Indiana State cruises over Oakland City 78-45 in season opener (AP)

[Jason Svoboda]

Marico Stinson scored 15 points and dished out six assists to lead three players in double figures as Indiana State beat Division II Oakland City 78-45 Friday in the season opener for both teams. Cole Holstrom had 12 and Jay Tunnell 10 for the Sycamores, who led 38-20 at halftime. Adam Arnold had seven rebounds.

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[Little Eddie]

How was the crowd? Who looked good? Who didn't?

Just by looking at the stats I like what I see in the minutes played. They're nice and spread out. We'll see if that trend can continue on Wednesday. I know many complained about Gabe's minutes last year being a reason for him being burned out by season's end. Would be nice to lighten the minutes on all the guys.

CU spread out the minutes well tonight...nobody in the 30 minutes played range. FWIW, they looked REALLY GOOD. Surprisingly good to someone who is familiar w/ their play...early analysis of their play shows that it doesn't appear that they will be rebuilding after all.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

First off, remember, Eddie, that anything about the crowd is relative. Don't think of it in Creighton terms. Otherwise, you'll want to slit your wrists. For Indiana State, the crowd was actually decent, 3700+. I say decent only because it was a Friday night, and we were playing Oakland City. Not a lot to draw on.

Rico Stinson looked good. He was smooth as silk, and really got his shot on. The thing that sets him apart from others on the team is his ability to create his own shot. Holmstrom looked good as well, but he went down with an ankle injury after hitting a 3 in the second half. You might ask bro about that and give us an update. All in all, the team continued to improve, if you don't take into account Harry Marshall's two (yes, two) missed dunks. I'm sure he'll get some ribbing from the guys about that.

Our freshman continue to impress me, although we really haven't played anyone yet. Aaron Carter looks like a junior. I wonder, did he live with your brother this past summer? It looks as though he's been playing college ball for a couple of years. Isiah Martin really changes things up inside for us, and he'll be fun to watch for the next few years. Lamar Lee also looks good. He'll be able to give Gabe some able relief at PG.

One thing that struck me is the aggressive manner in which Jay Tunnell is playing. It's totally different than the last two years. He just seems to be playing harder, and he's getting up off the floor a lot higher when he jumps. Perhaps that means his knees are totally healed? He's going to be a bigger inside force this year than anyone expectetd.

All in all, a good showing, in that we beat a team by 33 points and we should have. The past few years, this would have been a 12-15 point game.

I also think the boys look like they're having a lot of fun. Part of that is that they're not sucking air as the game wears on. Of course it helps that no one played over 27 minutes.

Well, that's my ramblings. I'm looking forward to seeing this team progress throughout the year. As a good friend of mine said tonight, "This year is all about January and Februrary."

 

[BankShot]

I like the 35 pts. on 22 Oakland City To's conversion rate...this is what we've been missing over the past few years in the half-court only routine. It's nice to see the Trees having "fun" while growing up, isn't it?