IU 72 Cornell 57

I have to say that I am pretty excited by that performance. That was by far IU's best game of the year. This is a Cornell team that went 14-0 in the Ivy League last year and is returning 9 of their 10 top scorers. However, 2 of their top 3 players are currently injured. Even so, this Cornell team is a much better team than IUPUI or Chaminade that IU barely beat. This Cornell team also featured Randy Wittman's son, Ryan, who was definitely the real deal as a shooter. IU jumped out to an early 14-4 lead and they never relinquished the lead even though most of the game was played in the 4-8 point lead range. Several things really impressed me about our young Hoosiers today: * There was a very scary moment where Verdell Jones took a hard mid-court screen from Cornell's 7-footer. He laid on the floor for about 10 minutes before being carted off on a stretcher. As of the latest report from the hospital, it sounds like he is going to be OK. But it was a very scary moment and the looks of shock on his teammates' faces made me wonder how they would respond. But Tom Crean did a great job by huddling the team up and he was yelling in that huddle to try to get the energy back in the team. Then, Crean was literally waving to the crowd to get up and the Hoosiers responded by continuing to play well. * Late in this game, I just had this feeling that Cornell was going to make a run and bring this game back to even. But not only did that not happen, IU actually put them away in the final 6 minutes by building their lead up to 15 points. * They flat out played their ass off today. This team has hustled all year, but they took it to another level today and fought on every single possession. * As far as individual performances, Nick Williams and Tom Pritchard were outstanding. Sure, a couple poor decisions that led to turnovers, but other than that, they carried the team today. Daniel Moore also had a very good game. * IU built their lead early in the game with 3-pointers. However, when they stopped falling in the 2nd half, they didn't fall apart. Instead, they either drove into the lane to get better looks or worked through Pritchard. * FT shooting was much improved. As a team, they were 15-19 with Pritchard going a respectable 9-13 and the rest of the team was perfect (Moore 4-4 and Dumes 2-2). * They outrebounded Cornell 37-24 and a lot of those were pure hustle. It was Kyle Taber keeping a ball alive by tipping it or Daniel Moore chasing down long rebounds in the corner. Overall Team Performance: A Easily their best performance of the year. Tom Pritchard: A- Another very impressive performance from Pritchard. This time, he was going up against a 7-footer. He finished with 23 points on a perfect 7-7 from the field and 9-13 from the line. He also added 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. The only downside was the 4 turnovers. His post moves and finishes were great today and I believe he had 3 traditional 3-point plays. Daniel Moore: A- 8 points on perfect 2-2 FG and 4-4 FT shooting and an impressive 6 rebounds. He also hit a key 10-footer with about 5 minutes to play when the lead was still only 6 points. Also led the team with 4 assists. Nick Williams: A- I think Cook already noted in his halftime comments that this was Nick Williams' coming out party and it sure was. He finished with 18 points, but 14 of them were in the first half where he was the key factor in IU building the early lead. He hit a pair of 3s, some mid-range jumpers, and also drove a couple all the way to the rack. He was also very active defensively. He did have 5 turnovers, but with the nice win today and Williams stepping up his overall game in a big way, we can look the other way today. One of his turnovers actually triggered what I thought was the play of the game. With 4 minutes to go and a 9 point lead, Williams lost the handle out front and it looked like a Cornell dunk would cut the lead to 7 points. But Williams hustled back and got a piece of the ball as the Cornell player went up for the dunk and the Hoosiers were off and running the other way. Moore did a nice job to find Story in transition and Story pulled up and drained the 3-pointer to build the lead up to 12 points. Assembly Hall went wild and this one was over. Verdell Jones: DNF Sounds like he will be OK, hopefully that will be the case. Devan Dumes: B Dumes continues his up and down play. Good play, followed by turnover, nice drive and bucket, followed by airball, and so it goes. I really thought Dumes did a pretty good job on Wittman defensively. Even though Wittman set a career high with 28 points, I thought Dumes made him work for it. And when Dumes was out of the game, I noticed it on the defensive end of the court. I still think we will see better things out of Dumes. He just needs some consistency and he'll be fine. Nice job with 6 rebounds. Matt Roth: B I thought I would probably just grade Roth on his 3-point shooting all year. So, in today's case, his 1-5 from the arc would generally get a lower grade. However, I thought Roth was making a difference in other areas with some deflections, steals, and rebounds. It was good to see. Malik Story: B Interestingly, Story was asked to play some point guard even before Jones went down with the injury. It certainly gives the team a different look and I thought he did a pretty good job. He was only 2-7 from the field, but I remember both of his makes clearly. The first was an impressive drive and a high-arching mid-range jumper that he softly kissed off the glass (Dumes made a nearly identical shot a couple minutes later). And then the other big shot from Story was the 3-pointer mentioned above. Kyle Taber: B+ Taber did exactly what we need him to -- hustle and get rebounds. He hustled his ass off and grabbed 8 rebounds. Nice job. Coming up: Well, it's not going to be a fun week for our Hoosiers. They play Wake Forest and Gonzaga this week. But, all we are looking for are positive signs for the future of IU basketball and there were plenty of them today. Go Hoosiers!

