Indiana Basketball: Breaking Down the First Month of 2016-17
By Jordan Maly
The Indiana Basketball team has found themselves in an interesting spot after an eventful month of November in the 2016-17 season.
The expectations of the 2016-17 Indiana Hoosiers have been elevated since the preseason rankings were rolled out where Indiana was ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll.
The Hoosiers started the season off surprising the nation with an overtime win against then No. 3 Kansas, 103-99. Basketball experts across the board were high on Indiana’s ability to dominate the perimeter and the depth of their roster. This game alone had experts talking about Indiana becoming the No. 1 team in the nation.
They followed the Kansas win with two more W’s before heading to Fort Wayne to take on the Mastodons. This is where things turned ugly, quick.
Many will still continue to blame the absence of star forward O.G. Anunoby who did not play due to illness. The Hoosiers came out flat from the moment the ball was tipped. Inconsistent shooting, no sense of urgency on defense and the inability to take command of the game resulted in a 71-68 overtime loss.
The city of Bloomington nearly collapsed, but surprisingly the social media faction calling for Tom Crean’s job was relatively quiet compared to years past.
Indiana went from being the No. 3 team in the AP Top 25 to No. 13.
Then the unthinkable happened. Indiana followed their disappointing loss with two straight wins, one of them coming against No. 3 North Carolina at Assembly Hall. The Big Ten/ACC Challenge once again had the Hoosiers in the national spotlight where they provided nothing less than a dominating performance.
The Tar Heels never even had a lead in the game. All five of Indiana’s starters ended up with double digit points in route to a 76-67 win.
So how can we evaluate the first month of the season for Indiana?