Back From Summer Vacation (Or: No way was I going to stay inside and blog all summer in Chicago)

So, it's a sad fact in the real world that there is no real summer vacation for non-students.

We work Mondays through Fridays all summer long, doing errands on the weekends, and trying to find time for fun and friends whenever possible in our busy "adult" lives.

Needless to say, when it's summer in Chicago, even though we don't get a summer vacation, there's no way we here at Defend The Rock were going to stay inside in the few good months we have here in the Windy City blogging, instead of spending time at poisonous beautiful Lake Michigan.

So now, with summer coming to a close we return. Not rested, not refreshed, but maybe slightly tanner and with a few more chips on our shoulders (There is only so much crap one can take from Northwestern fans bragging about their football team before one cracks).

What has surprised us in our time off is that you have continued to visit us. With no new posts, you have continued to check everyday in the hopes of seeing something new.

Well, the suspense is over.

We have returned!

Ben Chappell

So as we here at Defend The Rock have discussed often, we were the first Kellen Lewis fans. At any given IU game it would be us yelling "Put in the freshmen," and we started the original Kellen Lewis facebook group, "You Tell 'em Kellen, #15 For Quarterback." Needless to say with his ascension, and subsequent success we were thrilled. And needless to say, with his indefinite suspension we were extremely disappointed and disenchanted.

So now as all of you know, Sophomore Ben Chappell will be starting for the Hoosiers in their new look no-huddle offense. As you may recall, Ben Chappell received the brunt of our ire last season when we attended the Northwestern game and he saw fit to throw an interception in his only play of the game, the play which in turn cost us the game.

I'll be honest, I don't like Ben Chappell, I don't trust Ben Chappell, but this Hoosier fan will be rooting for him to take command of this team and put up some victories. This is very similar to my innate dislike for Blake Powers, but for whom I found myself rooting for with the chant "Throw some shit to Hardy!" and hey, it worked out, kinda, for a season.

So Ben, here's to a good first season as the starting QB of the Hoosiers, no matter how much it may disturb my fellow Defend The Rockers (and even me for that matter), Ben Chappell, I've got your back, now go make Kellen Lewis wish he never got suspended by being twice the QB he ever was!

Basketball Leaders

So there will a complete write up on the Indiana Men's Basketball season up within the next few days. For now there is this list of team leaders in all sorts of tasty stat categories:

Games Played-- D.J. White and Lance Stemler (33)
Starts-- D.J. White (33)
Minutes Played-- Eric Gordon (1110)
Minutes Average-- Eric Gordon (34.7)
Field Goals-- D.J. White (216)
Field Goals Attempted-- Eric Gordon (425)
Field Goal Percentage-- D.J. White (60.5%)
Three-Point Field Goals-- Eric Gordon (70)
Three-Point Field Goals Attempted-- Eric Gordon (208)
Three-Point Field Goal Percentage-- Armon Bassett (45.4%)
Free Throws-- Eric Gordon (231)
Free Throws Attempted-- Eric Gordon (277)
Free Throw Percentage-- Armon Bassett (83.9)
Rebounds-- D.J. White (341-10.3 average)
Assists-- Jamarcus Ellis (108-3.38 average)
Blocks-- D.J. White (54-1.64 average)
Steals-- Jamarcus Ellis (47, 1.47 average) Points-- Eric Gordon (669, 20.9 average)

Hoosiers Grab Plenty of Awards & Honors

The only awards and honors that truly matter (those bestowed upon players by Defend The Rock) have yet to be released, but in the meantime plenty of other awards and honors have been handed out to a bunch of IU Basketball players.

Rivals.Com Big 10 Awards:

D.J. White - 1st Team, Player of the Year

Eric Gordon - 1st Team, Freshmen Team, Freshmen of the Year

Jamarcus Ellis - 2nd Team 

Sports Illustrated All-Americans:

D.J. White - 2nd Team

Eric Gordon -  2nd Team

Official Big 10 Conference Awards:

D.J. White - Big 10 Player of the Year (Coaches), Top Performer (Media), 1st Team All Big 10

Eric Gordon - Big 10 Freshmen of the Year (Coaches & Media), 1st Team All Big 10 

Armon Bassett - 3rd Team All Big 10

Jamarcus Ellis - Honorable Mention (media)

Adam Ahlfeld - Hoosier recipient of League Sportsmanship Award

The Sunday Wrap

I wanted to wait for the Hoosier baseball squad to get a few games out of the way before reporting on them, and with eight under their belt, it seems like now is a good time to start.

