Author Archives: Kent Sterling

No shot clock for Indiana high school basketball is the right move for IHSAA

What important problem does a high school shot clock solve?

A shot-clock in Indiana high school basketball is a solution without a problem.

Who does it benefits?  A rules change should improve the game for players, coaches, officials, or enhance the fan experience – and hopefully a combination of all four.  I can’t figure out how a shot clock in high school does any of that.

No one wants a team to run off two minutes of game time while the defense provides token resistance, but I never see that.

High school basketball in Indiana is played at a very high level, and I go to a lot of games.  Rarely do I see offensive possessions last beyond 40-seconds.  Those that do usually end in a turnover.  Shooting the first good shot is generally a very good strategy because with every pass, the chance of a turnover is multiplied.

So why do people continue to campaign for this change as though it will fix all that is broken?

Arguments run from poorly conceived to silly.  Shot clock honk Mike Hutton of the Post-Tribune says, “To be fair, most schools don’t need a shot clock, which bolsters my position.  It won’t matter 90 percent of the time.”  It won’t matter so why not, is a terrible reason to spend a couple grand per school in product cost and installation (given 400+ Indiana high schools fielding basketball teams, that totals $800K).

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The Indianapolis Star posted quotes from the eight high school coaches who will try to win a state championship this weekend at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.  A majority believes a shot clock would be a positive.  That isn’t surprising given that a shot clock would theoretically give teams additional offensive possessions, and better teams benefit from more possessions.

Those eight teams are damn good.

The worst argument is that it prepares players to compete in college.  I’ve talked to a lot of high school players who went on to play in college – my son among them.  I have never heard one complain the adjustment to college basketball would have been made easier if only a shot clock existed in high school.

And there would be an immediate negative – an uptick in bad shots.  As anyone who watches a lot of college and NBA basketball knows, the less time remaining on the clock, the more haphazard and wacky the shot.

I’m fine with the shot clock as it exists today in college and the pros, but have an aversion to the practice of fixing what isn’t broken.

“When something works, don’t touch it,” is a pretty good managerial philosophy.  Indiana High School basketball works.

Indiana Basketball – Hoosier fans need to embrace change if IU is going to catch Purdue

Matt Painter has already learned the lesson Archie Miller may need to fully embrace. Fans definitely need to climb on board.

Indiana Basketball does not need to figure out how to compete with Duke and Kentucky – it needs to find a way to catch up with Purdue.

Oof!

For an Indiana guy, that was hard to write, but it’s true.

Purdue has gone to the NCAA Tournament five years in a row, 11 of the last 13 seasons, and over the last four seasons has been a 5, 4, 2, and 3 seed. The Boilermakers record in Big 10 play over the last five years is 69-23 – that’s a winning percentage of .750.

Do I really need to drudge through IU’s recent past – and not so recent past – to paint a picture of how this former blue blood is not even a gold and black blood anymore?  Alright.  In the spirit of being complete, here you go.

IU is 48-44 during that five-year stretch with two NCAA Tournament bids.

Purdue’s success came because Matt Painter figured out that culture is a big deal.  He pivoted a bit toward additional athleticism and length in 2012, and the result was disastrous.  When he returned to a recruiting filter that valued toughness, the Boilers bounced back.

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Indiana has been struck in a purgatory of recruiting the most talented players – rather than finding “Indiana” players.  When you walk into a summer tournament, you see kids who look like fits at Duke, Kentucky, Butler, Michigan State, Purdue, and many other programs that have adopted a specific culture.

I’ve been to dozens of these events, and I have never looked at a player and thought, “Now there is a Hoosier!”  Indiana needs to get there, and fans need to embrace it.

Five-star players are not always the key to success.  Michigan under John Beilein has enrolled exactly one five-star recruit in the last 10 classes – Glenn Robinson.  All they have done is win.  Well, except for an 8-10 Big 10 record in 2014-2015, but the Wolverines have played in two National Championship games over the last six tourneys.

Beilein’s average ranking for his last 10 recruiting classes is 36th.

Conversely, Indiana’s recruiting classes have an average ranking of #27, and Tom Crean and Archie Miller have combined to land seven five-star recruits.

