Minnesota 70, Louisville 64: The knock on the Golden Gophers coming into a neutral court matchup with the Cardinals was an absence of a “signature” win. The response from Tubby Smith’s club was to dismantle one of the top teams in the Big East with stifling defense. Minnesota limited Louisville to 39 percent shooting and held freshman sensation Samardo Samuels to seven points. Look for the 10-0 Golden Gophers to be ranked in both polls come Monday. {The Gopher Report has a detailed recap here.}

Purdue 76, Davidson 58: As hard as it might be as an IU fan, I’ve gotta give Purdue credit for putting the clamps on one of the best players in the country. Stephen Curry took a ridiculous 26 shots in this game and only hit five. He finished with 13 points, six assists and six turnovers in 39 minutes. If that’s not the best defensive job a team has done on Curry this season, it’s gotta be close. {Boiled Sports says that mid-majors are not worth all of the hype.}

Michigan State 67, Texas 63: My pick to win the Big Ten is finally rounding into form. The presence of Delvon Roe and Goran Suton to go with Raymar Morgan suddenly makes the Spartans a team that can beat you inside or outside. And that’s exactly what they did to Texas. Suton scored 18 points in his second game back from arthoscopic knee surgery and Durrell Summers (14 points) and Kalin Lucas (11 points) held it down in the backcourt. Tom Izzo’s club shot 50 percent and Travis Walton limited A.J. Abrams to eight points. {Steve Grinzcel recaps the upset.}

Elsewhere: Michigan drops Oakland, 89-76; Ohio State moves to 8-0 with a win over Iona; Wisconsin holds Coppin State to 46 points; Illinois crushes former Indiana assistant Ray McCallum and Detroit Mercy.

– Purdue lost. Some of their fans were sitting directly in front of us. I got to watch them leave Conseco Fieldhouse extremely pissed off. The night seemed to be off to a brilliant start. Admittedly, I was torn on whether to cheer for Purdue or Illinois. The latter got the nod.

– Since I was at the game, I was spared the Shon Morris experience. My condolences, Big Ten Network viewers.

– D.J. White was his usual beastly self. 23 points and 13 points. This kid deserves better. He consistently plays the game that way it should be played. Of all the players on this team, I hate what has happened to this team the most for D.J.

Now, onto the disaster that was Indiana vs. Minnesota. I’m going to try a different style with this recap, so if you’re looking for a more detailed account of what transpired, direct your attention here.

– The start to the game was all too familiar. Indiana plays inferior team. Indiana lets inferior team get confidence by letting inferior team take the lead. Inferior team thinks it can play with Indiana and does so the rest of the way. Let’s just be honest with each other. Minnesota had no business being up 24-8. Ultimately, this had little to no bearing on the final outcome, but it’s worth mentioning just because of how annoying it is to all of us. Another thing that was troublesome was how long it took Dan Dakich to call for a timeout while this early beat down was taking place. I’m sure Dakich is a nice lad and a decent coach in the right situation, but his brief stint at the helm in Bloomington has clearly been a disaster.

– Jamarcus Ellis. Do you want to play basketball? Your body language says no. And your final stat line says the same thing. In 16 minutes, you managed zero points, four rebounds, one assist and one turnover. Dreadful.

– Eric Gordon had another not so good shooting night. Gordon’s talent is undeniable, but he’s just not getting it done from outside. He was 0 for 6 from three and IU was 1 of 14. Gordon also coughed it up five times. Not a terrible game, but definitely not up to par with what we had come to expect from his early season performances. Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm lately for Gordon.

– Free throw shooting. Minnesota was 15 of 16. IU was 25 of 37. Need I say more?

– The final play. I’m still not sure how Blake Hoffarber caught the pass to make the shot, but he did. The first thought that crossed my mind after I saw the shot go in was the Christian Laettner play in 1992. Only this one didn’t have Final Four implications. Nonetheless, it still hurts. Really bad. Credit goes to Minnesota for executing an improbable play. As far as our Hoosiers go, you can’t let someone catch a 75-foot pass, turn and hit a shot. It was amazing how clean of a look Hoffarber was able to come away with. And it’s just not acceptable to even put Hoffarber in position to make that shot. You have to either knock the ball down or get a hand in his face. Neither happened and well, you know the rest of the story.

I’m sure E will chime in with more detail on the game, but that’s all I’ve got for tonight. Let’s hope for the sake of everyone’s sanity that it won’t get any worse than this.

Related:

• Box score

(Photo credit: Getty images)

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.

The Hoosiers (22-4, 11-2 Big Ten) committed 23 turnovers, but hit 30 of 34 free throws and won the rebounding battle 46-30.

“We wanted E.J. and Armon to really drive it ,” Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Play through D.J. as much as we could knowing that they would post double him, but just try to get to that free throw line. The turnover thing, like I said after the Minnesota game, sometimes you have to bring them in the huddle and remind them what color jersey you’re wearing.”

Much like the Michigan State game, the Hoosiers got off to a slow start. Purdue led 16-10 with 10:19 remaining in the first half before a 7-0 run gave Indiana its first lead.

