INDIANPOLIS -ÊQuestion: What's the weakest link in the armor of the 1998 Indiana Hoosiers?

The answer prior to this weekend's two games was the lack of a dominant big man.

The play of freshman Kirk Haston and Will Gladness in this past weekend's NABC Classic may have solved that problem.

Indiana defeated South Carolina 76-55 Sunday afternoon after beating Seton Hall 83-69 Saturday.

Sunday Haston jumped off the bench in the second half and provided 10 points and five boards. This followed his debut of 17 points and eight rebounds against Seton Hall.

Surprised?

The media were.

IU players were not.

"We knew (Haston) could do this," Gladness said, "this is just the beginning for Kirk.

"There were a lot of questions coming into this year about our frontline, but I think that these first two games showed that that's not a weakness for us. Haston's really an excellent player."

"He wasn't really heard of coming in, but that red-shirt year really helped him," said Luke Recker. "He's a smart player, he can shoot the ball well, he just does a number of things for us when he comes into the game."

Said Indiana coach Bob Knight: "It really pleased me, Haston's play in the second half (vs. South Carolina). He had, for a freshman, a hell of a game in his first game, and then I thought he was back in Tennessee playing in high school in the first half. For him to come back, after not getting off to a good start, he really played well."

Sunday against the Gamecocks, Recker shined with 22 points and five assists to lead all scorers. Recker slashed, he drove, and he left the South Carolina defense in a state of chaos.

Recker also knocked down three three-pointers, two of which came at crucial points in the game when it looked like USC could start a run.

"It was real important for us to come into this weekend and get these two wins," Recker said in the postgame press conference. "That was our focus these first three weeks, to start the season out right."

The key to the Hoosiers' impressive opening weekend was defense.

In their first two games, IU held its opponents to a total of 124 points,

which inculded a combined 50 of 127 shooting for the opposition. Another

impressive fact was the indivdual defense of AJ Guyton. Guyton held two

top players well below their scoring averages. Shaheen Holloway of

Seton Hall scored only six, while National Player of the Year candidate

BJ McKie of USC netted 10 points, and only two in the second half.

"The best thing that happend today was the way we started the game. That

was very good for us," said coach Bob Knight. "We knew we had to really

play at the start of the ball game or we'd find ourselves in a position

that we might not get out of. We worked like hell on our defense, and I

think we made some strides from yesterday to today."

So in their first weekend of action, with back-to-back games, the

Hoosiers have answered their inside questions, however new questions do

arise.

Can the Hoosiers maintain this intensity?

Can Haston continue his strong play inside, for such a young player?

Can the Hoosiers continue with stingy defense?

The answers lay ahead. IU plays next at home against Indiana State on

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