BottomLine

I need someone to explain to me the last three IU games. Yes, we won 2 of the 3 but all 3 efforts were dull. The relentless defense that pushed us to a mid-season winning streak has disappeared. Maybe we are starting to wear down from the short bench. Whatever the reason I figure that defense must return for the Hoosiers to take this one. We have fallen off the pace for a Big 10 title and are solidly in the tournament. MSU has much more to play for here. They are defending their home court, where they are 12-4. We are on the road, where we are 4-7 away from Bloomington, the worst road record of any top 25 team. We average giving up 71 points on the road, while scoring 67. MSU scores 69 at home, while only giving up an average of 60. That is a recipe for more offensive and defensive struggles. IU still desperately needs a reliable third option on offense if we are going to improve beyond where we are now. Close ugly game but I give the edge to the Spartans. IU 66 MSU 69

IU has only lost at home once all year, and that was a 1 point loss to NW. We are playing a team that gave us one of our rare road wins. The Hoosiers should take this one. I'm more worried about the next two. Hoosiers 73 Illini 69

How can you tell I'm retired and I have way to much time on my hands? Just for yucks - the Prediction League win. place and show standings for the first five years. 17-18 Hoosier Aloha, fwgreenway, IU Safety 18-19 LilHoosier, Class of 66 Old Fart, fwgreenway 19-20 fwgreenway, MoyeNeeded, Bobman1 20-21 Class of 66 Old Fart, Josh, DChoosier 21-22 Naturalhoosier, MoyeNeeded, Johnsoniu

This is another tough one and I can see a lot in Northwestern's favor. Of course they are at home and that always helps. Plus they have beaten us in Bloomington. We lost that one by a point but only after Hood-Schfino played out of his mind and scored 33 - including 5 3's. Jackson-Davis had 18 and the bench made major contributions. Johnson and Thompson were out for that game. Same again probably. Seems strange to count Northwestern as a upper tier game but it is. They are a legit tournament team this year. However they may play the weakest schedule in the big ten this year with bunches of games against the bottom of the league. OTOH they have wins over Purdue and Indiana from the top. Northwestern is 12-5 at home. IU is still a sub 50 team on the road with a 4-6 record. We average more points. They have a 5 point edge is points allowed. It worries me that we couldn't stop them from scoring in Bloomington and gave up over 80 points. To win this IU must play defense with our hair on fire, get hot from outside, and get major help from our now short bench. Can't count on Hood-Schfino to go for 30+ again. The heart says go with the improved Hoosiers. The head says don't be a chump, too much must go right for the Hoosiers to pull this one out. It is really hard to win on the road in the Big 10 and NW is better than either Michigan (1 pt IU win) or Purdue. Hoosiers 68 Wildcats 69

The way this league is organized we have a three tier scoring system. Most importantly you need to pick the winner. Every time you pick the winner you get a 50 point kick over those who picked a loser. I'm currently in second place because I've been very good this year at picking the winner. I'm currently 21-4 in straight up picking. If I had picked Michigan I would have fallen to eighth. Secondly, we have the pick the scores segment. I have done poorly in that segment. My highest score this year has been 116. But that 50 point kick for picking the winner has kept me high in the standings. rcs29 has had an excellent run at predicting scores, which has allowed him to open a lead on the pack. Finally, in the third segment we have the bonus of 10 points for picking a score. Out of 50 chances I have failed to hit a single score this year. I think you will find that most of the people near the top of the standings have been able to pick up bonus points along the way. An extra 10 or 20 points here and there can cause a significant shift in the standings. You are very correct that with a number of pick 'em games on the horizon, we could see some drastic shifts in the standings. Nobody has a lock on winning this year and most of the members are close enough to the top to have the potential for significant rise. Good luck to everyone. Let the games continue.

