OK, I am going to take a few minutes from my usual ranting about football and touch on a subject that will no doubt dominate my blog as soon as that game on Feb. 4th comes and goes. That is the Indiana Hoosier basketball team. To me, the Hoosiers are one of the more surprising teams this season, and are going to be a very dangerous team come March.
This is the first season of the Kelvin Sampson era. Many times, when a new coach comes in, there is a transition season or two. Many times, the coach struggles to win with the guys that the previous coach has brought in. That being the case, I was going into this season not really expecting much of anything. I was hoping we would make the tournament. A 20 win season would be great. All in all, my expectations for this year were quite low. This team has been more than I could've ever hoped for. A 20 win season and a trip to the dance seem to be all but locks. Now, the only question is how far will they go in March?
They are currently 14-5 overall, and 4-2 in the Big 10. They entered this week ranked 24th in the country, which marked the first time they were in either of the top 25 polls. They also have the third best record in conference.
Their 5 losses are all on the road, and are all to teams that are either ranked, or will be in the tournament come March (Butler in Indianapolis, @ Duke, @ Kentucky, @ Ohio State, and @ Illinois). Also keep in mind that these 5 losses are by a total of 28 points. They have a solid road win in Connecticut and have beaten probable tournament teams Michigan State, Southern Illinois, and Purdue at home. So far, they are doing what they are supposed to do. They are winning at home, usually easily, and they are playing very tough on the road.
The really scary thing is that this team is still learning how to play with each other. Also, Sampson is still figuring out his rotation. They are third in the conference in scoring. Forth in scoring defense. They are third in field goal %, second in free throw %, and tied for forth in 3 pt. field gaol %. As the team gels throughout the rest of the season, they will only get better and better.
Sampson seems to be leaning towards a starting five of DJ White, Rod Wilmont, Earl Calloway, Armon Bassett, and Lance Stemler. He then has AJ Ratliff, Joey Shaw, Mike White, Errek Suhr, and Xavier Keeling coming off the bench. The team has scorers at every position in the starting rotation and their bench players can fill it up as well. The key to this team however is Sampson 's staple, and that is defense.
You watch this team play and they make it so hard for the other team to score. They all hustle, they rotate well, and they really seem to enjoy playing defense. That is the key in my opinion. For a team to really be a great defensive team, they need to enjoy playing on that side of the ball. Rod Wilmont has an outside shot at being the conference defensive player of the year. DJ White is in the top five in rebounding and blocks, and the team is in the top 3 in steals and blocks. What does this mean? It means that come March, teams they play against are going to have to play a great game to advance against the Hoosiers.
Next year, they will lose Suhr, Calloway, and Wilmont to graduation and could lose DJ White to the NBA. However, they have a top 5 class coming in highlighted by Eric Gordon, one of the top two players coming into the NCAA's next year. What does this mean? It means that the program has already turned the corner. We will make the Sweet 16 this year I believe, at least, and we will be a top 10 pre-season team next year. If someone had told me before this season that the transition would be this quick, I would've laughed. However, it appears that it is going to be this quick, and all of Hoosier nation can just sit back and enjoy the ride.
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2 comments:
You really think the Big Ten is deep enough to send six teams? And that Illinois can put together a good enough run in their nine remaining games to be that sixth team? Their pre-league schedule is junk apart from the two ranked teams they lost to.
Actually, now that I think about it - if they can win those last two road games, that gives them at least 17 wins, and if they can make it at least 18 by beating Michigan before those last two road games, I guess maybe they have a shot. Probably they don't lose every game between now and Michigan, but with their schedule, I don't know if 20 wins is enough. I think they're bubble all the way up to Selection Sunday, but you would know better than I would.
How far off am I?
I agree with you that they will be a bubbe team. However, even in a down year the Big 10 should get 5 or 6 teams. I don't think Michigan will be there at the end of the year so those 5 will be us, OSU, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Purdue and Illinois.
I could be wrong on this, and obvioulsy how they play down the stretch will also be a deciding factor, but I think they'll play well enough to get in. Either way, a road loss to what is now our biggest Big 10 rival outside of West Lafayette isn't a bad loss.
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