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(03/12/09 3:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Yes, it’s true. As Lionel Ritchie once said, we’ve come to the end of our rainbow.And while the ride surely hasn’t been quite as colorful as the language some fans might use to describe Big Ten officiating, it’s surely been a new experience for most of you out there in Hoosier nation.I think – while IU’s chance of winning the Big Ten Tournament is about as good a chance as I have of finding a job in newspapers when I graduate – it’s hard not to reflect on this season and give it a brief, collective applause.The causes vary, but what was asked of IU coach Tom Crean and his team this year was both unprecedented and monumental.Tonight, the Hoosiers play what will perhaps be the last game of their season when they face Penn State, which, like seven other Big Ten teams, beat the Hoosiers in both of their meetings this season.Like 10 other Big Ten teams, the Nittany Lions also present matchup problems across the board in depth, size, experience and talent.And like 10 other Big Ten teams, Penn State will likely be a wide favorite to advance past Thursday’s first-round game.At the beginning of this season, I made a prediction that looked mildly bold then and wildly dumb now. I said the Hoosiers would win 10 games.This was before I saw just how raw the Hoosiers were, and also before I saw the improvements made by certain Big Ten doormats – Penn State among them.It should be noted that I have a sterling 0-18 record in picks this Big Ten season, having tipped IU to beat Northwestern, Wisconsin and Ohio State but lose to everyone else in my pregame predictions.So if that proves anything to you – and my girlfriend could have told you this last fall – I’m wrong far more often than I’m right.So forgive me, dear friends, for what I am about to do. I’m about to tell you what I think.First, I think Samuel Goldwyn was right: The harder you work, the luckier you get. Well, the Hoosiers, by all accounts and understanding, have worked hard.The luck? Not so much.I think in the course of any high-level college basketball season, it is awfully hard to beat any team three times – actually, in any basketball season at any level.I think Penn State just won’t know quite how to play on the bubble, with Selection Sunday peering out from behind door No. 2. Even Penn State coach Ed DeChellis has only been to one NCAA Tournament, and that came via automatic berth during his days at East Tennessee State.I think IU has come closer to beating Penn State than almost any other Big Ten opponent, and the 61-58 loss in State College, Pa., was probably IU’s best performance on the road all season.I think Conseco Fieldhouse will be painted red and white tonight, heavy with IU fans. I also think there won’t be any Purdue fans cheering against them tonight, since the Boilers don’t play until tomorrow.And finally, I still think, even after 24 losses, this team will get a moment in the sun. All they’ve had to work through, with, over and around this season will get them more than one conference win and a dump truck full of pity applause from all corners of the conference. A minor tenet, my job is to make pre-game predictions on how the Hoosiers will fare, and I think my record, laid out above, speaks for itself.So this might be my last prediction, the last time I cast forward into the future in hopes of some small level of clairvoyance to make up for a long list of journalistic shortcomings.But I don’t think so.Osterman’s prediction:IU 69 – Penn State 64
(03/09/09 4:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Verdell Jones’ career day in Madison, Wis., during the weekend was one of few bright spots in an 85-61 loss to Wisconsin in the last game of the regular season.It also fueled debate around one of the most frequently asked off-court questions of the season: Where does Jones fit with this team going forward?With Jordan Hulls on his way to campus and Jeremiah Rivers set to gain eligibility next fall, the freshman’s days at point guard appear numbered.But Jones was never really a true point guard, anyway, and his particular strengths – creating off the dribble and mixing up drives and pull-up jumpers – fit Tom Crean’s offense well.But is there a place for the lanky, 6-foot-5 guard on the 2009-10 IU men’s basketball team?Jones’ propensity for turnovers and lack of improvement early, coupled with starry eyes locked on Rivers’ defense and Hulls’ potential, would buy Jones a one-way ticket to the bench, many thought.His mid-season detour to the injury table thanks to a hard screen in the Cornell game seemed to stunt his progress, gathering support for that particular opinion.But while he’s proven his future is likely not at the point guard, Jones’ rapid improvement on both ends of the floor should have plenty of heads turning inside and outside the IU program: U-turning.In his last nine games, Jones is averaging 14.7 points, and his points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game averages have all gone up in Big Ten play.And while he is still turnover-prone, the freshman’s ability to get into the lane and score effectively is beginning to open up looks for teammates cutting to the basket or roving the perimeter.The fact is, Jones isn’t a natural point guard. He is still turnover-prone, and as one colleague in the press corps pointed out to me some weeks back, his height and frame are a natural disadvantage in trying to defend smaller, quicker guards, which point guards tend to be.But that same frame, 6-foot-5 and a generous 176 pounds, is perfect to play the two or the three in Tom Crean’s slashing, drive-and-kick offense. And there is not a player on this team who has improved more over the course of the season than Jones.Moreover, his ability to score in the lane, specifically his knack for knowing when to pull up and when to drive all the way to the basket, fit that mold as well.It’s been widely assumed that so many players have had to serve a handful of roles on this team because the Hoosiers are severely understaffed – and they have, because they are.But Tom Crean’s offense isn’t that rigid to begin with. He doesn’t need five prototypical players at stereotypical positions.He needs guys who create the way he needs them to create, distribute the way he needs them to distribute and score the way he needs them to score. Don’t be surprised if there are still plenty of perimeter-oriented rotations next year, even with the added height of the incoming recruiting class.And on that same topic, don’t expect Verdell Jones to sit on any bench for too long, not the way he’s improved.The wafer-thin forward from Champaign, Ill., should find his way into the starting lineup quite often next year.And with good reason.Osterman’s predictionWisconsin 76 – IU 59Final scoreWisconsin 85 – IU 61
(03/06/09 5:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With the close of the regular season upon us, it’s time to hand out grades.Yes, that’s right – this is perhaps the most cliche column I’ll ever write. But read it for me, will you? Have pity on a working man. Or something.GuardsOffenseIU’s guard situation was a complete enigma going into the season.Junior Devan Dumes was expected to lead the pack, and as the team’s leading scorer, he has. A quartet of freshmen – Matt Roth, Malik Story, Nick Williams and Verdell Jones – all improved as the season went on, hashing out roles within the offense.They still turn the ball over far, far too much, and free-throw shooting, while it has improved, is still costing them games.Grade: C+GuardsDefenseIt’s hard to place a real grade on any of these guards’ defense because they’ve been asked to play so many different positions. Story and Williams have at times had to guard larger players, and Story has played probably four positions on the floor at times.Dumes is the best on-ball defender on the team, and Williams and Story have learned to play better on that end of the floor. So has Daniel Moore, the fiery walk-on from Carmel, Ind., who’s also been an asset at the point.However, Roth can still be a liability – as evidenced by Crean’s willingness to sub him in and out late in games for offensive vs. defensive purposes – and Jones has struggled against smaller, quicker guards.Overall, however, this group has improved noticeably during the course of the season.Grade: BForwardsOffenseThe frontcourt, thin as it is, has made a significant impact this year.Tom Pritchard was this team’s best scoring option through much of the non-conference season, and Kyle Taber has improved his reactions and quickness well enough to become a legitimate contributor on the offensive end.Pritchard is second-best in the conference in offensive boards per game as well, and Taber is 14th. As a team, the Hoosiers pull down 10.2 offensive rebounds per game, good for fourth in the conference.At the same time, Taber is still no better than a role player, and Pritchard hasn’t adjusted well to being the focus of opponents’ low-post defense later in the season.The freshman from Ohio has tried to develop a little bit more range, but his away-from-the-basket game is still far from its needed effectiveness.Grade: B-ForwardsDefenseThe Hoosiers’ low-post defense hasn’t been quite the liability people thought it would be, and IU has been surprisingly strong on the glass (fifth in the conference in rebounding margin).Inside defense was always going to be a problem for such a small team, but IU has adjusted well. Most of the teams that have really hurt IU defensively have done so with mid-range jumpers or 3-point shooting.There have been lapses, and a serious lack of personnel has let fatigue bleed through recently, but overall, the Hoosiers’ inside defense might be the most impressive part of their season.Grade: A-CoachingTom Crean and his staff were handed the most difficult task I’ve ever seen back in May, when it became clear the team needed to be rebuilt full-scale.With the tools they have and what they’ve done with them, this is about what I expected.It hasn’t all been roses, especially in late-game situations, where it seemed like timeouts needed to be taken sooner – if they were at all.Crean has been able to negate the Hoosiers’ height disadvantage in rebounding and develop IU’s guards while also trying to implement and tailor a complex offensive scheme.It’s hard to judge a coach’s pure ability based on a season as twisted as this one, but I’ll give Crean the benefit of the doubt.Grade: B+
