Thursday, January 31, 2008
IU 49 WI 62
Son of a bitch.
You just can't pull that shit when you are playing the #13 team in the country at their place. IU tried to pull their typical crap of only playing 5-10 minutes of basketball. Well, that just ain't gonna work at Wisconsin. Once you are down by 20 on the road in the Big Ten, you're done. IU made a nice 17-2 run to cut it to 5. In fact, they cut it to 5 with 7 minutes left, so they had plenty of time to get over the hump. But they couldn't get the defensive boards or play defense without fouling or hit the big shot to do it. Who the hell am I kidding? Get over the hump? They got outscored by 8 points down the stretch.
How's this for disturbing? That 17-2 run took 5 minutes. They were down 46-26 with 12 minutes to play and then it was 48-43 with 7 minutes to play. So, the other 35 minutes of this game, IU WAS OUTSCORED 60-32. Now, that's just getting your ass kicked for 35 minutes of a 40-minute game.
I've been patient and I've kept the faith, but I think a lot of those questions that I asked earlier in the week were answered tonight. The answer: we suck.
Sampson just isn't pushing the right buttons with these guys to get them to play hard for 40 minutes. I honestly thought they would come out with some tenacious defense after that UConn loss. Instead, they came out flat as a pancake.
I also thought it was a horrible move by Sampson to come out in the 2-3 zone to start the 2nd half. That's not going to work against Wisconsin. Once IU went down by 20 frickin' points, they finally started playing tenacious defense. And guess what, they went on a 17-2 run. Somehow, some way, Sampson HAS to get these guys to play defense like that all the time.
The Gordon 10-0 run was impressive. We need more of that out of him. Go ahead, take over the game, I'm fine with that. It's a very fine line, though. You want him to dominate and take over a game, but you don't want him pressing too much because that's when he gets out of control. But he can be tough, if not impossible, to stop when he gets it going.
Something is really wrong when D.J. White has 22 points and 17 rebounds and you still get your ass kicked.
Ellis did a nice job pulling down 13 boards, but unfortunately, he could not come away with some of the biggest rebounds of the game. When IU had cut it close, they forced Wisconsin to miss a couple times but then gave up offensive rebounds that really took the life out of their comeback bid.
This even happened with Brian Butch having a horrible game. Wisconsin was 3-20 from the arc (of course, IU was 3-21, so I guess that's not a very good point to make).
Bassett and Stemler had some big opportunities in this game and came up empty. 0-5 and 1-6 from the arc, respectively.
The 4-spot is killing us -- Mike White, Stemler, and DeAndre all sucked tonight.
Why the hell is A.J. Ratliff still allowed to wear an IU uniform?
What is wrong with this team? Why can't Sampson get this team to put it all together?
49 points. What a joke.
Even though there are a lot of problems with this team, I still point to the defense. If they would play tenacious defense like they did in the middle of the 2nd half, this team would be incredibly tough to beat. And wouldn't you know it, when they played that tough defense, it led to 17 points in a 5 minute span. That's a hell of a lot better than 32 points in the other 35 minutes.
To add insult to injury, I think Illinois State lost this week, which probably means that IU will have exactly 0 wins against the RPI Top 50.
But when cooler heads prevail, we'll still be tied for 1st place in the Big Ten with our only loss at Wisconsin. So, if they can get their shit together, they can still definitely take a run at a Big Ten title and hopefully enjoy a nice March as well.
However, my head is still steaming because we stink. We really are not a very good basketball team right now. I can't figure it out. I keep going back to the defense. Yes, they turn it over too much and take some bad shots and don't really run an offense. But whenever they play their 5-10 minutes of good defense per game, it always leads to good offense.
Ok, I think I have said that 3 times already.
I'm done talking about this bullshit game.
But I'd be happy to hear all of you vent.
In closing, I blame Andy.
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4 comments:
bradley
Man. it takes all my will power not to throw the remote right throught the damn tv. they couldn't get a board or a loose ball down the stretch to save their lives. stemler seems to be the only one who likes to hustle, but damn 0-5 from the arc and we're talking wiiiide open. he can't shoot worth a shit. and i wouldn't say the problem is at the 4 spot. we have a great 4 spot. his name is dj white. we need a big man. you tellin me that there's no 7 foot whitey in all of indiana that graduated last year.
they just don't look tough and like they want it when they're pushed. one of the last loose balls down the stretch summed it up perfectly. 2 or 3 hoosiers on the floor going for the loose ball and the wisconsin player casually bends over and picks it up.
Ben wrote:
They are missing a consistent #3 & #4 scorer. We have NO consistent scorer in the paint outside of DJ. Crawford, Ellis and Bassett have signs of ability, but no consistency. It's a given that DJ & EJ will get their points each night, but who else is consistently able to make things happen. No one. If Stemler could shoot he would be one of the answers, but he is terrible...with that said, his problem at Wisconsin is that he was confused as to why he looked exactly like 5 or 6 of the Wisconsin players (buzz cut, caucasian). IU is not a well rounded team and is playing like a bunch of freshmen. I think there is something to be said about having solid role players who stay for 4 years vs. going after superstars who stay for 1-2 years or where a team is built around 1-2 players.
Chris writes:
I had to move the remote to the other couch because I had the compulsion to throw it. We looked even worse in HD.
DJ is the best player on the court. EJ is so talented, but he needs to change his mindset and exhibit some fire. He's got to show his teammates that he's hungry and focused. I know he's awesome, but he often looks scared and upset...kind of whiney.
Some of Stemlers shots are so off the mark. Heavy D needs to understand that fouling 25 feet from the basket is stupid. Heavy D also needs to understand what it means to box a taller player out using his butt and needs better technique to keep goons like Steemsma from backing him down.
Mike W and Heavy D need to work on technique. That means establishing position and boxing guys out. On offense, they HAVE to be setting screens and rebounding if they hope to add any value to this team.
Realistically, this wasn't a game you would have chosen as a win. At Wisky, at MSU, and at ILL are long odds for anyone. The rest of the games should be W's.
Biggest game of the year and IU laid an egg. 24 hours later and I am still pissed. They should beat up on NW this weekend. Unfortunately that is not a test. DJ is playing like an all-american. EJ is as inconsistent as this team. I am not sure what happened to Stemler. The guy has gone from red hot to ice cold in two weeks. It is funy how losing two in a row can totally deflate you. At this rate, they could get bounced in the first round of the tourney.
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