What a horrible start for the Hoosiers. Their first 16 possessions resulted in 11 turnovers and 0-5 from the field. For a team looking to take a step to the next level, that's not exactly the start you want to see and find yourself losing to Loyola (Md) 15-0 at home. In fact, that's putting it too lightly. In actuality, the way IU started this game was downright embarrassing and unacceptable.
In fact, it could have been even worse, with the score at 14-0, Loyola missed a wide-open 3 and also had a basket taken away on a charge call. Then, at 15-0, they missed another wide-open 3.
Finally, IU scored 6 minutes and 15 seconds into the game. It took over 6 minutes to score a point against Loyola (Md).
Disgusting and pathetic.
It makes me sick that the word "pathetic" is an accurate way to describe IU basketball.
Once IU finally scored, you had the feeling that they would break out of the funk and come all the way back in fairly short order. Then it was a pair of free throws for IU to make it 15-4 and things were looking slightly better.
But not so fast my friend, next thing you know, Loyola rattles off another 9-0 run and the HOOSIERS ARE LOSING BY 20 TO LOYOLA (MD) AT HOME.
At this point, my range of emotions has now reached "why does this stuff have to happen to me?!?"
Just over 9 minutes into the game, the score is 24-4 and IU has 12 turnovers which is on pace for 50 turnovers in the game.
And then we were actually getting toyed with by Loyola as they convert an alley-oop dunk to make it a 31-9 game and now I am pissed off beyond belief.
At 46-22, I start sinking into a very deep depression.
46-28 at half thanks to a Hulls 3 at the buzzer. Hulls also had a 25-footer earlier to beat the shot-clock buzzer. Those are literally the only 2 positives I can think of from the first half.
That half of basketball was far worse than anything from even last year. There aren't words strong enough to describe that bullshit.
First half points off turnovers -- Loyola 20, IU 0. Not a coincidence to be down by 18 at half.
Un-fucking-believable. Loyola converts on a 4-point play on the first possession of the first half and it's 50-28.
And the Hoosiers answer with a turnover.
There's probably a Fire Tom Crean website going up right now.
Do you think this team needs Maurice Creek to score? After 60 points in his last 2 games, Mo had exactly 0 points 27 minutes into this game and the Hoosiers were getting blown out of their own building by Loyola. Finally, Mo gets on the board with a 3-ball, then hits another on the very next possession and IU has the lead down to 14, which sadly is as close as they have been since the early-going.
And it must be contagious because Verdell hits a 3 on the next possession to cut it to 11 with 12 minutes to go and the Hoosiers are finally showing some life.
Mo, Mo, Mo! Now a traditional 3-point play for Creek cuts it to an 8-point lead.
Crean finally went to a full-court press and it has been working. He should have done that approximately 1 full hour ago.
Lead now down to 5 and IU is on a 15-0 run over the last 3 minutes.
Ok, the disgust has finally worn off after Creek feeds Pritchard for a big-time dunk to cut it to 4.
About 30 minutes ago, I was so miffed that I thought I wouldn't even care if they came back and won. But now I am fully invested again and having fun, but they better finish this thing and win.
If they lose after all of this, I will probably say that I am quitting this blog. But don't believe me, it's not true. However, I will be traveling over the holidays and through January 3rd, so you probably won't see much, if any, blog coverage for the next 2 games regardless of how this one turns out.
IU just 2 of their last 6 from the line....can't be pulling that shit right now.
Pritchard playing some inspired ball as he fights for the ball on a Dumes airball and throws in a little fade-away to make it a 3-point game.
Loyola also missing their recent free throws, which is helping.
WTF....Rivers just missed a wide-open layup.
Thank you Jeremiah for somewhat making up for it with a nice runner in the lane to cut it to 1 point. Screw that, if you could make a damn layup, we could be winning right now.
And it's all tied up at 62 with just over 5 minutes to go. The first tie since 0-0.
We're winning! Now I forgive Jeremiah as he drains a 15-footer and gets fouled!
Rivers misses 2 FTs and then proceeds to foul a 3-point shooter. The same guy that had a 4-point play to start the half just converted his second 4-point play. IU had a chance to take a 4-point lead at the charity stripe and instead they find themselves down by 2 just 10 seconds later. Under 2 minutes to go.
Rivers going back to the line, down by 2 points with 37.4 seconds to go.....he misses both again! Son of a bitch!
I'm done with this shit. IU just lost. I'm done. Bye.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
IU 81 NCC 58
The clear-cut story of this game was the 2nd half play of Jordan Hulls and Maurice Creek. Pretty damn impressive for a pair of freshmen.
The first half for the Hoosiers was less than impressive. In fact, 18 minutes into this game, they were losing to North Carolina Central by 1 point at Assembly Hall. Not good. And it was the achilles heel for this team that was causing the biggest problem.....defense.
Fortunately, the Hoosiers woke up and went on a 41-14 run over the next 15 minutes to go from being down 33-32 to a big lead of 73-47.
This entire run was fueled by Hulls and Creek. Hulls pulled down 7 rebounds and had 8 assists on the game and Creek scored 20 of his 29 points in the first 13 minutes of the second half.
Hulls got the start in the 2nd half and made Tom Crean look like a genius for doing so. Early in the second half, Hulls led two fast breaks were he delivered spectacular one-handed left-handed passes for easy scores to help get the run started. After that, he continued to play great and finished with only 1 turnover against his 8 assists.
Jeremiah Rivers also had some great passes and also had 8 assists, but Rivers had 5 turnovers with all of them being careless and stupid turnovers. Case in point was on the final possession of the first half (while still in a tight game), he made a one-handed sling pass that went straight out of bounds with less than 10 seconds to go. That type of pass is sometimes necessary if you are threading something through the defense, but this was just a pass from the top of the key to the wing. There was no reason to throw a one-handed pass in that situation. Rivers definitely frustrated me in this game with that type of play.
Getting back to the positive.....Mo Creek is a special player. He has scored 60 points in his last 2 games....enough said.
Tom Crean used the pine in this game. Derek Elston started in front of Tom Pritchard. The good news is that Pritchard responded with a pretty solid effort. 8 points on 4-5 shooting and 6 rebounds in 21 mintues. Not spectacular, but solid. Also, Verdell Jones spent some extended time on the bench in the middle of this game. And any time you see Brett Finkelmeier getting minutes in a close game, that is a clear sign that there is some bad defense being played.
And finally, Tijan Jobe and Bawa Muniru were on the floor together at the end of the game. It was awesome. Well, actually, the idea of it was awesome. The actual occurence of it was less than awesome, but I blame Kory Barnett. He had the ball in a 3-on-1 situation where he could have fed either Muniru or Jobe for a dunk, but his pass got deflected out of bounds. I felt robbed.
At the end of the day, I think we can look past a poor first half because the Hoosiers poured it on in the second half and won this game easily. Hopefully, the next two games against Loyala (Md) and Bryant will be even easier.
Go Hoosiers!
The first half for the Hoosiers was less than impressive. In fact, 18 minutes into this game, they were losing to North Carolina Central by 1 point at Assembly Hall. Not good. And it was the achilles heel for this team that was causing the biggest problem.....defense.
Fortunately, the Hoosiers woke up and went on a 41-14 run over the next 15 minutes to go from being down 33-32 to a big lead of 73-47.
This entire run was fueled by Hulls and Creek. Hulls pulled down 7 rebounds and had 8 assists on the game and Creek scored 20 of his 29 points in the first 13 minutes of the second half.
Hulls got the start in the 2nd half and made Tom Crean look like a genius for doing so. Early in the second half, Hulls led two fast breaks were he delivered spectacular one-handed left-handed passes for easy scores to help get the run started. After that, he continued to play great and finished with only 1 turnover against his 8 assists.
Jeremiah Rivers also had some great passes and also had 8 assists, but Rivers had 5 turnovers with all of them being careless and stupid turnovers. Case in point was on the final possession of the first half (while still in a tight game), he made a one-handed sling pass that went straight out of bounds with less than 10 seconds to go. That type of pass is sometimes necessary if you are threading something through the defense, but this was just a pass from the top of the key to the wing. There was no reason to throw a one-handed pass in that situation. Rivers definitely frustrated me in this game with that type of play.
