KelleyHoosh

When Indiana (3-0) plays Wake Forest (2-1) tonight in the opening round of the Maui Invitational, it will be the Hoosiers first of three games in three straight days. The prestigious tournament will be a good test of the Hoosier’s stamina and skill, as they will likely play some of the best teams in the country. In its sixth appearance at this tournament, IU stands a fairly good shot of winning the whole thing, but it won’t be easy. The road starts with Wake Forest and will likely include Vanderbilt as well as Kansas. Fans have seen lights out shooting to this point of the season and an overall explosive offense, but can they withstand elite competition in such close succession? The answer will unfold over the next few days. Last season, Wake Forest did not make the post season. This year, it is off to a 2-1 start and is coming off a loss to Richmond at home by nine points. Danny Manning’s second Wake squad is missing two of its biggest contributors in Codi Miller-McIntyre and Cornelius Hudson. Wake has relied on inside scoring from Devin Thomas and John Collins, which has been good enough for the 46th adjusted offense according to KenPom rankings. Their perimeter shooting holds that number back a bit and their defense leaves a lot to be desired, as opponents are averaging 82 points against them through three games. Couple that with the fact that Indiana has no trouble scoring and Wake Forest could be in big trouble on Monday evening. There is a long list of reasons that the general college basketball world may doubt Indiana this year. A strong Maui showing will go a long way in quelling that uncertainty. To beat Wake Forest, Indiana will have to excel in the following areas: 1) Take Advantage of a Young Backcourt What is a strength for Indiana may be the cause of Wake’s downfall in this matchup. Without two of their best guards, the Deacons have turned to freshman Bryant Crawford for their primary ball-handling duties. They also play a former walk-on, Trent VanHorn, for about 27 minutes per game. Manning has not yet instilled the same defensive prowess in Winston-Salem that he did while at Tulsa and that will haunt his team against Indiana. There should be plenty of opportunities for IU to drive and kick- the bread and butter of their offense. 2) Can Bielfeldt/Hartman/Williams Add Post Defense? If Wake Forest is going to win, it will be because they successfully exploit Indiana’s lack of height. 7’1” Doral Moore and 6’10” John Collins make up a front court that dwarfs Indiana’s as IU doesn’t have a player besides Thomas Bryant over 6’8”. If the perimeter defense is up to snuff, the Deacons may not get the chance to go down low too much. You have to think an All-American like Yogi Ferrell can get the best of a player like Crawford, who only has three college games under his belt. Whoever is playing the power forward position is going to have to bring an imposing physical presence. Bryant, as good as he is, can’t hold down the paint for 40 minutes by himself. If he gets into foul trouble, it could be a long day for the Hoosiers. 3) Will the Guards Rebound Effectively? Coach Tom Crean has mentioned this as a point of emphasis for this year. It would be particularly useful in this game when Indiana will need help rebounding thanks to their height disadvantage. If they limit second chance points for Wake’s big men, the Deacons are going to struggle to score. The IU backcourt has an opportunity to really help their team by doing more against inferior counterparts and playing bigger than they are versus a taller team. The guards will need the practice because Vanderbilt and archrival Purdue present the same matchup problem. If they struggle to effectively rebound and dominate a much weaker backcourt in this game, the season’s expectations may have to be tempered.

