Business School partners with NFL
IU’s Kelley School of Business is no stranger to accolades that place it among the best — if not the best — business schools in the country.
190 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
IU’s Kelley School of Business is no stranger to accolades that place it among the best — if not the best — business schools in the country.
In the seemingly never-ending game of musical chairs that is conference realignment in NCAA Division I athletics, the music stopped July 1 for the Big Ten Conference.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Mersades Clouse enters Frank Southern Ice Arena and leaves her name at the door. The ice has melted and the rink has been converted to a roller derby track. As she steps onto the track for her second home bout of the season, Clouse is no longer a junior majoring in social work at IU. Standing nearly six feet tall in skates and a helmet, she is “Mersadist” — a roller girl name her boyfriend came up with.As a blocker, it’s Mersadist’s job to deliver punishing hits on the track. She competes for Bleeding Heartlands Roller Derby’s A team, the Flatliners.Brash, and not for the faint of heart, roller derby is unlike any other sport.It's a giant game of cat and mouse on skates, like an hour-long episode of "Tom and Jerry," except with more violence. The catch is that each team gets to be the hunter and the hunted — at the same time.Other than points scored, there are no stats recorded. There aren’t any rebounds, assists or steals. Body checks and the resulting bruises are the currency of hard work and hustle in roller derby. “When I first started playing roller derby, I fell all the time, and I just had the most beautifully rainbow-colored bruises,” Mersadist said. “They were gorgeous, and I was obsessed with getting new ones.”Part of her uniform is for show, the rest is for her own protection. Wearing a helmet, pairs of wrist guards, elbow pads and knee pads, and the number 70 written in Sharpie on her biceps, she huddles with the rest of her team on the sideline. Five players per team skate around the track, with each side recognizing one skater as the “jammer.” The jammer tallies a point each time she laps one of her opponents. The rest of the players are blockers.Teams utilize the depth of their benches, sending waves of players to the track for a series of fast-paced, minute-long shifts. Roller derby is the equivalent of building a sand castle too close to the ocean. The ocean will always knock down the sand castle, and the jammer will always break through the blockers. The key is how quickly blockers can get back in position and fortify a human wall for the next time the opposing jammer skates around the track.They can’t completely stop the jammer. They can only hope to slow her down. What separates the winning team from the losing team is its ability to play offense and defense at the same time.Mersadist, or “Mercy” for short, often plays the role of the pivot. The pivot is a blocker who has the distinct ability to replace the jammer if the jammer gets tired or stuck behind opposing blockers. Each team’s pivot wears the “pivot panty,” a special helmet covering to distinguish her role. The beauty of roller derby is there isn’t a perfect recipe of players to win a bout. Players of all types are welcomed with open arms to Bleeding Heartland Roller Derby, and each has a role on the team.“We welcome all body types, all personalities, all people,” Mersadist said. “We don’t ever tell anyone they can’t play with us. It’s never like that.”Small, agile players are typically jammers, with the lateral quickness to sidestep opposing blockers and to tiptoe along the out-of-bounds line. Bigger players often make for great blockers as they are able to position their bodies to cut off possible escape routes for the other team’s jammer.“Sometimes you might put a big jammer in there, because she can just smash through everybody on the track,” Flatlines Coach Duke Silver said. “Sometimes you want a little jammer. We obviously rely heavily on Nuck L. Sammie, who is tiny, but nobody can touch her. She’s so fast.”Tall players have better visibility in packs. Small players can sneak unnoticed through openings between blockers.Mersadist said roller derby is a welcoming sport, but it’s physically demanding. There isn’t a ball to throw or kick from one player to the next — only bodies to skate through. For Mersadist, a fifth-year roller derby player, blocking is both a physical and mental challenge. “I love blocking, because I constantly have to be playing offense and defense,” she said. “It’s such a mind game to be playing.”Mersadist practices 15 hours per week and coaches for another two hours during the week, she said, on top of being a full-time student, having an internship, volunteering at Martha’s House and working two jobs. But playing in front of a few hundred passionate fans who aren’t shy to celebrate a big hit makes it all worth it.“I eat that shit up,” she said. “I absolutely love it. There’s nothing more rewarding than working so hard at something and then having other people appreciate it or enjoy watching us do the crazy tricks that we do or the crazy awesome blocking that we do.”The bottom line is that roller derby is unique.From the lingo — a “panty pass” is when a pivot becomes a jammer — to the arena complete with disco balls and lights. From the fans' indifference towards a player vomiting mid-bout — several sprinkles of sand and a few sweeps of a broom should do the trick — to the singing of ‘O Canada’ before the bout between the Flatlines and Ontario’s Hammer City Roller Girls. From overhearing the arena’s in-game announcer say “Pants? I hate pants!” to the first row of seats on the floor being labeled as “Suicide Seating.”Among the spectators and even the players, there is largely no dress code, aside from the matching jerseys the players wear. “Derby’s kind of a land of misfits,” Coach Silver said. “It’s a very queer-friendly sport. There’s a lot of transgender skaters. Everybody can be open with their lifestyle. It’s very accepting.”Silver said he felt out of place when he joined roller derby, until a skater pulled him aside and told him everybody there was a freak.“That’s why we’re here,” the skater told him.Show up as you are, and you’ll be welcomed.Or think of a clever alter ego and show off a different side of yourself, just like Uh Huh Hurricane, Oxford Coma, Special Sass and the rest of the Bleeding Heartland Roller Derby skaters have.“The best part is they get to make it up themselves,” Mersadist said. “You get to create your own persona. You get to be your own person.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ten weeks after he held his mother for the last time, Jeff Jones was back on his bike.He rode his 2008 Little 500 model Schwinn to class one day in early February. It was just a simple ride across campus. For any experienced cyclist, it would’ve been nothing special. But for Jones, it was everything.Only seven weeks after surgery for a hernia had wretched his abdomen, he was more than halfway to a full recovery. It meant no more time in the hospital. It meant he was back to doing what he loved. It meant he was that much closer to racing in the Little 500.But his journey was far from over. The surgery kept him off the bike for almost two months, and he needed to resume his training. He needed his wound from the surgery to heal, and he needed to lead his team to a qualifying time that placed Sigma Nu’s bike team among the top 33.He had come too far for anything short of success.As a sophomore in high school, Jones began cycling when he started mountain biking through trails outside of Connersville, Ind. After he joined Sigma Nu’s bike team as a freshman in the spring 2012, his mission was clear: He wanted to race in the Little 500.In his mother’s hospital room, he told her again and again, “I’m going to make you proud.”He saw racing in the Little 500 as a chance to keep that promise.***Cycling is a drug for Jones. He’s hooked on the endorphins released during challenging rides.To him, there’s nothing more fulfilling than a three-hour ride to test his endurance.“Especially when you get done after that long ride, you just feel so great about yourself,” he said. “I can’t get over the fact of just being on the bike, being in the saddle, just there all the time.”Jones is in his third year on the Sigma Nu bike team. He has participated in every Little 500 event — the fall series, spring series and Fast Fridays — except for the race itself.He was supposed to ride in the race as a sophomore, when one of his teammates had a pending trial with the University. However, the trial was postponed, making Jones just another fan instead of a rider on race day.After Sigma Nu’s four seniors placed seventh last April, they graduated. In a span of 16 months, he progressed from a rookie who had to draft off of his more experienced teammates to even finish 20-mile rides to the only rider left on Sigma Nu’s team. Jones was forced to be a jack-of-all-trades: he was his team’s captain, best rider, recruiter and coach. Not only did he have to convince at least three more riders to even field a team, he then had to coach and lead them.Ever since last summer when he was handed the reins to the bike team, Jones had been completely focused on a top-10, maybe a top-five, finish in the Little 500. Then his mom called him from the hospital.