The Boilermakers (21-6, 12-2) led 25-23 late in the first half, but Lance Stemler hit a three-pointer and the Hoosiers never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.

White, who was questionable due to a knee injury suffered on Saturday night against Michigan State, looked to be close to 100 percent and dominated the interior before fouling out with 10 seconds remaining.

“I just wanted to go out there and be aggressive,” White said. “It was a big game. A lot of things were riding on this game. I wanted to be a part of it.”

Gordon scored a majority of his game-high 22 from the foul line, where he hit 13 of 15 attempts. Bassett added a career-high eight rebounds.

Purdue entered as one of the top free throw shooting teams in the conference but managed just 11 of 21 for 52 percent. Robbie Hummel led the Boilermakers with 17 points and Scott Martin added 12.

The focus now shifts to the future of Sampson, but the Indiana coach refused to answer any questions about his situation and said he was planning to coach the team Saturday at Northwestern. Pat Forde of ESPN.com, citing sources close to the situation, reported late on Tuesday that Indiana is planning to suspend Sampson on Friday with the intent of firing him.

Related:

• Box score

Date: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 | 7:00 p.m. EST

Arena: Assembly Hall (17,357) – Bloomington, Indiana

Line: Indiana by 5.5

All-time series: Purdue leads 107-83

Previous meeting: Purdue won 81-68 in West Lafayette on February 15, 2007

TV: ESPN (Brent Musberger, Steve Lavin, Erin Andrews)

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

Probable Starters:

• Purdue (21-5, 12-1 Big Ten): Chris Kramer, Keaton Grant, E’Twaun Moore, Robbie Hummel, Nemanja Calasan
• Indiana (21-4, 10-2 Big Ten): Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis, Lance Stemler, D.J. White

Game Notes (Adobe Reader required to view):

• Purdue
• Indiana

Gameday Reading:

• Hoosier, Boiler frosh offer fresh perspective (Indianapolis Star)
• White will play against Purdue, Sampson says (Indianapolis Star)
• Rival reignited: Sampson to lead IU against Purdue (Indiana Daily Student)
• Sampson’s last game could come against Boilermakers (Indiana Daily Student)
• Indiana-Purdue Big Ten game of year (Chicago Tribune)
• Purdue-Indiana: Renaissance of a rivalry (Journal and Courier)

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

I like to think of this as an opportunity for me to be called a genius at the end of the season (unlikely) or an opportunity for all of you to call me an idiot at that time (almost certain based on my track record).

Despite that last revelation, I’ve taken a look at the five teams with a real chance to win the league and provided their current league record, my prediction for their final record and Ken Pomeroy’s prediction for each team. If you’re not familiar with Pomeroy, I would suggest checking out his site at www.kenpom.com. It’s in the discussion for the best college hoops site anywhere if you like numbers.

Without further ado, my fearless Big Ten predictions:

Wisconsin: 8-1
Predicted finish: 16-2 (loss: at Indiana)
Pomeroy predicts: 17-1

Analysis: I flirted with picking a 15-3 finish, but ultimately I couldn’t pull the trigger on the Badgers losing at home to Michigan State or in Columbus to the Buckeyes. Even if Bo Ryan and company slip in one of the aforementioned contests (or perhaps at Illinois), a 15-3 record would likely assure at least a share of the conference title.

Indiana: 7-1
Predicted finish: 14-4 (losses: at Illinois, at Ohio State, at Michigan State)
Pomeroy predicts: 14-4 (losses: at Ohio State, vs. Wisconsin, at Michigan State)

Analysis: Ah, our Hoosiers. Their recent play has been less than impressive and it only gets tougher the next four games. Most of us would be thrilled with a 14-4 finish, but my scenario assumes home wins over both Michigan State and Wisconsin, which will be no easy task. Probably a bit on the optimistic side, but I’m willing to roll the dice with Eric Gordon in my corner.

Michigan State: 7-2
Predicted finish: 13-5 (losses: at Indiana, at Wisconsin, at Ohio State)
Pomeroy predicts: 12-6 (losses: at Purdue, at Indiana, at Wisconsin, at Ohio State)

Analysis: I’m still trying to figure out how this team lost to Iowa and Penn State and well, I’m not getting anywhere. Pomeroy puts basically no stock in this team’s ability to win on the road and I echo that sentiment (until proven otherwise) with the exception of a win at Purdue. A 13-5 finish in one of the worst Big Ten’s I can remember is a disappointment for this talented squad that was once a trendy Final Four pick.

Purdue: 9-1
Predicted finish: 13-5 (losses: at Wisconsin, vs. Michigan State, at Indiana, at Ohio State)
Pomeroy predicts: 14-4 (losses: at Wisconsin, at Indiana, at Ohio State)

Analysis: As much as I respect Matt Painter’s young squad and believe they’ll be a contender for the Big Ten title a season from now, it’s not next season yet. Sure, they’ve played well so far, but five of their last eight conference games are on the road and losses are imminent. Luckily, they don’t have to play Wofford again.