Getting back to the positive.....Mo Creek is a special player. He has scored 60 points in his last 2 games....enough said.
Tom Crean used the pine in this game. Derek Elston started in front of Tom Pritchard. The good news is that Pritchard responded with a pretty solid effort. 8 points on 4-5 shooting and 6 rebounds in 21 mintues. Not spectacular, but solid. Also, Verdell Jones spent some extended time on the bench in the middle of this game. And any time you see Brett Finkelmeier getting minutes in a close game, that is a clear sign that there is some bad defense being played.
And finally, Tijan Jobe and Bawa Muniru were on the floor together at the end of the game. It was awesome. Well, actually, the idea of it was awesome. The actual occurence of it was less than awesome, but I blame Kory Barnett. He had the ball in a 3-on-1 situation where he could have fed either Muniru or Jobe for a dunk, but his pass got deflected out of bounds. I felt robbed.
At the end of the day, I think we can look past a poor first half because the Hoosiers poured it on in the second half and won this game easily. Hopefully, the next two games against Loyala (Md) and Bryant will be even easier.
Go Hoosiers!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Bob Knight Agrees with Me About John Calipari
John Calipari is a scumbag. Those are my words, not Bob Knight's. But The General did take a direct shot at John Calipari at a recent fundraiser for the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame:
I bet that single comment from Knight doubled the fundraising efforts.
Inadvertently, it's like Crean and Knight are playing good cop, bad cop for Indiana. Crean says all the politically correct things like "he's a good friend of mine" and "he's a great coach", then Knight comes in and delivers "You see we've got a coach at Kentucky, who put two schools on probation and he's still coaching. I really don't understand that."
That's Bob Knight poetry at its best.
Tonight's Game:
Saturday at 8:30pm ET (7:30pm CT)
IU vs. North Carolina Central at Assembly Hall
Big Ten Network
Prediction: IU 80 NCC 64
“We’ve gotten into this situation where integrity is really lacking and that’s why I’m glad I’m not coaching,” he said during his speech Thursday night. “You see we’ve got a coach at Kentucky [John Calipari], who put two schools on probation and he’s still coaching. I really don’t understand that.”Now that is the Bobby Knight we all know and love. And the best part....he's right. We all know it and the real joy comes from the fact that Kentucky fans know it deep down inside. It's a ticking bomb down there in Lexington.
I bet that single comment from Knight doubled the fundraising efforts.
Inadvertently, it's like Crean and Knight are playing good cop, bad cop for Indiana. Crean says all the politically correct things like "he's a good friend of mine" and "he's a great coach", then Knight comes in and delivers "You see we've got a coach at Kentucky, who put two schools on probation and he's still coaching. I really don't understand that."
That's Bob Knight poetry at its best.
Tonight's Game:
Saturday at 8:30pm ET (7:30pm CT)
IU vs. North Carolina Central at Assembly Hall
Big Ten Network
Prediction: IU 80 NCC 64
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Game Notes: Indiana 73 Kentucky 90
* Wow, what a start by the Hoosiers. IU up 12-4 in the first 3 minutes. The Hoosiers are draining jumpers. 3-balls by Creek and Watford and a 17-footer by Jones.
* The stripe-out crowd is going crazy. I don't know what will happen the rest of this game, but there is no doubt that Indiana basketball is alive and well and most certainly headed in the right direction.
* Holy schnikeys, those Kentucky freshmen are good.
* Tom Pritchard just took a charge and Crean went absolutely apeshit on the sideline. I mean apeshit. These were full-bodied fist-pumps that he stepped into. And I thought I was over-the-top.
* Oh my goodness, Maurice Creek was ready for this moment. Another deep 3 to give Mo 10 points in the first 5 minutes of this game. Keep it going, Mo!
* Apparently Capo can't dunk unless he gets a running start, but who cares because he just layed one in off a terrific pass by Verdell. IU up 17-9.
* Heat check for Mo.....off the side of the backboard. Heat check = a bad shot that is given to you as a freebie by the fans and even your coach because you've been lighting it up. If you miss, no harm done just as long as it is not a critical point in the game, but you also better not do it again. If you make it, that's when basketball is really fun.
* IU getting very sloppy now and giving up a 6-0 run to KY to make it 17-15.
* Mo Creek is johnny on the spot. Another sloppy possession by the Hoosiers ends with a loose ball scramble that IU finally retrieves, a quick pass to Mo for another 3! IU up 20-15 with 11:00 to go in the half and Mo has 13.
* Mo's last 3 changed to a 2 after replay, so 19-15 and Mo has 12. Game on.
* Another 6-0 run gives KY their first lead at 21-19. IU giving up way too many offensive rebounds out of the zone.
* Watford ends the KY run with a toe-on-the-line 2. All tied up at 21 with 9:00 to go in the first half. Time for a deep breath.
* Geez, it's scary that this Bledsoe kid is not even the best freshman on Kentucky's team. He just drained a 24-footer.
* Uh-oh, another 3 by KY gives them a 27-23 lead and that's 18-6 over the last 8 minutes. Need to be careful here and not let this thing get away.
* Another 3 by KY gives them a 7-point lead. Crean might have to come out of the zone or at least start mixing up the defenses.
* John Wall just had a play that I can't even describe. Just watch it on Sportscenter or somewhere online. That ain't right.
* Kentucky has their biggest lead of the game at 36-27 and the Hoosiers are in trouble. That's now 27-10 since IU's hot start.
* Mo Creek is single-handedly trying to keep IU in this game. Another 3 gives Mo 15 points.
* All Right! Even though Capo was camping for 7 seconds, he found an opening for another easy layup.
* And now nothing but net on a 3 from Hulls!
* And a jumper by Elston suddenly gets IU back within 1 point. IU is on a 7-0 run and the score is now 38-37.
* Dumes does a great job breaking up a Kentucky fast break and getting the turnover.
* Final possession.....Creek airballs a 3 but Dumes gets IU's first offensive rebound of the game and lays it in at the buzzer!!!! And just for good measure, Dumes gives John Wall a little shove in typical Dumes fashion.
* Halftime: Kentucky 42 Indiana 41
* Hot shooting by both teams in the first half with KY shooting 57% and IU shooting a blazing 63%.
* All in all, a very good half by the Hoosiers with a hot start and a hot finish to be within 1 point at halftime of the #4 team in the country.
* If IU wants to stay close and possibly win this game, they will need to continue the hot shooting and will need to do a better job keeping Kentucky off the offensive glass. In the first half, KY had 8 offensive rebounds and IU's only offensive rebound was with 2 seconds to go in the half.
* Let's go Hoosiers, let's see if we can shut us up some Kentucky fans!
* If you were wondering if Creek would disappear in the second half like he has in a couple other games where he scored big in the first half, he provided that answer immediately. After KY scored on their first possession, Mo answers with yet another deep 3 and we're all tied up at 44! Mo has 20.
* After trading offensive rebound putbacks, IU takes the lead on a nice drive by Rivers. IU 48-47 with 18 minutes to go.
* Yikes, alley-oop to Wall. I wish that go would have gone to the NBA at halftime. KY back in the lead.
* And that was that, Kentucky just rattled off 18 or 19 in a row and this game is officially over. IU's offense just started looking terrible with turnovers or bad shots and Kentucky was literally getting 3 points on every single possession (whether it was a long ball or a traditional 3-point play).
* 65-48 with 12 minutes to go.
* Elston tries a dunk similar to the Wall move earlier in the game, but missed it. Oh well, at this point, I still liked the attempt.
* I've stopped paying attention to the details of this game, but has Capobianco missed 5 straight free throws?!? Come on, man.
* We have a Bawa sighting....and he just got dunked on.
* Maurice Creek with another 3. He now has 29 points.