***Rita Jones was fighting leukemia when she fell and hit her head Oct. 23, 2013.She called Jones and his twin sister, Julie, from the hospital, telling them not to worry because her doctors said she would be all right.But she was not all right.Jones said his mother had suffered a subdural hematoma, a traumatic brain injury that caused bleeding in her brain. Though she had undergone chemotherapy to defeat her leukemia, the disease had reduced the number of platelets in her blood, leaving doctors helpless to stop her brain’s bleeding.Jones was doing homework in Sigma Nu’s formal lounge, four or five hours after Rita called him, when he got a call from his aunt. She said he and Julie needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.He said he drove as fast as he could, but by the time he made it to her hospital room, Rita had already spoken her final words to him. She was unconscious and doctors were giving her morphine to ease the pain.“You can’t go in for brain surgery with that because obviously, you know, you cut someone open and they have the low blood cell count, they’re just going to bleed to death,” he said.Doctors continued to give Rita morphine. Jones, Julie and their family waited at her bedside. The doctors didn’t tell Jones how bad Rita’s injury was, so he was hoping for the best. But as time passed, he began to realize she wouldn’t recover.Rita died the morning of Oct. 24.Jones sat on her bed, he said, holding her until that moment came.Julie described Jones and their mother as being two peas in a pod. While she was more prone to arguing with their mother, she said he always got along with her perfectly.“It was surreal,” Jones said. “I can’t describe the pain of the situation.”***Living in Bloomington with thousands of other students, the clutter of a small city and countless buildings, Jones said he can get cloudy-headed and tense. After his mother died, he needed a sense of normalcy. He got on his bike.“Anytime I’m stressed, that’s my paradise,” he said.Jones took only a week off school because his mother pushed him to be successful, he said, and he wasn’t going to prolong his college career so he could spend a few more weeks grieving. “I was going to do the best of my ability to get back to school or the real life and succeed and make her happy,” he said. In the fall, Jones’ goal for Sigma Nu’s bike team was to build up everyone’s base mileage. In Jones’ eyes, Bloomington is a cycling hub. In his three years at IU, he has discovered numerous routes he loves. But one route to Lake Lemon is special to him.On the back side of the water there is a two-mile stretch of flat road that quickly morphs into a huge climb, a challenge Jones cherished. “It’s just one of those rides you feel great about when you’re done,” he said.Jones led his team through 30- and 40-mile rides, like those to Lake Lemon, four or five times per week to develop his team’s endurance.The unfortunate irony about his love of the lake was that the hernia was rooted in an abdominal strain he suffered while tubing on a lake in high school.Between Jones’ high-interval circuit training and his 175-mile weeks on his bike, the strain could no longer endure his exercise regimen. He said the hernia felt as if his abdomen snapped.“It just felt like there was a knife right there in my groin,” Jones said.***When doctors cut him open, they found a direct hernia. His intestines had punctured his abdominal wall.They pushed his intestines back and sutured a thin mesh patch to the wall to reinforce the weak area where the hernia was. The sutures the doctors used to sew the mesh patch were designed to disappear. Jones hoped they’d dissolve and go away, ending the pain.After the surgery, Jones said his doctor told him he would be able to ride in this year’s Little 500. A full recovery was supposed to take only four to six weeks.So Jones returned to the gym four weeks after his doctor approved of light lifting. But he began to feel worse.“Spring break came around, and I couldn’t walk,” Jones said.He gave himself an ultimatum: If he could go on Sigma Nu’s spring break cycling trip and ride 300 miles that week, then he would ride in the Little 500.But the pain worsened. One day he couldn’t walk at all. Then he lied on the couch for five days. While his teammates prepared for intense training, Jones was immobilized, gripped with pain.“The day before spring break was the day I decided I wasn’t going to ride,” he said. Thirty-one days after his first post-surgery ride in February, Jones realized he wouldn’t be riding in this year’s Little 500. Julie said unlike their mother’s death, which she said motivated Jones, the hernia had crushed his spirit. He was supposed to be the captain of Sigma Nu’s bike team. The team’s heart and soul. Its leader.Then he was out of the picture.All Jones wanted to do was ride, he said, but he had to look at the long-term affects of his hernia and surgery on his overall health.“To have that ripped from you is pretty tragic,” Jones said. Ultimately, he thought about how he needed to get better physically, and not just so he could race in the Little 500.There was still another chance to ride as a senior. But he’s stuck with his body for the rest of his life. There are no second chances when it comes to permanently injuring his abdomen.After seeing the stress he was putting himself through physically following the surgery, he said, he decided he needed to let himself heal.***April 26 will mark the second consecutive year that Jones will watch the men’s Little 500, when he had planned on racing.But unlike last year, he won’t be in the stands. He’ll be one step closer to the action, as Sigma Nu’s coach.Despite being barely able to walk, Jones has gone to track practices all spring. His riders need his guidance.“The guys don’t really know what they’re doing on exchanges and all that stuff,” he said.Though Jones has never raced in the Little 500, he’s a student of the sport. He has learned the intricacies of pack riding, breakaways and exchanges. When Jones couldn’t walk — he relied on an IU disabled services bus to transport him to his classes for several weeks — he still found a way to make it to Bill Armstrong Stadium for practices. “I really think I have a good eye for everything now,” he said. Standing on the sidelines this year has forced Jones to take a step back and look at his life and the challenges he has had to face, Julie said.“But he can adjust to it,” she said.Already Jones has changed his diet, avoiding processed food and instead consuming more protein shakes, fruits and vegetables. He filled the void biking left in his life by buying an entry-level Fender acoustic guitar and teaching himself to play. He changed his major to health administration. He said he wants to teach people about preventative care.But he said when he returns to full strength, he will take every opportunity to ride.As a racer, Jones said there’s no question he wants to win the Little 500 next year. The only way for him to do that is to be the best possible Jeff Jones that he can be.“It’s really been a big change of heart because I’ve honestly changed my whole outlook to gear towards being healthy and being in shape and trying to be as good as I can be on the bike,” he said.He has one opportunity left to ride in the Little 500 before he graduates, and he said he’s not going to let injury or a bad diet stop him.“I will be as healthy and as fit as I can be, and I will do my best for my bike team because that’s what means the most to me as a racer,” he said. “I want to race, and I’m going to do everything I can to fulfill that goal.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Months of training will be put to the test Saturday during the 2014 Little 500 qualifications at Bill Armstrong Stadium. This year marks the 64th running of the men’s Little 500 and 27th edition of the women’s race. Thirty-seven men’s and 35 women’s teams will attempt to qualify for one of the 33 spots in each race.Qualification times were chosen Monday evening in a double-random draw.The top three men’s and women’s teams from the fall cycling series were awarded the opportunity to pick their qualification times, but the rest had to endure the suspense of picking their times out of a hat.Phi Gamma Delta, known as Fiji, will kick off the event with the first trial at 8 a.m. The track conditions may change over the course of the day, potentially giving some teams an advantage. Alpha Epsilon Phi rider Sydney Aronovitz said the track might be a little fresher early in the morning, while Liz Lieberman, a cyclist for Kappa Alpha Theta, said mornings tend to be wet and windy.