Hoosiers please crowd at Midnight Madness

The excitement of Midnight Madness concluded with a flurry of fast breaks, alley-oops and 3-point bombs.\nTo conclude the first practice of the season, the men's basketball team held an intra-squad scrimmage that ended in a 26-26 tie. Although the 10-minute game didn't show how good the Hoosiers could be, it proved that this year's team needs to work on nearly all facets of the game before its first game Nov. 14 against Pepperdine University.\nIt was a fast-paced game filled with breaks, quick shots, shaky defense and unorganized offense. But it had some flair. Midway through the scrimmage, sophomore forward Jeffrey Newton lobbed a pass to freshman forward George Leach, who slammed the ball through the net, bringing more than 9,000 fans to their feet. As soon as the fans sat back down, freshman guard Andre Owens led a fast break, threw a no-look pass to Newton, who tossed an alley-oop to freshman guard A.J. Moye who threw it down amid thundering cheers.\n"We showed an entertaining style of ball tonight, and we wanted to give the fans a preview of what our basketball is going to be about," Moye said. "But we could have done better in a lot of areas. Defensively, that's not a reflection of how we plan to play basketball."\nJunior forward Kirk Haston said interim coach Mike Davis told the team that the scrimmage lacked defensive discipline.\n"Coach Davis was a little disappointed in the way we played," Haston said. "The thing we have to improve upon is our defense. Offensively, we're not going to have any problems."\nOwens and Moye shared point guard duties for the white team, and junior Dane Fife ran the show for the red team on the occasions where fast break points weren't available.\n"It was definitely helter-skelter out there," Fife said. "We're not used to playing at 1 a.m. There was a lot of adrenaline and a lot of excitement out there. I think if you gave us a few more minutes, we would have settled down and started playing well."\nThe scrimmage was the first time this year that five players have been together on a team, except for pickup games, because only four players are allowed on the floor during pre-season individual workouts. \n"Offensively, we knew we were going to be a bit sloppy," Haston said. "It's going to be a lot more organized once we start working on the offense. Tonight, we had a lot of transition baskets mainly because there were a lot of quick shots taken and long rebounds, so that's automatic fast breaks." \nLeach led the white team with eight points. Haston scored eight for the red squad, while the surprise of the evening was junior forward Jarrad Odle's approach to the game.\n"My first couple years were basically screening, rebounding and defense," said Odle, who led a fast break and scored six points. "I'm looking to score a lot more this year. I think I've got to be more of an offensive threat and take some of the load off the other guys."\nNow that the first practice -- and the fun -- has passed, the team is focusing on defense, offensive rebounding, Pepperdine and the rest of the season.\n"I have high expectations for this team," Haston said. "This is a high-class program and pride is what kept this team together, and we want to show the rest of the country why we're proud of it"