Never felt so confident

[TinyManInside]

So bizarre... but I don't think I've ever felt so confident that we would win during an SU NCAA tourney game.

Seriously, when Triche scored his second basket to put us up 4-3, I honestly thought "There is no way we're losing this game".

It wasn't just that Indiana didn't have the right gameplan against the zone (and yes, Crean did a marvelously awful job in that respect), it was that Indiana didn't have the right PERSONNEL against the zone.

I kept trying to switch things around in my head in terms of how they would attack the zone and I couldn't see a favorable scenario for them. Their midget guards couldn't shoot or even see over the zone, Watford and Sheehey were just too slow and methodical, Zeller didn't have anyone who could deliver him the ball down low, and when he went into the high post there was no one down low to feed to, and you could tell that we wouldn't let them get out in transition and run. Basically, they only have one athlete (but man, he is one hell of an athlete).

I think IU would be hard pressed to beat SU more than once out of 10 games if played in the same situation/environment. Their best strategy would be to just give the ball to Olidipo and say "here, shoot it 25-30 times".

Mason

 

[djcon57]

Can't Zeller hit that FT line jumper??

He refused to shoot it.

 

[jec1521]

Can't Zeller hit that FT line jumper??

He refused to shoot it.

He hit one, albeit a lucky bounce off the front rim. After that we had Baye or Xmas come up and defend, while defending the interior passes to the wings. They had no chance.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I felt all year that Indiana was overrated but no way would you expect them to come into the game so unprepared. We didn't play that great offensively to start the game and should have opened up a much larger lead early on. Eventually I believe it got as high as 18 before Indiana made a run before halftime and our defense was just incredible. Besides the edge our guards had, it was almost like our team was playing on a smaller court on the defensive end. It took Indiana a very long time to figure the zone out.

I feel very confident for Saturday. In fact as many have said all year, there is no team out there that should be better than us. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and one of ours was that we had no real superstar or anyone who could hitch the team on their back (except maybe Southerland on occasion). And that is a strenght and a weakness because you just don't know who is going to lead the team on a given night. It could be MCW, it could be CJ, it could be JSIII, it could be BT.

When we look back on this season I think we really need to look at MCW. At this point no one knows his ceiling or his future, but look at the roller coaster ride he has had this season, and even last when you consider he never played. He has been through a ton and has kept it together and is earning a future paycheck deservingly so.

 

[Marsh01]

So bizarre... but I don't think I've ever felt so confident that we would win during an SU NCAA tourney game.

Seriously, when Triche scored his second basket to put us up 4-3, I honestly thought "There is no way we're losing this game".

It wasn't just that Indiana didn't have the right gameplan against the zone (and yes, Crean did a marvelously awful job in that respect), it was that Indiana didn't have the right PERSONNEL against the zone.

I kept trying to switch things around in my head in terms of how they would attack the zone and I couldn't see a favorable scenario for them. Their midget guards couldn't shoot or even see over the zone, Watford and Sheehey were just too slow and methodical, Zeller didn't have anyone who could deliver him the ball down low, and when he went into the high post there was no one down low to feed to, and you could tell that we wouldn't let them get out in transition and run. Basically, they only have one athlete (but man, he is one hell of an athlete).

I think IU would be hard pressed to beat SU more than once out of 10 games if played in the same situation/environment. Their best strategy would be to just give the ball to Olidipo and say "here, shoot it 25-30 times".

Mason

Crean knew he was screwed and I am surprised that he didnt shelve Hulls and Farrell more. I knew he would start Sheehey in the second half. He had too. We always had that one mismatch no matter who guarded who.

 

[RF2044]

Just goes to show how important matchups are in the single elimination NCAA tournament.

 

[kuethstheman]

Wish I'd been that confident. My blood pressure was off the charts until about the final 2:00.

In fact, when the score was 4-3 and you were feeling good, I was having a bad flashback. It was clear that JB changed the offense to post IU's guards up. Both guards were playing back-to-the-basket, which I don't think I've ever seen them do. The last time I remember JB made that big an adjustment was against Butler two years ago when he moved Wes outside and pounded the ball into Rick Jackson. It failed miserably then and my hard-earned pessimism got me to thinking that this was going to backfire big-time.

I knew it was a very good idea but it was a heck of a time to have two turnover-prone guards try something new. In fact, it didn't work too well in the beginning though it was part of a brilliant JB strategy that worked marvelously, overall.

Like I said, wish I'd been able to relax. I was in exquisite agony most of the way.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Crean knew he was screwed and I am surprised that he didnt shelve Hulls and Farrell more. I knew he would start Sheehey in the second half. He had too. We always had that one mismatch no matter who guarded who.

It doesn't say much for the greatest conference of all time that the Indiana players received all of the following accolades. I was not impressed at all with Sheehey.

Indiana junior guard Victor Oladipo and sophomore center Cody Zeller were both named to the All-Big Ten first team by both the media and the coaches and Oladipo was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Senior forward Christian Watford was named third-team All-Big Ten, freshman Yogi Ferrell was named to the All-Freshman tam and junior swingman Will Sheehey was named Sixth Man of the Year in the conference.

 

[CuseFan]

Can't Zeller hit that FT line jumper??

He refused to shoot it.

I was really suprised by this too. Zeller was the Hoosier that worried me the most, and he wouldn't take the shot most of the time. Maybe all the blocks messed with his head. He truly looked confused by the zone.

