IU 78 Michigan 64

Since this game was on ESPN, I'm hoping everyone got to watch it and I would like to hear from everyone as to what they thought about the Hoosiers performance. Overall Team Performance: You tell me I really don't know how to grade this team. They really look like crap at times, but they have enough talent to overcome it and usually put together a solid 10 minutes that makes the difference in the game. I'd love to see a solid 40 minutes, but I don't think you are going to get that out of this team. To start tonight's game, I thought their defense was again horrible. IU built a lead only because Michigan kept missing wide-open 3s. I think they only made 1 out of their first 12 shots from the arc. However, I was thinking to myself that they probably will start hitting some of those. But I also had the thought that Michigan just flat out sucks and may not hit anything the whole game. Unfortunately, my first thought was right and Michigan got hot at the end of the 1st half including heaving in a 3/4-court shot at the halftime buzzer to cut IU's lead to just 6. Of course, now I am convinced that IU gives up more 4-point plays AND half-court (or longer) shots than any team in history. But the bottom line was the Hoosiers found themselves still in a close game at halftime after it looked like they might cruise to victory. I blame that on their defense (and Gordon sitting out the last 8 minutes with 3 fouls). The good news was that the solid 10 minutes of basketball came at the start of the 2nd half. Michigan hit an early 3 to cut it to 5, but then the Hoosiers blew this thing open with some great offense, decent defense, and ugly play out of Michigan. Overall, a nice easy victory against a poor Michigan team. But any easy victory on the road is a very good sign and this team is now 3-0 on the road. Even though it was at Iowa and at Michigan (2 bad teams this year), I still really like the fact that the Hoosiers have 2 conference road wins under their belt. It seems that the last 5 or 6 years, winning on the road in the Big Ten has been nearly impossible and I think it started to be a mental thing for a lot of teams. But now, guys like Gordon, Ellis, and Crawford probably aren't thinking that way. Also, this marks a 9-game winning streak for the Hoosiers, which is the longest since the '92-'93 season. Unfortunately, we really haven't played anyone yet. Kentucky blows and Southern Illinois is not as good as people thought. So, the only real team they have played is Xavier and they beat us handily. Nonetheless, we are 13-1 and I can certainly live with that. One final note before we get to the individual player report card. The Bassett injury worries me. It's a bone chip in his ankle and it sounds like it probably won't fully heal until he has surgery after the season. They are hoping he can give it a go again this weekend against Illinois to see if he can play through it. I think this team needs him and if he can't go or if he's not worth a shit, that could spell a little bit of trouble for IU. D.J. White: A+ 21 points and 22 rebounds. That's the most rebounds for an IU player since Alan Henderson had 28 in a game in 1992 and the first 20/20 night for a Hoosier since Henderson in 1995. D.J. was simply awesome. He was clearing every single board. Of course, it helps when Michigan shoots 19-60. D.J. was also impressive on the offensive end and had a great steal and dunk. He left a couple turn-around moves short, but other than that, he was great. That gives him 9 double-doubles in his last 10 games. And I believe his last 3 rebounding efforts have been a then career-high 15 rebounds against Chicago St, a then career-high tying 15 rebounds at Iowa, and a new career-high 22 rebounds tonight at Michigan. 52 rebounds in the last 3 games, not bad. After D.J.'s very slow start, he is now averaging an impressive 16.7 pts and 10.9 rebounds per game. Mike White: B Big Mike did his usual thing and that's all we need. Jordan Crawford: D Jordan had an F going for the first half, but made a few nice plays in the 2nd half. He was kind of making me laugh. He played 38 minutes and looked dead-tired the entire game. Sampson's hands were a little tied because of the Basset injury and Gordon's 3 fouls in the first 12 minutes. But I also think Sampson was making him play through it and maybe sending Jordan a message that he needs to work harder in practice if he's not in game shape. I mean his tongue was dragging on the floor for most of the game. Again, the 1st half for Crawford was atrocious. He put up 3 horrible 3-points shots including one on what should have been the final possession of the 1st half. Of course, his horrible miss led to the 3/4-court shot by Michigan. His defense was terrible at times and he turned it over 7 times. However, the thing I loved about Crawford is that he just kept going and going and kept trying to get the job done. Eventually, some things started to go his way. He got a couple of steals and led a nice fast-break and fed Gordon for a big-time tomahawk dunk. A couple plays later, he finished nicely on a fast break (although it looked like he went up for a dunk and his legs didn't cooperate, but at least he had the sense to lay it in). Later, he received a nice pass in a half-court set and threw down a nice dunk. But again, I do like that even though he wasn't playing that well, he stayed after it and made some positive things happen. He still managed to finish with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. So, I like that he is doing some good things, but tonight, many of the negatives were glaring. Jarmarcus Ellis: B Minutes were a little down due to foul trouble, but continued to play a solid all-around game with 7 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. Eric Gordon: You tell me

Again, Eric Gordon is tough for me to grade. He completely dazzles me with his shooting, dunks, and all-around offensive plays. But he also turns it over too much.

He has that explosion capability, but sometimes I think he uses it at the wrong time. If there is a clear lane that can be taken by exploding to the basket, that's when he is good and I am 110% in favor of exploding to the basket for one of those tomahawk jams. However, when there is traffic and 3 guys in front of him, he still tries to dribble through it. And not only does he try to dribble through it, but he tries it with that same explosive move with big steps and pushing the dribble way out in front of him.

I think this is an area that Sampson really needs to try to coach him. He is strong enough and quick enough that he doesn't need to always drive in full throttle. In fact, he is generally much more effective when he takes it down a notch. I noticed 3 times in the second half where he drove to the basket under control and 2 of them he finished with an easy layup and I think he got an assist on the other. If he just slows down a little bit so he can retain control of the ball, he is much more effective.

How about those 3-point shots though? He is amazing. I actually think Sampson needs to get him more rest. Gordon has had several games already where he hits his first 2 or 3 or 4 or even 5 treys of the game, but then he goes cold. Then, he often hits again out of halftime and then goes cold. When he has fresh legs, his 3 point shot is pure. To steal Mr. Harrell's line from earlier this year, I don't even think that first 3-pointer hit the net (or the second one for that matter). He also had that fade-away 17-footer in the second half that was sweet. And as mentioned earlier, the tomahawk dunk. I love watching him play.

And one thing is for sure, the Hoosiers play much better when he is on the floor. IU probably outscored Michigan by 25 points during the 28 minutes that Gordon was in the game tonight.

A.J. Ratliff: D

Definitely still some rust. This knucklehead has now fouled out of both his games and is 1-7 from the arc. I think he was 0-3 from the arc tonight when he finally popped out to the top of the key and drained one. I was hoping that would get him going but then he nearly air-balled his next one. I have to be honest that I was surprised to look at the box score to see he had a career-high 6 assists, so I give him credit for that but I'm not changing his grade of a D because that's what it felt like to me as I was watching the game.

DeAndre Thomas: B+

Came in the first half to give D.J. a quick breather and scored in the low post on back-to-back possessions. Nicely done. Came in the second half to give D.J. a quick breather and fouled some people. Who cares.

Lance Stemler: B

You all know that I don't ask a lot out of Lance. Basically, I want to see the hustle plays and make the open 3-point shots. Stemler was 1-1 from the arc and I'll take it.

Brandon McGee: F

Cherry-picks for a two-handed dunk. Ok, fine, it's garbage time, I can live with a little cherry-picking especially when it leads to an IU dunk. But then he cherry-picks again. First of all, play some defense. But anyway, he goes down and tries to pull off a windmill and got stuffed by the rim. Idiot.

Go Hoosiers!