Jump to content

Thanks for visiting BtownBanners.com!  We noticed you have AdBlock enabled.  While ads can be annoying, we utilize them to provide these forums free of charge to you!  Please consider removing your AdBlock for BtownBanners or consider signing up to donate and help BtownBanners stay alive!  Thank you!

LIHoosier

IU vs Uof6 Game Thread

Recommended Posts

Whatever predictions were here doesn't matter to me.  I think many had un-necessarily tempered expectations based on last season; but this is a completely different team.   We have the best back to the basket player in the conference (except maybe Ethan Happ)  in Morgan who's also versatile enough to space the floor.  We have a returning 6'10" kid who's shown himself to be effective.  We have one of the best athletes in the conference in Smith, who played a year ago like he should be better this season, or at least more consistent.  We have a top 5 freshmen who's a McDonald's All American; a freshman point guard who I know many here under-rated.  And we have depth.  Fitzner, McRoberts, Durham, and Green have all shown they can play and contribute at this level.    
The ceiling should be higher than a 4 seed.  I know we're not a contender, but we handled Marquette who just beat Wisconsin, and we beat Louisville who beat Michigan State; both of whom are ranked in the top 12; so we're not THAT far off of a top 10-15 team.
Seriously....Furman, Buffalo, Nebraska, Kansas State, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Texas Tech, Maryland, Florida State, Arizona State, and Nevada are all ranked ahead of Indiana right now, and who among those teams has our talent or depth?  (Hell, we beat Iowa twice LAST year...and we're worlds better this season from a talent perspective.  We also beat Maryland a year ago. Why expect Indiana to finish below them this season?  Like I said, I think 4-seed expectations are too low)
We only have one player with true iso talent, so why we're an iso offense, I have no idea.  I don't need to see the Bob Knight motion, but we're  not very good in transition right now and we do a lot of standing in the half court.  We just fired a guy whose offense looked like this; but he was far better in transition.   If we're going to rely on winning 1-2 point games because of an iso offense; we'll struggle.  Yeah, we won 3 close ones and it feels good to do that.  Experience and some luck involved, but I'll take it.   I also know those things tend to even out unless things change.   

Well said. I think some have similar concerns but just aren’t articulating them

We have enough depth, experience and talent to put it together to make some noise in March. Maybe we aren’t final four Duke material yet but no reason this team cannot make it to the second weekend of the tourney. Maybe we can keep eaking out painful/close games but not a great recipe. Need to see more growth in our offense soon


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Whatever predictions were here doesn't matter to me.  I think many had un-necessarily tempered expectations based on last season; but this is a completely different team.   We have the best back to the basket player in the conference (except maybe Ethan Happ)  in Morgan who's also versatile enough to space the floor.  We have a returning 6'10" kid who's shown himself to be effective.  We have one of the best athletes in the conference in Smith, who played a year ago like he should be better this season, or at least more consistent.  We have a top 5 freshmen who's a McDonald's All American; a freshman point guard who I know many here under-rated.  And we have depth.  Fitzner, McRoberts, Durham, and Green have all shown they can play and contribute at this level.    
The ceiling should be higher than a 4 seed.  I know we're not a contender, but we handled Marquette who just beat Wisconsin, and we beat Louisville who beat Michigan State; both of whom are ranked in the top 12; so we're not THAT far off of a top 10-15 team.
Seriously....Furman, Buffalo, Nebraska, Kansas State, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Texas Tech, Maryland, Florida State, Arizona State, and Nevada are all ranked ahead of Indiana right now, and who among those teams has our talent or depth?  (Hell, we beat Iowa twice LAST year...and we're worlds better this season from a talent perspective.  We also beat Maryland a year ago. Why expect Indiana to finish below them this season?  Like I said, I think 4-seed expectations are too low)
We only have one player with true iso talent, so why we're an iso offense, I have no idea.  I don't need to see the Bob Knight motion, but we're  not very good in transition right now and we do a lot of standing in the half court.  We just fired a guy whose offense looked like this; but he was far better in transition.   If we're going to rely on winning 1-2 point games because of an iso offense; we'll struggle.  Yeah, we won 3 close ones and it feels good to do that.  Experience and some luck involved, but I'll take it.   I also know those things tend to even out unless things change.   

