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The Minute After: Evansville

by in The Minute After | November 21st, 2010

Thoughts on a 67-54 win over the Evansville Purple Aces:

Can the Hoosiers put it together for a full 40 minutes?

That’s the challenge heading forward.

After a first half thick with turnovers (12), fouls (three each for Bobby Capobianco, Tom Pritchard and Christian Watford) and only 25 points (thanks to Evansville’s defense taking away perimeter shooting which equaled minimal shot attempts for IU), the Hoosiers put together arguably their finest stretch of the season in the second half — at one point ripping off a 27-2 run on the Purple Aces.

Maurice Creek was a big catalyst. The sophomore hit three 3-pointers early in the second frame (after IU only attempted three the entire first half) and was fouled on another 3-point attempt in which he hit all three free throws.

Creek also scored on a nice left-handed runner off the backboard later in the half, along with another three with just under two minutes left to seal the deal.

For the game, Creek scored 18 points (5-of-10 from the floor, 4-of-7 from three, 5-of-5 from the line).

In addition, IU clamped down hard on defense and Evansville’s offense was stymied for most of the second half.

But most impressive was the way the Hoosiers took care of the ball. After giving it away 12 times in the first 20 minutes, only three miscues occurred in the second half for a total of 15.

As Alex tweeted this morning, IU ranked 329th out of 344 Division I teams in turnover percentage heading into this game. Not very good.

And whether the team builds off the turnover-light second half remains to be seen.

But in a season where turnovers have been a glaring problem, this afternoon’s performance was encouraging.

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Live Blog: Evansville at Indiana

by in Media | November 21st, 2010

Apologies for the delayed posting of this:


Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell down to five schools

by in Recruiting | November 20th, 2010

Per a tweet earlier this evening, 2012 Park Tudor point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell has narrowed the list of schools involved in his recruitment to five.

Ferrell announced a top six of Wake Forest, Florida, Butler, IU, Virginia and Miami (FL) on November 13, but the Hurricanes are now out of the running:

“I have not decided to take my talents to the south with lebron and have cut Miami from my top 6 so I now have top 5 schools”

The No. 2 point guard nationally in his class, according to Rivals.com, has been considered a heavy lean to Indiana due to friendships with 2011 signees Austin Etherington and Cody Zeller, but has not announced a timetable for a decision.

Speculation that an announcement could be imminent has run rampant after Ferrell posted a message on his Twitter that “Something is going down November 24th” and “Be prepared everyone.” Park Tudor opens its season on the 24th against University.

Our Zach Osterman, who has followed Ferrell’s recruitment as closely as anyone in recent months, offered this analysis earlier today in our Twitter mailbag:

“There was a tweet posted during Tuesday’s game suggesting that Yogi’s pledge could be imminent, and I was told by someone I trust that reporting that wouldn’t have been the best idea. I don’t think this goes on for months, but Yogi is going to take a little time, as is his prerogative. I would be surprised — though admittedly not incredibly so — if he commits on the 24th.”

(Photo credit: Scout.com)

Inside the Hall Twitter Mailbag: November 20

by in Commentary | November 20th, 2010

The Inside the Hall Twitter mailbag is a weekly collection of questions tweeted to us via our Twitter account, @insidethehall.

Tweet us your questions each week and we’ll answer as many as we can. Now, onward …

@fredontv writes: How many 2012 slots are still open?

Alex Bozich: Fred, it seems like scholarship numbers are a popular topic of discussion amongst IU fans. This stems mostly from the fact that IU is involved with a number of highly touted prospects and fans wonder, ‘Will we have room for all of this talent?’ As it currently stands, IU has one scholarship remaining and an oversign for 2012. But there are a lot of factors to take into consideration. For instance, our current scholarship chart does not show Matt Roth taking a redshirt season. It does not take into account that sophomores Christian Watford and Maurice Creek could declare early for the NBA Draft. And it also assumes that no player on the current roster will leave the program via transfer. From what I understand, if IU can get the three remaining players it covets most for 2012: Yogi Ferrell, Gary Harris and Jeremy Hollowell, the scholarships will be available to make it happen.

@Tall_Skinny_Man writes: What do you think VJIII can do to cut down on turnovers? Do you see Hulls handling the ball more until VJIII fixes this?

Zach Osterman: I think there are a couple of answers to this question. First, I think Verdell is still not quite at 100 percent, and I think everyone was tired after that 3-in-5 stretch last weekend. That said, six turnovers per game is too many, and Verdell definitely looks like he’s forcing things too often. I think it’s probably partially a factor of getting him to slow down, but remember that he’s also one of the most capable players on the team when it comes to creating offense, either for himself or others. If Hulls does see more time with the ball — and he probably should, he played well last game — I don’t know that it’s at Verdell’s expense specifically.

@nithkrish writes: Yale won at BC by 8 tonight…we go to Chestnut Hill in a couple weeks…11-1?

Alex Bozich: IU has 13 non-conference games, with 10 remaining on the docket. Evansville, North Carolina Central, Northwestern State, Savannah State, SIU Edwardsville and South Carolina State are six remaining games the Hoosiers will be heavily favored to win. That makes nine wins. Beyond that, there are games at Boston College and Kentucky along with a game in Vegas against Northern Iowa and another game in Vegas against either Colorado or New Mexico. IU will likely be in all of these games, with Kentucky being the toughest of the four. That said, I think the most likely scenario is a 10-3 record heading into Big Ten play. That would match IU’s win total from a season ago with 18 games still to play.

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Video: Tom Crean talks Evansville

by in Video | November 19th, 2010

Courtesy of IU Athletics:

2010-2011 ITH Season Preview: Northwestern Wildcats

by in Commentary | November 19th, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS - MARCH 12: Head coach Bill Carmody of the Northwestern Wildcats watches game action against the Purdue Boilermakers during the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 12, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Wildcats lost 69-61 to the Boilermakers. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)It’s time for Inside the Hall’s team-by-team breakdown of the Big Ten Conference. Today: The Northwestern Wildcats.

The prevailing storyline for Bill Carmody’s Wildcats last year centered around if 2009-10 was finally the season the team broke through and made their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

But alas, it was not to be.

The Wildcats finished a healthy 20-14 (7-10 Big Ten), and were bounced out of the first round of the NIT at the hands of Rhode Island.

Such a finish was accomplished without the team’s best player, Kevin Coble, who missed the entire season due to a foot injury.

But Coble has decided not to return to the team for his senior year. At first, reports framed it as Coble wanting to focus on academics. But today comes word from Coble that a dispute between him and Carmody over his reluctance to go on the team’s trip to Italy in August when he was still recovering from the injury was also to blame.

Whatever the case, Coble is gone, and the Wildcats are likely worse off for it this season.

But they do still sport a decent facsimile of Coble in junior John Shurna, a Glenbard West product who averaged 18.2 points a contest last season, and has already hung 31 on Northern Illinois and 20 on Texas Pan-American this year.

He can fill it up.

Senior point guard Michael “Juice” Thompson is also on board for 2010-11, and his 3-point shooting prowess is about as good as it comes in the Big Ten. Sophomore Drew Crawford is off to a hot start in 2010-11 (25 points against NIU, 20 against TPA).

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