* Kentucky is up by 20 with 2:00 to go and Calipari still has his starters in. Classy guy through and through. Kentucky fans -- if you're still hanging out here and reading this, I'm not going to be nasty or offensive, but I will say that you are playing with fire with this guy. Someone already said it -- where there is smoke, there is fire and this guy left a giant mushroom cloud at both UMass and Memphis. Your day is coming. I don't know when, but trust me, your day is coming.
* Creek still diving on the floor with under 2 minutes to go.
* It was another good learning experience for the Hoosiers. They faught hard and competed with a Top 5 team for 22 minutes. The rebounds absolutely killed the Hoosiers.
* Final Score: Kentucky 90 Indiana 73
* Maurice Creek finished with 31 points. Nice game, young man.
* In closing, I will say that the Hoosiers are not yet ready to compete with Top 15 teams, but everybody else better look out.
* Enjoy the rest of your day.
* The stripe-out crowd is going crazy. I don't know what will happen the rest of this game, but there is no doubt that Indiana basketball is alive and well and most certainly headed in the right direction.
* Holy schnikeys, those Kentucky freshmen are good.
* Tom Pritchard just took a charge and Crean went absolutely apeshit on the sideline. I mean apeshit. These were full-bodied fist-pumps that he stepped into. And I thought I was over-the-top.
* Oh my goodness, Maurice Creek was ready for this moment. Another deep 3 to give Mo 10 points in the first 5 minutes of this game. Keep it going, Mo!
* Apparently Capo can't dunk unless he gets a running start, but who cares because he just layed one in off a terrific pass by Verdell. IU up 17-9.
* Heat check for Mo.....off the side of the backboard. Heat check = a bad shot that is given to you as a freebie by the fans and even your coach because you've been lighting it up. If you miss, no harm done just as long as it is not a critical point in the game, but you also better not do it again. If you make it, that's when basketball is really fun.
* IU getting very sloppy now and giving up a 6-0 run to KY to make it 17-15.
* Mo Creek is johnny on the spot. Another sloppy possession by the Hoosiers ends with a loose ball scramble that IU finally retrieves, a quick pass to Mo for another 3! IU up 20-15 with 11:00 to go in the half and Mo has 13.
* Mo's last 3 changed to a 2 after replay, so 19-15 and Mo has 12. Game on.
* Another 6-0 run gives KY their first lead at 21-19. IU giving up way too many offensive rebounds out of the zone.
* Watford ends the KY run with a toe-on-the-line 2. All tied up at 21 with 9:00 to go in the first half. Time for a deep breath.
* Geez, it's scary that this Bledsoe kid is not even the best freshman on Kentucky's team. He just drained a 24-footer.
* Uh-oh, another 3 by KY gives them a 27-23 lead and that's 18-6 over the last 8 minutes. Need to be careful here and not let this thing get away.
* Another 3 by KY gives them a 7-point lead. Crean might have to come out of the zone or at least start mixing up the defenses.
* John Wall just had a play that I can't even describe. Just watch it on Sportscenter or somewhere online. That ain't right.
* Kentucky has their biggest lead of the game at 36-27 and the Hoosiers are in trouble. That's now 27-10 since IU's hot start.
* Mo Creek is single-handedly trying to keep IU in this game. Another 3 gives Mo 15 points.
* All Right! Even though Capo was camping for 7 seconds, he found an opening for another easy layup.
* And now nothing but net on a 3 from Hulls!
* And a jumper by Elston suddenly gets IU back within 1 point. IU is on a 7-0 run and the score is now 38-37.
* Dumes does a great job breaking up a Kentucky fast break and getting the turnover.
* Final possession.....Creek airballs a 3 but Dumes gets IU's first offensive rebound of the game and lays it in at the buzzer!!!! And just for good measure, Dumes gives John Wall a little shove in typical Dumes fashion.
* Halftime: Kentucky 42 Indiana 41
* Hot shooting by both teams in the first half with KY shooting 57% and IU shooting a blazing 63%.
* All in all, a very good half by the Hoosiers with a hot start and a hot finish to be within 1 point at halftime of the #4 team in the country.
* If IU wants to stay close and possibly win this game, they will need to continue the hot shooting and will need to do a better job keeping Kentucky off the offensive glass. In the first half, KY had 8 offensive rebounds and IU's only offensive rebound was with 2 seconds to go in the half.
* Let's go Hoosiers, let's see if we can shut us up some Kentucky fans!
* If you were wondering if Creek would disappear in the second half like he has in a couple other games where he scored big in the first half, he provided that answer immediately. After KY scored on their first possession, Mo answers with yet another deep 3 and we're all tied up at 44! Mo has 20.
* After trading offensive rebound putbacks, IU takes the lead on a nice drive by Rivers. IU 48-47 with 18 minutes to go.
* Yikes, alley-oop to Wall. I wish that go would have gone to the NBA at halftime. KY back in the lead.
* And that was that, Kentucky just rattled off 18 or 19 in a row and this game is officially over. IU's offense just started looking terrible with turnovers or bad shots and Kentucky was literally getting 3 points on every single possession (whether it was a long ball or a traditional 3-point play).
* 65-48 with 12 minutes to go.
* Elston tries a dunk similar to the Wall move earlier in the game, but missed it. Oh well, at this point, I still liked the attempt.
* I've stopped paying attention to the details of this game, but has Capobianco missed 5 straight free throws?!? Come on, man.
* We have a Bawa sighting....and he just got dunked on.
* Maurice Creek with another 3. He now has 29 points.
* Kentucky is up by 20 with 2:00 to go and Calipari still has his starters in. Classy guy through and through. Kentucky fans -- if you're still hanging out here and reading this, I'm not going to be nasty or offensive, but I will say that you are playing with fire with this guy. Someone already said it -- where there is smoke, there is fire and this guy left a giant mushroom cloud at both UMass and Memphis. Your day is coming. I don't know when, but trust me, your day is coming.
* Creek still diving on the floor with under 2 minutes to go.
* It was another good learning experience for the Hoosiers. They faught hard and competed with a Top 5 team for 22 minutes. The rebounds absolutely killed the Hoosiers.
* Final Score: Kentucky 90 Indiana 73
* Maurice Creek finished with 31 points. Nice game, young man.
* In closing, I will say that the Hoosiers are not yet ready to compete with Top 15 teams, but everybody else better look out.
* Enjoy the rest of your day.
Friday, December 11, 2009
More Thoughts on the Pitt Victory and A Look Ahead to Kentucky
Additional thoughts on the big victory against Pitt:
* Not only did we beat Pitt, but we kicked their ass.
* IU played tough, aggressively went after loose balls and rebounds, and most importantly, they secured them. In that regard, they looked like a whole different team from what we had seen earlier in the year
* Devan Dumes played great. You didn't really see his name mentioned in the post-game articles, but Dumes was outstanding -- he didn't force anything on offense, he made IU's only 3-pointer, he played great defense, and did a good job on the boards. Verdell Jones also credited Dumes after the game by saying that Dumes was the one that was making sure everyone stayed focused on defense even after they got the big lead. I'm not surprised that the first big win comes on a night where Jones and Dumes had their best games of the year. The returning players need to continue to do more, which will allow the freshmen to play within the game and not feel like they have to force things or carry the team.
* Pritchard scored IU's first 6 points and then did not score again. This game, he really got screwed by the refs with the fouls. Even with the foul trouble, it was great to see Pritchard look alive in those first few minutes. He looks to be on the verge.
* The great thing was that IU won this game by double-digits and they still had plenty of areas that could have been a lot better -- they only made one 3-pointer, Creek had his first single-digit scoring night (but a career-high 8 rebounds), Watford was 3-12 from the field (but 12-15 from the line), and Pritchard was in foul trouble. Also, Rivers was nowhere near 100% healthy.
* Jim Harbaugh (aka Captain Comeback) must deliver one helluva halftime speech.
* IU had 10 blocked shots including 3 from Watford who looked considerably more active on defense. Verdell also had 3 rejections.
* Let's face it, the 2-3 zone is being used because IU is still struggling with their man-to-man defense, but it was a pretty impressive 2-3.