Let’s go back to Purdue for a second.  Painter has landed one recruit ranking in the top 60 of his class during the last 10 classes (five-star Caleb Swanigan).  Several years Painter didn’t get a bite from anyone in the top 100.

The point of all this is for fans to take a deep breath about the commitments of five-star recruits like Keion Brooks.  Twitter was filled with angst Friday night when Brooks announced he was headed to Kentucky instead of Indiana.

I’m not saying that avoiding five-star level guys is a strategy for success – just that acquiring them does not put Indiana – or anyone else – on a sure path for success.

When will Indiana fans learn the lesson that talent isn’t enough?  And when will the culture Miller is trying to develop show itself on Branch McCracken Court at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall?

It’s about culture, dummies!

Painter figured that out six years ago, and the sad truth is that Indiana longs to be where the Boilermakers are today.

Butler loses, but they will keep LaVall Jordan – and they should

Butler AD Barry Collier and coach LaVall Jordan were all smiles less then two years ago when Jordan was hired. They’ll both smile again.

Talk of LaVall Jordan’s uncertain future at Butler is crazy.

Coming off four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament with at least a win in each, this season for Butler has served as a reminder of the thin line between success and failure.

Butler’s season ended last night in a Big East Tourney opening round 80-57 blowout against Providence.  The Friars were a terrible matchup for Butler, and they were better in every phase.

So it’s over, and some aren’t happy.

It’s hard to tell the fans from those who are stumping for their guy.  I’ve heard rumors that Steve Alford will be the next head coach of the Bulldogs, and there is another that Thad Matta will return.  Both are silly.

The right guy is already in place.

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LaVall Jordan is an outstanding leader with a great pedigree and a Butler degree.  He knows basketball, people, and The Butler Way.  A single season of Big East mediocrity will do nothing to erode athletic director Barry Collier’s confidence that he made the right choice almost two years ago when Chris Holtmann left for Ohio State.

After last season, Butler fans were very pleased with Jordan.  Despite being hired in June, Jordan led the Bulldogs to a nice season where they finished 9-9 in the Big East, and won a first round game in both the Big East and NCAA tourneys.

This year, Butler finished 7-11 in the Big East with one point losses to Seton Hall and Xavier and OT losses to Providence and St. John’s.  That means the Bulldogs were six-points from 11-7.

That kind of revisionist math drives me – and you – crazy, but in this case shows how close to a step forward Butler was this year.

Butler will lose Paul Jorgensen and Nate Fowler’s 17 points and seven rebounds to graduation.  Returning will be Kamar Baldwin, Jordan Tucker, Sean McDermott, Christian David, Joey Brunk, Aaron Thompson, Henry Baddley, and others.  They will be joined by Khalif Battle and John-Michael Mulloy.  Battle is the second highest rated recruit in the history of the program.

If you need another reason to believe Jordan will be back, Collier doesn’t fire coaches – and certainly wouldn’t after one wayward year, one recruiting cycle, and less than two years total.

Collier is a confident leader who has a well-earned belief in his ability to hire coaches.

His confidence in Jordan will be validated.

So take a deep breath and share Collier’s belief that brighter days are ahead.

Nutty Colts fans need to slow their roll – Ballard knows what the hell he’s doing!

Chris Ballard will spend after the stupid money is gone.

Colts fans need to wise up.  Chris Ballard knows what he is doing.

On the day before free agents can actually sign their deals, Colts fans are losing their minds because Ballard appears to have only wide receiver Devin Funchess on his radar.

Other teams like the Jets and and Packers are spending like opening day is tomorrow.  Their fans are ready to plan a parade, despite knowing opening day is really six months away and that free agents acquired on day one are almost never worth the wealth they siphon from their employers.

Ballard has a system, and that system has worked quite nicely through two offseasons.  Others blow out their budgets, build a financial labyrinth which they cannot escape three years down the road, and the Colts swoop in later to grab nearly equivalent pieces in May, July, or August as others cut those the Colts find useful.

Here is the list of those signed during the first week of free agency under Ballard:

  • Jeff Locke – punter
  • John Simon – LB
  • Jabaal Sheard – DE
  • Barkevious Mingo – LB
  • Denico Autry – DL
  • Ryan Grant – WR
  • Eric Ebron – TE
  • Matt Slauson – OG

All were responsibly negotiated, and most were productive.

