires a pass too hard. However, it's hard to tell him to slow down because he does draw so many fouls and makes some great plays by using that burst of speed. He kind of reminds me of Brett Favre in that respect -- how do you reign him in just a little bit to prevent some of the turnovers while still allowing him to use his abilities to make great plays. In years where Favre was able to successfully do this, he won 3 MVPs and a Super Bowl and he has done it pretty well this year and has my beloved Packers sitting as a #2 seed in the playoffs. If Gordon can do this, he will be the Big Ten's Player of the Year and IU will be Big Ten Champs. So that's the question, can Gordon play more under control but still play with power, explosion, and aggressiveness?

Also, I think Gordon needs to be doing more. And I think Sampson needs to contantly challenge him to be the best he can be. Gordon is an incredible athlete, but he is really only using his athleticism right now for 2 things -- scoring and defending the ball. With as great of an athlete he is, he should also be rebounding and should be everywhere on defense. Right now, he does a lot of standing around if the ball is not in his hands or he is not defending the ball. This is not uncommon for a freshman of his caliber because he has spent his whole life playing offense with the ball in his hands 99% of the time.

I think a lot of IU's success this year depends on how much Gordon can improve throughout the year. When you watch a freshman score 25 points and don't even think twice about it, the upside is limitless.

In my opinion, I think they need to get the ball in his hands more often and just ask him to create. With the way he can score and draw fouls and shoot from long range, I can live with some turnovers. I also think he will start to be more effective at dishing for assists as the year goes on.

DeAndre Thomas: B-

Only 6 minutes, but had a nice post move and rattled in both his FTs. Because of his size, he definitely gets called for some cheap fouls. There is a lot of bumping in the Big Ten that does not get called, but when DeAndre bumps someone, they tend to go for a ride.

Jordan Crawford: B-

Definitely did some good things, but he had 0 assists in 30 minutes at the point guard position. With Bassett out, Crawford played only at the point, but he never really created a whole lot. Come to think of it, I think the box score is wrong because he had a great pass to DJ for a dunk to give IU a double-digit lead. Anyway, he didn't do a whole lot to create offense for his teammates. But you do have to like that he does find a way to get some points and added another 12 points tonight.

A.J. Ratliff: C+

Definitely a little rusty, but AJ will help this team a lot, especially if he can have a good year shooting the 3. I really think IU needs another good 3-pt shooter besides Gordon. You know that Gordon is not going to get many open looks all year long. Gordon is going to have to either hit tough 3s or he is going to have to keep blowing by people and drawing fouls. But teams are not going to let him just stand there and shoot.

However, with all the attention that Gordon and DJ get, other guys on the team can make a nice living by just spotting up and shooting open 3s when the shot comes to them. I think Ratliff could really help this team in that category. Bassett started on fire, but has since cooled off and has been plagued by suspension and injury. Crawford did hit 6 treys in an exhibition game, but he is not really known for his 3-point shooting (he now has 8 made 3-pointers on the year). Stemler is actually knocking a few down this year, so hopefully he can keep it up (he's now 14-40 for 35% on the year, not bad). Ellis will shoot a few, but defnintely not his strength. So, if Ratliff can knock some down, he could see some significant minutes. He took two tonight and missed them both, but his form looked good so I expect him to get it going.

The problem with Ratliff is that there are so many games that he doesn't do much else. Another great athlete but doesn't rebound well. Tonight, he had 1 rebound, 0 assists, 0 blocks, and 1 steal in 15 minutes. I remember games last year where he would play 20+ minutes and not have any stats in the hustle categories. I think we need better coaching at North Central because both Gordon and Ratliff came to IU with an ability to score, but you can tell that they were not asked to do much else.

Anyway, it was good to finally see AJ in uniform. Oh yeah, he did also manage to foul out in just 15 minutes.

Lance Stemler: A-

Tonight, I thought the team clearly looked better when Stemler was in the game versus when Mike White or DeAndre was in the game. When IU is playing their stupid aggressive hedge on the ball screen that is followed by a feable attempt to scramble and recover for the rest of the defensive possession....[this is starting to feel like a run-on sentence]....anyway, I think Stemler is a lot better at the scrambling than the big guys are. Lance also hit 1-2 from the arc and pulled down 5 rebounds which is all we need out of him. Hit the open jumper and hustle your ass all over the floor and we'll be happy. Miss 10 straight wide-open 3-point attempts and that's when Hoosier Nation starts to get a little frustrated with good ole Stemler.

Shon Morris: A

Former NW player, Shon Morris, was the color-man for the game tonight and I think he does a great job. He's definitely the best the Big Ten Network has to offer and he is a million times better than Laskowski. I'm hoping that they keep Laskowski in Bloomington all year and maybe we will get some different announcers on the road. After one time that DeAndre bowled someone over, Morris said "DeAndre Thomas is as subtle as a hard kick to the head."