* Most of the year, IU has had a couple players play well each game and a few players that would look terrible. In this game, everyone that played made contributions and played pretty well. They resembled a team, a competitive college basketball team, a winning college basketball team. It sure was fun to watch.
* Now, I sort of wish we could skip the Kentucky game and just play the 3 cupcakes that we have coming up on the schedule so we could ride this momentum into the Big Ten season.
With that thought, we'll go ahead and transition into Saturday morning's Kentucky game.
* I sincerely hope that John Calipari is to Kentucky as Kelvin Sampson was to Indiana.
* Continuing with that thought, there are a lot of parallels. IU hired Sampson to replace an unpopular underperforming coach, but they did so knowing that he had some NCAA issues in his recent past. Kentucky hired Calipari to replace an unpopular underperforming coach, but they did so knowing that his two previous final four appearances have been stripped due to NCAA issues. For a majority of both fan bases, winning helped get the fans to overlook these looming issues. I just hope it unravels for Calipari and Kentucky even faster than it did for Sampson and Indiana.
* Even though Calipari is a sleezeball, he is one hell of a coach.
* Kentucky's freshman point guard John Wall is insanely good. Jim Calhoun just said he is every bit as good as Derrick Rose.
* Kentucky is off to an impressive start with wins over North Carolina and UConn as well as surviving some other scares in close games. John Wall has delivered game-winners or game-winning plays in the final minute in a few of their wins already.
* Kentucky is loaded. John Wall is getting all the attention (and rightfully so), but Patrick Patterson is a damn good player and the Wildcats also have freshmen Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins who are also playing at a high level.
* Cousins had previously committed to Mike Davis at UAB, but ended up decommitting and going to Kentucky. Still getting burned by Mike Davis....unbelievable.
* (removed due to a poor attempt at humor)
* I'd feel slightly better about this game if Jeremiah Rivers was healthy and could make John Wall work.
Now for the prediction. Unfortunately, even off the heels of IU's inspired victory over Pitt, this Kentucky team is simply more talented than IU. Kentucky wins 79-67. I'll also predict tht Kentucky goes to the final four this year. They will lose in the final four, but that won't really matter since the final four appearance will be stripped after Calipari gets nailed for illegal recruiting tactics. (removed due to bad language).
Update: Greetings Kentucky fans. Based on some unexpected traffic to this post and some comments posted today, I felt the need to update the post and provide an explanation.
I'll start by saying this is a small blog that has maybe 15-20 loyal followers. While the blog is open to the public, there has never been any commentary from opposing schools in the many years of doing this. With that in mind, this is a fan's blog where I provide strong and over-the-top opinions amongst Hoosier fans.
I can assure you that any comments by me are intended to be in the spirit of good rivalry and/or humorous (even if off-target). They are certainly not intended to be mean-spirited or malicious. With that in mind, I have removed the one comment that was a bad attempt at humor and I have removed the closing remark that admittedly crossed the line (especially now that I know that this post has been linked on a Kentucky blog).
Had I known there would be traffic from Kentucky fans, I would have taken a different direction as I would truly enjoy some discussion on the rivalry and the current state of our two teams.
I did leave the comments related to Calipari as I do think it is a risky hire and I think the topic can lead to some interesting discussion. Also, the poll question wouldn't make much sense if I removed those comments. I can see that the UK fans think that line of thinking on Calipari is based in jealousy. While I will admit to a certain level of jealousy based on where these two programs are right now, I do still think it is a risky hire based on what happened under Calipari's watch at both UMass and Memphis. The IU program was destroyed by a guy who made too many phone calls. But if Calipari stays clean, then I think IU fans will have to get used to seeing Kentucky in the Top 5.
I certainly understand if UK fans found my remarks offensive or ignorant. The intention was not to direct those remarks directly in the face of Kentucky fans, but rather to try to have a little fun amongst IU fans especially during this time where there has not been a lot of fun on the court.
I look forward to IU's rebuilding effort so that the Indiana/Kentucky rivalry can get back to being a great rivalry with competitive games year in and year out. Enjoy the game.
* Not only did we beat Pitt, but we kicked their ass.
* IU played tough, aggressively went after loose balls and rebounds, and most importantly, they secured them. In that regard, they looked like a whole different team from what we had seen earlier in the year
* Devan Dumes played great. You didn't really see his name mentioned in the post-game articles, but Dumes was outstanding -- he didn't force anything on offense, he made IU's only 3-pointer, he played great defense, and did a good job on the boards. Verdell Jones also credited Dumes after the game by saying that Dumes was the one that was making sure everyone stayed focused on defense even after they got the big lead. I'm not surprised that the first big win comes on a night where Jones and Dumes had their best games of the year. The returning players need to continue to do more, which will allow the freshmen to play within the game and not feel like they have to force things or carry the team.
* Pritchard scored IU's first 6 points and then did not score again. This game, he really got screwed by the refs with the fouls. Even with the foul trouble, it was great to see Pritchard look alive in those first few minutes. He looks to be on the verge.
* The great thing was that IU won this game by double-digits and they still had plenty of areas that could have been a lot better -- they only made one 3-pointer, Creek had his first single-digit scoring night (but a career-high 8 rebounds), Watford was 3-12 from the field (but 12-15 from the line), and Pritchard was in foul trouble. Also, Rivers was nowhere near 100% healthy.
* Jim Harbaugh (aka Captain Comeback) must deliver one helluva halftime speech.
* IU had 10 blocked shots including 3 from Watford who looked considerably more active on defense. Verdell also had 3 rejections.
* Let's face it, the 2-3 zone is being used because IU is still struggling with their man-to-man defense, but it was a pretty impressive 2-3.
* Most of the year, IU has had a couple players play well each game and a few players that would look terrible. In this game, everyone that played made contributions and played pretty well. They resembled a team, a competitive college basketball team, a winning college basketball team. It sure was fun to watch.
* Now, I sort of wish we could skip the Kentucky game and just play the 3 cupcakes that we have coming up on the schedule so we could ride this momentum into the Big Ten season.
With that thought, we'll go ahead and transition into Saturday morning's Kentucky game.
* I sincerely hope that John Calipari is to Kentucky as Kelvin Sampson was to Indiana.
* Continuing with that thought, there are a lot of parallels. IU hired Sampson to replace an unpopular underperforming coach, but they did so knowing that he had some NCAA issues in his recent past. Kentucky hired Calipari to replace an unpopular underperforming coach, but they did so knowing that his two previous final four appearances have been stripped due to NCAA issues. For a majority of both fan bases, winning helped get the fans to overlook these looming issues. I just hope it unravels for Calipari and Kentucky even faster than it did for Sampson and Indiana.
* Even though Calipari is a sleezeball, he is one hell of a coach.
* Kentucky's freshman point guard John Wall is insanely good. Jim Calhoun just said he is every bit as good as Derrick Rose.
* Kentucky is off to an impressive start with wins over North Carolina and UConn as well as surviving some other scares in close games. John Wall has delivered game-winners or game-winning plays in the final minute in a few of their wins already.
* Kentucky is loaded. John Wall is getting all the attention (and rightfully so), but Patrick Patterson is a damn good player and the Wildcats also have freshmen Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins who are also playing at a high level.
* Cousins had previously committed to Mike Davis at UAB, but ended up decommitting and going to Kentucky. Still getting burned by Mike Davis....unbelievable.
* (removed due to a poor attempt at humor)
* I'd feel slightly better about this game if Jeremiah Rivers was healthy and could make John Wall work.
Now for the prediction. Unfortunately, even off the heels of IU's inspired victory over Pitt, this Kentucky team is simply more talented than IU. Kentucky wins 79-67. I'll also predict tht Kentucky goes to the final four this year. They will lose in the final four, but that won't really matter since the final four appearance will be stripped after Calipari gets nailed for illegal recruiting tactics. (removed due to bad language).
Update: Greetings Kentucky fans. Based on some unexpected traffic to this post and some comments posted today, I felt the need to update the post and provide an explanation.
I'll start by saying this is a small blog that has maybe 15-20 loyal followers. While the blog is open to the public, there has never been any commentary from opposing schools in the many years of doing this. With that in mind, this is a fan's blog where I provide strong and over-the-top opinions amongst Hoosier fans.
