Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indianapolis Colts playoff scenarios still cloudy, but could clear very quickly

by Kent Sterling

For Andrew Luck to run off the field looking like this in Glendale, Arizona, it’s likely he will have to find a way to win in Denver’s thin air, or the awful January weather in New England.

One important fact about the NFL Playoffs – 20 of the 32 teams will be jealous of the #6 seeds who eke their way into the postseason.

The Colts have been envied by at least 20 teams after all but two regular seasons since 1999, and it’s very likely that will be the case as the calendar rolls from 2014 to 2015.

Fans see an AFC South Championship as a virtual birthright for the Colts, but while the Colts could wrap up a division championship this weekend, things could unwind quickly if they don’t take care of business against the Browns in Cleveland on Sunday.

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Here are some scenarios for the Colts earning a spot in the playoffs, one where they may not, and helpful guidance in what they need to do to host games throughout the playoffs:

Winning the AFC South this weekend

If the Colts beat the Browns and the Houston Texans lose in Jacksonville, the AFC South belongs to the Colts because of their insurmountable lead in the record against common opponents tiebreaker.

Winning the AFC South next weekend (December 14)

If the Colts fail to win the South while in Cleveland, they have an opportunity to wrap it up head-to-head next Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. A win against the Texans, and the AFC South title stays in Indy for the eighth time in 13 years.

Winning the AFC South either December 21 or December 28

If the Colts fail to win the division on 12/7 or 12/14, things get murky. If the Colts get to 10 wins, it’s over, so if they win two of their final four games, regardless of which they win, – done deal. If Houston wins out (@ Jax, @ Ind, vs. Baltimore, vs. Jax), the Colts have to win two of the three remaining games not involving Houston.

Not winning the AFC South, but getting into the playoffs via the wild card

The best record the Colts could have and not win the AFC South is 9-7, and there are currently seven teams at 8-4 or 7-5 in the AFC battling for a wild card spot. That means winning the AFC South is the cleanest way to the postseason. A wild card would be mathematically possible, but it would require some weird happenings. Best to win the AFC South and get it over with.

Playoff seeding

The Colts would automatically qualify for one of the top four seeds by winning the AFC South, but which one they land in depends on a dizzying number of factors.

Earning the fourth seed

This is the bare minimum – the worst of the best. Even if wild card teams have a better record, the top four spots are reserved for the division champs. Win the AFC South, and #4 is the lowest the Colts will start the tournament.

Third seed

Climbing past the Cincinnati Bengals (currently 8-3-1 in the #3 slot as the leader of the AFC North) or whomever wins that division isn’t too high a climb. They are only 1/2 game ahead of the Colts due to a tie against the Panthers earlier this season. The Colts beat the Bengals 27-0 in week seven, so should the Colts defy some long odds and post a rare tie during the last four games of the season, they would have the tie-breaker advantage against the Bengals. Win one more game than the Bengals, and the three seed is the minimum the Colts can expect. The Bengals still have two games left against the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-5), so that division could spin another way. The Steelers hammered the Colts 51-34 in week eight, so the tie-breaker belongs to the Steelers should they win the AFC North. If the Steelers and Bengals split their home and home, the Colts can win out for #3.

First or Second seed

This is where things get a little squirrelly. Let’s assume for the sake of simplicity that the New England Patriots (9-3) and Denver Broncos (9-3) are the two teams we are dealing with – although Denver is nowhere near a lock with the San Diego Chargers (8-4) breathing down their necks and a game remaining between the two teams. The Broncos play Buffalo (7-5), San Diego (8-4), and Cincinnati, (as well as Oakland in week 17, but that doesn’t count), so a lot of work is yet to be done to determine the AFC West champ.

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The Colts lost to the Broncos in the season opener, so the tie-breaker belongs to them. The same is true with New England – winners against the Colts on November 16. Barring injuries, it’s safe to assume both teams will at worst split their last four, which means, minus a four-game run of wins to end the season, the Colts are looking at potential trips to inhospitable domains for the divisional round as well as the AFC Championship.

One wild card is the Miami Dolphins possibility of winning the AFC East over the Patriots. If the Patriots lose in San Diego this Sunday night and the Dolphins can beat Baltimore in Miami, the week 15 matchup between the two teams in Foxboro will be for the division lead. If somehow the Dolphins win that division, the Colts won’t face the possibility of playing the Patriots on the road.

As is always the case, winning takes care of everything. The Colts winning this Sunday at Cleveland will be a good start toward bringing clarity to their road to Glendale, Arizona.