IU 81 Chaminade 79

It was good to see the Hoosiers leave Maui with a win, even it was a close win against a D-II school. It was nice to see them knock down some 3-balls, but as Cook and Tom already commented, the FT shooting nearly cost them the game. Pritchard, Story, Jones, and Moore all had good games. It was good to finally see Moore contribute in the scoring column (10 points). Unfortunately, it is pretty clear already in this season that he will probably be overmatched whenever the competition is good. IU led this game from the outset and would build the lead up to 15 points but they could never put Chaminade away. The Hoosiers continue to struggle to defend the 3-point shot and then their FT shooting in the 2nd half was especially bad. Those two things allowed Chaminade to keep clawing back into the game. But after a lot of back and forth, I was never really worried about this game until the final minute. In the final minute, IU missed several free throws and eventually Chaminade had a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that would have won the game. Luckily, it fell short and the Hoosiers left Maui with a victory and improved their record to 3-2. Next up is Cornell on Sunday at 3pm CT on the Big Ten Network. Cornell has a 4-2 record with wins over South Dakota, Loyala (Maryland), Loyala (Chicago), and Eastern Michigan. Their losses were to St John's and Siena. Go Hoosiers!

IU 54 St Joe's 80

Hey look! It's our very own Greg on TV!!!! (upper left corner of the screen, clapping). This was BY FAR the most exciting part of the game for me for 3 reasons: (1) I think it was pretty damn cool to see Greg on TV. (2) There wasn't a whole hell of a lot to be excited about this game. (3) This actually was the most exciting part of the game -- Roth had just hit a 3 to give IU a 19-18 lead mid-way through the first half. And I just noticed another really cool thing about this photo -- not only is it a shot of Greg on TV, it also captures IU leading the game 19-18 (which will be rare this year), but another cool thing is that it includes the bottom line update of Kelvin Sampson receiving a 5-year "show-cause" penalty. This freeze-frame is definitely a keeper. Greg - I actually spotted you and Vicki about four times throughout the game. Thanks for the comments on yesterday's game, please drop us another comment with your thoughts on today's debacle. I hope you are enjoying the scenery outside the arena! As for my thoughts on today's game....oh brother, this is going to be a much harder season to endure than I anticipated. I thought I would be mentally prepared for this season, but it really sucks to watch your team get embarrassed out there. Chris nailed it earlier today when he said we are on the national humiliation tour. I am really glad to see that the NCAA got it right by basically banning Sampson for 5 years and not issuing any further sanctions against IU. Why it took them so long to come to that conclusion, I have no idea. The good news is that we can finally move past all that bullshit and move on with our rebuilding process. Unfortunately, after watching today's game, it became perfectly clear that this rebuilding process is going to take at least into year three of the Crean era. Yes, we have a Top 10 class coming in next year, but I think next year will still be a struggle with all freshmen and sophomores. Also, I think part of our Top 10 class is based somewhat on sheer numbers. I think the fact that we have 6 players coming influences our overall ranking. A class like that is not necessarily better than a 3 player class that has one 5-star, one 4-star, and one 3-star. That 5-star player can generally make an immediate and significant impact. Don't get me wrong, a class with 6 solid players is exactly what IU needs right now -- we just need to be able to field a full team of true scholarship players so that you have some depth and some options. But at the same time, I'm not sure that this class has that player or two that can come in and dominate. One key to next year will be how good is Jeremiah Rivers going to be as a 4th-year Junior? Anyway, back to today's game, we'll have plenty of time to talk about the future. It's hard not to think about the future when the immediate past and the present make you want to puke. Overall Team Performance: D They played much worse than they did against Notre Dame. If you didn't see today's game, the Hoosiers actually started pretty good. It was a close game with lead changes in the first half, but then IU got outscored 7-0 in the final 2-3 minutes to close out the first half and they went into halftime trailing by 5. Not the way you want to finish the half, but all in all, a pretty good first half. But then it got ugly in a hurry. To follow-up that 7-0 run to end the first half, IU then gave up a 19-0 run in the early going of the second half. IU did score a couple quick buckets out of halftime, but then that 19-0 run happened and this thing was a laugher. And it didn't just end with the 19-0 run, I think there was a whole stretch that had to be something like 34-5. IU's turnovers during the 19-0 run were horrible -- completely unforced turnovers. We did not have a single player score in double-digits. There are just no answers when this team starts to struggle. Things start to get rough and your only option is to go to the bench and bring in more freshmen and walk-ons. So, I just don't know how this team is going to be able to weather any storms. Crean did the right thing and took 3 timeouts during the 19-0 run, but they would come out of the timeout with yet another unforced turnover. Also, the defensive awareness was a joke. IU played mostly zone in the first half for a few reasons. One, St Joe's best player was a big man so the zone was collapsing around him (this actually worked very well). Two, St Joe's came into the game shooting 25% from the arc. And three, Tom Pritchard was in foul trouble. Unfortunately, one of the St Joe's players (Govens) got hot. I think he hit his first 6 treys. But they were all wide open. After he hit two or three, I was yelling at the TV that they have to stay with that guy, but they would continue to leave him wide open. Crean even said in the postgame that this guy was at the top of the scouting report, but the guys just didn't stay aware of where he was. And finally, another poor shooting performance by the Hoosiers from the line (15-23) and the arc (3-14). Nick Williams: C+ He was OK. I noticed him with some hustle plays, etc., but nothing special. Tom Pritchard: C- Only 7 minutes in the first half due to 2 fouls and only 17 minutes overall. Definitely his worst performance to date, but still showed some of the things we liked about him in the first 3 games. Daniel Moore: D- Moore was horrible today. 7 turnovers and 0-2 from the line. Some really, really bad passes today. I guess he did have 3 assists and 3 steals, both of which led the team. But I really expected to see double-digit turnovers when I checked the box score. I was also surprised that Crean played him 29 minutes even though he was struggling so much. But I guess that just goes back to the point of nobody else to turn to. Verdell Jones: B- His lack of strength continues to be a problem when he drives the ball, although he was able to convert on a couple crafty moves. He was 4-8 from the field and only 1 turnover, so there are a couple positives. Devan Dumes: D+ Dumes needs to be better. Period. He has some experience, so he needs to be the one that can take the ball and make something positive happen. Unfortunately, he can't seem to get his shots to fall on both his drives to the basket and his 3-point shot. Another 0-3 from the arc today makes him 0-7 in Maui and 2-16 in the last 3 games from downtown. Also went 2-4 from the line which makes him 2-6 from the line in Maui. He has to do better than that. Tack on 5 turnovers and it just wasn't a good day. Matt Roth: B Hit 2-3 from the arc. That's what we need. Brett Finkelmeier: D- Tough day for the walk-ons from Carmel. Finkelmeier had 2 turnovers in just 5 minutes of play. Malik Story: B I'm liking what I see out of Story. He was today's leading scorer with 9 points and added 4 rebounds and 2 steals. I was a little surprised that he didn't get more than 17 minutes with the way that most of the team was struggling. However, it's been hard to really notice because the whole team defense is so bad, but I do suspect that defense is his weak spot with this coaching staff and that is why he is not seeing more minutes. On the offensive end, he is active, he can shoot the 3-ball (1-4 today, but at least he made one), and he can get in the lane. It's not always a positive result, but at least it's something. This guy really, really reminds me of Robert Vaden. Tijan Jobe: B 2 points on 1-1 FG shooting and 3 rebounds.....hey, it was a career day! And maybe now that expectations are so low, anything positive is a bonus. But in all honesty, Jobe came in and was serviceable today. He went after a couple rebounds aggressively. Unfortunately, he is a non-factor defensively and simply does not know how to use his size effectively. I will tell you one thing, I am fascinated by Tijan Jobe. I wonder if Crean would hire me as an assistant to work solely with Jobe. Heck, that one baseball player is on the team because he won a 3-point shooting contest, so anything is possible this year. If I were to be given the opportunity to coach Jobe, I would simply kick him in the nuts repeatedly until he ripped my head off, dunked it, and tore down the entire basketball goal. At that point, he would finally be ready. Kyle Taber: B 7 points, 6 rebounds, 3-3 from the line, and an impressive post move. Pretty good, but he did miss one wide open layup. Tomorrow's Game: IU plays Chaminade at 6pm CT on ESPNU. This will probably be a close game. I'll be traveling to the Hoosier state tomorrow and I'm not sure that I will have access to ESPNU, so I don't know when I will get around to posting about that game. I will be recording the game at home for viewing at a later date. Stephen Curry: I also just wanted to make note about Stephen Curry in case you have not seen the insane start to his season and then the bizarre twist in today's game. First, check out these first 5 games from