The Indiana men’s basketball team (2-0) will host the Creighton Bluejays (2-0) tonight in a Gavitt Tipoff game. Creighton isn’t quite the same program since head coach Greg McDermott’s son, Doug, left for the NBA. Last year, the Bluejays were just 14-19. This season may not be that much better as they return only one starter in 6’10” forward Toby Hegner. That doesn’t mean this game won’t be a challenge. Hegner may be the only returning starter, but this team has quite a lot of young talent and is adept at spacing the floor. Additionally, McDermott’s sixth squad at Creighton is very efficient and fast, averaging 1.226 points per possession, which on average lasted merely 12 seconds in their last game. Make no mistake; this is not Eastern Illinois or Austin Peay. This will be the Hoosier’s last chance to prepare before the Maui Invitational where they will play some of the best teams in the nation. This game will give everyone a better opportunity to evaluate what needs the most work going forward. The key areas for Indiana’s game against Creighton are: 1) Indiana Setting the Pace Another 20-turnover performance isn’t going to cut it in this game. The guards don’t need to play a perfect game, but they must control the speed. If they try to play Creighton’s style, which has allowed them to average 98 points per game this season, they run the risk of tiring out their limited big men and opening themselves up to potential foul trouble. Creighton has more post players and if IU has to rest their taller players for extended periods of the game, the Hoosiers will be relatively helpless down low. Indiana is good in transition, but they’ve already shown to be turnover prone this year, which is the exact opposite of Creighton, who have just 22 turnovers this year. 2) Play Sound Defense This is probably going to be one of the keys you see a lot when previewing an IU game. It is common sense that defense needs to be good to win a lot of ball games, but for Indiana specifically that has been a struggle. There are definitely signs of progress on this front from last season, but giving up 76 points to Austin Peay isn’t confidence inspiring. Making Creighton work for their buckets as opposed to playing matador defense just to get the ball back will pay huge dividends. They don’t have to do anything fancy, just bring intensity and desire that Hoosier fans love so much. 3) Taking Advantage of Height The Hoosiers don’t necessarily have a height advantage in this game – Creighton has quite a few bigs – definitely more than Indiana. Creighton however starts three players 6’3” or shorter so IU’s lineup of Yogi Ferrell, James Blackmon Jr., Troy Williams, Max Bielfeldt and Thomas Bryant compares to that quite favorably. Coach Tom Crean spoke to the need for rebounding to improve especially from the guard positions. This is a game where there is no reason for them to not have a good performance. Of course, that is predicated on Bryant having a strong performance, as he will be needed to box out Creighton’s big men for the guards to crash the boards. Bryant got his feet wet in the first two games, but this will be his first legitimate competition as a college basketball player. He has to prove that he can play at a high level against Creighton, because in about a week he will be playing against the best of the best. Over the next two weeks, after going through Duke and potentially Vanderbilt as well as Kansas, there will be a much clearer picture of if Indiana belongs among that best of the best category or if they are still chasing it.

Memorial Stadium was like a bubble swelling with excitement. The Hoosiers had conference foe and nationally ranked University of Michigan on the ropes in the fourth quarter. In anticipation fans gathered near the bottom of the stands, waiting for their chance to rush the field after Indiana’s breakthrough moment. All season this team had seemed on the cusp of getting an elusive win against a stacked Big Ten schedule. It seemed fitting that Senior Day would be when they finally put it all together and stop a five-game losing streak. With 2:52 on the clock and Michigan getting the ball back, everyone in the stadium knew Indiana had left too much time on the clock to win in regulation. Once in overtime, students felt an excitement about IU football that’s normally reserved for the team that plays across the parking lot. 4th and 2, Indiana ball on the two yard line. Pop. That excitement bubble? It was popped by an incomplete pass and replaced with Wolverine fan cheers. IU fans began wondering aloud if they really expected anything different. The Michigan game was sort of like a microcosm of this year’s football season. Always close, but never enough; this Indiana football team has taken almost every opponent excluding Penn State down to the wire. Opposing teams fans are calling the Hoosiers the best winless team in the conference. That is not the accolade anyone on the team wanted, especially after the first undefeated start of the Kevin Wilson era. What seemed like a turning point season for the program has shaped up to be just like the other forgettable ones before it. At 4-6, there are two games remaining in the season and a lot is on the line. “We are very excited about the opportunities we have and the challenges ahead,” senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld said. “We are definitely just taking it one day at a time.” Next opportunity for the Hoosiers? 2-8 Maryland. The next week Indiana takes on rival Purdue, who is also 2-8. There is plenty of reason to think that with only two relatively weak teams remaining on the schedule that Indiana can finish strong and achieve 6-6 and a bowl game appearance. The team however, isn’t looking that far ahead. “We need to make sure guys don’t let their guard down because they’re 2-8,” Sudfeld said about Maryland. “Defensively they’re extremely good and aggressive.” While defense may be the strength for the Terrapins, that isn’t necessarily saying much. Their total offense is ranked an abysmal 114th while their total defense is ranked at about middle of the division one pack at 64th. Compare that to Indiana whose total offense is ranked 28th and total defense is ranked 119th. On paper, IU should pull this one out. But the game isn’t played on paper and the fact is small mistakes can cost a whole team. IU secondary coach Brandon Shelby put it like this, “…if there are 55 passes and you do everything right 50 times but mess up 5, you’re giving up 3 or 4 touchdowns.” The defense, specifically the secondary, has been inconsistent this year. That can probably be chalked up to youth as freshmen and sophomores are getting the bulk of the reps. “These guys are 17, 18 years old going against seniors who are going to be lottery picks, so at the end of the day they can get overwhelmed,” Shelby said. “Unfortunately we are taking our lumps now but in a few years we are going to have some very good veterans back there.” While all of this experience may pay dividends down the line, someone has to answer for the poor play this year. Shelby says that is his brunt to bear. “I take full responsibility for us not doing a good job,” Shelby continued. “It’s not on those guys, I have got to do a better job coaching.” Coaching is a really controversial topic around this program in the midst of a six game losing streak when the coaching staff will likely have their contracts either extended or terminated this offseason. Fans are pretty evenly split on what direction they’d like to see the program take. Right now, Sudfeld says the coaches are instilling a winning attitude. “Coach Wilson is doing a great job of facilitating a culture right now of us being a winning team.” That may sound silly when historically IU football has anything but a winning culture, but if that is ever going to change, so too must the expectations that the team has for themselves. Before any games were played this year, the fan base had hopes for being around 6-6 and bowling. After the four game win streak to start the year, optimism soared to perhaps unrealistic levels. Despite the disappointment, that original goal is still achievable. And that’s progress.