It’s because of Ballard being so prudent that the Colts have enough walking around cash to spend $13-million on a one-year deal for a wide receiver who has been worth that much during only one of his four seasons with the Carolina Panthers.

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Carping about Ballard not making a splash in free agency after two offseasons where his pragmatism and patience caused the reservoir of cap room at his disposal is contradictory and stupid.

The Colts have holes on their depth chart at cornerback, receiver, safety, and defensive end.  They have nine picks in the draft to plug several of them, and after they are used Ballard and his staff will have a solid idea of their true needs for the 2019 season.

To my knowledge, Ballard has never lied in his public comments.  He has executed one solid draft and one exceptional draft.  He inherited the worst roster in the NFL, and rebuilt quickly enough to win a playoff game after a 10-6 season.

Distrust is ill-advised.

If you want to get exceptionally picky, you can criticize the signing of Locke, but it was the signing of Rigoberto Sanchez that rendered him expendable.  That seems like a push.

How he landed on Josh McDaniels as the head coach I will never understand, but it was very charitable of Josh to unplug what might have been an enormous mistake.  Good fortune (and Josh’s duplicity) brought Frank Reich here, and he is a perfect fit for what the Colts are trying to get done.

The point is that Ballard has built enough equity through 26 months to avoid criticism from fans for not engaging in the level of idiotic bidding that destroyed his predecessor’s career.

For you kooks, remember your silly tweets when this thing comes together and the Colts are playing in January (or February) again.

Its Semistate Week, which means you better fill your tank if you want to drive to watch your school

In the film “Hoosiers”, the town caravan was quaint. In 2019, it’s wasteful and ridiculous.

Lafayette Central Catholic will play in Saturday’s Elkhart Semistate, and Penn will play in the Lafayette Semistate.  If you wonder how that makes any sense, I’m with you.

Of the 16 teams playing in what should be a must attend event for fans, 13 will need to drive more than an hour to get to those venues despite other semistates being held within minutes of some schools.

Center Grove and Ben Davis will both drive more than an hour and a half to play in Washington when the two schools are only 30 minutes from each other.

It’s an insane outgrowth of the four class basketball tournament in Indiana that disrupts enthusiasm for what used to be the country’s most popular state tourney.

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I’m not one of those “Everything was better back in the day” guys – I’m more, “OK, this is ridiculous, how can it be fixed?” kind of guy.

And the way it can be fixed is to move the tournament from four classes to two.  By doing that, we keep the tiny school from being shellacked 113-22 by the giant school, but we also maintain some measure of geographic logic that will keep fans from driving almost three hours to get to games – as New Albany did when they played in the Richmond Semistate.

I don’t mind scattered site semistates, although playing all four in Indianapolis would make travel mostly convenient as interstates 65, 70, 74, and 69 intersect in Indy.

Here’s the schedule for the IHSAA Boys Basketball Semistate games this Saturday with travel times for each school in parentheses:

Elkhart

  • Fort Wayne Blackhawk vs. Lafayette Central Catholic, 4p
  • Culver vs, Marion, 6p

(1:02 for Culver; 2:04 for Marion; 1:42 for Ft. Wayne Blackhawk; 2:20 for Lafayette Central Catholic)

Washington

  • Bloomfield vs. Barr-Reeve, 4p
  • Ben Davis vs. Center Grove, 6p

(1:46 for Ben Davis, 1:34 for Center Grove, :14 for Barr Reeve; :39 for Bloomfield)

Lafayette

  • Andrean vs. Frankton, 1p
  • Penn vs. Carmel, 3:30p

(2:10 for Penn; 1:04 for Carmel; 1:24 for Andrean; 1:26 for Frankton)

Seymour

  • Shenandoah vs. Linton-Stockton, 1p
  • Crispus Attucks vs. Silver Creek, 3p

(1:12 for Crispus Attucks; :47 for Silver Creek; 1:57 for Shenandoah; 1:46 for Linton-Stockton)

If you believe this schedule makes any sense at all – I’m interested in hearing your perspective.  Please leave a comment.

Colts sign WR Devin Funchess to a one-year deal that limits liability; if Funchess busts, no harm done

Devin Funchess can be good or he can be bad. Either way – he’s a one-year stop gap.