Indiana Basketball – Tonight may be the first chapter of Tom Crean redemption story

by Kent Sterling

Tom Crean needs wins to keep smiling. Starting tonight.

2014 has not been a good year for Indiana University head basketball coach Tom Crean – yet.

Four players arrested/cited, two suspended because of multiple dirty drug tests, one player hospitalization because of an incident that fractured Devin Davis’s skull, a 17-15 record that result in a postseason tournament shutout, and most recently an inexplicable home loss to Eastern Washington.

Yikes.

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To say that fans, boosters, alums, and those in charge of his employment are looking very closely at the basketball program and Crean’s leadership is a reasonable assumption.

Tonight, Indiana hosts an opponent worthy of being on its schedule for the first time this season. That SMU wasn’t at full strength a couple of weeks ago was not Crean’s fault, but it was not the same quality win as would have been the case if Larry Brown’s team had all it’s weapons.

This Pitt team isn’t great by any stretch, but it it the first Indiana opponents with the components necessary to be a decent test for the Hoosiers. Losses to San Diego State and especially Hawaii diminish its own tournament resume’, but they are solid enough to prove whether the Hoosiers’ loss to Eastern Washington was a departure from the norm or a portend of things to come.

Pitt isn’t the only real team on Indiana’s non-conference schedule. Louisville looms a week from today, and Butler and Georgetown are also scheduled before the Big ten season tips off in a month.

Confidence in Crean’s leadership has been shaken and needs to be re-established with a series of wins leading to a bid in the NCAA Tournament in order for the din calling for Crean’s replacement to be quieted.

That’s the part of coaching that sucks. Two years ago, Indiana was THE story of the college basketball season. Number one with a bullet, and two guys who would become top four NBA draft picks led the Hoosiers to a regular season Big Ten Championship, and the Hoosiers were back. And then last year, they weren’t.

Excluded from the NCAA and NIT in 2013-2014, the doubters resurfaced and off-court mayhem has led fans to near revolt. Crean needs to Hoosiers to win – beginning tonight. Unlike the game against Louisville, tonight is a game Indiana can reasonably expect to win, especially at Assembly Hall.

While Pitt’s RPI ranking of 99 is not daunting, especially after only five games, Indiana’s is 209. That is barely worthy of a major conference opponent’s attention, but Indiana has talent and at some point it’s going to reveal itself, right?

Beat Pitt, Butler, and Georgetown, and the Hoosier Express will suddenly be back on track with Crean re-establishing himself as the long-term solution to the problem of Indiana Basketball’s national irrelevance. Losing those games would have the opposite effect.

These are unique days in Bloomington. The last three Indiana coaches to lose their jobs (Bob Knight, Mike Davis, and Kelvin Sampson) were canned for a variety of reasons, but none because of undistinguished on-court results. Knight was spiked as the result of a misguided attempt to control him with a zero-tolerance policy. Sampson was eviscerated as a rule-bending miscreant. Davis was on borrowed time from day one as an interim coach unprepared for the primary responsibilities of the gig.

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Crean is in a different place. He has the tools needed to build a championship program, but has been unable to show consistent progress, and now fans see the erosion of quality in Bloomington as a Crean authored issue.

Last season’s 17-15 may have been an aberration. The loss to Eastern Washington may have been an aberration. But at some point, if wins don’t come against quality opponents, they will be seen as evidence of entrenched mediocrity.

With all 13 scholarship players scheduled to return next year – in addition to two okay recruits signed to report to Bloomington next year (don’t ask me how that math works) – improvement will have to come from within.

That makes tonight’s game all the more important. As with all coaches, the only thing that can save Crean now is winning.

Despite disappointing seasons, Kevin Wilson and Darrell Hazell should continue to lead Indiana and Purdue Football

by Kent Sterling

Kevin Wilson and Darrell Hazell may not make the wildest dreams of fans come true, but both are good enough to deserve another year.

With change at the top, you know what happens – a guaranteed additional two years of rebuild-driven wretchedness. The football programs at Indiana and Purdue have seen that misery up close for more than 30 years, minus the Bill Mallory and Joe Tiller eras in Bloomington and West Lafayette.

As athletic directors Fred Glass and Morgan Burke evaluate the teams that need to drive athletic cash flow and interest in the universities among boosters and alums, the coaches should be safe for at least one more year – not because success is guaranteed with the retention of the two coaches, but because failure is all but assured with change.

