Listen to the audio from the 25-minute senior day ceremony earlier this afternoon at Assembly Hall in the embedded media player below. Steven Gambles, Brett Finkelmeier, Devan Dumes, Tijan Jobe and Tom Crean addressed the crowd following IU’s 88-80 overtime win over Northwestern:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MY COUCH – The Puerto Rico Tip-Off delivered just as promised.

But instead of a jump ball, the preseason tournament’s tip-off was more of the inside information variety.

The message was clear, whether you watched the games or the live blog. Despite the influx of talent, IU Basketball might not live up to the hopes some optimists placed on them before the season.

A double-digit win season now seems lofty. A .500 record would likely include a pair of glass slippers and a horse-drawn carriage made out of pumpkin.

Most Hoosier fans are currently mourning this weekend’s activities – and/or coming off a binge necessitated by the Old Oaken Bucket game – but I’m here to tell you that not all was lost in the gyms of San Juan.

My glass usually sits half-empty, but I can say without hesitation that the Hoosiers are a better team right now than they were at this point last season. As someone who had a courtside seat to Tom Crean and the greenest team in Cream and Crimson history all of last year, I can tell the Hoosiers have taken a step in the right direction.

Last season’s December losses to Northeastern and Lipscomb were gut wrenching; this year’s November defeats to Boston and George Mason are closer to stomach-able.

Although, certainly not enjoyable. After handing it to Howard and edging out USC Upstate to open the season, three consecutive losses reminds us just how far the men’s basketball program still has to go on its path to reclamation.

(more…)

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: Tijan Jobe.

I don’t feel confident about much in my life. I’m wrong about a lot, and even the stuff I get right leaves room for doubt. But if there is something I feel wholly confident stating, it is that — and I say this without the slightest hint of exaggeration — the Hoosiers’ most important player in 2009-10 will be Tijan Jobe.

Of course, this should come as no surprise to any faithful Indiana basketball fan. If you paid attention last year, you saw the seeds of what should turn out to be a legendary IU basketball career begin to sprout. Jobe is a dominant big man, a versatile force on the inside, a veritable monster from end to end. Some players, if they’re big and strong enough, earn the nickname “Baby Shaq.” Little known fact: When Shaq first started playing basketball, they called him “Baby Tijan.”

Perhaps the highlight of the 2008-09 season was watching Jobe enter games at crucial moments and simply take over. Few players have that quality, but Tijan is one of them. It was a shame Jobe didn’t play more minutes last year, but one can understand why: Tom Crean clearly made the strategic decision to keep Tijan on the bench in an attempt — futile though it may have been — to keep Jobe’s profile low. In 2009-10, the Big Ten better look out. No such mercy will be granted. Jobe will be freed. And it will be spectacular.

(more…)

How well do you know the IU Hoosiers? How likely are you to go to an Indiana football game this year? Exactly the IU athletic department’s point: Why not kill both birds with the same stone? Hence the following event. Get hyped!

Indiana University men’s basketball coach Tom Crean has announced his program will hold a Fan Appreciation Tailgate on Saturday April 18, at 11:30 a.m. in the Mellencamp Pavilion. The event, which is free, will be held prior to the start of the annual spring football game which begins at 2 p.m. next door at Memorial Stadium.

“I thought this would be a great way for our players and coaches to interact with our great fans in a very informal and fun setting,” said Crean. “Our fans are the best in the country and we wanted the opportunity to thank them personally and to tie it in with the spring football game is another added bonus.”

The first 90 minutes of the tailgate will include interaction with the players and coaches and games for the kids. At 1 p.m., Coach Crean and his staff will publicly announce their 2008-09 team awards recognizing several of the players at that time.

If you notice, the above link contains a photo of Tijan Jobe scoring a basket. So what they say is true. Legends do exist.

It’s going to be hard to write these little features of ours for a while. Why? Because we literally don’t know anything about this batch of Hoosiers. We know a few things, sure — that Daniel Moore handles the ball well, that Devan Dumes is lightning-quick — but we don’t really know the sum of their parts yet. Are they destined to be this bad all season? Are they going to start playing screens better? For the love of your diety of choice, will somebody please grab a rebound? I don’t know what to believe, and I’m afraid to blindly guess.

