THE GOOD: CHRISTIAN WATFORD AND DEREK ELSTON.

Watford continues to impress. He’s been billed as a guy that can do it all, and this game really highlighted that: he got boards, hit shots, created in the lane, got some steals, a block, and he even brought the ball up the court on one occasion. For the night he had 17 points, 10 boards, two steals and one block. He’s not a dominant player yet, but he has the tools to develop into one.

Elston was a lot of fun to watch tonight. He showed off his range with a 3-ball, and on another one that he missed in the second half, he did a good job of following his shot, which led to a board and a bucket for him. (This is something I don’t remember Matt Roth doing once last season.) Elston also had a nice tip-in follow on a miss from Verdell Jones. He’s got a nice nose for the ball, works hard and is a polished player for a freshman. I’m really liking his game thus far.

THE BAD: THE FIRST HALF, TURNOVERS AND FREE THROWS.

This game had shades of last season, as the Hoosiers racked up 18 turnovers, and only went 16-of-30 from the line. The beginning of the game was particularly rough; the Hoosiers never built any momentum or rhythm and let the Spartans hang around. It was a very sloppy affair. It’s clear Jeremiah Rivers is a terrific passer, but he was a little off this evening as he had four turnovers. It was almost as if he was trying to do too much. IU isn’t going to turn the ball over like this all season, but heading into their first real test of the year against Mississippi on Thursday, it’s a little worrisome.

THE UGLY: DEVAN DUMES.

I feel bad for Dumes. Last year, outside of Tom Pritchard, he was expected to be the man on offense. But this year, with an influx of talent around him, Dumes has to swallow his pride and assume a new role, and it’s not something I’m sure he’s going to handle particularly well, at least to start. With more size on this team, he looks smaller out on the court now, too. He’s still going to pop when he has the chance, but tonight was a particularly rough one for him: in 20 minutes, he had four turnovers — a few that were real ugly — and shot 1-of-6 from the field, 0-of-3 for behind the arc and 0-of-1 from the line. He did have five boards, however.

This is but one game, so it’s a small sample size. Dumes has plenty of time to find his mark.

BONUS: GUS JOHNSON’S SPECS.

In front of a near capacity crowd Friday night at Assembly Hall, a trio of Indiana freshmen each turned in a debut to remember.

Leading just 20-18 with 7:03 remaining in the first half, Maurice Creek and Derek Elston sparked a 9-0 run that put Indiana in the drivers seat on their way to a 83-60 win over Howard.

Creek led all scorers with 17 points and Elston and Christian Watford added 14 each for the Hoosiers, who shot nearly 56 percent from the field and had 20 assists.

“We really, really shared the basketball,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “Anytime you have 20 assists, that’s a real benchmark that your offense is really moving and it’s crisp.”

Sixteen different players saw the floor for Indiana and no one amassed more than 26 minutes. With a brand of basketball that is expected to be far more up-tempo than a season ago, Crean is focusing on getting maximum effort from each Hoosier at all times.

“I want them to understand it’s the quality of the minutes, not the quantity,” Crean said.

Creek’s 17 came on 7 of 11 shooting from the field. Watford (4 of 6) and Elston (6 of 7) were equally efficient.

“I just thought they played together,” Howard coach Gil Jackson said. “They looked to get easy shots. You didn’t see anybody playing selfishly.”

Free throw differential: Indiana shot just 13 free throws in the game and Howard shot 18 of 30.

Double-double: Watford had 11 rebounds to go along with his 14 points.

Rivers debut: Jeremiah Rivers finished with six points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal in 26 minutes. “I think what’s going on right now is that it’s extremely hard for our team to keep up with him. I’d rather have them try to speed up than to slow him down,” Crean said of Rivers.

Bison struggle from outside: Howard connected on just four of 22 three-point attempts.

Pick to Click: Watford.

Up next: USC-Upstate, November 16, 8:30 ET, Assembly Hall

• Box score
• Quotes
• IU wins regular season opener 83-60 – Indiana Daily Student
• Freshmen pace IU rot in opener – Associated Press

Hoosier Hysteria is on the horizon and it’s time for Inside the Hall’s player-by-player breakdown of the 2009-2010 Indiana Hoosiers. Today: Derek Elston.

Derek Elston, the first player to commit to Indiana’s 2009 class, made the call to become a Hoosier in September of 2007. After his decision, he watched Indiana go from a top ten team during the 2007-2008 to a program decimated by Kelvin Sampson’s excessive phone calls. Once Tom Crean was hired, it only took a couple of conversations between the coach and the player to decide that Elston’s commitment was still a perfect fit.

At 6-8 and 225 pounds, the Tipton (IN) forward has the body to play inside and the versatility to step out and play the three. He averaged 19.8 ppg and 10.8 rpg his senior season and finished third in the voting for Mr. Basketball. His ability to rebound and defend will put him in position to play major minutes from day one. It’s not out of question that he could lead IU in rebounding this season.

