Glass Houses

Indiana is in the midst of a six game losing streak.

That’s not a  big deal considering who this team was facing when this streak started.

Iowa.  At Illinois.  Purdue.  At Northwestern.  Ohio State.  At Wisconsin.  Throw in Michigan State tonight and you have all five of the best teams in the league on that list.  And Iowa.

With the exception of Iowa at home, losing all of these games wasn’t out of the question.

Unfortunately, the new line of thinking around here is:

“This team isn’t playing as hard as last year’s team.”

Really?

Have they had some “hard” times recently?

Sure.

But because the top 5 teams in the league have beaten Indiana currently isn’t exactly a shock to me, so why is it to you, the fan?

I think most fans (short for “fanatic”) think just because Indiana had a  top ten recruiting class that this would translate immediately to wins on the court.

What most fans completely forgot or discounted is that teams in the Big Ten this season are actually preparing for Indiana.  Every time Indiana was on television last year, every announcer or color guy spoke about the disaster that Tom Crean inherited and the mess he was in charge of cleaning up.  You don’t think other Big Ten kids watch tv, do you?  They knew Indiana was going to stink.  They knew Indiana was going to be down.  Way down.  Last year, teams could just show up, push the Hoosiers around, make them turn it over and they would win.  Don’t believe me?  1-17 was the record. with Iowa being the only win.

Teams that have never won in Bloomington decided to take their chances last year knowing this.  Teams like Northwestern (by 22) and Penn State (by 10) mopped the floor with Indiana.  The big boys came to town, took Indiana for granted and won (Ohio State by 12, MSU by 5, Wisconsin 17) easily for the most part.  Michigan, who barely made the tournament last year, spotted Indiana 18 points before coming back to win in overtime.

But, according to “fans” that team played “harder.”

Whatever.

This year has been a totally different story.

When you have a nationally ranked recruiting class, you tend to get some attention.  When you have a nationally known transfer show up and his dad is the coach of the Boston Celtics, you tend to get some attention.    Your fans get excited, thinking that on paper, “hey, this team, on paper, is going to be pretty good!”

Rumblings of NIT, maybe going .500 in the league, maybe sneaking into the NCAA tournament were just SOME of the expectations that we heard on the phone, in the bar, on the message boards.

And with that attention comes attention to detail from your opponent.

Teams now wouldn’t take the chance just to show up and take their chances with the new and improved Indiana.  And it’s shown both at Assembly Hall and on the road.  There are no more “calling off the dogs” late in games.  There is no more Mr Nice guy.

Not with year two, not with a top ten recruiting class, not with a big transfer playing and surely not with Tom Crean in charge of the start of “his team.”

Did I mention that the early Big Ten schedule probably inflated expectations on top of all that?

Indiana won one game in the league and was “in” four others last year.  Over 18 Big Ten games.

This year, Indiana has won three games, and has been in three others (Illinois, Purdue, @Illinois).  Over 12 Big Ten games.

Don’t get unrealistic expectations confused with effort, especially when dealing with teams in the top half of the conference.

Prediction:  Michigan State 68  Indiana 62 (+10.5)