“It’s definitely something to take into consideration,” Lieberman said.Given the split personality of the weather in Indiana, there is no way to accurately predict what the conditions of the track will be until race day.Theta rider Brenna Mcginn said the weather changed about three teams this week, adding that her team doesn’t know if there are potential advantages of qualifying early in the morning or later in the day.She offers simple advice for cyclists attempting to combat Mother Nature.“Pedal harder,” Mcginn said with a laugh.AEPhi rider Margot Kleinberg said her team is happy with its early qualification time. AEPhi is scheduled to take the track at 9:40 a.m.“We’re really excited about that so we can kind of get it over with,” she said. “Our heads will be clear for the rest of the day. We won’t be thinking about it.”AEPhi is made up entirely of rookies, so it has less cycling experience compared to veteran teams.Kleinberg said her team is just learning, making the road ahead for AEPhi a little more nerve-racking. She said her team rides every day, and they have spent three hours per day at the track in the days leading up to qualifications.“It’s that intense,” Kleinberg said. “It’s unlike any other sport you’ve ever experienced.”Qualifications will continue until 4:25 p.m., when Cutters will be the final team to take the track. Teams can choose to attempt to qualify for a third time at 5 p.m.In each qualification attempt, teams will ride four consecutive laps, with a different rider riding each lap.The first rider will get one warm-up lap and the attempt officially starts once the rider crosses the start-finish line. After each lap, the rider will exchange the bike with his or her teammate, and the exchange must take place within 16 feet of either side of the start and finish line. The attempt is over as soon as the fourth rider crosses the finish line.Theta cyclist Abbey Rogers said the key to performing well Saturday will be her team’s mindset.“I think (it’s) the mentality of ‘we’ve done this a thousand times already,’” she said. “Nothing is changing. It’s us, the bike and the track.”While that mantra sounds good in theory, Saturday will be so much more than just the cyclists and their bikes. The stadium will be brought to life with thousands of fans supporting the riders.“It’s not just the four of us,” Lieberman said. “But it’s your house or your parents or whoever is coming to support you. You have a hundred of your friends cheering you on.”New and established teams alike will leave it all on the track Saturday, as four men’s teams and two women’s teams will not make the cut.Qualifying for the Little 500 is the most important part of Saturday. Earning a good position in April’s race is just the cherry on top.“Our goal is just to qual,” Aronovitz said. “We don’t care exactly how fast we are, but we just want to make it.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU freshman wide receiver Isaac Griffith, who redshirted last season, suffered injuries to his lungs after a swimming accident last Monday evening. He was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla., where doctors put him into a medically induced coma until Wednesday night. Griffith was discharged Sunday afternoon. Here is a timeline of events in his accident and recovery.About 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 17IU football players Isaac Griffith, Ty Smith, Nick Stoner and IU student Mitch McCune traveled to Sarasota, Fla., for spring break and stayed at La Siesta Condominiums. The four students consumed alcohol in their room before going across the street to Siesta Beach, according to an incident report from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. All four men went swimming, and the current pushed them away from shore. Griffith was reportedly taken about 15 yards away from the swim buoy, where he started to go into distress.The incident report said McCune rescued Griffith and brought him back to shore, where he had a pulse but was unconscious. His breathing was short and sporadic, so McCune performed CPR while 911 was called. Marine rescue and law enforcement responded, and Griffith was transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.The report said, “The hospital later reported Griffith’s CAT scan results came back normal, which is promising.”The incident was reported at 7:31 p.m. Monday.10:04 p.m.Homestead Football tweeted, “Please pray for former Spartan & current Hoosier, Isaac Griffith & his family. Isaac was in a swimming accident & is critical. Thank you.”10:55 p.m.IU Athletics released a statement, “We are aware of Isaac Griffith’s condition. Our prayers are with Isaac and his family and we ask Hoosier Nation to keep the Griffith family in their thoughts.”11:04 p.m.Shannon Griffith, Isaac’s father, tweeted that he and his wife Kim were boarding a plane to Sarasota. Then, Shannon said his son was stabilized in a medically induced coma. Isaac’s other vitals were positive, but he was “still critical.”6:45 a.m. TuesdayShannon tweeted that he and Kim had arrived at Isaac’s bedside in the intensive care unit at 2 a.m. and had not left. His father said his vitals were stable, but the freshman was still in a medically induced coma and was on a ventilator to help his lungs heal.10:48 p.m. TuesdayShannon tweeted Isaac was still on the ventilator, but doctors reduced it to 50 percent of his breathing.“We continue to pray for lungs to show signs of healing and pray for the antibiotics they are giving him to ward off infection,” he tweeted. “Isaac is receiving great care here at #SarasotaMemorial critical care unit. We continue to talk to Isaac because we believe he can hear us.”8:25 p.m. WednesdayShannon tweeted Isaac was breathing on his own and that the doctors brought him out of his medically induced coma.“Today was a very good day for Isaac!” he tweeted. “Early this afternoon the doctors gave the orders to remove him from the ventilator and bring him out of his medically induced coma. He woke up well, is breathing on his own and resting at this present moment. He has responded to his name immediately, moved his hands, squeezed Kim’s hand, moved his feet.” 10:39 a.m. ThursdayKim Savage, the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System’s media contact, released a statement that said Griffith was “awake, breathing on his own and responding well to his family and hospital caregivers.” She said doctors upgraded his condition to “serious, but stable,” and they believe he will make a full recovery. “The biggest issue right now is monitoring and treating him for pneumonia and damage to his lungs that followed his near-drowning Monday afternoon when he was caught in a riptide off Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota, Florida,“ she said in the statement.11:00 a.m. FridayShannon and Sarasota Memorial Critical Care Physician Dr. Kenneth Hurwitz met with the media outside of Sarasota Memorial Hospital for the first time since the accident. Hurwitz, who is board certified in pulmonology, critical care and internal medicine, said Isaac was not in “any immediate danger.” The hospital press release said Hurwitz credited Isaac’s friends for getting him out of the water quickly. He said five minutes without oxygen is all it takes to cause a severe brain injury and permanent disability.The actions of his friends who risked their own lives to pull him from the rip current, and who then performed CPR until paramedics arrived, saved not only his life but also his quality of life, according to the release.“A lot of the credit goes to his friends,” he said. “They put themselves at serious risk to help him. Two or three minutes longer and it would have been a different story.”According to the release, Griffith got up and walked Friday and is eating a controlled diet. He was moved out of intensive care today to a regular patient care unit. He continues to be monitored and treated for pneumonia, lung damage and risk of infection from the salt water that was trapped in his lungs. His prognosis for a full recovery is very good.“It’s a good day to smile,” Shannon said, thanking Hurwitz and the entire team of physicians, nurses, respiratory care therapists and others who have cared for his son since he was admitted to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.Shannon said he learned of his son’s accident when his wife called Monday evening.“It dropped me to my knees,” he said. “It was the worst call I ever got in my life.”Shannon credited Isaac’s football training for saving his life.“Not too many people walk away from that,” Shannon said. “Because of his physical conditioning, the daily regimen, the cardiovascular and strength training, good nutrition — all those things, that’s how we win football games. For me, now, that’s how you save your life.”10:09 a.m. SaturdayShannon tweeted Isaac’s doctor told him his chest X-ray was clearing up, and the small air pocket he had went away. “Doctor said to get out of bed, walk around and get outside!” he tweeted. “The oxygen has been turned off and he is breathing on his own.”1:04 p.m. SundayShannon tweeted Isaac had been discharged from Sarasota Memorial Hospital.“Thankful for everyone who lifted our son up in their prayers, the hospital staff and Sarasota for helping two strangers in need,” he tweeted.Shannon also tweeted two pictures of Isaac in a wheelchair with each of his parents.Minutes later, Isaac tweeted for the first time since the accident.