“It is a tremendous honor to be named the best player in a league that has so many great players in it. I want to thank my teammates, coaches and family for helping me obtain this personal goal. We still have a number of team goals left and we are looking forward to the Big Ten Tournament this weekend,” White said in a statement released by IU Media Relations.

Joining White on the first team All-Big Ten for the media: Eric Gordon, Jamar Butler, Robbie Hummel and Brian Butch. On the coaches side of things, the first team was White, Gordon, Hummel, Butch and Drew Neitzel.

Gordon was also named Freshman of the Year by both the media and coaches.

“I really want to thank my coaches and teammates, ” Gordon said. “This is an honor to be considered the best freshman in the league, especially when so many freshmen in the Big Ten are having great seasons.”

Indiana guard Armon Bassett was a third team selection by the media and coaches and Jamarcus Ellis was named honorable mention by the media. Adam Ahlfeld was the sportsmanship award honoree for the Hoosiers.

Among the other notable awards: Matt Painter was named Coach of the Year by the media and coaches; Jason Bohannon was named Defensive Player of the Year by the coaches; Chris Kramer was named Defensive Player of the Year by the coaches.

For a complete list of the All-Big Ten teams, click here.

Moreover, those of us watching at home got to feel the pangs of senior night, but it’s not like this is the last time we get to see D.J. White suit up. There’s Penn State on Saturday, then the Big Ten Tournament, then the NCAA’s, then, if you really want to get devoted, you can become a fan of whatever NBA team takes White in the late first round. (And Eric Gordon in the lottery.) So no matter which way you slice the thing, last night’s game was a little boring. It was emotional without being heartbreaking, important without being dire, and interesting without being enthralling. It was IU-Minnesota on
March 5. Apathy ruled the day.

– Of course, it didn’t help that the Hoosiers were so sluggish for the first 30 minutes of the game. If we were nonplussed, what were they? D.J.’s three aside – at least he got that under his belt as a Hoosier – was there a single exciting moment in the first half?

Part of that is the situation: March 5 vs. Minnesota. But part of that seems worrisome. Since Dan Dakich took over as head coach, he’s done the following:

• Barely beaten then-0-13 Northwestern in a defensively horrid performance.
• Barely beaten a bubble-scrounging Ohio State team at home; again, not a great defensive performance.
• Gotten absolutely blasted out of the gym against one-time offensive force of nature (1.5 PPP!) Michigan State.
• Played sluggish, ugly basketball at home against the 8-8 Minnesota Gophers and Tubby “How long do I have to be mediocre before people stop calling me great?” Smith.

In each of the above games, the defense regressed while the offense has improved. If I remember correctly, Dakich claimed at the beginning of his tenure that he planned to keep the offense in place, but that he would tinker with the defense. Maybe four games is too small a sample size to judge, but note to Senor Dakich: STOP TINKERING.

Put down your tinker toys. Stop touching the tink. De-tink yourself. Whatever it is you’re doing – playing more man-to-man, adjusting rotations, whatever it is – stop it. Stand there on the sideline, call the occasional inbounds play, and get the hell out of the way.

– Now is the time of the year when people are sincerely focused on seeding, bubble position, and Bracketology. If the Hoosiers were seeded today (according to ESPN bracket pointy brain Joe Lundardi), the Hoosiers would be a No. 4 seed. That position needs a little improving – those 4/13 and 5/12 games are usually rife with upsets. So while the impending Big Ten Tourney is an after thought in IU’s tourney hopes, winning the thing and getting up to a No. 3 or maybe (but probably not) a No. 2 would be spectacular. That will require IU to play defense, though; let’s not hold our breath.

– Finally, a last note about the seniors. Our game wrap alluded to it last night, but is there a bigger trooper in college basketball than D.J. White? In high school, recruits like White are promised the world. They’re promised a national title shot, conference wins, NBA money, and, if they’re Memphis recruits, who knows what else. But most of all, they’re promised – or they should be promised – stability. A father figure. Someone to watch out for them when they’re out and away from their cocoon for the first time in their lives.

