Indiana headed to Maui with a 3-0 record and an offense averaging 92.0 PPG. The Hoosiers left with a 4-2 record that included a pair of losses to middling teams, and now have more questions to answer than they came to the islands with. Here are three issues that stood out the most from watching the Hoosiers play over the last three days.

Coach Tom Crean gave his critics some ammunition after the Hoosiers lost two games in Maui. (Getty)

1. Turnovers, Turnovers, Turnovers: This one goes beyond just the pure numbers. Granted, Indiana did average 17 miscues in their three games on the islands, but it seemed as though the majority of the mistakes were of the junior high variety. The Hoosiers couldn’t catch the ball, threw errant passes after leaving their feet, and generally produced unforced error after unforced error all week. Crean’s system enables Indiana to play with pace, but the Hoosiers were simply out-of-control and reckless with the ball on far too many possessions. They will need to find the happy medium of playing uptempo, yet staying under control to take better care of the ball. This is too gifted of an offensive team to waste scoring opportunities by giving the ball up so often. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo seems to be just fine with Michigan and Indiana hogging all of the attention at the national stage. The Spartans are 9-2 in the Big Ten and may arguably be the most underrated top 10 team in the country right now. Izzo, however, is not getting carried away as the Spartans await the Wolverines on Tuesday night in East Lansing. “I know our deficiencies, and I think they know their deficiencies,” Izzo said after the Spartans dominated Purdue in a 78-65 victory on Saturday night. The Spartans’ main concern at this juncture of the season may be the health of Gary Harris and Travis Trice. Harris had some issues with his back against Minnesota but will need to be healthy down the stretch if the Spartans were to win the Big Ten title.
2. Devyn Marble‘s slump has been heavily scrutinized over the past couple of weeks. He didn’t play any role in Iowa’s close losses to Minnesota and Wisconsin but Marble has made it clear that he will do whatever it takes to dig himself out of the slump. “Everybody’s thinking I’m about to die or something,” Marble said. “It’s just one of those situations. I’ve had a rough month. I’m just trying to look at the positive end of it and just get back on track.” Marble scored 21 points as the Hawkeyes beat Northwestern 71-57 over the weekend and such a game should help his confidence during the homestretch of the season.
3.  In case you missed it, the Wisconsin Badgers stunned the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday in Madison. Badgers guard Ben Brust heaved a shot from the half court which tied the game to force it into overtime. NBA players who have attempted to make Brust’s shot succeeded only 3% of the time, but most might just consider the last minute shot “near-impossible.” Brust also hit a clutch shot from beyond the arc to give the Badgers a three-point lead in overtime. Saturday’s win against a top-5 team may put the Badgers back into the top-25 polls on Monday.
4. More on the thriller in Madison, Michigan head coach John Beilein has caught some criticism regarding his decision not to foul Ben Brust which would have prevented the game from going into overtime. Beilein said that the players were asked to foul immediately. but did not execute his instructions, which led to Brust’s game tying shot. Brust was guarded by freshman guard Caris Lavert who had his hand up to defend the shot very well, but luck just wasn’t on the Wolverines’ side in Madison.
5. Victor Oladipo may be their most valuable player for the Hoosiers because of his defense and energy on both ends of the floor. After the win over the Wolverines a week ago and a road win against the Buckeyes in the Columbus, Oladipo is gaining recognition for the national player of the year honors. CBS broadcaster and Big Ten legend, Clark Kelogg said, “Victor Oladipo is like a baby’s bottom, smooth and sometimes explosive.” Oladipo is enjoying the national attention but has made it clear that his main goal is to win the national title before leaves Bloomington.