I have said I agree with you our ceiling is higher than that. Think of looking at it like a Bell Curve. You have your floor. You have your ceiling. Then you have what is most probable area. There is a reason it is most unlikely to hit your peak in any season. As long as we aren’t hitting our floor I am fine with what’s going on with the talent we are seeing cycle through here. Again I agreed our ceiling is 3-4, which is what being ranked in the 10-15 range would be. We aren’t far from it due to our wins whether or not it is aesthetically pleasing to you guys. Also I am not sure being frustrated to what others are ranked at this point is also a healthy exercise. That literally means nothing and I would gladly take my chances playing all of those teams minus Nevada. Can we use the eye test to agree on this? Nevada would beat us consistently this year and I think they are going to be there at the end. Keep an eye on Pomeroy and and our adj offense and defense. We are in good shape even if your eyes don’t like it right now. Mine did just because we were very successful finding our matchups we were trying to set up yesterday. That’s why we didn’t lose in spite of being horrible from the line which we have to be a lot better at. I think we mostly agree but great discussion .


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well said. I think some have similar concerns but just aren’t articulating them

We have enough depth, experience and talent to put it together to make some noise in March. Maybe we aren’t final four Duke material yet but no reason this team cannot make it to the second weekend of the tourney. Maybe we can keep eaking out painful/close games but not a great recipe. Need to see more growth in our offense soon


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I definitely agree. Depending on draw I see us as a second weekend team. The main reason I feel we can win close games consistently is because most nights we will have the best two players on the court. Really wish we had a knockdown shooter. A Jordy Hulls or similar. That would make teams pay for doubling JM in the post imo. That’s the one area I think could be a lot better.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 minutes ago, mdn82 said:


I definitely agree. Depending on draw I see us as a second weekend team. The main reason I feel we can win close games consistently is because most nights we will have the best two players on the court. Really wish we had a knockdown shooter. A Jordy Hulls or similar. That would make teams pay for doubling JM in the post imo. That’s the one area I think could be a lot better.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Still early on in the season. I can see RP getting there. He's got a nice stroke. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I've watched that JSmith dunk a few times now. He definitely looks back at Morgan who got hit. Doesn't matter really but makes me wonder if it lit a fire under him before that dunk. Then the lady commentator said Jmo was on the bench and told Smith, Al and Green that somebody needs to step up and be a 3rd scorer. I'm going to miss Morgan when he's gone. Want a run this year just for him battling through everything over the years, for IU. 

I saw Davis jawing a bit after that too. Another few levels of toughness and passion would definitely go a long way.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I really didn’t see anyone in the prediction thread guess higher than a four seed. So I am not sure at all about that. Myself included in this I said 3 was our maximum high end if everything went right. The chances of everything going right to hit your ceiling is usually minimal unless you are stacking the deck with talent like Duke and Kansas. Even when RMK was here he hit his ceiling three years. In ‘76 they played according to their talent but didn’t lose. The other two title years they played above their talent. It doesn’t happen at all that often.
 
Duke is a glowing example of probably having more teams that should have won a title that didn’t. This team we have constructed isn’t a title contender. I am less concerned about the years we played to our superficial ceilings and more concerned about years we don’t play up to the way we should. This year currently we are exactly playing up to expectations. I am content until we don’t. If we were 6-4 I would be very, very concerned.
 
The next few weeks have improvement that are needed. But if you have issues with the offense you will always have them. We are not a motion team and will never be. Our plays are constructed with iso concepts at the forefront. We have decreased our turnovers this last four games. That’s something that has to continue with the type of offense we are running. We also have to become a better free throw shooting team if we are an iso team.
 
 
Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app
I agree with everything you said. I also would be fine with the type of offense that is being played if we didn't turn it over and made FT's. I say that because that's pretty much what this system is intended for: drive the lane and get FT's, limit TO's to maximize possessions to counter lack of 3 pt shooting. My problem is solely when we don't execute on those things.

Sent from my Pixel XL using BtownBanners mobile app

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I agree with everything you said. I also would be fine with the type of offense that is being played if we didn't turn it over and made FT's. I say that because that's pretty much what this system is intended for: drive the lane and get FT's, limit TO's to maximize possessions to counter lack of 3 pt shooting. My problem is solely when we don't execute on those things.

Sent from my Pixel XL using BtownBanners mobile app


Yeah I can’t disagree with that.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wayne- did you see how little Pt V.J. king is getting for Louisville? 12 min 0-1, 0 rebounds against IU. I wouldn’t of thought that for the former McDonald’s all American. I thought he would be a stud from watching him a little in high school

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Wayne- did you see how little Pt V.J. king is getting for Louisville? 12 min 0-1, 0 rebounds against IU. I wouldn’t of thought that for the former McDonald’s all American. I thought he would be a stud from watching him a little in high school
 
 
Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners
 

Agree completely. Not sure what to make of it. Is he in the doghouse?


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Wayne- did you see how little Pt V.J. king is getting for Louisville? 12 min 0-1, 0 rebounds against IU. I wouldn’t of thought that for the former McDonald’s all American. I thought he would be a stud from watching him a little in high school
 
 
Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners
 

Was thinking this too, I remember being pretty salty when King when to Louisville. He was a real skilled player in H.S. I wonder what happened


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×