Last night’s men’s basketball game between Indiana and Illinois had a pretty exciting finish. It was a double overtime win by the Hoosiers. The Illini were up by 3 toward the end of regulation. Eric Gordon banked in an NBA distance three pointer to tie it up. I can’t remember for sure, but I think someone from Illinois missed the front end of a one-and-one and it went to OT. Illinois went to the line with a couple of seconds left at the end of the first OT with two free throws – and missed them both. Finally the Hoosiers escaped after 2 overtimes with a parade of free throws.
This is one the Hoosiers should have lost. I’m not getting the sense that they are quite as good as they’re ranked. They’ve lost to two of the better teams they’ve played — UConn and Wisconsin — and the rest of the competition hasn’t been all that stiff. But they’ve won a couple of close ones at the end on the road — seems like a similar scenario played out in Minnesota as played out last night. So, I’m figuring maybe a 6 seed in the tournament and maybe one or two wins before getting bounced. Guess we’ll see.
That said, it’s still incredibly difficult to win on the road in the Big 10.
The competition gets much tougher from here on out. IU plays at Ohio State on Sunday, and then has a three game home stretch against MSU, Wisconsin, and Purdue. If IU can get through that stretch 3-1, they have an excellent chance to finish 15-3 in the conference (there’s still a roadie to MSU near the end of the season). I think that even with the weak schedule, a record of 26-5 would compute to something like a 3 seed, perhaps even a 2 with a nice run in the BTT. As you note, this team hasn’t really looked great yet, but unlike some teams, IU has the talent to continue to improve. It’s sort of a good news/bad news proposition: IU is 19-3 despite not really approaching its potential as a team.
As for last night, Illinois has a bad record but is one of the best defensive teams in the country and has lost a bunch of very competitive games. Considering what IU was up against last night, an extremely hostile crowd and an opponent that treated this like an NCAA tournament game and needed the win to preserve any postseason hopes, I’ll take it. That gives the Hoosiers a 4-1 road record in the Big Ten with trips to Penn State and Northwestern remaining. If Sampson can get this team to buy into his hard-nosed style (the way his OU teams and last year’s IU team did), they are capable of big things.
The same guy, Pruit missed both the front-end of a one-and-one at the end of regulation and the two free throws at the end of the first over-time. I would guess he’s feeling pretty miserable today.
Of course I was cheering for the Illini (as a Boiler fan).
I hadn’t realized it was Pruitt on both until this morning. (I was watching from bed with my out-of-prescription glasses on instead of my contacts.) Yeah, that guy has to be miserable.
What can Purdue do that IU can’t?
Beat Wisconsin.
Go Boilers! ;)
Had to get that in there somewhere. Not a Purdue grad but with two siblings there and being an almost-purdue attendee (before I made the oh so bright choice to attend a much more expensive school in a shittier town heh) I’ve always been partial to them over IU.
I’d be curious what the results would say of a statewide survey of Purdue and IU fans about how they became fans if they aren’t actual alumni.
For my part, I became an IU fan because my parents were IU fans. Oddly, I didn’t maintain my allegiance to the Presbyterians or the Republicans that I learned from my folks. Then again, I think they took their basketball a lot more seriously than their religion or their politics.
Purdue grad here, IU fan. I was a Purdue fan before 1975, but got sick of my brother (the IU fan) rubbing it in after the 1976 season (gimme a break, I was 12). Ended up going to PU because the school of Engineering and Tech. was better than IU’s.
As for my brother, well, both his kids are Purdue grads. Karma’s a bi..
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080209/SPORTS0601/802090475/1069/SPORTS0601
I remember Bob Knight taking the microphone and admonishing the fans at Assembly Hall. He also mentioned that Scott Skiles was the toughest player in college basketball. Skiles was Indiana’s Mr. Basketball after leading Plymouth to the state championship. I don’t think Knight recruited him because of his size. He ended up at Michigan State. His first 3 years State had good teams and Skiles played well but he was a complimentary player. Between his junior and senior years he was arrested twice on alcohol charges. He was the only returning starter his senior year and the team was thought to be rebuilding. He proceeded to have the most remarkable season I can remember in the Big Ten. The fans were on him (even worse than the Illinois bums) everywhere the team went. He responded with over 30 points a game and maybe 12 assists and carried his team all year. Many of his assists (he still holds the NBA’s single game assist record) were of the gee whiz variety. Eric Gordon is bigger and has as much talent as Skiles and by all reports he is a great kid. But he will have to develop some more mental toughness to reach his full potential.
Ever since Bruce Weber went to Illinois his teams have played dirty. There is a line between enthusiasm and rudeness and it’s not a fine line. Basically it is rooting on your team but not cheering against their opponents especially in contests between amateurs. Ultimately the University is responsible for the conduct of its fans and teams. There appears to be a need for adult supervision at Illinois so that the good fans of the school can once again be proud of their programs.
Could all this have to do with IU’s recruiting a player who was supposed to go to the U I? I don’t follow sports seriously except for the Chicago Cubs.When I was a student at U of I I went to home games and on trips to Purdue and IU( and other big ten schools) for basketball and football,but the experience and trip were more interesting than the game most times for me.That being said, when I was visiting my family back in Champaign-Urbana last summer I noted a great deal of hostility toward ‘Indiana’meaning IU . Even my mother who has always been a great Illinois sports fans and is almost 90 years old was cussing them out . I was dumbfounded.But my brothers and sister,spouses and children( some 40 yrs old) all had this same ‘indignant disgust’toward IU which I had never seen before. So everything is emotionally charged, so it’s been interesting to see the Indiana view above about Illini fans.But all sports fans do have their own myopic way of judging and even Cub fans have sometimes been accused of being rude and obnoxious and I have never noticed that…it’s true about Cardinal fans though…
Oh yeah, it’s totally driven by Eric Gordon’s decision not to go to Illinois and to go to Indiana instead. They have a right to be peeved, but it seems like the anger of Illinois fans has gone a little beyond what’s justified or productive.
And it was Illinois’ game to lose there at the end of regulation. I was it the gym (yes, mom, I’m exercising again) and nearly fell off the elliptical machine more than once. Ended up watching both overtimes around a tv with a bunch of other sweaty guys.
Boy it felt good to watch those fans have to eat crow; especially after how rude they were!
And what was the deal with playing the tribal music?!? I thought they got rid of the Chief last year; but still have the offensive music. And I always feel a little strange because “Illinois Loyalty” is the fight song for RHS.
Who knows?? Maybe the Hoosiers have yet to peak this season….one can hope….
Man, what time did you finally get to sleep that night? I can’t exercise in the evening because it takes my body awhile to wind down after I get back from the gym. The pick-me-up is good during the day, but not at midnight when I have court in the morning.
Friday’s my day off; plus we’re on central time. Still I finally got home around 11:30 and to sleep around 12:20.