These Hoosiers are looking good. Indiana has competed in four of the last five games and looked strong. With the exception of IU’s game at Iowa, Indiana has competed, battled and kept each game close.
Jordan Hulls has led this young group this season. He has become a phenomenon. Hulls created a twitter account Monday and by Tuesday afternoon, he had nearly 2,000 followers.
But Tom Crean announced that Christian Watford had surgery today on his broken left hand and is out indefinitely. He suffered the injury Sunday, in the Hoosiers loss at Michigan State.
Watford is averaging 17.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. He is the team’s leading scorer and is eighth in the conference averaging 17.0 points. He is sixth in the conference in free throw percentage (83.5) making 111 of 133 free throws. This injury adds another to the group in sweats at the end of the bench.
Now essentially four IU starters are out. Verdell Jones, Maurice Creek, Christian Watford (injuries) and Guy Marc-Michel (ineligible).
Much has also been made about the weather conditions in Bloomington. The university, state police and Big Ten conference are working to make sure the game goes on, unless a state of emergency is declared in Monroe County.
I spoke with longtime Indiana athletics employee Kit Klingelhoffer just after 2 pm Tuesday and he said they want this game to be played. Minnesota planned ahead, arriving in Indianapolis around 1:30 this afternoon. The officials are scheduled to arrive late Tuesday. Klingelhoffer said because Minnesota is already here, it is a priority that the game be played. It would be silly and too difficult to postpone this game to a later week.
Presently, the game is still scheduled for 6:30 pm Wednesday on the Big Ten Network. They have looked into the possibilities of playing on Thursday. A 7 pm tip is out of the question because a Big Ten Network game cannot compete against a conference game on ESPN (Michigan at No.1 Ohio State). The Big Ten then suggested 4:30, and 9 pm. Kit believes it will still go on as scheduled. If not Wednesday, 9 pm on Thursday would be the best alternative.
Below is video from Tom Crean’s press conference prior to Minnesota, along with Will Sheehey and Daniel Moore.