I don’t like to think of myself as an optimist or a pessimist, really. Heck this week, I’ve just been busy. I realize this is only the second day of the week, but that’s the way it’s been. In light of all that busyosity I haven’t had time to give a ton of thought to Indiana’s trip to MSG to face Pittsburgh tonight. The few ounces of thought I have given it say this: the Hoosiers lose tonight. The Big Ten Geeks think it will be close because Pitt hasn’t beaten anyone and needed double OT to beat Duquesne. I hope they’re right. Hell, I hope if they’re wrong, it’s because the Hoosiers pulled out the W. Unfortunately, the numbers for Pitt and IU say to me that the Panthers are good at defense in general. More specifically, they hang their hats on cleaning up the defensive glass and keeping their opponents off the free throw line. On offense, they get to the free throw line and make a lot of 2-pointers.
In contrast, IU is not especially good at offense. Their biggest strengths are on the offensive glass and getting to the free throw line. Those match up with Pitt’s defensive strengths. On D, the Hoosiers are pretty middle of the road in defending 2-pointers. From watching games, my feeling is that these Hoosiers have a very hard time defending the paint, and that is where the Panthers make their hay. It could be a tough night for these young, skinny Hoosiers.
But let’s stick with not looking at that glass. Let’s wait and see what happens when the game is played in our TV sets.
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