Rush The Court is back with another edition of One on One: An Interview Series, which we will bring you periodically throughout the year. If you have any specific interview requests or want us to interview you, shoot us an email at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

This time our interview subject is Clark Kellogg. Most of you probably just know Clark from his work at CBS first as a studio analyst, but eventually as their lead college basketball analyst during March Madness. While that is impressive by itself, just saying that would be selling Clark’s on-court accomplishments short. Clark was a McDonald’s All-American, All-Big Ten, and was the #8 overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft. In his rookie year, he averaged a ridiculous 20.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game while being named All-Rookie First Team, but his career was cut short due to knee injuries. Clark joined us to talk about the new season of college basketball and his association with the Capital One Cup.

Once known for his skills on the court, Kellogg has now become one of the more recognizable faces in the sports broadcast industry (OhioDominican)

Kevin Doyle: How long have you been with the Capital One Cup and, in your opinion, what does the Cup stand for?

Clark Kellogg: This is year three for the Capital One Cup and my involvement as an advisory board member. To me, when you look at what the Capital One Cup represents—recognizing the top Division I athletic program on the men’s and women’s side over 39 total sports for cumulative on-field performance—the recognition not only comes in the reward of a Capital One Cup trophy, but also in $400,000 in total scholarship money for student-athletes. This combines the best of both worlds. Recognition for on-field and on-court performance, as well as supporting academic pursuits and achievement; I don’t know if you can get any better than that. The way the sports are recognized and the point system is tallied, there is a premium for winning national championships, but a school gains points for finishing in the top 10 in the end of season polls for the respective sports. So, there is yearlong involvement and opportunity to earn those points from the fall sports season through the spring sports season. When you are able to combine recognizing excellence for on-field and on-court performance with supporting and fueling academic pursuits and scholarship, that speaks volumes.

KD: The Capital One Cup is so unique because it doesn’t place a premium on one sport versus another. We see in the national media football and basketball primarily takes precedence, but the Cup doesn’t favor any sports. How much does a school’s success in the Capital One Cup standings speak to the strength of their programs across the board?

CK: The points you just made are good ones because all sports are involved, and men’s and women’s sports are of complete equal value to each other.  The fact that you separate and have recognition for a winner on the men’s side in Division I athletics over multiple sports, and one on the women’s side is fantastic because all of those student-athletes get a chance to contribute to their program and school. This is what makes it so unique and comprehensive in its approach. I love the fact that student-athletes who sometimes don’t get the same recognition that high-profile and revenue-generating sports do have a chance to feel like they’re contributing to something that’s bigger than themselves.

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The NCAA Tournament is here and there’s more news, commentary and analysis than any of us can possibly keep up with. To make things a little easier, we’ll bring you a list of daily links gathered about teams in each of the four regions all the way through the Final Four.

East

• After an atrocious opening game where they nearly became the first #1 seed to a #16 seed, Syracuse rebounded with a solid performance that helped remind some people why they were a #1 seed in the first place.
• One of the keys to Wisconsin‘s consistent play in the postseason has been there tendency to never be satisfied. The Badgers should not have much difficulty finding motivation on Thursday against what should be a pro-Syracuse crowd in Boston.
• John Gasser was feeling the effects of a gastrointestinal illness on Saturday, but that did not prevent him giving the Badgers what they needed to beat Vanderbilt despite playing limited minutes.
• With their win on Sunday night Cincinnati advanced to the Sweet Sixteen and set up one of the more intriguing match-ups with an in-state showdown against Ohio State. The Buckeyes hold a 5-4 series edge, but outside of a game in 2006 the last game between the two schools was in 1962 when they played for the second year in a row in the National Championship Game.
• Hardcore college basketball fans have known about the importance of Aaron Craft all season, but that point was driven home with his actions on and off the court over the weekend.
• Of course, glossing over the play of Jared Sullinger in the team’s win over Gonzaga would be a major oversight. When the Buckeyes needed big plays it was their big man who came up with exactly what the team needed.

