College Basketball Grab Bag: More of the Same at Indiana

Welcome to the VICE Sports College Basketball Grab Bag, where every week we'll round up the biggest news stories in the sport. Random stuff, too, because it's college basketball. Enjoy!

What is Wrong With Indiana?

Indiana was supposed to stop underachieving this year. Two years ago, the Hoosiers failed to even make the NIT, despite having two five-star recruits. Last year, IU made the NCAA Tournament, but exited in the first round — again with two five-star recruits.

Failing to make the NIT is certainly not up to Indiana standards, but first round exits from the NCAA Tournament isn't cutting it, either. This program should compete for national championships, and they recruit well enough to do so.

This year's team was supposed to change that recent trend. Indiana has two five-star guards, including point guard Yogi Ferrell, and a five-star freshman center, Thomas Bryant. But so far, it's more of the same.

At this week's Maui Invitational, Indiana lost to both Wake Forest and UNLV—neither is expected to make the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers also barely beat St. John's, which lost an exhibition game to a Division II school by 32 points and is ranked No. 174 nationally in the KenPom.com ratings. The frontcourt has struggled after coach Tom Crean ran off two solid, but not great players — one for simply being near marijuana, even though he wasn't cited — in order to bring in better recruits.

So what ails Indiana? The Hoosiers have the talent on both sides of the ball, but they turn the ball over on almost a quarter of their possessions, which ranks 336th in the country. That's fixable, but the question is whether fans trust Crean to actually get it fixed. This Indiana team has the talent to go far, but it's tough to expect anything more than a sad first round exit from the NCAA Tournament.

Watch a Game Bill Walton Broadcasts

I work from home, which means sometimes I turn on random sporting events in the middle of the day. This week, former NBA great Bill Walton, who has a tepee in his backyard, was broadcasting the Maui Invitational.

Walton hardly ever actually talks about the game. He just goes on tangents about whatever world event or subject he's thinking about. And his broadcast partner is generally cool with it.

BILL WALTON: 'I've been watching the game!'JON SCIAMBI: 'You've sort of been watching. Sort of.'

— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond)November 25, 2015

Bill Walton: 'Eleanor Roosevelt said 'You should do something every day that scares you.''Jon Sciambi: 'I'm right in the middle of it.'

— Matt Schick (@ESPN_Schick)November 25, 2015

Here is what I learned listening to Bill Walton:

• He used free throws to rest. That's why he never got better at them.
• He only recently learned that ESPN colleague Fran Fraschilla is not, in fact, named Fred.
• He loves China.
• He is the greatest ever Maui Jim sunglasses spokesman.
• After talking about Einstein, he said, "I readily admit I don't know anything about anything."

Watch a Bill Walton game. You will not be disappointed.

Northern Iowa Should Be Your Favorite Mid-Major

It's been almost a week since Northern Iowa knocked off former No. 1 North Carolina on Saturday. This game was weird from the start, since UNC scheduled it as a homecoming for star point guard Marcus Paige, who was out with an injury.

But nevertheless, surprisingly, UNI won. But surprising people is becoming the norm for the Panthers and coach Ben Jacobson.

UNI is best known for its dramatic win over No. 1 Kansas in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, but the Panthers are among the best mid-majors in the country every year. Last year, the Panthers earned a No. 5 seed in the tournament behind star forward Seth Tuttle, who Jacobson plucked out of the middle of nowhere in Iowa when no other schools wanted him.

This year, without Tuttle, UNI would surely succumb to UNC's size, right? But UNI's gameplan emphasized its guards. Wes Washpun, Matt Bohannon and Paul Jesperson all finished in double figures.

This team is fun to watch, and they are a true contender in a stacked Missouri Valley Conference. Get on the Panthers bandwagon early. More upsets could be on the way.

Best Week: Miami

The Hurricanes came into the season unranked, but shot up to No. 15 in the AP Poll this week after beating No. 16 Utah, 90-66, and No. 22 Butler, 85-75. Oh, and Miami added two five-star commits on the SAME DAY. Not a bad week.

Worst Week: Indiana/Illinois

We've already recapped Indiana's terrible time in Maui — how the hell do you have a terrible time in Maui? — but Illinois's week was arguably even worse. The Illini aren't even a top 100 team, according to the KenPom ratings, and they just lost to Chattanooga, then also barely beat Chicago State, who came into that game as the eighth worst team in the country.

So Illinois is now 2-3, with losses to Chattanooga and North Florida, and its only two wins are nail biters against North Dakota State and Chicago State. That's bad.

Random rankings

Every week, I will rank random things. This week, it's the five most hilarious games Indiana has lost over the past two years.

• Eastern Washington, 2014-15 (ranked 132 KenPom): This was the first loss of the season for last year's team. Remember, Indiana paid EWU to come to Bloomington to lose.
• Northwestern, 2013-14 (131): How do you miss the NIT? Lose to Northwestern at home.
• UNLV, 2015-16 (93): UNLV is not supposed to be a major factor in the Mountain West this year, and the Rebels actually struggled more with Chaminade in Maui than they did with the Hoosiers.
• Northwestern, 2014-15 (118): At least this time it was on the road.
• Wake Forest, 2015-16 (78): Wake Forest is not good and is probably not going to make the NCAA Tournament. But at least it wasn't Eastern Washington.