(03/04/09 5:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kyle Taber’s last game inside Assembly Hall was Bawa Muniru’s first.The incoming 7-footer from Mt. Zion Academy in Durham, N.C., took in the Senior Night festivities behind the IU bench.Dressed to the nines in a black suit, blue shirt and red tie, Muniru traded a pregame handshake and fist bump with IU strength and conditioning coach Jeff Watkinson and junior guard Devan Dumes, respectively.He never stopped smiling.“It’s a great feeling, and I’m so excited to come,” Muniru said when asked about seeing IU play at home for the first time. “I mean, being able to come over here and watch our last home game, I can’t wait until next year. I’m just so excited about it.”The last recruit in the heralded 2009 class to give his verbal commitment, Muniru is something of an enigma among IU fans.According to the IU Athletics release announcing his official signing, the native of Ghana averaged 16.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.8 blocks during his senior season at Madison (Ala.) Academy.He left Madison Academy for Mt. Zion after his original post-Madison destination, Charis Prep in Wilson, N.C., failed to gain accreditation. Muniru addressed the obstacle with confidence Tuesday night.“I hope everything goes well and as time goes on, when I get my things done at school, I can’t wait to come and get it started,” Muniru said.On-court results have also been hard to come by. Asked Tuesday night about his improvement, Muniru said he’s been working on better mental focus and “growing as a player.”It has been reported, however, that Muniru is bigger than he was when he committed. When he gave IU his official commitment, he was listed at 6-foot-11 in the same release. Rivals now have him at an even 7 feet.Muniru said he’s paid close attention to his future team during what he termed “tough times,” and he made it to Winston-Salem, N.C., to watch them play Wake Forest on Dec. 3.“It’s been a humbling moment, watching my future team go through tough times, and it humbles me a lot because it reminds me of the tough times that I’ve gone through,” he said.Still, the man Tom Crean noted for his “fun-loving” attitude remains confident of a turnaround.“I’m going to be a part of a great program, and we’ll turn it back around,” Muniru said. “There’s going to be a whole bunch of people that (are) coming in with me, and we’re gonna get it done.”Osterman's Prediction: Michigan State 67 - IU 53Final result: Michigan State 64 - IU 59
(03/03/09 5:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There was a time not so long ago when the sound of Chuck Crabb announcing Kyle Taber’s entry into an IU basketball game cued the slow, mass exodus of fans from all corners of Assembly Hall.Such a time has passed.Taber, a former walk-on whose knees dictated he spend five years in college, will be the lone celebrant during today’s Senior Night festivities. But in a departure from what anyone could have expected two years ago, IU will bid goodbye to a regular starter tonight, not just an adored seat-filler.“It’s going to be special, sad and exciting at the same time,” Taber said Monday. “I’m ready for it, though. It’s my fifth year here, so I knew it was coming sooner or later.”A man thrust into the most unexpected of positions – team leader – by last year’s foolishness, Taber only returned 34 points from his previous four seasons at IU (one redshirted).To this point late in the season, he’s performed admirably, according to coaches and teammates.“I’m proud to have coached him,” IU coach Tom Crean said Monday. “I’ve been demanding of him, as our whole staff has.”Such leadership is probably not what Mike Davis expected Taber to have shouldered when he picked him as a walk-on five years ago. But even more unexpected is what Taber has become: a contributor.Again, I bring to your attention the 34 career points scored, then I turn your attention to the 339 percent increase in points in just one year.Also, take note of the 5.2 rebounds per game, and the team-high 27 steals.Yes, that last number is a team high.The fact is, right before your eyes, Kyle Taber has grown up.No, he won’t be on any All-Big Ten ballots, but Taber has emerged from his shell as an afterthought in the second-to-last seat to give Crean’s young team a legitimate option on either end of the floor.Taber will never send you home with stars in your eyes, but his footwork and increased confidence around the rim have earned him the deserved respect of a hard-working role player.Crean praised his lone senior on Monday for his leadership by example, citing Taber’s willingness to play through a painful ankle injury Saturday against Penn State as an example of such senior guidance.“It’s very fitting that he is playing his best basketball as the season winds down,” Crean said. “It’s a great sign of improvement. It’s a great sign of someone that has continued to buy in day in and day out and get better.”And Taber has gotten better. His averages in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game are all career bests, and he’s started 20 of the Hoosiers’ 28 games to date.But the most impressive part of the evening for a man more often scoffed at than screamed for, Taber will get his well-deserved moment of respect.Now if he would take Tijan Jobe up on the junior center’s offer to write his speech...Osterman's Prediction: Michigan State 67 - IU 53
(03/02/09 5:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>While the IU men’s basketball team was losing an absolute heartbreaker this weekend at Penn State, many in the Hoosier nation were digesting the words of former coach Kelvin Sampson.In case you aren’t aware, Sampson granted Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News an interview that included his wife and covered a range of topics.Chiefly among them was the question (in not so many words) “Was the NCAA fair in dealing with you?”“I think they were unfair,” Sampson said. “I think they were unfair to IU, too. I don’t think anybody got treated fairly in this.”Now that’s probably the sound bite of the interview, and DeCourcy was kind enough to present it in question-and-answer format.But it’s what followed that really caught my eye.“This thing got hit in the media. It got sensationalized,” Sampson said to DeCourcy.Sampson is a man who spent precious little of his time at IU speaking with the media. General wisdom was, he disdained most of either what we did or how we did it.He refused to take most questions on the stories orbiting around his recruiting indiscretions, even to the bitterest of ends.But oddly enough, since being stamped with a five-year show-cause penalty – having essentially been blackballed from the college game for the next half-decade – Sampson has had little trouble finding the microphone.He defended himself in a piece published last November by Sports Illustrated writer and Bloomington native L. Jon Wertheim about the state of IU basketball.He defended himself while discussing his appeal of the NCAA’s decision as the Milwaukee Bucks, for whom he is now an assistant, played in Indianapolis.And now he defends himself here, in his first pure interview about a season lost after everything fell apart.A season “sensationalized,” as he said to DeCourcy, in – or maybe by – the media he could so readily do without.“It just took on a life of its own,” he said.But did it? Did it really take on a life of its own?The IU Athletics Department, a cradle of NCAA cleanliness for a half-century, is flagged – by its own hand – for the commission of violations by a men’s basketball coach whose wrists only months earlier had been slapped for doing the same at his last job.This came at the worst possible time, as the once-storied program was about to set out on its most promising season since its last national championship game appearance. A time of transcendence was turned into a season of distrust.Everything quiets, until the NCAA hands down a decision that in no small language says the coach’s actions were impermissibly shameful – that committing the same crime twice constitutes a brash disregard of the rules.Five major violations led to the coach’s resignation in the middle of a season that began with fans and pundits talking about national titles.Players revolted, grades plummeted and the team spiraled to a quick and decisive NCAA tournament end and disintegrated like sand through a child’s hands, leaving years of rebuilding to be done.Now that, I grant you, is certainly sensational. But it’s also all true, meaning the story never “took on a life of its own.”The life it had was plenty.College coaches in today’s world – where sports, business and entertainment collide all too frequently – need to be master marketers who know how to use the media.There’s a movie I love, “The American President,” during which the incumbent president tells a room full of reporters it isn’t that his opponent, a podium shouter who goes for the flashy quote, “doesn’t get it.”He just “can’t sell it,” the president declares.The truth is, I’m not quite that enlightened.I don’t know Sampson the man well enough to discern whether the version of this dark fairy tale is the truth in his mind or just a bill of goods.But one thing remains: Sampson either doesn’t get it, or he can’t sell it.Either way, his pleas are falling on uniformly deaf ears.
