Final Score:
Indiana:   84
Illinois:    71

No doubt coming into Thursday night’s game the biggest story of the game was going to be: Was Cody Zeller going to be able to hand the 7’1″ athletic freak that is, Meyers Leonard? Early on, it looked as if Zeller and the Hoosiers were going to have their hands full all night with the big man with the backwards name. Leonard had 9 points in the first seven minutes of the game and looked determined as ever to take it right at the Big Ten’s best freshman big man. Just as he has done all season, Zeller didn’t get rattled or fazed of Leonard’s early success. He simply just let the game play out.

After a back and forth first half, the Hoosiers starting to attack into the teeth of the Fighting Illini’s defense. Eight minutes into the second half, Indiana was already able to force Illinois into 8 team fouls, three of them by Leonard. After Meyers picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench, the Hoosiers slowly started to pull away from this Fighting Illini squad. Depth is a key problem for Illinois and it started to show late in the second half.

Indiana proved to be too much for Illinois. The key stat in this game were free throws. The Hoosiers shot just as many free throws as they did field goals (42), which is ridiculous if you think about it. To shoot as many as they did and still knock them down at 83% is impressive.

The Hoosiers brought a balanced attack that was ultimately just too much to handle. Hulls, Watford, Oladipo, and Zeller all had at least 15 points. It is always a good sign when your starting lineup attributes that much to a game. The bench didn’t do bad but, simply put, Indiana didn’t need them to score because of how well the others were playing.

IU will get its first weekend free from any games for the first time since the middle of December. The team looks no where near gassed, but an off weekend can be key for the Hoosiers to rest up after a rough stretch of games that have occurred in the past month and a half. I can remember last year when Tom Crean celebrated in the lobby with us when the Hoosiers knocked off Illinois last year. Oh, how times have changed.

Team Grade: A

Looking Forward- Next week, the Hoosiers get the last of the “single-play” games they will play this year when Northwestern comes to Bloomington on Wednesday. The Wildcats struggled at first in conference but have turned things around and won three in a row. They will face Purdue on Sunday, if you are interested in seeing what kind of team they bring. They will come into Assembly hungry as ever, trying to get their first ever tournament appearance. 

Tony Adragna and Jimmy Cavanaugh are back with the Hoosier Hotline, this time talking Indiana’s huge win at Purdue, and they look ahead to the Illinois contest.  Aside from that, the duo talks about Indiana’s ranking in the Big Ten, and where they see the Hoosiers being seeded in the NCAA Tournament.

Hoosier Hotline - 2/8/2012 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (600)

Opponent: Illinois Fighting Illini (16-7, 5-5)

Series Record: Tied 83-83

Last Meeting:3/5/11  The Illini thumped Indiana 72-48(and it wasn’t really that close,) to close out the regular season.

Last IU win: 1/27/11 A thrilling 52-49 victory which led to Hoosier students storming the court in celebration of IU’s first win over a ranked opponent in the Tom Crean era. Little did the students know there were going to be better reasons to storm the court in the next season.

A different team from last year:  If IU thinks it will be able to just breeze through a 52-49 walk in the park like last year, it has another thing coming.  This is a completely different Illinois team. The trio of Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, and Demetri McCamey are gone. Their production has been mostly replaced by a new trio who is sure to be as big of a pain in the ass;  DJ Richardson, Brandon Paul,  and Meyers Leonard.  All three were with the team last year, but have taken on much larger roles this season.  Of the three, the 7’2″ Leonard’s ascent has been the most noticeable. He’s gone from averaging 2.1 points and 1.2 rebounds per game to 13.3 and 8.  To put that in perspective, it’s almost as good as replacing Bobby Capobianco’s production with Cody Zeller’s. Wouldn’t that be something if a team could manage that.

Stat to win friends and influence people:  The absolute takeaway from the Hoosiers win over Purdue was the defensive effort and execution fans have been clamoring for. IU held Purdue to .91 points per possession, almost .2 below their average. As a comparison, it was essentially like taking what IU has done on average all season and making it look like the Hoosiers did against Wisconsin.  What made it more impressive in my mind was that the Hoosiers forced only 3 turnovers. IU simply limited the good shots for most of the game, and when Purdue missed, IU didn’t allow many offensive rebounds.  If IU can play defense like that for the rest of the season, there are few teams who can match up to the Hoosiers firepower on offense.

