lillurk

I'll guess it will be very rarely used on a top 100ish player of Thompson's caliber (which is what @hoosierpap was getting at, I think).

That's my point, too. Any version of man (zone, too) makes implementation choices: full- or half-court, switch all, some, or no screens, how both the big and small defender react to ball screens, try to deny baseline drives, trap corners, and many more. Pack line is a set of choices among those — a school of thought of man-to-man, created by Dick Bennett.

Yeah, if pack-line isn't man-to-man I'm not sure what is?

Yogi was one of the best per-possession defenders in the conference his freshman year, check the chart here: http://www.umhoops.com/2013/03/09/game-31-indiana-at-michigan-preview/ I tend to think his defense lagged his middle two years, when he carried an efficient and large offensive load without tons of help on either end, though there were highlights those years, too, especially his lockdown of Stauskas.

IU will be fine, but Johns may be at pain at Michigan. One thing Beilein's system requires to compete at a high level is a 4 man who can defend opposing 4s/5s but has wing skills (think GRIII, DJ Wilson — different players who both sort of fit that description). Johns may be a great fit if he can do that.

One reason to believe he'll improve I see right now: through eight games, he's only shooting 11/31 on 2s (35.5%). He's 9/22 on 3s (40.9%), and in his two seasons at Pitt, he shot 48.1% as a frosh and 42.1% as a sophomore on 2s (44.4% combining the two years). Those aren't great numbers, even for a small-ish guard, but I can't imagine he'll shoot below 40% from two all year. Even if he matched his career average on the 31 attempts so far this year, he'd have hit three more 2s. For comparison's sake, Yogi's FG% on 2s by year: 45.3%, 42.9%, 46.0%, 48.8%.

You can't take OVs unless you're academically qualified, right? So that would indicate things are okay academically.

I mean, I could be wrong. He's pretty straight-faced. The gathered media seemed to take it in jest.

For what it's worth, he's being playful; the question is at 8:12 in the video here http://www.insidethehall.com/2016/10/13/video-transcript-tom-crean-big-ten-media-day-2/

We should feel good about this, right Pap?

I'm not Pap and I can't answer your question, exactly, but a Peegs stock watch earlier this month indicated that if Scruggs didn't commit in the week after the Xavier visit, and especially if he took other visits, that those were good signs for IU.

I regret to inform you that like 11 of the last 13 folks Scruggs has followed on twitter are affiliated with Xavier hoops. He only follows 78 folks and none are IU-hoops related. I have no info but I don't think this means he's necessarily Xavier's, especially given pap's comments here. I can't imagine it's good, though.

Juwan's athleticism may not stand out, but he appears to have good speed, quickness, and quick leaping (including second jump) ability. As a frosh it was most obvious to me on D and the boards.

I've thought a lot about the '11-'12 team this offseason -- IU's last pre-Yogi team. They finished with the #4 offense in terms of adjusted efficiency (http://kenpom.com/index.php?y=2012) with Hulls and Verdell as the starting backcourt. They're both talented players, but neither one was the dynamic, ball-dominant PG Yogi became. Victor -- the starting 3 on that team -- was very good but hadn't made The Leap yet. IU's Crean-era staff can cobble together an elite offense without an All-B1G PG. We've already seen it.

Updated to add that it looks like the scheduled official to Arizona State in early January happened, so qualifying likely isn't the reason: http://247sports.com/Bolt/Four-upcoming-visits-for-Markus-Howard-42890391

I don't have a Peegs premium account, so maybe this is covered there -- is it possible this isn't a change of heart? It doesn't look like he's taken any other officials, and to take an official, you have to be academically qualified. Which raises the question....

I think I speak for the masses when I say: I'm ready.

What's the big picture story on Gunn, pap (or anyone else in the know)? He posts good numbers, seems to have good size for a wing and a nice lefty stroke. The B1G (IU, Illinois, Michigan, PU, Iowa) seems pretty interested, but the national rankings seem to differ.

If no impact player materializes, I agree that granting a scholarship to Burton is a nice gesture. Let's not forget that Holt signed in August last year, though.   I know he reclassified, and that it's unlikely and unwise to bank on finding another player of his caliber. However, there's still some time for things to shake out.

Eddie Jordan after the Rutgers game, I believe.

Indeed, everyone take a deep breath.   Even setting aside the possibility of a huge road upset @UW or @UMd, winning 6 of 8 looks reasonable, which would put IU at 21-8 (11-5) with two tough-but-winnable home games left.   At some point, HMP should return to shore up the interior D that's been exposed in his absence. We failed to appreciate his impact on D, I think, due to the overall poor defensive performance.   As for the woe-is-me future-of-the-program silliness, again: chill. This team likely resembles no recent IU team so much as '11-'12, which improved defensively the next year, one the B1G, and was a championship contender all year. It seems likely that all the key contributors return for an interesting run next year, plus we add a couple newcomers who can contribute at least in little ways where this squad has need (perimeter d for OG, interior presence for Juwan, not to mention the outside shot at a game-changing big). Oh, and Davis hopefully returns.   After that, the cupboard isn't bare. Even without any exciting short-term additions, a '16-'17 squad with RJ, Max, Holt, Juwan, Davis (?), and OG has a nice core.

Exactly. Coaches get too much credit for success and too much blame for losses.   Sometimes you catch an unfavorable matchup, an underseeded team, or a team playing it's best game all year.   Bobby Knight went to five Final Fours in 29 years. Was he not "elite" during those other 24 seasons? Should he have been fired when the '79 team missed the tournament for the second time in three seasons? Is there something special that championship coaches have that Bobby didn't have 24 times? Unless that "something special" is both high-level talent and significant good fortune, the answer is no.   It wasn't his fault Scott May got hurt in '75 any more than it was Crean's fault Jordy was hurt in '13. I realize those players aren't of equivalent quality but it's not hard to imagine that a healthy Hulls might've changed the Syracuse game quite a bit.

While adding a superb 2015 big -- grad transfer or otherwise -- would be great, this is why failing to do so isn't necessarily a death knell. Yes, neither Hanner nor Emmitt is 7', but as Stuhoo points out, perhaps Emmitt isn't done growing.   The progress of both of them this year has been encouraging. Both have the wingspan and leaping ability to contest shots without fouling, and both seem to know their roles offensively. Hanner has elite athleticism and his progress defensively and on the boards is encouraging. Emmitt has tremendous awareness and footwork for a freshman.   Defense has been this year's team's problem so far, but check out this graph via UMHoops:   IU's post-up defense isn't its problem; it's middle of the B1G pack.   Additionally, there aren't too many college bigs that truly dominate on both ends year-to-year -- skilled, fit 7'ers are rare enough to get paid at the pro level even if they're a bit raw. Heck, maybe a year of seasoning for April will make him dependable enough for high-leverage minutes against overpowering opposing centers next year. He wouldn't have to play 25 mpg, but what if he were solid for 10?   Finally, I assume any additional big would usurp minutes from Hanner/Holt/etc. rather than complement them, unless the offense changes drastically during the offseason. (See Alex of ITH's second answer from yesterday's mailbag.)

I think we all agree he's a great get: a current contributor who will only improve. Note that per-minute production tends to decline at least slightly in extended minutes, as players fatigue, weaknesses are exposed, more minutes against opposing starters diminish contributions, etc. I guess my point is that it looks like IU has two good options at the five, both of whom are improving!

I think this is the most lucid argument against Crean I've seen. I'll simply say that the program baseline level is the highest it has been in awhile, and I don't believe anyone else with the integrity, academic focus, player development skill, recruiting ability, or offensive acumen of Crean is readily available.