 

[TinyManInside]

Wish I'd been that confident. My blood pressure was off the charts until about the final 2:00.

In fact, when the score was 4-3 and you were feeling good, I was having a bad flashback. It was clear that JB changed the offense to post IU's guards up. Both guards were playing back-to-the-basket, which I don't think I've ever seen them do. The last time I remember JB made that big an adjustment was against Butler two years ago when he moved Wes outside and pounded the ball into Rick Jackson. It failed miserably then and my hard-earned pessimism got me to thinking that this was going to backfire big-time.

I knew it was a very good idea but it was a heck of a time to have two turnover-prone guards try something new. In fact, it didn't work too well in the beginning though it was part of a brilliant JB strategy that worked marvelously, overall.

Like I said, wish I'd been able to relax. I was in exquisite agony most of the way.

Usually I am a nervous wreck but I honestly couldn't see how they were going to score.

 

[Marsh01]

I was not impressed at all with Sheehey.

Yea I really wasnt either but he was a bigger body that would at least have the ABILITY to score. I mean Hulls and Ferrell had no chance to score. Zero. At least Sheehey could get a shot off.

 

[tbonezone]

first off indiana has some very good players. i just wonder what crean taught them ? he's already seen the boeheim zone but clearly he was unable to communicate to his players how to adjust and how to attack it.

 

[Chip]

We said the same thing at 8-3. MCW and Triche each had 4, and you could tell that Indiana was not only going to have a tough time shooting over them with their child sized guards, there was no way they could stop them from driving.

But I'll admit I was about as rattled as the team was during Indiana's start to the 2nd half. Credit the staff and team for relaxing and getting back to exposing those mismatches.

Tomorrow will be a more interesting game. Garder won't be terrified like Zeller was. Marquette guards are more prepared to handle the zone. Need to be more efficient on offense tomorrow.

 

[moqui]

it took a little longer for me . . . when Yogi tossed his Hollis Price pass to the Orange bench, I knew it was in the bag.

 

[Cuseregular]

didn't share that level of confidence that we'd win it but knew nearly immediately that there was no way we'd NOT be in the game and that we'd be right there at the end at the very least. Was VERY frustrated with all the missed opportunities (to's, missed bunnies, etc). thinking it might come back to bite us in the end, but all it was was the difference between winning by 25 vs. 11.

Who'd of thought that pregame? NO ONE I knew or heard. Most satisfying win since '03.

 

[Toga]

My only concern early was the 3 quick fouls on our bigs. Other than that, it was only 3-4 minutes into the game where it was clear Indiana had no answers - none. There were mismatches all over the floor.

 

[Orangezoo]

honestly i see crean as more of a guy who has the enthusiasm to get a program restarted and make them relevant than a guy who can take them all the way to year in year out juggernaut. I don't think he is the kind of tactician that will be able to help iu become an annual contender. I was way more nervous than you mase but still confident partly because of crean. I know he took marquette to the ff but you could make a big case for that being as much dwade as it was crean. With Crean IU will of course be talented every year but come tourney time- going to be tough.. just my thoughts.

 

[CorduroyG]

I was stuffting bricks when home depot hit that 3 to cut it to 6. once we recovered from that and bumped the lead back up to double digits I knew we had them.

 

[bevosu]

I thought after the Indiana run early in the second half and our response that the game was basically over at the 17:00 mark of the second half. I posted as much in the chat room, but I have to admit that I posted that with a lot of trepidation.

You just never know. I'm glad that the game was pretty much in hand for it's entirety. Nice to not have your blood pressure jumping around for 2 hours.

 

[jec1521]

I thought after the Indiana run early in the second half and our response that the game was basically over at the 17:00 mark of the second half. I posted as much in the chat room, but I have to admit that I posted that with a lot of trepidation.

You just never know. I'm glad that the game was pretty much in hand for it's entirety. Nice to not have your blood pressure jumping around for 2 hours.

My blood pressure was jumping around for 2 hours when we were up 6 and 18. Didn't matter. I kept praying that we wouldnt just collapse like LVille.

 

[TheCusian]

I woke up yesterday thinking "we're winning tonight." I was so confident my wife accused me of being cocky.

I don't know. Something about this team. CJ hitting off of curls - you can almost squint and see Melo. Same plays the run for him in NY.

Anyways - I think we handle Marquette.

 

[RF2044]

I woke up yesterday thinking "we're winning tonight." I was so confident my wife accused me of being cocky.

I don't know. Something about this team. CJ hitting off of curls - you can almost squint and see Melo. Same plays the run for him in NY.

Anyways - I think we handle Marquette.

He sure rebounds like Melo--8 last night. He'll have to do the same on Saturday against marquette. Need to pound the boards as a team.

 

[Madbiker]

I was relieved when IU opened with VO on Southerland and matched up their 2 small guards on MCW and BT. It told me Crean doesn't get it. He needed to bench one of his small guards and move VO to a guard spot to play MCW or BT. By the time he tried that later, the game was gone.

 

[mantonio]

This team doesn't have the offense consistency of the 2003 team, but they are defensively better than that team. We can call it even...

 

[Jake]

I wasn't confident that we were going to win early, but after the first couple of possessions i thought to myself, "okay, we're going to be in this game to the end...this isn't going to be a blowout."

Then around the second TV timeout I felt this was our game to lose, and just hoped we didn't do anything stupid.

Its strange, I feel more confident with this team down the stretch than I did in January.