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BREAKING Walt Bell out as Indiana's offensive coordinator

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Big Ten Tournament, round 1: Indiana v. Northwestern, again.

By John M. IU Updated

Northwestern Wildcats
Current record: 19-12 (17-11)
Current RPI: 117
Current Sagarin: 77
Current Pomeroy: 80
2008-09 record: 17-14 (8-10), lost to Tulsa in the first round of the NIT
2008-09 RPI: 78
2008-09 Sagarin: 59
2008-09 Pomeroy: 70
Series: IU leads 108-46
Last Northwestern win: 2/7/2010 (78-61 in Evanston)
Last IU win: 3/6/2010 (88-80 in Bloomington)
Pomeroy scouting report
TV: approximately 5 p.m., ESPN2

Blogs: Lake the Posts, Sippin' on Purple

Indiana and Northwestern meet for the second time in 6 days but for the first time ever in the Big Ten Tournament.  IU and Northwestern split the regular season series.  Northwestern won the game in Evanston handily and IU won in overtime just a few days ago.  As I noted yesterday, Northwestern is the only school that IU has never played in Big Ten Tournament play.  This is IU's fifth appearance on the tournament's first day.  Northwestern, on the other hand, has played on day 1 in each of the previous 12 tournaments and has made it to Friday only four times.  For IU, 2009 was a year of negative milestones, and last season IU exited on Thursday for the first time. 

 

I don't know what to expect.  IU was fortunate that Northwestern shot poorly in last weekend's matchup.  Certainly, IU's 2-3 zone did seem to cause some struggles for Northwestern, and the Wildcats shot only 31 percent from three point range (season average: 36-4).  After a week of preparation, can the Hoosiers successfully limit NU again?

Northwestern's scoring balance in the two games was dramatically different.  In the first game, all five Northwestern starters scored in double figures.  In the most recent game, John Shurna (31 points) and Michael Thompson (25 points) accounted for well over half of NU's points. 

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
John Shurna 31 36.4 6.5 13.9 46.8 2.4 6.5 36.8 3.1 4.1 75.6 1.8 4.6 6.4 2.6 1.9 0.8 1.0 2.1 18.5
Michael Thompson 31 37.8 4.3 10.2 42.1 2.5 6.1 40.7 2.8 3.4 82.9 0.4 1.4 1.8 4.2 1.6 1.0 0.1 2.7 13.9
Drew Crawford 31 27.1 3.5 7.6 45.5 1.5 4.1 35.2 1.6 2.5 63.6 1.4 2.5 3.9 1.9 1.5 0.5 0.7 3.0 9.9
Jeremy Nash 31 34.5 2.8 7.4 37.7 1.2 4.0 30.6 2.3 2.7 82.4 0.8 3.0 3.8 3.2 1.5 1.7 0.6 2.9 9.0
Luke Mirkovic 31 26.3 2.9 6.0 48.1 0.3 0.8 34.6 1.5 2.8 54.7 2.0 3.9 5.9 2.4 1.5 0.8 0.9 2.2 7.6
Alex Marcotullio 31 14.2 1.6 4.0 39.5 1.3 3.4 37.1 0.5 0.8 70.8 0.3 1.0 1.3 0.9 0.6 0.9 0.0 1.7 5.0
Kyle Rowley 27 9.0 0.6 1.4 41.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 1.3 52.8 0.7 1.5 2.2 0.4 1.0 0.0 0.2 1.7 1.9
Mike Capocci 23 7.6 0.7 1.4 53.1 0.0 0.2 25.0 0.3 0.5 63.6 0.3 1.3 1.6 0.6 0.6 0.3 0.2 1.2 1.8
Davide Curletti 21 7.7 0.4 0.9 50.0 0.1 0.2 75.0 0.4 0.9 50.0 0.4 0.9 1.2 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.1 1.4 1.4
Ivan Peljusic 21 6.6 0.4 1.4 31.0 0.2 0.6 30.8 0.2 0.4 55.6 0.3 1.0 1.3 0.6 0.6 0.2 0.3 0.7 1.3
Nick Fruendt 18 3.1 0.3 0.7 41.7 0.1 0.4 28.6 0.2 0.2 100.0 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.9
Reggie Hearn 12 2.0 0.2 0.3 50.0 0.1 0.2 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.4
Jeff Ryan 1 14.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 0.0 1.0 0.0
Austin Nichols 5 0.8 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0


FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Maurice Creek 12 25.4 5.8 10.9 52.7 2.5 5.6 44.8 2.4 3.2 76.3 1.6 2.3 3.8 1.8 1.5 1.4 0.4 1.8 16.4
Verdell Jones III 30 31.3 4.8 12.0 39.9 0.6 2.4 25.4 4.6 6.1 75.3 0.9 3.0 3.9 3.3 2.9 0.9 0.4 1.7 14.8
Christian Watford 30 28.3 3.9 10.3 37.9 0.5 1.5 31.8 3.8 4.8 79.7 2.0 4.1 6.0 0.6 2.3 0.5 0.6 2.1 12.1
Devan Dumes 29 18.1 2.1 6.3 33.3 1.1 3.4 31.3 1.5 2.1 70.5 0.4 1.6 2.1 1.1 1.8 1.0 0.1 2.0 6.8
Jordan Hulls 30 24.9 2.1 5.1 40.8 1.5 3.8 40.4 0.7 0.9 78.6 0.6 1.5 2.1 1.5 1.1 0.6 0.0 1.9 6.4
Jeremiah Rivers 30 28.7 2.1 5.4 39.5 0.0 0.2 0.0 1.7 3.0 57.8 0.9 3.5 4.4 3.5 2.9 1.4 0.6 2.6 6.0
Derek Elston 30 15.1 2.2 4.7 46.5 0.3 0.8 37.5 1.0 1.5 65.2 1.7 2.3 4.0 0.4 1.1 0.7 0.4 1.9 5.7
Tom Pritchard 30 20.2 1.8 3.0 60.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 1.6 36.7 1.7 1.8 3.5 0.5 1.0 0.5 0.6 3.2 4.2
Bobby Capobianco 30 11.8 0.9 2.2 40.9 0.2 0.5 31.3 0.3 0.7 45.5 1.3 1.3 2.7 0.3 0.7 0.4 0.3 2.3 2.3
Matt Roth 2 5.5 0.5 1.0 50.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 1.0 1.0 100.0 0.5 0.5 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 2.0
Daniel Moore 27 7.3 0.4 0.7 50.0 0.1 0.3 28.6 0.5 0.6 82.4 0.2 0.6 0.7 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.0 1.0 1.3
Bawa Muniru 18 3.4 0.2 0.4 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 37.5 0.4 0.3 0.7 0.0 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.6
Tijan Jobe 21 4.6 0.2 0.4 44.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.5 0.7 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.2 1.0 0.4
Brett Finkelmeier 12 2.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0
Kory Barnett 11 2.1 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0
Steven Gambles 7 1.7 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.1 0.6 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0


Well, we will see how it turns out.  This is one of Northwestern's best teams ever, and I'm sure NU will be motivated to knock off IU after losing last weekend.  The Hoosiers, of course, along with Penn State and Michigan, have no hope for postseason play absent a miraculous 4-game run in this tournament.  The winner faces Purdue at 6:30 Friday.

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