BottomLine

INDIANA 75 OREGON 73

INDIANA 76 OSU 74

Oh, heck! Probably don't stand much chance of catching up this year anyway. If IU is going to make the NCAA field and win a game, they are going to need to beat a team like Oregon. Let's see how good we are. INDIANA 78 OREGON 73

I would do that too.

INDIANA 76 WASHINGTON 73

IU doesn't have a finisher. We lead going into the last three minutes we win. If we mush play catch-up we probably won't. INDIANA 78 PENN ST 72

When you lose a lot of close games it usually means that you don't have a reliable finisher. Purdue does - we don't. INDIANA 72 PURDUE 76

When I turned the game off in disgust the 72-70 score was still on the screen. Thanks for the correction. I feel sooooooooo much better. Now I don't even have the consolation of a good story.

Woulda...coulda...shoulda I sit here this morning a crushed man. I typed in my prediction yesterday before the game along with comments. Had UCLA winning 72-70. Then just before I hit the send bottom the wifi dropped. Promise God! Then after the wifi came up again, I had to reread what I posted to make sure it was okay. As a result I reconsidered what I wrote and talked myself out of my prediction. I just switched the scores around and made my prediction Hoosiers 72-70. Bad bad move! Cost me 76 points - 69 instead of 145. Just sick right now. On to Purdue! And, curses on the wifi!

Indiana has its back against the wall. We NEED to win this game or all hope for the season is gone. Yes, I believe we still have a slim chance of moving on but the margin for error is extremely small. UCLA is not a good road team. They are 6-1 at home in the Big10 but only 3-4 on the road. They enter here after a loss on the road to Illinois only 3 days ago. As for Woody. All coaches fall into two categories. They either say to their players, "This is my system and you adapt or sit", regardless of talent. Or, they change to fit the abilities of the players they have available. Is Woody finally adapting to the second approach? Indiana may be a better zone team than a man-to-man one. We will see tonight. And, as to the purist out there who are having a heart attack over IU playing zone. Coach Knight, famed as a man-to-man coach, actually taught his players to to play a matchup zone with man-to-man principles. Or, if you rather, he played man-to-man with zone principles. Take your pick. I know. I spent 18 years as a basketball coach and always used Knight defensive drills. Man-to-man with heavy backside help is basically a matchup zone. Pinch and recover is a zone principle. Picking this one with guts and a hunch. Hope Assembly Hall is rocking. INDIANA 72 UCLA 70

INDIANA 68 MICHIGAN STATE 78

INDIANA 75 MICHIGAN 77

This season has turned out to be as sad as the football season was happy. This season is a testament to the fact that players are in the portal for a reason. In most cases they were not that good in the first place. There are exceptions but the portal is a hazardous way to build a roster. Perhaps Woody has finally reached the realization that the best TEAM that he can put on the floor is not necessarily the most talented. Then on the other hand playing as a teammate is a talent in itself that we often overlook. IU played well enough at Purdue to win the game and only lost it in the final seconds when Leal fouled out and was replaced by Rice, who promptly decided to go one on one and play hero ball instead of passing the ball to Ballo for a flush. We usually play terrible in Madison but we can win this. It will depend on our defense because we are only a low 70 point team offensively at present. Indiana 71 Wiaconsin 80

IU can win this game. This isn't last year's Purdue. Will we rise to the occasion? Don't think so. INDIANA 68 PURDUE 79

No longer happy to watch the Hoosiers. Indiana 73 Turtles 76