North Carolina’s Rivals.com site, Carolina Blue, is reporting that 2010 wing Reggie Bullock from Kinston (NC) will commit to the Tar Heels tonight. Indiana was the first school to offer Bullock after watching him this past summer. Bullock is among the top 10 players in the 2010 class according to Scout.com. He joins Kendall Marshall, another top 15 player, in UNC’s 2010 recruiting class.
Perhaps I’m just used to last year’s struggles on the road, but I have to admit I didn’t expect anything approaching the blowout last night in Crisler Arena. But when you combine an absolutely dreadful — I mean, just totally horrendous — Michigan team with an IU squad firing on all cylinders offensively, you get what you got last night: a Big Ten road blowout. Weird.
The random assortment of observations that is this column starts … now:
– There were times I watched last night, and I felt like I was watching Memphis or North Carolina. In that, I mean that it was so clear one team was more talented than the other, that it became obvious that the more talented team didn’t need to do much strategically besides run down the floor and let their talent take over. The Michigan 1-3-1 zone was entirely ineffective against the half court, and the man-to-man was even worse. It was obvious: No matter what the Wolverines did, no matter what their players tried individually or as a group, they weren’t going to keep IU from scoring when it wanted to. As an IU fan, that was a tremendous feeling, and a totally alien one.
It also speaks, I think, to what we’ve been complaining about a little in the early stages of this season. Many of us have begged for more offensive structure. Many of us want to see Gordon running off screens all night. Whatever it is we want, Kelvin Sampson is clearly trying to strike a delicate balance between letting his talent do its walking, and letting his strategy rein it in. So far, it seems to be working.
– Poor John Beilein. Every missed three, every shanked layup, looks like it’s already taking years off the man’s life. At the very least, it’s robbing him of his few remaining hairs. It’s not his fault: This talent isn’t his, and with the exception of Manny Harris, Beilein has very little to work with in his first year. Surely he knew what he was getting into, so sympathy is probably wasted on him. Still, you can’t help but think he longs for the heady days of Kevin Pittsnogle and Mike Gansey, when the three pointers flowed like wine and the women flocked instinctively like the salmon of Capistrano.
It seems every couple games we’re writing about D.J. White racking up a career high in rebounds. And tonight in Ann Arbor, Mich., White was getting down and dirty again.
D.J. snatched 22 boards during IU’s 78-64 win against the Michigan Wolverines. That’s the first time a Hoosier has grabbed 20 boards since Allan Henderson in 1995. Oh yeah, D.J. was no slouch on the offensive end either. He dropped 21 on the Wolverines, nothing finer than when he grabbed a steal, threw down a dunk and was fouled in the process. Simply put: he was caps locked SOLID tonight.
Eric Gordon started out with the hot hand, dropping four of his first six shots, but was slapped with three fouls around the midway point in the first half and sat on the bench for the remainder of the first frame. He came back strong in the second half and his whole game was on display this evening: he hit the deep threes, he threw down a thunderous dunk, and he moved off the ball to create shot attempts. He finished with 23 on the night.
Super frosh Manny Harris had 19 points for the Wolverines.
The Hoosiers were in control of this one all game, leading by as much as 22 in the second half. (Well maybe there was a bit of a scare at the end of the first half.) And really, when was the last time we could say that? IU dominating on the road in the Big Ten. Yeah, Michigan isn’t very good, but IU has struggled against the bottom of the Big Ten on the road for a while now.
Anyways, E will get into all that tomorrow in his Morning After post. (He’ll probably also riff on Jordan Crawford, too. Some commenters were pretty harsh on his play tonight. I will say this: he is not bad. He is, in fact, a good freshman. Give him time to wrangle in his game. He was pressing too hard in front of a crowd laden with his friends and family.)
For now, revel in it, friends. IU is 2-0 in the Big Ten with two road wins. Illinois is up next this weekend at home. This is what we’ve been waiting for all year, right?
Related:
Erin Andrews says watch the Hoosiers on the World Wide Leader and follow the live blog at Inside the Hall, son!
Opponent: Michigan
Date: Tuesday, January 8, 2008 | 7:02 p.m. EST
Arena: Crisler Arena (13,751) – Ann Arbor, Michigan
Line: Indiana by 9.5
All-time series: Indiana leads 97-52
TV: ESPN (Brent Musberger, Steve Lavin and Erin Andrews)
Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Todd Leary and Joe Smith)
Probable Starters:
Game Notes (Adobe Reader required to view):
Gameday links:
As always, your predictions and comments are welcome in the game thread. I’ll also be live blogging during the game, so after the tip, check for updates after the jump.
