Column: Hoosiers will improve next year

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Back on Jan. 22, I had a master plan for IU basketball to succeed for the rest of the year.

IU had just hung tough with then-No. 3 Michigan State, losing by five points. I said IU Coach Tom Crean should lie to his team, and tell his players every opponent left on their schedule is ranked.

For whatever reason, IU played better against good teams this year.

The same thing happened Saturday. IU (17-14, 7-11) went mano-a-mano with No. 12 Michigan (23-7, 15-3), falling 84-80 in a hotly-contested battle. The Hoosiers had a legitimate shot to beat the Big Ten champions, as they have with several other ranked teams this year.

When looking at data versus ranked teams, you can decide if you want to use the most current rankings or what the teams were ranked at the time of the game.

I’m using what the team was ranked at the time, because it helps play into the mindset of the IU players leading into the matchup.

Having said that, IU is 4-4 in the Big Ten against ranked teams. Against non-ranked conference teams IU is 3-7.

All four of those victories — No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 10 Michigan, No. 20 Iowa and No. 22 Ohio State — came in Assembly Hall. The only loss in Assembly Hall against No. 5 Michigan State.

Besides that Spartan loss, the Hoosiers are 4-1 at home against ranked teams.
That same team finished the year 17-14 and 7-11 in the Big Ten.

These two things shouldn’t go together. When looking at the Hoosiers’ record without any context, it would appear they were a below-average to bad team.

It’s hard to explain a below-average to bad team being .500 against ranked competition.

There could be any number of reasons. Maybe the youth of IU get up for the big game and their talent reaches their potential. Maybe Assembly Hall is just a natural-born giant killer. Which, by the way, would be a great nickname for the stadium. If I were an IU fan I’d buy a shirt that said, “Assembly Hall — Giant Killer.”

Anyway, the fact that IU plays better against ranked competition ultimately makes them a good team.

Or a bad team.

Or somewhere in between.

I don’t know. My head hurts.

The inconsistency has been infuriating to IU fans. They’ve seen the potential this supremely talented team has. And then the team gets blown out by Purdue.

I chose to view this as a plus for IU’s future. This season is in the books. Barring an improbable Big Ten tournament crown, IU won’t go dancing.

But like I said before, this team is laden with young talent that will only get better. Stan Robinson, Troy Williams, Devin Davis — these are all players that have shown promise this year and could be significant contributors to an a higher echelon team in the future.

I think IU will be giant killers again next season.

It’s weird to think IU’s 2014-15 season could depend on if the Hoosiers can take care of business against the Northwesterns, Purdues and Penn States of the world.
IU has the talent to hang with the big boys.

Now they need the focus to beat teams without a number in front of their name.

­ehoopfer@indiana.edu
@EvanHoopfer