The Hoosiers are currently sitting on a record of 3-5 with plenty of baseball left before conference play begins. Starting off season with three away games against LSU was obviously not the best way for the season to begin, but we managed to take the last game of the series, 7-6 with help from Defend The Rock favorites Evan Crawford (3 hits), and Kyle Leiendecker (3IP, 0ER, 3 K's)

Player Highlights:

So far former Indiana Mr. Baseball Josh Phegley is showing off all the tools and skills he was touted as having, but which he kept hidden during his Freshmen season. The Sophomore is hitting at an INSANE .485/.526/.697 (AVG/OBP/SLG) clip with 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, and 9 RBI.

Andrew Means continues to put up great numbers, after a solid season last year, with a combined line of .366/.381/.463, while being 3 for 3 in stolen base attempts. It seems like nobody has been able to keep this guy off the basepaths in years.

Evan Crawford is scuffling a bit so far this season, only getting on base in a third of his at bats, thus decreasing his SB opportunities, the 7 strike outs to 0 walks isn't helping things.

After a good Freshmen season, Matt Bashore has looked incredible in his 17IP, sporting a nifty 2.08 ERA, while having a K:BB ratio of 5:2 while holding opposing batters to a .188 AVG, all leading to a solid 1.22WHIP.

Leftly Kyle Leiendecker is being thrown into the fire as a Freshmen in relief and aside from his showing against LSU, he has mostly been burned. In 9IP he has a 9.00ERA, with a .344 BA Against. I believe these stats will normalize as they are looking pretty flukey when taken in context with his good control (4:1 K:BB ratio), he has mostly been hurt by the long ball.

That concludes The Sunday Wrap!

Opening Day!

Today is opening day for College Baseball.  The Hoosiers have been taking good steps the past few years under Tracy Smith to become a competitive team, and eventually nab an appearance in the College World Series.  It is great that Indiana has decided to broadcast ALL of their games for free online (audio online), check out the page here.

Last year before the season I picked Evan Crawford as a Freshmen to watch, and he ended up shining in his first year of college ball.  With a solid Sophomore season he could begin to put himself on the map as prospect for the majors.   So without further ado, this years pick to watch:

Kyle Leindecker (LHP).  So this is an easy one.  As opposed to last season where we didn't have any truly projectable players coming in, Kyle Leindecker has all the makings of a pitcher who will make an impact his freshmen year.  Drafted by the Indians in the 25th round, he opted to go to school in his home state instead, and hope to boost his draft status over the next few years.  

So let's go Hoosiers!  

First up, LSU...

Kyle Taber - A Hero Obscured By Tragedy or Come On Folks, Kyle Taber Is Playing Pretty Well

An unfortunate consequence of Kelvin Sampson's recruiting violations is the fact that Kyle Taber, all 6'7", 228lbs of him is getting lost in the mayhem.

It's not that he is a superstar possessing NBA potential, it's that this largely forgotten player sidelined by injuries his freshmen year has come on over the past few weeks to play an important role on this team. I went about gathering stats on his performance but have opted not to include them, as honestly, they don't do him justice, as they are fairly paltry due to his limited playing time (although I did tinker with extrapolating his stats/playing time for the equivalent playing time of White/Gordon/Ellis and he came out 3rd on the team in rebounds!).

Normally I am NOT one to speak a lot about intangibles, I like looking at statistics to evaluate players, but from watching Taber the last few games it's clear he is making his time on the floor count. It's not that he is scoring tons of points, getting every rebound, or blocking every shot, it is simply that he is there on every play, thus when he gets an opportunity he does follow through and make the play. I remember vividly yelling "Taberrrrrrrr!" out of excitement several times during the Purdue game when he made a great follow-through lay up and a jumper, not to mention some good board coverage.

In what may be the best part of the story though is that if you listen, you can hear chants of "Ky-le Ta-ber" coming from the crowd on occasion. IU fans have always loved to support the guy who comes from no where, or is a native son who worked his way up through the ranks. The last guy who got this treatment was Errek Suhr, the most recent to get it, and lose it due to the fickleness of the fans was Sean Kline. Let's hope Taber continues to play well, and IU fans keep supporting the former walk on from Evansville.