Baltimore Hoosier

Louisville is high IQ and the best defensive team in the country...

What does this list mean?

Been saying it and been getting crap for saying it, but Indiana doesn't know what to do in a half court game against a good team.

This horse is dead unfortunately... Crean can't recruit in-state and seems to be ok with it, and the aura of Indiana basketball just isn't what it used to be. Time to accept and move on.

IPFW is the only team who tried and was able to do it to IU so far. But look at previous years under the Crean regime. For example, IU continuously lost to Wisconsin for years. Bo Ryan's teams controlled the pace of play and made IU beat them in a half court game. Same thing with the Syracuse Sweet 16 game.. The zone was a big factor, but part of that was slowing the high powered offense down and making it a possession game. Just a few examples, but I've seen Crean teams struggle with these types of teams on numerous occasions.

I don't think you can really compare those two games. Indiana and Kansas ran alot, which gave Indiana more chances to score points.. IPFW slowed everything down and made it a half court game for 40 minutes, which is what I see Louisville doing.

Louisville is currently the #1 adjusted defense in college basketball according to KenPom, which worries me because if they can slow things down, make it a half court game (see IPFW), create turnovers, and prevent IU from running, I'm not sure how they can win. That formula seems to be Indiana's kryptonite over the last several years.

If IU is able to beat Butler and Louisville, then we can talk top 3.. Until then, that loss to IPFW looks really crappy.

Is there an injury update on OG? Looked like a pretty bad sprain. Maybe even a break.

I said before the game, Indiana will win if they can limit easy shot opportunities for UNC and not turn the ball over and make a lot of mental errors. So glad to see they came out and looked prepared and played a hell of a game. Did anyone notice right before the tip-off, the IU starters were in a circle and James Blackmon was getting everyone pumped.. He was saying "LETS BE ******* PHYSICAL." Something of that nature. It was awesome to see that message coming across and seeing James out there showing some leadership skills. And the team really responded. Love it. Indiana now has two of the best wins in all of college basketball in the early part of the season. This is a HUGE resume building win, regardless of the fact that it was at home... Any update on OG?? That ankle looked bad.

Indiana needs to run and hope this doesn't turn into a half court game, which shouldn't be a problem based on what I've seen of UNC so far. IU can certainly shoot, but they also have to look for good shots and not launch too many contested 3's. I also REALLY hate seeing Bryant outside the 3-point line lobbing up 3's and giving up uncontested defensive rebounds. I mentioned turnovers and easy shots in the game thread vs IPFW and my statement remains the same. IU cannot hope to beat good teams when they turn the ball over carelessly and give up easy buckets because they are lazy on rotations and leaving shooters wide open. I've got IU in a tight one 87 - 85. Although a beatdown like the one we put on UNC in 2012 would also be nice.

What the hell are we doing on offense?

Really? There's A LOT of time left.

Too many easy looks for FW. Too many trey's and turnovers by our guys. Lucky to only be down two. Let's f-ing go IU!

IU 89 IPFW 63

I'll be interested to see what happens in next week's polls assuming IU wins both games this week.. IU beats Kansas, Kansas beats #1 Duke last night. Not to look too far ahead, but that Kansas win could have some major Tournament seeding implications.

Anyone following former Hoosiers? Couple of them are having a nice start to the season. Devin Davis - 19pts 12reb in 25 minutes for Houston Hanner Perrea - 2 games in, avg 8.5pts 5.5reb for East Tennessee State Stan Robinson - 2 games in, avg 9pts, 2reb, 2ast for Rhode Island Luke Fischer - 2 games in, avg 12pts, 5.5reb for Marquette Jeremy Hollowell - 2 games in, avg 21.5pts, 5reb, 2.5ast for Georgia State

I'm a little concerned about IU's defense and turnover issues in this game. Mason III is not a great shooter, but has quick hands, can drive, facilitate, etc. Along with that, Kansas has a rotation of other legitimate guards that goes about 6 deep which could really cause problems. While the Jayhawks big men don't have names that jump off the roster, 7-foot freshman Udoka Azubuike has looked pretty good so far in exhibition games and senior Landen Lucas has a ton of experience. I think IU wins the war down low on the blocks, but are they disciplined enough to always rotate on screens and step out on open shooters at the three-point line? Devonte Graham is a good shooter and if he gets hot, it could be a long night for the Hoosiers. I think IU has a shot if they can limit unforced errors and turnovers.

