Tom Crean blew out of San Antonio early, reportedly because of the academic issues. His only comments:

“I can’t elaborate, but it’s not good,” Crean said Monday. “We have a lot of work to do. It’s a situation that has to be addressed immediately.”

According to the Associated Press, Riley had decided that he’s going to be checking out potential lottery picks over the next few weeks and, perhaps, just might miss a few Heat games. The consensus of all is that Riley was checking out the Hoosiers super-frosh Eric Gordon.

Riley’s presence at the game caught the attention of the Wages of Wins Journal. WoW took exception with some of the media’s appraisal of Gordon’s game. AP writer Geraro Armas made this observation in the report that he filed.

Gordon nearly single-handedly got the Hoosiers back in the game after Indiana went the first 5:29 of the second half without a field goal to trail 36-30. A 3-point play and three 3-pointers by Gordon during a 14-0 run put Indiana ahead 46-38 with 11 minutes left in regulation.

WoW notes:

What’s missing from this take on the game is what happened outside this 14-0 run. For the game Gordon only hit 8 of 24 shots. So outside this run, he was only successful on 5 of 20 shots from the field. Plus he committed five turnovers. His Win Score – which takes into account all the stats in the box score – was -5.0 in the game. In other words, one could argue that Gordon single-handedly took the Hoosiers out of this contest.

For more on WoW’s opinion of Gordon and how he stacks up against others, in particular OJ Mayo, check out the Wages of Wins Journal.

Rising to the top via kwout

Penn State flashes hope for the future | Altoona Mirror via kwout

Hoosiers stumble in closing clunker | IndyStar.com via kwout

IU’s Gordon: No need to worry | IndyStar.com via kwout

Penn State upsets Indiana in overtime :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Colleges via kwout

The Associated Press: Jackson Helps PSU Upset No. 18 Indiana via kwout

College Basketball: Penn State, Ohio State shake up Big Ten | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/10/2008 via kwout

Penn State shocks No. 18 Indiana in OT – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review via kwout

PSU beats No. 18 Indiana in OT via kwout

IU falls to Penn State in OT, Big Ten Tournament up next via kwout

Jackson’s buckets lift Penn St. to 68-64 win over No. 18 Indiana | AP | 03/09/2008 via kwout

COL BKB: Penn State 68, Indiana 64 (OT) – UPI.com via kwout

Scout.com: Lions Hand IU Crushing Setback in Finale via kwout

Lions shock No. 18 Hoosiers, earn No. 7 Seed – The Daily Collegian Online via kwout

Indiana at Penn State, in-game analysis (2nd half) | The Hoosier Scoop: Indiana University Hoosiers Basketball, Football, and more via kwout

His first stop? Happy Valley

SI.com – NBA – Riley starts scouting with trip to see IU’s Gordon – Sunday March 9, 2008 9:40PM via kwout

The Big Ten Network has the complete version of the above AP story.

Riley starts college scouting tour with trip to see Indiana’s Eric Gordon – Big Ten Network via kwout

This is the most one sided analysis that I’ve published all year. Indiana wins all of the categories except two – PSU forces slightly more turnovers than Indiana does (to the tune of one tenth a game) and they don’t put opponents on the line as often (by about as thin a margin as the turnover number).

Compound that with the fact that Jamelle Cornley looks unlikely to play and PSU looks like a huge longshot to win this game. On the other hand, Indiana may come into the game on a down since they have no shot for the Big Ten title with Wisconsin’s clincher over Northwestern last night. It’s difficult to just play for an NCAA seed and the Hoosiers haven’t been playing all that well since Sampson departed.

I guess that’s why they play the games.

Game Predictions:

• Ohio State 64.6 Michigan State 64.3 (I guess OSU wins in OT)
• Indiana 75 Penn State 65
• Purdue 89 Michigan 61

If PSU beats Indiana on Sunday, they finish 7th alone and play Illinois (with the winner getting Indiana in the next round)

If PSU loses and Michigan loses, then PSU and Iowa tie for 7th. Iowa gets the 7th seed by virtue of of their win over Ohio State (Iowa is 1-1 against OSU, while we are 0-1). The head to head is irrelevant among PSU, Iowa, and Michigan because each of the teams went 1-1 against the other two, so the tiebreaker reverts to best winning percentage against the highest ranked team(or combined teams in the case of ties), continuing down through the standings until a difference is found (PSU and Iowa are both 0-2 against Wisconsin, 0-2 against Indiana, 0-2 against Purdue, and 1-1 against MSU, the tie is broken when you get to OSU). So Iowa would play Illinois and we would play Michigan (with the winner getting Wisconsin).

If PSU loses and Michigan wins, then PSU, Iowa, and Michigan all tie for 7th. Michigan would get the 7th seed because they would be 0-1 vs Indiana while PSU and Iowa would be 0-2 (for tiebreaking procedures when comparing records 0-1 is better than 0-2 and 2-0 is better than 1-0). Iowa would then get the 8th seed since they own the tiebreaker over us (see previous scenario). Michigan would then play Illinois and we would get Iowa (with the winner again getting Wisconsin).