Un-Magical Mystery Tour

 OK, so, you figure 'em out. I'm done tryin'.

You figure out how a basketball team that left its heart and guts and various other vital organs on the floor against No. 2 Kansas can come out, three days later, and be down 15 in the second half to a mid-major.

You figure out where Kel'el Ware disappeared to, and what sort of milk carton we should have looked at to find Malik Reneau, and why nobody can make a three. You figure out why this team -- which looked like an NCAA Tournament team three days ago -- needed a partial block by Reneau at the buzzer to salvage the W last night.

Indiana 69, Morehead State 68. That was your final from Assembly Hall.

Survive and advance, meet survive and regress.

How near a thing was it?

Well, if Anthony Walker doesn't emerge from the mists of sporadic playing time to drop 18 points on the Moreheads (and where the hell did that come from?), Indiana loses this one. And by a lot.

It loses because it missed 13 of 16 attempts from beyond the arc, and missed 38 of  63 shots overall, and got braziered for 30 points by a 6-5 guard named Jordan Lathon -- which was four points more than his previous season high of 26.

Which he put up against ... Northern Iowa.

These Hoosiers, man. Might be the only team in America that suffers a letdown after a loss.

And, yeah, OK, 75-71 to Kansas didn't feel like loss, at least not completely. Conversely, last night didn't feel in any way like a win. It felt like a loss in drag. A drag-win.

I don't know what Mike Woodson had to say about that. But I know what Bob Knight would have said: The wrong team won.

In any case, the Hoosiers are 8-3 now, and still don't have a resume W. And they still continue to amaze, though not in a good way. 

Ware, the bulwark of this team so far this season, had zero points in the first half last night. Zee. Ro. He finished with 10 points and six boards -- five-and-a-half points and three-and-a-half rebounds below his season averages.

Meanwhile, Gabe Cupps and C.J. Gunn, alleged shooters, were a combined 0-for-3 from three and 2-for-7 overall. Everyone else seemed to follow their lead.

Against Morehead State.

Who, in Indiana's defense, came in 8-3 with a veteran lineup featuring seven seniors. And it's not like Indiana is the only Big Ten that's struggling right now. Maryland barely scraped by Nicholls State last night. Michigan is a .500 basketball team. Michigan State lost at home to James Madison, lost at Nebraska and is 6-5. So is Iowa.

Except for Purdue and maybe Wisconsin, the Big Ten as whole looks to be down this year. Considerably.

Still ...

Still, Indiana needed Reneau getting a desperate finger on Lathon's last shot to escape an Ohio Valley Conference school. And so the Hoosier Mystery Tour goes on, and it ain't exactly Magical.

Next up is North Alabama, another mid-major, a .500 basketball team coming to Assembly Hall. The Blob's prediction: Indiana blows out the Lions by 30.

The Un-Magical Mystery Tour practically demands it.