Big Ten Network Camera-work: F

This has been a problem all year for the Big Ten Network. They are slow to put up their replays, so you end up missing live action. In fact, on some occassions, they have just simply missed some action because the camera is slow to catch up with the ball. Also, tonight, they had a camera angle from the floor. A lot of stations will flash to that camera angle to give you some perspective as the ball is being dribbled up the court, but then they go back to the traditional elevated side angle for the possession. However, the BTN was doing some full possessions from the floor tonight and you could not see what in the hell was going on.

Some of the camera-work is bad, but I still love the Big Ten Network. After the game, you can watch Big Ten Tonight where they break down the game, show a full set of highlights, and usually have postgame interviews.

All in all, it wasn't pretty for 30 minutes, then it looked to be a nice double-digit win, then it got really scary, but in the end it is a win on the road and the Hoosiers move to 1-0 in the Big Ten and 12-1 overall.

Next game is on the road again, but it is in 6 days and it is at Michigan. Wisconsin went into Michigan tonight and had no problem, so hopefully IU can get a nice big win over the Wolverines next week.

Go Hoosiers!

IU's Big Ten Schedule

To take a look at how the Big Ten schedule shakes out for the Hoosiers, I will attempt to handicap the games. What I consider to be the easiest game will receive a handicap of 18, the toughest game will receive a handicap of 1, and so on. Handicaps are in parentheses. (all times listed as Eastern) Jan 2 - at Iowa, 9:05 PM (12) Jan 8 - at Michigan, 7:00 PM (14) Jan 13 - vs. Illinois, 1:00 PM (11) Jan 17 - at Minnesota, 9:00 PM (6) Jan 20 - vs. Penn State, 2:00 PM (17) Jan 23 - vs. Iowa, 9:00 PM (16) Jan 26 - vs. Connecticut, 1:00 PM Jan 31 - at Wisconsin, 9:00 PM (3) Feb 3 - vs. Northwestern, 12:00 PM (18) Feb 7 - at Illinois, 9:00 PM (2) Feb 10 - at Ohio State, 1:00 PM (5) Feb 13 - vs. Wisconsin, 7:00 PM (7) Feb 16 - vs. Michigan State, 9:00 PM (4) Feb 19 - vs. Purdue, 7:00 PM (8) Feb 23 - at Northwestern, 8:00 PM (15) Feb 26 - vs. Ohio State, 7:00 PM (9) Mar 2 - at Michigan State, TBA (1) Mar 5 - vs. Minnesota, TBA (10) Mar 8 - at Penn State, 3:00 PM (13)

Teams we play only once: Michigan, Purdue. It's just plain wrong that we only play Purdue once.

I think IU starts out with a pretty easy schedule to start conference play. The first two games are on the road, but they are at Iowa and at Michigan. Both those teams are void of talent and have struggled under their new coaches. I think both coaches will be good in the long-term, but it is probably going to take each of them 2-3 years.

If IU can take care of business in these two road games, I am hoping it will help remove the mindset that you can't win on the road in the Big Ten. Also, I think this IU team can be successful on the road because of their ability to get to the FT line.

The other 4 games prior to the UConn non-conference game vs. Illinois, @ Minnesota, vs. Penn St, and vs. Iowa. That road trip to Minnesota worries me. Unlike Iowa and Michigan, Minnesota does have some talent and they are playing well under Tubby Smith.

Overall, I think these first 6 games are comparatively an easy way to start the Big Ten and it could be IU's chance to really climb in the polls. Also, I like having the easier part of the schedule at the beginning because I still think this team is trying to come together. Unless something else strange happens (which I wouldn't rule out this year), A.J. Ratliff should be back for the B10 opener and Sampson can really start to use a deep bench to his advantage.

Following the goofy UConn game, this team will really find out if they can win on the road with 3 of their next 4 games being @ Wisconsin, @ Illinois, and @ Ohio St. The Kohl Center is always tough and will be no different this year.

After going to Wisconsin, IU does get NW at Assembly Hall before they head to Illinois, which will be interesting to say the least. There might just be a little media attention on Gordon and IU heading into Illinois. It's going to be a nasty environment, but there is an easy way to shut them up and that is for Gordon and IU to go in there and get a win.

After 3 of 4 on the road, IU then has 3 straight at home but each are going to be tough opponents in Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Purdue.

Both games against Michigan State are in the 2nd half of the season and take place on Feb 16th and March 2nd. Will these 2 games decide the Big Ten Champion? Quite possibly.

After the big March 2nd game at Michigan State, the Hoosiers have Minnesota at home and Penn State on the road to finish out the conference schedule.

I definitely think the easiest stretch of schedule is the first 6 games before the UConn game. After the UConn game, it is going to be classic Big Ten basketball. I am hoping that is when IU really starts to hit full stride. If they do, look out for the Hoosiers!

Go IU!