SelectionSunday
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Mike DeCourcy on ACC/Big 10 Challenge
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coolhandgopher
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I take issue with DeCourcy's take on the Hoosiers versus Gonzaga. This is what he says about Indiana:
It's going unnoticed that IU is winning every game in which its talent is even close to its opponent's, including solid victories over IUPUI and Cornell
Indiana has defeated IUPUI, Cornell, Northwestern State, and Chaminade. None of those teams has a player who was considered a Top 150 talent coming out of high school. Indiana has five freshman who were consensus Top 150 talents: Tom Pritchard, Nick Williams, Malik Story, Verdell Jones III, and Matt Roth. In addition, they have a solid juco player in Devan Dumes on their team. That's six players who were highly regarded than any of their vanquished foes have on their rosters. Indiana should be winning these games, particularly since they're all at home (although I was surprised how easily they took care of Cornell, who are missing one of their top players in Adam Gore right now).
As for their losses, they got drilled by Notre Dame in Maui, which is to be expected and they also got rolled by St. Joseph's to the tune of 26 points. St. Joe's is 2-3 this season and don't appear to be very good-one of their losses is to Holy Cross and another is to a struggling Alabama team. I would guess the talent level between St. Joe's and Indiana is fairly close.
I'm not trying to discount the fact that what Tom Crean and Indiana are undertaking isn't extremely difficult and unprecendented. It is. However, I'm afraid we're going to see these 'woe is Indiana and poor Tom Crean' articles all year, when in fact there is talent on that team. They will snipe some teams at home because Assembly Hall is a tough place to play and these kids will have the support of the home crowd behind them. Yes, they will get drilled consistently on the road, but when the likes of TCU, Northeastern, and Lipscomb come to Assembly Hall, it won't be an upset or cause for celebration. When they win some Big Ten games at home, it's not an indication that the Big Ten is awful or Tom Crean is a miracle worker, although I expect both those songs will be sung. Indiana's going to have a tough year, but it's because they are inexperienced not because they are without talent.
It's going unnoticed that IU is winning every game in which its talent is even close to its opponent's, including solid victories over IUPUI and Cornell
Indiana has defeated IUPUI, Cornell, Northwestern State, and Chaminade. None of those teams has a player who was considered a Top 150 talent coming out of high school. Indiana has five freshman who were consensus Top 150 talents: Tom Pritchard, Nick Williams, Malik Story, Verdell Jones III, and Matt Roth. In addition, they have a solid juco player in Devan Dumes on their team. That's six players who were highly regarded than any of their vanquished foes have on their rosters. Indiana should be winning these games, particularly since they're all at home (although I was surprised how easily they took care of Cornell, who are missing one of their top players in Adam Gore right now).
As for their losses, they got drilled by Notre Dame in Maui, which is to be expected and they also got rolled by St. Joseph's to the tune of 26 points. St. Joe's is 2-3 this season and don't appear to be very good-one of their losses is to Holy Cross and another is to a struggling Alabama team. I would guess the talent level between St. Joe's and Indiana is fairly close.
I'm not trying to discount the fact that what Tom Crean and Indiana are undertaking isn't extremely difficult and unprecendented. It is. However, I'm afraid we're going to see these 'woe is Indiana and poor Tom Crean' articles all year, when in fact there is talent on that team. They will snipe some teams at home because Assembly Hall is a tough place to play and these kids will have the support of the home crowd behind them. Yes, they will get drilled consistently on the road, but when the likes of TCU, Northeastern, and Lipscomb come to Assembly Hall, it won't be an upset or cause for celebration. When they win some Big Ten games at home, it's not an indication that the Big Ten is awful or Tom Crean is a miracle worker, although I expect both those songs will be sung. Indiana's going to have a tough year, but it's because they are inexperienced not because they are without talent.