At a Glance: The Wisconsin Badgers

Quick Facts

-Established in 1848

-28,897 undergraduate students

-Located in Madison

-Main colors- Cardinal and White 

-2012/2013 results: 23-12 (NCAA Rd. 32)

-Phil Hellmuth attended  

-Men's basketball introduced in 1898 

-Final Four appearance in 1941, 2000 

-2002, 2003, 2008 B1G titles 

-22-41 against Indiana all time 

Results Thus Far (22-5/9-5)

Notable Wins

The one and only

Florida 59-53

Michigan State 60-58

@ Michigan 75-62                                                   

Notable Losses

Northwestern 56-65

Michigan 70-75

@ Minnesota 68-81

Kenpom Rating-12th

PPG-73.5 (89) 

Avg. Scoring Margin- +9.8 (32)

APG-11.9 (221)

RPG-33.7 (222)

Pts. Against-63.7 (27)

Fouls per game-15.0 (2) 

Scoring/Breakdown

Sam Dekker has a unique skill set for UW

Category Leaders

Points

F #15 Sam Dekker-13.5

F #44 Frank Kaminsky-13.3

Rebounds

F #15 Sam Dekker-6.3

F #44 Frank Kaminsky-6.3

Assists

G #12 Traevon Jackson-4.0

G #21 Josh Gasser-1.7

Just when I thought the wheels were beginning to fall off of Wisconsin, Bo Ryan has the troops up and at 'em again in Madison. Sitting at 22-5 overall and 3rd in the conference the Badgers are poised for a high seed in the big dance. This, folks, is a VERY good team and historically very tough at home in the Kohl Center. The fact we are playing there makes my knees a little wobbly from the get go. However, the boys showed some life last game on the road against Northwestern. I was really excited to get a road win...then I woke up the next morning and asked myself why I was so excited about beating Northwestern for gosh sake. What has happened to me? Reality of the situation is...it doesn't matter if we are playing St. Mary's of the Poor right now, all games are must wins if there is any hope of GOOD basketball in March (excluding NIT and gosh forbid I say it, the CBI). 

              Watching the team against Northwestern was fun for me for a few reasons: 1. We looked like we were having fun out there 2. Troy is showing development and confidence in his game 3. Low turnovers 4. Smart, strategic basketball. The last two will win us the game tomorrow night against the badgers. Seeing that the opponent is very methodical and drawn out when it comes to strategy and execution (boring, really...) we will have fewer possessions and will be forced to take care of the rock more than ever. More importantly Noah needs to get touches to penetrate deep in the lane and then spread the offense with good spacing an inside-out game. Lastly, the substitution patterns need to remain relatively calm and smooth. If we don't maintain a consistent offense and go possession-by-possession this team is going to slaughter us. Could we have possibly figured it out this far into the season after so much inconsistency...? Time will tell. Well, about 21 hours from now. 

Score prediction:...will be a tough one. 

IU Most Valuable Player prediction- Yogi Ferrell  

"I don't think I have ever been out of control"-Bob Knight 

IT'S INDIANA

Drink of choice

Exceptional German Wheat Beer

Arena

Kohl Center in Madison. Seats 17,230

A moment of reflection

    December 10, 2011 every Hoosier fan over the age of 8 remembers this day. The up and coming Hoosiers are preparing to face the #1 team in all of the land, the bad guys, the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats.
    The Indiana/Kentucky rivalry to me is even deeper than the Hoosiers and Wildcats. Don't get me wrong, it is a major part of it and the topic of this post, but it is still bigger than that. The annual high school All-Star game between the two states also plays a part. In everything that is possible to be Indiana vs. Kentucky, I choose Indiana.
    I dislike Kentucky so much that even while traveling on family vacations, I will not stop and spend a dime anywhere in the state. Back on subject.
    The 10th of December, the game is approaching, I am sporting the world famous "candy stripes" and have my DVR set to record this game. My wife enters the room and says, "Why are you recording the game and watching it at the same time?" My reply, "I feel like something is going to happen in this game worth watching it again."
    Assembly Hall was at its best, as were our Hoosiers that day. This game was so intense, it was the most entertaining television that I had ever seen, and I do mean ever. I caught the entire game in high definition, as did you I am assuming, and never changed the channel once. Twitter was going crazy and I didn't read one tweet or tweet once the entire game. The game is close, down the stretch and rapidly approaching the end of the game. My palms are sweating as I pace my living room floor, anxiously awaiting the in bounds pass. The game comes down to this...  

