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GAME INFO / HOW TO WATCH:
Who? Alcorn State Braves (0-5, #348 KenPom) v. Indiana Hoosiers (4-2, #25 KenPom)
When? 7:00 PM, BTN
Vegas? don't do this, you degenerate
Pomeroy? INDIANA by 32, 99% chance of Indiana victory
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Why is Indiana playing this game?
What is there to be gained by playing a team that lost to Grand Canyon by 33 points? I understand wanting to get your feet back under you after a disastrous trip to Maui and before a date in Cameron Indoor Stadium with the dang Duke Blue Devils, but is playing one of the very worst teams to field a team this season the best way to do this? There are Division II teams that would throttle Alcorn State. Indiana's tournament résumé is being actively damaged by scheduling this opponent. They could beat them 200-0 and it won't ever be considered as anything other than damaging to their non-conference strength of schedule.
Indiana should schedule cupcake games early in the year. Everyone does it. Put up some big point totals, build confidence on defense, etc. But sub-300 teams have no place on this schedule, and Indiana has four such games on the schedule, with another at 289th and dropping. Being able to turn it over 25 times and allow a 60% DeFG while winning tonight's game by 40 points isn't going to be all that helpful on Wednesday against Duke.
Also, since Indiana leaned heavily on the Maui Invitational to increase their strength of schedule, with possible games against Vanderbilt, Kansas, or UCLA, none of which actively happened, games like this one tonight become even more outrageous.
HERE WOULD YOU LIKE SOME FACTORS?
| eFG% | TO% | OR% | FT Rate | |
| INDIANA (#9 Adj. Offense) | 61.7% (4th) | 23.9% (338th) | 36.3% (55th) | 30.7% (279th) |
| ALCORN STATE (#346 Adj. Defense) | 58.4% (334th) | 18.0% (191st) | 32.9% (242nd) | 39.4% (192nd) |
| eFG% | TO% | OR% | FT Rate | |
| INDIANA (#80 Adj. Defense) | 49.6% (185th) | 21.1% (69th, nice) | 28.2% (113th) | 30.4% (60th) |
| ALCORN STATE (#342 Adj. Offense) | 39.2% (347th) | 24.1% (342nd) | 34.6% (84th) | 32.8% (255th) |
Look at those numbers! Alcorn State is horrible at literally everything that isn't getting offensive rebounds! Which isn't a huge deal because additional possessions literally just mean another chance for them to miss a shot or turn it over. Folks, they turn the ball over MORE THAN INDIANA which is something that, at least, seems beyond the realm of possibility. They can't shoot threes, they can't shoot twos, they can't get to the free throw line (which is fine, because they can't hit free throws) and they can't defend anything. They are below average in literally every statistical category that Ken Pomeroy tracks except for the aforementioned offensive rebounds.
Hilariously enough, they are #1 in the country in average possession length on defense at 13.8 seconds, which I surmise is because the opponent takes the first open shot they see, and it presents itself very quickly.
STUFF TO WATCH FOR:
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Nothing, are you kidding? There is nothing you can draw from this game. Nothing. I don't care what the result is, there will be no meaningful takeaways.
- Stop scheduling these games forever. I'm not kidding. Forever.
- Alcorn State is located in Mississippi. Cool.