Big Night For Cem Dinc as Marshalltown Edges Iowa Lakes

(Bloomington, Ind.).  Former Hoosier Cem Dinc, who was told to "go rock JUCO" by  Indiana Coach Kelvin Sampson, is doing just that.  The 6-10, 250 pound center racked up his second double-double in only his third game back playing college ball as the Marshalltown Tigers eeked out an 82-77 road win over the Iowa Lakes Lakers Wednesday night.  Dinc poured in 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the win.  He blocked two shots as well.

Dinc, facing double teams for the second game in a row and sometimes triple teams, scored at will.  Coach Bryn Brynjarrsson installed some new sets after the winter break to get the ball into the post and Dinc proved them worthwhile.  "It was an important win for our team," Dinc said, "it evened our league record and gave Coach his first conference win as head coach at Marshalltown.  We were really happy to get it for him."  Dinc wound up 11-15 from the field and 3-4 from the line.  He's now averaging 15.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per contest.

Dinc was already on some big-time college coaches' radar screens after leaving Indiana.  His numbers thus far show he's more than a blip.  Although Dinc declines to name a favorite among the teams offering him a scholarship next season, he's recently gotten calls from Miami (Fla.) and Boston College from the ACC and Notre Dame from the Big East.  He also drawing intense interest from Iowa State Cyclone Coach Greg McDermott who is looking to add size and strength to his roster next year.  "We're good buddies," says Dinc, "and, who knows, I might wind up there, but I really want to make sure wherever I go it's a good fit for the team and me."

I can think of at least one other team off the top of my head that could use a strong, athletic kid with good grades, three years of college eligibility and a willingness to bang bodies on the boards.  Take a guess, I bet you do, too.

Bruce Almighty, the Prophet Sampson and the Verbally Committed One

(Bloomington, Ind.)  Bruce Almighty, the Sacred One from the Land Where No National Championship Banners Hang, hath condemned the Prophet Sampson.  The Verbally Committed One hath approach the Prophet to proclaimeth his desire to hoopeth in the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang.

The Prophet Sampson sayeth unto the Verbally Committed One, "Come, let me showeth thou the path to righteousness," but Bruce Almighty commands, "Recruiteth him not for I decree the Verbally Committed One shall never be tempted again!"

The Prophet Sampson ignoreth the Sacred One's mandate.  He pursueth the Verbally Committed One from afar and sendeth the Apostle Jeff, who coacheth the Father of the Verbally Committed One, and the Apostle Ray to pay tribute.  The Apostles Jeff and Ray deliver unto the Verbally Committed One the Prophet Sampson's invitation to visit the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang.  Honored, the Verbally Committed One accepteth.

The Verbally Committed One's visit to the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang goeth pretty damn good.  He breaketh bread with the Prophet Sampson, hangeth with DJ, Rat, Earl and Rod and hoopeth at Assembly Hall.  Word spreads near and afar that the Verbally Committed One shall become Gordon again and playeth in the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang.

Bruce Almighty is filled with a great and furious anger.  He scorneth the Prophet Sampson and declareth him a heretic.  He screameth at Gordon, "Thou shall be cast from my flock if thou continueth thy bullshit!  Why hath thou shamed me so?"

The Sacred One's flock, incensed, gather to take up their enfeebled shepherd's lament.  Scriveners from the Land Where No Championship Banners Hang dip quills in ink to crucify the Prophet Sampson for recruiting the Verbally Committed One.  A Painter voweth never to put his brush to canvas again so he can decry the affront and comfort Bruce Almighty.  Kneeling together, they weep silently.

Far to the North, in the Land Where Two National Championship Banners Hang, the Grand Izzo rises to the Alter and publicly denounceth the offense.  He proclaimeth unto  the Prophet Sampson, "Covet not the Verbally Committed One and stayeth the Hell away from my recruits while you're at it!."

From the South, a Tennessean Volunteers a Pearl of wisdom:  Recruiteth unto others as you would have them recruiteth unto you!"  On an Oklahoma prairie, a drunken Cowboy named Eddie swerveth across yet another yellow line, crasheth and mumbles incoherently.

The ill words spoken of the Prophet Sampson are heard loudly in the Land Where Five National Championship Banners Hang.  The Village Idiot, who long ago denounceth the Hoosiers, now mocketh the Prophet Sampson by declaring him ill fit to coacheth a fifth-grade girl's basketball team.  A few misbegotten Hoosiers question their faith.  Shaken due to the chant of "Cheater!" from the nonbelievers, they heareth not the truth:  The Prophet Sampson doeth not one damn thing wrong in recruiting the Verbally Committed One.

The Prophet Sampson showeth the light to the Verbally Committed One and maketh him a Believer.  He annointeth him "Gordon."  The Faithful, of which there are many across the land, standeth firmly and proudly behind the Prophet Sampson as he leadeth the flock back from our journey to depths of darkness.  His way is our way for the Hoosiers to reemergeth and become the Land Where Six National Championship Banners Hang.

-Ed Anderson

Reivers Trounce Tigers, 83-59                                                 Dinc Collects Game-High Nine Rebounds

 (Bloomington, Ind.).  The Iowa Western CC Reivers pummeled the Marshalltown Tigers 83-59 in Council Bluff, Iowa, Saturday night in the teams' Region XI Division I opener.  The Tigers (12-6, 0-1) were never in the game, according to head coach Brynjar Brynjarsson.  "Iowa Western dominated every aspect of the game and they just wore us out," he said.