D.J.’s never had that. He got to IU as a raw prospect and suffered through two .500 seasons under Mike Davis. When Davis finally pooled some post talent together, D.J. and Marco Killingsworth were set to dominate the Big Ten. After Killingsworth’s incredible performance against Duke – I’ll never forget the sound Assembly Hall made when he dunked on that fast break – he broke down, and just as soon as D.J. recovered from his injury he was hurt yet again.

And then Mike Davis got fired. And then his best friend, Robert Vaden, left. And then he put his trust in a new coach – decided to stay at IU – only to have that trust revoked because Sampson couldn’t find it in his power to keep his damn hands off his cell phone.

Yet there D.J. was, last night, banging down low, hitting mid-rangers (something his game used to sorely lack), dropping a three, rebounding, and, yes, smiling. D.J. was promised a lot at IU, and has received very little in return. He deserved every cheer he got last night, and every single penny of the money he’ll get this summer.

That’s two such wins now. The first was Saturday against Michigan State, a dominating performance that showed a resilient team rallying around their coach. The second was last night. Was it me, or did the focus seem to shift? Maybe it was because I was in a bar and couldn’t make out the commentary very well, but did last night’s audience — swept up in an important rivalry atmosphere — seem to forget about the sanctions for 40 minutes? I know I did.

It will be jarring to lose Sampson on Friday, but at this point, I’m not sure his presence is needed on the sidelines anymore. Stay with me here. It’s hard to complain about distractions after two very solid wins, but Sampson’s saga is a distraction. His assistants have been coaching this team all year; no doubt IU’s players feel just as comfortable with each of them as they do with Sampson. (Perhaps moreso, given the player-assistant-as-friends dynamic a lot of teams have.) It will be a difficult adjustment, seeing Dan Dakich running up and down the sidelines, but if the Hoosiers showed anything last night, it was a level of maturity and self-definition that gives me confidence in the coming games.

But that confidence doesn’t mean part of me won’t miss Sampson. He’s only been here for two years, yes, and even if this eulogy is premature (we still think Sampson’s going to be suspended Friday rather than fired), it will be a different place without him. He’s a frustrating coach, but if the past two years have taught us anything about his style it’s that his teams improve. They get better. They can make you miserable in November and December and even January, but come February and March they coalesce. They play hard together. They defend. And they’re fun to watch.

It’s a shame we can’t have a third year, but it’s a self-inflicted shame. And we know what we have to do. The dog might be cute. You might love the dog. But if the dog can’t control his bite, you put him down. It sucks, and it’s sad, but it’s best for everybody.

– Part of my confidence in a post-Sampson team this year is, like I said, that improvement. If the coach has given us one present before he’s suspended/fired/never heard from again, it’s in progressing his team forward by leaps and bounds in the past two weeks. This is a team, remember, that barely squeaked out an away win at Illinois, a team that I had all but written off as a serious contender. That team had brutal flaws: couldn’t defend the perimeter, couldn’t play man-to-man, couldn’t find a decent four spot, couldn’t get decent point guard play. Are any of these problems anymore?

– Armon Bassett is playing as well as he’s ever played, not only in shooting the ball — if he keeps improving, he’s going to be an incredible shooter — but in the way he runs the offense. He still had too many turnovers (5), as did IU (23. Eesh.). But he was focused, efficient, made good decisions, got IU into their half-court sets quickly … he was what you need a point guard to be.

– Turns out IU can defend the perimeter: Purdue took 72 shots in a 72-possession game last night, and only happened to connect on 25 of them. What’s worse, they were 7-25 from three, and posted a 39.5 effective field goal percentage, the type of shooting night that will kill you regardless of the defense you’re facing. Still, call me optimistic, but given the way Purdue’s been shooting from three the past few games, IU deserves a lot of credit for challenging those perimeter shots both in the zone and in man-to-man defense.