Curry: Game 1 - 29 points, 10 assists, 9 steals Game 2 - 33 points, 9 assists, 4 steals Game 3 - 44 points, 3 assists, 2 steals Game 4 - 30 points, 13 assists, 3 steals Game 5 - 39 points, 4 assists, 0 steals Heading into today's game, he was averaging 35.0 points, just under 8 assists, 3.5 steals, 53% FG, 45% 3-pt FG, and 91% FT. In today's game, he was held scoreless. But here's the kicker, he was held scoreless while Davidson cruised to an easy 78-48 win over Loyala (Md). The reason it was so easy was because Loyola was double-teaming Curry no matter where he went. So, Curry just went and stood in the corner, 2 defenders went and stood with him, and then the rest of the Davidson team played 4-on-3 for the whole game. Here is the full article: http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/gamecenter/recap/NCAAB_20081125_LOYMD@DAVID

IU 50 ND 88

Well, the good news is that is exactly what I expected. I fully expected a 30-40 point loss and that's what happened. The bad news is that we are going to have to endure these types of games all season long. There's just no way around it. We are going to have to look (and sometimes look hard) for any positives out of this team that will hopefully carry forward to the next few years. Even though I was fully expecting a loss of this nature, it was still painful to watch. This young and small team is going to struggle on the boards all year long. It's also clear that they are going to really struggle on the defensive end -- not only are they often outmatched physically and athletically, but it is very common for freshmen to struggle defensively. And finally, they are struggling on the offensive end because most of these guys are used to high school where they can get into the lane and then finish with a clear shot at the basket. Now at the college level, every shot is contested and you are often getting pushed and bumped in the process. So, the result has been a lot of nice moves by the Hoosiers but then they end up just chucking something off the backboard after their shot is altered. And finally, young players are always going to struggle with turnovers. So, if you are a team that is a young team without any size that is going to struggle rebounding, struggle on the defensive end, struggle on the offensive end, and have a lot of turnovers.....well then, you are going to have a lot of games like tonight. There are two areas where I think this team can improve and that is FT shooting and 3-pt shooting. They were just 1-12 from the arc tonight and only 7-13 from the line. Other than those two things, it is what it is. To put all of this into perspective, let's take a look at some of the roles on this team. We will look at this 3 ways -- their current role on this team, what I think their role would be in a normal year, and what I think their role will be next year and future years. Kyle Taber (this year) - Senior leader of this team that will likely start most of the year and will see significant minutes. Kyle Taber (normal year) - Well, last year as a junior, he did not even see the floor until last year's team completely imploded. Even then, when he did play and get an offensive rebound, he was under strict orders to dribble it back out and give the ball to Eric Gordon. So, if this was a normal year, Taber would likely be sitting on the end of the bench and we wouldn't hear his name until Senior night. Kyle Taber (next year and future years) - N/A Verdell Jones (this year) - Starting point guard. Verdell Jones (normal year) - I think he would be a candidate for a redshirt year. He is just not strong enough to be ready for big-time college basketball. Verdell Jones (next year and future years) - The point guard position gets really interesting next year. You will have Jones who will have a full year with a lot of minutes under his belt. Jeremiah Rivers who was on the Big East All-Defensive team will enter the mix. Jordan Hulls looks to be a really nice point guard recruit out of Bloomington. And Daniel Moore looks like he could continue to compete for time. So, it will be really interesting how it all shakes out, but that will hopefully be a good problem to have. I do think Jones could be a good player if he can get stronger and improve his jump-shot. Devan Dumes (this year) - The number one scoring option on the perimeter. Devan Dumes (normal year) - I would see him as the first guard coming off the bench. Devan Dumes (next year) - I'm hoping we will see better things from Dumes this year. I feel like he has been struggling to find his groove in these first 3 games. If he can improve all year, then I would think he would start and be a key scorer as a senior on next year's team. Tom Pritchard (this year) - The number one (and only) scoring option inside. In the early going, he looks to be the "go-to guy". Tom Pritchard (normal year) - Probably the first big man off the bench and would see significant minutes. Tom Pritchard (next year and future years) - I think Tom Pritchard is going to be a great Hoosier. Even if IU brings in a couple big-time scorers (and let's hope there are a couple on the way), I think Pritchard will be a