South

• The marquee matchup in the Sweet Sixteen occurs Friday night in Atlanta between Kentucky and Indiana. IU head coach Tom Crean gave Dan Patrick a few insights into his early scouting of the Wildcats, while Brian Rickerd of the The [Frankfort, KY] State Journal dissects quotes from the Wildcat players for clues as to how they’re really feeling about the rematch (hint: they’re lying).
• In 2o10, Baylor went to its first Sweet Sixteen under Scott Drew, where it laid waste to an upstart #10 seeded mid-major (St. Mary’s) in that round. Chuck Carlton from the Dallas Morning News writes that, despite the similarities, Baylor fans shouldn’t expect the same thing this time around because #10 Xavier is no joke.
• Kentucky will play next weekend with its best player, Anthony Davis, carrying at least one NPOY award with him, as the USBWA announced that the 6’10”, 220-pound freshman is its choice for the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Surprisingly, Davis is the first Wildcat to win this award.
• Kentucky and Indiana are quite obviously two of the blue bloods in the realm of college basketball history, but Friday’s game will be only the fourth time that the two programs have squared off in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats and Hoosiers played twice in the span of three seasons in the mid-70s, splitting the two matchups (and with UK ending IU’s unbeaten season in 1974-75). They also played in the regional semifinals in 1983, with Kentucky winning the rubber match.
• Xavier‘s trip to the Sweet Sixteen is its fourth in five seasons. The only other schools that can claim such consistent excellence in the postseason are North Carolina, Michigan State, and Kansas.

Tonight’s Lede. After one of the craziest nights in recent Big Dance history on Friday, perhaps we all needed a bit of a break from the chaos this weekend. Fortunately, that didn’t exactly happen. Most of the higher seeds advanced in the round of 32, but the Midwest Region led the way with some crazy results. Almost every season, we see a double-digit seed reach the Sweet Sixteen; this year, we have three, and it easily could have been five. Of the 16 teams remaining, four come from the Big East, four are of the Big Ten, and four represent the state of Ohio, including both of the guilty parties from the Crosstown Shootout Brawl back in December. It’s the first time ever that one single state sends four teams to the Sweet Sixteen. Let’s go over the great moments from the weekend…

Your Watercooler Moment. #13 Ohio University is This Year’s Cinderella Story

D.J. Cooper Hasn't Allowed #13 Ohio to Lose (AP Photo/B. Rucker)

What would the NCAA Tournament be without a mid-major, double-digit seed in the Sweet Sixteen? This year it’s Ohio, the #13 seed of the Midwest Region that had a fairly favorable draw in terms of matchups but still had to defeat two power conference teams on the way. A victory over #12 seed South Florida on Sunday sent the Bobcats to the second weekend of the Big Dance, pretty amazing considering they finished third in the MAC conference this season. But Ohio is no joke, as D.J. Cooper continues to prove himself as one of the best lead guards in the entire tourney. Cooper outplayed USF’s Anthony Collins in the round of 32 and tallied 19 points, six rebounds, and seven assists with several big shots late in the game to help his team advance. The other recognizable name from this squad is Nick Kellogg, the sophomore guard who is the son of CBS analyst and former collegiate star Clark Kellogg. Clark’s son is a terrific shooter at 41.8% from three and 89.2% from the foul line, giving the Bobcats a nice one-two punch from the perimeter. Interestingly enough, Ohio now draws #1 North Carolina in the Regional Semifinal in what most would expect to be a blowout, but the Tar Heels just lost their indispensible point guard to a wrist injury, which will make things interesting next weekend. Could Ohio’s perimeter attack lead to a truly incredible Cinderella story with a win over UNC? Stay tuned.

