Came across and interesting read tonight by Josh Reed of the Big Ten Network. He wrote a 'homework' type piece on what a handful of Big Ten teams need to work on early in the conference season. While he did praise the Hoosiers for their impressive start, he wasn't shy about the defense (or lack thereof) IU is playing in conference.
Here is what Reed had to say about the Hoosiers and I'm interested to hear if people hold the same concerns or if this is a little too much nit-picking for a team coming off their first Big Ten road win in almost two years.
Indiana: Yes, the Hoosiers are much-improved (indeed, they'll likely sport a top-10 ranking when sport's most meaningless polls come out for this week), but all is not well in Bloomington. While Tom Crean's team can score, it also sports the worst defense in the entire Big Ten. No, really-no team has given up more points per possession than the Hoosiers. So while IU held off Penn State on the road, it should be a warning sign that the Hoosiers sweated out a close game in which they shot 75% on very frequent three-pointers. It should also be noted that Indiana went to the line 32 times in a game that saw them attempt just 23 two-point shots. Quite obviously, these stats sit toward to the more extreme side, and are usually indicative of a blowout win. But this was a real battle, in large part because the Hoosiers allowed Penn State to score at 1.15 points per possession. The Nittany Lion offense is usually "Tim Frazier, and, uh, Bueller?", so it's not a great sign that they scored almost at will. Of course, given PSU's steamrolling of Purdue, maybe Pat Chambers just has Indiana schools figured out.
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