Likes and Dislikes: the Indiana win

I am a big Al Skinner fan but I agree with what Sean McDonough said at the end of the game (paraphrasing): "Steve Donahue is going to shake up Conte and sell more seats due to his style of play." Here are some of my thoughts on the game.

Likes
-- Reggie Jackson's big game. I know Donahue liked Sunday's balanced, team effort against Cal, but you can't overlook a game like this from Reggie. Here he is on national TV against a Big Ten team putting on a near flawless performance.
-- Good ball handling. I didn't expect this when Donahue arrived. Not that Donahue teams are careless, I just thought we wouldn't have the ball handlers on the roster to be so careful. I also thought the transition to a more perimeter based passing system would invite steals.
-- Josh Southern's post passing. This was a factor later in the game but I was impressed with Josh's ability to find open men and cutters. If he can do that every game our offense will become very efficient.

Dislikes
-- Trapani's off night. I know people had big expectations for Joe this season, but he seemed a bit off. I don't know the best way for him to get points, since he's not the spot shooter that say Rubin is. Maybe we should get him cutting to the basket more.
-- Dunn and Elmore's rebounding. Neither logged big minutes, but neither were much of a factor. We are lucky that Indiana is not a great rebounding team. Against better team's these guys will have to step up.

I think we are all excited, but keep Yale in the back of your mind. This team is playing well, but we will have some cold shooting nights ahead. This will be an unpredictable season...let's enjoy the ride.

Who are the Hoosiers?

Indiana basketball hasn't been Indiana basketball of late. Coaching changes and NCAA violations left Tom Crean in a major rebuilding mode with one of college basketballs most storied programs. Of course now that Crean has added depth and has the team playing well, we pull them in the ACC-Big Ten rotation. It should be an interesting game and another good test for Donahue's team. Here are some news and notes on the new look Hoosiers in preparation for tonight's game.

Record
6-0 but it is a little hollow. They have yet to play a ranked team and have not played away from Bloomington. Their best opponent was probably Evansville.

Rating
Kenpom has the Hoosiers 58th nationally in his power rating. BC is 40th. His ratings favor us in a one on one matchup.

Style

Indiana will mix it up on defense. Crean used to play a lot of man at Marquette but doesn't really have the size at IU to do that against most teams. They rely on different zone looks. Since we are not particularly big, we may see more man to man tonight.

On offense they have some strong perimeter players. Most probably now Maurice Creek, but Christian Watford has been their leading scorer and a solid rebounder. They won't chuck a lot of threes. They are more patient and will find the higher percentage shot and are deadly with putbacks.

Pointspread

BC-5.5

What to expect
I think playing at home and playing with confidence will lead us to another win. I think we can set the tempo early and force IU to play catchup and shoot more 3s than they would like. They don't have size to give us problems, but they will force turnovers. It should be a good test to see if Orlando was a good run or the sign of this team's potential.