Gratuitous Bruce Weber Cheap Shot: Unfortunately for Mr. Weber, his record is trending downward at the worst possible time. Weber is now in his 9th season as head coach of the Illini, he took over a loaded team from Bill Self and to his credit brought them to the doorstep of a National Championship in his 2nd year.  You might remember Sean May and the Tarheels beating Illinois in this game, if you do, you’re a better  fan than me. Since then his record has been mixed to say the least. He’s missed the tournament twice and last year’s run to the Sweet Sixteen with a senior laden squad was the only time he’s seen the 2nd weekend of the NCAA’s in the last 7 years.  And as the seat is getting warmer, he also has to deal with a new Athletic Director. Mike Thomas, came over from the University of Cincinnati and immediately began cleaning house by replacing the enigma known as Ron Zook.  Which leads me to….

Gratuitous Jack Trudeau cheap shot: You might remember the gratuitous cheap shots became an official headingafter Trudeau promised to “have his old buddy Zooker” run the score up on Kevin Wilson and the Hoosiers.  Well he might have accomplished that, but apparantly Wilson gets the last laugh as both Trudeau and Zooker were let go within weeks of each other. Far be it from me to do something as classless as kicking a man when he’s lost his job. But that’s why I trust in my readers to do it for me.

Scouting Future Opponents:

Northwestern Hosts Iowa Thursday at 9.

North Carolina Central hosts Savannah State on Saturday.  

Prediction: Much to my dismay, they won’t make Leonard Part 7.

   Though Meyers Leonard will pose an interesting and new challenge to IU’s talented freshman forward, the surrounding talent won’t be enough as Victor Oladipo continues his defensive renaissance in locking down Brandon Paul. IU wins 78-65.

Opponent: Purdue Boilermakers (15-7, 5-4)

Last Meeting: JaJuan Johnson took advantage of Indiana’s non-existent interior game and led all scorers with 20 points. The Boilers led by 10 at halftime and cruised to a 72-61 victory.

Last IU win: Way back in the Kelvin Sampson era. Eric Gordon scored 22 points while DJ White scored 19 with 14 rebounds in a 77-68 Hoosier victory. Of course that wasn’t the story. IU last beat Purdue on February 19,2009.  Kelvin Sampson was relieved of his duties as head coach on February 22.

Everyone still itching to play this one? In the midst of IU’s brilliant 15-1 start, there is no team Indiana fans looked forward to playing than the Purdue Boilermakers.  And with good reason.  While Indiana struggled to keep the program above water in Tom Crean’s first three  years,  the Boilers were enjoying a sustained run of quality play, led by the recently graduated E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson. So during IU’s impressive streak, IU fans knew that vindication was on the horizon with what were sure to be two quality beat downs of the rivals. Then came the loss at home to Minnesota. And the one on the road to Nebraska. And the 5 losses in 7 games.  Now IU fans are fearing yet another road loss and another February  collapse by the Hoosiers.

Three reasons to panic: 1) The Hoosier defense is truly horrific.  Whatever metric you want to use, Points per Game, Points per Possession , Total points, the IU defense is awful. Only once in B1G Ten play has IU held an opponent to less than a point per possession.  Even with IU’s sometimes prolific offense, that’s a lot of pressure to keep up.

2) The rebounding on both offense and defense can be non-existent. This is actually very related to the first problem. Because IU has such awful transition defense, the Hoosiers can’t risk sending extra bodies after offensive rebounds, and on defense the Hoosiers are repeatedly caught out of position to not only defend a first chance but also to prevent a second chance.

3) Recent history doesn’t bode well.  With the loss on Wednesday to Michigan, Tom Crean’s record in February and March fell to 3 and 30.  More than the mind numbingly painful 2-30 conference road record,  the record at the end of the season shows how IU’s lack of depth has come back to haunt the Hoosiers. After the loss, Crean said he was  looking for “Warriors” in February. Perhaps he should just be looking for fresh bodies.

Three reasons for optimism: 1) The schedule gets to be slightly more favorable. While Tom Crean’s road history gives one pause, it should be noted that IU has gotten the hardest road games out of its system. And while there are obvious concerns about a 5-6 record, 6 of the 11 games were against what has become a clear top 4 in the conference including 4 on the road The B1G Ten schedule makers made up for IU only playing Wisconsin in Madison by keeping the Hoosiers only game against Illinois inside the comfy confines of the real Assembly Hall. Of the top four teams in the B1G Ten, IU plays only one, Michigan State, and that will be at home.

2) Contributions have come from a variety of sources. On the one hand it would be nice if IU could get consistent production from its stars. On the other hand, it’s been nice to know that Tom Crean can go to his bench and get productive minutes from four or five different sources.  Remy Abell, Matt Roth, Tom Pritchard, and whichever of the Victor Oladipo/Will Sheehey duo is not starting have all come off the bench and given the Hoosiers something at different points. But the biggest contribution has come from Derek Elston who scored 20 points in his last two games.  Of course Elston has teased IU fans in the past with spurts of 3-4 good games, but hopefully this time it sticks.

