Tuesday was a sad sad day. Indiana defended its fresh #2 national ranking by promptly losing to Wisconsin at home. At home. At Assembly Hall. I did not think any team would beat Indiana at Assembly Hall this year, and they shouldn't have. While our team has plenty of flaws, most of which came to light in this game, and most of which should be fixable given more time and experience, this one is on us. While the atmosphere was of course, spectacular compared to the average college basketball environment, the night was a little weak by Assembly Hall standards. We were not going 100%, and you could tell it was a bit quieter than usual, nothing like our evening matchup against UNC but more like the second half last week against Minnesota. I think that perhaps we got a bit too complacent with our high-ranking playing an unranked team like Wisconsin, but it is important to remember that every game in the Big Ten is going to be a battle, and every team playing a top-ranked team is going to bring their best. And that's not even counting the fact that Wisconsin has had our number for years now. So, while I expect our team to continue to improve and fix their flaws before March, we have to make sure that we give them our best as fans and make Assembly Hall what it was designed to be—the most intimidating place to play basketball in the country. This one is on us. And we need to make sure that next Wednesday, when we fill the seats again, Assembly Hall is shaking from top to bottom and our team is feeding off of that insurmountable energy.
Speaking of reigniting Assembly Hall, on Wednesday I picked up my first Crimson Guard shirt. I forgot to get my free shirt last year, but this year I made sure to grab it. While I am not able to dedicate the same amount of time and passion as I may have been as an undergrad, the heart is strong as ever and I am proud to support the best student group in the country for college basketball! There's a reason why we all bleed crimson.
Thursday was another week of bar review, this time at Serendipity. While Serendipity is a great place to hang out on a quiet evening with a group of friends, it is probably not the best locale for a bar review, as there is not much standing room and the bar is rather small. Afterwards, we stopped by Atlas and played a bit of shuffleboard. Although the quality of the tables was lackluster, it was still a good time as Tim and I led a fairly dominating 5 or 6 game run on the tables.
Friday was the second day of my five-day Martin Luther King Day weekend. This is an amazing stretch of the semester, where I have three days of class, followed by a five-day weekend, followed by two days of class, and then another four-day weekend. After stopping in to do a POP office hour, and almost forgetting I had to pick up my moot court brief number, I took a stop by Kroger for some long-weekend grocery shopping, where I was happy to find this awesome giant shoe celebrating Hoosier Hysteria, Indiana basketball, and the five banners. I am not exactly sure why it is a shoe, but it is a pretty cool setup at the entrance of the Kroger. I wonder what they are going to do with the old shoe when we win a sixth banner?
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