(02/27/09 5:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Three regular-season games remain for the 2008-2009 IU men’s basketball team, now destined to go down as the worst, statistically, in school history.One hundred and twenty more minutes, plus the trip up State Road 37 for the Big Ten Tournament next month, and then we can all safely assume this season will end.It’s obviously been a long and frustrating one for fans, coaches, players and pretty much anyone else who remotely cares about IU basketball. It’s also been a draining season – perhaps more draining, if possible, than the marathon of disaster that went down last year.It’s taken its toll on fans, some of whom have grown frustrated with on-court results in recent weeks. It’s taken its toll on Tom Crean, who appears more worn recently by his team’s struggles.It’s also taken its toll on the players, many of whom Crean said are starting to feel “mental fatigue” after a season longer and harder than most, if not all, have ever experienced.Even veteran forward and former walk-on Kyle Taber – who’s probably seen more in his five years in cream and crimson than any other Hoosier in history – admitted he’s never really gone through a season as tough as this.It seems from our live chats and blog discussions that many IU fans’ frustrations stem from the team’s on-court struggles, which makes sense. No IU fan has ever had to endure a season like this.But it’s easy to forget among the banners, the pageantry and the list of All-Americans as long as my arm that these players, though tough, are in way over their heads.We’ve all heard the statistics in some form: True freshmen account for almost three-quarters (71 percent) of IU’s game minutes, the Hoosiers lost 98.8 percent of last year’s scoring and Crean has been forced to set all kinds of program firsts with starting freshmen.Crean gets them to hustle and play hard every night, and because of this, they’ve gotten pity applause from road crowds, opposing coaches and pretty much every TV analyst the Big Ten Network has on payroll.But as this season winds down along with the gauge on their collective gas tank, these 14 individuals – plus or minus the odd baseball player or manager – deserve your respect.They have been asked to do an immense thing, staring into one of the brightest spotlights in their sport. They have been tasked with saving IU basketball, or at least keeping it on life support long enough to get help from others who can.Matt Roth, Verdell Jones, Kyle Taber, Devan Dumes and yes, even Tijan Jobe, never looked like contenders for anything this year. Never once did anyone suggest this team could finish above .500 or entertain the notion of postseason play.But they work hard every time they step on that court, which deserves more than an empty pat on the back.Yes, I know I’m drinking the Kool-Aid today – something some of you surely think I do too often, and others think I do not nearly enough.But perhaps it’s time, as we near the end of this journey, to give some credit to an under-talented group that truly never has backed down.They’ve lost focus. They’ve turned the ball over needlessly and carelessly. They have done all sorts of things that make you want to pull your hair out and stomp on it.But never have these players asked for any credit – or a break – despite the enormity of their task.The break will only come at the end, but the credit – not for playing hard, but for willingly throwing themselves into fight after fight knowing they likely will not win – should be given throughout.
(02/26/09 5:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU alma mater rang more like a funeral dirge than a college anthem after the IU men’s basketball team fell 75-53 to Northwestern on Wednesday. The loss was the Hoosiers’ first at home to Northwestern in the Wildcats’ last 36 visits to Assembly Hall and IU’s 21st of the season.After the game, IU coach Tom Crean admitted the season, which has worn on through losing streaks of 11 and now six games, has left his team tired. “There’s no question they’re mentally drained,” Crean said in the press conference. “I think it’s far more mental than physical.”The Hoosiers showed signs of said mental fatigue facing one of the Big Ten’s worst teams, letting Northwestern put together a 12-2 run in the first half to take its first lead and a 19-6 run in the second half to put it away.Crean praised his team for its hustle and hard work through a season he described as “an unprecedented thing.” He said the Hoosiers will have a better future, but he doesn’t talk about it with them right now.“Very rarely do I do that, because I don’t think that’s right,” Crean said. “I don’t think that’s how you coach.” Taber sets another career highSenior forward Kyle Taber set a career high in points with 10 Saturday against Purdue. He broke that record quickly.One of the most steadily-improving Hoosiers this year, Taber scored 12 points to make another new career mark Wednesday. Once a bench-warmer, Taber has played almost as many games this year (26) as he did his previous three seasons combined (31).“He has certainly been the beneficiary of getting a lot of quality minutes, and he is getting better all the time,” Crean said of the Evansville native. “There have probably been a lot of times that kid had 36 career points, could have packed it in. He continues to play and work.”The usually soft-spoken Taber himself passed credit to his teammates for his performance Wednesday, but it’s obvious his offensive game has improved since last year. Taber is scoring 4.5 points per game, which isn’t a lot but is still more than three times his best season average in any other year of his career.“I wasn’t paying attention to that,” Taber said when asked if he knew he set a career high. “I was just going. If you see an open look inside, you’ve got to take it and just do whatever you can to get easy baskets.” Santa makes IU debutMike Santa, all of 5 feet 9 inches from Huntington, Ind., suited up with the Hoosiers on Wednesday after spending the season prior to last night as a student manager. Santa played as well, logging one game minute.Crean talked after the game about the contributions his managers bring, some of whom he said practice with the team.“I didn’t do this as a reward,” Crean said. “It is a special deal to be a manager here. Those guys come out here and they work.”IU has a few former managers who have gone on to become coaches, the most famous being New Jersey Nets coach Lawrence Frank. The Hoosiers also faced a former manager when Matt Bowen brought his Bemidji State team to Bloomington last November.Crean previously used two managers, Santa and Brandon Profitt,, during one of IU’s preseason scrimmages, the Haunted Hall of Hoops.Profitt would have suited up as well, if not for an injury.“Those guys, they come in and they make it more competitive for our guys,” Crean said. “We’ve got to have real competition – well, those guys try to help provide that.”Osterman's prediction: IU 76 - Northwestern 65Final score: Northwestern 75 - IU 53
