IU Will Play Georgia Tech in ACC/Big Ten Challenge

The schedule for the 2007 ACC/Big Ten Challenge was recently announced and Indiana will be playing the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech. The game will be played at Assembly Hall at 7:00PM on ESPN. IU head coach Kelvin Sampson had this to say about the game, "It will be a great game, Georgia Tech has a great tradition and will be one of the better teams in the ACC. It's a great opportunity for us." This game appears to be a pretty tough match up for IU but may get a lot easier if Georgia Tech sophomores to be Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton remain in the NBA draft.

Young and Crittenton were highly touted coming out of high school and both tied for team lead in points per game as true freshman this past season at Georgia Tech with both players averaging 14 a game. Neither player has signed with an agent so both could return to school.

Other interesting match ups in the challenge for next season include the North Carolina at Ohio State game. Both teams lose key players from this past season with Ohio St. losing Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., and Daequan Cook. UNC is losing Brandan Wright but returns a number of key players from last seasons squad. The Wisconsin at Duke game should be a good match up although both teams lost key players with Wisconsin losing Alando Tucker and Duke Josh McRoberts.

IU Announces Football Schedule

Indiana finally announced its football schedule for the 2007 season becoming one of the last teams to do so. The conference schedule was already known but for those of us who actually care about Indiana football the anticipation was over who the non-conference opponents would be.

The season kicks off at home against division I-AA opponent Indiana State and since the game starts at 6 P.M. that should give students plenty of time to drink before the game. The next week IU travels to Kalamazoo, Michigan to take on Western Michigan which appears to be the toughest non-conference game of the year.

The next week IU will be back at home to face the Akron Zips in the first ever meeting between the two schools. This game is also at 6 P.M. The last non-conference game at home against Ball State is sandwiched into the Big Ten season in between games at Wisconsin and at Northwestern. Ball State could give IU a tough time with Nate Davis at quarterback who is an Antwaan Randle El type player.

With this schedule I see IU finishing either 7-5 or 6-6 and earning their first bowl bid since 1993. 8-4 is possible if IU can win all their games at home and pull off a win at either Michigan State or Northwestern but home games against Penn State and Purdue will be tough and IU still has trouble on the road in the Big Ten.

In other IU football news the Hoosiers brought in 19 recruits for next season. Hoeppner and his staff did a nice job of finding talented players along the defensive line bringing in three star recruits Eric Thomas, Fred Jones, Jeff Boyd and Max Dedmond. Dedmond is expected to switch from tight end to the defensive line. Junior college transfer Kevin Burrus will also help out at defensive tackle and since he enrolled at IU this past January he will be able to participate in spring ball and get a jump on the other recruits.

The loss of four star recruit and top safety prospect in the nation Jerimy Finch to Florida was a blow to IU's recruiting class but IU was able to establish important recruiting pipelines to powerhouse high school football programs like Warren Central in Indianapolis and Glenville high school in Ohio.

With the solid recruits Hoeppner is bringing in, an easy non-conference schedule, and a Big Ten schedule that doesn't include Ohio State or Michigan next year, I look for the 2007 season to be the year IU finally breaks through and returns to a bowl game.

Gordon Impresses Crowd, MJ

For the sake of University of Illinois basketball fans, it was probably good that they got to enjoy their home victory over Kelvin Sampson's Indiana Hoosiers on Jan. 23. If these same fans tuned into ESPN2 on Thursday night, there is a good chance that they would have cursed violently and enter a highly depressed state of mind while watching Hoosier recruit, Eric Gordon, electrify the crowd with 43 points during North Central High School's 88-47 victory over Loyola Academy from Illinois.

Gordon, of course, committed to Illinois during his sophomore season at North Central and changed his mind when Kelvin Sampson took the reigns at IU.

The game Thursday night was not your average high school basketball event. Aside from the national television coverage and the #22 nationally ranked team facing off against Gordon and his Panther team, there was a fairly noticable face in the crowd. Possibly the greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan, was there to see his two sons, Jeffrey and Marcus, play for Loyola Academy.

After Loyola jumped out to an early lead, Gordon did not waste any time showing his stuff to the one they call 'Air Jordan.' Gordon had 17 first quarter points, and ultimately led North Central to a surprising blow-out win. Gordon's performance didn't go unnoticed by the NBA legend.

"He's a good player," Michael Jordan said. When asked about the Jordan-like killer instinct Gordon exhibited, Jordan smiled. "Yeah, it's there, but I didn't shoot like that when I was in high school."

The show put on my Gordon gave Hoosier fans an exciting preview of what will be coming to Bloomington next fall, and it gave Illini faithful a painful reminder of why they are so bitter about the whole deal. As ESPN commentator Doug Gottlieb said, "Gordon is a program changer."

If the Orange Krush's treatment of Sampson was considered harsh, it is hard to imagine what will be in store for Gordon when he visits that other Assembly Hall next year. But I have a feeling Gordon will have a little something in store for them as well...possibly a highlight reel and a Hoosier win.

Here is a quick highlight of a couple Gordon plays from the game for those that didn't see it.