I can assure you that any comments by me are intended to be in the spirit of good rivalry and/or humorous (even if off-target). They are certainly not intended to be mean-spirited or malicious. With that in mind, I have removed the one comment that was a bad attempt at humor and I have removed the closing remark that admittedly crossed the line (especially now that I know that this post has been linked on a Kentucky blog).
Had I known there would be traffic from Kentucky fans, I would have taken a different direction as I would truly enjoy some discussion on the rivalry and the current state of our two teams.
I did leave the comments related to Calipari as I do think it is a risky hire and I think the topic can lead to some interesting discussion. Also, the poll question wouldn't make much sense if I removed those comments. I can see that the UK fans think that line of thinking on Calipari is based in jealousy. While I will admit to a certain level of jealousy based on where these two programs are right now, I do still think it is a risky hire based on what happened under Calipari's watch at both UMass and Memphis. The IU program was destroyed by a guy who made too many phone calls. But if Calipari stays clean, then I think IU fans will have to get used to seeing Kentucky in the Top 5.
I certainly understand if UK fans found my remarks offensive or ignorant. The intention was not to direct those remarks directly in the face of Kentucky fans, but rather to try to have a little fun amongst IU fans especially during this time where there has not been a lot of fun on the court.
I look forward to IU's rebuilding effort so that the Indiana/Kentucky rivalry can get back to being a great rivalry with competitive games year in and year out. Enjoy the game.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
IU 74 Pitt 64
Woo-hoo! Yes Sir! The Hoosiers are back! That was frickin' awesome!
The first meaningful win of the Tom Crean era.
When IU busted this thing open and the score was suddenly 59-42 with 8:00 minutes to go, I felt like I was witnessing a real Indiana basketball team again. What a great feeling!
Then........of course, we had to make it scary at the end and allowed Pitt to get as close to 6 points still with a full minute to go. But they still pulled it out and it never got closer than 6, so there is no doubt that I will still take it!
Tom Crean's 200th career win.
I'm so happy that I don't even know what to say!
Go Hoosiers!
The first meaningful win of the Tom Crean era.
When IU busted this thing open and the score was suddenly 59-42 with 8:00 minutes to go, I felt like I was witnessing a real Indiana basketball team again. What a great feeling!
Then........of course, we had to make it scary at the end and allowed Pitt to get as close to 6 points still with a full minute to go. But they still pulled it out and it never got closer than 6, so there is no doubt that I will still take it!
Tom Crean's 200th career win.
I'm so happy that I don't even know what to say!
Go Hoosiers!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Preview: Indiana vs. Pittburgh - Jimmy V Classic in NYC
What: Jimmy V Classic
Who: Indiana vs. Pittsburgh
When: Tuesday at 9pm ET (8pm CT)
Where: Madison Square Garden
TV: ESPN
I really want to predict the Hoosiers to win this one. I gave some serious thought to predicting this as the first meaningful win of the Tom Crean era. I wanted to run with the idea that the full week off would do a tremendous amount of good for this young team. And while I do think the extra practice time will be valuable for the Hoosiers, I just don't think it will be enough to predict the upset.
Pitt is down a little this year, but I think they will be too tough for the young Hoosiers. Pitt is 7-1 and has held their opponents to 60 points or less in all 7 of their wins. Their 1 loss came to a very good Texas team.
Looking at the stats, there are a couple factors (other than solid defense) that have helped Pitt hold their opponents to low scoring outputs. Pitt does a great job in keeping their opponents off the offensive glass which obviously limits second-chance points. They also do an admirable job of playing solid defense without fouling and that limits easy points at the charity stripe. If you have checked out statsheet.com or kenpom.com, these are two of the "four factors of winning".
Pitt ranks #5 in the nation at keeping their opponents off the offensive boards while IU is #112 at crashing the offensive boards. Pitt ranks #26 for how often they send their opponent to the line while IU is somewhat respectable at #71 in the nation for often they get to the line. However, flipping that stat around shows a real problem area for IU because they are #317 at how often they send their opponent to the line (note to Tom Pritchard -- stop fouling!). Pitt is #38 for how often they get to the stipe, so that could definitely be an issue for the Hoosiers in this game.
Stats aside, I am hoping the IU sophomores show up big in this game. I feel like Pritchard is close to putting together a good game. I'm not sure the Pitt game is a good time to predict that, but I can hope. I also think Verdell needs to be effective on the offensive end if IU wants to stay close and have a chance to win at the end. The main thing is that Verdell needs to shoot a better percentage and hit the shots that he is capable of making. It would be great to see those two sophomores play well and then see what this team can do. If IU can get Rivers, Jones, and Pritchard to play at a consistently high level and then add the talent of the freshmen, then you have a team that can compete.
In this game, I think the Hoosiers can keep it close, but once again, I fear they will still lose in the end.
Prediction: IU 61 Pitt 68
Who: Indiana vs. Pittsburgh
When: Tuesday at 9pm ET (8pm CT)
Where: Madison Square Garden
TV: ESPN
I really want to predict the Hoosiers to win this one. I gave some serious thought to predicting this as the first meaningful win of the Tom Crean era. I wanted to run with the idea that the full week off would do a tremendous amount of good for this young team. And while I do think the extra practice time will be valuable for the Hoosiers, I just don't think it will be enough to predict the upset.
Pitt is down a little this year, but I think they will be too tough for the young Hoosiers. Pitt is 7-1 and has held their opponents to 60 points or less in all 7 of their wins. Their 1 loss came to a very good Texas team.
Looking at the stats, there are a couple factors (other than solid defense) that have helped Pitt hold their opponents to low scoring outputs. Pitt does a great job in keeping their opponents off the offensive glass which obviously limits second-chance points. They also do an admirable job of playing solid defense without fouling and that limits easy points at the charity stripe. If you have checked out statsheet.com or kenpom.com, these are two of the "four factors of winning".
Pitt ranks #5 in the nation at keeping their opponents off the offensive boards while IU is #112 at crashing the offensive boards. Pitt ranks #26 for how often they send their opponent to the line while IU is somewhat respectable at #71 in the nation for often they get to the line. However, flipping that stat around shows a real problem area for IU because they are #317 at how often they send their opponent to the line (note to Tom Pritchard -- stop fouling!). Pitt is #38 for how often they get to the stipe, so that could definitely be an issue for the Hoosiers in this game.
Stats aside, I am hoping the IU sophomores show up big in this game. I feel like Pritchard is close to putting together a good game. I'm not sure the Pitt game is a good time to predict that, but I can hope. I also think Verdell needs to be effective on the offensive end if IU wants to stay close and have a chance to win at the end. The main thing is that Verdell needs to shoot a better percentage and hit the shots that he is capable of making. It would be great to see those two sophomores play well and then see what this team can do. If IU can get Rivers, Jones, and Pritchard to play at a consistently high level and then add the talent of the freshmen, then you have a team that can compete.
In this game, I think the Hoosiers can keep it close, but once again, I fear they will still lose in the end.
Prediction: IU 61 Pitt 68
Friday, December 4, 2009
Bob Knight's Favorite Word
Based on the recent comments on the previous post, I really felt the need to post the video of Bob Knight's favorite word. We've had this on the blog before, but I think it is worth revisiting at least annually.
The best part about this video is that he is exactly right. Enjoy.
The best part about this video is that he is exactly right. Enjoy.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Indiana 68 Maryland 80
Son of a bitch! This game was 61-58 with 5 minutes to go, but then IU allowed a 9-0 run over the next 3 minutes and at 70-58, this ballgame was over.
They so desperately need to find a way to win a game like this.
Thoughts?
UPDATED with GAME NOTES:
• Rivers hurt and taken to the locker room after a spectacular layup and then falling on his back just a couple minutes into the game.
• Hulls – I like that he doesn’t hesitate to shoot, I was afraid he might be the type that you have to beg to shoot. But he has a quick release and isn’t afraid to put it up when he’s open.
