BottomLine

Starting to get the feeling that it is time to stick a fork in these Hoosiers. They may be done. Minnesota is 12-12 on the year but 10-3 at home. Yes they may be as bad on the road as the Hoosiers. We are 16-9 but only 1-6 away from home and struggling. We don't even lose close on the road. To the point we suck on the road! We have the ability to win this game but something is really sour on this team. Might be the coaching. Might just be poor chemestry. Could be that too many just don't really care to put up the fight that is needed. Hate to pick big against the Hoosiers but it is what it is. Minnesota 80 Indiana 68

Here we go tossing coins again. It is amazing how a single win can change the whole atmosphere around this team. Lose four in a row and everybody is off the bandwagon. Win a single game and we are going to the final four. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Can we expect Green to play out of his mind again? I wish but more than likely he is going to throw up bricks all night just to see if he is "hot". Michigan's defense is not Iowa's defense. If he starts shooting off the dribble and forcing shots we are doomed. Watch to see if he falling away on his shot. If he is falling away he is in for a bad night. If past performance is any indicator, Green will be in hero mode. Some interesting stats about this game that give IU a glimmer of hope. Against common opponents IU is 11-5 and MIchigan is 9-7. Who would have thought? Against "Like" opponents MIchigan is 7-9 and IU is 6-8. Against the Sagarin top 25 Mich is 4-4 and IU 3-5. Against the top 50 it is Mich 5-7 and IU 3-5. Not a whole lot of difference there but the real backbreaker is this. Michigan's home record 10-4. Indiana's away record 1-5. Michigan has scored 10 or more 3's in 10 games this year, so we better be covering that line. Look for Michigan to put up about 25 3's. The game may turn on, not if IU is hot, but whether Michigan is not. I'll root for our guys anyway but I can't pick them this time. IU 67 MIchigan 73

Another fork in the road game. I'm still kicking myself over the Purdue game. Everything in my head said to pick the Boilers but my heart saw it the other way. Drats! Another opportunity lost. Thing is I'm about to do it again. On paper this is Iowa's game to lose. I know they are only 3-5 on the road, while IU is 12-3 at home. But Iowa can score the basketball and the Hoosiers are struggling, even with home cooking. According to Sagarin Iowa is 3-5 against the top 25 and IU is 2-4. Against the top 50 they are 8-5 while we check in at 4-7. Doesn't look good for the Hoosiers. Indiana is 9-12 against common opponents while Iowa has a winning record at 11-10. Against "like" opponents Iowa is 10-6 and IU is 6-8. Basically Iowa is a better team based on records. We are dragging a four game losing streak into this one and are starting to see our tourney chances start to dwindle. I guess you could say that we have our backs up to the wall and we desperately need to win this game. I feel that. Do the players? Do they even care? The doubts are growing. Don't we all wish we had that Maryland game back? I'll ignore my head again (never a good thing) and go with my gut feeling that the Hoosiers are going to play well in this one. I'm counting on the Iowa defense to be the Iowa defense and we can jump start the offense in this one. IU 79 Iowa 75

A lot of our offensive problems would go away if TJD could consistentyly hit a 10-15 foot jump shot. Watch the games, they leave him totally alone when he handles the ball away from the basket but double or triple team him under the bucket. That is why he goes to the foul lone so often. Most of his scores come off put backs and when teammates throw the ball up to the basket for him. Even Brunk is now starting to shoot that open shot from the foul line. When your bigs move away from the basket and don't shoot, it allows the defense to clog up the middle. That means that our guards still can't drive and with only two guard on the floor they aren't going to get many open 3's. The result is that our guard are stuck with shooting the ball off the dribble. Never a good practice from 3 point land. In shot our offense is a mess.

Couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I picked against the Hoosiers. We have had a week to get ready while Purdue wore themselves out by hitting 19 3's against Iowa. Boy, those Hawkeyes can sure play D-Fence! IU is 8-6 against common opponents. Against "like" opponents IU is 6-7 and Purdue is 6-9. IU is 12-2 at home and the guys from West Lafayette are 2-6 on the road. Home cooking, home fans and I hope some home officials and we can take this one. This isn't the 18-19 version of the Boilers and we aren't the 18-19 version of the Hoosiers. Let's turn this thing around! Hoosiers 70 Hoosier Nots - 66 All together now! Purdue sucks, Purdue sucks, Purdue sucks, Purdue sucks, Purdue sucks.

Praying you are right - for once.

