DISQUS

Jude,

Keep in mind that Pembroke was playing a tight zone which is a big reason Gordon wasn't trying to penetrate. They were taking what was given to them, which was the three, and hit 18 out of 30.

I wasn't at all pleased with the defensive effort, but I've got no qualms with how they played on the offensive end.

Ray,

Bassett should play tomorrow. Sampson said in the postgame that he could have returned but they wanted to make sure he was going to be available for Monday.

Bassett will not return tonight.

Hound,

I've always wondered that myself, but a lot of announcers seem to bring that up. What relevance it has, I'm not really sure.

Bassett is not in the game and not on the bench. BTN has no further updates on his status.

He walked off grimacing, but my guess him going to the locker room early was precautionary more than anything else. Yes, I do have the BTN.

Sampson: "We've gotta get better on defense. Sometimes young kids think defense is getting a steal. We're working hard on the first five or ten seconds. But after ten or fifteen seconds, this team is a patient team, they're going to take the offense deep into the shot clock. We've gotta be disciplined enough to play the whole shot clock."

He was then asked about Eric Gordon. He smiled, paused and said "Helluva player."

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I have to echo Sampson's comments. Too many easy shots were given up, despite the 17-point lead. On the perimeter, Gordon was the only player who showed me solid on the ball defense. Crawford didn't play particularly well on either end of the floor. He looked to be forcing the issue offensively. Bassett was very solid offensively. Stemler seems to be playing better than the first game. D.J. is playing solid, but needs to step it up from the foul line. As I said in the pregame, there's no question that Indiana can score, but can they play defense consistently?

52-35 IU, Gordon has 24, I'll post Sampson's comments momentarily...

Kelin,

I believe Fish was at the Northwestern football game. So far the Hoosiers are looking fine on defense, but they're still giving up too many open looks, especially to a Division II team.

Mayo had his typical stat line: 32 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and EIGHT turnovers. And by the way, he had to take 27 shots to get his points.

I certainly wouldn't advocate emailing Gasaway, unless you're planning to do so in a respectful manner. Like E said, he's a good writer, but he is wrong about Eric Gordon and that was the point of my post. I'm glad it's created such a passionate conversation amongst us.

I have to agree with some of the sentiments here that Ratliff can come in and grab some minutes with his D. He might just be the best perimeter defender we have.

I'm as big of a Gordon/Rose apologist as there is, but I still give the edge to the more experienced players. And from what I've seen, O.J. Mayo can shoot you out of the game. Then again, the addition of Ahlfeld would really help the freshmen.

http://cache.spreadshirt.com/users/101000/10013...

Luke,

Saw that as well. In fact, we're preparing something in regards to Jones for the AM.

Jaime,

As much as I'd love to have Stephenson, he's probably one and done. I'm not opposed to kids only staying for a year, but we also need to land some solid four year guys (which the staff is doing well with Roth, Holloway and Pritchard). Those are the players you build a program with.

Word is Sizzler wasn't available for the presser.

Mason Plumlee's recruitment just got a lot more important.

Can't say I'm surprised by this. I'm just glad he didn't chose Purdue. My real question is...and we'll probably never know the real answer because Zeller will downplay it...what effect did the sanctions have on his decision?

Pretty exciting so far with all of the new pieces. It's a shame the BTN fiasco hasn't been worked out yet.

Interesting to me is that six schools tried to contact Ebanks and I'm sure there will be more leading up to November 14. Good to see that his high school coach is keeping Ebanks away from other schools who are trying to pry him away.

Tim,

Consider it done my friend. Could be a couple hours before it takes effect, though.

Craig,

Working on it. Will let you know what I find out. I really know nothing about Holloway because I didn't know we were involved with him until a couple of weeks ago.

Kelin,

Indeed he is. I took that picture back in July and I was wondering when someone would mention that.

Kevin,

If you noticed, we used parentheses. These are not our words, they are the words of Jeff Goodman who reported the story for Fox Sports.

Jamie,

Yes we are hearing the rumblings and we're doing our best to check into it.

I'm still curious as to why he wasn't at the practice and why Sampson wouldn't talk about his absence at Big Ten media day.