Indiana Hoosiers: The Sleeping Giant

Andrew J — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:14:19 -0400

Indiana an eighth seed? Not only is this unfair to the Hoosiers, but to North Carolina, their likely second-round opponent. Sure, they are 1-3 in their last four games. Sure, it looks like they gave up and stopped playing defense. Sure, they unwillingly lost their coach halfway through the season. But don't count them out, Indiana is going far in the NCAA tournament.

The Hoosiers weren't just moping about Kelvin Sampson leaving in the middle of the year, they gave up after being eliminated from the chance at a Big Ten Championship.

In the tourney, Big Ten player of the year D.J. White will bring his senior leadership to the table. He will also bring his 17.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per game averages.

Don't forget Eric Gordon either. College basketball analysts seemed to have forgotten this year's most electrifying guard. When Gordon gets started, he is unstoppable. Hopefully he has learned to deal with the pressure of big time college basketball and will bring his top performance.

Eric Gordon is dominant behind the arc, while Jordan Crawford and Armon Bassett are deadly. When the Hoosiers get their 3-point game going they are unstoppable. On top of that is the presence of White in the post and ability of Gordon to bring it to the basket. Opposing teams are going to have a lot of problems with this offense. Indiana can also play defense. Especially Gordon, who has some of the best on-ball defense in college basketball.

Indiana should be able to beat Arkansas handily. The test game is North Carolina, with the most interesting match being Tyler Hansbrough and D.J. White. The game will likely be a race for who can hit more three-pointers. As for the Tar Heels pseudo home court advantage? Please.

Indiana plays in the Big Ten.

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Indiana Hoosiers: The Sleeping Giant