Well the time has finally arrived. After a few days of piecing together makeshift schedules, we can give you IU's official 2010-11 men's basketball schedule.
IU has as good a chance as ever to open the season hot, with six non-conference home games to open the year before traveling to Boston College for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Included in those first six are NCCU and Northwestern State, two schools IU beat by a combined 41 points last season.
After falling to the rival Wildcats in a 90-73 loss at home last year, IU will travel to Kentucky on Dec. 11. The game is sandwiched between games with Savannah State and SIUE, right before they make their trip to Sin City for the IBN Las Vegas Classic.
The Hoosiers also have a good chance to open conference play with a win again, as Penn State comes to Bloomington on Dec. 27. In the two teams' only meeting last year, IU won 67-61 at University Park. Penn State also represents the only Big Ten road trip IU will not have to make this season.
Immediately following Penn State, though, are Ohio State and Wisconsin, two teams that hurt the Hoosiers the most during the team's 10-game skid last year. The Buckeyes and Badgers won the games by a combined 45 points, as IU went on to lose five more contests - including a 32-point loss to Wisconsin at home - before ending the streak against Northwestern.
The Hoosiers will have their first chance at atonement against their bitter rival Purdue Boilermakers when the team travels to Mackey Arena on Feb. 8. Last year at Assembly Hall, the Hoosiers came within three points of beating then-No. 8 Purdue, a game in which IU held a seven-point halftime lead.
IU will close the season at Illinois, where the Hoosiers were heartbroken last year by Demetri McCamey's buzzer-beating floater in a 72-70 loss.
Coach Tom Crean's thoughts on the schedule after the jump.
Crean:
"This schedule will present us with a lot of unique challenges. Twice, we have stretches early in the season where we will play six games in 14 days so our depth and health will be a critical factor."
"I think we will learn a lot about our team during the four non-conference games we play away from Assembly Hall. Boston College has one of the most experienced teams with 11 seniors or juniors, the Kentucky game is one of the most intense rivalries in college basketball and in Las Vegas we will see a very good Northern Iowa team and then a day later have to take on a team like New Mexico or Colorado."
"The Big Ten schedule is a grind that you have to be mentally and physically prepared to handle. This year, the league should be as good as any in the country"