major contributor throughout his career. Nick Williams (this year) - Starter with major minutes. Emotional leader. Nick Williams (normal year) - Maybe see some minutes off the bench but not many. Seems like he just needs some time to learn and become more polished. Nick Williams (next year and future years) - He won't ever be the leading scorer, but I think he will be able to do a little bit of everything. I think he might end up being a fan-favorite. Matt Roth (this year) - Will play significant minutes. Matt Roth (normal year) - Probably wouldn't see the floor much as a freshman. Looks to be a pure shooter, but has to improve in other areas, especially on the defensive end. Matt Roth (next year and future years) - I think Roth will normally come off the bench and will be a Kyle Hornsby type of player. Malik Story (this year) - Will play significant minutes. Malik Story (normal year) - Probably wouldn't see the floor much as a freshman. Needs more polishing. Malik Story (next year and future years) - Not sure. Looks like he potentially has a lot to offer -- he has good size, he can shoot, and it looks like he could potentially be a good passer and someone you could give the ball to on the wing to either feed the post, drive the lane, or shoot the 3. He's not there yet, but I do see that potential in him. Daniel Moore (this year) - Significant point guard minutes and maybe even the starter. Daniel Moore (normal year) - In all honesty, a walk-on freshman at IU normally wouldn't ever see the floor (whether he deserves it or not). Daniel Moore (next year and future years) - As noted above, the point guard position gets a lot more crowded next year. However, I see Moore as the type of guy that is going to make it hard on Crean not to play him. He will be ready if any of those other guys have their head up their ass. Tijan Jobe (this year) - He's going to have to play. Tijan Jobe (normal year) - Would not be on the roster of a major D-1 school. Tijan Jobe (next year) - Will be used in practice to "uncurl" the net. Brett Finkelmeier (this year) - Going to see some minutes. Brett Finkelmeier (next year and future years) - Back to the end of the bench. Other walk-ons (next year and future years) - Grab some water bottles because being a manager is going to be the best you can do. So, when you add it all up, you really only have Pritchard and Dumes and maybe Williams that I would see significantly contributing in a normal year. That makes it very difficult on all these guys because they are all being asked to play roles that are much larger than they are capable of. And that can make a big difference. I think Devan Dumes could be much more effective as a 2nd or 3rd option on the perimeter than he will be as the 1st scoring option on the perimeter. Well, that is basically what I typed up the other night before my internet connection went down and I lost my whole post. So, I hope that was worthwhile. Now, back to today's game. With all of the above having been said, we will do our best to try to find some positives. Overall Team Performance: B- What can you say, that was what we expected and you certainly can't blame these guys. So, I give the team a B- and Kelvin Sampson gets an F- for putting us in this situation. Sure, you can analyze that the got outrebounded by 10, they had 20 turnovers while only forcing 10, and they were often out of position time and again on the defensive end. But again, that is where you expect this team to be against a very good and experienced Notre Dame team. Tom Pritchard: A- I wanted to start with Pritchard because he really impressed me again today. He was going up against last year's Big East Player of the Year and a national Player of the Year candidate this year and he held his own. After a solid first two games, I really thought that Pritchard was going to end up looking foolish in this one. Although he did look foolish on a couple possessions, he also had some really nice moves and more than held his own against Harongody. In fact, statistically, it was pretty much a dead heat with Pritchard having 14 & 6 and Harongody having 14 & 5. Of course, Notre Dame had this game in hand and didn't really need to rely on Harongody, but I was still impressed with Pritchard. Malik Story: B- Hit IU's only 3, but didn't do much else. Like many of the Hoosiers, he will make a nice move, but then seems to be in unfamiliar territory when a 6' 10" dude slides over and he'll end up with a poor shot or a turnover. Matt Roth: D Ok, wise guy, let's step in to 21 feet or less and start making those before you continue to launch from 26 feet and beyond. Daniel Moore: C+ I thought he started really good by running down loose balls and running the offense, but as the game went on, he was completely outmatched on the defensive end and also ended up having 4 turnovers. Devan Dumes: C+ Need some consistency. He would make a few really nice drives and pull-up jumpers, but then would make a bad play. This team really needs him to be hitting from downtown (0-4 tonight). Also, coming in as a junior and quoted as "loving to play defense", I think I was hoping for more on the defensive end. He