Looking Forward

I've been a tad busy with some things that have kept me from putting up my thoughts on the win in Columbus on Sunday.  Sadly, I'm not going to do much more than pay lip service here. But don't think that means I don't love that win. I absolutely do. DJ White was once again a beast.  The Hoosiers once again failed to score without him on the court, but that was because he never left it. Jordan Crawford was nothing short of excellent, and I was happy to see Bassett hit some shots. And there was more good work from Kyle Taber. Once again, the team's efficiency margin while he was on the floor was higher than anyone else's on the team.  Good times. In general, I think it's a huge win, that the Hoosiers played very well, and that they looked pleasantly active and disorienting in the 2-3 they played for the whole game.

Unfortunately, I have a bad taste in my mouth about the coaching staff, given all the new information coming out about the NCAA alleging five major violations against Kelvin Sampson's staff. I don't want to think about it, much less write about it.  Grant Wahl has some good thoughts on the subject. If you want to get in a really crappy mood about it, read this typically but appropriate acerbic post. The only reason I even mention it is that I worry about how the news will affect the team tonight.

That's right, Wisconsin comes to town tonight, stinging from a home loss to Purdue. Couple that with the Charlie Foxtrot in Bloomington, and the Badgers seem to have the edge in intangibles. As far as on the court stuff goes, not much has changed since I previewed the matchup just a couple of weeks ago. So check that out for details. The upshot is that Wisconsin is good at stopping what the Hoosiers are good at doing. To come out with a win, I think the Hoosiers will need big games from the likes of Gordon, Bassett, and Crawford, given that they shot horrendously in Madison. Maybe a win tonight will clean some of the bad mojo off of the program.  Well, probably not, but it might clean some of it off of me.  Maybe not that, either. Sigh.