BottomLine

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

Indiana playing at Northwestern is as much fun as having a root canal done. Reneau back at full strength could swing this game in Indiana's favor. Even the return of Tucker might help. Hitting our 3s could also swing the result. Flipping a coin here. Indiana 71 Northwestern 74

What a mess! Reneau - Injured and sitting on the bench laughing with the walk-ons while his team loses. What a teammate. Mbako - Playing like he doesn't want to be here and can't wait for the portal. Rice - Has no idea how to be a point guard. Misses open men constantly, dribbles into a crowd and forces shots. Ballo - Huge but can't score through contact. Goode - One trick pony Galloway - Lost a couple of steps on defense. Not much to give on offence. Tucker - The hope for the future but not much from outside. Let him do his thing. Carlyle - Can't shoot but never saw a shot he didn't like. Green light has to be getting dim. Leal - Can shoot but never saw a shot he likes, except in the last minute of either half. Hatton - Busts his butt but the talent isn't there. James - Why does he have a scholarship? Newton - will never be healthy enough to play. Cupps - Can at least handle the ball without turning it over but gone for the year. If I were coach I'd give them all nametags and the "There is no I in Team" speech. Like I said, What a mess. Indiana 75 Illinois 79

IU has lost 4 of our last 5 against Iowa. That isn't a good trend. Don't think Iowa is in love with playing defense. Unfortunately, neither is IU. They can score score a lot. So can we. I'll give the home court edge to the Hawkeyes but this should be an entertaining dog fight. It is hard to win on the road in the B10. Indiana 80 Iowa 83

This is one of the few games in the B10 where IU will be favored to win. Might as well make hay while the sun is shining. Indiana 78 USC 70

Indiana has trouble winning on the road against Penn State even when we have a good team. The game in Philadelphia won't change that. Having Reneau injured isn't going to help matters. Hate to say it but this isn't looking like an up game for the Hoosiers. If IU is going to get anywhere near where they were predicted to be this year, this is a must win. We have tougher games coming down the road and we will probably majorly regret letting this one get away if we can't pull it out. The only way I see us taking this is if we have one or two players playing out of their minds. To me the most logical would be either Mbako or Tucker, but I can't see it from either the way they have been playing. Hoosiers 75 Nitwit Lions 79

Figured it was discipline and not an injury. Sometimes when people start throwing money at you it goes to your head. Heads can be fixed with some pine time, maybe. Injuries are something else. Now tell me what is wrong with Mbako's head. Doesn't look like he even wants to play. As a result he plays less and less.

Is Ballo playing? I see the fact that he was in uniform for our last game as a positive sign. But then, what do I know? Hoosiers 78 Rutgers 72

Not much to say here. Indiana 86 NotWinthrop 69

After sitting through the entire IU - ND football game, I'm too frazzled to put much thought into this game. Sorta anticlimactic. IU 84 Chattanooga 67

Not going to win this thing this year anyway, so what difference does it make? Going with my heart and a little bit of my head. Forecast for tomorrow in South Bend. High of 34 and low of 22. Since kickoff is after dark I'll guess the temp in mid to high 20's and falling. Not good for passers or receivers. Also forecast for light snow and winds between 11 and 14 mph. Should help a team that can't pass very well (ND). Home field advantage to ND. Well, duh. Strength of schedule and stats favor Indiana. ND based on latest top 25, ND has not played ONE ranked team this year. Only loss was to a MAC team at home when they fell behind and had to throw the ball. How in the world did they deserve a home game? Beats me. IU's best chance is to get an early lead and force ND to play come from behind. If our balance attack and passing game are working we walk away with this one. It could actually be a blowout game either way or a rock fight. IU need to play well and avoid mistakes. Interception near the goal line and muffed snap to the kicker made the OSU game look a lot worse than it really was. BottomLine: Hoosiers 4 TD = 28 + 1 FG= 3 Total 31 ND 3 TD = 21 + 2 FG = 6 Total 27

Gut check time! Don't like that this is on the road, actually IUs first road game of the year. Don't like that it is almost always a rock fight out there. But, nobody cares what I like or don't like. Nebraska is probably a small favorite here, but I'm starting to see some improvement from the Hoosiers, and I think we might be able to get over the hump here. I'm still in the glass is half full mode. Last bucket wins. Indiana 76 Nebraska 75

Interesting stat. While it is easy to look at the IU schedule and think that the Hoosiers have played mostly a bunch of chumps, that in reality might not be the truth. Of the 10 schools that IU has played, only Eastern Illinois has a losing record. Their combined record is 49-33 and subtracting IUs 7-2 record they are 47-24. Not too shabby and something to consider. For the record Minnesota is 6-4, so no matter what happens tonight the streak will continue. Minnesota is Minnesota and this game will be in Bloomington. I don't expect it to be pretty but IU should be better. Hoosiers 75 Minny 65