ESPN Men's Basketball

Indiana won three Big Ten games during the 2010-11 season. In the months leading up to the 2012-13 campaign, however, Tom Crean’s program has been pegged as a favorite to win the national title.

Crean talked to ESPN.com about next season’s team, his talented recruiting class and the expectations attached to the program.

How do you feel about the lofty preseason projections and rankings for your program?

Tom Crean: It’s really not to me what others would think. We don’t spend a lot of time on it. I spend more time looking at who else is ranked and how many times we have to play them. I don’t think in those terms and we certainly don’t work in those terms. It’s not like I dread it, it’s not like anybody shies away from it.

When you’re immersed in it, you stay in your own reality. And our reality is we’ve got a long way to go to get where we want to go. We’re going to have upwards of eight freshmen and sophomores on this team next year. Obviously, one of them is Cody [Zeller], but still, he’s only going to be a sophomore. And the bottom line for us is we’ve got to get a lot of guys meshed into this team.

If I felt like we had a group of guys who were caught up in that, then I’d be dealing with it a lot differently. But I don’t. I think it’s motivating them and it’s inspiring them to get better.

How will you get your talented recruiting class to blend with the returning players on your squad?

TC: I think for us, it’s going to be a combination of us putting even more on the incoming players this spring. We went into some of their schools in our last recruiting period to really kind of assess where they’re at, watching a lot of film … making sure now when they get here, we’ve got a real plan for how this team really starts to come together.

And that our upperclassmen, even the sophomores, do a great job of getting them immersed and feel a responsibility for them. And not just as buddies and future teammates but a real responsibility for these guys to get here and get immersed in the culture of our program.

What’s the expectation for Victor Oladipo (10.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg) next season?

TC: Just continuing to improve in all areas. There’s no question, his shooting and his range shooting. He’s a very good shooter; he’s got to become a more confident shooter. That the ballhandling continues to improve where his decision-making and his finishing become outstanding. He’s got to become a tremendous decision-maker for us and at the same time, he’s got to be an even better finisher.

He still misses too many shots he should make. Now he’s got to make those things against pressure. He has a flair for the dramatic and he has the ability to make some really tough shots. … The other thing I think he has to become is an even better all-the-time on-ball defender. He should be in the conversation for one of the best defenders in America.

Christian Watford had a great NCAA tournament and flirted with the NBA draft. How did he ultimately reach the decision to return and what’s his potential for next season?

TC: I was locked in the process. We were locked in the process with him of trying to help him be able to get drafted. I knew it was very important to have that opportunity to go. But I also knew he was looking at it with both eyes wide open, as was his family.

And when you look at it sideways and you look at it with rose-colored glasses, that’s when you make mistakes. And I’d have been a lot more concerned if I wasn’t doing that. He was looking at it with both eyes wide open. And that made the process that much smoother.

We got a lot of information from the decision-makers. … He saw every note that I took. He saw every word that I wrote down of what people said. And I really don’t hold anything back from them. Right now, he’s got to continue to get his strength. He had a heel issue during the year that we want to make sure his body continues to heal the right way. ... Take his shooting up another notch. And then, he’s really got to establish that he’s going to be a very, very good rebounder and that that skill will transfer to the next level.

He needs to be a better rebounder for us. But at the same time, he needs to be a proven, legit, tough rebound guy for the next level. And then I think he has to continue to build on what he did defensively this season. … He’s got to prove that he can guard anybody on that perimeter.

You have a talented incoming recruiting class (No. 10 on ESPN 100). How many players from that group will make an immediate impact?

TC: I wouldn’t break it down that way. I wouldn’t do that with them. I think everybody brings something different. And when you look at the rankings and where things are laid out, those rankings are there for a reason. These guys have done some really great things.

It won’t matter once they get here. It’s how they blend. It’s how they fit in. It’s the work ethic that they provide. There’s no doubt that we’re really trying to build a deep team … one where we can really get out and be far better defensively. If we’re far better defensively, there’s no doubt we’re going to be far better offensively.

The guys that figure out that the best when they get here will be the guys that have the best impact on our team.

Until he misfired during a Final Four loss against Kansas (9 points), forward Deshaun Thomas had been the best player –-- arguably -- on the Buckeyes' roster throughout the NCAA tournament.

The left-hander’s versatility fueled Ohio State’s run to New Orleans with performances that raised his NBA stock.

But Thomas announced Friday that he’s decided to return to school for another year. And that call automatically keeps the Buckeyes in the national title hunt for the 2012-13 season, even with Jared Sullinger turning pro and William Buford graduating.

I think they’re a solid top-10 squad. Aaron Craft is back to harass opposing guards. And there’s potential among young players who didn't get a ton of minutes this season.

If former McDonald’s All-America center Amir Williams blossoms in the offseason and starts to fulfill his potential as a sophomore, the Buckeyes could make another strong run in the NCAA tournament.

But Thomas will be the focus of Thad Matta’s system. And I think his skill set will allow Ohio State to spread the floor and take full advantage of Thomas’ abilities, which we saw during the NCAA tourney.

While the Thomas announcement solidifies Ohio State’s position entering next season, the rest of the Big Ten is one giant question mark.

The league has the potential to send multiple teams to the Big Dance. But depending on who goes pro by the April 29 deadline (after April 10, any early entrant who applies for the NBA draft will lose his collegiate eligibility), it might not pack the same punch it did during the 2011-12 campaign.

Indiana and Michigan could join Ohio State in the preseason top 10, but that all depends on a few decisions that will be made in the coming weeks/days.

If Cody Zeller and Christian Watford return, the Hoosiers could compete for the national championship. Tom Crean is bringing in one of the best recruiting classes in the country. Zeller will be a Wooden Award candidate and preseason All-America center. If Watford builds on his Sweet 16 performance against Kentucky (27 points), he could be one of the best forwards in the conference.

Michigan needs Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. to return. Burke, however, is more vital to John Beilein’s plans. With highly rated prospects Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson Jr. coming to Ann Arbor for the 2012-13 season, the Wolverines will add productive scorers who can contribute right away if Hardaway goes pro. But what will they do if they lose Burke? He might be the best point guard in the country if he comes back for his sophomore season. Without him, Michigan will still possess a talented, young roster. But the Wolverines could end up in Atlanta with Burke leading the way.

Minnesota also faces an uncertain future. The Gophers could be a borderline top-25 squad if preseason all-Big Ten forward Trevor Mbakwe returns. He missed most of last season after suffering a knee injury, but the NCAA recently granted the Big Ten’s No. 1 rebounder during the 2010-11 season a sixth year of eligibility. He’s expected to return -- assuming the Gophers have a scholarship for him. Tubby Smith has already reached the 13-scholarship limit, with two recruits joining the team next season. So Minnesota’s situation could get complicated, too.

Smith has asked the NCAA to allow the team to use a 14th scholarship next season. There’s also a chance that a player will transfer; five have left the program since 2009. But there are no guarantees right now for Mbakwe or the Gophers.

The Big Ten will be talented next season even if the aforementioned stars leave for the NBA.

But right now, it’s hard to project the league’s potential without knowing if its best players will stick around for another season.

ATLANTA -- What we saw Friday night was highly entertaining theater.

Kentucky and Indiana, two members of an elite collection of iconic college basketball programs, gave us all an enjoyable watch in the Sweet 16.

There was a pro mentality to this affair. It was as if two teams were out there to conduct the business of basketball. There were times it was just pure hoops.

If you wanted scoring, you got it.

Plenty of it.

Kentucky put up 102 points, the most scored against IU in 93 all-time tourney games. Indiana countered with 90 of its own. Before this shootout, no team in the entire tournament had reached 90 points.

In the end, UK moved on to its third consecutive Elite Eight, where it will play Baylor on Sunday. IU is heading home after a tremendously successful and memorable season.

Kentucky had to win this game with Anthony Davis playing limited minutes due to foul trouble. He played 25, yet was still highly effective. The national player of the year to many (he’s won four of the six awards so far) still was very efficient, with 12 rebounds and 3 blocks to go along with his 9 points.

“I got in early foul trouble,’’ said Davis. “By the second half, my teammates told me, 'You're fine. Just come out and play your game. We need you to steal, block shots, rebound and score the ball.'

“So that's what I did in the second half -- don't let the first half get to me and just come out with the same intensity the players came out with in the first half.”

