incrediboy

The Crean haters are going to hate this thought: Maybe this is the first time all year we've been healthy (other than Hartman and Anonoby). Maybe JBJ and CuJo (on whom I've been pretty tough) are just now getting their legs right. Maybe that has helped RoJo get out of his doldrums because he has more outside support. Maybe Morgan is finally injury-free, Davis has reached the point he's developed beyond lost-out-there freshmanitis. And if all that is true, maybe we saw the team as it really is against Iowa. I know that's a lot of maybes, but if they're true, we will run the table. Next step is: Indiana 81, Wisconsin 72

since I'm on a personal losing streak, maybe I can extend it Iowa 84, IU 82

for starters, go Michigan, beat Nebraska and get us off the Wednesday game

A win and we're back in the conversation about the NIT But we don't...OSU 68, IU 66

I managed to finish the prototype on my time machine and I zapped myself into the future a couple of days. I brought back this newspaper story: "By George Dangitall, Amalgamated Press Sports Writer "WEST LAFAYETTE (AP) -- The saga of Tuesday nights's Indiana/Purdue rivalry continues to get weirder as more information unfolds. After Purdue shockingly had no players or coaches show up at Mackey Arena, one hour after official game time, the Hoosiers were declared 2-0 winners by forfeit. "An unnamed source now says Purdue players and coaches had been administered LSD and could not find the arena in their drug-induced fugues. How it happened that the entire team, including the coaches, were put into that condition is still under conjecture. Training table food, water bottles and vitamins have all been considered suspects, but the entire team posed earlier in the day wearing T-shirts saying Indiana: Next Victim and the shirts are now being analyzed. . . ." It's possible, of course, that my time machine, first try that it was, sent me to an alternate reality. Still I'm sticking by my prediction of Indiana 2, Purdue 0. However, I'm not giving out the winning MegaMillions numbers I read in that same newspaper.

We will win this one, after which Crean will be given a vote of confidence by the powers that be. You read it here first. IU 83, NW 68

Unless Crean chooses to go, he will be back. He won't be fired off one season after winning the B1G 2 of the previous 4 years. It just won't happen. Not that my predictions have come true this year, but not only is one year not going to be the measuring stick, but the money we'll owe him forever and a day will be a factor as well.

I am a glutton for ridicule, I guess, but if I'm going down, I'm going down with my guys! IU 80, Iowa 70

Having nailed the last game (well, I came within 60 points and almost got the winner right), I suggest you don't bet on this: Indiana 77, Junior Pitts' Gofers 69

Amazingly both teams score home blowouts IU 82, Michigan 61

After watching the replay on Facebook from a different angle, I understand "the call." While the views we saw on TV showed Bryant in an obvious charge, the official behind Bryant had a different view. Swanigan was moving laterally with Bryant. While that is legal, if he in any way moves into Bryant, that by definition is a block. Neither official would give an inch because they saw, obvious to them, what they saw -- very differently. Not defending the call of the double foul, but I do understand why it wasn't an "automatic" charging call. Incidentally after watching both angles, I would have called it on Bryant.

With the luck we've had with injuries, I'd expect Davis to have his head amputated

Earlier I said IU 74-71 but with JBJ back on the floor, I think we'll score more than that so make it: Hoosiers 81 Toiletmakers 75

Whiskey 65 Hoosiers 61

If it were a cold streak, that would be one thing. And he would snap out of it. But I think there's something wrong with him because it's not just his shooting that's gone south. It could be an illness, and I don't mean to be premature in my judgment. I want the kid to succeed. I hope his problem is physical and can be fixed. But he's become the antithesis of injection of energy off the bench.

