Milton Bradley was expected in Chicago later this week to undergo a physical, and if all goes well, could sign a three-year contract with the Cubs.

The Cubs were expected Tuesday to finalize the deal with Colorado and send pitcher Jason Marquis to the Rockies in exchange for reliever Luis Vizcaino.

   New Indiana head coach Tom Crean isn’t about to let anyone dictate his team’s mood.

   Following IU’s 65-60 loss to Iowa last Saturday, a reporter asked a question about the Hoosiers’ mind frame, saying that the players seemed “down” following IU’s Dec. 28 loss to Lipscomb. The normally jovial Crean bristled at the question.

   “Did you spend a lot of time with (the players) last week?” Crean asked. “Do you spend a lot of time with our players? You just gave me your opinion. No offense. I like you. But don’t tell me what my players are because I’m with them every day. Were they down because they lost a game?

The Cubs could have a new owner in 2009, possibly before Opening Day. But Lou Piniella is more interested in a big bat to break up the right-handed lineup. However, if the Cubs are going to sign a free agent, they do need to shed some salary.

He seemed destined to be the one who threw open the Hall of Fame's doors for the influx of baseball's neo knights, the closers. That did not happen, but now that Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage have done the honors, Lee Smith would be more than thrilled to follow his peers across the doorsill.

While I'm guessing that Tom Crean is not going to go on the record saying that this is the case, I believe there can be moral victories when you're dealing with a young, inexperienced basketball team that is very low on the expectations scale.

The basketball purist will look at Saturday's 65-60 loss to Iowa and say that the only statistic that matters is that the Hoosiers are 0-1 but I would beg to disagree. I felt like there were some things that happened for Indiana Saturday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena that the Hoosiers can build upon moving forward.

Let's begin with turnovers. In the first 12 games this season, IU was averaging 19.6 turnovers per game. Take away the Chaminade game in the Maui Invitational, and that average was more than 20 a game. Look just at how IU had done in true road games in that department: an average of 23 per game (26 at Wake Forest and 20 at Kentucky). Now look at Saturday's number against Iowa: 11. And when you think about it, that number was 10 until the final 10 seconds when Daniel Moore raced the ball up trailing 64-60 and tried to get it to Tom Pritchard in the post but turned it over with 6.3 seconds remaining. But what needs to be taken into account here is that 10 would have been the new season low. Eleven ties the season low (with Chaminade). And while Chaminade proved to be a worthy opponent for this IU team, it's difficult to make an apples and apples comparison between the 7th place game in Maui and the Big Ten road opener at Iowa. Eleven turnovers against the Hawkeyes is clearly a step in the right direction.

And let's take it even further and look at where the turnovers came from. Daniel Moore and Devan Dumes had led the team with 41 turnovers each coming into the game. Saturday, Moore had just the one in 11 minutes and that came in the closing seconds. Dumes had three in 30 minutes and two of those I believe came on offensive fouls (one for sure). Tom Pritchard had been third on the team with 35 turnovers and he also had just one but his total came in 30 minutes of play. And his turnover, if I remember correctly, came when he expected Moore to pop out into the corner for a pass from the right wing but instead Moore broke to the basket and Pritchard's pass sailed out of bounds. But that was it. That was his only miscue. So I truly do think that's an area to build upon.

Another tangible that the Hoosiers can build upon is sheer competitiveness. How many IU fans expected Indiana to go to Iowa City and win its Big Ten opener? I'm guessing that number was pretty low. In the circles in which I run, I was hearing over and over from friends Wednesday,Thursday and Friday that the Hoosiers were in big trouble heading to Carver-Hawkeye. After Iowa knocked down 14 3-pointers against Ohio State, and the Hawkeyes were now facing the worst 3-point shooting defense in the Big Ten, I think a lot of people expected Iowa to put up a big number against the Hoosiers. The oddsmakers that put up the 14 point Iowa spread certainly thought so. But Iowa was 5-of-14 from 3-point range. It didn't hurt that Matt Gatens and Jake Kelly each were dealing with a little foul trouble but it's still a positive to go into someone else's arena and hold your own in the conference opener. Those that expected IU to go to Iowa and get thumped had to have been more than a little surprised when two Matt Roth free throws cut the lead to 62-60 with 22.4 seconds remaining. And then on the inbounds IU almost got a turnover but the trap off the press resulted in the ball going off the foot of an Indiana player and getting Iowa a reset. Still, being competitive in the opener and doing so away from Assembly Hall has to mean something in the moral victory department. At the very least, the coaching staff has something to point to as a tangible result of what can happen when you play hard and you play together. That's what I saw from this Indiana basketball team once again on Saturday.

Free throws once again hurt the Hoosiers although you wouldn't think so at first glance when you saw that IU was 17-of-22 from the foul line. But a closer look reveals that it was when IU missed the free throws that were most important. IU trailed by eight in the first half and was trying to hang around when Nick Williams missed the front end of a one-and-one at the 4;49 mark. After Iowa built the lead up to 10 on two free throws by Cyrus Tate, the Hoosiers had a chance to answer but Kyle Taber missed the first of a one-and-one opportunity with 4:14 to play. On IU's final one-and-one opportunity of the first half, Matt Roth made two free throws with 23.6 seconds to play. In the second half, IU got into the bonus at the 12:38 mark and Verdell Jones III missed the front end of a one-and-one at a time when IU could have cut a nine point lead down to seven. Those are the little things that add up.