And after the game, there was so much respect on both sides. There was no trash talk or bitterness. Kentucky coach John Calipari and Indiana coach Tom Crean are close friends and are genuinely pleased with each other’s success.

“Well, I'm truly happy for Indiana and Tom Crean,’’ Calipari said. “When he took that job, I told him, 'You are taking one of the top five jobs in our country in basketball. That's it. Indiana's it.'

“And he said, 'Cal, it's going to be hard.' Yeah, it's going to be hard, but it's Indiana. It's Indiana. So you'll get it going. Walking into Kentucky, it's hard, but it's Kentucky. It's North Carolina, it's Duke, it's Kansas. If you have one of those jobs, you have a chance to be a top-five program year in and year out. What he's done there, where it came from, you think about it. They lost 25 games their first year. He had a lot of people griping. Hey, you've got to build the foundation, and he did it.”

Crean returned the compliments: “We did a lot of good things, but they're a very talented team. As I said many times, I think it's obvious, they're extremely well-coached. He is a great coach. It's one thing to have talent; it's a whole other thing to get them to be as good as they are defensively.”

The players competed at a high level. And after the game, both sides gave each proper respect.

“They were knocking down shots, they were being really aggressive and getting to the rim,’’ said Kentucky senior Darius Miller. “We just had trouble guarding them. I don’t think we came out lacking intensity or lacking focus or anything like that. They just did a great job of executing their game plan and coming out ready to play.’’

There was something wholesome about this game, which is perfect considering these two schools are in the heartland of the country and the sport.

Their fan bases are two of the most passionate in the country. And while the Baylor-Xavier game was an undercard with a junior-varsity crowd that included empty seats, that was hardly the case for the nightcap. The fans showed and came to cheer. There were times when the Georgia Dome actually got loud, not easy considering the cavernous nature of this building.

Kentucky under Calipari is now like it was under Rick Pitino in the mid-1990s, where Final Fours are expected. UK went to three in a row from 1996 to 1998, winning two of the three — with Pitino claiming the first title and Tubby Smith the second in the third of three Final Fours. Calipari is 40 minutes away from his second consecutive Final Four in Lexington, third overall. But he has to win at least one national title, the first for the school since 1998, to live up to the expectations that were placed on him when he arrived, let alone compare to that Pitino run.

Indiana under Crean is now officially back. The Hoosiers were left in ruins after the Kelvin Sampson NCAA fiasco when departures had the program starting from scratch. After grinding it out the first three seasons, Crean now has reaped quite a turnaround, one that found the Hoosiers in the Sweet 16.

And they could have gone further. Indiana was down three at the half. The Hoosiers were constantly a few possessions away from pushing Kentucky. But they couldn’t contain the Wildcats' myriad offensive options.

The Cats were the aggressor, getting to the free throw line 37 times and making 35. The 94.6 percent mark was the highest in tourney history for a team with at least 30 attempts. But that was really the only clear advantage for Kentucky.

“They're great drivers, and they're attacking pretty hard throughout the game,’’ said Indiana freshman Cody Zeller. “Late in the game, we had to foul just to try to close the margin a little bit.

“They got in the bonus pretty early, and that really helped them out pretty well. And once they got there, they were knocking them down.”

Indiana had five scorers in double figures, led by Christian Watford’s season-high 27 points.

Kentucky also had five, led by Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s 24, which tied a career-high.

For whatever reason, the Hoosiers chose not to guard MKG.

“I just saw that they weren’t playing me at all, saw it and went for it, that’s it,’’ the UK freshman said. “We just took turns. I mean, this was a great team win.’’

There is something special brewing with this Kentucky team.

The Wildcats can be vanilla at times. But that’s OK. They win. And they don’t need to boast or brag.

Now, there is one more game to get Sunday for Kentucky to reach its intended destination. Baylor can certainly win. This might be the one team, save a healthy North Carolina, that mirrors the Wildcats.

“It seems like there's only one team that is not allowed to lose in this tournament, and that's us,’’ Calipari said. “I don't want them to feel that. That's not the case. What I want them to do is go have a ball playing, be aggressive, play to win. If that's not good enough -- like, I'll be honest with you, folks. If you told me the team we're playing today, Indiana, was going to score 90 points and shoot 52 percent from the floor, I was going to have to tell you, 'Wow, it's been a nice season. Hate to end it that way, but it's been a nice season.'

“And we won. We played very aggressive and did stuff down the stretch that we needed to do offensively.”

Let’s try this again.

My first set of “bold” predictions didn’t exactly last through the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. But I’m not alone.

How many reconfigured their brackets after the Fab Melo news developed? Missouri losing to Norfolk State? I’d like to see a notarized “first” bracket as evidence that you picked that one.

Second time’s a charm though, right?

1. Kentucky will beat Indiana by 15 or more -- Vengeance is coming. On Dec. 10, Indiana defeated the Wildcats on a Christian Watford buzzer-beater. The shot stamped Indiana’s revival as “official.” But the Hoosiers aren’t playing that Kentucky team this weekend. The Wildcats have evolved. I think Indiana has matured, too. But Kentucky will make a statement in this matchup. Think “Scarface.” These players have had to watch that game, that shot, all season. They’ve lost only twice, but they’re reminded of the defeat in Bloomington often. I think we’ll see the most impressive effort from the Wildcats that we’ve watched all season. They’re not going to beat the Hoosiers. They’re going to crush them. Indiana gets full credit for the December win over Kentucky, but you can’t overlook the fact that Anthony Davis picked up early fouls and the Hoosiers surged past the Wildcats when the freshman of the year was on the bench. That was one of the few games in which Davis suffered from foul trouble. Won’t happen again. And Davis will be a constant force. And the Wildcats will avenge that earlier defeat with a “someone throw in the towel” assault of the Hoosiers.
2. Keith Appling will be the most valuable player for the Spartans in the Sweet 16 -- The sophomore guard scored 19 points and hit a crucial 3-pointer in the final minutes of Michigan State’s win over St. Louis. He’s a talented guard who will be called upon to navigate Louisville’s twisted zone (if the Cardinals use it) and help the Spartans fend off Florida’s 3-point attack or Marquette’s running game. The Spartans have never missed the Final Four as a No. 1 seed. This season won’t be any different. But Appling will emerge as Robin to Draymond Green’s Batman. Green will continue to excel, but he’ll face pressure on all sides. St. Louis stuffed the lane so well that Tom Izzo had to move Green to point. The Spartans need a Scottie Pippen right now to help them reach New Orleans. And after watching the Spartans in Columbus, I’m convinced Appling will enter New Orleans as a star.
3. Jordan Taylor hits a big shot to beat Syracuse -- Hard to peg this one. Both teams like to dictate the tempo. Wisconsin will work the shot clock and try to slow the game down. Syracuse is one of the best transition teams in the country. The Orange force turnovers with that stubborn, lengthy zone and they run. It’s a great contrast in styles by two programs who’ve found ways to force teams to play at their preferred pace. This will be a tug-of-war. A battle for 40 minutes. And at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to crucial plays in the final minutes because I expect a tight game. Taylor struggled at the start of the season as he tried to adjust to life without Jon Leuer. But he’s certainly looked like an All-America candidate recently. Taylor will play hero again against the Orange with a game-winning shot. It was easy to forget how good he was last season during this year’s trials. But Taylor has regained that old swagger. Look for the big shot against the Orange.
4. Thomas Robinson averages 28 points/12 rebounds against NC State/North Carolina -- I still have Kansas in New Orleans. The Jayhawks didn’t look great against Purdue in the round of 32, but going to St. Louis and the Edward Jones Dome will feel like home with the numerous Kansas fans that will flood that facility. But environment alone can’t affect this outcome. The Jayhawks will need the best Robinson can give to get past NC State (a Sweet 16 sleeper that could pull off the upset) and North Carolina, even if the latter doesn’t have Kendall Marshall. And I believe Robinson will put together a string of performances that will define his career at Kansas. He’ll average 28.0 points and 12 rebounds. He recorded only 16/13 and 11/13 in wins over Detroit and Purdue. That won’t get the job done in the Sweet 16. Robinson will step up and take the Jayhawks to New Orleans with the kind of outings that are expected from national player of the year candidates in March.
5. Xavier, not Baylor, will play Kentucky in the Elite Eight -- Baylor has the length and athleticism to cause matchup hell for Xavier. Perry Jones & Co. against Kenny Frease seems unfair. Brady Heslip is on fire from outside. But the Musketeers will do more than make this a game. They’ll be tougher than a Baylor Bears squad that’s failed to match more physical teams in multiple matchups this season. Jones has scored nine points combined in his team’s two NCAA tournament games. As impressive as Heslip was against Colorado (nine 3-pointers), it’s unlikely that he’ll match that output against Xavier. Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons will pressure Baylor on the perimeter. The Cincinnati-Xavier brawl has not defined the season for either squad. This is one of those games in which the personnel certainly favors the Bears. But Xavier will push Baylor to the brink and ultimately score a 10/3 upset. The health of Dezmine Wells’ toe, however, will certainly play a major role in this prediction.
6. Ohio won’t be represented in New Orleans -- One of the best storylines of the tournament unfolded over the weekend. Four Ohio schools (Xavier, Cincinnati, Ohio State and Ohio) reached the Sweet 16. But I don’t think we’ll see any of them in New Orleans. Even if Marshall can’t go, the Tar Heels have far too much athleticism and size for Ohio. I’m picking Cincinnati over Ohio State. I like the Yancy Gates-Jared Sullinger battle and the Bearcats’ athleticism on the perimeter. But I don’t think Cincy gets past Wisconsin, the team I’m picking to beat Syracuse. I think the Musketeers can defeat Baylor in the Sweet 16, but they’re not going to beat Kentucky. It’s a great accomplishment for one state to send four schools to the Sweet 16. But it won’t have any reps in New Orleans even though the numbers favor it right now. Sorry, Ohio.

