Umass Lowell - Indiana Postgame Thread

[HoosierAloha]

This is just silly...

[Old Friend]

2 hours ago, IUfan_Charlie said:

Not a great showing, but a win. McSwain has been really disappointing. Thoughts? 

How in the world can you call a kid "disappointing" after two games?  He was in JUCO for a reason.    What do you expect from him?   He didn't come here touted as an immediate impact diffference maker.  he came here touted as an athlete who needed polish.   And.....   That's what he is.  He's played exactly two D1 games in his life, and the last couple of seasons, he's played against competition that would lose to UM Lowell by 40.   He hasn't even had the benefit of playing good AAU ball in the summer recently.  He had 5 rebounds and 3 steals in 14 minutes.  He can't shoot, but Crean's offense asks him to take shots he won't make yet.  He plays too fast....that'll change.   Patience, Grasshopper.

[Brass Cannon]

I'd caution people from looking at our overall stats too much in this game. Our starters only played 24 minutes on average. 

McSwain struggled offensively but against stronger competition I doubt he's taking as many shots. Take away his shooting and we shot 63 percent from the field. 

Our defense probably suffered because we saw a lot of lineups that we aren't going to be seeing in more competitive games. 

[hoosha61]

Overall good effort. Thought Green had some nice moments, two beautiful passes. Newkirk looks better each time out, good to see him hit a 3. Davis has the potential to be really good, I like him and TB on the court at the same time. Rojo and Cujo came down to earth a little but were steady. I def think Freddie can be a plus come conference time. Buckets was buckets, his lack of D is something we just have to live with. Why don't we press more (at all) with our depth, length and athleticism we could force teams to play at our pace. So far so good! Go Hoosiers!

[mdn82]

I'd caution people from looking at our overall stats too much in this game. Our starters only played 24 minutes on average. 

McSwain struggled offensively but against stronger competition I doubt he's taking as many shots. Take away his shooting and we shot 63 percent from the field. 

Our defense probably suffered because we saw a lot of lineups that we aren't going to be seeing in more competitive games. 

Yeah I doubt McSwain gets more than Hanner Perea run against top competition. At this point, he is so far behind the learning curve at both ends. All athlete and low bball IQ, which is what most thought. Not trying to knock the kid, but that is why he is playing as much in games like this. Really like the defensive understanding of the freshman. Cujo and Green both anticipate pretty well. Davis is a step slow right now, but is in the right spot.


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[Stuhoo]

For those who complain about too many cupcake games, I get it, but at least they are made for the improvement of players like Freddie

[ccgeneral]

43 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

For those who complain about too many cupcake games, I get it, but at least they are made for the improvement of players like Freddie

So much for that late bloom in JUCO.

[BGleas]

7 hours ago, Brass Cannon said:

I'd caution people from looking at our overall stats too much in this game. Our starters only played 24 minutes on average. 

McSwain struggled offensively but against stronger competition I doubt he's taking as many shots. Take away his shooting and we shot 63 percent from the field. 

Our defense probably suffered because we saw a lot of lineups that we aren't going to be seeing in more competitive games. 

I'd even argue that if this was better competition the majority of McSwain's minutes would have gone to Juwan Morgan. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

10 hours ago, BrettThrows said:

Agree that Bryant needs more shots. But not at all worried that he didn't get them in this game. It was nice to see Davis get in some meaningful minutes. He has a really nice touch, great hands and good footwork. He'll be a much bigger asset once he's in fighting shape. Love greens defense, he plays hard and doesn't take plays off. 

 

As for McSwain, dudes an athlete. Big and strong. I'm not surprised he's off to a slow start, honestly. Hell come around. Don't expect him to score 20points a game, but I can see him coming in and being a good rebounder and defender, every once in a while having a big dunk. He's skated by on his athleticism thus far. Now that he has some coaching I think he'll be decent. Let's not give up on him just yet. 

Welcome aboard Brett.  If all of your posts are as good as your first, you're going to be a great contributor to btb.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

10 hours ago, HOOSIERCHADDY said:

Good win, wish Bryant would extend his arms when he goes up, the way he goes up just seems very awkward to me.  McSwain picked IU for the very purpose of Tom Crean helping him, because he knows he isn't up to par.  He will be just fine, remember if CH was healthy he wouldn't be in as much. IU's defense is horrible at times, Blackmon needs to step it up big time.