The Colts will sign wide receiver Devin Funchess to a one-year, $13 million deal when free agency opens tomorrow.

The shorter the term of the deal, the more manageable the downside, so even if Funchess is a bust, the Colts will only experience a small ding as a consequence.

The upside is dependent upon Funchess reverting to his 2017 form when he caught 63 passes for 840 yards and eight touchdowns.  He’s kind of an anti-T.Y. Hilton in that he is tall (6’4″), slow (4.7 in the 40 at the combine), and the owner of occasionally balky hands.

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Funchess does his best work in the red zone, which will give the Colts another matchup nightmare in tight areas.

This signing shows the wisdom Colts GM Chris Ballard brings to bear in making big boy decisions – even when he has the deepest pockets in the NFL – as he does this offseason with a reported $105 million of cap money to spend.

Ballard is a process guy, and the Colts process does not involve investing big money long term in an asset as difficult to predict as an NFL free agent.

The problem with spending big money over a long term on a free agent is that the player’s previous employer made the decision not to invest in him at that level for some reason.  Why would the new team believe it knows more about a guy than the old team?

Colts fans know how the other end of this stick works.  Former GM Ryan Grigson spent big bucks over a long term on guys like Gosder Cherilus, Art Jones, LaRon Landry, Donald Thomas, and others.  Most busted, and the franchise cratered.

Mistakes in free agency will happen, but managing liability is the key to continuing consistent success.

Losing assets because of poor financial planning is NFL managerial malpractice, and Ballard is resolved to never painting the Colts into that corner of shame.

Specific to Funchess, he was a drop machine his first two seasons, and was unreliable in year four.  But in his third season, Funchess was really good – catching 67 balls on 117 targets with only three drops.

A one-year prove-it deal with a quarterback like Andrew Luck might be the tonic Funchess needs to return to his 2017 form as a very productive number two wide receiver.

If not, he’s $13M poorly spent during a season when the Colts aren’t spending to the cap anyway.

Ballard’s a smart guy.

Suspension of LSU coach Will Wade just and fair response by school – because he’s a dope

Will Wade should have used his head. Almost seems like he wanted to get caught.

LSU basketball coach Will Wade was suspended indefinitely following a report by Yahoo Sports that including damning quotes from Wade about what can presume are financial negotiations with a recruit’s handler.

The quotes came during a phone conversation between Wade and Adidas rep Christian Dawkins that was recorded by the feds during an investigation into college basketball corruption.

Here are some damning pieces of that conversation:

“I was thinking last night on this Smart thing.  I’ll be honest with you, I’m [expletive] tired of dealing with the thing. Like I’m just [expletive] sick of dealing with the [expletive]. Like, this should not be that [expletive] complicated.

“Dude, I went to [the handler] with a [expletive] strong-ass offer about a month ago. [Expletive] strong.

“The problem was, I know why he didn’t take it now, it was [expletive] tilted toward the family a little bit. It was tilted toward taking care of the mom, taking care of the kid. Like it was tilted towards that. Now I know for a fact he didn’t explain everything to the mom. I know now, he didn’t get enough of the piece of the pie in the deal.”

“It was a [expletive] hell of a [expletive] offer. Hell of an offer. … Especially for a kid who is going to be a two- or three-year kid.”

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There you go.  Anyone who reads that as something other than a coach who offered cash in exchange for the basketball services of recruit Javonte Smart is missing the portion of his brain that grasps corruption.

Smart is now a freshman averaging 11.5 points per game for the #10 Tigers.  Apparently, Wade won the auction.

It’s true that Wade is not the only college basketball coach of a program where recruits, family members, and/or handlers are compensated.  There are plenty of those.  The eco-system of college basketball has long rewarded excellence – as does virtually every other industry.

Because of NCAA rules, the payments are usually brokered and paid by third or fourth parties who orbit outside the reach of the enforcement staff.

Most coaches are clever enough to distance themselves from direct knowledge of any payments – much less brokering the deal themselves.

Parents tell children “Winners never cheat, and cheaters never win.”  Nice sentiment, but it’s incomplete.  We should tell kids, “Winners never cheat without at least two layers of separation between themselves and the nefarious act, and arrogant cheaters never win.”

Wade was arrogant.  The wiretap appears to reveal he did the deal himself.

