Column: Where it stops, nobody knows

This Indiana team is on the Wankavator. There’s no other way to explain it.

IU Coach Tom Crean and his team pressed a button to start the season, unsure of where it may lead, and thus far, it has propelled them to untold heights.

After a loss at Michigan State, some surmised the Hoosiers’ glass ceiling was set at a sterling nonconference schedule and mediocrity at Big Ten play. IU could now confidently gobble up weak teams, but still struggle with those towards the top.

Entering Saturday, Ohio State was undoubtedly the top.

But just as they did with Kentucky, the Hoosiers proved that no one really knows what this team’s limit is after a 74-70 victory against No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday in Assembly Hall.

Speculation has become useless.

I thought the first loss of IU’s season was a barometer for expectations for the rest of Big Ten play. The Hoosiers would experience difficulty on the road and occasional success with the conference’s best teams in Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State.

But that team doesn’t beat the second-best-ranked team in the country minus a key sixth-man in Will Sheehey, by allowing the Buckeyes to shoot 26 free throws in the game and 52.2 percent from the field in the second half, or with freshman forward Cody Zeller playing just four minutes in the second half.

Under those circumstances, a win just doesn’t seem possible.

However, this monumental win against Ohio State further proves the fact that everybody has a bad game, and in their lone loss of the season, some key contributors had just that.

Now I’m completely stumped as to what this team is capable of.  If it stays consistent, IU is far removed from any NCAA Tournament doubt.

And when all five starters are clicking, scoring in double figures and clamping down on defense when it counts down the stretch, I don’t know who can stop them.

The sample size is still too small to determine how this team can fare on the road in the Big Ten, but it’s not hard to see a tough, determined team when they play like the Hoosiers did on New Year’s Eve night.

Those are the core concepts Crean’s squad needs to take away from Assembly Hall. It’s not by luck or coincidence that this is the first IU team to defeat the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked teams in the same season.
This team is for real. They can play — and beat — the best under less than desirable circumstances stemming from injury and foul trouble.

Now they need to beat the teams they’re capable of beating and do so in a friendly or hostile environment.

Mighty Ohio State was supposed to be the Hoosiers’ stop.

Just step off the elevator and walk onto the floor most expect you to end on.

But, whoosh! Right through the ceiling they went, shattering the glass into a million pieces on the floor below.

I don’t know where their unpredictable, overachieving elevator will end up.  If this season has taught us anything, it’s really anyone’s guess.