IU 76 BC 88

If you are a glass-half-full type of person, then you will be pleased with the 2nd half comeback where the Hoosiers took a 14-point deficit and cut it all the way down to 1.

But I must be a glass-half-empty person (at least tonight) because I saw a lot of problems tonight.  They just lost by double-digits to a team picked in the bottom half of the ACC.  A team that lost to Yale on their home floor. A team that lost to Wisconsin by double-digits.

The Hoosiers dug themselves into a hole in the first half primarily due to poor rebounding and not getting to loose balls.  This team is going to have its problems this year, but they can't allow it to be in the hustle-type categories. 

Once you are in that big of a hole, it's almost always too difficult to get all the way over the top and win the game.  IU came all the way back to only then give up a 9-0 run and the game was over.  In the end, IU only outscored BC by 2 points in the second half, so a comeback is only noteworthy if you can get over the top and hang on to win.  IU didn't do that.

So, why couldn't the Hoosiers get over the top?  The answer is because there defense sucked.  88 points is way too many to give up to a team that was averaging 65 coming in.  If we could have gotten a stop or two during key points in their comeback, they could have taken the lead.  But every time we got close, BC answered and answered in a 3-point form. 

* IU opens 2nd half on a 8-0 run to cut it to 6 and BC answers with a traditional 3-point play.
* IU cuts it to 7 and another traditional 3-point play by BC pushes it back to 10.
* IU cuts it to 5 (as close as they had been since the early going), BC answers with a 3.
* IU cuts it to 4, BC hits a 3.
* IU cuts it to 1, BC hits a 3.
* IU again cuts it to 1, BC again hits a 3.
* IU cuts it back down to 2, BC hits a 3.....and then a 2, another 2, and another 2.  Back to an 11-point lead and game over.

Now, you definitely have to give BC credit for knocking down all those big shots.  Every time IU would get the momentum, BC would deliver a dagger.

My concern is with the defense though.  These were wide-open looks.  IU was either getting caught needing to help out and in defensive rotations or if BC would miss, they would get the offensive rebound and kick it out for a clean look.

I was really hoping they had turned a corner on the defensive end of the floor this year.  But this game looked very much like last year.  Even when the Hoosiers would get their offense going, they can't get the defensive stops or rebounds to get them over the top.

Another interesting storyline in this game was turnovers.  I've already seen some praise for IU only turning it over 10 times.  By this team's standards, that is a huge improvement.  However, as bad as IU has been at turning the ball over, they were forcing their opponents into even more turnovers.  In this game, the Hoosiers only forced 6 turnovers, so the turnover story was still a negative one for the Hoosiers in this game.

Let's take a break to consider something:

• The NCAA ruled today that Cam Newton is eligible to play in this weekend's SEC championship game even though they did find that Cam's father did try to arrange a pay-to-play scenario for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• One day earlier, the NCAA ruled (or denied IU's appeal to their earlier ruling) that Guy-Marc Michel cannot play a single game out of the 2 years he was expecting to play because he enrolled in some college courses 4 years ago and played a grand total of 10 minutes alongside European professionals over 2 years ago.
• SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME HOW THAT MAKES ANY FUCKING SENSE?!?!?  I mean, seriously, that is really fucked up.

Sorry about that, back to the game.  Let's go quick-hit style:

* IU was only 4-18 from the arc before hitting a few at the end when the game was out of reach.

* IU had some thunderous dunks - Watford with a great move and one-handed tomahawk, Oladipo with a big-time throw-down, Pritchard with the one-handed lefty, and another plain two-hander from Watford.

* Watford played like a stud on the offensive end.

* Watford only had 2 rebounds.

* Watford had 3 steals (keeping in mind that IU only forced 6 turnovers total)

* VJIII had 4 of the team's 10 turnovers.

* After Verdell seemed to finally find his FT stroke in the last game, he again struggled tonight by going 0-3.

* Verdell's sweet mid-range pull-up game kept the Hoosiers from getting completely blown out of the gym in the first half.

* Hulls looked great.  Like I said before, they need to watch Alford film and find ways to get this kid some more clean looks.  How did you like that cross-over pull-up move?  Very nice.

* I wish Mo Creek was 100% healthy.  I put him at about 70-75%.

* 88 points is WAY too many to give up to a team like Boston College.  I know I said that already.  It bears repeating.

* I'm serious, somebody please tell me how the actions of the NCAA over the last two days makes any sense.

* Maybe IU really sucks at working on these types of issues with the NCAA.  Their coach makes too many phone calls and IU ends up getting the equivalent of a 2-year death penalty.  One of their players previously enrolled in some college-equivalent courses and played 10 minutes alongside professionals and he loses the 2 years of expected eligibility.  Honesty clearly is not working for IU.  Perhaps they should have said that Guy's father enrolled him in those courses without's Guy's knowledge. 

The Four Factors to Losing:

NCAA Basketball Stats

While no single factor was a landslide, Boston College had the edge in all four factors:

* Both teams shot a FG% of 50.9%, but BC shot a better percentage from the arc.

* Again IU limited the turnovers tonight, but forced even fewer.

* I thought the offensive rebounding would be more lopsided, but still the edge goes to BC.

* And finally, even though there were a lot of free throws late in the game, IU is still sending their opponents to the line way too often.

Well, the Hoosiers shouldn't have any problem getting back on track when they host Savannah State on Saturday.  Then, they are off for a week before they head to Lexington the following week.