IU 53 Ohio State 77

Howdy folks. Sorry I haven't had much to say lately, but.... The Michigan game ripped my heart out. The Illinois game was just disgusting. Much like the Kentucky game, this one was over in the first few minutes. Then, when you lose Dumes, a bad offense becomes a horrible offense. I guess I wasn't surprised after that heart-breaking loss to Michigan. Tom Crean does a great job of keeping this young team upbeat, but he's not a miracle worker. There was a great take on the Illinois game from Inside the Hall: Did Illinois fans even enjoy that? Wasn’t that sort of like working out all summer, getting big, hoping to fight the bully that terrorized you last year only to see the bully come back to school in a wheelchair? I mean, you can punch the kid in the face if you want … but it’s not going to be nearly as satisfying. As for tonight's game, it was more of the same, just not quite as bad as the Illinois game. Actually, IU looked pretty good on the offensive end in the first few minutes -- Williams hit Pritchard on a high-low play and Williams also scored in the lane. Unfortunately, Ohio State was nailing 3s at the other end and OSU quickly built a 15-6 lead. IU responded with 4 straight points to cut it to 15-10, but that's when the wheels fell off. Ohio State then went on an 18-0 run to make it a 33-10 game mid-way through the 1st half and this ballgame was over. Amazingly, at the point where it was 27-10, OSU had not scored a 2-point basket. They started the game 8-9 from the arc and also converted on a traditional 3-point play to get to 27 points. From the point of the 23-point first half lead, IU actually played pretty good the rest of the half by outscoring OSU 18-11 to be down by 16 points at the half. In fact, Verdell had a 15-footer at the buzzer that would have made it a 14-point game. So, after Ohio State went 11-16 from the arc in the first half and had an 18-0 run, I was actually pleased with only being down by 16 at half. Then, the Hoosiers came out strong in the 2nd half and quickly got the lead down to 12 points. Not only that but I think IU had 3 straight possessions with the lead still at 12. It would have been very interesting if they could have gotten this game into single digits. Unfortunately, they could not convert on some pretty good looks. From that point on, the lead stayed in the mid-to-upper teens for most of the second half and this game became very uninteresting. In keeping with this year's theme, here are some of the positives from tonight's game or the last few games:

• Nick Williams - He was in foul trouble tonight (including an incredibly stupid 5th foul), but he has really taken his game to another level in Big Ten play. He has been doing a great job of playing in the high post and scoring from mid-range.

• Verdell Jones - Another guy that has stepped his game up another level. The biggest thing in my mind is that he has been smarter when driving the ball. Early in the year, he was going all the way and either getting his shot blocked or getting bumped enough to throw his shot off but not drawing a foul call. Now, he seems to be pulling up from mid-range or doing a better job of using his body to shield and still get the shot up.

• Tom Pritchard - I hope and pray that Christain Watford can come in and be a stud because I think that could make Pritchard that much better. Pritchard is a great garbage man around the bucket. If Watford can draw team's most athletic tall defender, then I think Pritchard could really do some nice work against opponents second-best post defender. IU also desperately needs a shot-blocker on the defensive end to help Pritchard out. But all things considered, Pritchard continues to impress me.

• Devan Dumes playing injured - I was happy to see him on the floor tonight after what looked to be a bad ankle injury on Saturday. He could have easily said he was not ready to go and rest until this weekend's game, but he clearly wanted to play. I like that. IU definitely needs him on the floor to at least be an offensive threat. Unfortunately, he continues to just be a millimeter away from making the big plays that this team so desparately needs.

• Matt Roth's blocked shot - This happened late in the game. Ohio State had a run-out and Roth was running on the opposite side of the floor and slightly behind the OSU player. This game was long over and I was definitely expecting Roth to just pull up and let the OSU player go. Then, I saw him start to speed up and I honestly said "NO" because I thought for sure he was just going to get posterized with a tomahawk dunk. But he went up and made a great blocked shot!

• Free Throws - A respectable 10-13 from the line tonight.

• Rebounding - You have to admire that this team has been outrebounding opponents even though they are so severely outmatched in every way.

So, those are some of the positives I see, but I also feel the need to point out some of the things that were really bad:

• Defending the 3 - Ohio State hit 8 of their first 9 and 11 of 16 in the first half. Illinois went 9-14 in the first half. So, in the last 2 games, IU's opponents have gone 20-30 from the arc in the first half. Wow. In fact, I thought IU was giving up a lot of good looks to Michigan in the first half as well, they just happened to miss almost all of them. I guess it shows you how powerful the 3-point shot is in college basketball. By the way, moving the line back by a foot was pretty much pointless. If they really wanted to make a change that would have any impact at all, they would have had to move it back at least 2 feet. Anyway, we are giving up way too many open looks from the arc.

• Malik Story - I am a big Malik Story fan, but he had a very rough game tonight. Just seemed like absolutely nothing went right for him.

• The lack of a 2nd half comeback - I really felt like there was an open door tonight for a comeback effort, but it didn't happen. I thought IU came out the first few minutes with some fire to cut it to 12. However, once they came up empty with several chances to get it to 10 or less, it really seemed to take the wind out of their sails and I didn't feel any sense of urgency. They shot just 9-30 from the field in the second half, including an impressive 0-9 from the arc.

Coming Up: Is there a winnable game in IU's near future???? When I look at the remaining schedule, I see four different segments. The first segment is the next 5 games where I think IU will find a way to win their first Big Ten game in one of them. (see poll question) The next 5 games are: vs. Penn State vs. Minnesota @ Northwestern vs. Ohio State vs. Iowa If they can't find a way to win one of those 5 games, then I surely don't think they will win one of the next 5 games, which are: @ Michigan State @ Minnesota vs. Illinois vs. Wisconsin @ Purdue After that, then maybe another brief window of opportunity with the next 2 games: vs. Northwestern @ Penn State Then, a rough finish with these 2 games: vs. Michigan State @ Wisconsin And then we SHOCK THE WORLD by winning the Big Ten Tournament. So, what are your thoughts about these young Hoosiers after competing in a couple Big Ten games and then getting blown out in a couple Big Ten games? Comments are always appreciated. Go Hoosiers!