(02/25/09 5:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Go to YouTube right now, if it isn’t already in an open window. Type in Verdell Jones. The second video that comes up is only 17 seconds, and it’s worth a look.It’s Jones, in his younger days as an Illinois middle schooler, making an almost-fullcourt shot to win the 8AA eighth grade tournament championship.The shot obviously doesn’t tell you much about the skillset Jones possesses, or how he’ll develop as a college basketball player.But maybe it does a little bit of justice to one fact: Jones is the most versatile player on his team – not his eighth grade team, but his current team.Moreover, if he produces in the last four games of the season like he’s produced since conference play began, he should be the 2009 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.Coming into tonight’s matchup at Northwestern, Jones is averaging 9.8 points, 3.4 assists and three rebounds.None of those numbers stands out – particularly for a freshman – except when you consider every single one of them goes up in conference play, or that Jones’ 32.1 minutes per game in Big Ten action are tops on his team.General wisdom was that Tom Pritchard would be IU’s best candidate for that award, but he’s struggled down the stretch without inside help. Other front-runners for the award include Michigan State forward Delvon Roe, Ohio State guard William Buford and Iowa guard Matt Gatens.Roe only averages 5.5 points per game – that kind of production doesn’t win this award. I like Gatens, but I think Buford and Jones are more appealing because of their versatility and their respective teams’ backstories (right or wrong, that always plays a factor in stuff like this).There’s been speculation supporting Buford, a consensus five-star prospect out of high school, for freshman of the year.But I would argue Jones, who has improved remarkably while being asked to run point on a team devoid of experience, has proven himself the better player.Unlike Buford, who was offered scholarships by Michigan State and Kentucky, Jones was a spring signee whose only other hard offer came from Minnesota.Jones was thrust into the starting point guard role from day one and looked to be growing well until a head injury against Cornell kept him out of three games in mid-December.Since that time, he’s hit double digits in points more times than not, showing consistent improvement in decision-making, leadership ability and his now-potent pull-up jumper, which he used effectively against Purdue to the tune of a team-high 16 points.Crean praised his young guard for his recent offensive improvement but pointed out that Jones needs “to continue to get that same improvement in the defensive area.”Still, Jones should be in the final conversation for conference freshman of the year, and he’s been better all-around than William Buford. Yes, Buford averages 13.6 points per game to Jones’ 11.1 in conference play, but Jones’ assist numbers are far better, and he’s started more games for his team, despite the concussion.But most importantly, Jones has spent this entire year only improving while pundits have talked endlessly about how he’s only warming the point guard seat for Jeremiah Rivers and Jordan Hulls next year.He’s shown remarkable character and resiliency for someone who’s not exactly the strongest guard in the league, and his performance as the season wears on should win him not just Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, but plenty of playing time at a variety of positions next year.Osterman's prediction: IU 76 – Northwestern 65
(02/23/09 5:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WEST LAFAYETTE – Hustle.It’s been the preferred word of IU fans everywhere this year, the shiniest silver lining they can find in a season lacking luster.Everywhere the Hoosiers have gone, and every time they’ve welcomed a better opponent, other coaches have heaped praise onto IU coach Tom Crean and his team for their competitive fire – which comes incredibly easily when your team just notched a double-digit win.But after Saturday’s hard-fought, battering loss to Purdue, opposing coach Matt Painter had something a little bit better for the first-year Hoosier and his young crew: understanding.Painter, who replaced Gene Keady in 2005, endured a 9-19 first season in West Lafayette, strapped with a team whose two best players – Carl Landry and David Teague – were sitting for the year.The next year, Painter led the Boilermakers to a 22-12 record and put together a solid recruiting class that helped win 25 games the following season and now has Purdue in the top 20.So he kind of gets what Tom Crean is trying to do.“You get tired of being competitive,” Painter said. “You get tired of people saying, ‘Hey, you guys played hard.’ You want to win. You don’t want to go out there and play hard, you want to go out there and win the game.”See if this anecdote, plucked from Painter’s rookie season at Purdue, doesn’t sound familiar:“We had games within games,” Painter said. “We went to East Lansing one time, got beat by 25, but we’re up by one at half. And I simply told our guys, ‘We won that 20 minutes, but it’s not good enough.’”That’s not to say playing hard doesn’t have value. The performance IU put on Saturday in the face of overwhelmingly deeper, better seasoned and more talented opposition should be cause for pride within the IU basketball family – and it certainly is.But busting your butt to go 6-20 doesn’t really put you to sleep at night with a smile. So every once in awhile, it’s nice to hear someone who doesn’t only respect what the Hoosiers are doing, but also what they’re going through.It should also be pointed out that Painter knows how the other side feels, something IU ought to get a share of in the next year or two.“At times, he’s playing for another day. And there will be another day,” Painter said of Crean’s situation.The thought of revenge has to have entered the minds of Hoosiers everywhere: revenge against teams that maybe rubbed it in a little too much this year, revenge against rivals who have used IU like a punching bag, revenge against Bruce Weber because he’s just so Internet-quotable.It’s something Painter said drove his team after that 19-loss season, and it’s something he said Crean must and will use for motivation when the glass is no longer quite so empty.“We told our guys in the locker room (that year), ‘They’re laughing at Purdue right now,’” Painter said. “‘But they’re not going to laugh in three or four years.’ ... and I know he’ll use that same logic to build up steam and to build up motivation.”Painter and Crean aren’t likely to become hunting buddies any time soon, given their positions on opposite sides of this rivalry. But there was a point during Saturday’s action when the two coaches started bantering back and forth about Crean’s admiration of JaJuan Johnson, Purdue’s athletic inside man.Two men, two program-builders, two young, charismatic coaches charged with nourishing two basketball legacies just two hours away from each other. One has gotten his team where they want to be; the other seems to be on his way.Crean won’t look past this season or next season or any season. But when he does get there, he and Painter ought to have plenty to talk about.