   The greatest court storming in the history of court storming begins. I remember feeling like the 8 year old that watched Keith Smart hit "The Shot" to win the national championship times 10,000. This is Indiana and this is what being a Hoosiers feels like. All night I would watch victory celebrations and "The Watshot" over and over again.
   
    The music, Don Fischer on the mic, everything is exactly how I remember it. Or at least it is the way I want to remember it. Nothing is better than being a Hoosier.
    Remember this day, this feeling? It is one I will never forget but some of you have forgotten or so it seems. I know the players have changed, as have the opponent, but the team is the same. It's Indiana. It's Indiana and that will never change.

At a Glance: The Iowa Hawkeyes (-3.0) 9:00 ESPN

Quick Facts

-Established in 1847

-21,974 undergraduate students

-Located in Iowa City 

-Main colors- Black and Gold 

-2012/2013 results: 25-13 (NIT runner-up) 

-Lou Holtz attended 

-Men's basketball introduced in 1902? 

-Final Four appearance in 1955, '56, '80 

-8 BIG titles (some of which in EARLY 1900's)

-32-33 against Indiana all time

Results Thus Far (19-6/8-4)

Notable Wins

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery can really let loose

@Ohio State 84-74

Michigan 85-67

Minnesota 94-73                                                   

Notable Losses

Villanova 83-88

Ohio State 69-76

Michigan State 69-71

Kenpom Rating-8th

PPG-83.6 (7) 

Avg. Scoring Margin- +16.4 (2)

APG-16.2 (13)

RPG-43.1 (3)

Pts. Against-67.2 (86)

Fouls per game-17.6 (50) 

Category Leaders

                                                                                  Points

Marble can cause fits for opposing defenses

G #4 Roy Devyn Marble-16.4

F #30 Aaron White-13.2

Rebounds

F #1 Melsahn Basabe-6.6

F #30 Aaron White-6.6

Assists

G #10 Mike Gesell-3.9

G #4 Roy Devyn Marble-2.9

What strikes me about this Iowa team is consistency this year. Whenever they seem to have a tough loss or a small setback they follow it up with a convincing win or string together a few more after that one. Furthermore, they are very well rounded. Several guys can get it done on the court at any given time. They rank 8th in the Kenpom ratings and possess only one statistic mentioned in this article outside of the top 50 in the nation. The  good news? For whatever reason, IU and the fans seem to show up and get it done against very good teams in Assembly Hall. As I have mentioned over and over again, showing up tomorrow night is very important. If there is any glimmer of hope left for a strong end to the season and a deep run in the B1G tournament then the time is now. Iowa is a menace on the boards and is outscoring opponents at will this season. They rank 1st in the nation on the defensive glass and 12th on the offensive. IU is also a well versed rebounding team but we are usually better than the opponent (at rebounding...). In this case, it is more important than ever to cherish every possession and take care of the rock. However, I say that every week and I swear the players are sweating like grease monkeys out there on the court (Ben Stiller reference). We can't draw up a consistent offense to save our lives and getting the ball in bounds is like fitting a square peg in a round hole. If it hasn't been solved by now...well...nevermind. I'm not going there. Let's rally around the troops and lead them to victory against another top opponent tomorrow night on Branch McCracken court. As Mayhew said, once you are a Hoosier you know that sticking it out isn't a choice...it's an obligation. Everyone at IU says we want to do it the right way. Do your part and start tomorrow night. 

Score prediction: IU-73 Iowa-70

Most Valuable Player prediction- Yogi Ferrell  

"The reason a lot of people are Purdue fans? Because they can't afford Final Four tickets"-Tom Swanson

Drink of choice

Make fun of me all you want, but this is a beautiful thing!

A moment of reflection

   1986-1987 season, we all know how it ends, but for me this is where it started. Everyone in my family is a Hoosier fan and I do mean everyone.
    My mother and grandmother's favorite player was a shooter with perfect hair, which made no sense to me. I scored in bunches against the other third graders and never saw a shot I wouldn't take. My hair was always a mess.
    All the men in my family thought Bob Knight should be President and had shirts or bumper stickers to prove it. The first thing you saw as you walked into my house was a sign that said, "We interrupt this marriage for IU basketball season."
    I watched every game until it was bedtime. My father began to record the later games on VHS tape that I would watch the next day. I heard stories of the past players, saw the heroics of the then current players and began to understand what being a Hoosier was all about.
    This is where it all started. An 8 year old boy living in Indiana following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and thousands of others that called themselves Hoosiers.

    I will continue this story at a later date but after the loss to Purdue on Saturday, I felt like I had to go back to the beginning. Back to where this guy began understanding the true meaning of Indiana basketball. I am and always will be a Hoosier.