“Nothin’ more to say except I’m blessed. Indiana, I’m on my way home today,” he tweeted. “I can’t thank everyone for their support in these past few days for me and my family. I can’t say enough how grateful I am.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>INDIANAPOLIS — IU traded scoring runs with Illinois throughout Thursday’s 64-54 loss, but the Illini had the final say when they closed the game on an 11-2 run. A defensive lapse by the Hoosiers led to Illinois guard Tracy Abrams knocking down a wide-open 3-pointer with 2:07 remaining in the game, providing his team some breathing room in what was at the time a one-point game.“That was the dagger that hurt,” sophomore point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell said.IU’s loss ended the team’s hopes of earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.“It’s always disappointing not to make the goal that we had set at the beginning of the year, but it’s been like a roller coaster this year,” Ferrell said.He said the team’s goal was to win a national championship.After a 17-15 record in their 2013-14 campaign, the Hoosiers will not be invited to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Instead, they are likely to play in the National Invitational Tournament.Despite IU's down year after making two consecutive appearances in the Sweet 16, there is a sense of hope among the players about next season.“I think we can be very good, especially make a tournament run," Ferrell said. "Of course we’re going to want to do that."Senior forwards Will Sheehey and Jeff Howard will graduate this spring, and graduate student guard Evan Gordon will exhaust his eligibility after this season.However, most of the Hoosiers’ roster is set return next season, provided Big Ten Freshman of the Year Noah Vonleh — a potential top-10 pick in this year’s NBA draft — elects to stay in school.IU Coach Tom Crean’s starting lineup Thursday included three freshmen and a sophomore, providing the Hoosiers a foundation to build upon for the future.Across the board, IU’s freshmen have shown improvements in February and March.Freshman guard Stanford Robinson scored a season-high 17 points off the bench in IU’s win against then-No. 20 Iowa on Feb. 27.Troy Williams was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week last week after scoring 34 points on 15-for-21 shooting in two games.Devin Davis earned the first start of his career last Saturday, scoring nine points and grabbing six rebounds against No. 12 Michigan.Robinson said next year will be a good one because the team gained confidence this season.“I think in the beginning we were all dependent on Yogi, but now us stepping up gave us a lot of confidence coming in to next year or the NIT, to play even better as a team,” he said.Robinson said the team improved its chemistry over the course of the season.“Obviously not tonight, but as the end of the season started to come, I feel like we’ve all learned how to play together as a team,” he said.Part of IU’s shortcomings may have been the result of the composition of the team’s roster and its lack of consistent shooters. Excluding Ferrell and Vonleh's 3-point shooting, the rest of the Hoosiers shot a combined 27.8 percent from beyond the arc this season. “I feel like we have a lot of people who can get to the rim at will,” Robinson said, adding that the Hoosiers don’t have a lot of players with the confidence to knock down jump shots.IU’s lack of outside shooting could change this summer when the team’s three 2014 recruits — James Blackmon Jr., Robert Johnson and Max Hoetzel — arrive on campus. All three players are billed as sharpshooters by scouts.“I mean, we can be really good with these new recruits coming in, just brings us more shooters to the table,” Robinson said.The freshman guard said the addition of high-level shooters will give IU better spacing on offense, opening up the floor for its wing players.“Individually I learned how to attack, attack, always attack and finish at difference levels, and even collapsing the defense and kicking it out,” Robinson said, when asked how he improved over the course of his freshman season. “I’m still working on that.”Similarly to the individual development of IU’s young players, the team was a work in progress this season. The Hoosiers had four wins against ranked opponents but only had one winning streak longer than two games.After the game, Vonleh said that after the first few games of Big Ten play, he thought they were going to finish at least among the top three teams in the Big Ten.“But we lost a lot of close games,” he said. “We were up in a lot of the games, but in the second half we would get into a drought and we would end up losing.”If Vonleh returns to IU and the team’s young shooters develop, the Hoosiers have the pieces in place to be among the top Big Ten teams next season and potentially make an NCAA Tournament run.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU is in control of its own destiny. After finishing the regular season with a 17-14 record and an eighth-place finish in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers only have one way to punch their ticket to the big dance — winning the Big Ten Tournament.IU’s first-round matchup is against Illinois (18-13, 7-11) at noon today in Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Fighting Illini enter the tournament having won four of its past five games, including road victories against then-No. 18 Michigan State and then-No. 24 Iowa.During Monday’s Big Ten Coaches Teleconference, IU Coach Tom Crean said Illinois has played great basketball during the last month, with the exception of its 31-point loss to Michigan.“I don’t think there’s any question that they are playing with excellent confidence,” Crean said, adding that the Illini are playing with tremendous energy and at a high level on defense. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us at any point in time with anybody in this league. But certainly going into this game, we have great respect for what they are doing and how they are progressing.”Illinois’ road game against Penn State on Feb. 9 was the team’s turning point, according to Crean.After an eight-game skid during the heart of the regular season, Illinois Coach John Groce changed his starting lineup in State College, Pa.He moved graduate student Jon Ekey and redshirt senior Joseph Bertrand to the bench. Freshmen Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill were promoted to the Illini’s starting five.Illinois finished 5-3 down the stretch in conference play, and Nunn has been a catalyst in his new role.He scored 95 points during the team’s first 23 games of the season. The 6-foot-3 guard poured in a season-high 19 points against the Nittany Lions and has averaged 12.1 points per game since becoming a starter.“Kendrick Nunn, with more minutes, provides just a little bit more explosiveness to their game that creates things for other people,” Crean said. “The way he plays is he is a very, very high-energy type of player and a lot of similarities, in my mind, to Victor Oladipo.”While Nunn is a key contributor, he is just one of Illinois’ weapons.Redshirt junior Rayvonte Rice scored 49 points in his two games against IU this season.Crean said the Hoosiers have to improve their defense against Rice in Indianapolis.“We have to do a much better job against him, but at the same time, they put 3-point shooters on the court,” he said. “They are playing some young guys now that have the benefit of playing with the older guys, the fifth-year guys or the fourth-year guys who have been through it, and they’ve been able to blend in.”The winner of Thursday’s game gets the opportunity to face Michigan, the Big Ten regular season champion, on Friday.However, IU remains focused on the next game on its schedule. Crean said the Hoosiers have to be locked in to what’s in front of them.“The most important thing is that you don’t ever look ahead,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter what team you have going in. If you look ahead to day two, you could be done on day one.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 34 IU women’s tennis team went .500 in its two matches Saturday. The Hoosiers lost 5-2 to No. 41 DePaul but responded with a 7-0 defeat of IUPUI. The Blue Demons jumped out to a 2-0 lead by winning the doubles point and the No. 4 singles match. IU tied the match with singles victories from junior Katie Klyczek and senior Sophie Garre. DePaul won the No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches in third-set to win the match. The Hoosiers were dominant during their afternoon match against the Jaguars and did not surrender more than three games in any doubles match or singles set.IU won every singles match in straight sets to improve to 11-4 this season. The team will play host to Purdue at 3 p.m. Friday in the IU Tennis Center.Andy Wittry