3) If this is the worst run of play, IU will be fine. Every team plays above its talent level for a few weeks and will play substandard basketball for a few weeks, but if the last three weeks end up being the worst stretch IU sees all season then there’s no doubt the Hoosiers will have met or exceeded nearly everyone’s expectations.

Scouting Future Opponents:

Illinois hosts Northwestern on Saturday. Bruce Weber once again lobbies unsuccessfully for the back cut to be ruled unconstitutional.

Iowa hosts Penn State and tries to prove that there is  in fact a worst defensive team than Indiana.

Prediction: Making fun of Purdue’s Yellow P will never get old.  Despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth, I’m actually not so concerned about this one.  Purdue’s greatest offensive virtue is its ability to avoid turnovers, but I think IU makes just enough shots to walk off the big combover with a 78-71 victory.

Final Score:
Wisconsin:   57
Indiana:        50

This game played out like many expected it would. Low possessions, low scoring, and few turnovers is exactly the type of game Wisconsin plays for. Bo Ryan’s teams have always done three things extremely well:

1. They play true “team” defense.
2. They take care of the ball.
3. They have huge white dudes.

Everybody knew coming into the game that, although IU was the top scoring team in the conference, they wouldn’t be given any easy looks at the rim. That didn’t stop Verdell Jones from taking it right at the Badgers in the first half. He was super-impressive in the first half, to the point where I was screaming at Crean to get him back in the game. For the record, I have never done that in my life. If Oladipo can’t get out of his funk he has been in as of late, Verdell provides the Hoosiers’ only liable penetrator. Verdell played like a senior and was able to turn a lot of his haters to lovers for a brief period. He was shut down in the second half and could easily have been a vital reason for why the Hoosiers came up short Thursday night.

Cody Zeller never got going due to some, quite frankly, horrible calls by the joke they call Big Ten officiating. You could tell he was in no groove and it was never more evident than the air-ball he threw up in the biggest play of the game. After watching this game, Chad Ford may be rethinking about putting Cody so high on his draft board. The Wisconsin bigs, especially Jared Berrgren, stood strong and denied Cody on multiple lay-ups and dunk attempts.

The most impressive thing I found from this game was IU’s defense. Despite some breakdowns late in the game, this was the best team defense I have seen this team play against a team like Wisconsin. The Badgers don’t have the most elite offense, by far, but the Hoosiers showed so much improvement in this game from the Minnesota and Nebraska games. They were rotating so well and made Jordan Taylor’s night one to forget. However, all the positives can be overlooked because of the breakdowns late in the game, like giving Brust open threes or giving up crucial offensive rebounds late in the game.

All-in-all Indiana showed some grit and toughness in a somewhat hostile environment but are still a long way from being a team that can successfully win on the road. The tough part of their conference season is in the rear-view mirror and the rest of the way looks a lot less tough. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to believe this team could win out the rest of their regular season games. Their biggest challenges are gonna be Michigan State at home and Purdue and Michigan on the road, but those are all winnable for this team. The Big Ten is never that giving though, and I don’t expect them to actually win out but the real possibility of it happening is still reassuring.

Team Grade- C+

Looking Forward- Indiana is home Sunday to face the Hawkeyes of Iowa in a game the Hoosiers can’t afford to give away or the wheels may be coming off for this once top-ten team. Iowa is coming off back-to-back close losses to Purdue and Nebraska and I guarantee Melsahn Basabe doesn’t forget the Shee-bagging he got last year.

Photo credit: (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

CrimsonCast is pleased to announce the first Internet-only live pregame call-in show for Indiana basketball. Entitled “The Opening Line”, this show will start 90 minutes before IU basketball games are set to tip, and will feature analysis and commentary on the upcoming contest from CrimsonCast personalities, journalists, and listeners across the country.

Tune in tonight for The Opening Line, starting at 7:30 pm ET, at this URL, or follow us on our Twitter feed for more information.

On this inaugural episode of Hoosier Hotline, Tony Adragna and Jimmy Cavanaugh address a number of issues relating to Indiana University basketball. Among the issues discussed are the current defensive approach to the games, the offensive lineup, and the team’s substitution patterns. Tony and Jimmy also discuss IU’s chances against Wisconsin, and what they have facing them in the remainder of the Big Ten season. Several callers join the show, including AskTheWho and Jason from BTownBanners, and ChronicHoosier.