(02/20/09 6:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Frustration was in abundant supply Thursday night at Assembly Hall. So was exasperation.Not the aggressive, defeatist kind that generally renders useless whomever it infects. Nonetheless, it sat in the storied building, souring further as a stale second half erased the hard work that left the Hoosiers down one point after 20 minutes.Most frustrating, perhaps, was the manner in which the second half played out, with the same salt being poured into the same wounds.Turnovers were a problem, to the tune of 15, and assists (6) were rare. Defensive stops were hard to come by, particularly after freshman guard Verdell Jones’ short jumper put IU up 32-31 just 22 seconds into the second half.“I just thought we got too relaxed,” Jones said about IU’s composure following that bucket.Perhaps the Hoosiers did – it would explain the 18-4 run Wisconsin used over the next nine minutes to push the game beyond reach.That type of point surge is yet another of those wounds – one that has troubled the Hoosiers often this year.Illinois began their 76-45 win in Champaign on a 21-2 spurt. Ohio State rode an 18-0 wave to pull away in the first half of the Hoosiers’ next game. Michigan State’s 18-5 run helped them take firm control of the game in East Lansing, Mich., just two weeks ago.But each of those defensive missteps and their respective losses came, at least, on the road. Assembly Hall had been a sanctuary from such trouble, a Thermopylae at which the young Hoosiers could use the comfort of home and all its trappings to stand against an army of deficiencies.The Hoosiers’ last two home losses – 13 points to Illinois and Thursday night, 17 points to Wisconsin – have been their worst.Both defeats have also been record-setting, for most single-season losses (then 18, now 19) and single-season Big Ten losses (12), respectively.So frustration, in the face of all that, would seem at very least inevitable. But until Thursday night, the Hoosiers had mostly managed to stave off such feelings, at least in public.Jones and Malik Story, while far from despondent, still appeared worn of their recurring plight.Tom Crean, energetic all season, seemed the same way in a postgame press conference defined by short, firm answers.“We just didn’t do as good a job in the second half. Our communication broke down,” Crean said, betraying a bit of chagrin from a man who since April 1 has made his meal money being indefatigable.There’s nothing wrong with any of this – it’s actually slightly impressive that it took this long. This season was always bound to try even the most patient souls.Fans, pundits and television analysts have been fond of emphasizing that help, as it were, is on the way, specifically in the form of next year’s lauded recruiting class.But on nights like these, and there were sure to be many, October 2009 is a long way away. A long, long way away.
(02/20/09 6:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Perhaps the only thing that made this season of struggle worse for IU basketball fans was the preseason prediction that put hated Purdue atop the Big Ten at year’s end.Worse yet, Robbie Hummel, recipient of many Kelvin Sampson phone calls, was preseason player of the year.That pain is only going to get worse when the Hoosiers meet Hummel and Co. on Saturday. The Boilermakers are talented, playing at home and with a chip on their shoulder.That spells big trouble for Crean and the Hoosiers.The loss itself might have been coming anyway. General wisdom last year was that, while IU’s immediate future was brighter via Eric Gordon, the depth of Purdue’s 2007 recruiting class might make them the better team in 2009.But it was never supposed to be what it likely will become Saturday night. IU doesn’t match up well with Purdue, a team coming off likely its biggest win of the year – a 72-54 drubbing of Michigan State on Wednesday night at home.The Boilermakers surely will not overlook the Hoosiers, despite IU’s residence in last place in the Big Ten.Hummel is hampered by a hairline fracture in his lower back.“They’re a pretty good team without him, but they’re a special team with him,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo told media after the game. “He’s a special guy. I told him after the game I respect him.”Worst of all, however, Purdue on a good day – and I would expect a good day Saturday – can match IU’s hustle and energy.I’m not entirely sure you can quantify that statement, but in all likelihood, it will be made plain by around 2:07 p.m. Saturday.There’s little about this year IU fans wouldn’t rather forget, but a win over Purdue in Mackey Arena would be the spoonful of sugar to make the losing go down.Sorry, fans, not this year.
(02/19/09 5:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a season where only the abnormal seems expected, Tom Crean’s going to get a little piece of homemade comfort tonight. Although one doubts if Bo Ryan is going to make it all that comfortable.Crean and Ryan, meeting for the first time in Big Ten play, are old foes, dating back to Crean’s days at Marquette. The Badgers and the Golden Eagles squared off annually in a rivalry game between schools just 80 or so miles apart.Crean was 3-4 against Ryan in his last seven years at Marquette, his last win coming last season against then-No. 5 Wisconsin.Meeting with the media Wednesday, Crean was magnanimous when speaking about Ryan and their past meetings.“We might have had rivalries for a long time,” Crean said, “but I’ve always had great respect for how he coaches.”That rivalry might continue to Crean’s new post, considering the heat and importance that has existed between IU and Wisconsin in the last few years. And while this time might not carry the same ramifications as some recent Hoosier-Badger tilts, it represents one of IU’s best remaining opportunities for a win this season.The Badgers, winners of their last four, have still had something of a mediocre season by their standards. IU plays much better at home, and if the Hoosiers limit their tendency toward turnovers against a tough Wisconsin defense, they could have a chance.For his part, Ryan was cagey at best when asked about what he expected from Crean’s young squad.“I never make games personal or talk about coaches,” Ryan said to the media this week. “Nobody asked me about Todd Lickliter’s team. Nobody asked me about Thad Matta’s teams. I don’t do that.”I’m not sure what to make of that, but it would appear Ryan hasn’t circled this one in red on his Steve Alford campus celebrity calendar.One date he probably has taken special notice of, especially given his team’s reentrance into the NCAA picture, is the next game on the schedule: Michigan State at the Breslin Center.Bo Ryan is an experienced coach with a team full of juniors and seniors, not the type to fall victim to trap games. But their 7-6 Big Ten record also belies, perhaps, a lack of top-level talent to help fend off such upsets, and IU is primed to pull one of its own before the season is out.Tom Crean’s team has come close at home against Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State, and Crean knows what to expect from Ryan.The first-year IU man might respect Ryan up and down – all the more incentive to make this one count.Osterman's Prediction:IU - 69 Wisconsin - 64
(02/16/09 5:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s now been nine days since Devan Dumes logged game minutes for the IU men’s basketball team because of his program-enforced suspension.And while his scoring has certainly been missed – IU’s last two losses have both come by less points than Dumes’ per game average – the Hoosiers might miss his minutes more.IU only used seven players Sunday afternoon in its 65-52 loss to Illinois. And it appeared at the tail end of the Hoosiers’ furious rally to bring a 19-point deficit down to six with 6:27 left as though the Hoosiers might have lacked only the legs to keep closing in.A Chester Frazier 3-pointer and a Malik Story free throw had the deficit at eight just less than three minutes later, when two backdoor layups pushed the Illini too far beyond reach.Maybe neither play was the result of tired defensive legs, but the game as a whole was still a window into a depth-starved basketball season that’s seen eight players play a whopping 96.9 percent of IU’s overall minutes, and a slightly-less-ridiculous 94.4 percent of Big Ten minutes.Of those players – Dumes, Story, Taber, Jones, Daniel Moore, Tom Pritchard, Nick Williams and Matt Roth – six are freshmen. Even if they aren’t hitting the overblown basketball cliche known as the “freshman wall,” bigger and faster competition on a much bigger stage will wear on anyone.IU coach Tom Crean said he “had no intentions” of playing just seven Sunday, a decision he said was based on the game itself.“I really don’t go into a game saying that it’s going to be seven, eight, nine,” Crean said of his player rotations. “I just try to read the situations. I think I’d be pigeon-holing things if I did that.”Osterman’s prediction: Illinois 85 – IU 68Final score:Illinois 65 – IU 52NotebookCrean unsure about DumesIU coach Tom Crean refused to say when junior guard Devan Dumes would return from his program-enforced suspension. Dumes, the team’s leading scorer, was ejected from the Hoosiers’ Feb. 7 game at Michigan State after committing a flagrant foul late in the second half.Crean said Sunday that he’s been talking with IU athletics director Fred Glass and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany about Dumes’ situation to ensure all parties are satisfied with the punishment. The flagrant foul against Michigan State was the third hard elbow Dumes threw against the Spartans, two of which drew foul calls.Crean admitted Dumes’ situation is a “multiple-incident type of thing in a couple of different games.”“Every day’s a different day, but I fully am ready for him to be back with us,” Crean said. “Mistakes were made, in the sense of the games, and it’s been a heavy price to pay, there’s no question about that ... I want the league to be happy with it as well.”The return of Roth, so to speakSunday marked the fifth time in the last six games Matt Roth has hit double figures. This time, he led all Hoosiers with 13 points, shooting 3-of-6 from behind the arc.But it was Roth’s other field goal that was perhaps most impressive.Late in the first half, Roth took the ball outside the 3-point line and faked. Roth dribbled a couple of steps into the lane and nailed a contested jumper, which echoed a similar play against Minnesota.While obviously not watershed events in any way, both revealed at least the existence of an offensive game beyond Roth’s usual fair, NBA-range 3-pointers.Roth’s scoring numbers are up – his 8.8 points per game in conference have moved his scoring average to 7.1 points per game overall – but to be a big piece down the road, he needs to develop a more rounded game. It appears he’s doing that, even if said improvement is coming only in small doses.Weber impressed with IU crowdIllinois coach Bruce Weber, whose cagey history with IU made him the target of plenty of abuse Sunday, still said he came away impressed with IU’s crowd.“I give kudos to the fans here to sell this place out and continue to support the team,” Weber said. “That’s what you need. True fans are there, win or lose.”Those were odd words from someone like Weber, whose history with the Hoosier faithful hasn’t been exactly silver. Still, Weber gave credit to IU’s fans and even said, politely, that he wished Illinois fans would turn out in similar numbers.“Unbelievable, what their fans have done,” Weber said. “We’ve got some tickets left, and it would be nice to have it sold out Wednesday night.”
