Odds & Ends

KY Game: No Gordon. No Bassett. No problem. Yes, we learned that Kentucky really does stink this year, but that was an impressive win for the Hoosiers. They built a solid lead and never looked back. DJ with his 5th straight double-double. Nicely done. "Jordan's Better" Some fans and media types did not care for the "Jordan's Better" chant at Assembly Hall. Come on. Joe Crawford is a senior at Kentucky who is playing against his kid-brother Jordan who is a freshman at IU. If little brother lights you up in a HUGE rivalry game between your two schools, then I think a chant of "Jordan's Better" is pretty mild. Suspension Updates: Armon Bassett Still suspended. Sampson isn't saying much, but he did say that Armon will not play again Saturday. Sampson is still saying the suspension is game-to-game and that "Armon still has some work to do". Even though his comments have been brief, it sounds like Sampson is more pissed off about Armon than he was about Crawford. Or maybe it's just the fact that it is the 3rd guard to be suspended this year. A.J. Ratliff Earlier, it was reported that this Saturday would be his first game back. However, the 1st semester finals are this week and it now looks like all the grades and paperwork will not be completed before Saturday's game. Nobody seems to really know for sure, but Saturday is looking doubtful. Of course, the fact that the 1st semester is finishing up also makes me a bit nervous with this team. Will someone else not make grades and get suspended for 2nd semester? I sure hope not. Sounds like a good poll question, I think I'll add one (see right). Injury Updates: Eric Gordon Last week, Sampson sure made it sound like Gordon would play against Kentucky and he didn't. This week, Sampson is saying that he fully expects EJ to play this Saturday. We shall see. No need to rush him back against Western Carolina, but he has been practicing this week, so it does sound like he is good to go. Eli Holman Hurt his wrist in practice. X-rays did not show a break, but they are still concerned about possible ligament damage. Some additional notes from iuhoosiers.cstv.com: Eric Gordon leads the league and is eighth in the nation in scoring (24.3) and is seventh in the league in field goal percentage (53.4), second in three-point field goal percentage (50.0), and in free throw percentage (83.8). He has made (62) and attempted (74) more free throws than any other player in the league. The last freshman to lead the Big Ten in scoring was Minnesota's Kris Humphries (21.7) in 2004. The highest scoring average by a freshman in league history was set by Purdue's Glenn Robinson (24.1) in 1993. D.J. White was named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second straight week (12/10) after averaging 22.5 points and 13.0 rebounds against Kentucky and Tennessee State. He is currently eighth in the league in scoring (14.8), first in rebounds (9.1), second in field goal percentage (62.2) and sixth in blocked shots (1.78). He became the 41st member of the school's 1000-point club (1,006) against Kentucky. In the Last Four Games The Hoosiers are enjoying their second four-game winning streak of the season and will look to match their longest streak from last year at five games against Western Carolina. Here are some notes comparing numbers against the first five games of the season. The Hoosiers are dominating the boards winning the battle 38.2 to 28.5 since the Georgia Tech game. Senior D.J. White is averaging 18.3 points and 13.0 rebounds per game during the win streak. He started off the season by averaging 12.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in the first five contests of the year. Junior Jamarcus Ellis also has nearly doubled his early season scoring averaging 12.0 the last four games compared to 6.2 in the first five games of the season. Senior Lance Stemler is averaging 7.8 points during the winning streak. Senior Mike White has contributed 6.0 points and 5.0 rebounds since pulling off his redshirt against Georgia Tech. He is second on the team to D.J. White with 11 offensive rebounds in the four games. Some other names from IU's past: Bud Mackey Recently told a newspaper that he had enrolled in a high school in the Atlanta area. He also said that Sampson told him that he was still welcome at IU if he would consider going to junior college. The Hoosier Scoop (Herald Times blog) did some digging and the high school said they have never heard of him and it also does not appear true that Sampson ever made that offer to Mackey. Furthermore, the Hoosier Scoop reported that Mackey lived at three different households during high school and Senderoff never knew which house he would be at. Therefore, some of the impermissible phone calls were a result of calling 3 houses to try to reach Mackey. I still think the impermissible calls were inexcusable; however, if there are circumstances like that in the report that the NCAA is reviewing, I would hope that would lead to IU's self-imposed penalties being sufficient. Robert Vaden For UAB (7-4 this year), Vaden is averaging 18.5 points, 3.4 rebs, 2.5 assts, 2.4 turnovers, 41.1% FG, 81.3% FT, 41.7 3PT. Patrick Ewing Jr. For the 7-0 Hoyas, PE2 is averaging 5.3 pts and 3.9 rebounds. Next Game: At home against Western Carolina. Saturday at 7pm CT on the Big Ten Network. Prediction: IU 80 W. Carolina 69