Hoosier Hotline 1.25.12 [ 1:00:18 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (756)

Final Score:
Nebraska:   70
Indiana:       69

Indiana basketball is on the verge of a crisis. The team that won 15 of their first 16 games no longer looks fearless, confident, and assertive. They have transformed into the timid, sloppy, and passive team that Hoosier fans have become so accustomed to in the last 3 years. In the blink of an eye, IU is on a 3-game losing streak and what looked like a Year For the Ages type of season is well out the window.

So who is to blame? I have about 50 answers to that question but I am going to put my 3 most important reasons for their recent play.

1. Tom Crean. I have backed Crean throughout his whole career but I have to finally take my blinders off and it’s time for me to be critical of him. This team’s lack of adjustment before/during the game is aggravating beyond measure. It is so easy for a team to scout us because we aren’t going to change anything offensively. If teams are going to hedge our handoffs and ballscreens, how about game-planning a counter play for that hedge or simply try running a different offense. Jordan Hulls is an excellent shooter but he is not going to be able to dribble around the huge, athletic big men in the Big Ten.
2. The players. While it is Crean’s job to put the player’s in a position to succeed, it ultimately comes down to their execution. Crean can bark at Watford and Zeller to block out all he wants, but if they don’t have the hustle or determination to do so, it won’t get done. Communication can be hard in a college atmosphere, but the good teams get it done. IU should have watched Michigan against Michigan State to see how a real team can execute defensively down the stretch, even if it’s a broken play.
3. Lack of leadership. Compare our big wins to our big losses. UK- Verdell and Watford stay calm and connect to create what is known as “The Shot.” OSU- IU comes up with the clutch free throws and the big defensive stops  it needed. MICH- Verdell hits the most clutch shot of his career and Watford hits a free throw to make it a 3-point game. And the losses: MINN- IU almost makes a great comeback but when they need a three the most, they settle for a contested three by Watford, which he misses. NEB- Cody Zeller disappears and Jordan tries to play hero but can’t come through. Add on a ton of defensive breakdowns by many players and you deserved to get court rushed. Leadership doesn’t always have to be during clutch moments, but those are when it can have the biggest effect.

If I were coach what would I do?

• If I’m not getting anything valuable out of Verdell, or any other player for that matter, then I don’t play him and try someone else. Simple as that.
• If I have a timeout at the end of the game down by 1, I’m calling it every time.
• If you don’t want to box out or play defense, you are coming out.
• I put in designed plays to get my best offensive player the ball and continue to run them until they stop it.

IU has essentially played better than anyone expected them to play at the beginning. Only to then, turn that on its self, and play worse than anyone could have expected. Is this team a top-caliber team? Or just middle of the pack? The next games will answer that for us, because right now I’m sure we are all confused who this team really is.

Looking Forward- IU is back home on Sunday for a noon tip-off game against Penn State. If IU loses this one, IU fans will be in complete panic-mode.

Final Score:
Ohio State:   80
Indiana:        63

The Hoosiers would have surprised a lot of people if they would have gone into Columbus and came out with a win. Well I guess you could call their performance “surprising.” Then again it’s not. Teams routinely walk onto the Value Center Arena and come away with their heads dropped and their bodies all sorts of beaten up. Just ask Duke.

So was losing to Ohio State this badly, surprising? No. Was it disappointing the way Indiana played? I thought so, and I’m sure many other fans thought so too. Two weeks ago this team beat that same Buckeye squad. Crazy what can change in two weeks. That team didn’t even have Will Sheehey. We are 0-2 since Will’s return, so I blame him (sarcasm).

You really can’t blame one guy for these last two losses. In my post-game write-up for Penn State I highlighted that one of the most dangerous parts about this team is that you never know who can step up in a game. All of sudden, that has turned on me the last two games and the opposite is happening. Now you don’t know who, for the Hoosiers, are going to have an off night. Against Minnesota it was Verdell and Watford. Today, I thought Hulls, Oladipo, and again, Verdell just weren’t ready for this angry Ohio State team.

Zeller looked like the only one in the first half to even try to assert himself offensively. I know Zeller is very soft-spoken and mature for his age, but if I am him, at some point I am yelling at my perimeter guys to “GIVE ME THE BALL!” This Indiana team struggles feeding the post almost every game even though that seems somewhat fundamental to me.

I think getting the ball to Cody could seriously fix all our offensive problems. If Cody is fed the rock either: A) He scores. B) He gets fouled. C) Both A and B. D) He misses or gets his shot blocked. E) He gets doubled and passes out of it to the open man which sets up the drive and kick. F) He turns it over.