Throw in a steal by Malik Story at the 14:10 mark of the second half that resulted in a missed layup on the other end, and a steal and missed layup by Dumes at the 4:55 mark (though contested) and IU had its chances. Trailing by four with 1:30 to play, Williams missed an off balance drive to the basket that could have made it 60-58, Those are the shots that have to go down for the Hoosiers to win a tight game on the road. Now, there were plenty of other instances of shots that needed to go down that did but when you're trying to steal one on the road in the Big Ten you have to do the little things. That's where I thought IU came up just short. But it was a road game, IU's first road game in conference play for this group mind you, and all of that has to be taken into account.

Overall, I thought there were some things that IU could build upon coming out of the Big Ten opener. Michigan will be a formidable foe coming up Wednesday night at Assembly Hall but if IU had gone to Iowa and really struggled it could have made the mountain that much higher to climb coming back. At least this way, the Hoosiers have a solid effort to hang their collective hats on.

That's my take on IU-Iowa. What is yours?

Cyrus Tate scored a season-high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Iowa held off Indiana 65-60 on Saturday, spoiling Hoosiers coach Tom Crean's Big Ten debut. Jeff Peterson chipped in with 16 points for the Hawkeyes, who improved to 9-0 at home despite nearly blowing a 13-point second-half lead. Indiana went on a late 10-2 run to close within 62-60 with 22.4 seconds left.

It seems like that's the question that everyone wants to have answered as Indiana heads into the 2009 Big Ten season. I addressed that question in my advance in Saturday's Indianapolis Star for the IU-Iowa game. It seems like there are a lot of people weighing in on talk radio who think that zero wins for IU in Big Ten play is a strong possibility.

Before the regular season began, I thought IU would probably win four or five conference games. Now, I'm not nearly as confident. If I were to be pushed for a prediction I think I would predict the Hoosiers would finish 2-16 in the conference.

Who will Indiana beat, you ask? Not sure. But I still think there will be an upset or two, and I think the Hoosiers will find a way to win a game or two at home. For those of you who are convinced IU will not win another game this season, I can certainly see how you could make that argument. But I just think these guys will win a couple of Big Ten games.

But what is your prediction as the Hoosiers head to the Big Ten season? Go ahead and weigh in ASAP. Unless someone else at my paper puts your blog comments up on Saturday afternoon, however, I likely won't be able to do that until after I get to Iowa around game time Saturday.

Oh and one more thing to those of you who have wondered why it has been nine days since my last blog, the truth is I had several vacation days that I had not used and needed to use at the end of the year. IU had a few weeks where it only played one game so this seemed like the time to use them. One thing I try not to do is blog while I'm on vacation. I hope you understand. Anyway, I'm back and will be blogging more frequently once again. Thanks...Terry

The first hockey game at Wrigley Field was a rousing success for the home fans, save for one small detail -- the final score. The home team lost the NHL's Winter Classic in heartbreaking fashion, as the Chicago Blackhawks, who led by two goals after the first period, gave up five straight goals to the Detroit Red Wings en route to a 6-4 defeat.

In sub-30 degree temperatures, Ryan Dempster was joined by teammate Jeff Samardzija and Cubs Hall of Famers Ryne Sandberg, Fergie Jenkins and Billy Williams in welcoming hockey to their home for the first time.

Coming off consecutive division titles -- but also two NLDS sweeps -- the Cubs eye more than a postseason berth as they look ahead to the 2009 campaign.

Chris Chelios has played in 1,619 career NHL games, by far the most among active hockey players. But none of those can compare to what No. 1,620 is going to be like.

Sticks, not bats. Skates, not cleats. Pads, pads and more pads. The Frozen Confines welcomed the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.

The Cubs added a versatile player in Aaron Miles on Wednesday and traded another in Mark DeRosa to the Indians for three Minor League pitchers, including right-hander Jeff Stevens, lefty John Gaub and righty Chris Archer.

The Cubs added another piece to their bench Wednesday by agreeing to a two-year deal with infielder Aaron Miles.

The Cubs are talking to representatives for Milton Bradley, and Comcast Sports Net reported Tuesday night that a deal could be done by next week.

Tom Crean knew his first season at Indiana was going to be difficult. He openly admitted that he didn't have high hopes for the season in terms of wins, and he considers the 2008-09 campaign to be a time of building a foundation for his program.

He didn't know the depths to which Indiana would sink could possibly include a home-court loss to Lipscomb of the Atlantic Sun, when the Bison overcame a 21-point deficit to send IU into the Big Ten schedule with three straight losses and defeats in five of its last six games.

"We had some good looks and they just didn't go," Crean said of the loss to Lipscomb, which had a 19-0 run in the second half. Indiana had a 21-0 run in the first half.

And now, the Crean team has to hope it's not setting itself up to be...

The Cubs are nearing their offseason objective to shed Jason Marquis and his salary, being on the verge of dealing the right-hander to the Rockies for righty reliever Luis Vizcaino, according to multiple reports.

Adnan Hodzic and Michael Teller each scored 19 points, and the Lipscomb Bisons rallied from a 21-point deficit to shock the Indiana Hoosiers 74-69 on Sunday in the final non-conference game for both teams. Josh Slater and Brandon Brown each had 11 points for the Bisons (5-6), who won their first road game outside of the Atlantic Sun Conference since December 2007.

Andre Dawson received 358 votes, or 65.9 percent, last year in Hall of Fame balloting. After eight years, will this be the year "The Hawk" is elected to baseball immortality?