We’re only two days removed from the Longwood blowout and, predictably, some patterns are forming. Onward:

– First, a quick observation about Eric Gordon: What sets Gordon apart from the average highly touted freshman is his sheer athleticism. He doesn’t need to rely on his athletic ability; without it, he’d still likely be a very effective player, and certainly a great shooter. But with it, Gordon is a sheer terror. With one dribble, he can get to the basket from any angle. In the open court, he shifts and turns but mostly just barrels straight at overwhelmed defenders. In the half court, he can turn a screen at the top of the key into an easy layup. When he gets in the lane, he effortlessly clears defenders away with his shoulders. In every way, his athletic ability — that vicious, calculating strength and speed — elevate him from “great player” to “possibly transcendent.” And this is after three games.

– For now, I remain cautiously optimistic about IU’s habit of slow starts. In each of the past three games, the Hoosiers have struggled to build a lead — and have, as they did against Wilmington, even fallen behind — before taking the game over and winning handily. I’ll call IU’s slow starts the product of a largely new team getting used to each other and getting used to playing different teams each night … but slow starts like that are the pathway to upsets against more capable teams later in the year. Hopefully IU can start to figure things out earlier in their next few games.

– Dare I say it, but last night showcased Lance Stemler at his finest. I’ve long said that Stemler is of no use to the Hoosiers if he can’t hit shots. Last night, though, Stemler didn’t even try to assert himself offensively; instead, he hedged high screens well, kept loose balls alive, and did all of the grit-tacular things I usually make fun of people for dwelling too much on. It’s a limited role for Stemler, but on a team of very talented players (most of whom can shoot threes), all Lance needs to do is be solid. No turnovers, no dumb shots, et al. He did that last night. As long as he keeps doing it, he’ll deserve his well-won minutes.

(Hit the jump for stuff on DeAndre Thomas, Armon Bassett, and the Big Ten Network. Go on, jump. You might as well!)

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The point of The Morning After is to glean and analyze, thus building a store of knowledge from which to draw when it’s time to figure how well we can expect this team to perform late in the season. Early in the season, however, this is an extremely difficult to do. After all, we can only learn so much from a 50-point win over Longwood; taken as a whole the game really doesn’t teach us much about how well IU will perform against teams that possess similar athletic ability, which is much of Division 1. Still, I’m firmly of the mind that few of the more finite details are unimportant, and so we trudge on. Let’s see what we’ve learned:

– 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.

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Thanks to the scurrilous Big Ten Network situation and the inability for RCN cable in Chicago to set up my cable within two hours of my calling to install service — the nerve!* — I was pushed out into the Second City’s soggy streets last night, landing at the Kirkwood with a few friends, more than a few beers, and some $2 burgers. Delicious.

Thanks to the crowded bar, though, I wasn’t able to take my usual semi-diligent in-game notes. Instead, the following is randomly culled from notes written to myself on my phone, text messages to friends, and memory:

*First, a brief note on RCN: They’re coming to my apartment at 5 today to install service. That’s a really fast turnaround from my mid-afternoon call yesterday, and a very friendly customer service woman gave us an unbeatable deal on cable, HBO, and an HD-DVR component. For what it’s worth, consider this my tenuous approval of RCN, to be revised as necessary. And now back to your regularly scheduled basketball talk.

– Eric Gordon is an incredible offensive player. (No kidding, right?) This is probably the easiest, least surprising thing about last night’s game; what was surprising was just how quickly Gordon seemed to integrate himself into the flow of the game. Rarely was a shot forced, and when shots were forced, natural talent took over. Everything he does is tinged with talent: No one has talked about his passing ability, but the downcourt pass he flicked, ever so easily, into Jordan Crawford’s hands in the first half was the most sublime measure yet of how much better he is than everyone else on the floor. And there was that dunk; that wasn’t so bad either, was it?

That said … Gordon still has a long way to go defensively. His ball defense is stellar thanks to his athletic ability; he can recover and stretch offensive players simply thanks to his superior physical structure. The problem is when the ball is in another player’s hands. Right now, Gordon looks lost in his rotations. I’m sure that area of his game will develop with strong tutelage and time, but for now, it’s a glaring issue with his game. But yeah: He’s freaking good.

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