Indiana-Pitt: Halftime Thoughts

(Tom Crean has to feel good about the halftime thoughts.)

Hey folks, it appears introductions are in order. My name is Zachary Osterman, the good folks at Bleacher Report have given me the opportunity to serve as a featured columnist covering Indiana hoops this winter, to go along with my work over at the Georgia Tech football page.

A little background: I'm a recently-graduated IU alum who majored in journalism and covered the Hoosiers as the Indiana Daily Student's men's basketball columnist last season

I'm here to hit you with some halftime thoughts about the IU-Pitt game tonight in the Jimmy V Classic. Check back after the game for similarly-titled postgame thoughts and the traditional column. So away we go...

• The end of the first half is the biggest part of this game for me. Indiana, last season, could not close out important situations at the end of the first or second halves. The Hoosiers have been better this year, and this might be the best I've seen them thus far.
  
• Jeremiah Rivers really is a heck of a passer. Just saying.
• Tijan Jobe is, in many ways, still the lumbering, awkward seven feet of inefficiency he was last year, but he has at least learned how to move on defense so that his size demands his presence be respected. If Crean can continue to get quality minutes out of the big man, it will be a small coup, given where Jobe was at the end of last season.
  
• Will Jamie Dixon ever cease to just keep pulling new bodies off his bench to replace departed starters? The guy really is just impressive in terms of the way he's found success in a program he helped build.
  
• The unreasonable expectations surrounding Indiana still amaze me. Indiana has much better personnel than last season, yes, but the Hoosiers are still overmatched, undersized and inexperienced. These are weaknesses that are corrected or overcome with time, and patience.
  
• No dominant scorer for IU tonight, and that's the way it should be. No one of these players, right now in their careers, is near good enough to try and take over a game. Better to spread the scoring and make opposing defenses work all over the floor. 
• Indiana three turnovers, 16 free throws. Pitt nine turnovers, six free throws. That's improvement, boys and girls.
  

Will be back with more after the game.