Analysis: Today's IU-Notre Dame game is big for perception

It has been 17 days since Indiana’s disappointing showing against Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Seventeen days to think about how Indiana looked inept on the defensive end in particular. Seventeen days to replay in your mind one player after another driving the ball to the basket for an easy layup against an IU defender. Seventeen days to question whether there’s truly any reason to be excited about this Indiana basketball team as it prepares to open Big Ten play Dec. 30 at Rutgers.

Seventeen days of misery for many die hard IU basketball fans.

Since then, IU has beaten up on a trio of cupcake-like opponents in Morehead State, IPFW and McNeese State. Basically, in those three games Indiana did what it was supposed to do. It took advantage of three lesser opponents and improved its record to 8-3.

But what do we really know about Indiana today that we didn’t know following the Duke game?

The reality is that we know very little. It’s difficult against those opponents to get a real feel for whether Indiana learned anything about itself in that loss to Duke.

You need a marquee opponent to truly measure your skills against. That’s why today’s game with Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic is such a significant test for this Indiana basketball team.

This is a big game for Indiana in terms of perception.

Myself, I still think Indiana will be fine when it comes to Big Ten play. Some of that is because I question just how good the Big Ten is this season. Right now I don’t think Indiana is one of the top three teams in the conference. I think that pre-conference honor any way goes to Purdue, Michigan and Maryland.

But is this Indiana team good enough to be at the top of the other 11 conference teams? That’s the question that needs to be answered.

And again, this is just my opinion but I don’t think there’s any reason to think that IU couldn’t be among the top of the rest of the conference and then try to find a way to sneak into the upper three. Ohio State has struggled. Wisconsin has struggled. So have most of the others. Iowa could be the exception and a team that will battle Indiana for that ‘best of the rest’ moniker. But there are a lot of winnable games on that Big Ten slate. And the fact that Indiana only plays those top three teams one time each is a significant note going into this Big Ten season. And two of those games (Maryland and Purdue) will be played in Assembly Hall.

All of which is why today’s game with Notre Dame is so important. Indiana needs to prove to itself and to its nervous fan base that it has a team that is going to compete at least near the top of the conference standings. Go out and beat a decent Notre Dame team today in Indianapolis and Hoosier fans will at least feel better going into conference with likely a 10-3 record (the Hoosiers play Kennesaw State on Tuesday to wrap up non-conference play).

But come out today and look like you did against Duke where Indiana couldn’t get out of its own way especially on the defensive end and that rocky perception moving forward will loom large again. The company line coming out of Bloomington is that the last three games have proven that Indiana can be a competitive Big Ten caliber team.

And yet again, the reality is that it’s all just talk until you are able to perform at a high level against a high level program. That’s where Indiana finds itself today.

Notre Dame hasn’t played a great schedule itself by any means. It does own two victories over Big Ten opponents having beaten Iowa by six and Illinois by five. The losses for the Irish though came to Monmouth and Alabama.

That kind of feels like Wake Forest and UNLV to me.

So It really does come down to this one game because11 days from now Indiana will open Big Ten play on the road at Rutgers.

Will Indiana fans head to Rutgers thinking the Hoosiers are in a better place buoyed by a strong performance against Notre Dame today?

Or will they go there more disappointed following a poor performance against the Irish?

That’s what we’ll find out today.

That’s why today is such a big game in terms of perception.