Is the glass half empty or half full?

[Alford Bailey 12,415]

The glass is half empty til Crean proves he can win in a post season tourney setting. 

[Feathery 4,005]

wouldnt that depend on who the 1 and 2 seeds would be? For instance if Villanova was the 1 and mich st was the 2 I would argue I would rather face Villanova I used these 2 because most bracketologist have nova 1 and state 2 as of now

I see what your saying but I think both are 1 seeds. The AP top 4 are Kansas, MSU, Nova, and Virginia. I'd want to avoid those 4 and face a 2 or lower seed. History has shown you want to avoid a 1 seed as long as possible. They are one seeds for a reason. They advance farther bc they have an easier road bc of seeding. IU has a greater chance of a final four if they are on the opposite side of the bracket of a 1 seed. Does it mean they can't make it? No. It just means the road got more difficult. When you have a coach who struggles in the post season you need as easy a road as possible.

Edit: not to mention there is a chance of getting a 5 seed in the 2nd round of you are a 4 seed. You avoid that being a 2/3 seed.

[iceman 63]

Well let's look at the glass a bit . James Blackmon a starter who scores double digit points is out for the season . Robert Johnson who replace Blackmon and was playing defense very well and approaching double digit points is also out & not sure on return ( hope in time for the big dance). Collin Hartman hurt in the last game & it seemed worse than he was letting on . I believe the glass is Half Full & the boys can make a run , I just wish we had all our weapons healthy . GO Hoosiers !

[Feathery 4,005]

Well let's look at the glass a bit . James Blackmon a starter who scores double digit points is out for the season . Robert Johnson who replace Blackmon and was playing defense very well and approaching double digit points is also out & not sure on return ( hope in time for the big dance). Collin Hartman hurt in the last game & it seemed worse than he was letting on . I believe the glass is Half Full & the boys can make a run , I just wish we had all our weapons healthy . GO Hoosiers !

The team is better without Blackmon.

[Stuhoo 81,802]

Leading into yesterday we had won five in a row, three of which were against ranked teams, in a power conference.

 

Did y'all expect us to never lose again?

 

The ship is right; we will be a very tough out in the tournament.  And that's what we should be hoping for every year.

[MadAboutIndiana 402]

The team is better without Blackmon.

How do you know this?

[crazywillie 192]

This was a huge loss...75 percent pro iu crowd...coming in hot against a team we pounded at their house and our coach looked like a deer in headlights. Its not just postseason tourneys that cause hims problems. Beilien had one day to prepare as well folks and he mopped the floor with a waaaay less less talented team.

[OliviaPope40 6,627]

An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be.

 

Oscar Wilde

[Str8Hoosiers 2,965]

Half Empty - We didn't look good defensively... The pick and rolls killed us repeatedly.... The looks they got from 3 were wide open (not the game winner though).

 

Half Full - If this takes us from the bottom of the 3 seed line to the TOP of the 4 or 5 seed line could that be a good thing as far as location? How far down the seeding line does the committee consider location? If this loss moves us from potentially Anaheim or Philadelphia and moves us to Louisville or Chicago even... that is a good thing.

 

Or if it moves our first round game from Spokane/Denver  to St Louis.... then this loss could prove very helpful....

[biteoftheapple 4,115]

It was speculated as Des Moines, now the thinking is Spokane.

[Uspshoosier 46,368]

This was a huge loss...75 percent pro iu crowd...coming in hot against a team we pounded at their house and our coach looked like a deer in headlights. Its not just postseason tourneys that cause hims problems. Beilien had one day to prepare as well folks and he mopped the floor with a waaaay less less talented team.

mopped the floor? Wasn't they down 5 with 1:50 left? If we closed everyone would be saying crean owns beilien

[Ryno6284 2,803]

How do you know this?

The eye test tells us this!  I've only missed 3-4 games this year and it's obvious the team has played better without James!

[biteoftheapple 4,115]

The eye test tells us this! I've only missed 3-4 games this year and it's obvious the team has played better without James!

I think that was the point that the team decided to make a better effort. Yogi became the leader, and the team followed.

[pumpfake 3,946]

Full? Empty?  Doesn't really matter.  The problem is the glass isn't full, or any way near it.  It also isn't empty so we can't hope for something to happen that will "fill the glass".  As it is, we're once again sitting in basketball purgatory.

[Ryno6284 2,803]

I think that was the point that the team decided to make a better effort. Yogi became the leader, and the team followed.

That maybe, but they have been better since he went down.  That is not debatable. If it's because of Blackmon or not, they have still been better without him compared to when he was playing!

[WayneFleekHoosier 48,672]

That maybe, but they have been better since he went down. That is not debatable. If it's because of Blackmon or not, they have still been better without him compared to when he was playing!

OG has been an instant difference maker. Didn't get minutes before and probably never would have. Crean lucked into this discovery.