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The litany of IU coaches who have failed to generate interest and success includes Mallory over his last four years, Cam Cameron, Gerry DiNardo, and Bill Lynch. Terry Hoeppner can’t be included because his death due to an especially virulent brain tumor ended what appeared to be the kind of evolution toward excellence (or at least legitimate mediocrity) that the Hoosiers have long sought.

At Purdue, the trail of tears has not been nearly as long since Tiller left after the 2008 season. But the time after Jim Young won and prior to Tiller rejuvenating the Boilers included some dark seasons led by the likes of Leon Burtnett, Fred Akers, and Jim Colletto.

Firing coaches to replace them with other mediocre coaches is a brutal technique for building success, and so neither Glass nor Burke will follow that well-trod path. The rebuild in Bloomington will continue for a fifth year under Kevin Wilson and a third year under Darrell Hazell. And it should.

Both programs have inched forward, and Indiana’s woes this season were at least in part due to the left shoulder injury of starting quarterback Nate Sudfeld. Some want to blame Wilson for the dearth of reasonable backups at that position because both Cam Coffman and Tre Roberson transferred after last season when it became clear that Sudfeld would be the quarterback for 2014.

My assumption is that Wilson told both Roberson and Coffman that there would be no open competition at quarterback – that Sudfeld had earned the starting spot and would be the leader in 2014 and beyond. That transparent communication gave both young men the information they needed to make an informed decision, and that is what solid leaders provide those who follow them.

Would it have been nice to have either Coffman or Roberson around when Sudfeld was helped off the field with a season-ending injury? Sure, but college students deserve better than a lie to keep them around just in case.

Will Indiana or Purdue ever be a routine competitor for a spot in the Big Ten Championship? Of course not. What has never happened is unlikely to start, regardless of the coach. Occasional trips to bowls would be a sweet return on investment. Expectations of success beyond that are just silly. I want to earn millions of dollars, but because to this point I have not, the likelihood is reduced to near zero that it will ever happen.

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Indiana and Purdue would quickly lose a coach so superb that he could get either program over the nearly insurmountable hump of a conference championship. He would jump to even a mediocre job the SEC the second greatness was displayed.

The best possible result for either program would be to hire the coach that best embodies the decency and leadership needed to help the players trusted to his care make a successful leap from adolescence to manhood. Fans should hope for onfield quality, and demand great people graduating.

Both Wilson and Hazell appear to be capable of leadership that can provide competitive football and a positive example for their players.

That’s enough for another year.

Bigger conferences and non-conference blowouts means College Basketball scheduling must change

by Kent Sterling

All these members of Big Blue Nation were asked to pay real money to watch UK destroy UT-Arlington last night. How is that right?

After watching Kentucky jump out to a 65-11 lead over Montana State and take a 55-12 halftime lead last night against Texas-Arlington, I thought about the poor mopes in Big Blue Nation who paid to attend the games at Rupp Arena. The players for both sides wasted their time in those romps, and the TV audience on the SEC Network switched over to “The Voice.”

Savannah State accepted its 87-28 beatdown at the hands of Louisville at the Yum! Center in exchange for a paycheck. The point of the game was to fill the stands with fans willing to pay for garbage in exchange for tickets to conference games later in the season and maybe a token solid non-conference game or two.

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At the same time, conferences have expanded beyond the point where a true double round-robin schedule can be executed given the current load of 18 conference games. The Big Ten and SEC are at 14 teams, so members play against five conference opponents twice and the other eight only once. The ACC has 15 members, so that means four home and home opponents and ten teams that are played once. The Pac-12 actually has 12 teams, which is a novelty. They play seven teams twice and four once.

That makes for an unbalanced schedule that renders the regular season champion difficult to truly determine. Playing Kentucky, Wisconsin, Duke, or Arizona twice is a serious disadvantage compared to those who get bottom feeders twice.

If that inequity annoys fans, it drives coaches crazy.

How fortuitous that these two problems have the same solution – a longer and more robust conference schedule.

Some say there is no way that a 26-game true double round robin is possible for the Big Ten and SEC. Not sure why that is.

I’m all for events like the Maui Invitational, Battle for Atlantis, and the Crossroads Classic. Let’s continue to enjoy watching early season matchups between programs from different leagues. It’s fun to see the regional games between rivals like Louisville and Kentucky, Purdue and Notre Dame, and Florida and Florida State.

Keep six games for tournaments and rivals, and move the rest to conference contests that will engage players and fans. No one wants to see a sad group of kids from Savannah State, Montana State or some other tiny school willing to lead its lambs to slaughter for gas money. Humiliation should not be a part of the “excitement” of college basketball.

