dmvhoosier12

Especially after a win

Potentially, but I guess I meant on the glass. Seemed like Miami got a lot of 2nd/3rd opportunities that on paper it seems they’d lack the size to do

Yeah, I really wonder what’s going on with TJD. I know he got a hip pointer in the last game….did they give him something for it and he’s just totally out of it now? (Joking but also maybe not given how odd this feels from him)

They seem to have hit him in the crotch in the opening and then drive at him thereafter

I really like CMW as a person and basketball mind. Here’s a thread on Twitter that discusses but one example of in-game adjustments and coaching:

In the B1G, it seems like Miami’s profile is most similar to Iowa: Guard driven offense, don’t play much defense, have some big wins (beat Duke by 20 a month ago), but some bad losses including a recent quad 4 loss to FSU at the end of the season and a quad 3 loss to Georgia Tech earlier. One thing to note, though, is Miami’s 3 pt percentage is strong but do not shoot it nearly as often as Iowa (100 fewer attempts this season). Miami guards are trying to step in for mid range jumpers or get to the rim. This will be a tough fast paced one for IU, but if we are to face a guard centric power conference team then Miami would be the one play, on paper anyways.

I think the general point, though, is that Kent State's defense is about what IU's defense is. Kent St's slightly better ranked 38th (vs 43 for IU) in the country by KenPom; it's not a crazy top 5 defense. That Houston scored so few points, but managed to dominate the glass and win the game against a defense marginally better than IU's either means Houston either had a uniquely awful shooting performance on their Thanksgiving break game or Houston is not very good. And I would tend to agree with posters that say the former explanation is more likely.

My thoughts exactly! I feel every IU podcaster is hyping KSU up to be the 75-76 Hoosiers. Literally unbeatable. It seems the Vegas oddsmakers should have KSU as the favorites to win the whole tournament, these guys talk. Big arbitrage opportunity to be had. Finally some metrics to attach to all the generic statements about their defense! They played three good teams all season. Lost all of those along with quad 3 and quad 4 losses. They played Houston tough in a truly ugly game which is laudable, but also not warranting all this gloom about Friday. I agree that it's great to motivate and not overlook Kent State, but I feel like we've tipped over the edge...like depending on how much of this chatter filters to the players/coaches/staff we come out flat and intimidated rather than prepared and confident.