What I really want to do is pick this game as a 73-73 tie, but that isn't possible. Indiana is 3-6 on the road. Michigan is 12-4 at home. IU is a bit better on offense and a bit better on defense. IU is 7-1 over our last 8. Michigan is 5-3 over their last 8. The Hoosiers may be the hotter team but we have flattened out badly on the road against teams like Penn State and Maryland, and let's not forget Arizona and Kansas. A crash and burn wouldn't be a complete surprise. The toss came up heads - IU IU 74 - Michigan 73

Picked Rutgers last time and then switched my pick. Won't do that again. NO MORE SWITCHING PICKS! IU is 13-1 at home and is coming off a big win. They have every reason not to bounce here. Revenge can be a good incentive. Rutgers is 3-4 on the road this year. The round robin showdown at the top of the Big Ten. Rutgers 2-0 Indiana 1-1 Purdue 0-2 Hoosiers 69 - Rutgers 67

Can we expect a "court stormin" here? Doesn't look likely. Maybe with a whole complete and healthy lineup I might go the other way. Let's face facts we are short handed. IU is 12-1 at home. OTOH Pursue is 10-0 on the road. Offensively both teams are close statistically. Purdue has significantly better defensive numbers. TJD isn't going to have a easy time shooting that baby hook over a 7-4 guys outstretched hands and I don't see TJD drawing the big guy outside. Add to that we are short handed on the front line. Geronino and Duncomb are probably not going to play and Thompson has lost a step. I'd rather see all hands on deck instead of next man up. The only way we win this is if we get super hot from the outside. Can the Hoosiers win - yes. Do I want the Hoosier to win - yes. Is it probable that the Hoosiers will win - not very. OTOH it is a rivalry game. Purdue - 71 Hoosiers - 68

If I pick this one with my heart I go for the Hoosiers. If I pick this one with my head I go with Maryland. Maryland is 13-2 at home this year. The Hoosiers are 3-5 on the road. It is very hard to win on the road in the Big10. Hoosiers 68 Maryland 71

The Hoosiers are 11-1 at home. Ohio State is 2-7 on the road. Hoosiers got a wakeup scare at Minnesota and should be back into form. Still worried about Hood-Schfino's shooting wrist. We need at least TWO solid scorers behind Jackson-Davis. It helps a ton if Hood-Schfino is a solid #2 and then we will take whoever has a good game from the rest. At Minnesota we were missing that critical #2. I will not change me pick - I will not change my pick - I will not change my pick. On the other hand there is always the possibility that .......... Fingers in ears and humming. I'm not listening to myself. I will not change my pick. Hoosiers 74 Buckeyes 71

Thump thump thump! That is the sound of the heal of my hand striking my forehead. I changed my score prediction about 30 minutes before tipoff. That cost me 10 points and a move back into the lead. Add that to the 55 points it cost me when I switched from Rutgers to Indiana, and I've thrown away 65 points. I swear I will never make a last second change again - so help me Bobby Knight. Now on to Ohio State.

More often than not I get myself in trouble when I start second guessing myself. The only changed pick I have made previously was to switch from Rutgers to IU, and we all know how that worked out. Nevertheless, I think Minnesota is banged up worse than I thought and so I have changed my score prediction. Feel better about this score. Hoosiers 83 Gophers 64

Indiana needs to be careful here. After three strong efforts this could be a bounce game. Mix a bit of over confidence with a road game isn't a good recipe. Also worried about Hood-Schfino's left (shooting) wrist. After falling on the wrist in the first half of the Illinois game, he has scored only two points total in his last three halves. So far others have stepped up to cover the deficit. Geronimo, Bates and Galloway have filled in the scoring nicely. Hope this continues. Maybe it is Kopp's turn again. To win consistently IU need a couple of reliable scorers behind Jackson-Davis. Hoosiers 73 Golden Gophers 64

Trying not to be too emotional and pick with my head instead of my heart. Last game I picked Illinois and cheered like crazy for the Hoosiers. This season is turning into a roller coaster. Hoosiers are back at home and MSU is a bit down this year. Won't be easy but we should get this one. Hoosiers 72 Spartans 68

My residence on the top of the hill didn't last long. Oh well, only down by 9 points. As MacArthur said, "I shall return". Couldn't help myself, I'm a retired history teacher.