Let’s have the major conference teams play a non-conference schedule similar to that (not) enjoyed by Mike Davis’s Texas Southern club. They spend the next five weeks facing off against Michigan State, Gonzaga, Florida, Baylor, SMU, Kansas State, and Auburn. They’ve already lost to Indiana and Tennessee.

For the dozens of Texas Southern fans who can’t wait to see the Tigers live and in person, I hope they have frequent flyer miles. The only home game prior to January 17th is Friday night against Lamar.

If someone can tell me how that level of travel enhances the educational experience for Texas Southern “student-athletes,” I’m all ears. On the 11 trips they will take to play 40 minutes of basketball, Texas Southern will travel 24,766 miles. That’s 93 miles shy of a trip from its gym in Houston all the way around the earth at its widest part back to that same gym. All to see exotic and educational locales like Bloomington, Las Cruces, Norfolk, Knoxville, and Cheney, Washington.

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If the NCAA wants to protect the integrity of amateur competition by suspending a kid like Georgia running back Todd Gurley for what could have been a Heisman Trophy season at Georgia for accepting a few bucks for signing jerseys and mini-helmets, how about doing something about schools barnstorming kids all over the country like the damn Harlem Globetrotters in search of a few bucks. Couple of dollars for monetizing your image? Sit for four weeks! Weeks of missed classes and mind numbing travel in exchange for checks for the school? Hey why not!

How miraculously convenient that the solution to boring blowouts, conference schedule imbalance, and onerous travel/missed classes is exactly the same – expand conference schedules.

Indiana Basketball – Take a deep breath, count to 10 before demanding Tom Crean’s job after loss to Eastern Washington

by Kent Sterling

No reason to make Tom Crean’s job and life more miserable through expressing more irrational anger about losing to Eastern Washington.

Indiana lost a basketball game last night to a team out of the Big Sky Conference that has played once NCAA Tournament game in its history.

Eastern Washington beat Indiana 88-86 last night at Assembly Hall in large part because of defensive indifference and/or poor fundamentals, and that has Hoosiers fans hot.

There are few things in life we can rage about without serious consequences. Jobs can be onerous and bosses idiots, but say what’s on your mind about them, and that problem will quickly be corrected as you are asked to vacate the premises. Health can take a turn for the worse, but anger only makes rehab tougher. Being pissed off about family is usually the cause of additional troubles, not the solution.

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Sports? Fans get to yell about sports. We get to demand immediate satisfaction. We are the customers, and by God, if we pay for tickets, we can raise holy hell when disappointed! What in the good hell was Indiana doing switching to a 2-3 zone when Eastern Washington loves shooting threes?! ARRRRGH!

Take a deep breath. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Better? What we all need to remember is that Tom Crean’s job is to lead players to attend class, earn diplomas, remain compliant with NCAA rules, and win. This is his job, and whether or not you believe he does it poorly or well, he’s doing all he can to make the Hoosiers as competitive as possible.

Crean, like most coaches, have a family. If Indiana loses too much, that family will need to move to the place where he will find a job next. That’s a way of life for a coach. It’s part of the price of entering that volatile profession.

But there is no reason to make it less pleasant by haranguing Crean, the players, or his boss with demands for immediate satisfaction in the area of wins, titles, or banners. While Crean chose to become a coach, and his wife chose to marry one, the kids chose nothing. Granted, life could be a lot worse than living amid the largesse provided by the $3 million Crean earns to lead the basketball program, but hearing the relentless yelping from torch carrying fans demanding a change is miserable regardless of the financial health of the family.

As kids play sports, act in plays, sing in concerts, and otherwise busy themselves, coaches always have one eye and one ear pointed toward their players. Let your focus drop for a minute, and the phone rings with news of a kids hospitalized with a fractured skull. Attend a choir concert, and that gameplay won’t install itself. Allow yourself to relax long enough for a 30-minute conversation about how to deal with a girl or boyfriend, and grades dip.

Yeah, Indiana lost last night to a team that was scheduled specifically to provide a much needed win prior to the Big Ten season, and that makes the loss hurt more than one to a team from one of the Big Five conferences, but anger isn’t going to help Indiana play better Friday against UNC Greensboro, or put athletic director Fred Glass in a frame of mind where he will be more likely to replace Crean – at least not until the season ends.

