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.

Warren, a 5-10 guard, was averaging 19.6 ppg last season before tearing his left ACL in a December game against Louisville. He’s started the season slow offensively, but he shot 39 percent from three as a freshman, which suggests he’s due to break out of his early slump sooner rather than later. The 6-5 Polynice is a physical guard that can defend. He led Ole Miss with 1.6 steals per game a year ago and was 25th in the SEC in with 5.3 rebounds per game.

Up front, Tom Pritchard, Christian Watford and Derek Elston will have their hands more than full with Murphy Holloway, who Basketball Prospectus calls one of the best offensive rebounders in the country. He’s only 6-7 and doesn’t block many shots, but IU must keep a body on him. Joining Holloway in the front court rotation: 6-9 DeAundre Cranston (13.5 ppg in two games) and 6-8 freshman Reginald Buckner, who was the No. 29 player nationally in 2009 according to Rivals.com.

All in all, this looks like a probable NCAA Tournament team that could give Indiana more than it’s fair share of trouble. Lightning quick point guard? Check. Strong backcourt running mates that can score the ball? Check. Size inside that can rebound? Check. Sounds like it’s time to get out that measuring stick, Hoosier fans.

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}

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.

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?

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.

2009 Big Ten/ACC Challenge schedule (times and networks are to be determined)

Monday, Nov. 30
Penn State at Virginia

Tuesday, Dec. 1
Maryland at Indiana
Michigan State at North Carolina
Northwestern at N.C. State
Virginia Tech at Iowa
Wake Forest at Purdue

Wednesday, Dec. 2
Boston College at Michigan
Duke at Wisconsin
Florida State at Ohio State
Illinois at Clemson
Minnesota at Miami

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?

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.

Villanova is just barely a sleeper in this Final Four, in so far as no one thought any non-No. 1 seeds would make it to the Final Four. (With the possible exception of Memphis, but that didn’t go so well.) But in their run to the tournament, Villanova has showcased exactly what makes them so dangerous to teams: their complete and utter understanding of how to play fast-placed basketball.

A lot of times people associate high-tempo stuff with a willy nilly style, a style that seeks to deconstruct what most of us spent our entire childhoods learning about basketball. Get back on defense. Four passes before a shot. (Via Norman Dale.) Get good looks. Make the extra pass. But Villanova, and other teams like them, have shown that a good team can be fast-paced and pressing without abandoning any of those core concepts. With enough practice, they can have the best of both worlds.

That’s what Villanova brings to the table. North Carolina wants to run. Most teams want to slow North Carolina down. But Villanova won’t — it has a super capable group of guards, and its center, Dante Cunningham, is perhaps at his best when running the floor. Unlike most teams, Villanova will be able to run with UNC, and be efficient while doing so.

That’s the thing about Villanova’s style. It actualizes those guards, and when they’re on, when they’re hitting shots, Villanova can pour it on. They’re the real deal, and when they’re efficient, they can beat anyone in the country. That’s why they’ll win it all.

If this was November or December, you could find very little argument against UNC for the National Title. They were the preseason favorite, and they were straight rolling teams. The Tar Heels beat Kentucky by 19, Notre Dame (ranked eight at the time) by 15 and in perhaps their most emphatic statement of the year, they crushed Michigan State at Ford Field on Dec. 3 to the tune of 35 points. The Heels were riding high behind the grit of Tyler Hansbrough, the leadership of Ty Lawson and the suave of Danny Green and Wayne Ellington.

But conference season hit and they came back down to life. The Heels lost their first two games in ACC play. Tyler Zeller missed significant time with a wrist injury. Marcus Ginyard never saw the floor all conference season due to injury. Suddenly Goliath was slayable.

But, these were still the Tar Heels, still a team full of immense talent with a stellar coach. They won the ACC, only losing one more after the 0-2 stumble. They’ve had little problem dispelling their opponents in the NCAA  Tournament; Their average margin of victory in four tournament games is 22.5.

The Tar Heels should win it all because they were supposed to win it all. And they are right here, right now with the opportunity to do so. No remaining team has more talent than the Heels. (Though, UConn and Nova are right there.)

If they play their game and play it well, the Heels should be cutting down the nets, and Barack’s bracket will have the winner picked correctly. Mine, however, will not.

The Spartans throttled the overall No. 1 seed Louisville, 64-52, in a contest that was essentially a home game for the Cardinals. (Louisville is just 100 miles south of Indianapolis and its fans packed Lucas Oil Stadium.) The Final Four is the fifth for Michigan State in the last 11 seasons.

Michigan State ended Louisville’s 13-game winning streak and did it by rendering the Cardinals’ full court pressure ineffective. Izzo’s club never let Louisville turn up the pressure and committed just 12 turnovers.

As an Indiana fan, it’s not often that I express admiration for what’s happening at another program in the league, but credit should be given where credit is due. In a year where the national media annoited the Big East the greatest conference of all-time, Michigan State stood up and slayed its regular season and tournament champion. That, my friends, is worth our congratulations.