Assembly Hell

 Maybe this will close the book on Mike Woodson, this mess of a botched W under those five banners that look as ancient as Stonehenge these days. It sure feels that way -- although, let's face it, it's felt that way before.

I'm thinking now of that humiliation against Illinois a week or so ago, a 25-point crater job that for more most of the night wasn't even that close. Boos and cries of "Fire Woodson" followed the Indiana Hoosiers off the floor that night, and, yeah, it felt like the end of another IU error.

But yesterday?

Yesterday was worse.

Yesterday was worse, because a good Maryland team was in town for a game Indiana desperately needed to plump up its resume, and the Hoosiers had it right on their racquet with 38 seconds to play. And then ...

And then, they didn't. Then, for want of a better term, they Woodson-ed it up.

In those last 38 seconds, Maryland scored five points to zippo for Indiana, and flat-out stole the thing. Stole it because Trey Galloway missed the front end of a one-and-one -- spotty free-throw shooting, along with much else, has been a hallmark of Woodson's regime -- with a handful of seconds to play and the Hoosiers up 78-76. Stole it because, with two fouls to give, Indiana unaccountably failed to foul on Maryland's next possession, which ended with Rodney Rice dropping a 3-pointer down the throat to give the Terrapins a 79-78 lead with 5.9 seconds left.

It was Rice's fifth triple of the game on seven attempts. The last guy you'd want on the arc with the ball in his hands and the clock getting skinny, and yet there he was.

After that ...

Well, after that, chaos. Indiana called time. Woodson hurriedly tried to run in some subs, Luke Goode and Mackenzie Mgbako for Anthony Leal and Oumar Ballo. That scrambled whatever inbounds play Indiana had cooked up, with the result that Myles Rice ran to the wrong place on the floor and wound up hoisting a desperation air ball as the buzzer sounded.

And Assembly Hall abruptly became Assembly Hell.

The "Fire Woodson!" cries started up again from a crowd that, ominously, was not capacity. The students, spoiled brats that they are, led the chant and booed the team off the floor. Everything about it all reeked of disorganization, indecision, a steady unraveling.

"Yes, we were under the impression we were supposed to foul, and unfortunately we didn't," Leal said in the postgame.

"Under the impression"? The hell does that mean?

And then, of the final timeout ...

"I think we were trying to run a play, but then the substitutions kind of got everybody confused a little bit," Rice said.

He thinks they were trying to run a play? Thinks? The hell does THAT mean?

Holy guacamole. And all of the above isn't even the worst part.

The worst part is, the Hoosiers have now lost four of their last five, three by nine points or more, and in four days they enter the howling cauldron that is Mackey Arena.

Where Matt Painter has figured out a rotation that works, and where consequently the Boilermakers have won eight of their last nine games -- seven of them by double digits, and six of them by 18 or more points.

Friday night, in a clash between two of the top three teams in the Big Ten, they crushed  Michigan by 27. Forced 22 turnovers and made 14 steals. Harassed the Wolverines into 37 percent shooting. Turned it over just six times themselves.

That's who Indiana gets next.

But, hey. At least it won't be in Assembly Hell.