Back in the dark ages of journalism, (18 months ago) to find out if a promising prep basketball player had say, received an offer from a prominent in-state school, one needed to use archaic means, such as telephones and e-mail, to connect with said players and their coaches and confidants and confirm such news. Ah, the joys of social networking.

Translation: I follow Yogi Ferrell on Twitter, and just about 12 hours ago, he announced to the Twitter world (Tworld? Let’s make that happen) that he had, in fact, received an offer from IU.

“Got offered by IU,” Ferrell said via his Twitter account. This comes on the heels of a March 7 trip to Illinois to watch the Illini take on Wisconsin. That visit, according to Ferrell’s Twitter feed, (can’t you tell I’m enjoying this?) yielded an offer from Illinois as well. So according to Rivals, this brings Ferrell’s offer tally up to four, with IU and Illinois joining Butler and Purdue in the chase for the Park Tudor sophomore.

The 5-foot-10, 160-pound Ferrell, whose real first name, by the way, is Kevin, has been on the radar for quite some time. In fact, he was once considered the No. 1 player in the nation — in the fifth grade. I point you to this 2005 Indianapolis Star article, (in pdf format) which features Ferrell prominently in its exploration of what then qualified as a needs-to-be-explained phenomenon: basketball players getting attention from sportswear companies and other industry figures at an alarmingly-young age.

So add Ferrell, one of a number of talented 2012 prospects coming out of Indianapolis, to the list of prospects with a scholarship offer from IU.

FINAL SCORE: 74-55 | Box score

Kicking it old school tonight.

THE GOOD

1) Derek Elston. Not sure if Elston got more run tonight because he limited his defensive mistakes tonight, or because well, he just deserves it. (Because I think he does.) But he pumped in 13 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes before fouling out, on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. He offers a nice, controlled, smooth, inside, outside dynamic on offense, and for a team full of guys that turn the ball over time and again, Elston turned the ball over just twice tonight.

He needs to play this much every night. He’s a guy that, if he defects and transfers this offseason, it would be a shame. The freshman has a shot at developing into a solid player in the years to come.

2) Motion and creation. At times tonight, this IU squad looked like the competent version from earlier in the season against lesser foes: Jeremiah Rivers was penetrating and it opened up more opportunities on offense. When this team dribbles and holds, holds, holds the ball around the peremiter, they’re unimaginative. When Rivers and Verdell Jones drive and move the ball off the top of the key, there’s more there for IU, because defenses have to rotate and adjust.

One particular play that stands out in the first half: Rivers took the ball from the left wing, dribbled near the hole and passed it off to Bobby C. Bobby C. found Daniel Moore near the top of the key. Moore shot-faked, got his defender up in the air, and then had a nice open shot just in front of the three-point line. He missed. Bad.

Someday, this will be Maurice Creek getting such a shot.

IU also tried getting out on the break and transition at times tonight. It wasn’t always successful, but these were two dynamics this team had early on, and have the Tom Crean seal of approval all over them.

IU just simply doesn’t have the personnel or talent to execute in these schemes night in and night out yet.

3) Bawa played. And scored! Then Tijan poked him in the eye. Bad Tijan.

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I’ll be unable to join the chat tonight, but please join the H-T and the IDS to discuss the game:

Picks are due by Wednesday at 6:15 PM ET.

This team has a way of keeping things interesting.

Twice in the second half, I thought the Hoosier were toast. Down five and looking out of sync with 8:42, all it took was Devan Dumes and Jordan Hulls threes with a Verdell Jones jumper in between, and all of a sudden the Hoosiers were up three.

Then, down six with just over a minute to play — when things really seemed to be over — there was Mr. Clutch VJ3 popping in a three. Add in a lockdown man-to-man defensive set by the Hoosiers, and Jordan Hulls chasing down the rebound in the corner after a Purdue miss, and suddenly the Hoosiers held their fate in their hands.

Oh, and lest you thought it was over after Chris Kramer came up with that huge block on on VJ3 — and it was a pretty clean block, in my eyes — and Robbie Hummel, one of the best free throw shooters in the land nailed two shots to put Purdue up five, there was VJ3 with another three. And there was Hummel at the line again — the best free-throw shooter in the Big Ten, mind you — missing the front end of his two free throws, setting up one last chance for VJ3 to play the hero’s role.

He got a good look. But it just missed to the left side of the rim. Another heartbreaker. Another one where these Hoosiers came within a fraction of a terrific win.

So it goes this season.

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Or something like that. These images just popped into our inbox. Make of them what you will. (Matt Painter, by the way, was not asked about this in his postgame press conference.)

Bloomington, Ind. — Assembly Hall reached perhaps its highest decibel level of the season at the 5:44 mark of the second half. The Hoosiers had just taken a 69-66 lead over Purdue on a Jordan Hulls 3-pointer.

Indiana had scored eight straight points. Matt Painter called for a timeout.

But what happened after that point will be incredibly tough for this Indiana team to swallow.

Indiana missed the front end of three one-and-ones. And the No. 8 Boilermakers, led by Robbie Hummel, played like a veteran team coming together at the right time in a 78-75 win, their fifth straight.

Verdell Jones scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Hoosiers (9-12, 3-6 Big Ten) and Tom Pritchard added 13 points and five rebounds.

For now, I’m headed to the media room to listen to Matt Painter and Tom Crean address the media. Ryan will chime in with The Minute After soon and I’ll have some postgame audio and video later.

+ Box score