really looked bad on several plays on defense, but then again, when your team defense is that bad, it's often hard to tell who screwed up. Dumes was also 0-2 from the line, that just can't happen. Verdell Jones: C Played a little better late in the game. There were several times that he just looked foolish trying to drive into the teeth of the defense. He better work on his Reggie Miller flops so that he starts getting more foul calls or else he just gets pounded to the floor and turns it over or throws up a bad shot. He did go 4-4 from the line, so there's a positive. Nick Williams: B Williams had a good night on the offensive end by going 5-9 from the field. He had a nice mid-range jumper going today. Only 2 boards though. Even though he is only 6' 4", he has to use his energy to be all over the boards. Kyle Taber: C- Only played 11 minutes, which was a little surprising. Didn't even attempt a shot. Tijan Jobe: C- Well, I thought it was going to be Jobe's night. He pulled down 2 rebounds within the first minute of being in the game. But then he played another 8 minutes and did absolutely nothing. At 7-feet tall, he was a total non-factor on defense even as Notre Dame drove right down the lane. The term "project" would be an understatement and the fact that IU only has 2 years on this project probably won't yield much in results. Tom Crean: A I have absolutely no complaints of what Crean has done since becoming IU's head coach. By the way, tomorrow's game is at 12:30 CT on ESPNU, so I'm not sure how many people will be able to catch that one. I don't think that game will be as ugly as today's, but I still expect it to end up in the 'L' column. Hopefully, I'm wrong. Go Hoosiers!

IU 60 IUPUI 57

I don't want to send mixed signals out of the gate here, so I will first say that I am really happy that they won. However, I am extremely pissed off right now because I just spent a lot of time typing a very lengthy post and as I was finishing it, my Internet Explorer just crashed and I lost the entire post. I had included a full section with a paragraph on each player that described their role on this team and then I included what I thought their role would be on a team in a normal year. Unfortunately, I will have to postpone re-typing that whole section for another time. I had also included a few other random thoughts on this year's team and had finished up a pretty detailed report card. Since it is now almost 1am, I will now just go into a quick report card: Overall Team Performance: C I was really happy that they won and it was probably a really good experience for this team to play and win a game where every possession was important and it came down to the final few seconds. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean they played well -- they started the game out really bad again, they struggled shooting, and their defense was horrible in the 2nd half. What I did like is that they were better on the boards and they had 17 assists on 21 field goals, which is really impressive. Should we be happy that we beat IUPUI in a close game? Hell yes! This season is going to be a struggle, so we need to enjoy every single win. This season and some of these guys are going to be the foundation of IU's return to glory in the years to come. So, we need to enjoy every positive step that we see this year. Tom Pritchard: A Pritchard played really well tonight. He had a stretch where he had 7 points and 2 rebounds in just one minute. These 7 points started a 16-0 run that eventually resulted in a 19-2 run to finish out the half. Not too bad to start your college career with a double-double in your first two games and tonight's was with 19 points on 7-8 FG shooting. Kyle Taber: C+ Taber did absolutely nothing in the 1st half, but then hit that huge 3 in the 2nd half after IUPUI had stormed back to tie the game. That 3-pointer moved Kyle Taber into at least a tie for first place in the NCAA record books for career 3-point shooting percentage at 100%. I noticed Taber still favoring that knee at times, so he definitely does not look fully healthy yet. In addition, he has missed a lot of valuable practice time with a new coach and an entirely new team. So, I am hopeful that Taber will continue to get healthier and improve. Verdell Jones: C- Verdell is going to be one of those guys who will make a really bad play, then a great play, then a whole stretch of bad plays, then a whole stretch of good plays, and so on. I think the whole team will be like that, but I think we will notice it the most out of Jones. He took two 3-point shots tonight and both missed horribly, so I am hoping he is able to find the range. Nick Williams: B+ I thought Williams played much better than he did on Saturday. He was active, had a couple nice conversions in the lane, and rebounded well. Just missed a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds. I love his attitude and energy. Devan Dumes: D He is being asked to be the scorer on this team, so I think he has the green light any time he has an opening. However, he needs to convert. His jumper was off tonight and he was just 2-9 from the arc. He also had some