Bracket first impressions:

Someone on the Selection Committee must be a frustrated screenplay writer.

How else to explain the endless plots coursing through some of these regions?

In the South, Kentucky will debut as the No. 1 overall seed against either its in-state neighbor, Western Kentucky, or former Wildcat Sean Woods, the man who would have sent the Unforgettables to the Final Four were it not for a guy named Laettner.

Should the Cats get through that game, next up is defending national champion Connecticut, the team that knocked them out of the Final Four a year ago. Last we took the pulse, former New England rivals Jim Calhoun and John Calipari weren’t double-dating with milkshakes, either.

After that how about a possible Sweet 16 date with Christian Watford, er, Indiana? The Hoosiers, thanks to Watford’s shot that restored a program, are the only team to beat Kentucky in the regular season.

And then to complete the fun down South, there is perhaps an Elite Eight game against Duke (which might have to get UNLV, its program-establishing Final Four foe, first). Twenty years ago this season, the two met in in a sort-of kind-of memorable regional final.

That guy named Laettner again.

Across the way in the Midwest there are some decent storylines, too. Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott could square off in an 1-8 game. The two once, believe it or not, were on the same team. As you might expect, Ames (Iowa) High was pretty good – 53-0 with two state titles in their tenure.

In the Sweet 16, Barnes' Tar Heels could tango with Michigan. If you don’t recall, the two met in the 1993 title game. Chris Webber remembers. He called timeout.

Being a No. 1 seed ain’t what it used to be.

Back when, like last year, you could write the nation’s best through to the Sweet 16 in ink. Maybe you wouldn’t press too hard, but ink was fine.

Now grab a pencil.

The No. 1s were not exactly rewarded with cakewalk 8-9 opponents.

Potentially lining up across from Kentucky: defending national champion Connecticut, a team that started the season ranked No. 4 in the country and sports two NBA first-rounders on its roster.

In line for North Carolina: How about a possible date with Creighton, one of the few teams in the country that can score with the Tar Heels and boasts an All-America candidate in McDermott to boot?

Michigan State could get a matchup with Memphis, a wildly talented No. 8 seed that has won 11 of its past 12 games.

Syracuse might say hello to Kansas State, two-time winners over Missouri.

Some other random observations:

• Is it the nickname? If he went by something less intimidating — like his given name, James — would Bruiser Flint be welcomed to the party? His Drexel team did win 27 games after all, and that used to be the goal of the sport — winning games.
• As usual, the 5-12 game is where the action is. Wichita State and VCU, mid-major darlings both, meet in the South; New Mexico-Long Beach State in the West and Vanderbilt-Harvard in the East. Tiebreaker in that one is a spelling bee.

Seeded too high: Colorado, Southern Miss.

Seeded too low: Memphis, Murray State, Detroit.

VCU 2012: That would be Iona. Most everyone is screaming about the Gaels being in. Understandable. But the Gaels are talented enough to make everyone eat their words just like the Rams did last year.

First team to 300 wins: That could be Creighton and North Carolina. The Tar Heels average 80 points; the Bluejays 83. Bring your oxygen tank.

Win or you’re out: That goes to all the folks who argued their merit despite failing to finish above .500 in their respective leagues. It’s not an official selection committee rule but de facto works fine by us.

And finally the potential: In October, they were tabbed the two best teams, loaded with the most talent. In December, they played an epic game in Lexington, Ky., decided only by Anthony Davis' incredible reach topping John Henson’s equally impossible wingspan. And on April 2, Kentucky and North Carolina could meet again for the national title.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A look at Wisconsin's victory against a depleted Indiana team.

Overview: During an opening-round victory against Penn State, Indiana lost senior point guard and leader Verdell Jones to an ACL injury. But the Hoosiers tried to press forward without the veteran in a tough game against the Badgers, who had beaten the Hoosiers in their only previous meeting of the season.

The Badgers led by 11 with 10:30 remaining in the first half of Friday’s game. But after shooting 47 percent in the first half, the Hoosiers were only down 36-31 at halftime.

The Badgers led by as much as nine in the second half, but they couldn’t bury the Hoosiers, who fed off a Bankers Life Insurance crowd that was anchored by Indiana fans. Cody Zeller hit a pair of free throws that cut Wisconsin’s lead to three with 5:04 to play. The Hoosiers stayed close the rest of the game.

But Rob Wilson’s late 3-pointer put Wisconsin ahead 72-65 with about 40 seconds to play. Ryan Evans blocked Jordan Hulls' 3-point attempt on the other end, and the Badgers sealed the game with late free throws.

Turning point: Hulls hit a jump shot with 3:45 to play that cut Wisconsin’s lead to one point (63-62). A pair of Wisconsin free throws followed after Zeller was called for the offensive foul on the play. The teams exchanged buckets before Jared Berggren extended a three-point lead (67-64) to five with 90 seconds left. It was a crucial sequence. The Hoosiers needed a play during that stretch. And they had chances.

Key player: Wilson averages 3.1 ppg. He’d recorded double figures (11 during 67-66 loss at Iowa Feb. 23) once this season. Then, Friday happened. The senior guard scored 30, and went 7-for-10 from beyond the arc.

Key stat: The Badgers were 13-for-26 from the 3-point line.

Miscellaneous: Jones watched the game from behind the bench … Christian Watford recorded his second double-double in this year’s tournament with 17 points and 10 rebounds. … Wisconsin fans chanted “Rob Wilson! Rob Wilson!” as the game clock expired.

What’s next: Michigan State will face Wisconsin on Saturday in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament. Indiana will go home and prepare for the NCAA tournament.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Sometimes, I hate sports.

Not the competition but just the fact that one play, one moment, one awkward landing can ruin a season and ultimately erase years of hard work. In Verdell Jones’ case, a freak injury ended his career Thursday.

The senior point guard tore his right ACL in the first half of Indiana’s win over Penn State in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament, the university announced Friday morning.

The pending gratification of Indiana’s first trip to the NCAA tournament since a scandal-ridden 2008 season will not feature a veteran who deserves to participate.

It all unfolded in front of me at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. A funny landing and then, a scream.

The medical professionals who huddled around him knew. Coach Tom Crean, who had to fight tears, knew, too. We all did.

Jones will not get a taste of the NCAA tournament, despite being a crucial member of the 2008 recruiting class that started this rebuilding project at Indiana. He’s in the top 25 on Indiana’s scoring charts. He’s started 103 games.

I followed Jones in high school because he was very high on Tubby Smith’s list at Minnesota. The feeling was mutual, even though Jones ultimately chose Indiana.

But Jones talked about restoring Indiana’s name following a scandal that led to the dismissal of Kelvin Sampson, NCAA sanctions and multiple departures. And this season, anchored by three top-five wins in Bloomington, the Hoosiers have finally realized the vision that started to materialize four years ago.

