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Stromboli

IUBB vs. Marquette 11/14 at 8:30 ET

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2 minutes ago, hogfan14 said:

Yeah, we usually have one of the better home court advantages in the country. It's not like it was in the 90's but we do care about basketball more than most of the SEC. Our aggressive style of play helps with that too since we can get away with a lot more grabbing at home, or "thug ball" as UK fans like to call it.

I thought we had a decent chance since we are playing at home, but then I watched last night's game and I'm not so sure anymore lol. We have a really young team this year with no seniors and 9 newcomers. So we're still trying to figure ourselves out. Texas was favored to beat us by 6 but they tied us with a last second 3 pointer and then beat us in OT so we played them better than I expected but still not sure how good Texas actually is this year.

Everyone probably knows about Gafford but here are some other players to watch:

Freshman SG Isaiah Joe (6'5, 167): Most Arkansas fans think he will be one of our best 3 point shooters in school history when he's done. Had 5 of them against Texas. You guys will have more of a scouting report on him though so it'll be interesting to see if he can be as effective when people know more about him.

RS Sophomore PG Jalen Harris (6'2, 166): Transfer from New Mexico. Very fast and a good distributor, which we've needed since we've had nothing but score-first combo guards running the offense the last few years. Doesn't have much of a 3 point game and can struggle with turnovers but good at getting to the rim.

Junior F Adrio Bailey (6'6, 222): Undersized but athletic, seems to have taken a big leap forward so far this year. Up until this year his game has been all about getting hustle points, dunks and rebounds but his jump shot has been surprisingly good this year. Oldest player on the roster.

Sophomore G Mason Jones (6'5, 207): Will start at the 3. Brother of former Duke player Matt Jones. JUCO transfer who was a late bloomer and didn't have any offers out of high school, but completely changed his body and has done a nice job for us this year. Will get rebounds and hit the 3 ball pretty well but not much of a threat to drive to the basket.

We aren't real deep, have a couple players out with injuries, so we will stick with an 8-man rotation the majority of the game. Our philosophy is typically to speed the game up and win the fatigue battle at the end of the game by playing a lot of players so having to combat that will be interesting to see this year. Gafford has been double teamed pretty much every possession this year so that's why he has so many turnovers, needs to learn how to deal with that better as the year goes on because it's not going to stop.

Thanks for the insight Hogfan. Welcome to the board. Looking forward to our game against you guys. The Marquette game was a good measuring stick for us but I’d rather see whether we can go into a tough place like Bud Walton and come out with a win. Most here would agree that Assembly Hall is worth at least 10 pts during a big game. Best of luck to your boys the rest of the way (after our game of course). 

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Just reflecting on many of the positive things last night and one really stood out..... The “pureness” of Fitzner’s 3’s are exceedingly astonishing. It’s like he sees only the bottom of the net. The rim need not be there for him.

Keep it up Evan!

GO HOOSIERS!!!

 

 

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4 hours ago, Stromboli said:

Awesome game.  I'm not sure how many of you moseyed over to the Marquette forums this week.  They were very confident going into this game.  Really enjoyed shutting them down!  

Not saying this was your intention, but I can't say I really blame them.

I think it's hard for non IU fans to understand how considerable the transition was from Crean's system to Archie's system last year.

Adding our talented freshmen and Fitzner was huge, but I think it being year 2 in Archie's system is almost as big.  I think people gave us credit for the 1st but not the 2nd, hence being unranked going into the season.

I never felt like it was a bold statement saying we were a top 15 team this year.

Edit: Realized after I posted that if any team was going to understand the transition, it should have been Marquette fans!

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Hope Keion and Trayce are watching RP closely and seeing how complimentary of a PG they will have if they stay at home. Like CAM said last night, this kid is a stud. He wanted so much to come in and prove the naysayers wrong. Spent alot of time studying game tape and watching how Archie wanted to play.

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Hope Keion and Trayce are watching RP closely and seeing how complimentary of a PG they will have if they stay at home. Like CAM said last night, this kid is a stud. He wanted so much to come in and prove the naysayers wrong. Spent alot of time studying game tape and watching how Archie wanted to play.

In my best CTC voice to TJD and Brooks,
“How can you not want to be a part of this” lol!


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18 minutes ago, JSHoosier said:

That's better than "I've been thinking about you a lot lately".

I cannot ever read that line without my mind flashing to the scene in Blues Brothers with Henry Gibson and his sidekick free falling in their car and the sidekick saying, "I've always loved you."

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21 hours ago, HoosierAloha said:


They shot 9-20 tonight, only 20 attempts! They're something like 35% for the season. I think we need certain players (see Fitzner) shooting more threes. I feel pretty confident Romeo will find his stroke from outside and Phinisee to shoot a solid %. Green needs to take it if he's wide open, ditto for Durham and McBob. I don't think this team will live or die from deep though.


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take away Fitzner's 4-4 and it doesn't look near as good. his stats on the year also skew things. we need one or two more that consistently hit the long ball that are more than situational like Fitz. Phin is our best hope (from a minutes perspective) right now I believe. Morgan has improved as well. 

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7 minutes ago, Irish YJ said:

take away Fitzner's 4-4 and it doesn't look near as good. his stats on the year also skew things. we need one or two more that consistently hit the long ball that are more than situational like Fitz. Phin is our best hope (from a minutes perspective) right now I believe. Morgan has improved as well. 

 

I understand your point, but why take away Fitz when examining the 3pt stats?

its not like Fitz is going anywhere :)

 

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21 minutes ago, Irish YJ said:

take away Fitzner's 4-4 and it doesn't look near as good. his stats on the year also skew things. we need one or two more that consistently hit the long ball that are more than situational like Fitz. Phin is our best hope (from a minutes perspective) right now I believe. Morgan has improved as well. 

Take away Langford's 1-5 and we were above 50%.

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Only take Fitzner's 4-4 and we're 100%! My math is on point.

This team isn't built to shoot the 3. We need to defend, I've heard it travels well. We need to get into the paint via the drive, Phin, Romeo, and Al have done that nicely, or the low post with Morgan and Davis, Fitz if he has the mismatch. We also have some slashers in Romeo, Smith, and Morgan. The 3 is nice but we can't rely on that. 20 threes in a game and making 9 is great balance for this team. If Fitz is open he needs to take it. If Phinisee, Romeo, or Al are open they need to take it. Morgan and Smith have to take it if they're being sagged off if to clog the lane.


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