We're in March, when the best college basketball teams are supposed to be peaking. My favorite teams from Indiana are not peaking, but rather are slipping.
Indiana no longer deserves to be rated the top team in the country after two straight losses. Minnesota figured out the way to beat the Hoosiers is to get physical with Cody Zeller inside and play a chaotic defense against the rest of the team. Thad Motta went to school on the Minnesota game plan and was rewarded last night. His coaching and Aaron Craft's outstanding performance were the primary reasons behind Ohio State's win at Assembly Hall.
Unfortunately, Indiana didn't learn anything from the Minnesota loss. Cody laid an egg last night, as did his teammates, who allowed the Buckeyes to rattle them into critical turnovers during crunch time. When the team's best players are supposed to step up big to help win the tight game for their team, Cody folded. Victor Oladipo tried to step into the gap, but seemed to try too hard, turning the ball over himself in the process.
So Butler last week proved that St. Louis truly is a better team and then got rolled by VCU. They've looked so bad lately I'm afraid they won't get past their first game in the NCAA tournament. Rotnei Clarke is a talented player, but he can't win games for Butler all by himself.
Notre Dame's been playing well lately, but they're clearly not a top 5 team.
Unless Indiana can figure out how they lost to Minnesota and Ohio State and correct their shortcomings very quickly, they're done. Unless Butler can get Andrew Smith some confidence and get their guards finding their 3-point range again, they're done.
I'll still follow them and hope for the best, but I fear both teams are destined for early exits.
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