The bottom line is that Jones walked into a messy situation when he made his debut as a freshman during the 2008-09 season. He was young but he took his share of criticism. He was also hampered by past knee and ankle injuries. But he emerged as a leader (11.5 points per game in his career) for a program that’s become one of the top turnaround stories in the country.

But the Hoosiers have to move forward without him. That’s basketball, players said after their win over Penn State.

As difficult as it might be to keep going at such a crucial point of the year, the postseason doesn’t offer do-overs for sympathetic reasons.

While the Hoosiers lost a key leader and crucial component, they looked like a team that could win the Big Ten tourney in the second half of their win over Penn State. They were fierce. Cody Zeller and Christian Watford recorded double-doubles and Jordan Hulls scored 20 in Indiana’s first Big Ten tourney win since 2006.

This team is still talented enough to advance in both the Big Ten tournament and the Big Dance. But the Hoosiers don’t have time for mourning. And they talked -- and played -- like a team that knew it Thursday.

Players such as Victor Oladipo will have to carry more of the load. They’ll need veterans to step up as leaders, too, because that’s where Jones excelled.

And they’ll need their coach, one who’s experienced a multitude of trials throughout his tenure, to help them stay focused in the final weeks of the season.

The emotional toll of a late-season injury can ruin a team. That’s Indiana’s greatest obstacle right now.

ESPN.com’s Myron Medcalf talks with Indiana’s Christian Watford after the Hoosiers defeated Penn State in the Big Ten tournament.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Reaction from Indiana's 75-58 victory over Penn State.

Overview: Hoosiers fans have been waiting for this. In recent years, they haven’t been able to experience a positive outcome at the nearby Big Ten tournament. But this season could be different. The Hoosiers fed off the crowd on their way to a victory Thursday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Turning point: After Verdell Jones went down with an injury in the first half, his teammates responded. It was an emotional scene. Jones refused to be carted off in a wheelchair. The entire crowd rose and cheered as he walked away, unable to put any weight on his right leg. Seeing one of their veteran leaders go down seemed to motivate the Hoosiers, who were unstoppable from that point.

Key players: Indiana’s Jordan Hulls scored 20 points and Cody Zeller had 19. Christian Watford added 14.

Key stat: The Hoosiers made 44 percent of their 3-point attempts. It’s a huge weapon for this team.

Miscellaneous: Ugly scene when Jones went down. He’s had injury issues before. It will change Indiana’s postseason outlook if he’s done for the year.

What’s next: Indiana will play Wisconsin at 2:30 p.m. ET Friday. Penn State will probably go home for the season unless it’s invited to and decides to participate in some of the non-NIT/NCAA tourneys.

Saturday afternoon transitioned into Saturday night as smoothly as Kentucky transitions from an Anthony Davis block to the fast break. In the process, we saw Michigan State defend like crazy at Ohio State, Creighton take a beatdown by Wichita State and the aforementioned Wildcats again assert their dominance, this time at Vanderbilt. That and more in the evening edition of What We Learned.

[Editor's note: For recaps of all the afternoon games, click here.]

No. 12 Michigan State 58, No. 3 Ohio State 48: As far back as August, Tom Izzo -- in typical Izzonian fashion -- proclaimed far and wide how much he loved his team. Not necessarily because he knew the Spartans would be good or because he knew they would keep getting better (although he often seemed to assume as much), but because this Michigan State team, perhaps more than any other in recent years, does the two things Izzo seems to value most: It rebounds. It defends.

The Spartans began Saturday allowing the fourth-fewest points per possession in the country (adjusted, per Ken Pomeroy). They also ranked in the top 10 in both relevant rebounding categories, chasing down 39.9 percent of their misses on offense and yielding second chances on just 26.1 percent of opponents' possessions. Throw in the focused vocal leadership of forward Draymond Green, the back-from-the-dead reclamation of Derrick Nix, one of the toughest point guards in the country in Keith Appling and a batch of dedicated supporting pieces, and, well, no wonder Izzo loves this team. Compared to last season's incoherent, apathetic bunch, he must occasionally feel like he's coaching an entirely different game.

For as consistently as Michigan State has demonstrated those qualities throughout this season, never have they been more clear than Saturday night. Izzo's team held the third-ranked Buckeyes -- in Columbus, mind you -- to a mere .75 points per trip. How? How do you stop a team with so many weapons, with one of the best forwards in the country anchoring it all, in a building where it has won 39 in a row? The Spartans know how: You scrap. You claw. You fight. You make everything difficult for that team's best player. You frustrate him at every turn.

Jared Sullinger was, of course, the focal point of MSU's defensive strategy, and it worked. Sullinger still scored 17 points and grabbed 16 boards, but he needed a 5-of-15 performance to get there, and he committed 10 turnovers in the process. (The 17-16-10 is the first turnover-laden triple-double of the college basketball season, per ESPN Stats & Info. Former Buck Evan Turner had two of them in his final season. The Evan Turner Special lives!) Sullinger was noticeably frustrated throughout the game, arguing for fouls (sometimes rightly, oftentimes wrongly) and forcing shots into the teeth of State's interior defense, anchored brilliantly by forward Adreian Payne (who was also 6-of-6 from the field).

The performance reminded me of Ohio State's loss to Kentucky in last season's Sweet 16, when UK forward Josh Harrellson harassed and harangued Sullinger into a performance far below his usual standards. Harrellson was one of the few players in the country with the size and strength to hold his ground against Sully's girth. Nearly a year later, Payne and Nix demonstrated the same abilities. It's a testament to Sullinger's ability that he still grabbed 16 rebounds, eight of them offensive, but every putback was challenged, every touch contested, every dribble met with reaching slaps.

Sullinger didn't get much help from his teammates. William Buford and Deshaun Thomas combined to shoot 4-of-24 (!!), Aaron Craft was 3-of-7, and all told, the Buckeyes shot 2-of-15 from beyond the arc and 26 percent overall -- its third-worst shooting performance of the past 15 years. Yikes.

The Spartans weren't great on offense (.91 points per trip). Ohio State's defense is its best quality, and the Buckeyes were again good on that end of the floor. But Michigan State didn't have to light it up to get this victory. When you defend this well, when you execute your defensive game plan this perfectly, when you thoroughly dominate one of the nation's elite teams in its own building, you don't have to put up points in bunches to get the job done. No team in the country this season has posted 40 minutes of defense this strong against a team this good.

So, yeah, Tom Izzo loves this team. Can you blame him?

No. 1 Kentucky 69, Vanderbilt 63: You have to hand it to the Commodores: They didn't go away.

That's the biggest positive Kevin Stallings' team can draw from this loss. From the opening tip, UK's brilliant defense was again, well, brilliant. As late as the 4:42 mark in the first half, Vanderbilt had scored just 13 points. The Commodores finished the first half with a whopping 23 as Kentucky led by 13. Terrence Jones was engaged. Anthony Davis was dominant. As it has so often in the past three weeks, John Calipari's team appeared ready to roll to another very impressive SEC victory. Ho and hum.

Then, only a few moments into the second half, things just sort of ... opened up. The Dores not only started finding open shots, they started making them. Brad Tinsley, Jeffery Taylor and John Jenkins came alive on the perimeter, while Festus Ezeli started finishing things down low. Soon -- almost before you knew it -- what "GameDay" host Rece Davis called Kentucky's "aura of invincibility" fell away. By the 8:26 mark in the second half, the Commodores led 55-51, the culmination of a 32-17 run.

They would score just eight more points the rest of the game. No one could have known it at the time, but Tinsley's jumper at the 4:09 mark would be Vanderbilt's last bucket of the day. Just as soon as VU had opened the game with solid man offense, crisp passing and accurate shooting, Kentucky shut it down. Davis recorded four blocks in the final seven minutes of the game; he finished with seven total. One of the major themes of the broadcast was Calipari's stated desire to see his team challenged, to see how it would respond. The Wildcats were. Vanderbilt kept swinging. Kentucky took Vandy's best punch. It absorbed a combo or two. And then, as all great fighters do, it emerged stronger and stronger as the game wore on. If Calipari wanted to see how his team would react to a challenge, he had to be thrilled with the result.