– As for the four spot, Kyle Taber is, well, he’s Kyle Taber, but it turns out Kyle Taber is all we need at the four. Compared to Mike White and DeAndre Thomas, who are both incredible mistake- and foul-prone, Taber is a breath of fresh air. Where Thomas believes it’s important to get himself shots, Taber actually refuses to shoot the basketball unless he’s three feet from the hoop. Seeing as we have the country’s best big man — that’s right, D.J.’s better than Tyler Hansbrough — across from that four spot, all we really need is Kyle Taber. Now, if we could only find a spot for Adam Ahlfeld …

– The one overriding negative about IU’s performance last night was the turnovers. Those have to get cleaned up. Fortunately, IU was efficient in every other phase of the game. Check it out, courtesy of Statsheet:

That chart shows a team that outplayed Purdue in every offensive phase of the game. The only thing Purdue did demonstrably better than IU was score more field goals, but it happened to take them, oh, 30 more shots to make an extra five. In the meantime, IU was getting to the line and making 88 percent of their free throws. Perhaps my favorite stat is total possessions: The Hoosiers weren’t afraid to get up and down the floor last night, a major plus playing against a strong Purdue team that seems comfortable bruising under the basket.

– What little commentary I heard last night was from Steve Lavin, who was actively campaigning for D.J. White to receive player of the year honors. I think it’s official: Steve Lavin loves IU. Earlier in the season his hyperbolic love was directed toward Eric Gordon; now, it’s White. We have to ask the question (jokingly): Does Steve Lavin want the IU job? Would we want Steve Lavin? I can just imagine the press conferences — Lavin using every goofy catchphrase he’s come up with in broadcasting. “Well, you know, Armon Bassett’s just our energy guy out there, he’s our little pepper pot …”– Finally, in closing, a note to Purdue fans: If your social scene is so broke that you have to congregate in alcohol-less Mackey Arena to get your kicks for IU-Purdue, I’ve underestimated the lameness of your college experience. Please, please don’t do that again. Go get some beer in your system. Live a little.

Also, Scott Martin looks like he’s 14. That’s all.

Anyway, if we have to lose our coach, and say goodbye to the promise of his tenure, last night was a pretty damn good way of doing it. Pat Forde summed up how to feel pretty well this morning:

“We love your team. We hate your ethics. We’re confused as hell. We want to thank you for beating Purdue — and now we’d like you gone.”

Farewell, Kelvin.

– Early in the game, it was evident that Kelvin Sampson not only gave Eric Gordon the green light — Sampson went ahead and told everyone on the team not to be bashful, which made for an entertaining opening five minutes. Gordon got his fair diet of shots, and was never hesitant. Neither was Armon Bassett. Those shots came early in the shot clock, from a variety of distances, thanks not only to Longwood’s inept defense but to a seemingly conscious choice by IU. This might foretell a change in strategy from Sampson — the coach is notorious for his plodding, defensive Oklahoma teams — but for now we can still safely consider it an aberration.

— As a whole, IU’s offense felt more cohesive. DeAndre Thomas (who started in place of Lance Stemler; more on this below) opened the game with a strong move in the post and made it clear the Hoosiers intended to drive the ball low throughout the game. They did so, incorporating D.J. White well (until Sampson took him off the floor for most of the second half), and when post possessions failed, White and Thomas rotated the ball well. Altogether, the offense felt more together; shooters relocated efficiently; passes were more decisively and accurately delivered; and on the whole the half-court game looked and felt like it had been through a thoroughly productive week of practice. At the same time …

– … The procilivity for early-possession shots led to a lot of fast break baskets for Longwood. Longwood’s shooters looked drastically undermatched, but anytime the team was able to grab up a long rebound, it usually led to a quality shot in transition. Against a more proficient offensive team (i.e. one that doesn’t chuck radically misfired three-pointers every third touch), IU would have yielded many more baskets. I’m all for a free-flowing, Phoenix Suns-esque system, but only if it is defensively capable as well. That’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, so it’s all but certain that Sampson will slow this team down in the future. Still, those fast breaks and quick possessions make this team even more enjoyable to watch. (For more on one of IU’s lingering defensive deficiencies — backcuts and slipped screens — check out Big A’s latest film session.)