Think of your life and what it would be like if because you had a bad day at work, Twitter was filled with insane rants about what a dumbass you are. What would it be like if you needed to move your family from your home if you screwed up today? That’s what coaches deal with, and what Crean thought about as he tried to sleep last night – if he tried to sleep.

The life of a coach is ridiculous. No matter how much you win, people always believe there is someone out there who can do it better. Great isn’t good enough. What have you done lately? Big Ten Championship two years ago? What about beating Eastern Washington, you clod!

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I’m not saying that Indiana losing to Eastern Washington is excusable, or that kids being suspended, hospitalized, or arrested should result in something other than a pink slip at the end of the season.

What I’m saying is that it’s possible to be demanding and humane at the same time. Crean is a good guy who will be the coach at Indiana until the end of the season at least.

Relax. Glass will handle things in one direction or the other when the time is right. Until then, support the players and coaches. This season is a book with between 32-40 chapters. Last night, one of the chapters was written. That’s all.

If Indiana Basketball doesn’t bring you joy, do something else with your time until it does.

Kentucky blitzes, swamps, devours, and mauls Montana State, and I should have a problem with that

by Kent Sterling

At most programs, Trey Lyles of Tech High School would be a star. At Kentucky, he is just another cog in a tremendous machine.

There was no chance – none – that Montana State would be able to compete with Kentucky, much less beat them.

After destroying #5 Kansas 72-40, holding the once proud Jayhawks to three second half field goals and a measly four assists for the entire game, Montana State was only going to test the Wildcats ability to avoid boredom for 40 minutes.

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Having built a 39-11 lead through a solid first half, Kentucky decided to make the trip for the hapless Bobcats even more miserable in the Cawood Ledford Classic.

Kentucky held Montana State scoreless through the first 10 minutes of the second half to open a ludicrous 65-11 lead. In games between mismatched fifth grade teams, occasionally you see a wacky one-sided score like 65-11. I’ve never heard of a college game between teams with players on scholarship with a score of 65-11.

There will be those that scream about Kentucky showing a lack of class in running up the score and humiliating their guests. I’m not one of them.

It would have been generous and decent of coach John Calipari to play some of the end of the bench guys who do the dirty work in practice without much reward for more than five minutes, but that’s a small quibble to be made by parents of Sam Malone, Tod Lanter, Brian Long, and EJ Floreal.

If I’m Calipari, my goal is to get everyone who can help Kentucky fulfill the promise of an undefeated season get a good workout in, and without a player on the floor for more than 20 minutes, he was barely able to get that done.

While I’ve never been a fan of Calipari for a variety of what I consider to be very good reasons, the excellence of this Kentucky team is impossible to ignore. They are not only the best team in America, Kentucky might be the best team in the history of college basketball.

The only team that can beat Kentucky is Kentucky. Apathy is the only enemy that requires serious attention from the Wildcats.

It’s entirely possible that ten players from this team will play in the NBA, and in an era when defense isn’t always a priority among even good college basketball players, this group suffocates opponents.

Kentucky has played a couple of bad halves of basketball (the 1st against Buffalo and Boston Universities), so they haven’t been perfect, but when focused as they were against Kansas and Montana State, they are as good as a team has ever been. The defense held both to under 20% shooting from the field.

My advice for fans who love to hate Kentucky is to enjoy watching the players whole continuing to indulge in a loathing for Calipari’s self-important behavior and methodology in gathering McDonald’s All-Americans.

It’s not likely we will see a basketball team capable of reaching this level of play again in our lifetime.

Indianapolis Colts finally pull away; IU struggles to beat Lamar; IUPUI beats Ball State in OT in classic

by Kent Sterling

Andrew Luck was a smiles yesterday as the Colts coasted through a nice second half to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 23-3.

People took to Twitter early in the second half of what would become a blowout win for the Indianapolis Colts to taunt for predicting an easy win for the Horseshoes on my radio show (weekdays 3p-6p – CBS Sports 1430). They blamed me for jinxing the thing by being so confident in the Colts ability to beat an unworthy opponent.

The Colts led only 6-3 after the first half, and I wondered too whether my bold predictions had put a whammy on Andrew Luck and the boys.

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If there was a whammy, it was shed after those first 30 minutes of football at Lucas Oil Stadium. Luck and the offense got untracked, and the defense was mostly stout as they rolled to a 23-3 win against the worst team in the NFL, and given the overall suckitude of the Oakland Raiders and Tennessee Titans, that’s quite an accomplishment.