Kentucky played a solid, experienced team. It played said solid, experienced team in said team's unique building, with its weird sight lines and elevated court and baseline benches. It did so in front of a crowd that had spent all day goosed by "GameDay," hyped for the glorious chance at knocking off No. 1, something this school has done six times over the years. It didn't matter. Kentucky went 3-of-14 from 3. And it still emerged unscathed.

If Christian Watford's last-second shot doesn't fall in Assembly Hall on Dec. 10 -- back when Kentucky was still figuring things out -- the Cats are undefeated and we're talking less about this sudden surge of brilliance than whether UK could make it to the NCAA tournament with an unbeaten record. This team is one shot -- one 10-second defensive breakdown -- away from legendary comparisons.

Oh, well. As it is, Calipari's team is rounding into one of the most complete -- if not the most complete -- of his career. Davis is a transcendent force anchoring a team with zero defensive holes. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is one of the best two-way players in the country. Jones can dominate when he wants. Doron Lamb is a lights-out shooter. Darius Miller is an underrated offensive presence and an all-around glue guy extraordinaire.

There's a reason this team is awash in that so-called aura of invincibility. The Wildcats aren't actually invincible, of course. But right now, they're the closest thing going.

Wichita State 89, No. 15 Creighton 68: When you've got a national player of the year candidate ripping through each and every opposing defense he sees with a rare blend of volume and efficiency, it's easy to disguise your team's warts. After Wichita State's end-to-end dismantling of the Bluejays on Saturday, those warts are now fully exposed.

The score line tells the story here, but it's nothing new: Creighton is, at best, a fairly mediocre defensive team. The Bluejays entered this Valley showdown ranked No. 119 in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, per Pomeroy. They force turnovers on just 16.3 percent of their defensive possessions, which ranks them No. 336 out of 345 Division I teams. This so-so defense has been hidden well all season because Creighton outscores everybody. Doug McDermott and company have the nation's highest effective field goal percentage and its sixth-most efficient offense overall. But in the past three games -- losses to Northern Iowa, Evansville and now Wichita State -- the Bluejays' offense has suddenly cooled off. Creighton's effective field goal percentage figures in its past three games are 46.5, 44.2 and 44.7 percent.

And therein lies Saturday's problem: Wichita State is not a one-way team. Rather, Gregg Marshall's squad combines excellent defense (KenPom rank: No. 26) with efficient offense (KenPom: No. 11), tops in MVC play in both metrics. Despite their hugely impressive per-possession stats, the Shockers have flown below the radar recently thanks in large part to that triple-overtime loss at Drake in late January. But in basically every other Valley affair, even the 68-61 loss at home to Creighton in this series' first game, the Shockers have been comprehensively good.

Does that mean Wichita is 21 points better than Creighton, home, away or neutral? No. Is its offense as good as the 1.4 points per trip it poured in Saturday night? Probably not. But this lopsided result in front of a huge crowd in Omaha does reveal some notable truths about both teams. For Creighton, it laid bare just how important the Jays' offense is to their chances of making a run in the NCAA tournament; it's no coincidence this three-game losing streak came in three mediocre shooting performances. Greg McDermott's team can't afford to miss shots, because it can't get the stops it needs to keep things close.

For Wichita State, well, if you didn't know, now you know: The Shockers are good. Not "dangerous." Not "plucky." Just flat-out good.

Temple 85, Xavier 72: If you're still waiting for a team to round into its full form on Feb. 11, there's a good chance you'll still be waiting on March 11. That appears to be the case with Xavier. The Musketeers haven't been bad in Atlantic 10 play -- they ranked fourth in A-10 efficiency margin as of this week -- but they haven't been particularly good, let alone their usual brand of good, the one that led them to a 15-1 league record last season. Instead, these Musketeers are just sort of, well, mediocre.

Which is to take nothing away from Temple, which blitzed Chris Mack's team early and never looked back. Guard Ramone Moore went off, scoring 30 points on 9-of-16 from the field, while Khalif Wyatt put up 18 points, four assists and three steals, and Micheal Eric contributed 11 points and 16 rebounds. The Owls' backcourt is the undisputed strength of the team, and Fran Dunphy's squad continues to look more and more like the A-10's clear favorite each time that backcourt makes life so difficult for opponents on both ends of the floor. Temple is alone atop the league at 8-2.

The contrast between these two teams is glaring. One is whole, complete, playing its best basketball at the right time. The other is scattershot, struggling, not bad but far worse than it has any right to be, given its talent. The temptation to connect X's continued struggles to the Dec. 10 brawl is worth resisting here. Does it play a part? Maybe. Has guard Mark Lyons (who didn't start) been unpredictable and frustrating since? Oh yeah. But at this point, it's also possible Xavier just wasn't all that good in the first place. Whatever the reasons, the Musketeers -- perennial NCAA tournament fixtures -- are running out of time to figure it out.

A few more observations from the night of hoops:

• Harvard's preordained run to its first NCAA tournament in decades -- the Crimson are clearly the best team in the Ivy League and were the heaviest of favorites to win it outright -- got just a little shakier Saturday night. Tommy Amaker's team fell to the old-world perennial Ivy favorite, Princeton, 70-62. It's a sign of Harvard's changed status that Princeton students -- who are fans of a program that is the historical Ivy elite, and which just beat one of the league's longtime losers -- rushed the court after their team's 23rd consecutive home victory over the Crimson. Despite the loss, Harvard's chances of winning the league are still very good. Its schedule -- which features Yale, Princeton and Penn at home before a season-ending two-game road swing at Columbia and Cornell -- is a major advantage. Plus, the No. 21 Crimson still own a one-game lead in the standings. But they will be eager to avoid any further slip-ups. If they end up in another one-game tiebreak (the Ivy League awards its NCAA tournament bid to the regular-season winner), anything can happen. Amaker's bunch, which lost its trip to the tourney to Princeton on a tiebreak buzzer-beater last season, knows all too well what can happen when you leave the preordained to chance.
• We let this one slip by in the afternoon frenzy, but Mississippi State's loss to Georgia probably deserves a mention. The Bulldogs were undone by freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's big-time step-back 3 in overtime (not to mention his other 17 points and eight rebounds), and hey, yeah, sometimes you take a tough OT loss. But Mississippi State's inconsistency is a bad sign for a team with major tournament aspirations. Not a good performance at all.
• Southern Miss held on for a 78-74 home victory over UCF, yet another gritty, close win in a Golden Eagles season full of them. Don't look now, but Southern Miss is 21-4 on the season with a top-15 RPI. Wednesday night's loss at UAB is certainly a black mark -- especially considering the Blazers lost by 34 to Memphis on Saturday night -- but other than that, this team has a shockingly strong at-large case. Larry Eustachy is reborn!
• Phil Martelli's team picked up another A-10 home win, as Saint Joseph's took down upstart UMass 73-62 and damaged the Minutemen's outside chances of an at-large bid. Massachusetts could have gone to 8-3 with a win. Instead, it moves backward, into the thick of the league's muddled middle, alongside the Hawks and many others.
• If there is any justice in the world, tiny Wabash College will find its way to the "SportsCenter" top plays in the coming days. Why? Because of Aaron Zinnerman's shot, one of the more insane and unlikely you'll ever see. The YouTube clip is here. Enjoy. (Important correction! This post incorrectly cited Wabash as the alma mater of Butler coach Brad Stevens. Rather, as numerous alums have informed me, Stevens actually went to rival DePauw. I always mistake the two, but nonetheless regret the error. My bad, everyone.)

Now that's a Saturday of basketball. Take a deep breath, count to 10 and check out yours truly's observations from the evening's games, including the insane Kansas-Missouri finale.

For a recap of this afternoon's games, click here.

No. 4 Missouri 74, No. 8 Kansas 71: This game was easy to scout. Missouri is small and quick and offensively oriented, with four guards and one big man. Kansas is big and strong and built around forward Thomas Robinson, the national front-runner for player of the year. How would KU stop Mizzou's spread attack? How would Mizzou keep KU out of the lane? These countervailing dynamics seemed destined to determine the outcome of this game. And to some extent, they did.

But if we learned anything from this one, we learned this: Stylistic assessments tend to fly out the window when it's the final minute in a packed house and things are crazy and it's just a player, the ball, the game on the line and a single-possession deficit. It's hard to overthink this: You either execute or you don't. The Jayhawks didn't execute. That simple. And that's why they lost.