– Lance Stemler played … OK? He was the topic of much discussion round these parts this week — most of it centered on quasi-off-court issues — but on the court it’s clear that Stemler just doesn’t have all that much confidence. I won’t get carried away over his second half performance; again, it’s Longwood, and I don’t even think Adam Ahlfeld was watching much of the second half. (Actually, Ahlfeld was actually playing, which says everything you need to know right there.) Stemler should definitely be starting the game on the bench; Sampson alluded to this strategy as a matter of helping Lance fight pressure, but it boils down more to pure economics. When on, Lance is a shooter, but IU has shooters in abundance. What the Hoosiers need is solid play and physicality from the off-post position. DeAndre Thomas may or may not be the answer, but right now Stemler is pure, ineffective surplus, a surplus that reaches its point of diminishing returns nearly every time Stemler touches the ball.

– It doesn’t really bear repeating because it’s so obvious, but yeah: Eric Gordon = really good at basketball.

– One final thought: Yesterday, Terry Hutchens kind-of-sort-of questioned and then affirmed the merit of playing a team like Longwood, a team so clearly inept that, as I have been reciting, almost nothing of permanent value can be garnered from watching. As unhelpful as the games are to watch, though, I agree with Sampson’s rebuff of Hutch: These games are helpful from a player’s standpoint. I think it’s vitally important for a team to see what things look like when success is coming easy; that happens so rarely against good teams, even in wins, that cupcakes like Longwood are the only early-season chances coaches have to demonstrate to their players at live speed the way things should look. Obviously, like any good diet, balance is important, and too many cupcakes will make you slow and fat and sluggish when it comes time for greater challenges, like making this metaphor coherent. But for now, easy success is a-OK.

That’s it for this week. As always, your thoughts, additions and rebuffs of your own in the comments.

I think there’s a few avenues to explore here. We don’t necessarily boo Lance because of how he played Monday. (Well, OK, maybe we do.) But really, we boo him based off what we know he can be — off of past performances. We saw him hit threes with consistency last year, grab key rebounds and display the girt and intangibles important to any team for success. But after his concussion — and add to that the fact he was playing injured for most of the season, unannounced, mind you — that all got lost somewhere in the fray. (Although, he did have a solid NCAA tournament run.) So when we see him out there as a starter and a captain, we expect more.

It’s the same thing with Sean Kline. He came in to IU as a highly-touted in-state recruit. But he never quite panned out and was unmercifully booed almost every step of the way his last year or two inside Assembly Hall. Did he deserve it? Maybe, maybe not. But we gave it to him, because we thought somewhere deep inside of him, there was a better player in there and we so desperately wanted it to come out. In the case of a guy like Ben Allen, there was a smattering of boos here and there last year. (I think, at least.) He never got the assault Kline got — or Stemler is perhaps currently getting — because there was always this hope with him that he was going to get better. His career line graph exists as an opposite to Kline’s and Stemler’s, it was trending upwards. Hey look: he’s trying to be a post player now! If he can just harness that size a bit, this could work out. We kept waiting … it never happened. But see, there was never this expectation with Allen, because he came here as a huge 3-point shooter. He didn’t come to IU as a post project. Think about it: would we ever boo Adam Ahlfeld? Of course not. We don’t expect brilliance from him. We expect him to cheer a lot and chuck up threes at the end of blowouts. We love that about him.

So, in the end, are we justified in our booing of Stemler? I’d lean more towards yes than no. But it’s not because we hate him or want to see him fail. It’s because we know he can succeed. We want him to succeed.

Note: In case you don’t dig into the comments, I was just trying to explain why people boo here and why — as paying fans — they have the right to do so. Probably shouldn’t have used “we” so egregiously. That’s what is probably throwing people off here. I’d certainly never advocate kicking a guy — especially an IU player — while he’s down. That being said: I can see both sides of the argument.