TheHoosier.com's staff came together to answer one question for each day leading up to the season opener against Western Illinois on Nov 5. Taylor Lehman, Nick Baumgart, Steve Risley, D.J. Fezler and Cole Hanna all give their opinions on questions that spur anticipation within the fanbase.
Nov. 5's question is "Which game(s) are you looking forward to this season?"
Question
Which game(s) are you looking forward to this season?
Steve Risley
"I don't think anything is important until you get to the Big Ten. It's a dog fight with everybody."
Are there any games you look forward to because you remember them being pretty tough games to play when you were playing?
"That's a tough question because the era has changed so much. I hated playing at Wisconsin because they were such a physical basketball team. Ann Arbor was nuts. Northwestern, you had to walk across a dirt track in your basketball shoes to get to the gym. We dressed in the football locker room.
Every game is unique in the Big Ten. We never won at Purdue in my four years there, and Purdue never won at Bloomington. It's that kind of an emotional game."
Nick Baumgart
"I can't wait for the game at Wisconsin in 32 days. Extremely important game early against a team that IU is expected to compete with for one of the three "open" bids out of the seven expected from the Big Ten for the NCAA Tournament.
IU hasn't won in Madison since January 1998. But it's as winnable of a fame as they come at the Kohl Center – Micah Potter is ineligible for the first semester, Ethan Happ graduated.
It's got postseason ramifications, but it's also an important test to find out where the Hoosiers stand. It'll be their first true road game of the year, which only adds suspense to the situation.
Winning at Wisconsin would put Indiana in the driver's seat for its own destiny down the stretch in the Big Ten."
Taylor Lehman
"December is going to be a really tough month for Indiana. I agree with Nick that Wisconsin is going to be one of the most significant games of the season for Indiana, but three days later, the hoosiers will be in New York City at Madison Square Garden playing Connecticut, a very beatable team.
While there are several Big Ten games that are crucial – Michigan State, both against Purdue, both against Ohio State, etc – conference games are always tough and important, especially in the later stages of the season. But that two-game stretch between Madison and New York City is where we will really see what this team is made of early on.
I wrote a team preview for Connecticut last month, and while the Huskies are building something with Dan Hurley, it is still too early to fear UConn again. Both Connecticut and Wisconsin will be winnable games. It just depends on how Indiana will handle the travel and the environments of both games, given that it plays most of its non-conference schedule at home.
Also, don't sleep on South Dakota State. It finished as a top-100 team last year and can shoot from outside. That's what that program has been built on. It will certainly provide some resistance against IU."
Cole Hanna
"This is always a tough question since there will be no shortage of good teams to play in the Big Ten. As for the non-conference I think playing UConn in Madison Square Garden along with the Crossroads Classic match-up with Notre Dame will be fun to see. Not to mention Florida State traveling to Bloomington should be a great match-up as well.
Big Ten games are tougher to decide between since a lot of teams (including Indiana) are going to have to find a way to replace some key players. That being said, a January 23rd home match-up with the Spartans, who find themselves ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls, should be a crazy atmosphere. Can't finish without mentioning the rivalry matchups with Purdue as well, with the Hoosiers playing the Boilermakers a couple of times in February. "
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