Also Worth Chatting About. Kendall Marshall Suffers Broken Wrist for #1 Seed North Carolina

The single biggest storyline from the past weekend was not anything that happened in the box score or even in between the lines on the court. But when North Carolina’s star point guard and the nation’s leader in assists, Kendall Marshall, got fouled and pushed on a layup and landed on his right wrist in the out-of-bounds baseline, the entire dynamic of this NCAA Tournament changed. Marshall suffered a fractured wrist on this play with 10:55 remaining in the second half of Carolina’s game against #8 seed Creighton. Marshall continued to play in this game for a few minutes and wasn’t immediately in so much pain that he had to leave. It’s also an injury to his non-shooting hand, so it could have been worse. In addition, the sophomore is set for surgery on Monday which will leave him in a position to play shortly thereafter if he is able to tolerate the pain. Unfortunately, it’s a huge long shot to think that Marshall will be back and effective going forward. The injury he suffered usually requires three-plus weeks of a cast and rest, and even bracing the hand and tolerating pain to play will make for a huge liability on the floor. Already a weak defender, Marshall would be even less effective on that end and he would surely be forced to his right hand on offense by opposing teams. There’s just as strong of a chance that he’d be a detriment to UNC by being on the court than he would be a benefit, depending on the true impact of the injury. As things stand, Carolina needs to start preparing for a Championship run without its point guard, leaving that position to be filled by either unused backup Stilman White (4.2 minutes per game) or by a player like P.J. Hairston or Harrison Barnes in some sort of point-forward role. One of the most irreplaceable players in the country, Marshall’s injury leaves a giant question mark surrounding the Tar Heels’ title hopes.

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Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Josh Paunil, the RTC recruiting guru. We encourage you to check out his website dedicated solely to college basketball recruiting, National Recruiting Spotlight, for more detailed recruiting information. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to who the hot prospects are at the lower levels of the sport. If you have any suggestions as to areas we are missing or different things you would like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Lead Story: Nerlens Noel Re-classifies To Class of 2012

Nerlens Noel Is Now One Of the Top Seniors In the Country. (Daryl Paunil/NRS)

Elite Junior Will Graduate A Year Early. There’s been ongoing speculation for a long time that center Nerlens Noel might re-classify from the Class of 2013 to the Class of 2012, but he didn’t gave much of an indication that he was going to. However, late Wednesday night the best shot-blocker in the prep ranks in the country confirmed that he was indeed going to graduate a year early and move to the Class of 2012. What does that mean? Well, other than getting to see him in college a year early, it means that he will have to decide which school he’s going to commit to in the next couple of months. Syracuse and Kentucky have long been the favorites for Noel and while a couple sources have told RTC that they think he will pick the Orange, it’s going to be a close race between the two. Other than John Calipari and Jim Boeheim‘s squads, Noel is considering multiple other schools and has already visited Providence and Connecticut while he plans on visiting Syracuse (February 11), Kentucky, Florida, Georgetown and North Carolina soon. He doesn’t have a timetable for committing but keep in mind that the regular signing period is April 13-May 18. We will be interviewing Noel some time in the next several days so if you’re interested in his recruitment, make sure you check back next week to see what he has to say about the schools on his list.

What They’re Saying

• Senior star Rodney Purvis on why he’s happy he made the Jordan Brand Classic: “Being from the same city and with John [Wall] being like my big brother, I wanted to do all the things he did. I didn’t tell a lot of people, but I really, really wanted to play in the Jordan Brand Classic. Like a whole lot.”

Rush The Court is back with another edition of One on One: An Interview Series, which we will bring you periodically throughout the year. If you have any specific interview requests or want us to interview you, shoot us an email at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

This time our interview subject is Clark Kellogg. Most of you probably just know Clark from his work at CBS first as a studio analyst, but eventually taking over as one of their lead college basketball analysts replacing Billy Packer. While that is impressive by itself, just saying that would be selling Clark’s on-court accomplishments short. Clark was a McDonald’s All-American, All-Big Ten, and was the #8 overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers. In his rookie year, he averaged a ridiculous 20.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game while being named All-Rookie First Team, but his career was cut short due to knee injuries. Clark joined to talk about college basketball and the Capital One Cup.

Rush The Court: One of the big topics in college sports recently has been the issue of paying athletes, whether it is the $2,000 stipend or more radical proposals. What are your thoughts on what has been proposed and how realistic do you think the proposals have been?