Some observations: Morgan is still obviously not right. He got beat twice on the baseline early on and had to reach in with his hands and got rightly called for fouling. A month ago he moves his feet and doesn't get that foul. I wonder if OG was healthy if Morgan might still be wearing the boot. It's also affecting his jump shot, and not in a good way. Something is seriously wrong with Curtis Jones. There was a time he brought energy and a dead-eye shot. Now at best he takes up space if there's nobody else to throw out there. Does he have mono? Pneumonia? Homesickness? Lovesickness? If he doesn't snap out of it, I'd be in favor of sending him packing this summer. I really thought in December if someone had said we'd lose Blackmon at this point that Jones would be ready to step in and fill those shoes. I don't think he could even fill his socks the way he's playing now. RoJo is a good shooter, but with no Blackmon to draw the defense, he gets no 3-point shots. With the alternatives being Newkirk, McRoberts, Green and Morgan, I'm guarding RoJo with all I have and taking my chances too. Newkirk had an okay night, but he's not a great shooter. Green may be a really good player by the time he's a junior, but he's obviously a freshman in a little over his head right now. Not that we have all that many choices. We need another zone defense beyond the 2-3, maybe a 1-3-1 or a 1-2-2, just to give a different look. With our shortage of bigs, we saw Penn State set the high ball screen and draw Bryant or Davis up high, leaving a midget to guard a giant underneath if we play man-to-man. A team that could execute better than Penn State would have killed that matchup. The 2-3 isn't bad, but some weaknesses were exposed (PSU put a man at the foul line in the middle, and twice he got good shots...plus more than once they got a dunk behind the zone at the baseline). A different zone look would cause more havoc, and right now we need to cause some. IF Morgan gets healthy and Jones snaps out of it, we can be competitive with anyone. But if not, we're not going to beat anybody we're not supposed to beat...and we might lose some games we should win. Curse Crean all you want, but without the bodies (sadly, Morgan on one leg is better than McSwain on two), Johnny Wooden wouldn't be winning many games with this team.

Hoosiers 70, Crochetany Pussycats 58

I was going to pick us to lose, but without JBJ, we just might find a defensive combo that works and if we do: IU 64-60

The morning line at CBS has us as 3.5 point underdogs If Morgan plays I'll be a lot more confident, but traditionally we've played well in Ann Arbor Hoosiers 80, Wolverettes 75

I think McRoberts' minutes had a lot to do with that. That kid can really play. We get Juwan back, we'll be competitive with anyone. Not slap-your-mama-silly good but in every game and in the hunt for a B1G double bye.

Let's have an optimistic note to go with this: Last year, JBJ went down. Whatever you want to say about our defensive improvement about not having him on the floor, it was pretty much at that moment that the rest of the guys came together and started playing their hearts out every time up and down the floor. We have enough talent to win a lot of games without OG if the current group will pick up that same rallying point. As OG was really popular with the rest of the guys, I will not be surprised if that is indeed what happens.

Anybody heard anything on Juwan?

Does anybody know... Does McRoberts rip everything he shoots in practice? When I was at IU, we had a guy named Jeff Stocksdale who never missed in practice and never could hit in a game

And an ugly thought: if OG is done for the year, not much chance he goes pro, and Jordan Tucker has said he doesn't want to come and compete against OG, he wants to replace him.

Some observations: If Juwan had been in the game, he's our best in-bounds passer. We wouldn't have had so many failed in-bounds plays. If Juwan and/or OG are in the game, they are our best defenders, and Penn State wouldn't have made that late run so easily. If Curtis had calmly dropped either of those free throws (both front ends of 1+1), the late-game heroics wouldn't have been necessary, and we all know he's normally dead-on from the line. I fear OG may be gone for the season. I hope not. Maybe it's not a tear, but I fear it is. If it's a small meniscus tear he might be back by the end of the year. I'm recovering from knee surgery myself so I know of what I speak, only mine was torn meniscus x 2 plus a bone fragment embedded in my tendon. If OG is gone, Davis becomes doubly valuable backing up both Bryant and Juwan...or starting. For all the bad-mouthing I've done on JBJ, he got it done, and only once or twice did I see him get lost on defense. Kudos to him. But after one outstanding game, Newkirk became turnovers waiting to happen on offense again. I am always jittery when he has the ball.