(02/13/09 5:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“I think Indiana will suck. Don’t put that on the Internet.”Those words came from Illinois coach Bruce Weber at a fan function late last June.The utterance chucked tinder onto the barn fire that has been the IU-Illinois rivalry in recent years. IU fans will always hate Purdue as a matter of instinct, but the demilitarized zone that has formed in the 150 or so miles between Bloomington and Champaign, Ill., seems to have overtaken the usual loathing for the Boilers – at least when it comes to basketball.But has it always been this way? When did this perceived blood hatred begin, and does it truly constitute a rivalry?Current students, for the most part, define the rivalry by the defection of Eric Gordon. The former IU guard, now with the Los Angeles Clippers, committed to Illinois during his junior year at Indianapolis’ North Central High School, citing program instability as the main reason he wouldn’t consider IU.Enter Kelvin Sampson, and suddenly Gordon answered the call of the basketball powerhouse an hour south of Indy, leaving the Illini coach and his fans stomping mad.Of course, this led to the highly publicized feud between Weber and Sampson, one in which the former did almost everything save publicly address his disdain for the latter.Weber set land-speed handshaking records every time he had to greet Sampson post-game.Gordon’s family had to be escorted from the stands at Illinois after fans a few rows back decided to offer them sundry objects and concession stand food – aerially.And surely, no one has forgotten the Gordon-Chester Frazier pregame chest bump in Champaign.But there is a history of malice between the two programs so closely related in school size and character that their arenas bear the same name.Bob Knight and Lou Henson (Illinois’ version of the General) feuded less than politely during their respective Big Ten careers.Former IU player and assistant Dan Dakich said the discord between the two coaches began with the 1986 recruiting of an Illinois high school student, Lowell Hamilton, who ended up in Champaign. Knight believed Henson and Illinois had acted improperly in Hamilton’s courtship – and he said so publicly and privately, even when the NCAA cleared Illinois of wrongdoing.Knight later reportedly tried to apologize to Henson, but the seeds were sown.Henson was quoted in 1986 as saying Knight “gets away with more on the bench than anyone,” and later called him a “classic bully.”The March 1991 confrontation that preceded that last memorable quote is one Dakich remembers vividly.“Coach Knight basically walked off the court as opposed to shaking hands at Illinois,” said Dakich, “and then coach Knight and I were back in the locker room, and then Henson came in with his team.” The confrontation was inevitable, he said, because “you had to go down the same hallway” to get to the two locker rooms. It was there, Dakich said, the two coaches had to be physically restrained from going after each other.“That kind of really started the rivalry,” Dakich said. “I don’t know whether it subsided a little bit.”University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis, who has been at IU since 1963, said he does remember periods of feuding between IU and Illinois during Knight’s years in charge. But he also said the most inflammatory moment he could recall between the two programs was the Gordon saga. Dakich said much the same thing – that the intensity of the rivalry, at least in the last 365 days, was “simply and solely because of Eric.”An hour-long Google search of variations on “IU-Illinois rivalry” almost exclusively yielded references to Gordon and the Knight-Henson tunnel incident.For his part, IU coach Tom Crean has played down the animosity between the border-state schools, rarely talking about the rivalry. He repeated after IU’s 76-45 loss in Champaign on Jan. 10 that he had no comment on Weber’s preseason prediction.The animosity between the two fanbases hasn’t waned since, but Dakich said IU-Illinois still doesn’t have the feel of traditional IU rivalries like Kentucky and Purdue.“If the teams are playing for a Big Ten Championship, yeah it’s gonna be a different feeling,” Dakich said of IU-Illinois. “I don’t think you could say that there’s any way that the depth of the rivalry matches Purdue or Kentucky.”
(02/11/09 6:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The last time IU played Minnesota outside Bloomington, Yogi’s Grill and Bar was wall-to-wall with fans, all bearing the same colors and the same hope. A Big Ten Tournament title was just three short wins away, almost within reach for a team that had already tallied many more. Tuesday night, that same Bloomington watering hole wasn’t even a quarter as full, and the atmosphere felt more like the second floor of the Wells Library. The reasons, varied and many, do not need to be repeated in great detail: One year ago Friday, the NCAA passed down its findings on the actions of then-IU coach Kelvin Sampson. College athletics’ ruling body alleged Sampson had committed five major violations related to illicit recruiting practices, which would spell the end of his short tenure in Bloomington. The eventual fallout included the graduation or departure – for a myriad of reasons – of all but two Hoosiers, leaving IU basketball and those within its “family” wounded and angry. Fan support among the most loyal and energetic has barely waned. Still, it’s hard to blame those who have strayed, perhaps feeling a little bit like the crew of the Santa Maria – desperate for land. IU fans just aren’t used to losing. Branch McCracken and Bob Knight saw to that. Mike Davis even made it to the Final Four. Therefore, while IU fans said they were ready for a season to forget, living through it has taken a noticeable toll. Attendance is down at Assembly Hall, in part because of the Hoosiers’ struggles and in part because of a still-sinking economy. But 1001 E. 17th St. isn’t bearing the season’s trial by itself. John Munden, a bartender at Nick’s English Hut for 21 years, said “a lot fewer people” have come to the bar to watch IU games than last year, home or away. Munden said the fans who do come “are resigned to the fact” the team they love will struggle just about every night. “People pretty much realize what we’re going through,” Munden said. “They had Taber (returning from last year), that’s it.”No, it hasn’t all been roses and smiles for Tom Crean, embraced from day one by the IU basketball world for his energy and perceived understanding of the program’s tradition. The Hoosiers’ loss Tuesday tied a record for the most in a single IU season. But on message boards, blogs, news Web sites and, yes, in bars, fans have done their best to embrace Crean and his young band. And criticism of players, coaches or anyone else in the program has been kept to a minimum. “He’s pleasing the Hoosier Nation,” said one fan watching the game at Yogi’s.So there it was. Amidst the losing, the turnovers, the ceaseless laughter from every rival corner, there existed optimism – on Tuesday night, anyway. And why not? Despite their 1-10 conference record, the Hoosiers have kept most Big Ten games close, and help is on the way in the form of a recruiting class ranked No. 10 nationally by Scout.com. And fans do take some joy in watching this team hustle its way into their hearts, said Munden. “If last year’s team had hustled like these guys, they would have won a national championship,” Munden said late in the second half Tuesday as a Verdell Jones 3-pointer found its mark. It’s been those small victories that have had to stoke the fire during what’s already been a bitter-cold Big Ten season in Bloomington, a place not accustomed to losing. It was Abraham Lincoln who once said, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.” The Hoosiers’ recent past is far from quiet, but there has certainly been a forced change in outlook and expectations surrounding IU basketball’s “stormy present.” One thing is sure though – IU fans hunger for, are excited about and expect a blue-skied future coming soon. Until then, they’re ready to weather the rough seas.
