Indiana at 3-0; Colts on MNF

Not much new, IU takes apart an inferior opponent on the road (Western Illinois: 102-79), and it is nice to see them dispose of team that they only beat at home by 4 points last season. But I didn't really learn much. I was slightly worried when I found out that Sean Kline was sitting along with DJ White and AJ Ratliff. That left IU with Killingsworth inside, and the foreign 6-10 freshmen inside. Allen and Dinc got a few minutes, but Vaden and Rod Wilmont filled in grabbing rebounds. But mostly, Western Illinois wasn't very good. They'll win some games in the Mid-Continent Conference, because they're dangerous with the run-and-gun and there's a couple of decent forwards in Fred Oguns and Marlon Mahorn, but when IU got up early, they just lost control.

The Hoosiers are better than they were last year. They share the ball, the best player beats up guys in the paint instead of chucking threes, and Marshall Strickland is way more impressive and confident at the 2-spot than he ever was at point. This also is be the best team at catching the ball since the 2002 national runners-up. Marco especially has some nice hands inside.I did see Calloway for the time, and while he's quick and managed not to turn over the ball a lot, he doesn't strike me as a particularly great upgrade over Donald Perry (who I do not miss). And Calloway needs to be able to knock down shots (especially lay-ups) as he has the physical attributes to defend in the Big Ten, which Errek Suhr, a better point guard and unbelievable shooter, just does not. Still, Suhr is clearly the number two point guard right now behind Lewis Monroe, if for no other reason than he can't miss from behind the arc.

Vaden continues to impress as well (22 pts, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 steals), and Ben Allen has all the tools to play with the big boys. But the question with MK, Strickland, Monroe, and all the rest of the IU ballers is how will they fare against good teams? Well, there's no one better than Duke, consensus #1, and they're coming to Bloomington on Wednesday for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. It's gonna be tough to take them even at home. If IU had DJ White available to hold off Shelden Williams, I would say that the Hoosiers would have a really good chance, but I have a hard time seeing them contain Williams otherwise without giving Duke's shooters open looks. It ought to be a learning experience for the team, that they can hopefully use in March, but it's a longshot to beat the hated Dookies.

Colts-Steelers tonight.

Colts do well in the bright lights of Monday night. But on the other hand, football is terrible when there's only one game on to watch, and no other sports to switch to. See, unlike basketball or soccer, which are

games of near-constant flowing motion, football is about 10% action, 30% replays, say 10% penalties, replays, and contested calls, and 50% clock-killing, largely in the name of play-calling. So it's fine as long as there about three other football games to watch or one really good basketball game to switch to for most of it.