While he might not show up on the countless lists of the best freshmen in the country, Michigan freshman Manny Harris is quietly establishing himself as one of the Big Ten’s best players on perhaps the league’s worst team.
The 6-5 freshman guard from Redford High in Detroit enters tonight’s game against the Hoosiers averaging 16.5 ppg, good for fifth in the conference. He’s also among the league leaders in free throw percentage (83.2 percent, 4th), steals (1.57, 7th) and minutes played (31.7, 9th).
Harris scored 25 points in Saturday’s 65-58 loss to Purdue and was able to find a few positives from as the Wolverines fell to 4-10.
“Our best is still to come, and we’re still getting better,” Harris told Jeff Arnold of the Ann Arbor News. “You can pull a lot of positives out of this game, but it’s still a negative because we lost. We’re trying to learn what it takes to win every game we play. We just still have to get over the hump.”
While there are sure to be comparisons with Hoosier freshman Eric Gordon tonight by the ESPN announcing crew of Brent Musberger, Steve Lavin and Erin Andrews, Michigan coach John Beilein is not interested in comparing Harris with anyone.
“I don’t get into those things at all. That’s my biggest beef with the announcers, how they make such a big deal about the outstanding freshmen in the country,” Beilein said. There won’t be any talk of how they stack up against each other. Both of them are just trying to get better and play. They are good, but over four years there are going to be a lot of good players if they’re patient.”
(Photo credit: Rise Magazine)
- According to Chris Korman of the Herald Times, Armon Bassett will likely miss Tuesday’s game at Michigan. Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson had the following to say on this morning’s Big Ten conference call:
“We have to get Armon Bassett back. For us to be as good as we can be, we need him to be playing. Not having him is a blow for us. I don’t think we’ll have him for the Michigan game, either. He’s just getting a lot of treatment. A lot of rehab. It’s something that’s going to bother him the rest of the year. It may be a thing where he needs to have surgery and be out or we may be able to get him through the year with it.”
Bassett played just three minutes on Wednesday at Iowa in Indiana’s 79-76 win. Look for Jordan Crawford to get the nod at the point Tuesday evening in Ann Arbor.
- Our friend Luke Winn of SI.com threw down a Q & A with D.J. White and here is one of the more interesting responses on Eric Gordon’s sleeping and eating habits:
LW: Gordon looks like such a veteran scorer when he’s on the floor. Does he at least have some freshman habits off of it, that make him seem like a kid? Or is there anything the older guys harass him about?
DJW: Well … We both take naps in the same room [at Assembly Hall] before games. And he snores in there a lot. It’s loud and it gets very annoying; I joke with him about it, but there’s nothing you can do to make it stop. You nudge him and he might lighten up for a few seconds, but after that he’s back to snoring.
He also can eat a lot. The way his body is like — with no fat — you wouldn’t know it, but he’ll eat like three hamburgers at a time. He has a huge appetite. He can easily out-eat me.
You can read the entire interview by clicking here.
It was a successful weekend for a trio of future Hoosiers as Matt Roth set a Washington school record for points, Tom Pritchard helped St. Edward’s to its eighth win of the season and Derek Elston’s Tipton Blue Devils remained unbeaten. Here’s a quick recap of the weekend that was for all three players:
Matt Roth: Washington topped Limestone 65-63 on Friday night and Roth became the all-time leading scorer at Washington. Roth hit two free throws with 33 seconds remaining to give Panthers a four-point lead and 1,713 points for his career. Former Purdue player Todd Foster previously held the record. “There’s not enough words to put in writing how much this means to me. It’s so much sweeter to celebrate this record after a win,” Roth said afterwards. He finished with 16 points, four assists and three steals. Also of note, Roth’s younger brother Mark had 11 points for Washington. {Peoria Journal Star}
Tom Pritchard: Pritchard’s 14 points helped St. Edwards get past Perry 60-47. It was a battle of two of the better big men in the country as Xavier signee Kenny Frease plays for Perry. St. Edwards lost its top player, Michigan State signee Delvon Roe, eight games ago. {Cantonrep.com}
Derek Elston: Tipton, No. 1 in Class 2-A, remained unbeaten as they coasted past West Lafayette 57-43 on Friday night. Elston finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Tipton allowed more than 40 points for just the third time this season. West Lafayette had won the previous seven meetings between the two schools. {Lafayette Journal and Courier}
