USC-Upstate Reax

I actually don't have a lot to say about USC-Upstate game. I've watched all but about the last 5 minutes now, and it was... well, it wasn't exciting. At first, when Rivers took it right at the gargantuan Schneiders and laid the ball off for to a teammate for a lay-up, I was like- that's how you do it! And Rivers and Jones had a number of very good passes, but overall the team was pretty poor at handling the ball and not very savvy about attacking a shot-blocker. Watford and Elston are players, tho. Good to see them still playing well. And it was good to see IU come out strong in the second half and build a 20-point lead, even if they let get down to eight at the end.
However, either Dumes isn't 100% back yet, or he's seriously regressed. He was good on the boards but couldn't hit anything and committed some terrible turnovers. Right after a particularly egregious turnover, I was watching the score updates (during class) on the Hoosier Scoop, and I thought the line of the night was "Dumes thought he was playing the X-Box and hit all the buttons at once." Also, that fiesty 'tude had better improve, because right now his minutes could go to Roth, no problem.

For the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, I would guess IU's chances at beating Ole Miss are pretty low. But if the Hoosiers can come out of this tourney with a 2-1 record, that'll be something to build on. Win the tourney and we're a NCAA tournament contender... but that'd probably require taking down not only Mississippi but also Villanova, and that's just not going to happen.

Congrats to the Men's Soccer team for getting into the NCAA tourney again. Their 10-9-1 record is not impressive, but the murderer's row of a schedule is, getting them to #6 in the RPI. Why is IU #6? Look at the RPI top 25 foes - how about *non-conference* games against St. John's (t), Wake Forest(L), Akron(L), Kentucky(W), Butler(L), and then throw in Notre Dame(W), Louisville(L), New Mexico (W) and yes, even the criminally under-rated UCSB (L). That's 5 top 25 non-conference games, and 9 total in the top 32. And that's still not counting the Big Ten foes (Northwestern #3, Michigan St. #17, Penn St.#13, Ohio St.#11, Michigan #33, and Wisconsin #38). Indiana probably isn't a top 25 team, but they did belong in the tourney. Here's hoping they can pay Louisville back tomorrow night!