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On a night dedicated to IU’s four seniors, Nebraska’s 70-60 victory against the Hoosiers Wednesday spoiled their home farewell to the upperclassmen and effectively ended the team’s hopes of earning an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.“First of all, I do hate to lose, and I hate tonight,” senior forward Will Sheehey said in the opening of his post-game speech on Branch McCracken Court.After trailing by as many as 11 points, the Hoosiers tied the game midway through the second half when a wide-open Sheehey knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing.However, it was all downhill from there for the Hoosiers. IU only scored eight points in the final 10 minutes and shot 3-for-18 during that span. For the second consecutive game, freshman forward Noah Vonleh was sidelined with inflammation of his left foot. In his absence, the Hoosiers couldn’t find an answer for Nebraska sophomore Walter Pitchford.Pitchford — a 6-foot-10, 234-pound forward — scored Nebraska’s first nine points and finished with a team-high 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting.His biggest shot of the game was a 3-pointer in the final two minutes of the game that gave the Cornhuskers a 62-58 lead and proved to be the dagger.“The mistake late of leaving Pitchford baffles my mind to be honest with you,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “How we can make a mistake there in a switch game late like that in the game.”Sheehey said it bothered him that the Hoosiers left opponents open.“There was a stretch there where the other guys hit a bunch of threes,” he said. “That was unacceptable.”The Hoosiers’ struggles weren’t limited to the defensive end. On offense, IU shot 36.7 percent from the field.Crean said the bottom line in the Hoosiers’ loss was that they didn’t shoot well enough.“When we moved the ball well and kept it moving from side to side, we were really hard to guard,” he said. “We just didn’t do it enough.”Sophomore guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell said the team’s game plan against Nebraska’s zone defense was to get into the middle and drive. However, IU’s offense became stagnant at times and the Hoosiers struggled to finish at the rim and to shoot from behind the arc.They were 5-for-21 from 3-point range. Ferrell finished 1-for-10 from distance.Cold shooting from Ferrell and Sheehey, coupled with Vonleh’s ailment, demanded that the Hoosiers’ supporting cast step up on both ends of the floor.“We had some guys step up,” Crean said, citing the play of freshmen Devin Davis, Troy Williams and Stanford Robinson. “We told Troy before the game somehow you got to find a way to get 10 rebounds.” Williams scored a game-high 18 points, which was his second-highest scoring output of the season. Despite entering the game as a 12 percent 3-point shooter, he made both of his jump shots from behind the arc.Davis played 15 minutes — the most action he has seen in a game since Nov. 22 — and chipped in seven points, three rebounds and several hustle plays.“He was a straight warrior tonight,” Crean said. “That’s exactly what we need from him.”Even though its role players stepped up Wednesday, IU didn’t make enough plays in crunch time to earn its eighth conference win of the season, ensuring a sub-.500 record in the Big Ten.“We didn’t make enough (shots) to put us over the hump at any point in time,” Crean said. “That combined with a couple defensive mistakes at crucial times defies imagination. But it happens and it did and now we got to regroup and get ready to go play Michigan.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On a night dedicated to IU’s four seniors, Nebraska’s 70-60 victory against the Hoosiers Wednesday spoiled their home farewell to their upperclassmen and effectively ended the team’s hopes of earning an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.“First of all, I do hate to lose, and I hate tonight,” senior forward Will Sheehey said in the opening of his post-game speech on Branch McCracken Court.After trailing by as many as 11 points, the Hoosiers tied the game midway through the second half when a wide-open Sheehey knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing.For the second consecutive game, freshman forward Noah Vonleh was sidelined with inflammation of his left foot. In his absence, the Hoosiers couldn’t find an answer for Nebraska sophomore Walter Pitchford.Pitchford, a 6-foot-10, 234-pound forward, scored Nebraska’s first nine points and finished with a team-high 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting.His biggest shot of the game was a 3-pointer in the final two minutes of the game that gave the Cornhuskers a 62-58 lead and proved to be the dagger.“The mistake late of leaving Pitchford baffles my mind to be honest with you,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “How we can make a mistake there in a switch game late like that in the game.”Sheehey said it bothered him that the Hoosiers left opponents open.“There was a stretch there where the other guys hit a bunch of threes,” he said. “That was unacceptable.”The Hoosiers’ struggles weren’t limited to the defensive end. On offense, IU shot 36.7 percent from the field.Crean said the bottom line in the Hoosiers’ loss was that they didn’t shoot well enough.“When we moved the ball well and kept it moving from side to side, we were really hard to guard,” he said. “We just didn’t do it enough.”Sophomore guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell said the team’s game plan against Nebraska’s zone defense was to get into the middle and drive. However, IU’s offense became stagnant at times and the Hoosiers struggled to finish at the rim and to shoot from behind the arc.They were 5-for-21 from 3-point range. Ferrell finished 1-for-10 from distance.Cold shooting nights from Ferrell and Sheehey, coupled with Vonleh’s ailment, demanded that the Hoosiers’ supporting cast step up on both ends of the floor.“We had some guys step up,” Crean said, citing the play of freshmen Devin Davis, Troy Williams and Stanford Robinson. “We told Troy before the game somehow you got to find a way to get 10 rebounds.” Williams scored a game-high 18 points, which was his second-highest scoring output of the season. Despite entering the game as a 12 percent 3-point shooter, he made both of his jump shots from behind the arc.Davis played 15 minutes — the most action he has seen in a game since Nov. 22 — and chipped in seven points, three rebounds and several hustle plays.“He was a straight warrior tonight,” Crean said. “That’s exactly what we need from him.”Even though its role players stepped up Wednesday, IU didn’t make enough plays in crunch time to earn its eighth conference win of the season, ensuring itself of a sub-.500 record in the Big Ten.“We didn’t make enough (shots) to put us over the hump at any point in time,” Crean said. “That combined with a couple defensive mistakes at crucial times defies imagination. But it happens and it did and now we got to regroup and get ready to go play Michigan.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Seniors Will Sheehey, Evan Gordon, Jeff Howard and Taylor Wayer will suit up in cream and crimson at Assembly Hall for their final regular season home game Wednesday. The Hoosiers will play Nebraska at 7 p.m. in a must-win game for both teams in their pursuit of earning at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.During Monday’s Big Ten Coaches Teleconference, IU Coach Tom Crean said there is no question that the Cornhuskers are playing as well as any team in the Big Ten.Nebraska (17-11, 9-7) won eight of its past 10 games to improve to fifth place in the conference.“They can beat you in a lot of different ways,” Crean said. “In watching game film today, they can win with the two-man game, the three-man game, defense, 3-point shooting.”The Cornhuskers are led by redshirt sophomore guard-forward Terran Petteway, who is tied with Michigan State’s Gary Harris for the highest scoring average in the Big Ten at 17.9 points per game. By limiting Petteway to five points during the first half Jan. 30, IU (17-12, 7-9) had a 13-point lead at halftime.The 6-foot-6 wing went on to score 13 points during the second half of the first matchup between the two teams.Petteway’s second-half performance helped the Cornhuskers rally in the closing stretch of the game to a 60-55 victory in Lincoln, Neb.“He can really drop his shoulders, and he has to see help before he starts his move,” Crean said. “When that team wins, they are really, really good at getting to the foul line and Petteway is a big, big part of that.”Petteway draws 5.7 fouls per 40 minutes, per kenpom.com, and averages 5.9 free throw attempts per game. He shoots 81.7 percent from the charity stripe.The Hoosiers will need to continue their offensive consistency to combat Petteway’s scoring. IU’s bench only contributed seven total points against Nebraska in January and Sheehey was 3-for-10 from the field.Crean said trying to build consistency was one of the biggest challenges the Hoosier coaching staff faced this season.