Ohio State: 7-3
Predicted finish: 12-6 (losses: vs. Wisconsin, at Indiana, at Minnesota)
Pomeroy predicts: 12-6 (losses: vs. Wisconsin, at Indiana, at Minnesota)

Analysis: Not really a contender because they’re already two full games out of the race, but the Buckeyes will have a say in the crowning of a champion because five of their last eight games are against teams that do have a chance to win it (vs. Indiana, vs. Wisconsin, at Indiana, vs. Purdue and vs. Michigan State).

Now comes the fun part. You know, the part where you either say you agree with most of what I had to say or you can pull a Timmy and disagree with everything I say. Either choice is fine, but at least back it up with some substance. If you want to bust out your predictions, that would be fantastic. Hit up the comments and have fun kids.

One other thing that impressed me was how unselfish the team was with the ball. There were signs of a structured offense and the Hoosiers had a season low 10 turnovers. And by the way, if you have any pictures of Eli Holman in his red suit, please send them our way. PostmanE is Eli’s biggest fan.

- One of the more exciting games of the weekend took place at Freedom Hall in Louisville as former Indiana coach Mike Davis and the UAB Blazers beat Kentucky, 79-76. With his team down 12 at the half, Davis had this to say to his team: “I told our guys at halftime that we’re 15 points better than this (UK) team.”

Led by former IU guard Robert Vaden, the Blazers outscored Kentucky by 15 points in the second half in what was basically a home game for the Wildcats. Vaden put on a ridiculous shooting display in the second half with six three-pointers and finished with 33 points. Vaden looks to be about 20 pounds lighter than he was the last time we saw him in a Hoosier uniform. Thanks for beating Kentucky, fellas.

- And finally, Purdue had a nice win over Louisville in the Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse. Louisville might be the most disappointing team in the country so far this season as they were a trendy preseason pick to end up in San Antonio. That’s what injuries (David Padgett and Juan Palacios) and a knucklehead (Derrick Caracter) will do to a team.

On the Boilermaker side of things, I’m really impressed with the play of the two kids from Valpo, Robbie Hummel and Scott Martin. Both guys are surprisingly polished for freshmen and will be very good four year players for Matt Painter in West Lafayette. Not that I’d ever cheer for Purdue, but it’s good to see both the Hoosiers and the Boilers heading in the right direction. It’ll only make for a better rivalry.

That said, I’ve never been one to sit and worry about a particular recruit coming to Indiana. I figure if the kid doesn’t want to come to IU, it’s his loss. There will always be someone else who will want to don the Cream and Crimson. That doesn’t seem to be the case with our friends in West Lafayette. Check out the following excerpts from their student newspaper, the Exponent:

Tyler Zeller, please come to Purdue. This is a cry that many people have shared over the recent months. I share that cry with them. There is a Facebook group pleading to help coach Matt Painter recruit Tyler Zeller. There’s a 25 percent chance he could come to Purdue as his top choices are Purdue, Indiana, North Carolina and Notre Dame.

Having Zeller would be beneficial for Purdue in more ways than one. First, dynasty. Zeller is the type of player you could build a program around. Purdue is already making a turn to become a threat in the conference and would only strengthen if Zeller came to West Lafayette.

Also, what could be better than making Kelvin Sampson and Indiana look like the losers when Zeller puts on the Old Gold and Black rather than the disgusting Crimson and Crap, err, Cream.

The last comment isn’t worth addressing further because it’s the obligatory shot at Indiana by the Purdue fan. Very creative, I must say. Probably took what, three seconds to come up with?

Second, the “please come to my school” comments are generally reserved for message board junkies. Not in this case. The student newspaper is begging a 17 year-old kid.

Third, I’m wondering how the word “dynasty” made its way into an article talking about Purdue basketball. If anyone wants to fill me in, I’m all ears.

In closing, I think we can all agree that Tyler Zeller is a great player. Would I love to have him at Indiana? Absolutely. Would I ever beg him to come to Indiana? Absolutely not.

Crawfordsville is located approximately 30 miles south of West Lafayette and its no secret that Byrd grew up rooting for Purdue. Therefore, this news comes as no surprise to many.

There’s no question that Painter and staff are stockpiling talent from inside the state. His 2007 class featured four Indiana All-Stars in E’Twaun Moore, Scott Martin, Robbie Hummel and Jajuan Johnson.

And now with Byrd in the fold, Painter’s attention will turn to Lawrence North’s Stephan Van Treese (an AAU teammate of Byrd’s) and Tipton’s Derek Elston who are also primary IU targets for the 2009 class. These recruiting battles between Painter and Coach Sampson will only add more fuel to the revived rivalry between IU and Purdue.

Jackson announced the decision today on Rivals.com (subscription required).

While not a devastating loss for the Hoosiers, Jackson is a true point guard who will help the Boilermakers with his pass first attitude.

The Hoosiers are already set at the point guard position over the next few seasons with Armon Bassett and Jordan Crawford (and Bud Mackey in 2008) more than capable of handling the duties.

It’ll be interesting to see what effect, if any, Jackson’s decision has on Tyler Zeller’s college destination. Jackson and Zeller are AAU teammates on Indiana Elite.