In pro sports, the “yeah, but who have they beaten?” argument is usually crap. In college, it matters. Another IU flameout last night proved that. The Hoosiers got out to a 17-1 start while playing one of the countries easiest collection of cupcakes. That’s not all their fault; they scheduled some games (SIU, Kentucky) that should normally be tough, but weren’t this year, and they got the easy Big 10 teams early. After two straight losses to UConn and Wisconsin, it’s clear that they are not ready for prime time yet. My impression after both games was that IU definitely has top talent, but they are not well coached. Kelvin Sampson’s offense is a disaster. Last night, Wisconsin showed how to screen and create ball movement. Technically speaking, it was beautiful. There were some bad calls last night, but so what? This is the Big 10; on the road, all the calls are bad. Sampson either has a terrible offensive design or isn’t getting through to these kids. One thing remains certain, DJ White is baaaaad man. His IU career makes him one of the true greats in Cream and Crimson. He is the toughest rebounder in traffic I can ever remember at IU. His passion and ability kept them in that game, and allowed them to claw back with a nice run. Still, I’m frustrated that now that I can finally watch back to back games (CURSE YOU COMCAAAAAAAAST!), I have to watch games that suck. I’m not convinced this team won’t make a tourney run, but they clearly have a lot of work to do.
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