No. 8 Indiana Vs. No. 9 Arkansas

In the summer 2000 film, Me, Myself and Irene, Jim Carrey played the role of Charley Baileygates, a Rhode Island state trooper afflicted with multiple personality disorder. Charley was a mild-mannered Prince of a guy who raised three sons who he obviously was not the father of. Charley's alter ego was Hank, a foul-mouthed, egomaniacal jerk. And Hank wasn't even in politics.

In one exchange between Charley/Hank and his love interest, Irene, played by Renee Zellweger, Irene asked Charley/Hank about something he said beginning with "Hank said". Irene: "did you just refer to yourself in the fourth person?"

What, I'm sure you're asking yourselves, does this have to do with basketball and the NCAA Tournament matchup between Arkansas and Indiana? If you've watched either of these teams play lately, the answer is everything. Especially, the Universsity of Arkansas basketball Razorbacks. Locally, the school is often referred to as UA for short. Often, Hog basketball fans the past few years have been left to wonder if UA stands for Under Achievers.

At least Indiana's tailspin didn't start until the Kelvin Sampson scandal forced him out of the head coaching position at IU. This Arkansas team's performance this season has made Charley Baileygates/Hank look stable by comparison. In an early season tournament game against Providence, located in Rhode Island, by the way, the Hogs turned the ball over nearly thirty times, despite Providence's lack of pressure defense.

In a nonconference tilt at N. Little Rock's Alltel Arena, Arkansas was outrebounded by 11 by Appalachian State and lost in spite of being 4-5 inches taller at nearly every position. Indiana led the Big 10 Conference in rebounding margin. Do you see where I'm going with this?

This Arkansas team was considered by most observors to be at worst, the 2nd most talented team in the SEC behind Tennessee. The Hogs are the tallest and most experienced team in the league, with 6 seniors and 4 players 6'10 or taller. The coaches in the SEC and media both picked the Hogs to win the Western division and content for the league crown.

Instead, after a 6-2 start in the SEC, the Razorbacks bumbled, and stumbled to a 3-5 finish in the league, won a pair of games in the SEC Tournament, then the day after upending #4 Tennessee, spit the bit in a sleepwalking performance against Georgia, a team with only 9 players on scholarship who had played 4 games in four days, two of them just over 24 hours before.

The key matchups in this NCAA Tournament game are: DJ White of Indiana against Arkansas' Darian Townes and Eric Gordon of Indiana vs. Sonny Weems of Arkansas. Look for White and Townes to really get after one another inside. If one team wins both of these matchups, that school will almost surely win

The Hogs are 5-6 in their last 11 games. Arkansas' strengths are 6 seniors and an inside rotation of 5 inside players, all 6'8 or taller. Darian Townes, 6'10 and 250 has been hot of late, scoring 15+ points a game in the last 6 or 7 contests. Charles Thomas, 6'8, emerged from coach John Pelphrey's doghouse to be named to the All-SEC Tournament first team. The guards are quick. When senior point guard Gary Ervin plays under control, the Hogs are hard to stop. Swingman Sonny Weems is a difficult matchup at 6'6, with a sometimes effective outside shot. 7 footer Steven Hill is the fourth leading shot blocker in SEC history.

Weaknesses: turnovers have been a problem off and on all season. Indiana has struggled to create turnovers, but these Hogs can turn it over against air, and often do. Outside shooting is sporadic. The Hogs are either hot or cold from the 3 point line with little in between. Free throw shooting is less than stellar, and like three point shooting, seems to run hot or cold. Fouls are a constant problem, with this team usually being called for several more fouls a game than opponents. Rebounding is inconsistent, to say the least. The Hogs outboarded Vanderbilt and Tennessee badly, then flopped against Georgia.

Indiana strengths: the inside/outside duo of DJ White and Eric Gordon make it hard to double up too much on either. White, 6'8 and 250, is the reigning Big 10 Player of the Year and averages a double/double. The Hoosiers were 2nd in the Big 10 in rebounding, a Kelvin Sampson trademark. In spite of talk that IU will try to slow the game down to a crawl, Indiana led the Big 10 in scoring with 75.7 per game. The Hoosiers are an excellent free throw shooting team with a season percentage of 76.8 from the charity stripe. As much as Arkansas gets called for fouls, Indiana's shooters may need to ice down their elbows after the game from shooting so many.

Weaknesses: Indiana has lost 3 of their last 4 games and seems to have had trouble putting the Kelvin Sampson resignation behind them, going 3-3 under interim coach Dan Dakich. The players reportedly preferred one of the other assistants to take over for Sampson. The Hoosiers don't shoot the three all that well at 34.6 pct. and have had some defensive lapses.The defense has struggled to force turnovers and the team has turned it over 17 times more than foes. Playing Arkansas, a team that often has more turnovers than the deli at Wal--Mart, could cure that problem.

Interim Indiana coach Dan Dakich said when he is depressed he eats or jokes, so he might eat a side of beef or tell Henny Youngman stories. I doubt that Dakish will be depressed late friday night. With Arkansas not having won an NCAA game since '99, leading scorer Sonny Weems having a gimpy knee, the foul shooting disparity between the two teams and the Hogs general erratic ways, the only thing consistent about this team is inconsistency, look for a score of:

Indiana 65, Arkansas 64