@coachmayhew

The best thing that happened in the Penn St. loss

At least we are finding out who the fair weather band wagon fans from last year are, I am glad they are deciding to jump ship. This guy will be here this season, next season & even when we are recruiting Yogi's first born son.
Yes it was a tough game to swallow but I will not give up on my team or its players. You guys will be singing a different tune in the very near future, trust me on this one.
I absolutely hate when someone bad mouths a teenage kid on our/my team. Where were you at when you were 19? Unemployed on your mothers couch, come to think about it some of you aren't even 18 or 19 years old yet and probably couldn't make the girls soccer team at your HS. So leave my players on my team alone.

Indiana basketball is not about 1 season, it is about a lifetime of memories that Hoosiers get to share with their friends & family, a tradition, a legacy, a passion. It is very clear that some of you don't see it that way.

At a Glance: The Penn State Nittany Lions

Quick Facts

-Established in 1855

-39,192 undergraduate students

-Located in University Park, PA 

-Main colors- Dark royal blue and white 

-2012/2013 results: 10-21

-Mark Parker (Nike CEO) attended 

-Men's basketball introduced in 1897? Who really knows...

-Final Four appearance in 1954 

-0 BIG titles

-9-33 against Indiana all time

Results Thus Far (12-12/3-8)

Notable Wins

Penn State coach Pat Chambers

Nebraska 58-54

@ Ohio State 71-70

Purdue 79-68                                                    

Notable Losses

Bucknell 90-80

Ole Miss 79-76

Princeton 81-79

*There are many more...

Kenpom Rating-94th

PPG-74.0 (84) 

Avg. Scoring Margin- +1.8 (135) 

APG-11.8 (228)

RPG-35.3 (148)

Pts. Against-72.2 (217)

Fouls per game-20.5 (256) 

Category Leaders

Penn State G Tim Frazier possesses a lot of talent 

Points

G #2 D.J. Newbill-17.7

G #23 Tim Frazier 16.2

Rebounds

F #43 Ross Travis-7.1

G #2 D.J. Newbill-5.4

Assists

G #23 Tim Frazier-6.0

G #2 D.J. Newbill-1.9

I'm not going to focus on the team rankings in this little analysis, because at this point in the season it means absolutely nothing. If IU is to get back into the tournament conversation, they simply have to win, no matter how tough or easy (seemingly) the opponent is. Penn State coming to Assembly Hall looks easy right (see Northwestern)? However, it seems that we have a hard time mustering up enough energy to get just as excited about this game as say, Michigan State. Am I saying it should be just as tough a game? Absolutely not, but these guys need our support, 110% of it. Also, let us not overlook Penn State, who recently won AWAY at Ohio State. They have won 3 of their last 5 and beat Nebraska. Although...that game was AT Penn State, but I digress. Long story short, this team is all over the place and you never know who's going to show up. We have a similar problem but probably not to the same extent that the Nittany Lions struggle with. In conclusion, we are at a crossroads and there is only one path to take: Ws. It starts tomorrow. 

Score prediction: IU-82 PSU-71

Most Valuable Player prediction- Noah Vonleh 

"We're going to shock the world!" -Mike Davis

Drink of choice

Bourbon and Coke

Swinging for the Fences

    By now you have realized that the contributors to The Balcony Seats, are both Hoosiers and Hoosier Fans. This is a place where we type our love of Indiana athletics and you can feel our passion is as real as yours for the "Glory of Old IU."

     Everyone knows that Indiana is well known for the world famous "Candy Stripes." They were made famous by the men's basketball team, but can be found worn by athletes of many sports teams across campus. 24 sports, 1 team.

    I am truly a Hoosier and enjoy the possibilities that this blog brings. I want nothing more than for Hoosier fans of all ages to stop by this site daily to get their dose of the "all things Indiana." For that to happen, I may need to throw a "Hail Mary."

    Football signing day, soccer season and the baseball season is almost upon us. All sports at IU have high expectations from Hoosier Fans around the world, who have grown up watching the winning traditions of Indiana. The 3 teams mentioned above have very high expectations from all of us who claim to be a part of Hoosier Nation. With that said it is my responsibility to bring you my opinion on our team, The Indiana Hoosiers.

    I need an assist, but I feel this point of view might be a "Slam Dunk" with all of you. So I decided to take a chance tonight and "Swing for the Fences." Hopefully I might have some big news coming, soon. If I happen to strike out, you can guarantee that my opinion will be readily available on the blog that continues to grow daily, The Balcony Seats. If the "Big News" never happens you can say, I went down swinging.

    Now that I have your attention, keep reading!

@coachmayhew