Sunday, September 28, 2008

Indiana Sports thoughts

Basketball:
Way to go, Coach Crean! IU just picked up a needed big man (6-11 Bawa Muniru) to fill out a surprisingly solid 2009-2010 class in tough times (under the cloud of a NCAA investigation & probable sanctions of some kind) to follow a nice couple of late commitments (6-8 combo forward Christian Watford & 6-4 scorer Maurice Creek). Add in bangers Derek Elston & Bobby Capobianco along with rising BHSS point guard Jordan Hulls, and the Hoosiers could be back in Big Ten contention right on schedule. I said earlier that Crean needs to have the Hoosiers making noise by 2010-2011 or irrevocable damage might be done to the Hoosier "brand." If Crean is able to put together a solid team out of the pieces from this year, next year, and just sang one or two top recruits for 2010-2011, look out! But that's a long ways away.

Football:
I've watched a couple of Hoosier games. And honestly, these Hoosiers aren't that bad. They remind a little of the later Bill Mallory teams, with a little more offensive spark (the first drive v. MSU had the Spartans scratching their heads), but just can't seem to get the breaks. However, I gotta say, when it comes down to it, IU just can't match up to stop conference foes running games, and until that happens, they'll never threaten for a top 3 Big Ten finish.

Soccer:
I know the Hoosiers just dropped a game to UCSB at home, dropping them to 4-2-2, but honestly, when I've watched them play on the Big Ten network, these guys have championship-caliber talent, passing, and great defense. But they're still struggling with consistency and that killer instinct. Not that the sparks of that aren't there (Mellencamp & Ring are good two-way competitors), but it just hasn't quite clicked yet. But I think Tommy Meyer & Will Bruin make this club a lot more dangerous than it was last season. Meyer's long ball-ability give the Hoosiers the ability to attack through a very-nice build-up or immediately by hitting Alexander or Bruin and going at speed. Look for these guys to finish the season strong, as long as they put in the work on the field & learn from these early struggles.

Go Hoosiers!

Basketball season is less than a month away.

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