Marshalltown committed sixteen turnovers in the first half and twenty-four for the game.  Shooting woes also plagued the Tigers as only one player, guard  Kenard Moore, scored in double figures.  He had twelve.  The Tigers' leading scorer, DaShawn Wright, a Gary, indiana native, was held to eight points, eleven off his average. 

Antoine Dade, Iowa Western's 6-7 power forward, said the Reivers' coaching staff did a good job of scouting former Indiana Hoosier, Cem Dinc.  The Reivers double-teamed Dinc most of the night, which limited his number of touches and shots.  Dinc was 1-5 from the field, but was fouled on two of those attempts and made three of four from the line.  He ended up with five points, but, passing out of the double team, he had four assists and finished with a game-high nine rebounds.  In two games, Dinc is averaging 10.5 points and 11.5 rebounds. 

"We never got untracked," Dinc said.  "We made too many turnovers and couldn't get anything to drop."  The Tigers shot just 32.7% from the field.  Marshalltown hits the road again tonight to take on the Iowa Lakes Community College Lakers (10-9, 0-4) in Estherville, Iowa. 

The Illinois Game:  What the Heck Happened?

(Bloomington, Ind.).  The Hoosiers looked flat against Illinois.  Flat as a punctured tire.  And no lug wrench, jack or spare to get it going, which means, of course, no movement and a lot of standing around. 

I understand the theory about slowing the game down when you're playing on the road in a hostile environment and, oh, there was no shortage of hostility in Champaign.  Even Bruce Weber, who still has his panties bunched up over losing out on Eric Gordon, displayed hostility.  Did you see the perfunctory handshakes with Kelvin Sampson before and after the game?  The only way he could have created more distance between Sampson and himself would have been to extend a stick with a glove at the end.

The Hoosiers' guard and wing play lost this game.  Sampson had them walk the ball up court to slow the pace of the game, which is a good strategy when you want to keep it tight and deflate the crowd, but once you cross the ten-second line, you can't be tentative.  You have to create something and that means having some motion in the offense--some cuts, some screens and some curls.  I didn't see much of that.

The guards and wings are the ones who have to get the offense moving.  If that doesn't happen, you wind up doing what Indiana did last night.--running the shot clock down to desperation time and throwing up something that vaguely resembles a shot.  Of course, doing that only feeds the crowd.  With the shot clock at 10...9...8...and only then you start working for a shot, the crowd is hooting and hollering and the defense reacts to by racheting up the intensity and pressuring the ball.  Bad things happen in that hurried situation--a poor shot, a turnover, a charge. 

As always, the Hoosiers looked to DJ for points.  Against Illinois, though, he was smothered and pushed out of position.  I lost count of how many times DJ got the ball behind the three-point line and, on the few other occasions the Hoosiers threw it to him inside the arc he was still 10-12 feet from the basket.  That's okay once in awhile, but that can't be the Hoosiers' offense.  DJ has to set up lower in the block.  He has to work to establish position and then maintain it if he's going to make any sort of power move to the rim.  Pruitt had his way on defense and DJ lacks the ball handling skills to get to the rim from 10-12 feet.

All in all, the Hoosiers had little inside presence against Illinois.  Lance Stemler is a hard-nosed, gritty kid, but definitely not a player who can outmuscle the typical power forward.  Mike White, on the other hand, is a banger.  He got the ball in the paint a few times off feeds or the rare offensive rebound, but then failed to finish.    If you wind up with the ball at pointblank range, you've got to do one of two things--make the basket or draw the foul.  He did neither.

Free throws or, more accurately, the lack of them hurt Indiana.  When your outside shots aren't dropping, you have to get in the paint.  The guards have to penetrate or someone on the weak side has to flash into the paint for a pass.  You can't be content to keep throwing the ball up there hoping something eventually drops.

Indiana played well enough on defense to win this game, although the Hoosiers committed way too many fouls (20) and got outscored at the line by nine points, i.e., one more than the margin of victory.  They also allowed the Illini more second chance points than they got.  Still, holding the opposition to 51 points on 40.5% from the field, including 23.9% from the three-point line, puts a team in good position to win.

 I've got a theory on why the Hoosiers played flat against Illinois.  One word--Connecticut.  Scheduling that game in the midst of Big 10 season was tantamount to conceding the Illinois game.  After beating Iowa on Tuesday, the Hoosiers, had they not played the Huskies, would have had six days to prepare for Illinois.  Six days.  You can dissect a team down to the managers in six days.  Instead, Indiana spent the rest of the week getting ready for UConn, left on Friday for Connecticut, played a tough, physical Husky squad in an emotion filled game on Saturday afternoon, got back to Bloomington on Saturday night, had just one day of practice at Assembly Hall on Sunday and then took a three-hour bus ride to Champaign on Monday.  Anyone see any sense--besides dollars and cents--in that?  I sure don't.

--Ed Anderson 1/24/7

(Bloomington, Ind.)  According to Robert Jordan, a sportswriter for the Contra Costa Times, Indiana recruit Eli Holman, a 6'10" center from Richmond, California, has vowed never to set foot in the city again after being shot Saturday night.  One bulllet grazed his upper back, narrowly missing his spine, while another pierced the car's headrest.  Three shots in all were fired.

The incident has left Holman so traumatized that he has left his hometown to live with Michelle Banks, his legal guardian since September 2006.  Three juveniles have been detained in the shooting, which occurred late Saturday night as Holman and three friends pulled into a Quality Inn to attend a friend's party.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/16522811.htm