“I think when you look at this season, whether it was the inexperience of guys in roles, whether it was the youth... you’re trying to get your team to be tough in so many areas but consistency really is the greatest form of toughness you can possibly have in a team,” he said. “It takes time to get that.”IU has solidified third and fourth scoring options in addition to team scoring leaders Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell and Noah Vonleh during the team’s most recent home stand.In the past two games against Iowa and Ohio State, Sheehey, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week, scored 49 points. Graduate student guard Evan Gordon chipped in 21 points off the bench and the Hoosiers recorded 61 bench points.“He has really made a big difference in this program from the beginning of time that he got here and is playing his best basketball right now,” Crean said of Sheehey. “He is a big, big part of the leadership of this team and how the team is gaining confidence.”He said the Hoosiers will need to take the emotion from senior night and play with great energy and toughness against Nebraska.“And we are going to need our crowd to absolutely help carry us the whole way through,” Crean said.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In IU’s home reopener, the Hoosiers defeated another ranked opponent in Assembly Hall, topping No. 20 Iowa 93-86.It was the team’s third home victory against a ranked opponent this season and the win kept the Hoosiers from falling into a five-way tie for last place in the Big Ten.It was the Hoosiers’ greatest offensive outburst since scoring 102 points against Washington on Nov. 21.Ten IU players scored but two wing players were responsible for more than half of the Hoosiers’ points. Senior Will Sheehey and freshman Stanford Robinson recorded 30 and 17 points, respectively, which were career highs for both players.Sheehey said the team’s game plan was to run to the corners and space the floor, opening up the middle of the court.“I think our team from the start was built to run like this,” he said.The senior could have passed for a wide receiver Thursday night, consistently beating Iowa’s transition defense down the court.He said the key to his offensive success was his teammates finding him in transition.Sophomore point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell threw multiple overhead passes to an open Sheehey and Robinson found him on back cuts.“I was scoring without the ball in my hands,” Sheehey said, crediting his teammates for finding him in transition.He got off to a hot start for the second consecutive game, scoring six of the team’s first eight points. He scored IU’s first seven points against Wisconsin but was held scoreless for the final 37 minutes in Madison, Wis., Tuesday.The senior didn’t let up against Iowa. He nearly matched his previous career-high in the first half, recording 19 points.Crean said Sheehey was fantastic against Iowa.“What an unbelievably ironic thing for him to have his career high on the night in which he was honored for his 1,000th career point,” he said. “I thought he was going for 2,000 tonight.”The pace of play in the first half could have given the scoreboard operator carpel tunnel as the teams combined for 101 points.The fast-paced nature of the game caused both teams to take advantage of their depth.“We knew it was going to be a game where depth was key because of how good Iowa’s depth is,” Crean said.Thirteen Hoosiers saw action Thursday and IU recorded a season-high 42 bench points.Robinson said Crean frequently tells his players that they will never know when their time will come.Even though the freshman guard said IU is better when it is able to utilize its athletes in transition, Hoosier fans shouldn’t expect an encore of Thursday’s game, which may have been mistaken for a track meet or a high-flying Cirque de Soleil performance.Points will be hard to come by when the Hoosiers play host to No. 22 Ohio State Sunday. It would be an understatement to say the Buckeyes play stingy defense. Ohio State has the third-best adjusted defense in the country, according to kenpom.com.“Obviously there are teams in this league who have no interest in having any kind of pace,” Crean said.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Following IU’s 61-56 victory against Northwestern on Saturday in Evanston, Ill., Northwestern Coach Chris Collins brought up a topic that has been in the back of Hoosier fans’ minds all season — freshman forward Noah Vonleh’s stock for the 2014 NBA Draft.“I’m looking out on the floor and they got a guy who’s going to be a top 10 pick in this year’s draft,” Collins said of Vonleh, calling him a “monster.”Vonleh has been on the NBA’s radar ever since he started the season with four consecutive double-doubles.With a 6-foot-10, 240-pound frame and 7-foot-4 wingspan, Vonleh has been an elite rebounder since arriving on campus last summer. He grabs 27.5 percent of available defensive rebounds — the 10th-best mark in the country — when he is on the court, according tokenpom.com.The freshman leads the Big Ten in rebounds per game with 9.3, well ahead of Michigan State’s Adreian Payne, who sits in second place with 7.7 per game.Apart from his work on the glass, Vonleh has elevated his offensive game in Big Ten play.IU Coach Tom Crean said Vonleh showed outstanding aggression in IU’s 69-58 loss Tuesday at Wisconsin.“He’s getting better constantly,” Crean said.The freshman’s most notable improvements are in his 3-point shot and driving ability.“He’s getting more comfortable away from the basket with the ball not just with shooting the ball,” Crean said.Vonleh merged his low-post scoring with his jump shot by becoming better at dribbling. During Tuesday’s loss against Wisconsin, Vonleh orchestrated the Hoosiers’ offense on several possessions at the top of the key.In one offensive set, he was alone at the 3-point line. Senior forward Will Sheehey, junior forward Austin Etherington and graduate student guard Evan Gordon were on the left wing, drawing their defenders away from the lane. Sophomore point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell was in the opposite corner.Wisconsin forward Frank Kaminsky was defending Vonleh and forced the freshman to dribble right by angling his body in that direction. Vonleh dribbled with his right hand, planted his right foot at the right elbow and utilized a spin move to get to the rim for an easy layup.“The game he had tonight was the driving game,” Crean said after the loss. “He’s getting better with not wasting dribbles. Cody (Zeller) went through the same thing.”IU’s sixth-year head coach said the Hoosiers emphasize constant improvement, even in walkthroughs on gameday.“We’re working on our driving game, splitting traps, working on getting to the rim, all the different things that go into making you a better ball-handler,” Crean said.Vonleh said the team has been focusing on its ball handling every day in practice with various cone drills.“We’ve been working on ... keeping the dribble low, pushing it out, (and) just getting to the rim,” he said.Crean said the next step for Vonleh is to master driving in a straight line to the basket. The Haverhill, Mass. native is bigger than most college players, which makes him difficult to defend.“He just needs to push the ball out in front, drop his shoulder and go,” Crean said. “When you’re driving to the rim, it’s not about one-on-one play — there’s not enough time.”Vonleh’s improved dribbling and driving ability led to him taking double digit shot attempts in consecutive Big Ten games for the first time this season. His new opportunities on offense have led to greater production from the freshman forward. In the past two games, he scored 30 points on 13-for-26 shooting.Crean said once IU’s players are able to comfortably add dribbling moves to their repertoires, the Hoosiers try to implement them in games to use to their advantage.“And that’s exactly what’s happened with Noah,” he said.Follow reporter Andy Wittry on Twitter @AndyWittry