A few of my observations.. Watched the game on my iPhone last night via the BTN app :| Green is starting to look like he is going to be this year's surprising freshman recruit regardless of the unimpressive opponent. He's got ball skills and can shoot and pass. Crean will have to give him minutes.. I like Newkirk as a facilitator. He's quick and can pass. Davis looks like he will be a defensive presence and showed some flashes with his back to the basket. OG and Bryant are what we expected. Blackmon looks like he has his athleticism back. He threw that pass down in the first half and got me up out of my seat. Morgan looks like he can do it all. I love that about him. The offense looks like it will be potent again, as advertised. I do fear that some of the same issues we've seen during the Crean era may pop up this year though.. Turnovers. This was the first exhibition so I'll give them a pass, but against a team like Hope, you'd expect single digit turnovers for the game for sure. This is something I'll keep my eye on.. Defense. I was not overly impressed by the defense. IU left wide open shooters on several occasions, and luckily for them, shots just weren't falling for Hope.. I can't explain why defense and turnovers are always a problem with Crean. At this point the horse is dead and buried. I hope this was just first game jitters.

Let's hope you're right. Would like to see Wilkes and Waters added to the mix. Not getting my hopes up though.

Great win for IU but I think it makes getting Wilkes a pipe dream. Major logjam at the forward position.

I've never said, nor do I believe that Indiana would ever land EVERY top in-state recruit.. That just isn't rational. But some sort of consistency would be nice. Indiana hasn't gotten the top rated player from the state of Indiana (based on 247's composite) since 2007 (Gordon)... So not once in the Tom Crean era have the Hoosiers landed the #1 guy from their own state. You're ok with that??

Most of the other "blue bloods" like Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, and UCLA have the ability to thrive off of the top 5-10 players in the class for the most part and really have the pick of the litter nation-wide. And what do those schools have in common? Championships and or Final Fours in fairly recent history. IU doesn't compete well in that same recruiting space. So why not focus more on relationships within the state in an effort to try to win the top in-state guys? Indiana isn't the same as other states when it comes to high school basketball so comparing Indiana to Kentucky for example isn't apples to apples. A lot of other schools may not want to dominate their state when it comes to recruiting.

I have been constantly getting bombarded by different posters who are pulling me in different directions so it's very difficult for me to stay on one topic here. If you want to go back to the original argument, it's that Indiana hasn't recruited well within the state and have lost major recruits to other programs. I don't know how ANYONE could argue that, because it's fact. By the way, was I right about Indiana having the largest budget within the state of Indiana? Just checking. First of all, what's with the low blows? It seems to be your MO... No, I hate facts..... Come on man... To answer your question from the post, no, no one has consistently landed top Indiana talent based on your in-depth, year by year analysis. What I'm proposing is that maybe IU should be. Maybe when the Langford's of the world are coming out of high school Indiana should want to be their destination. Guys like these are program changing talents. I think it starts with relationships within the state between Indiana coaches and individual high school coaches. As far as whether or not Indiana is getting beat by other schools in the state in terms of recruiting, I would think that the school with the most resources and by far the most history and tradition would DOMINATE when it came to in-state recruiting battles. Yeah they have the slight edge when it comes to Top 50 players over the last decade, but is that good enough?

Whatever works.. I didn't think it would be so outrageous to say that Indiana has been getting elite talent plucked from under its nose. I thought it was common knowledge.