Friday, January 20, 2006

News and Notes

Big game at home for IU against Purdue, besides the obvious rivalry, Indiana can return to the top ten in the polls with a win. Purdue's crippled team really shouldn't be a challenge, especially with the way they turn over the ball, but if the Hoosiers don't take them seriously, we could have another Indiana State on our hands.

Good on Ben Fulton for taking the Big Ten Wonk's stats and explaining them a little bit. Whatever you may think of Killingsworth's matador defense, IU's defense was way more effective with him in than out.

Steve S. rails against Coach Davis and the support from media guys like Gregg Doyel, and compares Davis to Matt Doherty & Steve Lavin , but I find why-does-anyone-even-listen-to-Seth Davis' support even more worthless.

But I did like Big Ten's Wonk's take of Davis' article:

In a special all-Davis write up at SI.com this morning, Seth Davis salutes Hoosier coach Mike Davis. "I love Mike Davis," says former California Governor Gray Davis. Geena Davis wants Mike Davis to do a cameo on "Commander in Chief." Meanwhile, Davis Love III offers the IU coach tips on his long irons. Rumors that Davis plans to unwind in the offseason by retreating to his vacation home in Davis, California, and watching Davis Cup matches while listening to Miles Davis could not be confirmed.

New site from Iowa's Ryan K., bringer of the Ryanalysis, with the Basketball Notebook

Good ol' Taco noted that IU was like LSU back in the Shaq days in the second half of Illinois game, just pounding it inside, but I'll point to Ken Pomeroy's IU scouting report to counter that the Hoosier team is a lot better than those Shaq teams as IU has scorers outside of the post. First of all, IU's been atop the 3pt FG% nationally for much of the season, and Secondly, IU's most effective two scorers are Marshall Strickland & Robert Vaden. Neither of whom had good games in the Illinois match, but Rod Wilmont & Ben Allen stepped up to hit 3's in their place. If AJ Ratliff ever gets back on track, he's got the tools to be as good as anyone scoring, but he may not shake off the rust until next year.

In other news, Dane Fife, who's IPFW club ought to be pretty decent next year, and will join the new
United Basketball Conference next season a long with D-I independents New Jersey Institute of Technology, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Texas-Pan American and Utah Valley State. They won't have an automatic bid, but it's the first step to getting one down the road, and may increase all of these teams' visibility and chances of gettting a NIT bid, to boot.

IPFW may well be the UBC's preseason favorite, having no seniors on the roster this year. Also, they will have juco 6-5 Patrick Lepper and new transfers Demetrius Johnson (Kent State) and Kevin Nelson (Central Michigan) who averaged 17ppg. Nelson should start at one guard spot, and the frontcourt looks set with 6-9 Tyler Best (formerly of Charlotte), 6-6 Justin Hawkins (Utah), and this season's leading scorer 6-6 DeWitt Scott. Point guard is a serious concern, as starting 6-4 guard Quinton Carrouthers will sit for Nelson, and 6-1 frosh Kyle Savely will better as another instant offense off the bench as well. The choice this year seems to 6-1 junior Brad Pompey backed up by 6-3 frosh DJ Posley. Pompey's Assist-to-Turnover ratio 1:1, and Posley's is 1:1.2. Perhaps next season the Mastodons will have a better grasp of the offense and the position won't be a detriment.

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