bad turnovers and some questionable decisions. Matt Roth: B+ His specialty is shooting and he was able to go 4-9 from the arc tonight. He launched one from at least 7-8 feet behind the line and it bounced around the rim a couple times before bouncing out. That shows you that he has a nice touch on his shot because you usually don't see 27-footers bounce around on the rim. The ones he did hit were pure and a couple came at key moments in the game. He did miss an easy layup though. Dan Moore: A Andy hates the name Daniel, therefore he shall be known as Dan. Clearly becoming an early fan-favorite and deservedly so. He is gritty, tenacious, a good-ball handler, and a great passer. He had 6 assists and 1 turnover (box score shows 2 turnovers but one was the baseball pass just before halftime with 1 second left). He could have easily had more than 10 assists if the other guys would have hit their layups and a few wide-open jumpers. He also came through in the clutch by knocking down 2 free throws in the final seconds. Malik Story: C+ Of all the guys that are seeing any minutes, Story is probably the one guy that I am having the toughest time getting a good read on. He has had a few boards and assists in each of the games, so I think he could be a nice all-around player, but my sense is that he still needs some polishing. Tijan Jobe: D 3 minutes, 2 fouls, 1 turnover, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks. A word of warning before you sit down to watch our Hoosiers in the upcoming Maui Invitational, have some Pepto Bismol or alcohol available because we are going to get our ass kicked all over that island. Go Hoosiers!

IU 83 NW St 65

Was I impressed? No. Was I happy they won? Yes. Was I happy they won by more than a handful over Northwestern State? Yes. Did I expect to be impressed? No. I actually think this was a HUGE win for this Hoosier team. Not because they won, but just because of what the psyche would have been if they lost. This game started with NW St taking an 8-2 lead and I actually thought we were going to lose this game. Seriously, how were we to expect that a bunch of freshmen, JuCo's, and Kyle Taber would respond. It's actually a ridiculous question to even be asking yourself when you think about it. We don't even know who these guys are. But as they game went on, I think we started to see who these guys and Tom Crean are. And not only that, we started to see who they can be. I'm really excited. I think we got the right guy as our coach and I think these freshmen are going to be the foundation of some great teams in years 3 & 4 of the Crean N Crimson era. However, as Hoosier fans, we don't want to live in the future, nor do we want to rely on our storied past. It's college basketball season and I think we have plenty to talk about in the now. So, let's get started with our first report card of the year. Overall Team Performance: B- Hey, they won a game that I actually thought they might lose. So, that's good. I thought the rebounding was atrocious. When you only have 3 guys on the team over 6'6" and those 3 guys are two 6'8" un-athletic white guys and a 7-footer who has never seen a basketball, you are going to expect a poor rebounding team. That said, tonight's rebounding was still horrific. Yet another thing I like about Tom Crean.....the first thing out of his mouth was how bad the rebounding was. If you rebound like that against NW St, imagine what will happen against MSU and WI. Crean is going to have to coach all 5 guys to hit the glass. The other disturbing thing was the turnovers. Yet again, this is expected with an extremely young team. I did like that they played hard throughout the game. They could have folded like a card table when they went down 8-2 in the early going, but they didn't. They hung in there and eventually turned this thing into an easy victory in the 2nd half. Tom Pritchard: B+ A double-double (13 & 10) in your first game as a Hooiser.....not too bad. Probably didn't "Wow" too many people tonight, but I was overall pretty impressed with Pritchard. Let's just put it this way, I don't think we are going to have to resort to "Pritcheville" or "Lindetard". Kyle Taber: C Wow, what a tough role for Kyle Taber. To go from a guy that came on late last year for some effective spot minutes on a dysfunctional team....to being the leader of the first ever 17 & Under Division I college basketball team. And then, to boot, he injures his knee and this is the first full action he sees. So, a grade of a C is tough. But I do think we will see much better games out of Taber. I am a big fan, I thank him for sticking with us, and I look forward to what he has to offer this team. As for tonight, it was a little all over the place. We saw some bright spots that showed us why we started to like this guy late last year. Then we saw some other plays that showed us why he rarely saw the light of day on a legitimate contending team. Verdell Jones: C Looking at his stat line of 18 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks....you wouldn't think that worthy of a C grade. However, I think the stat of 3 turnovers has to be a misprint. I thought