IU @ Southern Illinois

I'll be heading down to Tom's house for the game, so my postgame recap won't be posted until Sunday. In the meantime, feel free to add your prediction and your pre-game, in-game, or post-game comments. Let's get the prediction out of the way: IU 67 S. Illinois 63 Top 5 Reasons Why IU Will Win: (1) Defensive Strategy Yes, it's true that our defense stinks up the joint, but I think Sampson will at least employ a defensive strategy in this game that will lead to victory. SIU's best player (Falker) plays down low and as a team they are known for their toughness and grittiness. However, they are not necessarily known as a great shooting team. Therefore, I think IU will focus on stopping Falker by trying to deny him touches and collapsing down on him when he does get the ball. IU needs to make SIU shoot jump shots and then control the rebounds. (2) IU's Role Players SIU is going to have two really strong defenders that match up pretty well with Gordon and DJ. Therefore, I think it will be important for IU to get big contributions from their role players. Ellis, Stemler, and Mike White all stepped up big-time against Georgia Tech and I think it will be important for them to do the same against SIU. (3) FT Shooting I think SIU is a pretty good FT shooting team, but IU has done a good job getting to the line. In a game like this, it will be important for IU to win the FT battle in both attempts and obviously makes. (4) 3-PT Shooting 3-pt shooting is big in every college game, but for IU on the road, it seems to be one of their biggest problem areas. All year, Bassett could get some pretty good looks with all the attention Gordon gets and I think he is going to knock some big ones down in this game. And even with tough defense, Gordon can still knock a couple down. And I still say if Stemler starts hitting 3s with any regularity, this team gets to be very tough to defend. (5) Tom and I are watching the game together IU is undefeated when Tom and I watch a game together (excluding games they lost). Also, it should be noted that this is the game that 10 out of 22 voters predicted as IU's first loss. Of course, the other 12 votes were for a later game so we are all wrong. Nonetheless, this is obviously a game that has many of us concerned and I certainly do not think it will be easy. But I think Cook made the point earlier in the year and that is if IU is truly "back", then these are games that they have to win. Last year's team was bad on the road. This year's team looked horrible on a neutral site. So, why do I think that IU can pull this game off against a very good mid-major team on the road? Well, that's what this whole post was about so if you still aren't convinced, then you are probably predicting IU will lose this game. I'm sticking with an IU victory 67-63. Go Hoosiers!