ONE THING: Indiana vs. Fort Wayne

As regular readers of this fair website will know, typically the game recap posts are based around “Three Things” – that is, three things that we learned or were shown by the preceding game. As any IU fan who just sat through the last two and a half hours of basketball can tell you, there are really not three things that us fans can learn. There are about a billion the players can learn, but there’s pretty much only one for the fans. Thus, this is slightly out of concept. Here’s your ONE THING:

My god, it’s full of stars

That was a bad performance. By everyone. Fans will attempt to pin that...whatever that was on their least favorite player, or whoever showed up most recently, or whoever Didn’t Show The Most Heart. If you’re blaming this loss on Josh Newkirk, or OG Anunoby, or James Blackmon, Jr. or whoever: please, log off before you become too nude and red online. The internet doesn’t forget, and your tweets will be dredged up in a few months, and people will laugh at you. That goes for those of you trying to blame Tom Crean, too. Come on, man.

This team wins together, like they did against Kansas. Remember Kansas? We beat Kansas. They lose together, too. And this loss should be lain at the feet of every player on this team, on the coaching staff, on pretty much everyone involved. We lose as a team, especially against a danged mid-major.

AND YET. You all remember last year, right? Maui? It was a goddamn disaster. This is also a goddamn disaster. But it’s not the end of anything, and you don’t need to feel dumb tonight for supporting this team or thinking they’ll be good. Last year’s team was on the verge of collapse; they won the Big Ten outright and beat Kentucky. Worry less, the season is young.

Be mad tonight. Drink beers and yell, or walk your dog, or play with your kids. Do the things you do when you’re mad at a sports team that underperforms. But one game isn’t enough to totally alter your perception of this team, the same way that Kansas win wasn’t so much that it should have tilted you the other way.

Next is Mississippi Valley State. Pity them. A reckoning is coming their way, most likely. Next after that is North Carolina. Let’s see what happens there.