• Liked the story about Crean’s 5-minute drill with one 3-point shooter, one rebounder, and one ball and the shooter has to try to make as many 3s possible in 5 mins. Steve Novak has the record with 72. Hulls recently hit 71. You get to pick your rebounder and Hulls picked Jeff Watkinson, the strength coach. I’m not sure what that says about the rest of the team when you pick the strength coach to be your rebounder.
• Hulls – back to back possessions, he tried to take a charge with no call. After the second one, Maryland scored a layup and Ed Hightower blew his whistle and then appeared to come over and lecture Jordan Hulls while he was still laying on the ground. It appeared he was telling him he was too far under the basket, but he was emphatic about it. Very strange. It was also odd that this appeared to be the sole purpose for the whistle which happened to be at the 11:55 mark so it led to a TV timeout. But I don’t think I have ever seen a whistle blown so that the referee can come lecture a player on a rule. Hulls wasn’t even complaining or anything. Only Ed Hightower. Not even the old bald Ed Hightower would have done that. Only the Ed Hightower with hair.
• ESPN just revisited “The Shot”. Man, that was sweet.
• Great no look through the teeth of the defense pass by Hulls to Watford who converts for a traditional 3-point play
• IU 21-20, 10:00, very good start
• Rivers back after being out with the injury for about 8 minutes.
• Watford pulls up from 14 feet and kisses it off the glass. The lost art of the bank shot, gotta love it. IU up 23-20, 8:45
• We are now seeing a version of the lineup that I was wanting to see – Pritchard goes out and Elston comes in for a lineup of Rivers, Jones, Dumes, Watford, and Elston. I completely agree with this lineup because I think it puts our top talent on the floor and I haven’t seen a Maryland big man that is simply overpowering us, so why not go with Elston and Watford without a true center.
• Dumes hits a 3 and IU leads 26-21 with 7:45 to go in half
• IU 28-21 with 6 minutes to go in first half
• Elston struggling with 0-5 on 2 recent offensive trips, including 2 shots that did not hit rim followed by 3 missed putbacks. Of course, he did Moses Malone his offensive rebounding stats with all those misses to himself. If Jobe were in the game instead of Elston, these same two possessions probably would have been 0-1 (Jobe doesn’t rebound) and 1 turnover (Jobe has bad hands). Nonetheless, it would still be 0 points on these two possessions. I love Jobe, I just want to see him shatter a backboard.
• IU still leads 28-21 with 5 minutes to go in the first half. Knowing what happens at the end of the game, I just calculated that IU will get outscored 49-30 over the next 22 minutes of the game. The next 19 minutes will be somewhat even with Maryland having a 40-30 advantage before the deadly 9-0 run over 3 minutes starting with 5 minutes to go in the game. I may have to analyze possession-by-possession what went wrong in those 3 minutes. We’ll see how late it is when I get to that point.
• Wow! Jeremiah Rivers just had an INCREDIBLE 5-second stretch. At the 2:14 mark, he had a sweet left-handed swat out of bounds on a Maryland fast break, then he stole the inbounds at the 2:12 mark, and then went flying down the floor dribbling with his left hand and outrunning the defender to go in for the left-handed DUNK at the 2:09 mark. We want more, Jeremiah, we want more! That was awesome. IU up 33-30 and the white out crowd is LOUD!
• Now Jeremiah just threw up an airball from 16 feet. Just drive and dunk over everyone, Jeremiah. I would like to say that I officially forgive the airball because that block, steal, dunk sequence was as exciting of a sequence since Eric Gordon donned the cream and crimson.
• Unfortunately, the Hoosiers give up a 5-0 run to be losing at half 35-33. Outside of the Rivers sequence, IU really stunk up the joint in the final 5 minutes of the half.
• Yikes, they just flashed a stat at the start of the 2nd half – in the last 7:45 of the 1st half, IU missed 14 of 16 shots and had 5 turnovers. No wonder their 7 point lead turned into a 2-point halftime deficit.
• Since I mentioned Elston’s putback struggles earlier, I feel obligated the mention the very nice offensive rebound and putback he just had. Md up 37-35 with 17:00 to go.
• So, I have been watching the defense very closely and rewinding anytime IU gives up easy baskets and it is the switching that is killing them in tonight’s game. In previous games, I think the biggest factor was not stopping the dribble, which resulted in bigs having to help and then the whole defense breaking down. Tonight, they are miscommunicating or someone is just making the wrong read on switches. It’s hard to tell who is wrong on these, but to this point in the game, I have seen Creek and Elston involved in 3 of these switching problems. I also noticed Pritchard, Watford, Rivers, and Jones one time each.
• In a very weird way, it might be a good thing that we are starting to be able to actually identify the defensive problems. In the first 5 games, the defense was so bad that I couldn’t tell what the hell they were thinking or even trying to do even if I would rewind it and watch it over. So, maybe it’s a sign that they are improving that you can actually see where the breakdown occurred.
• Verdell Jones shots just don’t seem to be falling. Man, we need those shots in a game like this.
• Maryland up 41-35 at first TV timeout of second half. That’s a 20-7 run going back to the first half. Maybe the last 5 minutes of the first half and the first 4 minutes of the second half is where IU truly lost this game.
• Christian Watford just drained a fade-away 15-foot bank shot in the face of a double-team. That’s what I am talking about. If he has that shot in the bag, use it! Especially until he gets stronger and can take it harder to the rack. That was his second shot of the night that has made my jaw drop. I’m a sucka for the bank shot. Glad to see Watford playing well against good competition.
• Watford with a nice swat at the other end.
• Elston airballs a 3. That’s his 3rd shot of the night without any iron.
• Daniel Moore with a nice pass to Verdell Jones who drains the 15-footer. That update was solely for TheCoach since I know he is a big fan of both players. Md 43-39 with 14:30 to go.
• Whoa, another Watford swat leads to Jones to Moore this time and Moore hits the layup with the foul! That update was NOT for TheCoach, that was just damn exciting. The crowd is going nuts as Moore is at the line with a chance to cut the lead to 1…..and the little fucker missed it. That’s ok, just d-up now and keep this momentum going! (Editor’s Note – Just because I know the outcome of the game, this is not fake enthusiasm. I am seriously fired up right now. I guess I better vote “delusional” on the poll question.
• On big momentum plays, especially ones that are traditional 3-point play opportunities because you have the whistle at the end to stop play, I always like to rewind and see the reactions of the players. The obvious reason is just to see the team pumped up when things are going well and they just had a big play. But it also tells me if the players are in this thing as a team and not just caring about their own numbers, etc. On this play, you could see 3 players besides Moore and Elston, Jones, and Watford all gave a fist pump on the basket. On another angle, you could see the bench and Creek and Pritchard were both up off the bench cheering. Good to see. Maybe I will vote “hopeful” on the poll question.
• Do you think IU would use a Tom Earth big head if I sent them one?
• Assignment: Healy, any Healy, can you do some research online to see where you get big heads made?
• Man, Dumes not hitting either. If Jones and Dumes were making shots that they are capable of making, the Hoosiers could have a nice lead right now.
• Creek jumper ties it at 43 with 13:30 to go, IU on 6-0 run.
• Ugh….we saw good Jeremiah earlier and now we see bad Jeremiah. With a chance to take the lead, Rivers tried to throw a lob to Pritchard but instead hurled it off the rim or backboard for a turnover. Then, after a Maryland basket, Rivers drives the lane and wings a pass in the general direction of Tom Crean. Two costly turnovers after IU had just tied the game.
• There’s a nothing but the absolute bottom of the net 3 by Dumes. Md 47-46, 12:15.
• My TV sucks so bad that they just flashed Dumes’ FG shooting and I can’t read it. Going to bestbuy.com, click, click, cc#, and click. New TV is on its way…..I wish.
• They just showed Fuzzy Zoeller. If Gavin is at this game, it is a guarantee that he’s stalking Fuzzy.
• Creek for 3 to give IU the lead at 49-48 with 11:30 to go. Double-figures again for Creek.
