An Indiana sighting

 Down in Bloomington last night your Indiana Hoosiers punked USC by 13 in a Big Ten  basketball game, which is still such a weird concept a lot of us may never get used to it.

("Wait'll the Big Failed Basic Math and the SEC merge into one gelatinous mass," you're saying now. "You really WON'T ever get used to that!")

Yeah, well ...

As I said, Indiana beat USC by 13, and now the Hoosiers are 13-3 and 4-1 in the conference, with only Michigan and Michigan State are ahead of them in the standings. They're tied for third with Illinois, they're on a five-game winning streak, and no one in the conference has more wins so far this season than their 13.

So, good on them. Could be they might actually be a tough out by the time March rolls around.

I say this not to honk off any candy-striped loyalists, but to acknowledge what Indiana watchers have grown used to the last few seasons: Waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's what happens when you're as maddeningly inconsistent as Indiana has been recently, following up encouraging victories with getting blown out by Whatsamatta U. 

So far this season, though, that generally hasn't happened. All those transfers Mike Woodson brought in from hither and yon are slowly rounding into a cohesive unit, mainly Woodson seems to have found a cohesive rotation. 

Arziona transfer Oumar Bello went for 23 points and eight boards last night, and has combined with the currently-injured Malik Reneau to give the Hoosiers the force inside they've been missing since Trayce Jackson-Davis left. Washington State transfer Myles Price added 19, nine rebounds and six assists -- Braden Smith numbers from up the road at Purdue -- and gives Indiana the steadying point guard play it's been similarly missing.

Luke Goode, meanwhile, is now a regular starter and was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc last night, filling the purpose for which he was intended when he left Illinois to come to B-town.

This is not to say the Hoosiers can suddenly hit the broad side of a naval broadside from Threeville. They can't yet, at least not consistently. Aside from Goode, after all, they were 2-of-16 from deep last night. You could blindfold Mister Magoo and spin him around three times and he'd shoot better.

So, there is work to be done yet. But Whatsamatta U. hasn't blown them out yet, so  there you go. 

Saturday night they're in Iowa City to face the 11-4 Hawkeyes, and next Tuesday they get Illinois in the Hall. Collect a couple of Ws in those two, and then we'll start to know something. We'll know, or at least strongly suspect, they're actually good-good, and not just conceptually good.

I can't speak for Hoo-Hoo-Hoosier Nation. But I suspect they'd take that.