Jones had about 8 turnovers and made some extremely poor decisions. When you play the point guard position, these things are magnified. If your turn it over out front, it often leads to a fast break. And then other things that don't show up in the stat line....a great pass is an easy dunk, but I think we saw some lazy passes tonight that caused guys to chase the ball down in the corner. Do you see what I mean -- big difference between an easy 2 versus a bad pass that we have to chase down and re-set. Even though it's not a turnover, it's a missed opportunity. Don't get me wrong, I like Verdell's game and love the fact that he is a 6'5" point guard, but he didn't look strong enough or quick enough to play against a low major much less the Big Ten. That said, he did not give up. Even after a couple rough plays, he kept attacking. And I love that! I love that attitude. He could have folded, but he kept at it and still found a way to finish with 18, 5, 4, 3, & 3. That's a pretty damn good stat line for a true freshman who appeared to "struggle". Nick Williams: C Hey, the fact is that these true freshmen are going to have to play whether they are ready or not. I think Nick Williams is ready, but he had 6 TOs tonight and got schooled on some back-door cuts. That said, I REALLY like this guy. I think he is an AJ Moye type of player. I don't think he will lead the team in scoring, but I do think he will hustle his ass off and do whatever it takes to help this team win. Devan Dumes: A- To be honest, this is what I expect out of Dumes. He led the team tonight with 21 points and I do expect him to lead this team in scoring. I think his experience of playing collegiate ball already clearly showed over the true freshmen tonight. He looked like he belonged out there. His back-to-back treys in the first half helped the Hoosiers get this game to double-digits and they really never looked back. Matt Roth: B+ From reading articles, some people expect Matt Roth to be one of the stars of this class. I just don't see that. I see him as a sharp-shooter and not much else. I picture Kyle Hornsby. From what I saw tonight, I stand by my thinking. I thought his shot looked great - he nailed his first trey and then the other three that he shot all looked good and had a chance to go in. When you talk great shooters, their misses are generally "in-and-out" or "half-way down". Think back to Steve Alford -- that guy never missed badly. It either went in or it damn near went in. That is what I saw out of Matt Roth tonight. However, I didn't see much else. For example, I don't think he will ever be a great defender or a great ball-handler, but if he can truly be a pure shooter, then he will definitely find his place on this team and the teams of the next 3 years. By the way, Roth was 4-4 from the line. Nice. Daniel Moore: A- I was incredibly impressed with Daniel Moore (walk-on freshman out of Carmel). I thought the team ran better with him at the point than it did with Verdell Jones. I actually think it will be interesting how the point guard position pans out this year. Verdell's upside is a million times that of Moore; however, Moore may give them a better chance to win and compete this year. I thought Moore's ball-handling and decision-making were pretty impressive. You kind of feel like he is the type of guy that is going to make it very difficult for Crean to keep him off the floor and that is exactly what you want to see. Brett Finkelmeier: B- He was out there, he was hustling, but he didn't leave me with the same feeling as Daniel Moore. But he was ready to play defensively and came away with 3 steals. Malik Story: B+ I was pretty impressed with Story. He's got a body like Robert Vaden and his game might turn out to be similar. I thought he came in tonight and made some really nice plays and think he could be the sleeper in this freshman class. (Note: that might mean sleeping through class). Tijan Jobe: D I've never seen someone that looks like him in an IU uniform. One problem.....he sucks. This is going to sound crazy, but here's what I think you do with Jobe. I think you red-shirt him next year. Here's why. He has an excellent basketball body, but it's pretty clear that he is still learning the game and learning how to use his body to his advantage. You can't redshirt him this year because you have absolutely no size on this year's team. Next year, you have another player coming in from Africa in Bawa Maniru. At the very least, Jobe gives other big men some size to deal with in practice. But I really think if you can give Jobe an extra year, he might be able to contribute in the following year. And that might be contributing to a team where it actually means something. My fear is that this guy will get things figured out around the end of next year and then our time will be done with him. Anyway, I wouldn't expect too much this year. This guy has a long way to go. Tom Crean: A This grade is not so much for tonight, but just recognition for the job he has done since stepping in. He stepped into an absolute shit-storm and I think he has done a great job thus far. Keep up the good work, Tom. Go Hoosiers!