LSU correctly views him as an asset too stupid to save, so he was suspended until the administrators can gather their own evidence – or verify what is in the Yahoo report – which has been made more difficult with Wade’s reported refusal to talk to his bosses.

The NCAA is not the villain in college basketball – it’s coaches too damn dumb to execute the corruption necessary for the free flow of compensation to recruits without detection.

Cash always follows value – and it will always be so in college basketball.  As long as fans buy the idiotic lie of amateurism, the NCAA isn’t forced to deal with clumsy oaf coaches, and families get some walking around money, everything will be fine.

Will Wade won’t be fine – not because he’s a crook, but because he’s an arrogant and stupid crook.

Statue of Knight at IU? Specific news about Knight’s health? Only if Knight wants it

In the statue at Assembly Hall celebrating the undefeated National Championship team from 1976, Bob Knight is missing because he asked not to be included.

Bob Knight is not well.

Stories have circulated for a couple of years about Knights’ health, and I’m sure you have heard them.

Legendary IU play-by-play voice Don Fischer went on a radio show in Michigan and declined to answer a question about Knight and his former employer mending fences because of Knight’s health.  Fischer was vague, which is appropriate.

Those who listened to Fischer reported it as confirmation of Knight’s worsening condition without engaging in speculation as to what’s going on.  Nothing wrong with that either.

What afflicts Knight is his business, and if he wants to share, that’s fine.  If not, that’s fine too.

For now, we hope that he’s comfortable and as happy as possible, whatever the diagnosis and prognosis.

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Posts about Knight’s health have excited another batch of conversations about his legacy.  They seem to crop up every year or so.  Last year, we watched the ESPN 30 for 30 “The Last Days of Knight,” and yammered for a week about whether Knight should come back to IU.

The self-congratulatory film had several gaping holes which rendered it incomplete.  As a titillating look at the cause of the rift between Indiana University and Knight, it mostly regurgitated what had already been served, chewed, and digested many times.

So the question as to whether a statue of Knight should stand forever at IU has been asked by Dan Dakich, who played and worked for him for 17 years.

At the time I write this, 8,268 people have voted, and 79% favor a statue dedicated to 29 years of coaching a team that graduated damn near everyone, never cheated, and won three National Championships.

But there is only one vote that matters, and that belongs to Knight.

To this point, Knight has been resolute in not allowing his image to be used to celebrate great moments in the commemorations that are everywhere in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

This is Knight’s call.  Indiana jumping on the statue for Knight bandwagon over the top of his previous litany of protests would be brazen and wrongheaded, not that IU officials have never wandered into that territory before.

It’s to AD Fred Glass’s credit that Knight was not immortalized in those pieces already created, and hopefully that respect for Knight’s wishes continues to drive policy in Bloomington.

Almost 19 years after Knight was fired, he remains the most discussed and debated figure in Indiana (the state, not the university) sports and life.

Everyone has an opinion.  Most are uneducated.

Good Knight, bad Knight, whatever – Bob Knight is the most iconic and important figure in IU history.  He is uniquely responsible for IU’s continued position of basketball prominence despite nearly relentless mediocrity over the last quarter century.

He was as publicly imperfect as any public figure in sports history since Ty Cobb, but in terms of the kind of lasting impact that needs to be immortalized, Knight is undeniably that level of icon.

Has Bob Knight done what’s necessary to earn a statue?  Of course, without doubt or debate.

Should IU erect one?  Unless Knight signs off – never.

Nothing wrong with Purdue students yelling “IU sucks!” Who does it bother?

Trying to end the “IU sucks!” chants at IU is silly.

Disliking a rival is every bit as important to sports fans as their love for favorite teams, and putting collective voice to it is righteous and decent.

Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter explained his feeling about ending the chant after yesterday’s win against Ohio State, “What happened to Matt Haarms in Bloomington wasn’t right, but we’ve got to clean up our own backyard and give up the ‘IU sucks’ chant. Because today, IU didn’t suck and they beat Michigan State.”

Best interests of the Boilermakers and Hoosiers aligned yesterday as Indiana knocked off Michigan State to clear a path for Purdue to take the outright lead in the Big 10, but on February 19th, as Purdue beat their in-state rivals at Assembly Hall, the relationship was anything but supportive.

