LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- I swim in the world of obscure college basketball statistics. Occasionally, I find one that inspires me to ask others if this number seems really, really, really troubling.
I found that kind of number Saturday.
Then, I found the same number again Sunday.
The connection was too direct — and too outrageous — to resist.
Louisville lost to Pittsburgh Saturday by 27 points. The Cardinals put up enough defensive resistance to force one, two, three turnovers out of the Panthers over a full 40 minutes.
Three turnovers in 40 minutes.
Louisville forced zero turnovers in the final 24 minutes and 26 seconds.
Russ Smith wept.
But before I had time to research how unusual it was for a Power 5 program to squeeze three measly turnovers out of its opponent over an entire game, Mike Woodson's sagging Indiana team stumbled into the discussion.
Indiana lost to Northwestern in Bloomington Sunday by four in a game where the Hoosiers were behind by 16 late in the second half.
The Hoosiers put up enough defensive resistance to force one, two, three turnovers out of its opponent over the full 40 minutes.
Three turnovers in 40 minutes.
IU forced one turnover in the final 31 minutes and 36 seconds.
Dane Fife wept.
Louisville's overall defensive efficiency of No. 225 makes Indiana's 95th ranking look like the Steel Curtain.
It's not.
Bob Knight would have asked for his initials to be stripped from the Hoosiers' jerseys for the remainder of the season.
Apparently, at Louisville and Indiana, legitimate defensive resistance requires a bonus Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) payment. Five- or six-figure deals are not sufficient to convince guys to bend their knees, move their feet, lock in their concentration and make an opposing dribbler uncomfortable.
Considering one team that failed to defend was Louisville and the other was Indiana, during a season that has created raging indigestion at both programs, I had to ask this question:
In a season where neither team will sniff the NCAA Tournament, which fan base has it worse?
Louisville or Indiana?
I presented the question to one fan from each school — Frick, representing Louisville, and Frack, representing IU.
Play Ball.
FRICK: You can't be serious. Indiana has won 14 games and beat the Cards in New York City in November. Louisville has won 12 games in nearly two full seasons.
Louisville has lost 41 of its last 47 Atlantic Coast Conference games.
The Cards have not won back-to-back ACC games in 775 days. They haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019. They have not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2017.
Top that, pal.
FRACK: No problem. Mike Woodson's team treats Northwestern like the Wildcats are the Celtics or Nuggets. They got torched for double doubles by Nick Martinelli and Matthew Nicholson, nobody's all-Americans.
That loss to Northwestern Saturday was Woodson's fourth straight to the Purple. Bob Knight lost 3 games in 29 seasons to the juggernaut from Evanston.
I won't mention the record against Wisconsin, another team Knight owned.
FRICK: Turnovers, schmurnovers. Everybody makes the scoreboard tilt against the Cards.
Pitt averages less than 76 points a game. The Panthers dropped an easy 86 on Louisville Saturday.
Mark that down as the ninth time in 15 games an ACC opponent put 80 or more on Louisville.
FRACK: Nine teams have made 10 or more threes against Indiana. Woodson's team has been outscored from distance in 17 of 25 games by a total of … 246 points for the season. That's right, nearly 10 points per game.
Woodson coaches like he believes they're using the same rules that were in place in 1980, when he played for Knight.
They're serving alcohol in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall these days.
If you a tipped a beer every time the Hoosiers launched a long two-pointer (the worst shot in college basketball), you'd need an Uber to get home. Woodson's team ranks 348th in the nation in percentage of shots taken behind the three-point line.
And they can't make free throws. Just 66%, No. 333 in the country.
Calbert Cheaney wept. (Well, he looked on the verge of tears Sunday.)
Woodson keeps talking about how he needs to get his team "over the hump." Indiana fans keep wondering if Woodson is the hump.
FRICK: Louisville lost to DePaul, which is 3-22, fired its coach and is riding a 13-game losing streak.
FRACK: At least that game was in Chicago. Indiana lost to Penn State by 14 in Bloomington — and Penn State and its first-year coach could not beat Bucknell or Georgia Tech.
FRICK: Arkansas State 75, Louisville 63.
FRACK: Rutgers 66, Indiana 57.
FRICK: Chattanooga 81, Louisville 71.
FRACK: Penn State 85, IU 71.
FRICK: You mentioned that already, clown.
FRACK: Four losses to UConn, Auburn and Purdue by an average of more than 22 points.
FRICK: Four losses to Kentucky, Virginia, Wake Forest and Pitt by an average of nearly 24 points.
FRACK: Sitting tied for 9th in the Big Ten (behind Northwestern, Nebraska and Minnesota) when you were projected to finish sixth or even higher by some.
FRICK: Sitting 15th and last in the ACC when you were predicted to finish, well, at least ahead of Notre Dame.
FRACK: Victor Oladipo wept.
FRICK: Shouldn't we all?
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