lillurk

This is how I’d expect them to start. Stew on Davis, X on Hepburn can limit X’s fouls early, Kopp probably isn’t at an athleticism disadvantage against Davison and his height can be an asset.

And the FSU offense was…fine. Not great, but 31st in success rate, 26th rushing SP+, 44th passing.

Per SP+ his offenses are Arkansas State ranked in the 50s. That’s pretty good for inherited talent at a lower-tier job.

Also, IU won comfortably and X finished with 3 fouls. Think he would’ve played more than 16 minutes if the margin got closer, and CMW was teaching.

I think even in high times IUFB probably needs to get a good haul in the portal so this is good news

Can he suit up tomorrow? I like our guards but I can’t wait for JHS

Yes, looks like 247 updated their own ranking of 2021s about four times after the same point last year (and because other rankings updated at other points, the composite was adjusted about nine times before the CBB season started).

Forget who tweeted this around IU’s first game (Schumann or Osterman, I think) but TJD is IU’s youngest starter in the X/Stew/Kopp/Race/TJD lineup. I feel like you can tell there’s a ton of experience in the way they play.

Yeah I can’t imagine ANY defensive system would take years for adults to learn? I know that was bandied about by archiphiles but I don’t think the man himself said it. Such an obvious tell

At some point I wonder if Underwood benches Curbelo and moves Frazier to the point. You lose some dribble-drive dynamism but probably gain shooting whoever you play over Curbelo, and waster fewer possessions. I recall thinking Curbelo was flashier than conducive to winning when Archie was after him. He may still shake the TO habit, may become a passable 3-pt shooter, but probably got the keys at least a year too early

I think the Loyola-Chicago blueprint is a good play, too, make Kofi guard a million PNRs

I would rank S16/E8 week above these and then same order

I don’t have the splits but I would guess he’s much better on the catch. A “just a shooter” offensive role lets him do what he’s best at on that end

Yeah I think the St. John’s game showed that. Phinisee may be better suited for a catch-and-shoot, lock up on defense, secondary ball-handler role if KL is ready

Thanks, OF, good piece, @Mike Schumann. “Don’t leave the weak side to block a shot” is a great example of a sound defensive rule you coach your bigs to know when to break. Sounds like Archie was dogmatic instead of practical about it.

The blossoming — or at least more public flourishing — of a couple staff holdovers indicates he’s got a good idea how to utilize strengths and use input.

Yeah I’ll take tonight’s outcome over, say, Michigan losing at home last night. Both teams learn something but one gets to say they beat a good non-conference team. Would like to see Geronimo alongside Kopp at the 3/4 in some lineups. Kopp has trouble staying in front of dribblers, playing him with JG would make it easier to hide Kopp on a slower 4 while JG takes the wing.

Gotta be the Marquette game?

My favorite part of this tweet-length scout is the adjective for shooting: “excellent.”

Yeah I find it hard to believe adidas can’t make a profit selling IU stuff if they tried. I would’ve dropped a pretty penny on the Hysteria shorts from this year, for example

Gotta be Race, right? Stewart has had tough perimeter scorers from tip, so maybe some of him if they want to hide Race on one of the shorter guys

Think you can make a case that IU might “surprise” a bit this year just based on a soft non-conference schedule, and a B1G that’s spotty beyond its top two teams. I think IU’s alright, but if Illinois, OSU, Maryland, and MSU aren’t as good as we thought, and Nebraska hasn’t taken a leap, and UMass thumped PSU, and Wisconsin…anyway, some of these results are just bad games. But in other cases…

Agreed, my case for modest Illinois skepticism this year is they’re too dependent on Curbelo, who can’t shoot even when the other stuff is working. And Kofi, for all his positive contributions, is also not a shooter outside six feet. As we know from watching Archie teams, it’s hard to win when your best players can’t shoot. Still think UI is a top 20 team, just probably not top 10.

Godspeed