Shooter

Back in his Drake days Tucker took roughly equal 2s and 3s. This season, more than twice as many 3s as 2s. And it's not only because of higher competition - it's the same story vs the non-con cupcakes. I only watched him once or twice at Drake, but it seems like his athleticism has been sapped a bit with injuries and some extra weight.

Agree but I'm setting the goal slightly higher. - Take care of business at Maryland and Rutgers - Take two of three at home vs Nebraska, Iowa, Purdue - We probably get smoked at Michigan, but have a slight puncher's chance at MSU. If we are sitting at 6-4 after Purdue we're in great shape. 5-5 isn't a disaster either.

I'm just saying, part of our offensive issues against good teams is that it's hard to play 4 on 5 on offense. Disciplined defenses will sag off him, not bite on shot fakes and play the pass when he drives. Enright currently occupies a usage category Kenpom calls "nearly invisible" - following the tradition of Anthony Leal and Gabe Cupps in recent years. You are right that he has a decent career shooting percentage. It will help us a ton if he is willing and able to knock down shots when he's open.

Washington started the game in a triangle and 2 which was pretty crazy. Haven't seen that in a while. Credit to Conerway and Enright for shooting them out of that, but I wouldn't say they ever really came out on Enright. Plenty of possessions he was "guarded" by Steinbach, who was giving him a 10 foot cushion and playing more of a rover role. Triangle and 2 was a bit extreme, but that won't be the last team to play way off of Enright and dare him to do anything offensively.

Sisley was outstanding last night. Really like that kid. It's all in front of us the rest of this month. Two lower tier road games we need to be winning. And three Quad 1-A opportunities at home, two of which we may actually be favored in.

I will cheer him if he takes some more of those contested long 2s he was so fond of here.

We got a ton of open looks against an overmatched opponent. First half we hit them. Second half we missed them. For better or worse, we kept shooting. I'd like to see us work inside more when shots aren't dropping. That being said, it's kryptonite to your offense when shooters start hesitating on open threes (as we've seen for nearly a decade now). Gotta find a balance.

We suck and show no promise of improvement? LOL, what? It's less than halfway through our new coach's first season. We've lost a grand total of 3 games, and are currently projected to make the tournament.

As it stands, IU is #29 in the NET rankings. Torvik has IU as the #20 team in the country, with a 94% chance to make the tournament. Averaging a 6 or 7 seed. I am not as high on our ceiling as T-Rank, just offering a data-based counter to the doom and glooming here.

I was at the game. First half we dominated and made a bunch of open threes. Second half we mostly missed those same open shots. Also missed a bunch of FTs. Crowd was pretty weak, as expected for a Christmas break game against a bottom feeder. Not much to take away from this kind of game positive or negative, but those with agendas already decided will see what they want to see. Completely agree with the bulk of your post. I am much more optimistic about this team going into January than either of the last two seasons.

I'm not putting words in your mouth. Your direct quote was "The brand of basketball against Penn State was awful". Yes, I believe a performance in which IU took equal amount of 2s and 3s, made over 80% of the 2s, over 50% of the 3s, assisted on over 70% of baskets, forced 11 turnovers vs 9 opponent made baskets in the first half, etc was good basketball. You got me on that one. I agree we stunk against UK. We have a new coach, we'll see how he adjusts. Enjoy the rest of the season.

I was being serious. If you watched IU go up 58-26 at halftime and thought "this is awful" - why are you doing this to yourself? Go watch old games or find a different hobby that you actually enjoy.

Indiana was up 58-26 at halftime vs Penn State. If you think that brand of basketball was awful, you just don't enjoy modern basketball. Which is fine, your choice. There are probably some videos of 1970s basketball on YouTube that would be more your speed.

Need to play better, I agree. I think we are capable of doing that.

Man, some of you guys are babies. Or maybe just spoiled by Cignetti. Coming into this year I thought making the tourney would be a decent first season. That's still on the table. Season's not over because we played like crap on the road.

Good thing he made it. Or else straight to jail

I don't think it matters a ton which one starts. They are clearly more of a platoon than a starter / backup dynamic. Devries has been inserting Alexis earlier and earlier, did it less than 2 min in to the second half last night.

TJD in this offense gives you the playmaking Devries sees in a skilled big like Reed Bailey, PLUS elite level rebounding and shot blocking. God I hope we get someone like TJD again.

A few mistakes, but I thought he and Enright did a great job overall. Only 8 TO in a 77 possession game against a full court press is outstanding stuff.

Yes, but that was at home. We are always good for a few big home wins even when we suck. This is more like how Louisville showed up vs us last year in Bahamas. Neutral court, new coach and new roster. Came out and dominated and set the tone for a great first season.

There will be nights when the 3s don't fall and we can't secure a rebound. We'll get out-physicaled a few times on the road. But this team is well-coached and we run some beautiful offense. Looks like a tournament team at a minimum.

I got tickets for the Empire Classic in NYC a couple years ago through IU. And had the same frustrations you guys are having. Took months for them to tell me whether or not my request would even be filled. (While the available stock on Ticketmaster gradually dwindled down during that time) IU ticket office needs to do better.

It's fair to question if Bailey can hang as a 5 in the Big Ten. But I don't think it's accurate to say he has mid major ability. Not many guys his size who can move and have the ball skills that he does. Dorn I think is also an important piece for this team when he gets healthy. 6'7" shooter, seems a natural fit for us at the 3. UNC and Maryland wanted him out of the portal too.

I was convinced after that game that Myles Rice was our best player and an all-conference level PG. I still think he's a lot better than he showed under Woodson, but I suppose that's a topic for another thread.

I'm glad we won, and I'm even more glad the guys got a chance to bond and develop chemistry. But exhibitions don't mean jack. Last year I watched us beat Tennessee in Knoxville, in the most real game-like exhibition I can think of. And then the season started and Tennessee won 30 games, and we sucked. We won't know anything about this team until the real games start.