A BIG sigh of relief

Indiana will not go defeated in conference play, hanging on to win at home over Iowa. I had this date circled all year as the one game that the Hoosiers probably should win in the Big Ten. And as Iowa was still without Cyrus Tate, it would've been a big disappointment if the Hoosiers hadn't hung on for the win. But they did!

Everyone's talking about Devan Dumes' big shooting night (which was very much needed when what should've been our advantage- inside play- became something of a weakness when Tom Pritchard had just a terrible night, fouling out in 14 minutes), but to me the hidden hero was Nick Williams. He just never let up, hit the boards hard, executed, and caused all sorts of problems including that last steal which sealed the Hawkeyes' doom. His defensive play is definitely coming along, and I can really see him keeping his starting spot in the years to come. Also, Kyle Taber was only credited with one steal, but I think he forced several Iowa turnovers in addition to his rebounding and blocked shots. I'm not sure what's up with his free-throws (two ugly, ugly misses), but he had everything else going last night.

With Dumes and Roth starting to find their range outside, and with Jones settling down at the point, and Taber & Pritchard providing some stops on defense, coach Crean is finding himself in possession of a basketball team. There isn't much depth here, outside of Moore and Story, who just can't be trusted to play starter's minutes yet for reasons of turnovers (have you seen Story's conference assist/turnover ratio?) and defense (Moore needs some lessons from Erreck Suhr about on-the-ball defense). There won't be many more wins this season, unfortunately, but there could be a surprise or two left in these guys. Good on you, Hoosiers.