(02/10/09 4:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Rhetorical question: Does any man ever truly deserve to take a shot to the “lower midsection”?It’s been on the minds of IU basketball fans since last Saturday, when junior guard Devan Dumes’ running motion brought great discomfort to Michigan State big man Goran Suton.Of course, the greater story is that the move – intentional or not – was book-ended by two other free-flying elbows that happened to be attached to IU’s leading scorer. The third and final elbow earned Dumes a flagrant foul and an ejection after he appeared to intentionally aim for Tom Herzog at the end of a tussle for a rebound.Since then, Dumes has been suspended indefinitely for his actions by IU coach Tom Crean, and has taken responsibility for his actions and apologized.General wisdom says Dumes was in the wrong, and he was – there are just things men do not do to fellow men except in times of extreme peril to life or limb.“It was a mistake on my behalf,” Dumes said Monday, adding that he has sought counsel from several mentors and friends, including his brother. “I take my responsibility.”Now, I don’t condone what Dumes did (see above edict about what men do not do to other men.)But if there was a list of things this basketball team lacks, attitude might feature highly among them. There’s no place in basketball for dirty play, but every once in a while, everybody has to be willing to fight back.Bill Russell, the old Celtic great, used to get pounded inside without much retaliation. He wouldn’t fight back, and he rarely complained, which of course only accelerated the problem.Finally, legendary coach Red Auerbach told his star big man to throw an elbow, but Russell refused, not wanting the reputation for playing dirty. Auerbach told Russell to throw one elbow, just one, during a nationally televised game – still a big deal for the NBA then – and Russell would never have to do it again.Legend says it worked.Right now, there are too many teams out there that think they can do whatever they want with these wide-eyed Hoosiers, and for the most part, they’re right.But at some point, players on this team are going to have to assert themselves – show that they aren’t willing to back down when opponents really get in their faces.This isn’t to say IU has a crop of weak-willed players interested only in backing down. But basketball is an incredibly physical game, and players will always try to establish even the slightest edge through subtle but forceful physicality.Dumes’ actions are condemnable, but the willingness to take an opponent’s physical play right back to him is an attitude this team ought to adopt universally.Devan, you had your heart in the right place, just not your elbows.Osterman's prediction: Minnesota 78 – IU 53
(02/09/09 4:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Coming into the conference season, freshman forward Tom Pritchard was a driving force. His scoring – highest among Big Ten freshmen – combined with an impressive if small array of post moves almost assured him the pole position for conference freshman of the year.But the IU men’s basketball team’s loss to Michigan State highlighted, among other things, that Pritchard hasn’t been the same commanding presence inside in the last month.The Ohio native finished with nine points and five rebounds, but with Devan Dumes in foul trouble and IU’s offense sputtering, Pritchard was rarely able to free himself and offer an option in the paint that could get things moving smoothly again.Statistics rarely lie.While Pritchard has played slightly more minutes in conference (29.6) than out (29.1), he’s averaging two full points less per game in Big Ten play than overall. Using that same basis for comparison, he’s averaging almost a full rebound less per Big Ten game; his field-goal percentage has dropped from 51 percent to 43 percent, and he’s committed more than half of his 71 fouls in conference play.Moreover, consider the impact of the Spartan bigs: Delvon Roe and Goran Suton combined for 21 points and nine rebounds, and Draymond Green had himself a day off the bench with 15 and 12.Pritchard’s inability to link up with Kyle Taber and provide an offensive post presence also allowed the Spartans to control both lanes, counting five blocks on the afternoon and pulling down 12 offensive rebounds.This isn’t to say that any of this is specifically Pritchard’s fault. He’s had to play far more minutes than someone in his position ever should, and most of the season he’s been a rock for a team without any regular relief.But Pritchard’s declining production in Big Ten play does signal a few possibilities.First, teams have likely figured out ways to stop Pritchard inside, making IU’s offense painfully one-dimensional and reliant on guard play. That’s great when it’s flowing and nail-biting when it’s not.Second, Pritchard is slowing down after a tough non-conference schedule and the physicality of Big Ten play, something few freshmen would be able to withstand as long as he has. He averages more minutes per game than anyone else on the team, and only Verdell Jones averages more minutes in conference games specifically.Third, the lack of a second inside presence has left Pritchard marooned and an easy target. Without someone else to take some pressure off down low, he’s doing the work of two men when he normally wouldn’t even have to do the work of one.Which of these is it? Well, I can’t make any guarantees, as the powers that be don’t allow us into practices, and one cannot make such judgments based purely on in-game performance.But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a mixture of the three. Tijan Jobe, while a lovable fan favorite, certainly has not turned out to be reliable for even a few inside minutes, and Taber will never command attention inside, try as he might.The Nick Williams/Malik Story down low experiment didn’t work out, and while Williams plays well near the basket, he’s a poor substitute for a legitimate second presence.Pritchard is the focal point of every opposing team’s inside defense, and he takes a mighty licking every game.Whatever the explanation might be, the problem is still that there is no one Tom Crean can put on the floor to give Pritchard a break. The Hoosiers’ lack of depth inside is finally coming home to roost, and every time it does, their offense loses an arm.Like nearly all other problems with this team, next year should be better. Derek Elston, Bobby Capobianco and possibly Bawa Muniru will be able to lend help inside, and Christian Watford’s mismatched size might draw a few more athletic post players away from Pritchard on defense.But like nearly all other problems with this team, that is next year. Right now, Tom Pritchard will just have to use the second half of the Big Ten season to toughen himself and start planning next year’s revenge.Osterman's prediction: MSU 81 - IU 68Final score: MSU 75 - IU 47