[Trish 11,706]

Indiana Basketball is not known for success in the regular season, beating weather vane teams, or being able to win conference home games. True, we had a couple of nice road wins this season, however one was against Iowa...a team fading into the oblivion and on a downward spiral when we played them. We had a very easy conference road schedule, which, to the team's credit, we took advantage of.

But that erases nothing today. Indiana is known for post season success. Yes, Big Ten titles are nice, and I'm on record as saying being in the title conversation every year should be Indiana's primary goal. Consistency will - like Michigan State - put Indiana in position to do good things in the post season every year, too; and that's what I want. To "be there" every year.

Problems are :

1) Tom Crean has never won consistently in his career
2) Tom Crean's post season record is abysmal. Awful.

Today...Belien stretched out every offensive possession. His players took away transition, AND they took away the 3 point line. Formula for beating Indiana....every time? Check. And, Crean never adjusted. Never trapped, never pressured the ball, never did anything to speed them up. We didn't look inside out on the offensive end, preferring to play slowly on the perimeter; and take several bad shots. At the end of the game, we played into Michigan's hands by letting Williams dribble the ball..drive into traffic. Turnover or fumbled ball waiting to happen. If I'm Belien, I want anyone BUT Yogi with the ball in his hands, because Yogi has become unguardable and can get to the lane and FT line about when he wants to. Ball is not in Yogi's hands.

Crean's substitutions were baffling. Absolutely dumbfounding. We go on a run almost exclusively because of Bryant, and Bryant comes out. Yogi, who looks like a cross-fit poster model and is a senior who needs to be in the game comes out just after Michigan went with a 1-3-1 half court trap, and Niego promptly turns it over. He also makes a horrible pass to Bielfelt, I think who immediately turns it over because the pass was toward the defense. Hartman does next to nothing, but plays 20 minutes. Ryan Burton plays 5 minutes. Niego 4. It's tournament time, boys. You don't play walk ons in close games. You just don't.

Crean has not been a successful post season coach. He gets OUT coached time and time again. So...until he proves me wrong, I view IU's glass as half empty simply because "they are who we thought they were." There's a reason our SOS is very low. I think we're still a 4 seed, but this loss cost us at least one line, and I'd sure rather be a 3 than a 4.

But the primary reason I'm "half empty" tonight? I saw the same things I always see when IU loses, and Crean seems to do just enough to keep his job, and keep Indiana mired in mediocrity. Purdue just kicked the crap out of Illinois. Made it look easy. We've got the best point guard in the country, a McDonald's All American Big Man, and terrific shooters; and we couldn't even get good shots. Maddening.

Post of the season folks. Might print this and go hang it up outside the doors at Cook Hall.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 85,580]

Is Big Ten champion Indiana 'built' for a deep NCAA tournament run

Chicago Tribune:

 

 Minutes after Michigan knocked them out of the Big Ten tournament, Indiana players sat in their locker-room chairs, composed.

They did not lash out. They were not defensive.

Was it a sign they'll adopt the right attitude heading into the NCAA tournament?

"You go from such a high to such a low so quickly," forward Max Bielfeldt said. "That change is so abrupt. But keep your eye on the prize. If we would have won the whole (tournament), it would have been nice, but we might not have learned some things by losing."

Indeed, there have been a lot of "buts" in Indiana's season. Remarkable highs and lows.

The highs: A league-best 15-3 Big Ten record. An unblemished (17-0) mark at Assembly Hall. Conference Coach of the Year honors for Tom Crean. A second-team All-America nod from USA Today for Yogi Ferrell and Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year recognition for Bielfeldt. The development of freshmen Thomas Bryant and OG Anunoby.

 

 

The lows: Losses to Wake Forest and UNLV in the Maui Invitational. Getting throttled by Duke. James Blackmon's season-ending knee injury. A 19-point loss to Michigan State. And on Friday, leaving quasi-home Indianapolis without a victory in the Big Ten tournament.

"This was not a result of lack of focus," Crean said in a private moment after the 72-69 loss to Michigan. "We had a great week (of practice). It would be so different if I felt we didn't play hard; we did. We've just got to play a little smarter a little longer."

So where does all this leave Indiana, a likely No. 4 or 5 seed in the NCAA tournament?

Dan Dakich remains bullish. And don't roll your eyes. The former Indiana player and coach and current ESPN analyst and Indianapolis radio host has come down hard on Crean's program when warranted.

"I think they're built for the tournament," Dakich said, "and will have a hell of a run."

Dakich cites three reasons: the greatness of Ferrell, the senior point guard; a strong offensive rebounding rate (Indiana was 14th nationally through Thursday, grabbing 36.3 percent of misses); and the fact the Hoosiers "shoot the (crap) out of it."

Entering the loss to Michigan, during which they hit 24 of 53 field goals (45.3 percent), the Hoosiers were second nationally to St. Mary's at 50.2 percent. Only four teams had bettered Indiana's 41.9 percent rate from 3-point range.