Of course, it's not quite that simple. Kansas was not helped by an iffy late charge call on Tyshawn Taylor that just as easily could have been a blocking foul on Michael Dixon. It resulted in two Missouri free throws and a three-point lead for KU to overcome. Even worse, that call wasn't nearly as egregious as the one against Robinson with 1:43 remaining; that easily could have been a block on Mizzou forward Steve Moore, an and-1 bucket for Robinson and a potential six-point swing, given Marcus Denmon's huge go-ahead 3 a few seconds later. Kansas fans are not at all happy about this turn of events, and they have every right to their anger.

That said, the Jayhawks would have been in better shape had Taylor made either of his two free throws with 42 seconds remaining. Despite all the late blunders and questionable calls, Kansas had a chance to take the game to overtime on the final possession. Had Elijah Johnson decided to shoot the ball when he got his first wide-open look as the clock ticked down, he might have gotten a clean shot. Instead, Johnson hesitated. He missed his chance. The clock expired. Game over.

As always, it's about execution, and in big-time rivalry games in heated buildings, the game is so often about execution in the final minutes. As Kansas was suffering shaky whistles, missed free throws, so-so shots and four turnovers in the final three minutes, Denmon was coolly canning two straight 3s, which turned a 71-65 Kansas lead into a 72-71 Mizzou lead in a matter of 30 seconds. Denmon was brilliant all game. He shot 10-of-16 from the field and was 6-of-9 from 3 en route to a 29-point outing. And that's the difference: Denmon was brilliant all 40 minutes. Taylor, Robinson and the Jayhawks were brilliant for about 37 minutes. When the game tightened and crunch time came around, one team consistently executed. The other did not.

For as much as we analyze (and overanalyze) these games, for as much as we talk about styles and matchups and X's and O's, for as much as we'll debate the Robinson charge calls for the next week, when you get to crunch time, that stuff fades away. The game shrinks. It simplifies. Be smart. Get good shots. Play defense. Take care of the ball. Rebound. Make your free throws.

Missouri scored the game's final 11 points. After leading 71-63, Kansas didn't score once.

In the end, the difference between those two sentences wasn't a matter of deep analysis. It wasn't stylistic or strategic. It was so much simpler than that.

Northern Iowa 65, No. 12 Creighton 62: It's not about what we learned in this game. We didn't learn all that much, save for the fact that Northern Iowa might be a bit better than its paltry Missouri Valley record (6-7) would indicate. But forget the new knowledge; this game was all about a reminder of the old.

That reminder: College hoops is an imperfect, frustrating enterprise. But when college hoops is good, it's better than anything else in the world.

Maybe that's hyperbole. Maybe I am the wrong person to levy such judgments, because I happen to love college basketball more than most. (I admit it.) Still, I defy you to find 60 more purely entertaining seconds than the final minute of Northern Iowa's win over 12th-ranked Creighton. College basketball seems to produce exchanges like this more frequently than other games; every week, it feels like something insane happens. But this ending -- which featured two 3s in the final 15 seconds, both of which came in open play, with no timeouts to stop the insanity -- registered an 11 on the 1-to-10 excitement scale.

I won't recap the entire closing exchange. You can see the highlights here, if you haven't seen them already. I've watched five or six times. The moment the shot goes in, well, it's almost perfect, you know? The rush up the floor, the crazy step-back, the swish, the crowd eruption -- this is the fabric of college basketball. Forget provincial rooting interests, alumni loyalty, wonky enthusiasm. The final 15 seconds of Creighton-UNI are why we love this damn game, imperfections and all.

No. 20 Indiana 78, Purdue 61: With 2:23 left and Indiana leading rival Purdue 65-61, IU point guard Jordan Hulls found himself trapped near half-court. Purdue was swarming -- it had been swarming and slapping and clawing at the Hoosiers all evening -- and, rather than risk a turnover, Hulls decided to play it safe. He and his teammates ran to the sideline, with their tenuous, shrinking lead still intact, and regrouped for what was sure to be an arduous finish in front of the Boilermakers' rabid crowd.

Then something strange happened: IU didn't fade away. It didn't suffer its typical frustrating late-game collapse on the road. It didn't bend under Purdue's relentless pressure. Instead, it blew the Mackey Arena doors right off.

Two minutes, 23 seconds later, the Hoosiers' 13-0 run had capped the first non-Penn State Big Ten road win of coach Tom Crean's 3 1/2-year tenure. In 143 seconds, the Hoosiers had gone from "well, here we go again" to their first win over the Boilermakers in their past six tries. For the first Big Ten road fixture this season, or in any of the Crean-era years that preceded it, Indiana looked self-assured and confident, not shaky and timid. The Hoosiers looked eager to go get the win, not anxious to avoid a loss. And so they did.

The game wasn't nearly as one-sided as that scoreline suggests, of course, and for most of the afternoon, even as Indiana built a 33-22 halftime lead, this thing was ugly on both sides. The Boilermakers were unusually scrappy, doing everything they could to make life difficult for Cody Zeller, Christian Watford and the rest, trapping and slapping and angling for jump ball calls from the official. (These attempts were often fouls, and when they were called as such, Purdue fans frequently flipped out. It was exactly what a home crowd should do. Even better, it often seemed to work.)

For most of the game, the Boilers' staunch defense held strong. The only problem: Purdue couldn't keep up with even a marginal offensive pace. The team committed just three turnovers all game, and its first didn't come until the 5:10 mark of the second half. With possession protection like that, you would have assumed the Boilermakers could have posted better than .90 points per trip. But Matt Painter's team couldn't break down Indiana's man or zone defenses with much regularity, and without a true post presence (an ongoing, irreconcilable issue for this team), Purdue was forced to hoist its typical diet of long 2s and 3s. Robbie Hummel & Co. made just five of their 21 3-point field goal attempts. They finished 21-of-71 -- or 29.6 percent -- from the field overall.

So what does it all mean -- that is, beyond the first batch of message-board/water-cooler bragging rights Indiana fans have had in years? It might mean this IU team is making progress in its understanding of how to win on the road. That's a difficult, indefinable quality, something even good teams struggle with each and every season. But if you're the Hoosiers, and you have your sights set on the heights reached in November and December, you have to beat inferior teams on the road in conference play. You have to hold on to those leads. Actually, forget holding on to your lead. Extend it. Sweep the leg. Finish.

The Hoosiers -- for the first time on the road in four Big Ten seasons (against a team not named Penn State, that is), for the first time in six tries against their hated rival -- unleashed their inner Cobra Kai. It wasn't a flawless victory, but it was a victory. For a team that lost so many of these games in 2010 and 2011 and even in 2012, that's a legitimate sign of progress.

One more IU-Purdue note: Guard Verdell Jones missed this game, but most of his minutes went to Victor Oladipo, and Oladipo responded with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. When Indiana needed buckets, Oladipo always seemed to step in, ready and willing to attack the rim. Impressive performance.

Some other observations from Saturday night's games:

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AP Photo/Mary Ann ChastainTerrence Jones delivers one of Kentucky's eight first-half dunks against South Carolina on Saturday.
• Kentucky absolutely rolled South Carolina on the road, and Basketball Prospectus writer Drew Cannon summed up my feelings on the Cats with his perfect postgame tweet: "Can you imagine how high people would be on Kentucky if Watford's three rimmed out?" He's dead on. If Christian Watford's shot misses (Kentucky lost to Indiana at the buzzer in December), Kentucky is undefeated, rolling through the SEC with remarkable ease, and we're all talking about whether the Wildcats can make it to the NCAA tournament without a loss. As it is, the Wildcats are still remarkable to watch. For much of their 86-52 victory, they appeared to be playing a different sport than the Gamecocks. UK had eight dunks in the first half, as Anthony Davis and Terrence Jones finished easy buckets at will. Darrin Horn's team never stood a chance. Even scarier: This team, in particular point guard Marquis Teague, is still developing into what it can be. Considering how good John Calipari's team already is -- 23-1, 9-0 in the SEC, No. 2 overall in Ken Pomeroy's rankings, etc. -- that's a frightening thought indeed.
• Colorado got a major home win over Oregon on Saturday night, but in questionable late circumstances. I didn't see the game -- there was the small matter of Kansas-Mizzou, after all -- but here's how the AP recap describes the final play in question: "Nate Tomlinson was fouled with one second remaining by E.J. Singler and sank the first free throw before deliberately missing the second to give Colorado a 72-71 win over Oregon Saturday night." Naturally, the AP isn't going to say whether the foul call -- which came with almost no time left on the clock -- was right or wrong. According to the response on Twitter, it might or might not have been a foul, but the referees should never have made such a marginal call in the final second of a tie game. Oregon coach Dana Altman was furious. Ducks fans are furious. Colorado will feel lucky to escape with the victory and move to 8-3 -- an unlikely 8-3, given this team's early prospectus -- in its first year in Pac-12 play. It sounds like we'll be talking about this call for a while. Should be fun!
• Middle Tennessee lost its lofty perch as the Sun Belt's only unbeaten team when it fell 75-60 at Denver on national TV. MTSU is a fringe bubble candidate, but the loss will make things much more difficult for the Blue Raiders to impress the committee. How much it will help Denver remains to be seen. Either way, the lesson here, as in Wyoming's win over UNLV on Saturday: Altitude kills. As does Denver forward Chris Udofia, who had 27 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in the win.
• Really solid road win for Iowa State, which topped Oklahoma 77-70 and kept its NCAA tournament momentum moving. The Cyclones have had a week to remember, which began with last Saturday's last-second win over Kansas and included this week's two-point home win over Kansas State. Oklahoma has given Big 12 teams legitimate issues this season, particularly at home, and Fred Hoiberg's fighting transfers have to be thrilled to escape Norman with a win.
• Speaking of solid road wins: Iona (19-5, 11-2 MAAC) invaded the turf of one of its fellow MAAC co-leaders, Manhattan, and left with an 85-73 victory. Gaels star point guard Scott Machado continued his hyper-efficient, ball-dominant ways, scoring 18 points on 5-of-7 from the field (and 6-of-8 from the line) to go along with nine assists and four rebounds. A few days after a major contract extension for coach Tim Cluess, his team got one of its biggest wins of the season.
• Murray State's latest extension to its undefeated record -- the Racers are now 23-0 and 11-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play -- came in what is rapidly becoming classic Murray style: It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't definitive, being but a 65-58 win over a team with a 3-21 record before Saturday. But it was a win all the same, another notch on the belt and another potential step toward a remarkable regular-season accomplishment. Stay tuned.
• Harvard didn't look great in its 57-52 home win over a bad Columbia team, but as in the above bullet point, a win is a win is a win. The victory moved the Crimson to 6-0 in the Ivy League and 20-2 overall. Still, if Harvard wants to ensure its first trip to the NCAA tournament in six decades, it will have to muster something more than the disjointed offense it displayed Saturday.
• And in CAA play, George Mason asserted its superiority -- and its position atop the conference standings -- with a 54-50 win over Old Dominion. Neither team is vintage for either program this season, and GMU's at-large case is a major work in progress, but wins like this are always steps in the right direction.

No. 25 Wisconsin 57, No. 17 Indiana 50: This Wisconsin season has been a bit strange. For one, the Badgers have lost three games at home, something they had done just 12 times in all of Bo Ryan's career before this season. Moreover, consider the strange polarity in the Badgers' per-possession makeup between the 2012 season and 2011:

2010-11
Offense: 123.3 (No. 2)
Defense: 95.2 (No. 56)
Adjusted tempo: 58.0 (No. 344)

2011-12:
Offense: 111.5 (No. 32)
Defense: 81.2 (No. 2)
Adjusted tempo: 59.1 (No. 345)

Those numbers are from Ken Pomeroy, and they're a little tricky, because Wisconsin has given Ken's rankings system fits (something Mr. Pomeroy has addressed already). But in any case, you get the drift: Last year, Wisconsin was a decent defensive team that shone on offense. In 2012, Wisconsin is a pretty good offensive team that plays downright staunch defense.

Considering the similarities between this year's team and the 2011 version, that sea change is a little bit surprising. It's also awfully handy. If Wisconsin wasn't quite as good on the defensive end as it is this year -- and it has had its stinkers, as in the Marquette and Iowa losses -- it likely wouldn't be able to weather the storm against teams like Indiana, which gave an impressive effort at the Kohl Center in last night's 57-50 Badgers win. More importantly, it wouldn't be able to work with this still-surprising senior regression from Jordan Taylor.

Last season, Taylor was as efficient a point guard as we've seen in the past decade. He almost never turned the ball over. (Which he still doesn't do, really; ESPN's production staff flashed a stat showing Taylor as the NCAA's all-time career leader in assist-turnover ratio. Incredible.) He made shots at a much higher rate, particularly from beyond the arc. How many games did he win in 2011 by getting a screen on the perimeter, setting up his man with a little dribble move, and then elevating for a 3 over the top? Didn't it seem like that shot always went in?

This season, it isn't. Taylor's percentages are much more meager in 2012; he posted another so-so shooting night Thursday, going 5-of-14 from the field and 0-of-5 from 3. Before the season, if you would have said Taylor's efficiency would take this much of a dip, I would have told you the Badgers were going to be -- well, if not bad, then certainly mediocre. But because this team plays better defense without its former counterparts -- Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil, whose departures have shifted the contours of this team more than any other in the past few years of Badgers hoops -- Wisconsin can withstand simply so-so outings from Taylor at home against a team like Indiana.

For all the legendary consistency of Bo Ryan's program -- slow pace, swing offense, this is how we do things, find guys that fit -- this is a truly different team this season. Not better. Not necessarily worse. Just ... different.

In the meantime, I thought Andy Katz's Indiana analysis on the ESPN2 postgame show was just about spot on: This was a tough game on the road against a team that had won four straight, in which Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo both dealt with foul trouble, and the Hoosiers still had a chance to win. Verdell Jones had a great first half scoring on the dribble, but that was never a sustainable route to score. Christian Watford posted another efficient scoring night. Zeller's foul trouble limited him, of course, but so too does Indiana's inability to enter the ball in the post with anything resembling authority. (It's like Indiana is so scared to commit a turnover they blush at any sign of post pressure. Just throw that man the ball, fellas. You'll be fine.)

No, they did not play well down the stretch. No, there were some calls that probably should have gone their way. No, Indiana coach Tom Crean probably shouldn't have kept Zeller out with his fourth foul from the five-minute mark all the way until the final 60 seconds. That was sort of baffling.

Still, for a team that seems to be so carelessly defined by narrative this season, this performance didn't quite fit. They were good on the road. They lost. Oh well. The sky is not falling, nor is Indiana "back," or whatever other terms you want to use to define this thing. It was just another Big Ten road game, in which a few things went Indiana's way, a bunch of things went Wisconsin's way, a few shots were made, a few shots were missed, you take your lumps, you move on. For Indiana, considering the past two weeks, the doubts about this still-young team's ability to win on the road, and its carelessness late in games -- well, the loss wasn't great. But it was hardly the worst-case scenario.

Coverage links of note: Ol' Roy got his much-desired blowout win over NC State Thursday. Tyler Zeller, Cody's elder brother (perhaps you've heard these two are siblings?) led the way with a 21-point, 17-rebound performance, and our own Robbi Pickeral was per the usual there to break it down -- and get Tyler to discuss it in a postgame video in front of what appears to be someone's cubicle -- with all the pertinent details.

Everywhere else: I caught some flack on the Twitters for putting Florida as high as I did in this week's power rankings, and deservedly so (the Gators don't deserve to be ranked above Michigan State, I just screwed up, and I am fully willing to admit that, you guys), but it helped bolster its case (at least slightly) by toughing out another ugly road performance in a 64-60 comeback win at Ole Miss. ... Saint Mary's got one of the best wins of the night at Loyola Marymount, a team that beat BYU by 16 on the Cougars' own floor just last week; the win keeps the Gaels undefeated and alone at the top of the WCC standings. Randy Bennett's team is rolling. ... Virginia went on a late 22-3 run to seal poor Boston College's fate. ... Wait a second: Iowa can beat Wisconsin at Wisconsin, and handle Michigan easily in Iowa City, but Nebraska can go to Carver-Hawkeye and get a win? Beats me. ... And in late Pac-12 play, Washington survived a tricky game at Arizona State, 60-54, while a dreadful USC team scored .74 points per trip in a 74-50 home loss to Colorado, making it 0-8 in one of the worst seasons for any power-six league we've ever seen. Ouch.

INDIANAPOLIS -- You could have forgiven Indiana for a letdown.

