lillurk

Good spirited discussion. Couple things: 1. This is trite but this team needs all three of Stewart, Kopp, and Galloway at the 2/3. In Galloway’s two games back, total minutes: Stewart 48, Kopp 43, Galloway 41. If anything the return from injury and his late entrance vs. OSU probably mean that understates where he stands. Who starts is interesting, worth thinking about, and Galloway has a different skill set than the other two. But I like him as a spark off the bench, and if the X/Rob/Gallo/Race/TJD lineup continues to suffocate teams, I LOVE it to close with a comfortable lead. 2. there have been some oblique comments from CMW, TJD, and Rob himself about being less than 100% until recently and it really seems like he’s getting there. Also lol’d at Woody saying something like “it’s okay to be good,” as a thing he’s told Rob. Someone (we know who) really wrecked his confidence. As @Stuhoo said, his ideal role is probably off the ball on offense, and wrecking your opponent’s ability to get into their offense by guarding the point. Galloway’s ball-handling and passing means you can almost keep Rob in that role all the time: keep him alongside at least one of Galloway or X.

I love this man. Dudes rock

They’ve got a similarly small commit in ‘22. Listed at 5’11” but the scouting from Endless Motor says that’s…generous https://247sports.com/Player/Dug-McDaniel-46079207/

Yes, the nespresso is primarily for the wife.

New year has brought nice write-ups on coffee’s health benefits in both Inc and the NYT. I usually hit 3.5-5 cups/day, which seems the health sweet spot. But I drink it because I love it. Black, usually central/South American Intelligentsia beans through a Baratza Encore, OXO drip brewer. Before we had kids it was chemex, and I still occasionally make a pour over in the office. My go-to espresso drink is a cortado. We’ve got about all the gadget methods: drip, chemex, pour over, stovetop espresso, aeropress, nespresso*, the Baratza and a cheaper burr grinder for dedicated decaf, hand crank grinder. No @Stuhoo-style pro home espresso rig yet — maybe in the next house’s kitchen, or when the kids are older. *If you’re looking for a single-cup brewer, I’d say go pour over, but the nespresso is a pretty versatile alternative. Avoid Keurig-style machines if at all possible. Nespresso will let you make a pretty good facsimile of any latte-style drink at a much lower cost if you have milk frother options, recyclable pods, their brewed-style drinks are good-not great.

are the stationary shot-making, defense, and awareness high enough for him to contribute next year? Numbers seem to say so but I haven’t watch a full game

I would guess they expect two or fewer years from some or all of Bates, JHS, Little

Last visit and best environment is a great combo.

Tomorrow’s six weeks from the initial 4-6 week injury but it doesn’t sound like he’ll be back tomorrow from CMW’s radio show. Maybe sometime next week?

Eh I get that and in the abstract of course you’re right if it literally limits you; in specific being called a “wing” vs. “forward” or “guard” means very little from a scout (someone who has literal impact on your deployment like a coach is a different story). I was thinking about insisting you’re 6’ (a million dudes) or that you’re not 7’ (Durant) or that you’re not a center (most bigs at every level since about 2009).

Always strange to me when hoopers care tons about positional labeling or height listing

No one needs my take but here it is anyway: 1. In sum, KL has seen only spot minutes because defense, TOs/decision-making, and fouls need improvement. 2. Rob had a pretty rough stretch and coupled with decent-to-good pressure performance against SJU and Cuse made me think it was time to switch roles, but Rob’s been better lately. 3. Some of KL’s defensive limitations are size/strength related, which is fine as he develops. But not all of the problems are there. 4. CMW has been pretty true to his word that defense is valued in playing-time decisions. I think obviously it’s a cost/benefit analysis; you’d play Steph Curry over Tony Allen all day. But the benefit on offense from KL doesn’t yet outweigh the cost on defense. 5. I think those that have questioned KL’s ranking or potential are telling in themselves. He has a ways to go, clearly. He may never reach it. But he can and has helped this team this year, and he could blossom in time. 6. In general I’d like to see more staggering of the starters with bench units and I assume we’ll see that as we enter conference play. Rob will benefit from more time with players who can score around him. 7. I’ve been encouraged how X has responded to poor performances and coaching. He needs to quit the dependable, preventable early TO or two but he’s clearly the best option.