We aren't as bad as the team that lost to Penn State (Hard to overcome 18 3's). We aren't as good as the team that beat Wisconsin (Down year and best player out). We aren't as good as we were earlier in the year when we were ranked. So how do we stack up against Illinois? The team that Woody built is a wreck right now. Thompson and Johnson are out and the bench has been stripped to plug in the holes in the starting lineup. That leaves us with a weaker starting lineup and a bench that isn't going to contribute much. We have two senior leaders on the bench. We are down to only one consistent rebounder. It is not a good place to be. As for the "Next man up" philosophy, that doesn't work very well when the bench hasn't shown much growth since the start of the season. Sometimes s*** just happens and there isn't much you can do about it. So Indiana, a poor road team, goes off to Illinois to face a team that is still intact. This is a game the November Hoosiers would have won, but this is January. The good news is I think we might win our next three despite everything. Hoosiers 68 Illini 75

King of the Hill! King of the Hill! Come and get me guys!

I go back a long long way (IU class of 69). I can still remember the days when you marked your season schedule with four wins right off the bat - 2 v. NW and 2 V. Wisconsin.

Slowly the season is starting to slip away from us. Forget the big show. We may not be able to get to the NIT with the way the season is going. That makes this HOME (we are 9-1) GAME a must win. I know this is Wisconsin and Wisconsin has owned us for the last two decades, but this is a back to the wall win or go back home and crawl under your bed game and cry game. I hope home cooking, friendly rims, a loud crowd, and good officials all help. Though I'm not sure about the officials. At least Wisconsin is having a down year too and they don't score bunches. IU - 70 Wisconsin - 66

Looking over your shoulder? Don't. You might get nervous.

Should have had that game at home against NW. Scored plenty of points - much more than I expected. The same can be said about the Iowa game. We lost because we made a ton of crazy turnovers and mostly because our defense is a shambles. Everybody seems to be able to drive the basket on us. Reminds me of the Tom Crean years. We also can not get out quick enough to stop the outside shooters. I thought this year was supposed to be about defense but that plan has crashed and burned. With our shorter bench the players are wearing down in the second half. I bring all of this up because it has an impact on my predictions. We aren't the team we were earlier in the year and adjustment is needed. We need ball handling but I'm not sure where that is going to come from. We need to slow the other team up when we are on defense. Did like to see the 3/4 court press dropping back into the 2-3. Know coach is a man-to-man guy but he need to do something to keep Jackson-Davis closer to the basket on defense (who else do we have that can rebound in a crowd?). Hope to see more changing defense here and a deeper bench. With Leal a ghost and Johnson and Thompson gone, we are down to 10 scholarship players. It may to be time to throw Banks and Duncomb into the fray for short periods and see what they can do. They can't play defense that much worse that what I am seeing. Sorry for the rant. We are all ranting. I was thinking 73-69 PSU for this game but because of the above I'm going to push those numbers up a bit and see what happens. PSU -79 IU - 75

Hello guys! After four games I was in 39th position and 33 out of first. It has been a long climb out of that hole. Now in 3rd and only down by 16. Bit early for the leaders to be counting their chickens. Hear those steps coming right behind you?

This season is starting to give me a headache. Remember almost beating these guys up there last year with half of the team suspended. Should be able to beat them at home with half of the team injured or banged up. But, who knows? IU 69 NW 64

What a mess! On the road! Been off for almost two weeks. Our point guard only has one leg and will be in civilian clothes until who know when. Our center and backup point guard have bad backs. Like Bates in the starting lineup but our bench is going to suffer and the bench is going to get shorter. The starters are going to play more - not good in the long run. Who is going to score our points in the clutch final minutes? Then how will Iowa adapt to having their coach step aside for a "rest". What must be going through their heads? Whatever the final score it won't be a surprise. Anything might happen here. Hoosiers 73 Iowa 77

Hoosiers 81 Owls 61 Everything seems a bit low - but who is going to play?