My Two Cents: Indiana Not Final Four Team, But Didn't We Know That Already?

Indiana wanted to test themselves against the best in December, but double-digit losses to Arizona and Kansas have proven that they are Final Four-caliber teams, and Indiana isn't. The goal is to learn from it and get better. If that happens, then maybe we'll think differently about this team down the road.

LAWRENCE, Kan. — There were many good reasons behind playing a much tougher nonconference schedule this season. The goals were to better prepare Indiana for the Big Ten wars, to have some fun road trips for players and fans alike, and to see where they stood among some of the best programs in college basketball.

That mission has been accomplished. We've learned a lot — and it's not all good. Not even close, really. But the goal was to learn, and we've done that.

There were four games that mattered during the first six weeks of the 2022-23 season, and Indiana won two of them, and lost the other two. They beat Xavier — a 9-3 team whose only losses are to Indiana, No. 6 Duke and No. 8 Gonzaga — and beat them on their home court, a place where they win 86 percent of their games.

And they beat North Carolina, too, the preseason No. 1 team in the country who reached the NCAA Tournament championship game a year ago. The Tar Heels are 8-4 now, and beat No. 23 Ohio State in overtime in Saturday. Those were great learning lessons.

But we also learned a lot the past two weeks, too. 

Indiana dug itself a huge hole against Arizona — a legit Final Four team in my book — last Saturday in Vegas, falling behind by 19 points early. But the Hoosiers did a lot of good things the rest of the way, cutting the lead to three at one point before losing 89-75. It was a disappointing loss, but man, we had fun in Vegas, didn't we? Hoosier Nation traveled well, and a good time was had by all. That was a huge ''thumbs-up'' to the schedule-makers.

IU faithful traveled well to Lawrence, too. There were several thousand fans there in the iconic Allen Fieldhouse, and they made a lot of noise before the game. Kansas fans were impressed by the turnout, some saying they had never seen so many opposing fans in their building.

Unfortunately, the Hoosiers didn't give their fans anything to cheer about during the game. They missed their first five shots, were in an early 12-2 hole and never recovered in a 22-point loss. The 84-62 beatdown was ugly, because this was more of their doing. They had 23 turnovers and basically gave this one away with lethargic play on both ends of the floor.

It wasn't a good look, and it was extremely disappointing. Despite what's been termed a good week of practice during final exams and a good game plan, Indiana's execution was awful. And it showed. 

The loss bordered on embarrassing. 

"I just think that we've got to be more assertive. We've got to be more ready to play, honestly,'' Indiana senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis said. "Especially in a hostile environment like this against a great team like Kansas, because if they jump on you early, that crowd's going to carry that momentum throughout the game, and that's what they did.

"I just think all in all, we've just got to be more ready, honestly. And that doesn't go on coach (Mike) Woodson, he prepared us. He had a great game plan going into the game, and we didn't execute.''

Jackson-Davis had a team-high 13 points, but through the first 18 minutes of the game, he didn't have any and had only taken two shots. Indiana's post feeds were horrible — it's where a lot of those turnovers came — and when he was stationary on the block, double-teams came immediately. He hit several wide-open shooters, and they all kept missing. Jackson-Davis only had one assist all day, which is completely not his fault at all. Other people have to make shots. 

Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis (23) shoots against Kansas forward Jalen Wilson (10) during the second half on Saturday. (Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports)

The 23 turnovers were a real problem, of course, because, as Woodson said, ''that's 23 times you don't get the opportunity to score the ball. And they came in bunches. That's something we've got to clean up because we're not a big turnover team.''

He's right, too. Indiana was averaging only 11.5 turnovers a game coming in, which is perfectly acceptable. But 23 is not. Not even close. 

Even more disturbing to me was the lack of effort and physicality on defense. Kansas pretty much did what it wanted to all game, scoring 18 baskets right at the rim with layups and dunks. 

Soft? You betcha. Unprepared? I don't go there, because I'm not behind closed doors during practice. I take the players on their word that they were prepared well.

But the execution was awful. Sometimes I do think the biggest issue with Indiana is that there are a lot of nice kids on this team, and they play a certain way. Outside of maybe Xavier Johnson, no one has a real mean streak on this team. No one wants to knock someone to the floor when it's necessary.