Consider the week the Hoosiers just finished. This past Saturday, they completed the most important upset of coach Tom Crean's tenure at the school, a thrilling, emotional, insert-your-adjective-here, last-second buzzer-beating one-point win over rival Kentucky.

In Bloomington, the party started the second Christian Watford hit the game-winning shot. It began on Branch McCracken Court and moved to the bars and poured out into the streets of downtown, an entire fan base chanting and cheering and holding onto its first legitimate realization that the Hoosiers were once again -- finally, mercifully -- relevant.

The party ended sometime Sunday, and that's when reality hit. Finals week.

Indiana's students, the ones in all those joyous postgame celebration videos, had to sober up in time to make sure they could still get by when their professors handed them those all-important Scantron sheets.

It was no different for IU's players, who had one night to savor the biggest win of their (mostly) young careers before finishing their schoolwork for the semester. Of course, those final exams had to be balanced with practice and film study. Many of the Hoosiers, according to Crean, had to miss portions of practice throughout the week in order to take their tests.

So when IU came out flat against Notre Dame during this Saturday's Crossroads Classic -- trailing 15-6 after a barrage of Irish 3-pointers -- the inevitable murmurs began: Following a week like this, maybe Indiana was due for a letdown.

Distractions. Overconfidence. Inexperience. Any combination of the three could have produced a disappointing effort.

That impulse didn't last long. The Hoosiers quickly forgot their (ahem) forgettable first eight minutes, tightening their defense, forcing Notre Dame into 14 consecutive misses from the field and steadily cruising -- thanks in large part to the dominant post work of freshman Cody Zeller (21 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks) -- to a businesslike 69-58 victory.

"We hadn't experienced getting a win like this yet this season," Crean said. "It's one, probably, in the past we may not have been able to get. It was a very physical game, and our team did a great job of responding to that."

The win moved Indiana to 10-0 on the season, making the Hoosiers the last undefeated team in the Big Ten (following Illinois' loss to UNLV in Chicago). Barring a shocking upset to either Howard or UMBC at home in the coming week, IU will enter its first Big Ten game -- a Dec. 28 trip to Michigan State -- flying high at 12-0.

That mark would match Indiana's win total from the 2010-11 season, which is still the highest in Crean's three-year career at the school. This is a new world for this group of players. The challenge of proving themselves is past these Hoosiers. The new challenge, at least for the moment, is maintaining their focus in the face of newfound success.

Crean was thrilled with his team's practice habits throughout the week, calling IU's first post-Kentucky practice Monday "excellent." He gave his players Sunday off but demanded them back in the gym in the next two days.

"And then Wednesday became a film day," Crean said. "And I think they got a real eye-opener when they looked at the film, to see the numerous opportunities we had in the game. Certainly we wanted to reflect and be proud and excited and reflect on the game, but there were numerous opportunities we had where we could have played better inside the game, especially in the second half.

"I think they understood that. That's the sign of a team that's maturing. An immature team wouldn't have wanted to hear that. But they did. And they responded."

Indiana hardly unleashed a vintage performance Saturday. Then again, it didn't need to. Notre Dame is 7-5 this season and ranked No. 83 in Ken Pomeroy's adjusted efficiency rankings thanks to a host of expected and unexpected personnel turnover.

Ben Hansbrough, the 2011 Big East Player of the Year, graduated in the spring. Meanwhile, top returning forward Carlton Scott made a surprising and ultimately ill-advised decision to enter the NBA draft (Scott went undrafted). Then on Nov. 22, leading scorer Tim Abromaitis tore his ACL, ending his season and career and leaving Mike Brey's team with a patchwork lineup that looks almost nothing like the 2010-11 team that went 27-7 and 14-4 in the rough-and-tumble Big East.

The Irish's inability to find consistent scoring has left Brey hoping new little-used pieces such as guard Alex Dragicevich -- whose three 3s gave ND its early lead -- can bring something on the offensive end. But Notre Dame has struggled defensively, too, allowing opponents nearly a point per possession in its 12 games thus far.

In other words, it's not like the Hoosiers took down a vaunted opponent here at Conseco Fieldhouse. Still, the win was impressive in its workmanlike nature.

"It's a great example of a group that has been together, they've been kicked around," Brey said. "Tom has done a great job leading them through the tough times. They've been toughened by it; they stayed together through it. It's really what college basketball is all about. It's that cycle of college sports. You have one of those [periods], and you can grow up out of it and be really good.

"They're very confident right now. And rightfully so."

Indiana guard Jordan Hulls said that confidence is derived in large part from the play of Zeller, the wunderkind freshman who rose to No. 12 on Chad Ford's 2012 NBA draft board last week. Zeller has given IU an easy way to score -- pass it to Cody, let him go to work -- while forcing defenses to choose whether to help on the low block or stay close to any number of the Hoosiers' efficient perimeter threats.

"We've got to play through Cody all the time," Hulls said. "He can just do so many things."

Thanks to Zeller's versatility and the ongoing improvement of players such as Hulls, Watford and guards Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey, the Hoosiers appear more self-assured than at any point in recent history. For the first time in Crean's tenure -- and any of these players' careers -- Indiana is actually expected to win. Ten wins, then 12, then beyond: Each accomplishment will be territory untrod. Each new challenge will be fresh.

As the wins pile up and the accolades accrue, can the Hoosiers stay focused? They certainly looked that way Saturday. And so now, Crean says, is the time to start asking even bigger questions of his team.

"The more you're successful, the more you win, the more answers you'll be asked to give," Crean said. "The bottom line is, our job [as coaches] is to create a lot of questions. Their job is to have questions, to have -- not to question themselves or to question things, but have the question be 'How do I get better? How do I improve here? How do we improve there?' And that's our focus.

"Our practices, there were some knock-down drag-outs to them, there was some refinement to them, but all week long, there was energy. And if the day comes that there's not energy, we'll start over later that night."

When your once-elite program is down as long as Indiana has been down -- unranked for 1,372 days, the longest stretch in school history, with win totals of six, 10 and 12 games per season in each of the past three years -- and you upset the No. 1 team in the country in your own building, naturally, you, the fan, is going to be excited.

Describing just how excited Indiana fans were after Saturday's win is, well, difficult. "Ecstatic" gets close. "Exuberant" is right there. But neither word, and none of their synonyms, can capture quite what the win touched off in Bloomington, Ind. Saturday night. For that, we go to the wonder of social media and homemade video. The first comes from inside Nick's, a classic college bar in Bloomington, where YouTube user Tarun Gangwani had the foresight to get his camera-phone rolling just before Indiana forward Christian Watford hit the game-winning three.



The next comes from just outside Nick's -- you'll see the marquee in the video -- on Kirkwood Street in Bloomington, a batch of downtown bars and restaurants located just off Indiana's campus. Forget partying in the bars. Indiana students were on some next-level outdoor love-in swagger Saturday night:

The Indiana Daily Student was on the scene, and its photo slideshow is well worth a gander. See? Dana was right.* That's what catharsis looks like. It is, in so many ways, what makes college basketball great.

Indiana students have been waiting a long time for something to celebrate (besides, you know, a home win over Illinois). On Saturday night, finally, they got it. And they certainly held up their end of the bargain.

(*By the way, if you missed Dana O'Neil's column from Bloomington Saturday, go back and read it now. It was, per the usual, amazing.)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Surrounded by security guards as he circumnavigated through the bowels of Assembly Hall, Tom Crean stopped every fourth or fifth step.

First there was a hug for his wife, Joani. A fan walking by needed a high-five. Then it was a crowd of students with camera phones, asking for pictures, screaming, 'We love you, Coach Crean,' and another begging for his hat to be signed.

While a party three long years in the making still raged on the court, the private celebration for Crean was muted by comparison but every bit as meaningful.

Crean came to Indiana on the dreams and visions of what the program used to be, convinced it could be rebuilt and that he could be the architect.

But dreams sometimes don't come true, and as the building came more incrementally than even diehard Hoosier fans could stomach -- from six wins to 10 to 12 -- the visions grew a little cloudier with each passing season.

And then Christian Watford hit a 3-pointer for the ages, a stunning buzzer-beater that, in the blink of an eye, sent No. 1 Kentucky to its first loss, 73-72, and signaled Indiana's return to the national basketball conscience.

For Dana O'Neil's complete column, click here.