There I was tooling along in second place and only 3 points out of first. Life was great! And then I tripped and fell on my noggin three times in a row. Owww that hurts. Dreams of glory have faded but not my desire to pick winners. After what we saw the other night at Penn State, how can we possibly win this game? This has certainly been a rollercoaster season. Could the loss of Thompson and Hunter have thrown the teams that far out of sync? Maybe, but then who knows if they will be available on Saturday? Ohio state isn't exactly destroying the world. They are doing a very good impersonation of the 18-19 Hoosiers. They have lost 7 of their last 8 and their only win was at hapless Northwestern. In addition Carton is on permanent leave from the team trying to get his head straight. We haven't done much better. We have lost 5 of our last 9. Despite all of their troubles OSU is 10-2 at home. Indiana is 1-4 in away games. Against "like" teams OSU is 6-6 and +4.8/game. Against "like" teams we are 3-6 and -4/game. The only positive is that we beat these guys in Bloomington. For the season we are pretty equal on offense 72.45 (OSU) compared to 72.6 (IU). They are about 4 points better on defense, 63.67 to 67.52. Out of contention for the big prize I don't feel bad about picking against the Hoosiers. We need to play a lot better to win this game. I'll still root like hell for my guys and hope I can be wrong four games in a row. OSU - 70 IU - 65

I think we have reached the point in the season where you can start throwing out all of the "expert" advice and start relying on gut feeling. I have a good feeling about this game. Penn St is about a 5 point favorite, depending on who you check. They are good at home as their 11-1 home record indicates. We, on the other hand, are 1-3 in true away gamer. Edge to Penn St. Seasonally Penn State has an edge in offense 76.45 to 72.68. We, on the other hand have a very slight edge in defense 68.26 to 68.56. On paper that probably gives an edge to Penn St. Overall since 2008 the record between the teams is 13-8 in favor of the Hoosiers. That stat isn't particularly meaningful but it does indicate that the programs have been competitive, but Penn St has struggled a bit more historically. With all that said my eyeball test says that IU is starting to come together and is playing better. If they don't screw up at the end and beat Maryland in their last game or if the Jackson-Davis shot at the end falls, people would probably be looking at this game differently. I predict that we are going to level out that home loss with a road win tonight. I'd be more confident betting against the spread but I think we can take this one straight up. It is gut check time for the Hoosiers. IU 76 Penn St 70

Wouldn't even think of trying to figure out what this game does to the standings. Double kick in the gonads. First we blow 6 six point lead with 1:08 to go and then we are informed about the death of Kobe immediately after the game. I'll let Str8Hoosiers go crazy going back and figuring what scratched scores will be added back or not. There were not many to pick Maryland. Guess we will just have to get the next one of the road against Penn State.

Fork in the road time again. Which way should I go this time? Zigged when I should have zagged last time and that plays a game with your mind. Not a lot of analysis this time. The memory of the disaster at Maryland is still fresh. If we let them run off to a big lead again we won't catch them again. Well duh! On the other hand Maryland hasn't been very good on the road this year and have a 1-4 record. They are scoring 58.6 and giving up 63.4 on the road. We are both 3-1 vs common opponents. We both lost in Madison. Vegas calls this one a 1 point game. That means that it could go either way. What the heck! If we can beat Michigan State, the best team in the conference, we can beat the second best. Hooisers 71 Turtles 66

Let's make this simple. IU 103 - Other 72

Congratulations to fwgreenway for opening up daylight in first place. HUGE congratulations to MoyeNeeded for picking the score for both teams and a big 145 points! Me? I stubbed my toe but I have a decent scratched score that I'll be bringing back. On to Maryland and another fork in the road. Don't mean to step on your toes Str8Hoosiers but I get excited and check the scores after the game.

Slept the night through without getting up to pee. +20. BTW a prune cocktail will take care of the constipation thing.

I hate games like this. I'm 72-years-old and I've been a dyed in the wool Hoosier fan since I was about 9. Think of Jimmy Rayl, Walt Bellemy and Archie Dees my heroes growing up. I will NEVER root against Indiana and NEVER miss a game if I can do anything to help it. On the other hand this is a contest and you don't win something like this picking with your heart and not your head. That is why I'm going with the Spartans and not the Hoosiers. With its best game, Indiana can win this. I hope the fans get into the game early and loud because we are going to need that to pull off an upset. And it would be an upset. Michigan State is the best team in the conference. I know the Big Ten is 7-41 on the road in conference. However, Michigan State has only been on the road in conference twice. They are 6-1 but 5 of those wins were at home. On the road they beat Northwestern and were crushed by Purdue. While Archie, at times, can't decide who to play, Michigan State has a solid lineup. Winston, Tillman, Brown and Henry seldom come off the floor. That isn't to say that the bench is a bunch of stiffs. It just says that this is a team that has some chemistry. We are still working on that. As to the numbers, IU comes up short across the board. We are 1-3 against the top 25. MSU is 2-1. Over the last 10 games MSU is 9-1 and we are 6-4. Against common opponents MSU is 3-0 and IU is 1-2. Against teams with similar records MSU is 7-3 and IU is 2-4. On average they outscore us on offense 78.3 to 75.1. They also top us on defense 63.6 to 66.2. We haven't been ranked once this year and Michigan state has been a top 10 dweller all year. Still despite all of that this could be a very close game. Who knows a 50/50 ball here and there, a good night rebounding the ball, Michigan foul trouble, a few fewer IU turnovers, or a few extra 3's fall and everything could turn out in IU's favor. Those are all big IF's. Vegas has this game at 141.5 o/u. MSU is favored by 3 so that makes the implied final score 72-69. I'm thinking that defense might be more important in this game than offense. MSU is averaging 71 in conference the that includes a 47 point stinker in West Lafayette. I see them scoring about 74 here and IU struggling to get to 70. That's it. But I hope it is the other way around. IU 70 MSU 74

Usually there are a few brave souls that post a prediction far in advance of the game. With MSU on the horizon it looks like everyone is taking a little longer for reflection. Which fork in the road do you take this time?