Even 1.9 assists is encouraging from a young big, and the TOs are a bit too high (though exceeding assists alone isn’t a huge issue to me at this stage in his development). I’m a little surprised the defensive activity stats aren’t higher?

This is the kind of class IU needed to make 2021 a blip. Here’s hoping we look back and say yes, the offense was bad, but the defense fought, injuries piled up, and some bounces went against IU and 2-10 stands out like a sore thumb in the rear view mirror.

Well Bama is 5/21 on threes, AND Memphis has hit 63% of its twos and grabbed almost half its misses. So it’s probably over.

I think he may be able to contribute next year as a play finisher: spot up 3s, dunker spot work. By the time he leaves I think he can be a high-level shot creator for a 4/combo forward.

We’re due for a long Memphis drought here. They’re up 9 with 15:14 left. Alabama wins if it hits a near-average number of threes down the stretch.

Yeah really thought Nebraska might be alright until they lost to someone terrible opening night (not looking it up, feeling lazy)

Trying not to be overly optimistic. The number of returners and the recruiting success indicate the vibe is good.

As soon as I saw USPS post about Cleveland State I knew what to expect. Love it

…and I meant to add that if IU cleans up some of its other issues (TOs, PG and bench consistency), then it stands to reason that wing defense could be one of the things that limits its ceiling this year unless, like, Galloway or Geronimo or Bates really transforms into a DUDE on that end by Feb/Mar. The D is quite good, the O is too, if it improves how well it takes care of the ball. But you can imagine an endgame with this team where it plays a good game against a good team in the tourney — scores ~1.05 points/possession, say, and sound play on both ends — but the best player on the opponent is some future NBA all-star for whom IU currently has no stopper. So they do alright, he hits a bunch of high difficulty shots, and you tip your cap. We’ll be back, you tell yourself, and when we’re back Bates won’t be so green or slight, Geronimo will be a one-man trap, Jakai Newton will eat someone’s lunch then pack him in the cooler, and so on.

Yeah I think in terms of team defense, they’re pretty sound. Stewart is a little foul-prone but he’s often asked to guard an opponent’s best perimeter player, not including PGs. The comparison upthread unfavorable to him vs. JBJ was too harsh. But they both have an athleticism deficit vs. wings that really put heat on you with the dribble. You can usually hide one of those guys, but it’s really hard to hide two at the same time. Absent injury or Bates REALLY coming on, I think the starting lineup probably stays the same this year, but there are some ways to mitigate this: 1. Since Stew and Kopp have overlapping skills, stagger their minutes somewhat. Ideally neither spends much time guarding the opponent’s first or second perimeter option. So if you start them together, one sits pretty early (~16 minute timeout, when CMW doesn’t often sub). When he comes back, the other sits. (See #2 for one workaround) 2. Play Kopp at the four more. This is harder to do if Durr and Geronimo are dependable but he gives you a different look. In theory this might make it easier to hide both guys defensively simultaneously. Unfortunately both of the above require more dependable contribution from bench guards/wings. I think Bates can get there, and Galloway if he comes back healthy. Leal has been close — he probably gives a little more (though less height) on D and slightly less on O than these two right now. If you want to tip the scale both smaller and more towards defense, you can solve some of these issues with more Phin at the 2.

Would like to see a QB and some OL reinforcements, to be sure. I think it’s partially a strength-begets-strength thing: IU’s defense was pretty good, all things considered, in spite of tons of injuries. So guys want to join a good unit. The offense, however…one of the worst units of an organized football team I’ve ever seen. Some of that is explained away by injury, as the offense looked okay with Mathews, Penix, and more than one D1 scholarship running back.

Yeah it’s good for him to get run in games like this and I have been team “can’t be worse” re: backup pg minutes. But maybe it can be worse! And of course we all know Phin can be better than he’s been this year.

He can play, I guess? https://mobile.twitter.com/ESPN_BillC/status/1469014464125153282