Luck was pedestrian by his standards (or our standards for him), completing 21 of 32 passes for 253 yards and one touchdown. He ran eight times for 49 yards to keep the chains moving when the Jags dropped seven or eight into coverage. Blake Bortles was brutal to the point fans in Jacksonville are likely asking whether the #3 overall selection in the 2014 NFL Draft was a complete waste. Where Luck developed and showed his pedigree as a rookie in 2012, Bortles has shown the traits that made experts question the sanity of the Jags brass in investing that pick in Bortles. He was 15 of 27 for 146 yard and a pick. His QBR was a dismal 2.3.

The Colts get to host the 3-8 Redskins led by the talented but wayward Robert Griffin III next Sunday for a chance to nudge their record to 8-4, and perhaps build a three-game bulge in the AFC South with just four games to play.

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Indiana University shot the ball very well Saturday night (over 50% from the field and 45% from beyond the arc), but still led a terrible Lamar team by only seven with under four minutes to play. The Hoosiers won by 13, but the defense was shaky at best.

Tonight, the Hoosiers host Eastern Washington in Assembly Hall as they try to run their record to 5-0. James Blackmon Jr. has been the consistent offensive force for Indiana thus far in the season, scoring 25, 19, 26, and 21 points in the first four games of his college career.

At some point, opposing coaches are going to take away Balckmon and force someone else to beat them, but until that happens, Indiana should be able to avoid an unsightly loss to a bad team. EWU is not awful, oddly sharing two opponents in the early going with the Hoosiers.

The Eagles beat Texas Southern by 24 points, and were beaten at SMU by nine. Indiana beat Texas Southern by 19 and outscored SMU by six. Oddly, Texas Southern will also play SMU and Lamar. Seems the Hoosiers, Eastern Washington, SMU, Texas Southern, and Lamar are playing some kind of unofficial round-robin that the Hoosiers need to win if they are going to punch their ticket for a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years.

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With nothing to otherwise occupy my time Saturday afternoon (watching what I erroneously believed would be a Hoosiers football slaughter by the Ohio State Buckeyes was too depressing to contemplate), I rolled down to the Indiana State Fairgrounds to watch an in-state battle for second tier supremacy between IUPUI and Ball State. The immensely entertaining game went to overtime, and was decided by a buzzer beater by Jaguars guard P.J. Boutte.

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Both rosters were filled with Indiana kids, and each sported some very nice looking freshman. Jeremy Tyler and Sean Sellers were outstanding for the Cardinals, and Aaron Brennan will be cornerstones for both programs for the next four years.

Lots of good basketball around central Indiana for your perusal over the next few months. Butler is better, and this afternoon (2:30p), Purdue will play its first game in the Maui Invitational against Kansas State. Tonight, not only do we have the Hoosiers, but Cathedral and Guerin will scrimmage tonight at 6:30p at Guerin High School.

So many games, so little time.

Indiana and Purdue both post big wins; might get back to the NCAA Tourney this year

by Kent Sterling

James Blackmon has ended the debate as to who the best Indiana player is, and that should help others fill roles.

Purdue beating Grambling State is hardly big news. There is no way that Grambling State should ever be able to compete with the Boilermakers.

It was the way Purdue won the game that’s impressive. After a first half where they led 37-15, Purdue backed it up with a 45-15 half. That showed what used to be a very typical level of tough-mindedness in West Lafayette.

Purdue was never the most talented team in the Big Ten, but they were always focused, fundamentally sound, and eager to scrap on defense. Last night, Purdue went to war in a game against a team they could have beaten by 20 in their sleep.

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But they chose not to sleep. The chose to battle regardless of what the scoreboard told them. Basketball at Mackey Arena is – or should be – a possession by possession battle of will.

The Boilermakers apparently had no interest in who scored as only one reached double digits – Isaac Haas put up 17, and seven others scored between six and nine points.

Monday will be a different challenge. Kansas State is not Grambling State, and Bruce Weber tries to coach to that same level of Purdue-esque toughness.

A couple of hours south, Indiana accepted a different challenge against #22 SMU. Granted, Larry Brown’s squad was without Markus Kennedy, a dynamic power forward who remains ineligible to play, but they had the kind of size in two 6’11” players that is supposed to give the undersized Hoosiers trouble.

And on the opposite bench was hall of fame coach Larry Brown, the kind of coach some might expect to give Indiana coach Tom Crean fits. No fits last night as Indiana looked to be ready for whatever Brown threw at them. SMU looked like they were led by a guy unable to get his players to do the right thing at the right time.

