...A couple of things 24 hours before the Hoosiers host Illinois. First things first - there is no decision yet on whether or not we'll see Devan Dumes. Crean reiterated the decision is internal.
"I'm not being evasive," Crean said. "I'm not trying to hold it from you and I'm not trying to play the strategy game. We're going day by day."
As for the guys who will be playing, they'll have to contend with the Illini's ability to find the open man. Crean said Illinois is as good of a passing team a there is in the country. Matched with the shooting of Trent Meacham and Demtri McCamey, the Hoosiers defense will need to be in top form for a chance at pulling off the upset victory.
"We've got to do a much better job at guarding the dribble and we're getting better at it," Crean said. "It's not where it's anything to write home about yet."
But the most important thing pertaining to Sunday's match up will be the difference in the competitive spirit of IU - Nick Williams said the game at Illinois was the only game IU flat did not compete hard enough to win. Even in other blowout games Williams said the team played as hard as possible, except for the January game at Illinois.
Crean agreed with his players' assessment.
"We didn't compete at all in that game," Crean said. "And they played great, they really did they'd of beat pretty much everyone in the country, but we certainly did not help our cause, we were not competitive."
If Dumes is still suspended look for either Matt Roth or Malik Story to start, with the other one being the first one to come off the bench.
The experts and opinion makers of this team have proclaimed eventually the Hoosiers will beat a team they 'shouldn't.' Is this going to be that game? Or will the national spotlight against a ranked team be too much for the Hoosiers?
