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Well that sure was a basketball game!
- This schedule blows ass: This was Indiana’s fifth game in twelve days and it SURE SHOWED tonight. Some have written about rest being overrated, citing the format of conference tourneys and the Big Dance itself, along with the youth of the players and the grind of the nonstop AAU season they play before getting to college. There is some truth to that, but you cannot possibly compare a tournament atmosphere, where all teams are playing the same schedule, to tonight. The Buckeyes last played on Thursday (at home!) while the Hoosiers arrived in Columbus on a 48-hour turnaround. Indiana settled for jumper after jumper, missed an astonishing amount of layups, and seemed completely devoid of intensity on either end— all hallmarks of a team that just didn’t have its legs.
- Devonte Green, is that you? After a truly putrid B1G campaign (2 games with an ORtg over 100) and hitting rock bottom against Purdue (4 minutes, 0 points, 1 turnover), Devonte Green came out of halftime ready to party. He shot 4 of 5 from behind the arc, pulled down two offensive boards, and dropped two dimes while generally bringing the kind of energy and enthusiasm (read: shooting) that this team so desperately needed tonight and going forward. Is he a long-term answer in the backcourt? Now is the time to find out. There is nothing to be gained this season by playing out the string with Josh Newkirk logging the majority of the minutes. The foundation for next season is being built now– let’s see if Green can be a part of it.
- I feel like two things is enough from tonight, tbh. They were both lengthy and thoughtful, it was a 15-point loss there’s nothing else to talk about. Unless we want to discuss how I NAILED my prediction for the first time in awhile. From the game preview:
Ohio State is really good– Indiana isn’t. Ohio State is playing at home– Indiana isn’t. Ohio State rested all weekend– Indiana didn’t. Ohio State by a lot. Like 15 or something. I don’t know. Nothing matters. We’re all just bags of water and electricity floating just far enough away from an inferno to not burn up immediately but not too far that we freeze to death. Existence is prison.
Good night.