Indiana @ Illinois - A Great Game?

Before I get to the Indiana @ Illinois game I'd like to make a brief comment on posting. Just as I resurrected Defend The Rock from it's hiatus I entered Graduate School. While at first I was posting frequently, I have noticed that both my post count, and quality has gone down drastically of late. I am hoping that as I get back into the groove of being in school I will be able to better manage my time, and thus make more frequent, and substantive posts. In the meantime, I'd like to thank my fellow Defend The Rockers who have been picking up the slack for me of late.
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Tonight after class TITTLE500 and myself watched the game. I DVR'd it as I would not have been able to make tipoff. We isolated ourselves from the internet and ignored various calls and texts that might've clued us into the outcome of the game. I had a conversation with a classmate about the game that went something like this:

Her: Good luck, I hope Indiana wins tonight, what do you think their chances are?
Me: Road games in the Big Ten are always tough, but come on, Illinois is terrible!

At the conclusion of the game TITTLE500 and I had a similar discussion, discussing how while this win was important, how "good" of a win was it really? It took us 2 overtimes and some luck (not to mention some wretched FT shooting by Pruitt) to win against an Illinois team that has shown nothing all year long.

The Hoosiers had a couple guys who really could've been goats of the game but managed to shine in their own ways. Both Ellis and Crawford made quite a few mistakes but made up for them big time with crucial plays/totals. Crawford's poor ball handling (nothing new) juxtaposed with his perfectly timed 3's. Ellis' missed free throws and foul trouble masked by his big 3 and always reliable rebounding performance.

Eric Gordon was clearly preoccupied in the first half with all sorts of thoughts running through his head. Whether the crowd was getting to him, or if he was just trying to do too much is up for debate, but as always seems to be the case, he got his points and helped IU to a win. I made a comment late in the game that is really seems that against tougher opponents, Gordon almost makes his impact below the radar (or as below the radar as Eric Gordon can be). Often times I find myself surprised that he's scored the last 10 IU points, or something to that effect.

Looking back at this game, it was a great game to watch, there can be no questioning that. But for IU fans that have a nagging doubt about how good this team actually is, it wasn't encouraging. The Hoosiers seems to have the pieces to be able to field one hell of a team, but that puzzle still hasn't quite come together to form a cohesive image yet.

Signing Day

Head over to IUHoosiers.com to see what is going on with signing day today. As of right now 14 players have sent in their written commitment to Bill Lynch's Hoosiers. Be sure to check out the videos also, I know what I will be doing for most of my work day.

I mean I guess really they are all a bunch of 2 or 3 star prospects, but I am liking that we are getting a lot of guys from outside of Indiana. Always love learning the new names and faces, looking forward to seeing what happens with the future of Indiana Football!

Have fun following the recruits today! Here is hoping we don't finish last this year in Big Ten recruiting.

Bob Knight

Good fucking riddance.

News regarding other past IU coaches: Mike Davis is sitting at 15-6 with the Blazers. Tied for 2nd place in C-USA. He doesn't appear to be walking out on a team that is on the bubble and has a couple shots at bringing down Memphis (maybe not realistic shots, but shots) before the season is over. Also Robert Vaden is having an outstanding year down there avevraging almost 21 ppg.

Now let's get ready for Thursday!

*the thoughts in this post may not reflect the other posters on defendtherock.blogspot.com

Kyle Taber

Kyle Taber is receiving regular rotation minutes in the game against Northwestern today.

I'm listening to the game on WIUX online radio so its hard to get a good feel for minutes, but he seems to be getting more than Mike White or Fatty McMissLayups (DeAndre Thomas).

Why did we unredshirt Mike White again? The Hoosiers are shooting terribly, minus DJ and EG of course.

Also, there's a rumor floating around that DeAndre Thomas used to be skinny. Here's photographic proof.

Now:


In 2002:


Also, as you might be noticing, DeAndre used to wear #1.

Football Schedule

Here is the 2008 football schedule for our Hoosiers (home games in bold). I have to be honest and say that I have a hard time envisioning us doing any better than we did this past season, if even matching our win total. Granted we should be able to beat Northwestern this time around (as long as you know who doesn't come in for one play).

8/30 Western Kentucky
9/6 Murray State
9/20 Ball State
9/27 Michigan State
10/4 at Minnesota
10/11 Iowa
10/18 at Illinois
10/25 Northwestern (Homecoming)
11/1 Central Michigan
11/8 Wisconsin
11/15 at Penn State
11/22 at Purdue

Censorship and lousy Basketball

Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!

Just playing. Swear if you want. Sometimes the refs deserve it, but the other teams probably don't. And maybe it does sound stupid or make us look bad...

Last night was disappointing, and this morning is even worse. As I sit here at work, un-showered and feeling like I reek of Budlight and wings, I am trying to pull from my brain some of the animosity I had for Eric Gordon last night. I remember going on long rants about the freshman, which in turn caused me to miss many a trivia question (damnit EJ!), but now it's all gone. I've got nothing. So I will just say this...Fuck Eric Gordon. Okay I am over it. I bet you will continue to wow me starting sunday against Northwestern. If you can't drop 20+ points on those Wildcats, I think it might jog my memory a bit.

In non Eric Gordon news, 8 games at the Rock this coming football season. Can't wait!

Baseball - There's Hope

So some of you may be aware but I devoted a TON of time last season to covering the IU Baseball Squad. No one else covered them all that much, so I thought I was filling a void, but it seems not too many people were all that interested. Well, just when my resolve was fading to cover them this season, I asked BP Prospect Guru Bryan Smith "Whatever should a IU Baseball Blogger Do?" And his response tells me that not only should I keep blogging, but maybe people will actually start taking a look at IU baseball.

Kellen (Indiana): I (wasted?) an entire summer blogging about and analyzing the Hoosier baseball squad. Any reason for me to cover these guys again, or just more obscurity? Would love to see my boy Evan Crawford get some attention.

Bryan Smith: No, you should continue to cover them, Tracy Smith is doing some good things with that program. They have a good freshman left-hander coming in named Kyle Leiendecker, and I think their sophomore catcher Josh Phegley is going to have an All-Big Ten year after a really good summer. The problem for your boy Evan Crawford is that he's the second-best player named that in college baseball, behind Auburn's electric southpaw closer. Next year he might get some attention.