So that's the lesson to be learned from this nonconference slate. The intel we've garnered the last two weeks is that when Indiana goes on the road, they have to be ready to punch someone in the mouth — figuratively, not literally — right from the opening tip. They have to defend hard and box out even harder. They have to make shots and find better ways to get Jackson-Davis more involved. That's a lot easier if they are making shots, of course.

To me, Arizona is a Final Four team and their huge front line was a problem for Indiana. I didn't feel nearly as bad about that loss as I did the loss at Kansas on Saturday, for two reasons. For one, Kansas and North Carolina are basically equals in my book. Indiana brought energy at home and won by 12. They brought no energy in Lawrence, and got their butts handed to them. Losing by 22, that's a 34-point swing, and a lot of that is based strictly on effort. That's a ''look in the mirror, please'' bad sign.

Being realistic is a hard thing to do, especially for an Indiana fan base that wants nice things but then whines like crazy after every single loss. This Indiana team was never going 31-0, so the losses will happen.

Arizona and Kansas are better, plain and simple. The Hoosiers were ranked No. 13 in the preseason, and that sounded about right. Kansas has been No. 3 at one point, Arizona No. 4. And what we've learned these past two Saturdays is that Indiana is not at their level.

I really don't think Indiana is overrated, because those rankings — which mean absolutely nothing — were based on potential. Indiana has played nowhere near its potential. Jackson-Davis does a lot of good things despite getting mugged every game, and Miller Kopp has had several good shooting nights. But who else can you say has really played well so far this year? I can't think of anyone.

These two losses have exposed Indiana's weaknesses. They really missed Jalen Hood-Schifino's ball-handling ability during the three games he was out, including the losses to Rutgers and Arizona. He was back on Saturday, but then point guard Xavier Johnson got hurt, and might miss some time with a foot injury. The ball moves well when they are on the floor together; it gets stuck far too often when they aren't.

Being ranked where they are, that means they are a 4 or 5 seed come NCAA Tournament time, and the goal would be to find your way to the second weekend and take your chances. That's a reasonable projection, but we're a long way from that right now. 

That's not what Hoosier Nation wants to hear, of course. Indiana at its best can be dangerous, especially at home, but we haven't really seen this team at its best so far. There has been far too much inconsistency up and down the roster. That needs to change.

There's no need to jump off the bandwagon yet because the meat of the season hasn't even started. I still think Indiana can contend for a Big Ten title, because Purdue is the only team in the league to look good from start to finish, and that's saying something for a team that needed overtime to beat Nebraska and struggled to put away Davidson on Saturday night.

All the rest have some serious flaws too, much like Indiana. So let's leave it at that. Lessons learned from the past two Saturdays. We've seen what Final Four teams look like, and that's not Indiana right now.

But the NCAA Tournament is in March, not mid-December. There are pieces here, and there are legitimate weapons. You played these games to get better.

So go do that. Get better.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• GAME STORY: Indiana wanted to beef up its schedule to see where it stands against Final Four-caliber teams, but the Hoosiers got thumped for the second straight Saturday, losing at Kansas 84-62 in an ugly game with 23 turnovers and several defensive lapses. CLICK HERE
• WHAT MIKE WOODSON SAID: Indiana got blown out by a top-10 team for the second weekend in a row, and Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson wasn't happy about it. He was especially upset about their 23 turnovers and effort. Here's the video of his postgame press conference, and the full transcript as well. CLICK HERE
• WHAT JACKSON-DAVIS SAID: Trayce Jackson-Davis finished with 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting, nine blocked shots, six rebounds and three turnovers in Indiana's 84-62 loss at Kansas on Saturday. Here's what Jackson-Davis said after the game. CLICK HERE
• KANSAS DEFENSE 'BEST IT'S BEEN: Kansas turned 23 Indiana turnovers into 28 points and held the Hoosiers to 37.7 percent shooting. Coach Bill Self said the Jayhawks' defense was the best it's been this season, leading to an 84-62 win over No. 14 Indiana on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. CLICK HERE
• INDIANA SCHEDULE: Here is Indiana's complete 2022-23 men's basketball schedule, with dates, opponents, game times and TV information, plus links to all the stories from games played so far. CLICK HERE
• JACKSON-DAVIS MOVES UP TO NO. 8: Trayce Jackson-Davis had 13 points against Kansas and moved up to No. 8 on Indiana's all-time scoring list on Saturday, passing Hoosier legends Kent Benson and Damon Bailey. Here's where he stands on the list of scorers. Alan Henderson up next. CLICK HERE