It might be over, folks.
You never want to call a November basketball game a must-win. Too much can happen between now and Selection Sunday, good and bad. We’ve seen some teams during the Mike Woodson tenure derailed by injuries and some rejuvenated by late-season bursts.
Today’s loss to Louisville was about as discouraging as a November loss can be though.
Too many things that were supposed to have been fixed in the offseason remained glaring issues. Too many things that have been issues since year one of the Woodson era reared their ugly heads today.
Frankly, so many things went poorly today that it’s hard to see exactly where Indiana goes from here, besides the losers bracket of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Here are three things we learned:
Guard play
Indiana not getting enough from its guards has been a problem more times than I’d care to remember in the Woodson tenure, though injuries and roster issues shouldered a lot of the blame.
Now Indiana has Myles Rice, Trey Galloway, and Kanaan Carlyle, who have all proven to be scorers and distributors at the college level. That they would have combined for 0 points on 0-13 shooting, eight turnovers, and just two assists with under ten minutes to play in the game is absolutely unfathomable.
Whether it comes down to preparation, leadership, scheme, or development, this is not acceptable. Adding elite talent from the portal or high school ranks is meaningless if they cannot be counted on to produce when it matters.
This game was effectively over once Louisville stopped Indiana from getting out in transition and forced some early sloppiness. The guards never regained composure and got eaten up by Chucky Hepburn for forty minutes.
Again, I have a hard time blaming the players when guys who have proven to be productive college guards come to Bloomington and lose at least some of their mojo. The blame has to fall on the staff for the way this issue has recurred across rosters and seasons.
Resume (and blowout) Issues
Before this game, we optimistically thought Indiana would have a chance at a good resume-building matchup with Gonzaga that could help come March.
Now we have to contend with a horrible blowout loss to an unranked Louisville team that was blown out at home by the only other power conference opponent its seen.
This is another thing that’s been a longstanding issue for Indiana under Mike Woodson. Getting run off the court by UConn in November last year left the Hoosiers with a win over 150+ Kenpom Louisville as a consolation prize for the Empire Classic.
In December the year before that, Indiana flew out to Vegas to lose by 14 to an Arizona team that was upset by Princeton in the first round of the NCAA tournament that season.
Unfortunately for Mike Woodson, the bad losses haven’t been limited to November. Each of Woodson’s tournament runs ended in blowout losses that left fans feeling hollow about the wins that it took to reach that point.
The fact is, Indiana has just come out looking non-competitive in too many big-name matchups over the last four seasons. And there aren’t a ton of blowout wins to compensate for it.
There’s still a chance to meet Gonzaga in the loser’s bracket or get lucky with Arizona, but it’s out of Indiana’s hands now. As it has been in November so many times lately.
Lots of season left
This can alternately look like a threat or silver lining depending on where you stand. I’m becoming more ambivalent as time goes on, but objectively speaking there is time to correct the mistakes.
We know this team has talent. We know there will be chances for some quality wins in Big Ten play. Even South Carolina could end up looking like a good win at some point.
Indiana is in major prove-it mode now though, with doubt accumulating and few obvious answers in sight. But this is why the coaching staff makes millions, and it’s up to them now to get Indiana playing like a ranked team again as soon as possible.