Cram it up your Hoosiers*

Last night was a very important win for this Illini team. I don't think that's a surprise to anyone. However, I think this could be a game that will (hopefully) be the turning point game that I hoped the Minnesota game could be (but wasn't). So here are my thoughts on the game last night.

First, it Orange Krush was awesome. I thought maybe the only thing that would happen was that they would boo Simpson** and that would be it. But damn was I sorely mistaken. The chants as old Cal*** walked out of the locker room of 'Call me Kelvin' were hilarious and poignant. I really also appreciated the 'Don't call us; we'll call you' chant while Wilmont or whatever his name is was trying to shoot his free throws. And finally when he was getting booed like crazy during his interview right before halftime was awesome. The Krush brought their A-game. And it was all insulting to the coach and not to the players, which I found particularly classy. It was much more classy than I would have been.

Now to the game. You could tell that Bruce Weber wanted to win the game because he was all up and down the sideline on the bench. He was screaming, pointing, arguing, pouting, and calling out plays and directions. This team has had a tendency to just kind of fall into a lull, and I think this might be the best way that Weber can offset that.

In the first half the defense started out pretty slow. D.J. White was hitting, other players were hitting, and Illinois was slow to rotate. They picked it up though, and Indiana stopped making anything. To be able to shut down any team for over 10 minutes without a field goal is a credit to any defense, and also our rebounding prevented second shots from close range. It was too bad that our offense was sluggish, otherwise we may have been able to not only come back to tie the game but pull away.

Rich McBride was pretty impressive last night. I'll admit I was all over him at the beginning of the season. I think it was fair too, because he blew. Hard. But now his defense is continually improving and he is shooting the ball with confidence. And if he makes his shots, I don't care where he shoots them from. He is still a liability passing the ball occasionally, which should be one of his stronger points, since he's usually passing it anytime he's not wide open. But it's not. However, he makes his free throws, and last night he even made a shot or two inside the three point line. Overall I was impressed.

Both Shaun Pruitt and Warren Carter were monsters on the boards. A number of times we held the Hoosiers to just one shot on a possession because of their ability to rebound the ball. And I don't know if the Hoosiers just had a small lineup or if none of their guards ever went in to rebound, but it seemed like on every possession either Carter or Pruitt was pulled down a rebound. I know Carter only had six, but it seemed like he was pulling down big rebounds at the end of the game a lot.

I liked seeing Carlwell get some action last night, but I did not like seeing Marcus Arnold get into the game before Carlwell. Why must we continually play Marcus Arnold. He is a waste. I wouldn't say Carlwell is a liability on the defensive end, as he helped cause (I believe) two steals last night. On the offensive end, he's at least tall and has pretty soft hands. Arnold has nothing. He's undersized, can't jump, can't rebound, can't really defend, except for his wide base. I just don't understand the thinking here.

I really like Chester Frazier's intensity, but I have a question. Well, I guess I have two questions. First, why can he not shoot free throws? He wants to be a point guard, he needs to be shooting 1000 free throws a day. He just looks terrible at the line. Second, when the game is going to come down to free throws, I appreciate that he wants the ball in his hands. But can't he give it to someone who is money from the free throw line? We had Rich McBride, Jamar Smith and Warren Carter all perfect from the line last night, yet Chet refused to pass the ball to them and took the foul himself. He did make the front of of a bonus last night (twice, I think), but he was 3-7 from the free throw line. There comes a point when you need to make the decision that's right for your team, and as a point guard, if he can't shoot free throws he should be able to get it to someone who can. In addition to that, what was the deal with just having the ball taken right away from him as he was basically dribbling right in some dude's face. His passing can be kind of lazy too. I like having him on the floor, he just really needs to focus and make the right decisions.

There was a stretch in the second half where I was pretty sure we were trying to give the game away, but we managed to come back strong. Once we got up by 8, we never led by less than 4 the rest of the way out. I think this game could help us to keep intensity in the second half when we have a lead.

So now we're 3-4 in the Big Ten. We benefit greatly this season by not having to go to Wisconsin or Ohio State, so we're done with them. And, personally, I think the refs screwed us out of the Wisconsin game, not so much with fouls called against us, but by not giving us baskets on various plays. Regardless, we're done with those teams, and we've already played Michigan and Michigan State on the road. We should be able to win out with the schedule we have left, and if we lose, I see only two potential losses coming at Purdue and at Indiana. We've already shown we can beat the Hoosiers, so hopefully we'll have Brian Randle to help drive the point home in Bloomington.

If we go 11-5 in the Big Ten, we're in the NCAA tournament. If we go 10-6, I think we're still in. If we go 9-7, I think it's close. But I see no reason to believe that we can't at least go 7-2 in the final 9 games.

*I'm pretty sure this doesn't make sense as it is. However, since I think of the Hoosiers as assholes, you can just substitute assholes and make it work.

**I know his name. It is out of pure disrespect and contempt that I misspell it.

***Ditto. I loathe him.