Clark Kellogg: I think it is a worthwhile proposal and it is realistic. Obviously, you have to look at the budgetary constraints of different programs, but I think that every Division I player in the major revenue-producing sports (men’s basketball and men’s football) because the demands of the scholarship are a full-time job should be able to supplement that with the cost of attendance, which is what the stipend is attempting to close the gap on. I think it is reasonable and practical. Obviously, it raises a question as to how you do that and what’s the right amount, but I think it is a good proposal and one that should be implemented and I think it will be in some form and fashion. I think it is a positive step because of the nature of those two sports and because of the demands on the time and minds and bodies of those student-athletes it is a full-time job and the cost of attending college is more than the cost of tuition, food, room, board, and books. That is a wonderful blessing to have that covered. All three of our children have been Division I scholarship athletes and we understand the blessing that is, but at the same time I was in a position to send each of my kids a certain amount of money each month to cover some of the incidental expenses. I think it makes sense for the universities to try and cover some of those incidental costs.

Kellogg Believes Schools Should Cover Cost Of Living

RTC: Getting back to basketball itself, one of the topics that after UNC got blown out by 33 points at Florida State people started to suggest that they are not a championship team. [Clark laughing in the background.] That championship teams don’t get blown out like that [more laughter] and they cite all these figures about how no championship team has ever lost by that much.

CK: Can you tell by my reaction? [Even more laughter] I think that is nonsensical. You play 30 to 35 games in college basketball and everybody is going to get drummed. I don’t care if you are championship caliber or not. There are a lot of factors that go into being drummed. One is being on the road. Two you play against a good team that has a terrific performance. Three is you are human; there are all kind of things: travel, finals, schools, 18- to 22-year old guys being brain neutral and not there. It happens in the NBA. Teams that win the championship get beat badly sometimes. That doesn’t change who they are. Now if it becomes a pattern then that is different, but a one-game situation I just chuckle when people say that. It is part of the context of our culture because we so want to analyze something every five or 10 minutes and make a conclusion about it. A season is indeed a season. It is made up of individual games and some games are going to be better than others. It is about consistency. It’s about being healthy. It’s about getting better. Every now and then you are going to have a game that is inexplicable. You could go crazy and make 8 out of 13 three-pointers. How often is that going to happen? So it goes both ways. It was comical to me that people automatically started thinking that Carolina was unworthy of being one of the favorites to get to New Orleans. Now they have got issues with [Dexter] Strickland being out. Who steps into his role? That is more something to analyze than the fact that they got blasted in Tallahassee.

