incrediboy

My dog, who hates it when I get uptight watching a game, was snuggling next to me. I had to run to the kitchen to pound on the freezer when Troy fouled on that 3-shot.

Holy Fried Wildcat, I'm first?   IU 80, Kentucky 76

I think the game is going to be about defense and which team can impose defensive will on the other. And I like our chances in that situation even though Kentucky can play a very tight defense and cause trouble with it because of quickness.   But we played very good defense on the whole against a very offensive-aggressive team in Chattanooga. They cut, they drove, they played every possession offensively like it had value, and we still dominated them with a few exceptions, some of which were spectacular plays. Juwan Morgan did look like a freshman a couple of times on defense in the first half, something rare for him.    O.G. just has two of the most gifted hands I've ever seen. He has a soft shot from long range, his fingers seem to stretch beyond the other hands near him on rebounds, those long fingers are an added aggravation to the man he's defending, and his hands are also quick enough to make steals. As long as he keeps those hands and wrists healthy, he's going to be a big star.

Hoosiers 92 Choo Choos 68

That worked, had to go through two rounds of it, but it worked.

Michigan State should have been a #1 seed (over either Virginia OR Oregon) Indiana and Purdue should have been 3 or 4 seeds   The ACC and the Pac-12 were overvalued, and the Big Ten got hosed.

I can no longer access Btown Banners on Chrome or Firefox. Chrome gives me  "Deceptive site ahead" warning stating, "Attackers on www.btownbanners.com may trick you into doing something dangerous like installing software or revealing your personal information (for example, passwords, phone numbers or credit cards)."   I had to dust off Internet Explorer (which I hate) to access the site. Anyone else have this issue? Anyone have a solution other than telling my anti-virus software to take a leap?

I am surprisingly okay with this loss, and frankly I don't know why, because I was really looking forward to rematches with Purdue and Michigan State. I kind of feel like I did after Maui -- let's get this out of our system. We have RoJo with another week of rest, we have Hartman recovering from falling on himself, and we have Juwan with another week to build confidence in his shoulder (he did look tentative when he was on the floor today).   Michigan was lucky. Kid travels before he hits the game-winner, and several times the ball just bounced the wrong way for us.    And we get another reminder that just because we kicked a team once, even in their house, we have to re-establish because every game starts out 0-0.   Put a full (minus Blackmon, of course) healthy IU team on the floor, and I think we're poised to go to Elite Eight or better.

Interestingly, Crean has been working Morgan as a backup PG. I wouldn't mind seeing more of that next year.

Indiana 86, Northwestern Michigan 68

When Troy scores, we are one outlandish offensive team.   Just hope we have RoJo back by NCAA's. If we lose the B1G Tournament because he rests, that's okay if he's ready for the Big Dance.   That goes for Morgan, too, although it appeared with him coming back to the bench that he wasn't in pain, might just have been another stinger. Or so we hope. Hitting the ball like he did didn't look like one of those "serious" injury plays.   I am psyched for post-season. This team is so much better than the sum of its parts.

Anybody heard anything about whether RoJo or Morgan will play or not play Sunday?

I really DID expect IU to win, less from a fan perspective (although you won't find many bigger fans) and more from the fact that we appeared to be peaking while Iowa seemed to be slumping.   I sat with my dog's head in my lap, and she gets really, really upset if I start cussing at the TV so I had to behave myself or face her wrath. I was surprisingly cool -- and still believing we were going to win -- even when Iowa took that lead. I saw Iowa kick the lead away Sunday at OSU against a lesser team, and I had confidence we would ****** it away.   And I am shocked that the word I used (a synonym for take) was blacked out with *'s. I know it's also a slang vulgar term for a part of the female anatomy, but that never crossed my mind until after I saw the post with its *****

The job Crean has done with this team is by far his best at IU. I believe he's learned a lot. He surrounds himself with former head coaches, so there's no ego on his part, and he recognized the fact that we've hit the wall in recent seasons come February and took steps to fix that. Recruiting is pretty good...and not just a starting five. I think the guy might just be good enough for Indiana.

It'll be tight because we'll be short-handed, but...   IU 83, Maryland 77

Now if it will just work out that Purdue gets the 3 seed -- Wisky has to lose a game and we have to beat Maryland to make that possible. But PU/MSU as 2/3 means we could only face one of them.

To beat a team of this quality without Rojo speaks volumes as to how close-knit this group of guys must be. The way they pull together will be remembered, and people on Btown Banners will someday say they wish the current team could pull together like that '16 championship team did.   Interesting, we should really sit RoJo again even if he could play against Maryland. And Morgan's shoulder didn't look very promising. Could be a tough short-handed home finale. But my money is on us.

If we win without RoJo I'll be a real believer.

My sentiments exactly. But I believe this IU team is coming together as a team. Perhaps Blackmon's "I'm getting mine" attitude turned out to be addition by subtraction, but the reason is less important than the results we're seeing.   I'm not confident, but...   IU 81, Iowa 75

Held Illannoyed to 19 points in the 2nd half.   When we have OG, Juwan and Yogi on the floor together, our defense is as good as any, and our offense doesn't seem to suffer either. I like that combination.   I said after Maui that I hoped we'd be one of those good teams that had a bad start and got it together late. That could be happening right now.

When did the rule that teams from the same conference cannot meet until the Elite 8 get changed? If it didn't, we can't play Purdue early on.   Noted we're #5 with both CBS and ESPN. SI has us as a 6 playing in the first round (are you ready?) #11 seed Wichita State.

Very interesting turnaround this year. Last year it was clear Painter outcoached Crean in both games. This year, Crean outcoached Painter. Hopefully it's a sign our guy is getting his act together.

Hopefully we won't have a letdown. Purdue lost at Illinois Assembly Hall. We can't afford to lose this one.   I say we won't:   IU 77 Ill and annoying 65

Anyone who knows (or even hears) anything about Johnson's injury and/or his return, please post it here for us all to see. Thanks!

This is really out there, but if we can take the title outright AND win the B1G Tournament, we would get at least a 2 seed in the Big Dance.