WSU VERSUS INDIANA PREDICTIONS AND PREGAME DISCUSSIONS

[jocoshock]

Survive and Advance = W

[jocoshock]

The ESPNU panel picks Indiana.

Game over.

Who was on the panel?

[forevershockerfan]

You forgot that any time you ever introduce your team to an opposing fan base you have to say things like "athletic freak" and "future first round draft pick" and talk about how highly sought after they were in high school.

Ron Baker is now a household name by basketball fans everywhere and is from Scott City, Kansas (2 traffic-lights?) Coach Marshall once said he was a recruit with no stars next to his name in high-school. Now he outplays foes that were 5-star players in high school.

[choida]

Who was on the panel?

Well there you have it... I guess i shouldn't even bother watching the game then... Indiana is going to win lol

[forevershockerfan]

I'm thinking that Ohio State was a higher ranked team our Final 4 Season than Indiana is this Season. Indiana indeed has some shooters and let's hope they are not having a career game because I know our defense will be on them like a cheap suit.

[Dave Stalwart]

Who will have more fans there? WSU or Indiana?

[HenryMuto]

MUST WIN THIS GAME then BRING ON KANSAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wichita State 71
Indiana 64

Did I mention YOU MUST WIN THIS GAME then BRING ON YOU KNOW WHO!!!!!!!!!!!

I am as stoked about the chance for you guys to play Kansas as I am for Kentucky playing in this tournament.

[Cdizzle]

Indiana is 5-9 in their last 14 games and have not won consecutive games since the middle of January. They won one road game in that time (Rutgers). They are 5-9 away from home overall, and did not play a non-conference road game.

[wu_shizzle]

Indiana fan here coming in peace to give you some info on IU. Got a lot of respect for what your program has done, how well-coached your team is and how well your fans travel.

Indiana's biggest strength is their offense. IU starts 3 guards who are all capable of shooting the ball, driving it, and passing it in Yogi Ferrell, James Blackmon Jr, and Robert Johnson. Yogi's an outstanding point guard who was All-Big Ten. He can both pass and score and is very quick with the basketball and crafty with his dribble. He's probably our best defender and certainly our team leader and the matchup between he and VanVleet will be a highlight of the game.

Blackmon and Johnson are likely the keys to the game for Indiana. When they're hitting shots IU is very tough to beat, but as freshmen they've been inconsistent from game to game. Blackmon was a McD's All-American and is a pure scorer who can take over the game at times. Johnson's really solid all-around and an excellent 3-point shooter. If Blackmon is 2 for 13 or so it's a very good sign for the Shockers.

At one forward IU will start 6-7 Troy Williams, who's an athletic freak who's really starting to put it all together. He'll sky for highlight reel dunks and rebounds and is pretty good at finishing around the rim in traffic. Most of us at IU expect he'll be a first round draft pick once his shot improves and he's expanded his offensive game towards the end of the year by hitting some longer shots. He can also handle the ball and drive to the hoop, although he has the tendency to get out of control and turn it over. On D he has the tendency to gamble and make mistakes so that's an area he needs to make improvement in.

Colin Hartman is 6-7 and the other forward likely to start. He's the glue guy on the team and makes everyone better with his basketball IQ. An excellent 3-point shooter. He's just coming back from an injury so he's not quite 100% yet but getting close.

We are unsure if 6-9 Hanner Perea will play on Friday as he was injured in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday. He's an athletic freak at 6-9 with a 7-4 wingspan who is just now putting it together a bit. If healthy, he can score a bit, rebound, and block shots, but he frequently gets lost out there. Emmitt Holt is 6-7 and has been very solid filling in. He's also got a long wingspan, but has more of a nose for the basketball in rebounding and finishing. Max Hoetzel is 6-9 but is more of a spot-up shooter and hasn't had much impact yet as a freshman.

