Things Are Looking Good in Bloomington
by babaoreally on Dec 10, 2011 11:43 PM CST
in Indiana
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PrintIndiana won their first eight games of the year pretty easily. They won their first road game of the year at Evansville in a rout, but it wasn't really a hostile environment, and the Purple Aces haven't been impressive this season. The sixteen point win against Butler looked great at the time, but the Bulldogs have since lost to Valpo and Ball State. Hoosier fans saw their team get out to a 6-0 start last year by dominating lesser teams, only to have the season go down in flames once the competition picked up. So the skeptics had reason to take a wait-and-see approach to this year's team.
This season, the Hoosiers have stepped up their game to match their opponents. The win at NC State was the first thing that really made me think that this year will be different for Indiana. I assumed that IU would lose to Kentucky, but if they could keep the score from getting out of hand, then it would be another positive step on the road back to relevance.
As you are probably already aware, Indiana didn't just keep the score from getting out of hand, they beat the number one ranked team in the nation. The Hoosiers hit 9 of 15 from behind the arc, 14 of 17 from the foul line, and won the game on Christian Watford's last second three-pointer.
As someone who wasn't convinced that IU was a tournament team after the 7-0 start, the last two games have changed my outlook. I'm not predicting a conference championship or anything at this point, but the Hoosiers are going to be very hard to beat this year, especially at home. If they aren't dancing when March rolls around, I'll be very surprised.
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excellent prognosis for the Hoosiers.
they are a NCAA team and they play with intensity and passion. Winning in Assembly Hall will be tough.Gr8 win for Indiana and Coach Crean. Good day in the big ten.
great game
the Big Ten is looking pretty impressive early on. Can’t wait for the conference games to start
I'm a diehard
And I was skeptical. I still am, to a certain extent. But at the start of the season, when looking at their five toughest non-conference games (@ Evansville, Butler, @NCState, Kentucky, Notre Dame), I had hoped to go 3-2. They’re now 4-0.
Realistically, after winning 8 conference games over the last three years, I would be happy with a 10-8 mark in conference. That’s a 4-5 seed in the BT tourney, 20+ wins, and an NCAA tournament berth. Following up on spartynation’s comment, I want Assembly Hall to become a house of pain for opposing teams. I’m sure at some point, this team will disappoint me. All that means is that, after three years of being numb to it, I can finally have expecations again.
by hoosierdaddynow on Dec 12, 2011 12:24 PM CST reply actions
