Jim Cramer seems Bullish on the Hoosiers.  Our money is still on Penn State

What: Penn State (12-5, 5-2 Big Ten) vs. Indiana (8-10, 0-7 Big Ten)

When: Saturday, October 15, 2011, 7:00 p.m. ET

Where: Bloomington, IN

Media: Watch Live BigTenNetwork.com Streaming Video; GameTracker

 This has been a tough season for Indiana.  Last in the Big Ten, with no wins in seven tries.  Not much to say about it, really.    Here’s what the Sports Information Department had to say after last night’s 4-set loss to Ohio State: 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana Volleyball (8-10, 0-7) fell to the 24th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (14-6, 4-3) in four sets (16-25, 25-23, 12-25, 24-26). The Hoosiers took the second set, hitting .342, with 18 kills. In the fourth and final set, the Hoosiers lost a hard fought battle with the Buckeyes coming out on top 26-24.

IU got 13 kills from Kelci Marschall and 10 from Ivie Obeime. Marschall hit .290 in the match. The Hoosiers got 19 digs out of Caitlin Cox and 36 assists from Mary Chaudoin.

That’s it — 88 words, including “Bloomington, Ind.”  1.14 words-per-IU point scored in the match.  By comparison, the 686 word, 7.0 words-per-PSU point write-up by Penn State’s SID following the Nittany Lion’s 3-1 victory over Purdue Friday evening (32-30, 16-25, 25-19, 25-19), seemed positively garrulous.

 And we understand that.  There are only so many ways you can spin performances that end with an “L.”  And we agree that it’s highly unlikely that the Hoosiers rise up tonight to defeat Penn State.  But if the Penn State players or fans think a “W” is in the bag for tonight’s match, they should think again.  And think back.  To  this, from October 9, 2010:

 

Apparently, GameTracker was so befuddled with the situation that it just broke down, getting stuck in the third set with Penn State leading 20-16.   GameTracker’s message to Nittany Lions fans seemed to be “Stop right here, this isn’t going to end well.” 

And it didn’t.  At least not for Penn State, as the Nittany Lions went on to lose the match to Indiana, 3-1 (19-25, 25-27, 25-18, 24-26).

                                                                  Could Indiana roll over Penn State in Bloomington?

Of course, Penn State has already stepped up its performance in this season’s “Indiana Weekend” over last year’s version, when the Nittany Lions lost both matches in a Lost Weekend.  And we don’t expect a repeat of last season’s meltdown against Indiana.  For one thing, the fabulous Ashley Benson has graduated — a truly great player.  But tonight is no time for the Penn State players to decide to mail one in.  That kind of letter is likely to come back “postage due” with a big “L” stamped on the front.

Here are Penn State’s statistics updated to include the Purdue match:

Attack Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	K	K/S	E	TA	Pct.
18	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	432	3.54	144	1090	.264
1	Scott, Ariel	So.	118	33	31	418	3.54	136	1083	.260
16	Slay, Katie	So.	122	33	33	257	2.11	63	502	.386
14	Whitney, Aiyana	Fr.	65	24	0	113	1.74	51	320	.194
6	Martin, Maddie	So.	98	33	24	141	1.44	60	410	.198
7	Grant, Nia	Fr.	117	32	32	151	1.29	44	309	.346
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	110	0.91	34	246	.309
	Team	n/a	122	33	33	1676	13.74	564	4159	.267
	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	1377	11.29	684	4077	.170

Set/Serve Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	Ast	A/S	SA	SA /S	SE
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	1275	10.54	91	0.75	76
23	Longo, Ali	So.	117	33	0	90	0.77	32	0.27	30
5	Carpenter, Kristin	Jr.	100	33	4	76	0.76	14	0.14	37
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	Fr.	84	29	6	19	0.23	8	0.10	21
33	Fuller, Lacey	Fr.	67	30	0	4	0.06	7	0.10	6
n/a	Team	n/a	122	33	33	1549	12.70	209	1.71	288
n/a	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	1293	10.60	113	0.93	202

Recept/Dig Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Class	SP	MP	MS	RE	Dig	Dig/Set
23	Longo, Ali	So.	117	33	0	19	397	3.39
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	4	279	2.31
18	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	22	245	2.01
5	Carpenter, Kristin	Jr.	100	33	4	12	182	1.82
6	Martin, Maddie	So.	98	33	24	21	156	1.59
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	Fr.	84	29	6	10	123	1.46
33	Fuller, Lacey	Fr.	67	30	0	13	59	0.88
	Team	n/a	122	33	33	113	1729	14.17
	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	209	1671	13.70

Blocking Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	BS	BA	TB	B/S	BE	BHE
16	Slay, Katie	So.	122	33	33	27	146	173	1.42	11	3
7	Grant, Nia	Fr.	117	32	32	13	94	107	0.91	4	0
1	Scott, Ariel	So.	118	33	31	5	81	86	0.73	2	1
18	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	13	48	61	0.50	6	3
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	5	54	59	0.49	9	19
	Team	n/a	122	33	33	76	503	327.5	2.68	40	31
	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	51	341	221.5	1.82	69	39