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU fell short in its attempt to upset No. 14 Wisconsin for the second time this season, falling 69-58 to the Badgers in Madison, Wis.After entering halftime with a 10-point lead, the flood gates opened for the Hoosier defense during a second half in which Wisconsin (23-5, 10-5) outscored IU 50-29. IU sophomore point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell said IU didn’t bear down and play defense in the second half.“We over-helped, and then they knocked down some crucial threes,” he said.During the first half, IU (15-12, 5-9) limited Wisconsin to 1-for-10 shooting from behind the arc in the first half — an uncharacteristic performance for a Badger team that made 37.1 percent of its 3-pointers entering Tuesday’s matchup. Wisconsin was 6-for-11 from 3-point range after halftime. Ferrell said the Hoosiers’ lack of communication on defense was probably IU’s biggest problem, and it led to the over-helping.“You can’t give too much, especially with Wisconsin, with them being a great 3-point shooting team,” he said. “They were running all the same sets ... we just broke down defensively.”IU Coach Tom Crean said in the Big Ten, defenders can’t be caught over-helping because there are too many good shooters who can take advantage of defensive miscues.“Once we start getting beat off the dribble, your natural defensive rules come in.” he said. “We’re rotating to help and they hurt that.”Wisconsin sophomore forward Sam Dekker led the Badgers with 16 points, and all five of their starters reached double figures in scoring. “All their starters can shoot the ball, but they can all pass the ball,” Crean said. “A lot of times, you’re ready for one or two guys that are very good passers. Their whole team is.”After shooting 25.9 percent in the first half, Wisconsin was 13-for-21 shooting after halftime.“They got hot,” Crean said. “The basket started looking pretty big to them.” Nearly one-third of Wisconsin’s points came from the free throw line, where the nation’s No. 14 team converted 91.7 percent of its 24 attempts Tuesday. Ferrell and freshman forward Noah Vonleh scored 42 of IU’s points on 17-for-34 shooting. “We were getting the ball to the guys who could score,” Crean said.Vonleh made a season-high eight field goals and showed his offensive versatility. The 6-foot-10 forward was 2-for-3 from 3-point range and was able to attack Wisconsin off the dribble.He said was able to score by keeping his dribble low, pushing the ball out in front of him and getting to the rim.In addition to Ferrell and Vonleh, only three other players scored. The rest of the team was 7-for-23 from the field. The Hoosiers out-rebounded Wisconsin 33-29, but Crean said IU wasn’t able to get the putbacks it needed.He said the team’s offense also suffered because of its lack of defensive pressure during the second half.“Because we weren’t getting stops, our break wasn’t as effective in the second half,” Crean said. “We were going against a set defense more, which they’re very good (at).”Crean said it’s important for IU to control its emotions at this time of the year with two matchups against ranked opponents in the next five days.“It’s gonna be two teams that are coming off a loss that are gonna be really hungry to win,” he said. “We need our fans to understand that these guys are working at an incredible level and they want it.”@AndyWittry
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosiers travel to Madison, Wisc., Tuesday with hopes of winning consecutive games for the first time since IU’s victory against the Badgers on Jan. 14.Tuesday marks the first of three games against ranked opponents in a six-day stretch for the IU’s men’s basketball team. After playing No. 14 Wisconsin, IU (15-11, 5-8) will return home to play host to No. 20 Iowa Thursday and No. 22 Ohio State Sunday.With a weeklong gauntlet looming on IU’s schedule, IU Coach Tom Crean said Monday on the Big Ten Coaches Weekly Teleconference that IU is focusing entirely on Wisconsin.“They are obviously hot for a reason,” Crean said. “They are playing both ends of the court with great confidence and we have our work cut out for us. There is no doubt about it.”Wisconsin has been a streaky team all season. Similarly to January’s matchup in Assembly Hall between IU and Wisconsin, the Badgers enter Tuesday’s game on a winning streak.They started the season on a 16-game winning streak before IU ended their undefeated run. It was one of the Badgers’ five losses in a six-game span. Wisconsin has since righted its ship, winning five consecutive games and defeating three top-15 opponents in the process.Crean said Wisconsin is playing with extreme confidence.“They are shooting the ball at an amazing rate right now, with the way they are shooting it from three, the way they are getting to the foul line,” he said.During their current win streak, the Badgers are shooting 39.2 percent from behind the arc and are averaging eight 3-pointers per game.IU sophomore point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell said Wisconsin is always a threat to score, no matter who is on the court.“They have shot the ball extremely well, especially from the outside so we have to take away their open jump shots,” he said.Forwards Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker carry the offensive load for Wisconsin and create matchup problems because of their size and ability to score from anywhere on the floor. The duo averages 26.8 points and 12.6 rebounds per game. Kaminsky stands at 7 feet tall and shoots 41 percent from behind the arc. Dekker is 6 feet 8 inches tall and is a 36.8 percent 3-point shooter in his college career.Crean said Kaminsky is able to score off the dribble, at the rim and from behind the arc.“He’s literally taking the ball from the 3-point line and getting all the way to the basket,” Crean said. “The shooting is there, the post-up is there, without question, but the driving game is something that obviously they are spending a lot of time on. They have always been a very, very good isolation, one-on-one, get-the-matchup-that-they-want team, whether it’s in the post or on the perimeter.”While the Hoosiers held Kaminsky in check in January — limiting him to 11 points and no 3-point attempts — en route to a victory and a court-storming at Assembly Hall, Crean said IU is living in the present. He said he is pacing his team during the entire season, and it wouldn’t serve a purpose to reflect on the past.“You’re trying to get them to the point where they are playing good basketball deeper into the season, where they’ll continue to improve, and I think you just can’t get away from improvement,” Crean said.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosiers will travel to Evanston, Ill., Saturday with hopes of earning a payback victory against a Northwestern team that forced the first domino to fall for IU in its string of recent struggles. Four days after the Hoosiers knocked off No. 3 Wisconsin at home, the lowly 8-10 Wildcats took all of the wind out of IU’s sails with a 54-47 victory at Assembly Hall. Since defeating the Badgers, IU has lost six of its last eight games, fallen off the NCAA Tournament radar, had a player arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and had its home temporarily jeopardized by a piece of metal plating. Starting at 8:15 p.m. Saturday, the Hoosiers have an opportunity to make amends and climb up the Big Ten standings.Northwestern, which is on a four-game losing streak, is ninth in the conference, one place ahead of IU. The Jan. 18 meeting between the teams was a defensive struggle, with 101 total points scored on a combined 34-of-111 shooting performance. IU shot 4-of-18 from 3-point range.“No question, when you don’t have as many outside shooters, the defense dictates so much of how the offense is going to look,” IU Coach Tom Crean said on Monday’s Big Ten coaches teleconference. The Wildcats came into Assembly Hall and controlled the pace of the game, limiting IU to only four fast-break points. Northwestern, the worst team in the Big Ten in rebound margin, held IU to a one-rebound advantage on the boards.Despite freshman forward Noah Vonleh’s 17-point, 12-rebound performance, Crean said Vonleh isn’t as aggressive as he needs to be with the ball.“Some of that is the offensive rebounding, some of that is taking advantage of driving opportunities when they’re there, some of that is being ready to shoot, some of that is not looking to pass the ball as soon as he catches it,” Crean said. The Hoosiers have the opportunity to set the tone in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Through Wednesday, IU is 62nd in the country in adjusted tempo, according to kenpom.com. The Wildcats are the 334th-slowest team in the nation. Crean said defenses can’t dictate how the Hoosiers move on offense. “A person in movement has constantly got to be trying to create a look, trying to create an opportunity for someone else,” he said. “That’s why transition is good for us. That’s why transition pick and rolls are good for us because the game’s in movement and the defense isn’t set yet.”IU will have a clear advantage if it turns Saturday’s matchup into a track meet, because of its depth. Ten Hoosiers played against Northwestern in January. Northwestern Coach Chris Collins used an eight-man rotation against IU, but only six Wildcats played significant minutes. Senior guard James Montgomery III played less than a minute and senior forward Nikola Cerina, who played four minutes at Assembly Hall, is suspended for Saturday’s game after throwing a punch against Ohio State Wednesday.At IU’s press conference Tuesday, after the IU vs. Iowa game was postponed after a metal plating fell from Assembly Hall’s ceiling, Crean said the team was ready to play but the Hoosiers would have to adjust to the schedule change.“It’s all part of resiliency, you just get ready to go do what you have to do when it’s time to do it,” Crean said. It has been nearly three weeks since IU’s last win and only six regular season games remain for the Hoosiers. If IU is going to make a run towards an NCAA Tournament berth in the home stretch, the time is now.Follow reporter Andy Wittry on Twitter @AndyWittry.