But — another but — the Hoosiers hit just 4 of 17 3-pointers against Michigan. And they fell to 8-7 in non-home games — the only kind in the NCAA tournament.

No one seems to know why Indiana has had such a hard time outside Bloomington, so no one has a cure to fix it.

Rather than wondering if major forces are at work, Crean focuses on the little picture. His team led Michigan 69-66 with less than a minute to play Friday. Then Duncan Robinson was left alone for a corner 3.

"This will sting when we watch the film," he said. "The mistake of coming off Robinson ... we don't come off shooters. We work every day (in practice) on that. It was just the pressure of the moment."

Indiana got an empty possession with the score tied and Nick Zeisloft had the unheralded Kameron Chatman well defended with three seconds to play. Chatman still drilled the game-winning 3.

"There are so many things we learned from Maui and from Duke that we have adjusted from," Bielfeldt said. "This can be one of those games."

Bielfeldt's message to his teammates: "Don't get down. Do everything you can to get better. Listen to Coach, whatever he finds in the film."

Bielfeldt is part of why Dakich loves these Hoosiers. He's a Peoria native whose grandfather's name is on a building at Illinois, the school nearly every member of his family attended. He chose Michigan and transferred to Indiana as a grad student.

"The most mature dude," Dakich said. "He's like Jerry in 'Seinfeld.' You're friends with him, I'm friends with him, so we hang out together. He connects everyone.

"And now he's making 3s. He also defends the block really well."

Another veteran player will be even more crucial to Indiana's tournament run.

Ferrell could have justified leaving after his junior season, his second All-Big Ten campaign. He returned and has taken his game — especially his defense — to new heights.

"When you have a defender like Yogi who truly can control the other team's point guard, you have something special," UIC coach Steve McClain said.

McClain spent five seasons on Crean's staff before taking over the Flames this season. He and his family remain so close to Crean that wife Kim and son Dylan helped cut down the net last weekend at Assembly Hall to celebrate the Big Ten title. The net rests on McClain's kitchen table.

"Yogi has an unbelievable basketball IQ," McClain said. "He sees the other side of the court. He makes plays off pick-and-rolls that pro guys make. Good point guards can see one play ahead; Yogi can see two, three plays ahead."

One example of that came early in the second half Friday. Ferrell was under the basket and spotted Zeisloft at the top of the key. Zeisloft immediately swung the ball to Collin Hartman for an open 3-point try.

Ferrell spoke after the game of resisting the urge to make "home-run plays."

"When we make the simple play, an extra pass, that has really helped us," he said. "Hopefully we can learn from this."

The Hoosiers learned from their losses in Maui and at Duke. Can they do the same after this disappointing result in Indianapolis?

"It's time," Ferrell said, "to go back to the drawing board."

[colonel06 1,921]

Man, it's obvious that the morning after is not any easier for even us Old Farts me included!
I hate the Spokane game time- last games!
I think I'll just get away from it today and go see Grant Gelon and East Chicago Mr. Basketball candidate, Damien Jefferson square off.
That "cup" and gym is definitely full!

[Candy Stripes 123]

In my opinion, the keys to yesterday's loss were as follows:
- Defensive mistakes galore, enough said
- Unusual lineups. Sometimes you get a little lucky and get away with something once, maybe twice, but if you get too cute and push your luck, it comes back to bite you. Tournament time, stick with what you know typically works. This is not a good time to experiment.
- TOs. So many silly TOs again, and we generally commit more in the first half. Does anyone else notice that we start nearly every game in a hole? Why aren't we ready to play at the beginning of these games?
- Yogi has to have the ball on our last offensive possession. Just has to. He's our first team Big Ten player and team MVP. If he misses or turns it over I'll live with it, but now I just wonder "what if...". I doubt that if it were Duke instead of us yesterday that Grayson Allen doesn't have the ball in his hands.
- Poor shooting, it happens and it wasn't for lack of effort, hence the reason to eliminate the other things on this list.

Looking ahead, the glass is half empty for me for two main reasons:

First, this team's record away from Assembly Hall. Mediocre at best (8-7 I believe) with really only three quality wins: UM, ND, and Iowa. Like all teams, we play better at home, but the really good teams have the focus and toughness to have solid road records, whether those are true road games or games on neutral courts. Unfortunately for us, the NCAA games won't be in Bloomington.

Second, and as previously mentioned on this site, it's Tom Crean's tournament record. I really don't think you can even debate that it's less than impressive. This includes Big Ten, NCAA, and even pre-conference tournaments like Maui this year. Some coaches, like Coach K and Coach Izzo, routinely know what levers to pull this time of year. Others don't. I wish I knew the secret recipe, and I'm sure Coach Crean would as well, but that's what makes those guys special.

I will be rooting like hell for the team next weekend, but I am skeptical that we survive through next Sunday. Hope I'm wrong.