Freshman James Blackmon Jr. continues to play like anything but a freshman – looking like an amalgam of former Hoosier greats Jay Edwards and Eric Gordon. Edwards is the best shooter I’ve seen in an Indiana uniform, but how long I’ll be able to say that is in Blackmon’s hands.

Indiana was very impressive in weathering a storm during the first five minutes of the second half. SMU came out of the break ready to roll, outscoring IU 12-2 and taking a 45-40 lead with 15:00 left. Indiana calmed themselves, and controlled the game from that point forward to earn a 74-68 win.

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The most impressive statistic for the Hoosiers was a paltry seven turnovers. Take care of the ball, force enough turnovers to mitigate the damage that comes with the virtual certainty of being out-rebounded, and knock down open shots. That’s a pretty good recipe for success in Bloomington. And that’s exactly what they did.

It’s not like Indiana played a perfect game either. Hanner Mosquera-Perea continues to be blissfully unaware of where he needs to be on the defensive end of the floor, but the lack of harmony that may have come from multiple Hoosiers trying to assert themselves as the leader/go-to guy last year is gone.

There is no doubt this year who the best player on the floor is for Indiana, and the rest of the Hoosiers know it. Yogi Ferrell runs the show. Blackmon is the show. Everyone else – fill your roles.

For Indiana, the road to the Big Ten schedule has some potential bumps – Georgetown, Louisville, Butler, and Pitt await. If the Hoosiers split those four games, win the rest of the non-conference games, and go .500 (9-9) in conference, they will finish 20-11 and likely punch their ticket for the NCAA Tourney.

Purdue is in a different position because of playing in the Maui Invitational. The Boilers play Kansas State, then either Arizona or Missouri, and finally a TBD.

Louisville is the biggest test for Indiana, and Arizona would be a tough matchup for Purdue.

Whatever happens, last night should give fans a little reason for hope that both Indiana programs might find their way back to the 2015 Big Dance after the entire state was shut out in 2014. The energy of those IU vs. Purdue games of the past eras that meant everything might actually mean something again on January 28th and February 19th.

This season just became about something other than talking about the longterm direction of the Indiana and Purdue programs, and that will be a welcome change for all of us.

Tiger Woods, Bill Belichick, and RGIII’s ignorance elevates media’s status

by Kent Sterling

Even when Bill Belichick smiles in front of the media, it looks painful.

Really smart people continue to treat the media like the enemy rather than making the small effort necessary to befriend and use it to their advantage.

Dan Jenkins is a sportswriter at the end of a long career, and he posted a fake (supposedly satirical) interview with Tiger Woods. I haven’t read a word written by Jenkins in a very long time, but there was so much fuss made by Tiger Woods and his minions that I thought something there might be funny or interesting.

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Nope. Just a litany of dimly executed clumsy attacks. The post would have languished in the nether-regions of digital anonymity if not for the spotlight shone on it by Woods. Somehow, Jenkins is relevant again despite work unworthy of a mean-spirited fourth grader.

All because Woods made it an issue.

Washington Redskins quarterback RGIII stepped to the podium to address the media this week, and repeatedly replied, “I’m just getting ready for San Francisco,” to a variety of questions about many things unrelated to the 49ers. His performance echoed New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s petulance in a press conference earlier this season when he answered all questions, and interrupted several others before they were asked by saying, “We’re on to Cincinnati.”

In the case of Woods, he should have known that he was doing nothing but a favor by attacking Jenkins’ stab at humor. Paying attention to what’s written and said about you is idiotic for a D-list celebrity, much less a guy at the top of Fame Mountain like Tiger. Sifting through online posts, message boards, and Twitter for praise and insults is a moronic pursuit for any of us. When you are known by a single name (Tiger, Cher, Madonna, Barack, and Ali), it’s a hideous waste. Woods is not a moron, so why give a damn?

Marshawn Lynch is another extreme case in treating the media with disdain, and it cost him $100K yesterday as the NFL fined him $50K for not participating in mandatory media availabilities, and deciding to collect another fine the same violation is 2012.

Lynch writing a six-figure check rather than say uninteresting things to people doing their jobs shows a total lack of respect for middle class fans that dig deep to pay for tickets.

And there are consequences for being a jerk. Thin skin is attacked by some media members with zeal. Others in the media like to do their job unimpeded by self-importance. Question – answer – thanks. Than’s what most in the media want from athletes and coaches. It’s a job. Athletes and coaches can make it easy – or difficult.