When the Indiana Hoosiers open their 2015-2016 men’s basketball season they will host the Eastern Illinois Panthers on Friday the 13th of November. Friday the 13th has become synonymous with bad luck and it would take an awful lot of that for them to drop this game. If IU simply plays its style it should start head coach Tom Crean’s eighth season in Bloomington with a victory. The No. 15 ranked team in college basketball will almost undoubtedly be overwhelming for an EIU team that has been projected to finish in middle of the Ohio Valley Conference. The Panthers have some talent in Cornell Johnston, the 5’7” sophomore guard who was last year’s OVC Freshman of the Year and senior wing Trae Anderson who averaged 13.2 points per game last season, but on paper this EIU team is outmatched across the board by a team that features a number of excellent players. Eastern Illinois is a mid major with a roster that has very little college basketball experience. IU is a group led by a battletested backcourt that has big aspirations to play well into March Madness. This game will serve the Hoosiers as another opportunity to tune up before their Maui Invitational appearance later this month. Through two exhibition games it is pretty clear that there is plenty of room for improvement on this team. While the team will look to grow in all categories, these are the key areas to watch for in Indiana’s season opener: 1. Can the frontcourt dominate an inferior opponent? Freshman center Thomas Bryant has taken the court at Assembly Hall four times in front of fans- at Hoosier Hysteria, Haunted Hall of Hoops, vs. Ottawa, and vs. Bellarmine. In each of his four performances, fans have seen the good and the bad of his game. While Bryant is certainly an upgrade from what fans saw in last year’s frontcourt, he is only a freshman. Michigan transfer Max Bielfeldt has joined the team, but as a career reserve, he never put up too great of numbers in the Big 10, so how much can fans realistically expect him to add? The team will obviously progress as the season goes on – if they peak now this will be a very disappointing campaign – but it would go a long way in making fans feel better if the front court could have a similar performance to Ottawa where they outrebounded the Gee-Gees 46 to 34. If Indiana is going to have the type of year fans hope for, their big men have to play well enough against much higher levels of competition than EIU. 2. Is decision making in the backcourt improved? Indiana turned the ball over 19 times against Ottawa. They can get away with that against a Canadian team, but stiffer competition will take advantage of that. The Hoosiers improved that figure against Bellarmine and only turned it over 13 times. That is a lot better, but IU also looked pretty poor in the second half of that exhibition. Senior Yogi Ferrell will likely split ball-handling duties with James Blackmon Jr. and Troy Williams this season. The decision making of Indiana’s new ball handlers will be key in the success of this year’s squad. No team can afford to squander possessions, especially not one with a questionable defensive identity. Which leads to the next key... 3. Which defense shows up? It was the storyline all of last season. How good would Indiana be if they played a lick of defense? The 42 point second half they allowed to Division II Bellarmine isn’t exactly confidence inspiring for Hoosier fans. But there has been stretches this preseason where the team showed an awful lot of improvement on the defensive end, even forcing a shot clock violation - something last year’s team may have never heard about. Crean has said his lineups will vary this year based on matchups- lets see how effectively Indiana can exploit them. As far as keys to this game, Indiana must simply do what they do well. That will likely be enough for them to win on Friday. These specific areas are where there is a lot of doubt and plenty of room for improvement based on what we’ve seen to date. It’s inevitable that the Indiana men’s basketball team we see come March will be a lot different than the one that trots out onto McCracken court in Assembly Hall on Friday.