IU has two guards on the bench that will likely play. Nick Zeisloft who I'm sure you know from his Illinois State days. He can shoot the 3 but his D hasn't improved. Stanford Robinson is one of IU's best individual defenders but is very turnover prone on offense and was in an awful shooting slump until the last couple games. Most of us hope he transfers.

If IU is shooting the ball well they are very tough to stop. I know WSU has an excellent defense, but IU had no problems scoring against Butler or in the first half against Louisville who are both higher-rated Ds in Kenpom. They're actually capable of getting nuclear hot from 3 (see the games against Maryland and Minnesota in Bloomington). Big Ten teams did find a blueprint to slow down IU later in the year.

IU's defense is awful although it did get a little better towards the end of the year. Expect to see some different wrinkles that aren't executed that well. Lots of IU fans are frustrated with that side of the ball (amongst a lot of other things). People are surprised we gt into the tournament without having to play in Dayton first given how we ended the year.

Crean is probably going to come into the game with a pretty good gameplan for WSU, but he's not very good at making in-game adjustments, so that'll be an area to watch.

I would expect a very fun game to watch given that IU both scores and gives up a lot of points.

Do you ever play zone defense?

[AZ Shocker]

Indiana is 5-9 in their last 14 games and have not won consecutive games since the middle of January. They won one road game in that time (Rutgers). They are 5-9 away from home overall, and did not play a non-conference road game.

Yep...pretty DESERVING team to be invited as an at-large. System fails college athletics big-time.

[InTheMiddleOfThePrarie]

okay folks here we go..... first of my username implies the song I found online about northern iowa.... I .HATE. UNI. almost as much as Creighton.

second off I grew up a Hoosier for 18 years.... moved to Kansas and went to Wichita state on a bowling scholarship.. My two favorite coaches.... Bobby Knight and Gregg Marshall...

this is so hard for me to handle...... I will always wear Cream and Crimson...... BUT I BLEED BLACK AND YELLOW BABY!!!! this one belongs to my alma mater!!!

Shox- 72
Hoosiers -65

[thefro]

Do you ever play zone defense?

We play a 2-3 zone quite a bit that gives up lots of 3s for the other team.

[washedup]

Not that it has anything really to do with the game, but just noticed former Hutch Juco coach Steve McClain is an assistant at Indiana. I did not know that.

[kstarheel]

IU is really talented. This is a tough draw for wsu. If Baker and Fred are on, wsu will win by 10. If not, it'll be Ill State all over again.

75
65
Shox

[Rlh04d]

Just wanted to jump on here to get a better feel for WSU nation and their mindset coming in. Tall task for my hoosiers on friday, but I was a little surprised at the level of confidence found here. "Not very good all year"? False. Solid non con season albeit somewhat weak competitio. Ranked for about a month in january before slumping badly in february. Really excited to see IU offense vs shocker D. Yogi can make this offense hum like few other teams in the nation are capable of and I understand the shockers can suffocate. Our starting center Perea hurt his knee in big ten tourney, status unknown. Should be a great game, looking forward to it. Best of luck.

Hoosiers-71
Shockers-68

11-4 noncon record against the #97 noncon SOS. That noncon record includes five wins against RPI 270+ and six wins against RPI 220+, which means a 5-4 noncon record against non-guaranteed wins. Losing record against the top 25, 50, 100, and 150 RPI (11-13). Losing record on neutral sites. Losing record on the road. 1-8 record against top 100 RPI outside of Indiana.

Sorry, I'm sticking with "not very good all year." They've had obvious flashes of brilliance, but from a consistency standpoint, Indiana has consistently been underwhelming this year.

I'm not saying Indiana's not capable of winning this game at all; they clearly are. But overall I think it's very fair to say WSU is the better team and the favorite to win by every measure. But games aren't played on paper and Indiana could easily shoot better than normal, or we could shoot worse than normal, or we could completely fail against your zone defense (as we have in the past).

But purely on evaluating Indiana's current season? Yeah, I'm cool with "not very good." IU slipped into the tourney and are overseeded.