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1. Clemson‘s fading postseason dreams were dealt a setback yesterday when it suspended junior Milton Jennings indefinitely for academic reasons. Jennings, who averaged 8.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game, was having the best season of his college career and had several solid games recently including scoring 16 points against Duke and having a 9-point, 12-rebound performance at Boston College. This is the second time that Jennings has been suspended this season as he was also suspended earlier this season after yelling at Brad Brownell during the Diamond Head Classic. Clemson is expected to use several players to fill Jennings’ minutes, but should expect to see a significant drop-off in production.
2. We thought we had heard the last of the Bernie Fine investigation for at least a few months, but now his primary accuser (Bobby Davis) claims that Laurie Fine, Bernie’s wife, and another coach’s wife discussed having had sex with multiple Syracuse players. Although we did not think that the situation could get any worse, the report that another coach’s wife was involved should only make the Syracuse athletic department feel even more uncomfortable. Initially they could bury this under the idea that it was a single dysfunctional family, but now that it extends beyond that it will only raise more questions as well as undoubtedly bringing up plenty of message board rumormongering about who the other coach’s wife was.
3. To celebrate the 35th anniversary of its McDonald’s All-American Game, McDonald’s released its list of the 35 greatest McDonald’s All-American. The list is a veritable who’s who of American basketball royalty over the past 35 years. While all of the names on the list, which is based on “high school career and performance in the McDonald’s All American Games, success at the collegiate and professional level, and post-career accomplishments”, are recognizable a few made us do a double-take when we first saw them. Two that stood out the most were Clark Kellogg (more on him later in the day) and Kenny Smith both of whom have had exceptional broadcasting careers, but probably would be pretty far down the list of the greatest players of the past 35 years although they were solid players in their own right (Kellogg’s stats and Smith’s stats). As for the relative merits of each individual in high school, ESPNHS provides an interesting ranking of the 35 players based just on their high school accomplishments.
4. While most people were celebrating the BrackBuster matchups, there was at least one individual who voiced his displeasure with the current system. In his weekly Bubble Watch column, Andy Glockner criticized the system for being a net loss for the mid-majors as the losing team was often hurt more than the winning team was helped. He does give them credit for nailing the two biggest matchups of this year’s Bracketbuster. As usual, we tend to agree with Andy (acutally he agrees with us most of the time) and we would like to see the focus more on helping mid-majors get into the NCAA Tournament rather than just trying to schedule ideal matchups for TV.
5. Two of the top teams in the country may be without their big men for longer than expected. Michigan and Syracuse may end up missing Jon Horford and Fab Melo, respectively, for longer than initially anticipated. Horford has stated that he and the Wolverine coaching staff have began to think about the possibility of redshirting even if he was able to play later this season as they feel that time he would get to play would not be worth a season of eligibility. Meanwhile, the news is less clear in Syracuse where sources say that Melo could be out for “a while” as he gets his academic issues straightened out. While neither player would be classified as a star, both could be vitale pieces to their team’s postseason success.

David Ely is an RTC Contributor

Get ready college hoops fanatics. Get ready for the stampede of casual fans that are about to crash the sports bars once the NFL season comes to a close. They’ll have to find something for their sports fix and they’ll turn to college basketball. So be prepared for people asking things like, “Who’s that big guy for Ohio State? He looks pretty good.” Or “San Diego State’s in the top five? Really?!?” Just try to smile and nod at those fools. No need to let them ruin the season’s stretch run.

What We Learned

TWTW Loves Jimmer and Kawhi, But Prefers E'Twaun and the Boilers Traveling to Columbus This Week

Even with SDSU and BYU squaring off on Wednesday, TWTW feels that if there’s only one game you watch this week, make sure it’s Purdue at Ohio State, tonight at 9pm ET. Matt Painter’s squad is one of our favorites and TWTW thinks they’re a good bet to pull off the upset. Purdue rebounded from back-to-back losses at Minnesota and West Virginia to grind out a win over a plucky Penn State squad and then took care of business against reeling Michigan State. It would have been easy for the Boilermakers to fold at the first sign of trouble this season. They have the built-in excuse of Robbie Hummel’s injury, and no one really believed they could sustain their early-season success once they hit the meat of their schedule, but seniors JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore wouldn’t let that two-game losing streak turn into a prolonged swoon. Johnson scored 25 points in the win over PSU, while Moore poured in 26 against the Spartans.

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Gus Johnson, doing his best to look like Fifty Cent’s dad in this video clip from Dime Magazine, riffs on numerous items including college basketball in this interview.

You can see the excitement beaming like laser beams from Johnson’s eyes when he mentions the unbelievable near-make by Butler’s Gordon Hayward at last year’s Final Four.  Can you imagine all the CBS suits checking their work-site insurance policies to make sure that massive strokes by on-air talent are covered if Johnson had gotten the call to do that game?  Maybe that’s why they will continue to stick us with the exceptionally pleasant but soporific Jim Nantz as the play-by-play man — they want to keep Johnson around for a few more years to continue analyzing games in numerous sports in his unique and entertaining way.

We can’t really blame them — cost-effectiveness and all that — but man-oh-man, just to hear Gus make the call in one epic championship battle would be well worth the risk.