Well “F” rarely happens. “D” happens but only like 35% of the time. All the other options will result in a good offensive possession. Now it would be dumb if we gave it to Cody every possession but he needs more touches before I pull all the hair off my body I have left.

I talked on all our defensive issues last game so I will leave them alone for now. The fact of the matter is IU has played lousy for two games in a row after winning 15 of their first 16 games. This team is still a top team in country, in my opinion, but their backs are up against the wall so far in conference and only time will tell how this year will end up.

Team Grade: F

Looking Forward- Finally, the Hoosiers can take a semi-breath as their next two games are Nebraska on Wednesday (Away) and Penn State (Home) next Sunday. Two winnable games by far but with the way this college basketball season is going, anything that can happen… probably will.

Final Score:
Minnesota   77
Indiana        74

The old idiom goes, “If you play with fire, you get burned.” Well, this team has played with that “fire” for a few games in a row and tonight, the Hoosiers soaked themselves in gasoline and Minnesota lit the match.

I will be the first to admit, although I felt IU wasn’t playing well in the B1G Ten, they were winning, so it was easy to shrug off. But the truth to the matter is, you’re not going to hit 16 threes every game. You have to play defense and hit timely buckets, if you want to win in this league. Coming into this game, IU’s Adjusted Defensive Efficiency in conference, based on KenPom’s formula, was  110.7. To put that in perspective, if that was their whole season’s number they would be ranked 323th in the nation, out of 345 teams. Those are Southeast Missouri State type numbers.

This same team that hung their hat on the defensive end during the non-conference, just isn’t getting it done in conference, to date anyways. Of the 12 non-conference games, IU gave up at least 60 points, just five times. In conference, every team has scored at least 70.

I’m not stupid. Obviously, IU’s competitors in conference are going to be much more difficult, as they should be. Teams basically know each and every play the other is going to throw at them before the tip. But if this is the case, why is Indiana giving up easy buckets two feet from the rim, that my grandma could hit, on a consistent basis? Is it lack of communication? No defensive discipline? An unprepared game plan? Whatever the case may be, we can all agree it needs to be fixed.

I am not saying these guys don’t play hard. I watch a lot of college basketball and this team is easily one of the hardest working teams in the nation. But all that work is ineffective if you don’t have discipline. Also, it’s the coaches job to put the players in a position to succeed. In hindsight, Crean probably wouldn’t have went into the 2-3 zone, but I am not one to question Coach’s decisions. The man knows what he is doing and he had a good reason to try to switch something up because what they were doing wasn’t working. The decision backfired and Minnesota took advantage.

Minnesota really outplayed the Hoosiers in this one and deserved this win. Every time Indiana was making a charge, Minnesota stood strong and knocked down the key shots and free throws down the stretch.

Indiana helped them out as well. Verdell gave nothing. Watford, although playing on a bum ankle, looked sloppy. Somehow, Minnesota only had one more rebound than IU. At times, it felt like the Golden Gophers were doing that pre-game drill where the team lines up in a single file line and they all tip the ball off the glass until the last guy finishes the lay-up. And for an Indiana, a team who depends on 27% of its scoring to come from beyond the arc, it only hit four (half of those were Roth’s late ones).

As pessimistic as this write-up has been, I suppose I need to hit on the good things that came out of tonight’s game. First off, I was really glad Sheehey was back. His minutes were limited but he sure did put in good ones, 12 points in 15 minutes. Zeller was VERY good tonight, 23 points & 8 boards. I also was really impressed with Abell in that he has no fear and is able to hold his own on defense. I wouldn’t mind if Remy started stealing away some of Verdell’s minutes. Lastly, I loved Hull’s tenacity and how he played with a Roy Jones Jr. swag to him against the long Minnesota defenders.

This game will come back and haunt the Hoosiers in their chase for a B1G Ten title. The way this season is going, the B1G Ten Champions could finish with 6 losses (I’m kidding, but I’m not). This is a good learning experience and Assembly Hall showed off a little chink in its armor tonight (I’m killing it with these idioms).

Team Grade: D

-By the way, I did make a big head (more or less a big poster of Gus Johnson) and Gus was able to throw me some deuces my way to acknowledge the poster. In other words, I’m a G in his book.

Looking Forward- IU heads to Columbus on Sunday where Ohio State will be waiting to tear the Hoosiers heads off. The Buckeyes are coming off a loss to Illinois and are hungry to revenge their L in Bloomington. If you had any hope before the Minnesota game that has disappeared.