Make it difficult, and the media will show their teeth. That can be unpleasant, and serves only to widen the chasm between two groups that can benefit from reasonably accommodating behavior.

The tough part to swallow as we watch RGIII and Belichick is that the media can be very reasonable and decent. It’s not a group of thugs hellbent on making athletes and coaches miserable. It’s so easy to manipulate the media that it can serve to build a very valuable brand that belligerence is a nonsensical strategy. Not making that small effort is short-sighted.

As for Woods, if he wants to be pissed off, that’s fine. It’s not like Golf Digest is easy to ignore in the golf business, but Woods voicing his outrage drove so much more attention to Jenkins piece that the big winner is Jenkins. If Woods had ignored it, or said, “Hey, I read the thing, and hoped it would make me laugh. It didn’t,” Woods wins. Simple.

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There are people who earn a handsome living advising athletes about dealing with the media, which is the silliest thing I have ever heard of. If you show up on time, and talk in an engaging way without betraying the trust of teammates or coaches/staff, you win. If you show up late and betray self-importance, you can have trouble.

In the hands of a shrewd person, the media is a tool to use to make even more money and build a lifelong brand. Belichick, RG III, and Tiger will have money in their pockets forever regardless of how they deal with reporters, but when the media gets a chance to exert what little power they wield, it will be done with relish to their detriment.

Why stir the hornet’s nest? Inviting intense media scrutiny into your life is silly. Be nice, be prompt, and never show your ass. When a reasonable solution is that easily invoked, why not just do it?

Adrian Peterson picked the wrong time to beat his son – which is always

by Kent Sterling

How could what caused this help a child learn anything good about life?

Discipline is an interesting concept. Many see it as the introduction of fear serving as a consequence for a bad act. Others see it as the dynamic of holding ourselves accountable for our own behavior.

Some just get pissed off and hit kids with sticks.

Adrian Peterson hit his four year-old son with a switch long and hard enough to cause scarring still visible days later, and so he doesn’t get to play in the NFL again this season.

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That’s called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell meting out a consequence on an employee who did the wrong thing at the wrong time. Actually, it’s Goodell trying to change the narrative that developed over the past few years that he was way too lenient in holding players accountable for all offenses not drug related.

But this isn’t about Goodell’s motivation for banning Peterson (and Ray Rice) from the NFL. It’s about how to teach behavior. Fear of momentary consequence is one way, rewarding correct actions is another, and explaining the lasting results of good and bad acts is a third.

My feelings on spanking a kid has always been that if an adult can’t teach (or trick) a child into doing the right thing, he or she isn’t very bright. If a parent says something like, “My Dad spanked me, and I turned out alright,” I get a little impatient. We should strive to raise kids to be a little better and brighter than ourselves. Exercising weak behavior as though it’s a rite of passage from one generation to the next explains why we aren’t getting a whole lot kinder, gentler, or smarter from decade to decade.

There as a massive chasm between the concepts of wisdom and obedience. If the goal of a parent is blind servitude, their child will become an adult who obeys and values a rigid adherence to following rules. Teach children why some behaviors are frowned upon and others are exalted, and the result will likely be adults ready to think on his or her own while trying to improve their family, neighborhood, and culture.

One lesson that kids learn from violence is that violence is a righteous solution for problems. You think TV and video games cause violence in society, you might be right. There is no doubt that real life violence causes more and more violence.

When I was a kid in an elementary school north of Chicago, the thought of a teacher raising a hand to us was unthinkable. When my family moved to southern Indiana, teachers routinely paddled kids. I got swats once in high school myself, and once that happened, I knew that I had won.

Once I got hit, I knew I could stand it.

The best advice I ever got about discipline came from a summer camp director. He said, “Never tell the kids what the consequence for their misbehavior is. Once they know, you’re involved in a negotiation, and kids are very adept negotiators.”

You know what the director was talking about. When you were a kid, and a parent said, “If you aren’t home by midnight, you’re grounded for a week!” You weighed the value of the fun of staying out until three against the loss of fun staying home for the next week. If a parent said, “Be home on time!” that meant damn near anything was possible as a consequence. The unknown is a difficult quarry, and more likely to cause a reasonable response.

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Peterson was hit when he was a kid, and now he believes that because he found a way to succeed that hitting was part of the cause. While Goodell isn’t a parent and he’s acting with both eyes on PR for the NFL, the conversations resulting from Peterson’s suspension might be a great place for a better form of parenting to begin.

There is always a better way, and not hitting kids is a great place to start.