hermanbgoode

It seems possible that he has discussed this situation with the guy who will be making these decisions more than you have.

I think a fresh start with a different coach will help him, too. There's something wrong when a decent shooter like Hunter hits only 51.9% of his free throw attempts (after 75.0% the previous season). Same with Phinisee. How can Rob be only a 63.8% free throw shooter last season? He was 72.5% the previous year. I think with a lot of work and more confidence,, they should both shoot better on their 3s and FTs.

Durr has other ideas: “We’re definitely playing together,” Durr told The Daily Hoosier on the day his transfer was announced.

OK, that makes sense to me as long as we have Johnson as the primary ballhandler with support from Phinisee and others. Here's a bit that Dane Fife had to say about him in an Inside the Hall article. Dane Fife talks offseason workouts, expectations for Tamar Bates, Miller Kopp and Xavier Johnson - Inside the Hall | Indiana Hoosiers Basketball News, Recruiting and Analysis

Why would XJ play the wing? I don't understand why people keep suggesting this. He averaged 5.7 assists last season, more than any guard in the Big Ten, but was only a 32.1% 3 point shooter. He has started at point guard at Pitt since his freshman season: Former Pitt Point Guard Xavier Johnson Commits to Indiana | Pittsburgh Sports Now

I think Johnson will be the starting point guard. He averaged 5.7 assists last season, which would have ranked #1 in the Big Ten, while Phinisee averaged 2.9 assists playing only one less minute per game. Johnson isn't an outstanding shooter. He's a driver and distributor.

IU's play has been particularly outstanding the past couple of week and perhaps not coincidentally we haven't heard a peep from BtownBanner's own big man, Terry Hutchens, during this time. Has Hutch moved past commentary on the Hoosiers' play and taken a hands-on role in transforming this team?   

Don't worry, Crean has identified communication lapses - and the decrease of verbal communication more generally in society - as IU's problem on defense. And he's addressing that problem!! From today's Herald-Times: Perhaps at the top of the to-do list is honing in on the communication lapses that the Hoosiers cannot afford against the league’s better teams.   “To me, we can be a lot better at that,” Crean said. “We can be a lot better. ... To me, it’s just a commitment to say, ‘No, I’m not going to let my man get it,’ or, ‘I’m going to make sure he knows there’s help. Communication in sports, because of the way things are ... with so little verbal communication being required of people, it’s going to get harder and harder. The bottom line to me is, for those couple hours a day when you got them, you have to absolutely make them talk and hope that it’s going to carry over onto the court.”

“Good, bad or indifferent, I will work guys through mistakes,” Crean said. I’m not ready to rush them (to the bench) every time a mistake comes, but you do have to put them in a position to understand what is tolerated and what’s not." From today's Bloomington Herald-Times. Apparently, Tom is just working the guys through mistakes.

Hutch, what is your analysis of the Grant Gelon signing? There's been a lot of discussion about this one. Seems like a great opportunity to weigh in with your take.

  I used to read the Scout site pretty regularly and Albers didn't actually cover recruiting on a full-time basis, did he? It seems to me he had lots of stories about IU other than recruiting stories - game stories, previews, analysis of how the team was playing, press conference coverage, etc. I think very few, if any, of the guys who cover recruiting for a particular team report exclusively on recruiting.  And I don't mean this disrespectfully, but I'm not sure what you mean about none of Hutch's articles being focused on the future. On the front page of this site right now, he has a story with his take on what non-conference basketball opponents IU should play in future years, a story about Kevin Wilson's future at IU given what might happen this season and a story with predictions for the IU football season -- "It’s really early but I love making prognostications. And I think IU could technically go 3-1 in non-conference play and still find three Big Ten wins. The three that come to mind are Rutgers, Iowa and Purdue . . ." 

Geez, 140 stories in a month! That is hitting the ball way out of the park. No wonder you decided to part ways with Scout if you were writing almost five stories a day. That is truly unbelievable.   Anyway, this is awesome. I appreciate great research and look forward to see your responses. Thank you, Stuhoo, for getting this ball rolling.

I guess I must not understand how sportswriting works. I would have thought that between supervising Justin Albers (you did, didn't you?), reading and hopefully editing his work, covering all of IU's basketball games and press conferences year after year, being involved in podcasts and online Q&As, various discussions with your IU basketball sources, etc. you'd be pretty up to date and in the loop on all IU basketball news. I don't mean this as a criticism. I'm just a little surprised that you'd say you were out of the basketball recruiting realm when it's such a major part of college basketball coverage these days and you were the editor of an IU sports website, which presumably would emphasize basketball coverage.  

Hutch, did you hear Kevin Wilson say yesterday that former Ohio State recruit Tyler Green, a high school safety, is going to start his Hoosier career at cornerback? I think it was Mike Miller who reported that. What's your sense of Green's chance to get playing time at CB as a freshman? Also, Mike, after talking with Wilson about the offensive line personnel, made it sound like freshmen Wes Martin and Brandon Knight are in the competition for starting jobs. I doubt those guys start -- what do think? - but this time of year I'll take any little tidbit of possible news.   

I agree with Hutch that getting "the scoop" isn't as important as it used to be. But what matters these days - more than ever - is offering unique content that you can't find on other sites. Not just having the same ol' game previews, game recaps, recycled press conference quotes, media guide regurgitation and shallow "analysis" written by mr. obvious that everyone can find free at multiple places on the web.   What the really good college sports websites do is to offer recruiting content and relevant exclusive interviews with people knowledgable about the program that you can't find anywhere else. And that's what I'm hopeful Hutch will bring to BtownBanners -- a lot of hustle and creativity in offering unique content day after day and week after week. I know that with his experience and level of commitment, the opinions he offers won't be the same ol' easy shoot from the hip shallow bs you can get from random fans on a message board, but will be authoritative analysis based on research and sources, as is typical of the work of a professional sports columnist, which we're lucky to have here.    You hooked me and got me to sign up for an account today, Mr. Hutchens. Can't wait to see you elevate BtownBanners to the top of the Hoosier heap!