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After an eight-foot piece of steel plating fell from the ceiling of Assembly Hall onto seats in Section F on Tuesday afternoon, IU brought in engineers to examine the structure of the arena. IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass and Tom Morrison, Vice President of Capital Planning and Facilities, met with the media Wednesday afternoon to provide an update on Assembly Hall's status.IU brought in two cranes WednesdayIU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass said the first crane’s wheels weren’t broad enough to absorb the weight of the crane. In order to avoid damaging Branch McCracken Court, the engineers switched to a second crane. IU utilized its own in-house engineers as well as external engineers from Arsee Engineers in the evaluation of the structure of Assembly Hall. “It’s (a) 135-foot crane from our friends at MacAllister Machinery,” Glass said. “They’ve been very cooperative with us. They brought it down from Indianapolis so we got it here at 12:15.”Glass said the engineers took up the wooden floor and laid down “rubberized sub-flooring” to protect the surface of the court.The engineers confirmed the initial speculationGlass said there’s an “intentional design valley” in the roof of Assembly Hall. “Snow collected in there and as snow melted, it slid in and created sort of a super load in that area,” he said. “They speculate that it was the biggest load this ceiling, the roof has borne.”The load on the roof caused pressure that forced the metal facing to pop off Tuesday around 2:30 p.m., according to Glass. Engineers found loose steel plates in other areas of the ceilingGlass said IU officials and the University’s engineers believe they understand the cause of the steel plate falling. He said the engineers were able to make a complete visual and physical inspection both internally and externally.He said the inspection revealed there were two or three other places where the steel plating was loose. “None of which was eminent to fall,” Glass said. “I want to emphasize that there weren’t any plates that they thought were in any kind of short-term danger of popping off but there were some that were loose.”Engineers will continue to exam the purpose of the steel platesGlass said engineers are working to examine the purpose of the steel plates, whether they are part of Assembly Hall’s structure or merely exist for cosmetic reasons. “We have been told that they are confident that they’ll be able to completely assess and remediate…the plating and give us a 100 percent all clear and confirmation that the plating is secure and Assembly Hall is safe,” Glass said. IU expects to host Ohio State on March 2Glass said the engineers are confident that they will be able to repair Assembly Hall and confirm its safety before IU is scheduled to host Ohio State on March 2. He said IU is also confident the repairs will be done in time to hopefully reschedule the Hoosiers’ game against Iowa at Assembly Hall at a time that is mutually convenient for both teams. Follow reporter Andy Wittry on Twitter @AndyWittry
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery’s third-place Hawkeye squad doesn’t have the ranking, résumé or hype of the 2012-13 Hoosiers, but the Hawkeyes have a similar makeup to IU’s Sweet 16 team from a year ago. IU Coach Tom Crean said McCaffery has recruited a versatile team that is as experienced as any in the country.“It reminds me when we watch them — and it has been this way all year — of what we had last year with our team with the experience, shooting, scoring and guys that have been there in a lot of hard games,” Crean said. “And also some young fire power that brought some energy to the table.” The Hawkeyes returned virtually every player from last year’s team, which won 25 games before losing in the National Invitation Tournament Championship to Baylor. Eleven players average at least 10 minutes per game and as a team, Iowa has the nation’s fourth-tallest average player height, which creates matchup problems for opposing teams.“They are extremely unselfish with one another and cause so many issues with their versatility,” Crean said.Iowa has an NBA prospect in senior guard Roy Devyn Marble, who averages 16.4 points per game, but the balanced Hawkeyes lack the surefire NBA lottery picks that IU had in Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo last season. However, Iowa is statistically similar to the Hoosier team that lost in the Sweet 16 to Syracuse last March.No. 15 Iowa (19-6, 8-4) is fourth in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency and 30th defensive efficiency, according to kenpom.com. In 2012-13, IU finished third in offensive efficiency and 28th in defensive efficiency. McCaffery said sophomore point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, IU’s only returning starter from last season, has been impressive in his expanded role for the new-look Hoosiers.“His role was different with Zeller, Oladipo, Watford etc.,” McCaffery said. “They had so many weapons. Now this year, he is ‘the guy.’”Ferrell and senior forward Will Sheehey start alongside three freshmen, a lineup that is virtually the opposite of last year’s Hoosiers and McCaffery’s current Iowa team. The Hoosiers had four 1,000-point scorers on last year’s team, and their starting lineup featured a player from every academic year.“Little by little, you are seeing these young guys that Indiana has to develop,” McCaffery said. “They are able to do that because they know they have one of the best players in the country with the ball.”Crean acknowledged IU is as young as any team in the Big Ten and said his team occasionally shows its youth. With the exception of Sheehey, graduate student guard Evan Gordon and senior forward Jeff Howard, IU’s “older” rotation players are sophomores.“What happens is, when you are young and you don’t have the experience, you don’t have the consistency,” Crean said. “What we have is a consistency in work habits and work ethic, which is good and part of the process. But we don’t have that consistency of what it takes, physically and mentally, to win the games.”While the versatility and depth of the Hawkeyes could overwhelm the young, inconsistent Hoosiers, anything can happen at Assembly Hall, where IU has already defeated a pair of top 10 opponents in Wisconsin and Michigan. Follow reporter Andy Wittry on Twitter @AndyWittry.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU sophomore forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea was arrested on charges of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol at 3:28 a.m. Friday by officers of the IU Police Department, according to a Monroe County Sheriff’s booking report. Officer Hutchens of the Monroe County Correctional Center told the Indiana Daily Student over the phone that Mosquera-Perea was arrested on charges of two Class A misdemeanors — OWI Endangerment and OWI Per Se. He received the endangerment charge for having one passenger in his car and the OWI Per Se charge is a result of his 0.15 blood alcohol content at the time of his arrest. He was held at the Monroe County Jail on $1,000 bond with a $500 surety, according to the booking report. Sergeant Link of the Monroe County Jail told the IDS over the phone that Mosquera-Perea was released Friday afternoon.IU Associate Professor of Law Ryan Scott said reports indicate the government has a “pretty good case,” based on the reported blood alcohol test administered to Mosquera-Perea. He said the vast majority of defendants in criminal cases, including OWI cases, generally plead guilty.Scott teaches criminal law and procedure, as well as federal courts and jurisdiction in the Maurer School of Law. “What I expect will happen in very short order is that he’ll meet with an attorney and he’ll talk about pleading guilty,” Scott said. “In operating while intoxicated cases, pleading guilty has some advantages because the suspension of your license is shorter.”He said in theory, both Class A misdemeanors could carry up to one year in jail and up to a $5,000 fine. “That would be very surprising though,” Scott said. “My sense is that for a first-time OWI that jail time is very unusual. Usually it’s a fine and a probationary sentence and a suspension of license for some period of time.”Scott said Mosquera-Perea’s 0.15 BAC is the dividing line between a Class A and a Class C misdemeanor. The sophomore was charged with the more serious of the two charges.The Maurer School of Law professor said it’s tough to predict what Mosquera-Perea’s legal ramifications will be because every case is different. He added that the judge and the prosecution will have some discretion in what charges to press. He said Mosquera-Perea could strike an agreement with the prosecution to agree to plead guilty to a lesser sentence. “There’s still a possibility that by the time this case moves to the punishment stage, it looks very different,” Scott said. “The charges may be different or it might be a condition of a guilty plea that the sentence will be less serious so it’s hard to say (what his sentence will be) given that there are so many important decisions yet to be made in a case like this.”Follow reporter Andy Wittry on Twitter @AndyWittry