College basketball seasons are long and dynamic things. They’re not like college football seasons, which require drilled excellence from the outset and where a midseason loss can kill your chances at winning a truly screwed-up national championship. They’re not like NFL or NBA seasons, where each team is basically what they are starting in training camp. They’re not baseball seasons, either, where the playoffs are such a comparably small sample size that all a fan can hope for is a division title — the rest feels like a crapshoot.

Instead, college basketball teams, the ones that compete in March, have similar blueprints: They roll the balls out in October, look terrible in November and December, coalesce in January, fade slightly in February, and, if they’re really good, peak in March when the games matter most. This blueprint hits close to home; just look at Michigan State this year. Or North Carolina. Or any of the teams still playing basketball next weekend. Or any of the 20 or so teams that lost last weekend that deserved to win. That’s the blueprint you’re supposed to follow.

I wish we could look back at IU’s season, as this TMA intends to, and say they followed the blueprint. A loss to a good Arkansas team under those auspices would have been OK. But we can’t say that. Instead, they didn’t push to the finish, or peak in their late games. They quit. They just quit. And for some reason, I’m not even mad.

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Props to CBS Sports for getting with it and releasing highlights of every game via YouTube:

Here is an all-encompassing link dump for your reading pleasure on the morning after IU’s embarrassing 86-72 loss to Arkansas:

• Loss puts stamp on roller coaster season (Indiana Daily Student)
• Hoosiers’ season of drama ends with a whimper (Indianapolis Star)
• IU’s season is over; now the work begins (Indianapolis Star)
• Put a fork in these Hoosiers — They’re done (Hoosiers Insider)
• Call it a season: Hoosiers KO’d (Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette)
• Gordon stays mum on future (Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette)
• Another one and done (Evansville Courier and Press)
• Weems, Arkansas oust Indiana 86-72 (Associated Press)
• IU’s woes might be just beginning (CBS Sportsline)
• Indiana’s decade of disaster rolls on (Sporting News)
• Gordon should go pro (Bedford Times-Mail)
• Red-hot Weems leads Hogs past Indiana (NW Arkansas Times)
• Weems’ career night leads Hogs (Arkansas Morning News)
• Weems scores 31 as Arkansas extends NCAA stay (Arkansas Sports 360)

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A season that started with promise and aspirations of a run to San Antonio ended Friday night as Indiana fell to Arkansas 86-72 in the first round of the East Regional in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Hoosiers (25-8) started the season 17-1, but went just 3-4 in their final seven games including three straight losses.

D.J. White scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds in his final game for Indiana and Armon Bassett added 21 points and seven assists. The duo, however, got little help from their teammates.

Eric Gordon continued his late season slide with just eight points on 3 of 15 shooting. The freshman hit just 2 of 6 free throws, committed four turnovers and was visibly frustrated throughout.

“Eric has struggled a little bit with his shot and they did a good job staying square with him,” Indiana interim coach Dan Dakich said. “He’s a kid who put Indiana back relevant. He had a great year.”

Indiana led 19-18 with 10:14 remaining in the first half, but the Razorbacks (23-11) closed the first half on a 19-11 run and led 37-30 at intermission.

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Opponent: Arkansas

Date: Friday, March 21, 2008 | 9:40 EST

Arena: RBC Center (19, 722) – Raleigh, North Carolina

Line: Indiana by 2

All-time Series: Indiana leads 1-0

TV: CBS (Jim Nantz and Billy Packer)

Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Todd Leary and Joe Smith)

Probable Starters:

• Arkansas (22-11): Gary Ervin, Patrick Beverly, Sonny Weems, Vincent Hunter, Darian Townes
• Indiana (25-7): Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis, Lance Stemler, D.J. White

Game Notes (Adobe Reader required to view):

• Arkansas
• Indiana

Gameday Reading:

• Now or never for the Hoosiers (Indiana Daily Student)
• Who is Arkansas? (Indiana Daily Student)
• Hoosiers begin NCAA Tournament facing questions (Indiana Daily Student)
• Gordon’s IU legacy? It’s mixed (Indianapolis Star)
• Something to focus on amid IU’s instability (New York Times)
• Hoosiers begin anew (Chicago Sun Times)
• IU ready to begin rewrite of season (Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette)
• Hoosiers ready to erase memory of loss (Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette)
• Tapes show tall order for IU (Ft. Wayne News Sentinel)
• Hoosiers hang on to title dream (Evansville Courier Press)
• Stemler unbowed by adversity (St. Louis Post Dispatch)
• Q & A with Hawg Blog (The Hoosier Report)
• Gordon leads the Hoosiers, but may leave (Chicago Tribune)
• Indiana shows it can play in transition (Newsday)
• Indiana looks to salvage season (Associated Press)
• Weems’ injured knee healed enough (Northwest Arkansas Times)

As always, your predictions and analysis are welcome in the game thread.

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I don’t think it takes any sort of expert in the field of season definition to tell us the overriding adjective to describe IU’s 2007-2008 season. If Big A were to put up a poll over on the right sidebar there, I have a feeling “disappointing” would win going away. This has been a disappointing season. We know this.

But this is not a post to lament the troubles of Kelvin Sampson, Eric Gordon’s recent struggles or Dan Dakich’s inability to get this team to play anywhere near the level Sampson had them at before he took his final bow. Oh no, this is a post to rally us all in one nation under Indiana hoops. So in an effort to convince myself we can actually win tonight — on the whole I’m not an overly positive person when it comes to this stuff so this is really a stretch — here are some quick, not-thought out-at-all positives. Because let’s be positively positive tonight, OK?

Eric Gordon. Yes, I know what you might be saying right now: “How can I possibly be relying on advancing to the second round of the tournament by way of Eric Gordon? The turnover machine? The guy that hasn’t hit a three since like, January?”

Let’s spin it this way, kids: isn’t he due for a big game? A game in which he’s raining threes from half court? In which he’s drawing defenses to him when driving — driving under control, might I add — to the hoop, handing off easy dishes to the rest of the squad. I’d say he’s been due for a few game to show us what he’s really made of. So why not tonight? (Just picture it in your mind for a second. Doesn’t it feel good?)

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Strong out of the gate: In each of IU’s last three losses, they’ve trailed at halftime and in two of the games (Michigan State and Minnesota), they’ve trailed big early. Playing from behind is not advisable for anybody in the NCAA Tournament. And for a team that has struggled as badly of late as this one, another slow start could be a recipe for catastrophe.

Establish D.J. White: With IU’s recent struggles from the perimeter, it’s essential to establish White in order to free up some open looks for Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon and Jordan Crawford. Bassett and Gordon are shooting a combined 18.3 percent from three-point range on their last 53 attempts. As Terry Hutchens pointed out in today’s Indianapolis Star, White took just three shots in the first 12 minutes against Minnesota and in the Penn State game, he took just two shots in the first ten minutes. That’s not acceptable for a player shooting over 60 percent from the field.

Big game for Gordon: It’s been a while since the freshman had a solid shooting night. In fact, the last time he shot better than 50 percent from the field was on February 16 against Michigan State. In other words, he’s more than overdue for a hot shooting night. Gordon knows this is likely his only chance to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. It’ll be important to get him a couple of open looks early to establish his confidence. If the Hoosiers can get him going, the combination of White and Gordon is as good as any in the country.

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