Our manager at our Columbus apparel shop put a pre-order in for 36 Final Four shirts. 36. He said he probably wouldn’t even sell that many if they make it.

Pretty pathetic.

I agree. I’m not saying IU needs to jump out to a big lead, but they can’t let Kentucky build a lead.

I think that if Indiana pushes the tempo responsibly in the first 30 minutes, they will be able to both gas out the 6 UK players and possibly put someone or even a couple of guys in foul trouble, which creates mismatches for IU that can be exploited.  I believe Indiana is much better at playing with a lead, and closing out the game with defensive stops now, far more than they were on December 10th.  The x-factor is how well UK can hit shots under pressure and slightly gassed in the last 5 minutes.  I just have this gut feeling that they will not handle it well enough to stay in the game, and we finnish out on the free-throw line, stretching a 5 point lead to 9 as the clock hits zero; 79-70 Hoosiers.  If Jordan Hulls chases Lamb well enough just to contest his shots in the half court, but not so close that he allows Lamb to blow by him on the dribble, and with some luck his shot doesn’t drop, we could be up 4 to 12 points all the way through.  I would invite Davis to take his outside jumper, and hope that Kid-Gilcrist does not have a tournament break out game.  I worry less about Oladipo/Remy keeping Teague in front of them, and Watford making things difficult for Jones. 

Another key to me is how will Kentucky match up with us this time on their defensive end.  It could several ways.  They could put Kid-Ghilcrist on Hulls or Watford and cause both some problems.  They  could use Davis on Zeller or Watford to try to take them away (I like both Zeller and Watford in this situation because I think that just moving Davis away from the basket will be good for IU in general.  I am concerned that Kentucky will play some sort of extended zone to force our shooters to take even deeper three’s.  If that happens, I just hope we get multiple guys to hit some shots and force them back into man defense.   

Lexington itself is actually a pretty nice town as long as you stay away from that miserable university.

I’m not sure that IU needs to build a big lead in the first half they just need to keep it close and be very close if not ahead at half time.  Remember the first game IU pulled away midway through the second half and then ran out of gas a little bit as Kentucky made the late run to take the lead which Watford stole back with THE SHOT.

If IU is close at half and hangs around midway through the second half then it’s anybody’s ballgame.  Heck, IU was right with them last year until around the 7 minute mark and that team was missing a Cody Zeller.

IU can win this but obviously it won’t be easy.  It would be great to jump out to an early lead but I don’t see Kentucky going away even if IU does jump out early.

Game 6 and Title 6 all at once.  It would be a beautiful thing.

Game 6 and Title 6 all at once.  It would be a beautiful thing.

Dude, we were two games out of a share for the conference title. I’m not crying woulda-coulda-shoulda, but Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa games separate us from a miraculous share of the title. I would put us in the top tier of the conference.

According to these guys, Uk wil “destroy” IU and the only reason we won this season against UK is because we played it at Assembly Hall.  Someone then pointed out that IU had only won 1 game on the road all season.  I asked where they got their information and quickly pointed out that they beat NC St on the road as well as Purdue, both tournamnet teams.  I also pointed out that the beat #1 UK, #2 OSU, and #5 MSU.  At that point I thought I heard crickets.  I asked how many top 5 teams in the country UK beat and I failed to get an answer.

Of the teams left in the tournament, no one sports 4 W’s over the teams left in the sweet 16 (UK, OSU, MSU, NC ST) and as I pointed this out, they seemed dumbfounded.

The mob mentality has them believeing that UK is invincable, but a true basketball fan would know that IU has some serious W’s under their belt this year.

I guess they also fogot that UK squekked out W’s against LSU, Florida, and Vandy.  

I hope I can serve them a big doodoo pie next week and have them eat crow. 

According to these guys, Uk wil “destroy” IU and the only reason we won this season against UK is because we played it at Assembly Hall.  Someone then pointed out that IU had only won 1 game on the road all season.  I asked where they got their information and quickly pointed out that they beat NC St on the road as well as Purdue, both tournamnet teams.  I also pointed out that the beat #1 UK, #2 OSU, and #5 MSU.  At that point I thought I heard crickets.  I asked how many top 5 teams in the country UK beat and I failed to get an answer.

Of the teams left in the tournament, no one sports 4 W’s over the teams left in the sweet 16 (UK, OSU, MSU, NC ST) and as I pointed this out, they seemed dumbfounded.

The mob mentality has them believeing that UK is invincable, but a true basketball fan would know that IU has some serious W’s under their belt this year.

I guess they also fogot that UK squekked out W’s against LSU, Florida, and Vandy.  

I hope I can serve them a big doodoo pie next week and have them eat crow. 

I think UK is going to try to come out hot and with a good chance to. I think we need to use their aggressiveness against them early to get some fouls. A couple good defense stops that lead to transition points and some early fouls to set a tone.

Except for that visit to Lexington.  🙂

As of now…we aren’t a ‘top’ team from our conference. We got 5th place.

I agree. If IU can jump out to a lead in the first half, the revenge factor takes a back seat to fear of losing the game, again.

I don’t want anybody believing in IU (excluding coaches/players) until the win game #6 in the tourney.  Then bring it on!