What remains to be seen is how much Elston has improved his mid-range game over the summer. Mechanically, his stroke is very sound and if he can consistently knock down shots from the perimeter, he becomes a much tougher player to guard. He’s also a solid ball handler and when he doesn’t finish in the paint, he consistently gets to the line and knocks down free throws.

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Given the situation inherited, the argument can be made that the 2009 recruiting haul made by Tom Crean and his staff was as impressive as any class in the country.

Before ever coaching a game at Indiana, Crean held on to a verbal commitment by Derek Elston given to the previous coaching staff and received commitments from five other players. Three of those players, Maurice Creek, Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford, were ranked among the top 50 prospects nationally by Scout.com.

When it was all said and done, IU signed a consensus top ten class last November in the aftermath of major violations less than a year before.

So it should be no surprise that Crean would sing the praises of the young men that he believes will, collectively, be the cornerstone of the rebuilding process in Bloomington. And last night, Crean did just that in these comments released by IU Media Relations:

Jordan Hulls

“That kid never accepted that he wasn’t a college player, or that he might be a Division II player, and that he might be a low-major player, and that he might be a mid-major player. I don’t think he ever accepted that. Something’s telling me that kid always had his sights set pretty high.”

Derek Elston

“The other guy that hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention nationally is Derek Elston. That guy is one of those people, if he hadn’t been injured out on that AAU circuit, there would have been a lot more things written about him. He’s good, he’s tough. And he wants to be really good.”

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The following are notes submitted to Inside the Hall from someone that attended IU’s Elite Camp this past Saturday in Bloomington. It’s important to note that this information is not from anyone affiliated with the university. These notes have been slightly tweaked by yours truly.

+ By far the player most impressive on Saturday was Jordan Hulls. He is amazing at the pick-and-roll.  A former IU player that had never seen him play called him a stud. It will be really difficult to keep him off the court, so you could see a lot of Jeremiah Rivers and Hulls together because of their ball handling skills.

+ Maurice Creek is lights out.  He should average 12+ ppg as a freshman.  He can score from any place on the floor and is a solid rebounder.

+ Derek Elston is a beast.  He seems bigger than Tom Pritchard and has much more range.  He is also more athletic than I anticipated.  He could play 25-30 minutes a game.

+ Christian Watford (pictured) is very good.  He plays better in transition and is more of a three but will have to play the four on this team.

+ Seems like it’s going to be tough for Matt Roth, Bobby Capobianco and Bawa Muniru to get minutes.  Rivers, Creek, Hulls, Devan Dumes and Verdell Jones will eat up the minutes at guard.  Pritchard, Elston and Watford should play the four and five with the others playing when foul trouble arises.

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If you haven’t noticed, it’s a slow news time around these parts. The summer AAU evaluation periods wraps up at the end of this week, football is about to start and the countdown to Hoosier Hysteria is about to begin.

In the spirit of keeping the discussion fresh, it’s time for … wait for it … an open thread. Today’s topic: Which incoming freshman will make the biggest impact?

There are a lot of factors to consider here. Primarily, it’s going to be your call on how to define impact. If you’re going to define it by stats, you’re probably going with Christian Watford or Maurice Creek. If you’re going to define it by bringing a winning attitude to the program, you’re going with Jordan Hulls. If you’re going with toughness and grit, you’re going Derek Elston or Bobby Capobianco. Or if you’re going with the potential to morph into Hasheem Thabeet, you’re going Bawa Muniru.

Show your work, boys and girls. And remember, Jeremiah Rivers is not a freshman.

After a 78-65 win Saturday evening in Conseco Fieldhouse, the Indiana All-Stars headed south to Louisville looking to complete a sweep of the Kentucky All-Stars at Knights Hall on the campus of Bellarmine University.

And they did just that.

Led again by Errick Peck, who will attend Cornell University, Indiana defeated Kentucky 64-49 . The Hoosier state continues to dominate the interstate series and now leads 82-42 all-time.

Peck finished with a game-high 14 points and Purdue signee D.J. Byrd added 10.

Indiana out-rebounded Kentucky 51-46 and limited Kentucky Mr. Basketball Jon Hood to just eight points in 26 minutes. Hood scored 20 points in Saturday’s game in Indianapolis.

Mr. Basketball Jordan Hulls was just 1 of 9 from the field and finished with four points. But like he normally does, Hulls played a solid floor game and dished out five assists, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals. His future teammate at Indiana, Derek Elston, had four points and eight rebounds.

Audio: Indiana all-star coach David Wood, Hulls, Peck and Stephan Van Treese addressed the media following the sweep of Kentucky. You can listen to the audio from the press conference in the embedded audio player below.