Two games into the 2009-2010 season, we’ve learned little about the Indiana team that should blossom into a respectable squad once conference play rolls around in late December. Sure, the Hoosiers have won two games comfortably, but it’s hard to judge progress against the likes of Howard and USC Upstate. We know IU is better — but how much better? Our understanding of this question will come more into focus Thursday when IU takes the floor with Ole Miss in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Tip-Off Classic in Puerto Rico.

Plagued by an injury bug that claimed guards Chris Warren, Trevor Gaskins and Eniel Polynice for the season, Andy Kennedy’s admirable coaching job in 2008-2009 led Ole Miss to seven conference wins and a 16-15 record. Warren and Polynice have both recovered from left knee injuries and are joined in the backcourt by sophomore guard Terrico White (pictured), who is projected as a fringe lottery pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

White emerged as Kennedy’s best player as a freshman and averaged 18.4 ppg in conference play on his way to being named the SEC freshman of the year. “Rico,” as he’s called by his coach and teammates, hit close to 50 percent of his two-point attempts as a freshman, but shot just 63 percent from the foul line. Expect Jeremiah Rivers to draw this assignment.

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When you’re the athletic director of a school that’s never won a national championship in basketball, you are forced to creatively sell your program as some sort of juggernaut. That, my friends, is exactly what Purdue’s athletic director, Morgan Burke, did recently at a tipoff dinner for his Boilermakers.

Speaking about how wonderful a time it is to be a Purdue basketball fan, Burke served up this one-liner:

“It should not come as a surprise, because Purdue leads the conference with 21 Big Ten championships. Nobody else has 21, not even the people down south of Indianapolis.”

And here is my rebuttal: “It should not come as a surprise, because Indiana leads the conference with five national championships. Nobody else has five. And the people north of Indianapolis are still waiting for their first.”

Nice try, Morgan.

{HT: The Dagger}

It’s been a while since we’ve had the opportunity to have a little fun at the expense of Bruce Weber. So it was with great enjoyment that we learned of comments made by Lawrence North coach Jack Keefer regarding Weber on The Drive with JMV on Wednesday afternoon.

Keefer, as you may know, has jumped to the defense of Lawrence North after the parents of Dominique Ferguson and Justin Martin were critical of the academic progress of their sons at the Indianapolis high school. Both Ferguson and Martin have transferred to prep schools.

Besides defending Lawrence North, Keefer also voiced his displeasure with college coaches steering kids in the direction of prep school:

“There’s two things I’m not liking right now. I don’t like when people cut my school. And I don’t like it when your colleges encourage people to go the prep route. Whether it’s an Xavier or whether it’s a Pitino, I don’t care where it’s at. The last two Mr. Basketball potential players out of Illinois have gone to Findlay Prep. Findlay Prep is a store front prep school in Las Vegas of all places. And Weber has sent them there from Illinois. I actually told Bruce, ‘I don’t know if I want you in my gym anymore. Because if you’re going to take my best players and do that with them, then I have to give you a gut check here.’ I’m just not sure that’s the plan. That’s not the plan the NCAA wants to be done, that’s not the plan the high schools want to be done. You’re getting into an area I’m just not comfortable with.

We applaud your honesty on this one, Coach Keefer.

University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino held a press conference earlier this afternoon on campus at the Yum! Center, the school’s basketball practice facility. Pitino, as you know, is in a bit of a PR mess.

Normally, a Pitino press conference wouldn’t be considered news to IU hoops fans, but this particular spectacle can only be described as bizarre. Let’s go to the footage:

So, what was accomplished here? The Pitino-Karen Sypher story had started to find its way to the back page after Pitino’s public apology two weeks ago. Now a defiant Pitino has come out with his teeth gnashing towards perhaps his biggest ally since the story broke in April: the media. Probably not an advisable move, no?

The much speculated Big Ten/ACC Challenge between Indiana and Maryland was confirmed today in a release by IU media relations. The Hoosiers will host the Terrapins on Tuesday, December 1 in a contest that will be broadcast by the ESPN family of networks:

Bloomington, Indiana – Indiana will host Maryland in a December 1 rematch of the 2002 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game in the 11th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge Presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN360.com. The two teams also met in the 2002 Challenge in Indianapolis as the Hoosiers came away win an 80-74 overtime win at Conseco Fieldhouse. IU leads the overall series 5-1.

“I think this is a matchup that our fans will enjoy,” said IU Head Coach Tom Crean. “Both programs have a great tradition and I would expect nothing less than an outstanding environment in Assembly Hall for this game. Gary Williams’ Maryland program has been and continues to be one of the most preeminent programs in America.”

From a personnel and competitiveness perspective, this is probably a good matchup for Indiana. On the other hand, there are plenty of other ACC teams (Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest) I’d rather watch than Maryland. But that’s the way it goes when you’re coming off a six-win season. You can view the whole schedule of games after the jump. (more…)

Throughout the week, we’ve stated our case for each of the Final Four teams to win the national championship. We conclude the series today with Connecticut.

There are reasons to like Connecticut to win it all beyond the fact that they’re coming out of the West Regional, like they did during championship runs in 1999 and 2004. First, the gentleman to the right has the ability to shut down the interior. And since the only guy who figured out a way to get the best of Hasheem Thabeet this season, Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair, is out of the tournament, I’m liking his chances to control the lane in Detroit.

But it’s far from a one man show for the Huskies. With Thabeet, Stanley Robinson and Jeff Adrien,  UConn has the best front court remaining in the tournament. The season ending injury to Jerome Dyson raised some questions about this team’s ability to advance deep into the tournament, but A.J. Price has taken on more of a scorer’s mentality and it’s working out beautifully. And it doesn’t hurt that freshman Kemba Walker and Craig Austrie have filled in admirably for Dyson down the stretch.

Another factor, which hasn’t been much of a factor at all, is the Yahoo! story accusing Connecticut of serious NCAA violations. Could Jim Calhoun be using a negative and turning it into a positive to motivate his troops? It sure seems like it. Often times when a coach says an off the court story won’t be a distraction, it manages to find its way onto the court. But the early results look promising in this department for Calhoun. And who doesn’t believe that he’d love to win his third championship and then walk away from potential sanctions?

Throughout the week, we’ll be running small capsules on the remaining Final Four teams, stating why they’ll win it all. Today: Michigan State.

Had I told you before the tournament that Michigan State would beat the No. 1 overall seed Louisville and do it easily, you likely would have called me crazy. But that’s exactly what happened last Sunday as the Big Ten regular season champs dismantled the hottest team in the country to reach Detroit.

There are several reasons to like the Spartans to win their third national championship. First, Tom Izzo gets it done in March. He’s 30-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and the Spartans typically peak down the stretch. This year is no exception. After head scratching home losses to Northwestern and Penn State, Michigan State has won 13 of 15. There’s something to be said for momentum.

Michigan State is also a balanced team. Five guys average eight points or more. If Kalin Lucas doesn’t beat you, Goran Suton will. If Chris Allen isn’t hitting from behind the arc, Durrell Summers or Korie Lucious will pick up the slack. It’s also unlikely the Spartans will hit the wall due to fatigue. Izzo carefully distributes the minutes for a perfectly balanced rotation. Only Lucas averages over 30 minutes.

And what I like most about the Spartans is the way they crash the boards. They’re grabbing 9.6 more rebounds per game than opponents. Which means they’re not allowing many second chance points. That will come in handy against Connecticut with Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien, who can both control the paint. Combine a proven winner in March with a balanced rotation that pound the glass and what do you get? A national championship.