Compounding the problem are the teams IU is playing. Things will become much clearer next Monday in Maui against Notre Dame — I am not looking forward to seeing who is going to guard Luke Harangody — but for now, what are we to make of IUPUI? Are they occasionally tourney-bound IUPUI? Or are they just bad? Should we be even more worried than we already are? I have no answers. Merely questions.

This was the case after the first game, too. Instead let’s just recap what we saw.
(more…)

It goes without saying that the beginning of this Indiana basketball season is unlike those that have come before it. It is the second year in the last three that have seen IU with a brand new basketball coach, but even in Kelvin Sampson’s first year at the helm we had some idea of what was going on. We knew about D.J. White and Rod Wilmont (how I miss Rod and his 30-foot three-pointers) and Earl Calloway and the rest. This year? Not so much.

I’ll admit it: After about five minutes last night, I had to admit something to myself. I didn’t know who was who. It’s sad, I know, but I doubt that I’m alone here, and I hope it’s not too bold of me to admit it. It took me a second to figure out that Verdell Jones was No. 12, that that wasn’t Devan Dumes, that Dumes was the off-guard wearing No. 33, and who is that little dude with the Rip Hamilton facemask on? That’s not Finkelmeier, is it? And oh my God is that Tijan Jobe?! It took me a second to figure it all out, and it required me whipping out the laptop and keeping the roster handy. I’m not afraid to admit it.

Because of that, a lot of stuff blurred together, but plenty stuck out, too. Off we go, then:

(more…)

Courtesy of IU Media Relations:

Bloomington – Indiana University men’s basketball coach Tom Crean has announced that Tijan Jobe (Tee-zhan Joab), a 7-0, 255-lb. center from Olney (Ill.)?Central College has signed a national letter of intent to attend IU and play basketball for the Hoosiers beginning next fall.

“We are excited to be able to sign a player with the defensive ability and rebounding presence that Tijan has,” said Crean.  “We feel he has a lot of room for growth in the sense of improving on both the defensive and offensive end and we love the fact that he plays extremely hard.  His height and wingspan (7-5 1/2) is something that our team was in great need of.”

Originally from Banjul, Gambia, Jobe averaged 4.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and a block for Coach Mike Burris at Olney.  He attended Butler County (Kan.) Community College as a freshman and attended Laurinburg (N.C.) Prep School.

He came to the United States four years ago through the African Hoop Opportunities Providing an Education Foundation (A-HOPE), a Bloomington based organization. The foundation is designed to provide talented basketball players from a host of African countries the opportunity to come to the United States to use their skills as a means to get a U.S. education.

He chose Indiana over UAB, Auburn and Nebraska.

He is the sixth player to accept a scholarship to play for the Hoosiers joining forward Tom Pritchard (Lakewood, Ohio/St. Edwards), guard Verdell Jones III?(Champaign, Ill./Central) guard Matt Roth (Washington, Illinois), guard Devan Dumes (Vincennes/Indianapolis/Decatur Central) and guard Nick Williams (Mobile, Alabama/LeFlore).

Physically, Jobe will provide a much needed presence in the paint. Developmentally, he sounds raw, but obviously Crean and staff saw some tools they could work with. A-Hope, which is led by founder and president Mark Adams of Bloomington, also assisted in bringing Alfred Aboya (UCLA), Beas Hamga (UNLV) and Emmanuel Negedu (considering IU) to the states.

Tuesday was another whirlwind day for Indiana basketball as Tijan Jobe joined the 2008 class, Jordan Hulls pledged for 2009 and Emmanuel Negedu was released from Arizona and is listing IU as a possible destination. Here are some links to coverage of those stories, plus an update on Maurice Sutton and Muncie Central guard Jeremiah Davis, for your reading pleasure:

• IU signs 7-footer, gets commitment from Hulls (Indianapolis Star)
• IU picks up Bloomington South guard (Indianapolis Star)
• Q & A with Jordan Hulls (Hoosiers Insider)
• Hulls picks IU (The Hoosier Scoop)
• Assist to Jordan Hulls’ neighbors (The Hoosier Scoop)
• The newest Hoosier: Tijan Jobe (The Hoosier Scoop)
• Hoosiers score JUCO big (Scout.com)
• Could Negedu follow Pastner to Memphis? (Tucson Citizen Wildcat Blog)
• They had to release him (CBS Sportsline)
• Bye bye Negedu? (Arizona Daily Star)
• IU offers scholarship to Central frosh (The Star Press)
• Villanova awaits word on late recruit (Philadelphia Daily News)