Brunk is a junior in eligibility and will be back next year.

17th game? Seems like the season just started. Well here we are in Nebraska playing a team that has a record of not playing well at home. They are only 5-4 at home this year. In short, they are no Rutgers. Rutgers is a team that is on the rise and has a chance to finish near the top of the standings. Nebraska does not. It is regrettable but reasonable to lose to Rutgers on the road. It is not reasonable to lose to Nebraska. They are 7-10 this year. Some rating systems only pick them to win one more game this year (Northwestern). I know IU had trouble scoring against Rutgers but so does everybody at Rutgers. They have given up an average of 57 over their last four games.. We can score on Nebraska as we proved by scoring 96 in overtime in Bloomington. Of course we also gave up 90. But overall we have a better offense and defense than Nebraska. We are averaging 74.6/game and they are giving up an average of 74.4. We are holding our opponents to 65.8 and Nebraska is scoring at a 72.5 clip. We have four common opponents. We are plus 21 and 3-1 against those opponents. Nebraska is -17 and 1-3. Advantage IU. They drove us crazy in Bloomington by driving at every opportunity. Our defense has improved since then and we have Phinisee, a good on ball defender, back as a regular. Jervay Green is questionable for this game. To bad. so sad. I don't think they will have as easy a time getting to the basket in this one. The big guys in Vegas have us winning by 74-68.5. I hope it isn't that close. I figure that we have to win a game on the road sooner or later and since we don't play Northwestern again this is the easiest one left. Over their last four game Nebraska has given up an average of 73 points/game. I think we will do slightly better. They have scored and average of 66. We can beat that. The crystal ball says. IU 75 Nebraska 64

Okay, I take whatever the final score is and pick Indiana to win. And, that is what I pick. LOL

Another fork in the road coming with Nebraska. Now, where did I place that darn road map?

Don't know how many times I've thought about changing at the last minute and then didn't. You open up yourself to second guessing. Plenty of games left. Hang in there and good luck.

Not even going to try to tally the unofficial early results for this one. Have a feeling that a number of people will be subbing back in scores that were dropped. Only 8 of the top 20 picked Rutgers. Of the top 6 fwgreenway, BottomLine, and JayBobHoosier picked Rutgers and will probably be the new top 3. WayneFleekHoosier picked Rutgers and then switched. On to Nebraska!

Boy oh boy, would I like to win this game at Rutgers on Wednesday night! I'm going to be rooting like crazy for the Hoosiers, but I'm not going to pick them. The Hoosiers have a really steep up hill climb to win this one. They CAN win it. I'm just saying that it will take a mighty effort. To start with the Big Ten record this year for road teams is 5-32. Everybody is competing like a junkyard dog at home and that included Rutgers, who is 11-0 at home. Indiana, on the other had, has two road games in the conference so far and both were blowouts. Not an encouraging sign. We did win two neutral court games by the skin of our chinny chin chin. We have two opponents in common. Rutgers beat Wisconsin and Nebraska by 7 and 17. We were blown out by Wisconsin and had to go into overtime to defeat Nebraska at home. Indiana has averaged 60.5 points in our away games and has given up an average of 68.2. Rutgers offense/defense at home is 73.2/55.7. Vegas, which is risking real money on the results, has Rutgers favored by 3.5 and an o/u of 130. That makes the implied final score 67-64 in favor of Rutgers. Throw into the mix the question of whether Phinisee is ready to play major minutes in two games in a row and whether Green will turn mental case again after playing well in the second half against Ohio State. I'm just having trouble finding anything positive that would point to a Hoosier victory. For those who are discouraged, go to sevenovertimes.com and check out Indiana's future schedule. He has IU winning 14 of it's last 15 games in the conference including Rutgers. The only predicted loss is Ohio State in Columbus. Hope he is right. Nitty Gritty Time! IU 65 Rutgers 69

We have all been there. Plenty of games to go. Good luck.

Highly unofficial results. Only 4 of top 15 selected Hoosiers. New standings fwgreenway (1514), WayneFleetHoosier (1512), BottomLine (1507). The first major fork in the road and all three took the right one. Many more forks to come. MoyeNeeded picked the winner right and then changed to OSU.

Read to the bottom. Got IU winning 70-69. We are in this one together.