(02/06/09 5:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s just after 3:30 p.m. inside the Persimmon Room at the east end of the Indiana Memorial Union. Snow covers the ground outside, but warmer temperatures are slowly melting it into the soft ground. Inside, another kind of thaw is taking place as a handful of students meet with IU’s newest administrator, Director of Athletics Fred Glass.There’s nothing really remarkable about the scene, save this: In a university climate defined in recent years by closed-door decision-making that generally leaves students out, there is a new face in Bloomington interested in trying things differently. Glass was in the room an hour early, equipped with little more than a pen and a yellow legal pad and without the entourage that sometimes accompanied his predecessor, Rick Greenspan. Moreover, in stark contrast to the often private Greenspan – whom many believed was far too opaque in his operation – Glass has flung open the physical and proverbial doors of his office in his first month on the job. AccessibilityWhen he was hired, Glass talked about three pillars upon which he wanted to build his program: compliance, athletic achievement and academic excellence. Directly below that comes accessibility: with coaches, with administrators, with the Bloomington community – and with students. Glass said he plans to hold regular office hours and hopes to go to campus hot spots every so often to hear from students. “Being present and hearing from the students directly is really important,” Glass said Wednesday during the IU-Iowa game. “I want to break down any perceived walls that are there between the athletic department and the University – and the athletic department and the community.”In office little more than a month, Glass has met with representatives of prominent student groups twice, including leaders from the IU Student Association, the Residence Halls Association, the Student Athletic Board and the Student Alumni Association. It has paid dividends – IUSA President Luke Fields and RHA President Eric Gibson were both in attendance at Wednesday’s office hours. Glass has also extended the same offer to his coaches, with whom IU baseball coach Tracy Smith said Glass holds an open-door policy – one that isn’t just for show. “Fred wants everyone’s input,” said IU women’s tennis coach Lin Loring, the department’s longest-tenured coach, in a statement. “He made it clear it was OK to disagree with him. He just wants our participation and ideas.”Actions speak louder than wordsWhen Greenspan took over the department in 2004, the major problems facing IU Athletics were almost too many to count. Greenspan brought the department back into the black and made several coaching hires lauded throughout the Big Ten. So when Glass sat down in the director’s office for the first time Jan. 3, the table was set for the former Baker & Daniels partner to take control. He did. Already, Glass has made himself visible at all sorts of athletic events, has undertaken a micro-marketing campaign that’s focused on getting people to basketball games in higher numbers (it’s worked) and has worked to honor facilities enhancements and construction, like the new academic support center and the new baseball and softball stadiums. Glass also acknowledges his greatest shortcoming: his complete lack of collegiate athletics administration. His solution? Meet people in the days before taking office.“I had 60 days to kind of hit the ground running and climb the learning curve,” Glass said. “In those 60 days, I met with like, 150 people.”‘The perfect guy’ for the jobThose words are Jack Swarbrick’s. He is the athletics director at Notre Dame and a former Baker & Daniels partner with Glass. Swarbrick said Glass is the right man at the right time. “He’s the perfect guy to be the athletic director at Indiana University right now, given the challenges the University is coming off of,” Swarbrick said, referring to IU’s recent checkered history that ultimately led to Glass’ hiring. Swarbrick acknowledged Glass’ lack of experience in his new field, but emphasized how much more important it is that Glass has a strong, diverse resume. That resume includes spearheading the effort to bring Lucas Oil Stadium into being and time spent as Evan Bayh’s chief of staff when Bayh was governor.“It’s an increasingly complex business,” Swarbrick said by phone last month. “The days of athletic departments operating off the revenue that are produced by the core activities are long over. It takes a multitude of revenue sources to make a major program work ... It’s a quickly changing industry.”Perhaps even more important, however, are Glass’ credentials as “an Indiana guy.” There were concerns, both public and private, from varied parties during the search urging the committee to find someone with Indiana roots, someone who might better understand what it means to be a Hoosier. Glass – who has “Indiana Hoosiers” etched across the back of his office chair – said he believes it’s a strength he possesses, and that he’s in for the long haul. “Nobody has to explain to me what Nick’s is, where HPER Court One is,” said Glass, who has two IU degrees. “This is the last job I want. I’m not trying to shine my credentials to get to Stanford or someplace else. “I want to do this for the rest of my career.”
(02/05/09 5:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Verdell Jones thumped his chest. Malik Story went stomping down the court, his face alight with victory. Even Tom Pritchard smiled. The common denominator was that for the first time, each player knew how winning a Big Ten game felt. Tom Crean kissed his wife before taking a microphone and reiterating one message to the 14,247 fans assembled inside the storied building: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.“This is your win,” he said. “This is your win. There’s no way we could have done it without the greatest fans in America.”The celebrations were as varied Wednesday night as the previous 11 losses had been, but the elation across Assembly Hall was uniform. A taut, yellow nylon rope kept students from flooding out of the south bleachers and onto the court after the final buzzer sounded. So the IU players rushed to them instead. “I saw the little yellow rope,” Story said after the game, “so we came over there.”One by one, each player on IU’s roster went from one end of the students’ section to the other, thanking them for the support Story called “amazing.”And what about the locker room after the game?“All smiles,” Story said, sporting a grin of his own. “It looked like a winning locker room.”Perhaps sweeter still was the way the victory came about. So many of the shortcomings and bugaboos that have plagued IU this season – free-throw shooting, turnovers, momentum swings – finally broke their way. The Hoosiers shot 15-of-25 from the charity stripe, and turned the ball over just 11 times – they average 18 per game. Just as importantly, they held a 20-9 advantage in points off turnovers and gave the ball away just three times in the second half. And even when Iowa cleavered a 20-point lead down to just three with 1:30 left, a team that so often had seen victory pulled from their grasp like a carrot on a stick persevered, as Devan Dumes delivered his fifth and final 3-pointer of the night. It was symbolic: The Hoosiers finally learned how to come up in the clutch. Asked after the game if he liked the look from Dumes, who earlier in the season took flak for a late-game misstep in the loss to Michigan, Crean didn’t hesitate. “The way he was feeling tonight, that was a great shot,” Crean said. Dumes did not miss from behind the arc, and led all scorers with a career-high 27 points. Kyle Taber set a personal record in minutes (37) and tied another in points (7). Two late layups that helped hold off Iowa runs were perhaps the senior’s biggest contribution. Unlike the rest of his teammates, Taber had enjoyed plenty of Big Ten victories in this building before Wednesday night, including defeats of top-10 teams like Wisconsin and Illinois. Given the context, Taber said Wednesday’s win was “one of those.”“It’s up there with some of those games,” Taber said. “This was our game. It had to be.”In the world of college basketball, there is never time to dither on one game too much. Michigan State comes next, a team Crean described as one of the best, not just in the conference but also the country. But even the coach gave himself time to pause on Wednesday’s victory, smiling at the thought that “tomorrow will be a little bit different feeling going in to work.” “As I said to the players late in the game and in the locker room, this will be the toughest win they ever get,” Crean said with a note of relief. “I am really proud of them.”Maybe that’s why, almost two hours after the clock hit zeroes and Jones tossed the ball down the court in triumph, the final score still shone on the scoreboards inside Assembly Hall. On this night, everyone deserved to soak it in just a little bit longer.