• Ooh, I like that….Maryland running on a fast break and Pritchard does not just give up the dunk. Instead, he gave a hard, but clean foul. If we are going to have guys with the size of Jobe and Muniru, there should be a rule that there will be no dunks by the opposing team while they are in the game.
• Tied at 54 with 8:45 to go.
• Rivers misses front end of 1-1 but gets his own rebound, only to see Elston get fouled and he misses the front-end. You just can’t come out of a possession like that with 0 points.
• Now a 5-0 run by Maryland and as Chris has already mentioned in the Comments, Creek and Watford are sitting at the scorers table while Crean is waiting for the TV timeout. I’ve already gone on record saying that I think Crean needs to use his timeouts whenever the moment calls for it. If you have to play-on at the end, so be it, but don’t let a game get away because you are saving your timeouts or waiting for a TV timeout. Foolishness.
• Just to further point out how young and how big of a rebuilding effort this is, we now get Creek and Watford back into the game, but suddenly you look out on the floor and your lineup includes 3 freshmen and a walk-on sophomore.
And here’s how we lost the game…..
• Let’s set the stage, it’s Maryland’s lead with a score of 61-58 with 5:12 to go after 2 made FTs by Dumes. IU now has Rivers, Creek, Jones, Watford, and Pritchard in the game.
• MD possession: Daniel Moore overplays the passing lane and gets beat on a cut into the lane for an easy 8-footer for Maryland. Md 63-58, 4:55.
• IU possession: Dumes shoots a 3 that barely touches iron, Md rebound, Creek fouls.
• MD possession: misses front-end of 1-1, but offensive rebound. Rivers gets beat back-door for an easy Maryland layup. The concerning thing here was that the Maryland play was designed to back-screen Rivers and the screen wasn’t even set and Rivers still got beat horribly. Md 65-58, 4:15.
• IU possession: IU timeout. After timeout, Jones travels. TV timeout.
• MD possession: IU plays good defense, Maryland forces up a 3 late in shot-clock and misses. IU rebounds.
• IU possession: Creek goes aggressively to the basket on fast break, Maryland player attempts to take charge and there is clearly contact as Creek wildly throws it off the glass. Ed Hightower is literally on top of the play and no call. It was not a flop, there was clearly contact and Creek ran the guy over, the only question was whether it was a charge or a block. But it can’t be a no-call and I do think it should have been a block and Creek heading to the FT line. I remember when Ed used to like IU (read as “was scared of Bob Knight”). Maryland retrieves loose ball and calls timeout.
• Interesting and depressing stat from ESPN during the timeout – IU had 11 seasons with 10 or more losses in 29 seasons under Bob Knight. They have had 8 seasons with 10 or more losses in the 9 seasons since his departure. I’ll go ahead and go out on a branch as thick as my house and say that will be 9 out of the last 10 seasons after this season is all said and done, or should I say after December is all said and done. This seems like an ideal spot for my “I fucking hate Kelvin Sampson” quote.
• MD possession: Watford gets posted-up, a nice jump hook by Millbourne. Not a whole lot IU could do on that one. Md 67-58, 2:47.
• IU possession: Creek misses a 3. Good look, but he couldn’t get it to go down. This was followed by a funny-if-u-r-not-an-IU-fan moment where Watford, Pritchard, and Jones all fell over themselves into a heap.
• MD possession: This time, a variation on the play that Rivers just got beat on. Watford is guarding the wing and Maryland sets a back screen. The Maryland wing players does a great job reading the screen and cuts high into the lane rather than going behind the screen baseline (like they did against Rivers). Watford got picked off by the back-screen, Pritchard attempted to help late and fouled the guy and he scored. FT good and that’s your dagger. Md 70-58, 2:08.
So, looking at that stretch in summary, the defense just isn’t where it needs to be right now. This team has shown signs of improvements since Puerto Rico, but I certainly don’t expect them to pull off any upsets in the next two games.
Well, I think I will finish this post with the way I started it....Son of a Bitch.
They so desperately need to find a way to win a game like this.
Thoughts?
UPDATED with GAME NOTES:
• Rivers hurt and taken to the locker room after a spectacular layup and then falling on his back just a couple minutes into the game.
• Hulls – I like that he doesn’t hesitate to shoot, I was afraid he might be the type that you have to beg to shoot. But he has a quick release and isn’t afraid to put it up when he’s open.
• Liked the story about Crean’s 5-minute drill with one 3-point shooter, one rebounder, and one ball and the shooter has to try to make as many 3s possible in 5 mins. Steve Novak has the record with 72. Hulls recently hit 71. You get to pick your rebounder and Hulls picked Jeff Watkinson, the strength coach. I’m not sure what that says about the rest of the team when you pick the strength coach to be your rebounder.
• Hulls – back to back possessions, he tried to take a charge with no call. After the second one, Maryland scored a layup and Ed Hightower blew his whistle and then appeared to come over and lecture Jordan Hulls while he was still laying on the ground. It appeared he was telling him he was too far under the basket, but he was emphatic about it. Very strange. It was also odd that this appeared to be the sole purpose for the whistle which happened to be at the 11:55 mark so it led to a TV timeout. But I don’t think I have ever seen a whistle blown so that the referee can come lecture a player on a rule. Hulls wasn’t even complaining or anything. Only Ed Hightower. Not even the old bald Ed Hightower would have done that. Only the Ed Hightower with hair.
• ESPN just revisited “The Shot”. Man, that was sweet.
• Great no look through the teeth of the defense pass by Hulls to Watford who converts for a traditional 3-point play
• IU 21-20, 10:00, very good start
• Rivers back after being out with the injury for about 8 minutes.
• Watford pulls up from 14 feet and kisses it off the glass. The lost art of the bank shot, gotta love it. IU up 23-20, 8:45
• We are now seeing a version of the lineup that I was wanting to see – Pritchard goes out and Elston comes in for a lineup of Rivers, Jones, Dumes, Watford, and Elston. I completely agree with this lineup because I think it puts our top talent on the floor and I haven’t seen a Maryland big man that is simply overpowering us, so why not go with Elston and Watford without a true center.
• Dumes hits a 3 and IU leads 26-21 with 7:45 to go in half
• IU 28-21 with 6 minutes to go in first half
• Elston struggling with 0-5 on 2 recent offensive trips, including 2 shots that did not hit rim followed by 3 missed putbacks. Of course, he did Moses Malone his offensive rebounding stats with all those misses to himself. If Jobe were in the game instead of Elston, these same two possessions probably would have been 0-1 (Jobe doesn’t rebound) and 1 turnover (Jobe has bad hands). Nonetheless, it would still be 0 points on these two possessions. I love Jobe, I just want to see him shatter a backboard.
• IU still leads 28-21 with 5 minutes to go in the first half. Knowing what happens at the end of the game, I just calculated that IU will get outscored 49-30 over the next 22 minutes of the game. The next 19 minutes will be somewhat even with Maryland having a 40-30 advantage before the deadly 9-0 run over 3 minutes starting with 5 minutes to go in the game. I may have to analyze possession-by-possession what went wrong in those 3 minutes. We’ll see how late it is when I get to that point.
• Wow! Jeremiah Rivers just had an INCREDIBLE 5-second stretch. At the 2:14 mark, he had a sweet left-handed swat out of bounds on a Maryland fast break, then he stole the inbounds at the 2:12 mark, and then went flying down the floor dribbling with his left hand and outrunning the defender to go in for the left-handed DUNK at the 2:09 mark. We want more, Jeremiah, we want more! That was awesome. IU up 33-30 and the white out crowd is LOUD!
• Now Jeremiah just threw up an airball from 16 feet. Just drive and dunk over everyone, Jeremiah. I would like to say that I officially forgive the airball because that block, steal, dunk sequence was as exciting of a sequence since Eric Gordon donned the cream and crimson.
• Unfortunately, the Hoosiers give up a 5-0 run to be losing at half 35-33. Outside of the Rivers sequence, IU really stunk up the joint in the final 5 minutes of the half.
• Yikes, they just flashed a stat at the start of the 2nd half – in the last 7:45 of the 1st half, IU missed 14 of 16 shots and had 5 turnovers. No wonder their 7 point lead turned into a 2-point halftime deficit.