Indiana fans serenaded Haarms relentlessly with chants of “F*** you, Haarms!”  Hoosiers were embarrassed, and the Boilers boiled.

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“IU sucks!” is not similar in form or severity to what Indiana fans yelled at Haarms.  There are three specific differences that render any comparison absurd:

  1. “IU sucks!” is not yelled at a person, but toward a university.  Haarms is a 21-year-old young man from Amsterdam.  Indiana University is a public university nearing its 200th birthday.
  2. “Sucks” and “F*** you” are different in every way, but let’s look at it through the prism of what is legally defined as obscenity by the Federal Communications Commission.  It’s very hard to find a radio talk show where the works “sucks” is not uttered a dozen times each day.  But if a host drops an f-bomb, the fine can run $47,340.
  3. Yelling “IU sucks” every game, whether it’s against IU, Rutgers, or Minnesota, is a compliment toward Indiana, and IU fans and athletes have always taken it that way.  To know that your university is so deeply entrenched in the minds of a rival is the highest form of flattery.

We need to stop seeing all acrimony as somehow cruel and insensitive.  “IU sucks!” is part of what makes the rivalry between Indiana and Purdue so much fun.  Dropping f-bombs on an opposing player?  Not so much.

I’m proud to be an IU alum, and that pride is undinged by Purdue students voicing their hatred for IU.  Conversely, I was ashamed of IU as the f-bombs were allowed to continue to be hurled at Haarms.

It should have been stopped in the moment.

The “IU sucks!” chants should continue.  After the behavior of the IU students and the apparent indifference from IU officials at the time, I began to doubt my longstanding confidence that Purdue students are wrong.

“Archie, we have a pulse!” Stunning win against Sparty serves as a defibrillator for Hoosiers NCAA Tourney hopes

Archie Miller appears equal parts thrilled and challenged by his 2019 team after consecutive wins against ranked opponents.

In a stunning development, the hopes of the Indiana Hoosiers to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament are not only alive, but thriving.

The window that was open just a crack now appears to be open enough to offer hope that the Hoosiers control their own destiny with two final regular season tests.

After losing 12 of 13, IU righted the ship with two home wins against ranked opponents.  Today’s 63-62 nail-biter against Michigan State put the Hoosiers back on the bubble despite 12 Big 10 losses.

You can argue that IU is not good enough to be competitive in the Big Dance, but all doubt is gone they are good enough to win a game or two in it.  That potential for excellence elevates them over a bunch of other bubble teams.

Indiana has six quadrant one wins, and that is a damn good number in a category that’s very meaningful for the selection committee.

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It’s debatable whether Indiana winning seven games that were separated by nine points at the end of regulation is good or bad, but no sane coach or player argues with winning.

There is no doubt IU is playing its best basketball of the season.  Today’s win against the Spartans was the fourth straight game that saw nearly maximum effort from everyone for 40 minutes.

The horrific 84-63 loss at Minnesota was the turning point.  Indiana was flat throughout, and that is being kind.  Archie Miller used other terms that challenged players’ pride.

Now it’s up to IU to follow back-to-back quality wins by finishing the regular season with two more wins at Illinois and against Rutgers.  Get that done, and follow it with a rare win at the Big 10 Tournament, and they will dare the committee to not punch their ticket.

There are two ways to look at this season for Indiana – the cup half full view is to focus on how a team that played so poorly to lose at Rutgers and Northwestern could also sweep a top five team like Michigan State.  Cup half empty would be how could a team good enough to sweep Michigan State, and beat Wisconsin, Louisville, and Marquette get their asses smoked by Minnesota, Rutgers, and Northwestern?

Better to see IU’s season as both half full and half empty.  That would be appropriate for a 15-14 team that is capable of good and bad in equal measure.

The good news is that if IU finds a way to sweep the next two games, the NIT should be a no-brainer regardless of the Big 10 Tournament.

A bid to the NIT would be step in the right direction for a program that hasn’t enjoyed any madness in March since 2016 when IU went to the Sweet 16 as a five-seed.

There are some significant questions to ask about the trajectory of the Indiana program, but for now the only relevant concern is what kind of effort will they bring Thursday night in Champaign against the Fighting Illini.