Walking Boot of Doom

Picked up another IU pick for Davis today. Let's hope Kegler shocks everyone and announces for us! 

A shot at comparing 2015-2016 against 2012-2013:   STARTERS PG - Fr Yogi < Sr Yogi SG - Hulls < Blackmon G - Oladipo >= Troy (leaving this open, with the nod to Vic for now) F - Watford > Beifeldt C - Zeller > Bryant   BENCH G - Abell < RoJo F/G - Sheehey > Hartman F/G - Hollowell = OG F - Elston > Morgan F/G - Etherington < Z3 G - Creek > Newkirk (Inactive) F - HMP < N/A (Fr HMP was a negative, even if it means having one less player)   BENCH MOB Marlin < Burton Raphael = Taylor T. Wayer = Niego Howard > Fuchs Jurkin < Priller   I think 2015-2016 is the deepest team we've had since the 2012-2013 run, but it's pretty hard to say that there's more depth this early in the season. My keys to this team matching or beating the depth of the 2012-2013 team are as follows:   - Can Bryant match Zeller's 30 mpg, and run the floor at a similar level? So far, he seems a bit less polished offensively, but very strong defensively. Zeller put up 16 ppg and 8 rpg that year, but actually improved slightly during conference play. Bryant seems as though he could fall in the 12-16 ppg and 7-10 rpg range. This might not be as large of a difference as expected, but if you factor in conditioning and foul trouble, I don't know that Bryant will average much higher than 25 mpg. - Can Troy be better than Oladipo? As crazy as it is to compare anyone's impact to Vic's, I really don't think this is too much of a stretch. Statistically, Troy's ppg and rpg last year essentially matched Vic as a junior. Junior Vic was actually MORE turnover prone than sophomore Troy. The biggest separation between the two appears on defense. If Troy keeps his turnovers at or below last years total, and at least becomes an average defender, the gap between him and Vic becomes very hard to identify. - What will we get from the bench this year? Elston, Abell, and Sheehey were fairly consistent contributors, but between Rojo, Hartman, and Zeisloft, I think we can expect much greater production, even if they perform at the same level as last year. If Morgan and OG provide even basic production, our bench holds much greater depth and potential.   One major intangible difference between 2012-2013 and 2015-2016 is that Vic and Crew had hope and momentum as a program. There is a lot of doubt and pressure surrounding the 2015-2016 team. We'll see how that impacts the team this year. Will they crumble, or silence the concerns of the self-proclaimed most knowledgeable fan base in basketball?

  Wing with size... OG? Step up young man.

Disagree with the comments about not wanting Beifeldt to shoot. He actually has a fairly nice jumper, and I believe a lot of the reason we've seen him playing alongside Bryant is because Crean sees him as a big man who can also stretch the floor and draw the defenders out of the post away from Bryant. He should avoid 3's, but he's 6 of 13 from 2. He also appears to be fairly comfortable in that 12-16 foot range. I'd like to see him continue to be a threat there.

This is what I was trying to find out, but couldn't since I couldn't watch. I did notice when we played our starters in the second half and Bellarmine started hitting a bunch of threes, we pulled Bryant and went with a 3 guard lineup with RoJo (I think?), and that seemed to help lock down the perimeter. If we can do things like that with our defense, I'm really liking this squad.

Bryant, Hartman, and Beifeldt played 10, 9, and 11 minutes respectively in the first. 6, 9, and 5 in the second. Seems like Crean played small ball tonight.

So Kep mentioned in the other thread our three "bigs" didn't play as much in the second half. We dominated the first when they were in, and started crumbling when we went small after the first 15 minutes. My interpretation of that is: Our team from last year has major defensive holes, but last years team plus Bryant and Beifeldt kills it. Verdict: All is good.

So did we lose or something?

Fair to say Crean let the bench players get more time late in the first and the entire second half? That seems like a more plausible explanation for the lackluster final 25 minutes. Did we see lots of weird lineups after murdering Bellarmine in the first 15?

Fair to say Crean let the bench players get more time late in the first and the entire second half? That seems like a more plausible explanation for the lackluster final 25 minutes. Did we see lots of weird lineups after murdering Bellarmine in the first 15?

Answer: Yes.

Are we just playing with odd lineups? Sounds like we were dominating with starters.

He's at least better than McCarthy. I'll give him that.

But it's Albers. I believe he's right, but only because plenty of other, more reputable individuals have indicated that Davis is coming here.

Foot has been in a boot and he sat out that practice time due to foot pain. Could still be on limited minutes

In a show of optimism, I believe Coach Crean will no longer need apologists after the incredible season we have coming up.   The only thing we have to fear now are Walking Boots marking the decimation of our limited resources in the front court. DAMN YOU FOOT INJURIES!

Article by the IndyStar regarding De'Ron's announcement. @ZachOsterman: IU top target De'Ron Davis to make college choice Thursday. Where do Hoosiers stand? https://t.co/ci3lHf8rFc #iubb Important quote: "Thinking about the move to college, Fisher said Davis has been impressed by IU coach Tom Crean's track record in player development, the opportunity to play early in Bloomington and the academic support the Hoosiers offer. But IU's biggest advantage encompasses all of that. "With Indiana, it's the environment," Fisher said. "Everything is so dedicated to Indiana basketball. The tradition is so deep, so strong. It's bigger than any one recruit, any one coach. It's a history all its own. The town of Bloomington, that is basketball central."" Also, the two items other than Howland cited by De'Ron's coach Danny Fisher as MSU's selling were academics and the strength and conditioning resources. Indiana just so happens to compete very well in those categories with seemingly every program in the country.

Ryan Burton could get a shot at playing against his former team.

The basketball IQ of our campus is of a much greater quality though.

This was tweeted by some account called BtownBanners, but apparently Thomas Bryant is rocking a boot again. Honestly not sure about the credibility of this account, so take that with a heaping mound of salt.

Banishing goats has not helped you in the past. Time for Chicago to embrace its fate. Introducing your 2016 Chicago Goats! 

His shooting has been a little forced this year, but he's maintaining his career scoring averages and all of his other stats are up. He's really looking good out there.

Would be better to have players who provide depth and some maturity off the court. Hope OG and Morgan can meet those expectations.

Apparently Crean visited last Thursday, according to Bozich.

That's four programs. Of 351. Mississippi State is benefitting from the hype of Howland and a strong in-state class. Like md mentioned, happens every year.