• Since I mentioned Elston’s putback struggles earlier, I feel obligated the mention the very nice offensive rebound and putback he just had. Md up 37-35 with 17:00 to go.
• So, I have been watching the defense very closely and rewinding anytime IU gives up easy baskets and it is the switching that is killing them in tonight’s game. In previous games, I think the biggest factor was not stopping the dribble, which resulted in bigs having to help and then the whole defense breaking down. Tonight, they are miscommunicating or someone is just making the wrong read on switches. It’s hard to tell who is wrong on these, but to this point in the game, I have seen Creek and Elston involved in 3 of these switching problems. I also noticed Pritchard, Watford, Rivers, and Jones one time each.
• In a very weird way, it might be a good thing that we are starting to be able to actually identify the defensive problems. In the first 5 games, the defense was so bad that I couldn’t tell what the hell they were thinking or even trying to do even if I would rewind it and watch it over. So, maybe it’s a sign that they are improving that you can actually see where the breakdown occurred.
• Verdell Jones shots just don’t seem to be falling. Man, we need those shots in a game like this.
• Maryland up 41-35 at first TV timeout of second half. That’s a 20-7 run going back to the first half. Maybe the last 5 minutes of the first half and the first 4 minutes of the second half is where IU truly lost this game.
• Christian Watford just drained a fade-away 15-foot bank shot in the face of a double-team. That’s what I am talking about. If he has that shot in the bag, use it! Especially until he gets stronger and can take it harder to the rack. That was his second shot of the night that has made my jaw drop. I’m a sucka for the bank shot. Glad to see Watford playing well against good competition.
• Watford with a nice swat at the other end.
• Elston airballs a 3. That’s his 3rd shot of the night without any iron.
• Daniel Moore with a nice pass to Verdell Jones who drains the 15-footer. That update was solely for TheCoach since I know he is a big fan of both players. Md 43-39 with 14:30 to go.
• Whoa, another Watford swat leads to Jones to Moore this time and Moore hits the layup with the foul! That update was NOT for TheCoach, that was just damn exciting. The crowd is going nuts as Moore is at the line with a chance to cut the lead to 1…..and the little fucker missed it. That’s ok, just d-up now and keep this momentum going! (Editor’s Note – Just because I know the outcome of the game, this is not fake enthusiasm. I am seriously fired up right now. I guess I better vote “delusional” on the poll question.
• On big momentum plays, especially ones that are traditional 3-point play opportunities because you have the whistle at the end to stop play, I always like to rewind and see the reactions of the players. The obvious reason is just to see the team pumped up when things are going well and they just had a big play. But it also tells me if the players are in this thing as a team and not just caring about their own numbers, etc. On this play, you could see 3 players besides Moore and Elston, Jones, and Watford all gave a fist pump on the basket. On another angle, you could see the bench and Creek and Pritchard were both up off the bench cheering. Good to see. Maybe I will vote “hopeful” on the poll question.
• Do you think IU would use a Tom Earth big head if I sent them one?
• Assignment: Healy, any Healy, can you do some research online to see where you get big heads made?
• Man, Dumes not hitting either. If Jones and Dumes were making shots that they are capable of making, the Hoosiers could have a nice lead right now.
• Creek jumper ties it at 43 with 13:30 to go, IU on 6-0 run.
• Ugh….we saw good Jeremiah earlier and now we see bad Jeremiah. With a chance to take the lead, Rivers tried to throw a lob to Pritchard but instead hurled it off the rim or backboard for a turnover. Then, after a Maryland basket, Rivers drives the lane and wings a pass in the general direction of Tom Crean. Two costly turnovers after IU had just tied the game.
• There’s a nothing but the absolute bottom of the net 3 by Dumes. Md 47-46, 12:15.
• My TV sucks so bad that they just flashed Dumes’ FG shooting and I can’t read it. Going to bestbuy.com, click, click, cc#, and click. New TV is on its way…..I wish.
• They just showed Fuzzy Zoeller. If Gavin is at this game, it is a guarantee that he’s stalking Fuzzy.
• Creek for 3 to give IU the lead at 49-48 with 11:30 to go. Double-figures again for Creek.
• Ooh, I like that….Maryland running on a fast break and Pritchard does not just give up the dunk. Instead, he gave a hard, but clean foul. If we are going to have guys with the size of Jobe and Muniru, there should be a rule that there will be no dunks by the opposing team while they are in the game.
• Tied at 54 with 8:45 to go.
• Rivers misses front end of 1-1 but gets his own rebound, only to see Elston get fouled and he misses the front-end. You just can’t come out of a possession like that with 0 points.
• Now a 5-0 run by Maryland and as Chris has already mentioned in the Comments, Creek and Watford are sitting at the scorers table while Crean is waiting for the TV timeout. I’ve already gone on record saying that I think Crean needs to use his timeouts whenever the moment calls for it. If you have to play-on at the end, so be it, but don’t let a game get away because you are saving your timeouts or waiting for a TV timeout. Foolishness.
• Just to further point out how young and how big of a rebuilding effort this is, we now get Creek and Watford back into the game, but suddenly you look out on the floor and your lineup includes 3 freshmen and a walk-on sophomore.
And here’s how we lost the game…..
• Let’s set the stage, it’s Maryland’s lead with a score of 61-58 with 5:12 to go after 2 made FTs by Dumes. IU now has Rivers, Creek, Jones, Watford, and Pritchard in the game.
• MD possession: Daniel Moore overplays the passing lane and gets beat on a cut into the lane for an easy 8-footer for Maryland. Md 63-58, 4:55.
• IU possession: Dumes shoots a 3 that barely touches iron, Md rebound, Creek fouls.
• MD possession: misses front-end of 1-1, but offensive rebound. Rivers gets beat back-door for an easy Maryland layup. The concerning thing here was that the Maryland play was designed to back-screen Rivers and the screen wasn’t even set and Rivers still got beat horribly. Md 65-58, 4:15.
• IU possession: IU timeout. After timeout, Jones travels. TV timeout.
• MD possession: IU plays good defense, Maryland forces up a 3 late in shot-clock and misses. IU rebounds.
• IU possession: Creek goes aggressively to the basket on fast break, Maryland player attempts to take charge and there is clearly contact as Creek wildly throws it off the glass. Ed Hightower is literally on top of the play and no call. It was not a flop, there was clearly contact and Creek ran the guy over, the only question was whether it was a charge or a block. But it can’t be a no-call and I do think it should have been a block and Creek heading to the FT line. I remember when Ed used to like IU (read as “was scared of Bob Knight”). Maryland retrieves loose ball and calls timeout.
• Interesting and depressing stat from ESPN during the timeout – IU had 11 seasons with 10 or more losses in 29 seasons under Bob Knight. They have had 8 seasons with 10 or more losses in the 9 seasons since his departure. I’ll go ahead and go out on a branch as thick as my house and say that will be 9 out of the last 10 seasons after this season is all said and done, or should I say after December is all said and done. This seems like an ideal spot for my “I fucking hate Kelvin Sampson” quote.
• MD possession: Watford gets posted-up, a nice jump hook by Millbourne. Not a whole lot IU could do on that one. Md 67-58, 2:47.
• IU possession: Creek misses a 3. Good look, but he couldn’t get it to go down. This was followed by a funny-if-u-r-not-an-IU-fan moment where Watford, Pritchard, and Jones all fell over themselves into a heap.
• MD possession: This time, a variation on the play that Rivers just got beat on. Watford is guarding the wing and Maryland sets a back screen. The Maryland wing players does a great job reading the screen and cuts high into the lane rather than going behind the screen baseline (like they did against Rivers). Watford got picked off by the back-screen, Pritchard attempted to help late and fouled the guy and he scored. FT good and that’s your dagger. Md 70-58, 2:08.
So, looking at that stretch in summary, the defense just isn’t where it needs to be right now. This team has shown signs of improvements since Puerto Rico, but I certainly don’t expect them to pull off any upsets in the next two games.
Well, I think I will finish this post with the way I started it....Son of a Bitch.
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