Game one of the Puerto Rico is in the books. No. 18 Dayton knocked off No. 21 Georgia Tech 63-59. Georgia Tech has a lot of young talent, including five-star freshman Derrick Favors, but it was the Flyers who prevailed on the backs of three sophomores, Chris Johnson, Paul Williams and Luke Fabrizius.
Game two just got underway between No. 5 Villanova and George Mason, while Kansas State and Boston University will tip off at 7:30 p.m. Of course, IU will take on the Mississippi Rebels squad at 5 p.m., and that's why you came to this blog in the first place.
Below the jump is a list of projected starters, plus some content that made it into the idsnews.com preview column, but was excluded from today's actual paper:
Ole Miss Class Height, Weight Points, Rebounds, Assists
G - Chris Warren Jr. 5'10, 168 lbs. 10.5, 2.0, 3.5
G - Eniel Polynice Jr. 6'5, 222 lbs. 13.0, 5.0, 5.0
G - Terrico White So. 6'5, 213 lbs. 17.5, 2.5, 1.0
F - Murphy Holloway So. 6'7, 230 lbs. 12.0, 9.5, 1.5
F - DeAundre Cranston Sr. 6'9, 260 lbs. 13.5, 3.5, 1.0
Indiana
G - Jeremiah Rivers Jr. 6'5, 214 lbs. 4.0, 4.0, 4.5
G - Maurice Creek Fr. 6'5, 200 lbs. 15.5, 2.0, 1.5
G - Verdell Jones So. 6'5, 213 lbs. 11.0, 1.5 2.0
F - Christian Watford Fr. 6'9, 220 lbs. 15.5, 10.5, 0.5
F - Tom Pritchard So. 6'9, 248 lbs. 7.0, 2.5, 1.0
1. Will the starting five change (Above is simply a projection)?
Tom Crean insists on playing the five best players. Derek Elston and Devan Dumes started the second half last game instead of Tom Pritchard and Maurice Creek. Elston seems like a logical choice as the second forward in the front court, but with the big De'Aundre Cranston starting for Ole Miss, they may need Pritchard's size. Creek, meanwhile, is tied with Christian Watford as the team's leading scorer and will be hard to leave out of Creans' starting five.
2. Which Jeremiah Rivers will come to play?
Will IU fans see the Jeremiah Rivers who posted 15 points and a 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in the team's second exhibition, or the sloppy Rivers who is averaging four turnovers and 17-percent shooting in the two regular season games? The Hoosiers will struggle this year if Rivers can't find his rhythm and doesn't play quality minutes.
3. Can the Hoosiers contain the Rebel's backcourt?
Rivers has a seven-inch height advantage on Ole Miss' Chris Warren. It will be an interesting battle to see the lockdown defender challenge the speedy Warren. IU has struggled some with transition defense and they might be a bit overmatched on the perimeter. For IU to have a solid chance to win, they will need to contain the Rebel's backcourt, which won't be easy. The Ole Miss trio is averaging nearly 14 points per game each.
Prediction:
Earlier this year, ESPN's Andy Katz said this tournament will give Crean a "good barometer on where his team stands." The first game, in particular, will likely reveal whether IU is capable of competing with top-level talent. Ole Miss should have the edge in the backcourt and is definitely more experienced. This is certainly a winnable game for the Hoosiers, but may be premature to expect them to come away with this one. Maybe they will prove me wrong. That's why they play the game. IU 64, Ole Miss 77