Welcome to btb.  Hope you enjoy a great group of people and you become a frequent contributor.

[GnarlyNormEllenberger]

A few thoughts from my perspective...

- Vehemently disagree with those who say McSwain looks disappointing. What I saw was a raw, but aggressive talent who is still learning the game (which is exactly what he was billed to be when we signed him.) Yes, the 1-9 shooting and 3 turnovers look bad. As Old Friend said above, he plays too fast and forced a few too many things last night. But his aggressiveness also paid off to the tune of 5 rebounds, 3 steals and a blocked shot in just 15 minutes. He has a valuable role on this team. Now, I would not want him shooting the ball any further than 8 feet from the hoop at this point. But this is where you utilize the Will Sheehey or Troy Williams technique and have him roam up and down the baseline for catch and dunks. He can do that. On the defensive end, he can bring a lot to the table as well.

- The communication on defense was poor last night. Credit to UMass-Lowell because their offense looked sort of like a low-major version of us. But we simply weren't communicating well on the defensive end and that resulted in a bunch of open shots for them. It's correctable, but it needs corrected. That level of defensive play is how we started 5-3 last year.

- We have so many weapons on offense, which makes us very difficult to guard.  I'd like to see us make a more concerted effort to get to the free throw line as well as limit some of these cross-court passes in traffic, but I'm nit-picking at this point.

- I continue to be flummoxed by officiating. Very little consistency on their calls.

- Odds and ends...Destroyed them on the boards as we should have.... 23 assists is nice. 16 turnovers is still too many, but that's just the way we play under Crean and it is what it is... Slightly concerned about our free throw shooting percentage at this point... Good to see Davis and Green make some positive plays as it should continue to build confidence in their games... Robert Johnson's steady line of 16-5-5 was good to see... Blackmon continued to see he can score points in bunches.

[mdn82]

A few thoughts from my perspective...

- Vehemently disagree with those who say McSwain looks disappointing. What I saw was a raw, but aggressive talent who is still learning the game (which is exactly what he was billed to be when we signed him.) Yes, the 1-9 shooting and 3 turnovers look bad. As Old Friend said above, he plays too fast and forced a few too many things last night. But his aggressiveness also paid off to the tune of 5 rebounds, 3 steals and a blocked shot in just 15 minutes. He has a valuable role on this team. Now, I would not want him shooting the ball any further than 8 feet from the hoop at this point. But this is where you utilize the Will Sheehey or Troy Williams technique and have him roam up and down the baseline for catch and dunks. He can do that. On the defensive end, he can bring a lot to the table as well.

- The communication on defense was poor last night. Credit to UMass-Lowell because their offense looked sort of like a low-major version of us. But we simply weren't communicating well on the defensive end and that resulted in a bunch of open shots for them. It's correctable, but it needs corrected. That level of defensive play is how we started 5-3 last year.

- We have so many weapons on offense, which makes us very difficult to guard.  I'd like to see us make a more concerted effort to get to the free throw line as well as limit some of these cross-court passes in traffic, but I'm nit-picking at this point.

- I continue to be flummoxed by officiating. Very little consistency on their calls.

- Odds and ends...Destroyed them on the boards as we should have.... 23 assists is nice. 16 turnovers is still too many, but that's just the way we play under Crean and it is what it is... Slightly concerned about our free throw shooting percentage at this point... Good to see Davis and Green make some positive plays as it should continue to build confidence in their games... Robert Johnson's steady line of 16-5-5 was good to see... Blackmon continued to see he can score points in bunches.

I can understand this point on McSwain if he were a Freshman. As a junior he will have moments where his athleticism shines through, but it should be against teams like this. He doesn't have the handle Will and Troy did to get to the rim. Defensively he is ok. To get more run against solid opponents he will have to do a lot on that end of the floor. I don't see him as more than a 7 mpg player. I don't mean that as a negative as you need those players. I just don't see him as a viable option down the stretch or in critical times of the game.


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[VO5]

2 minutes ago, mdn82 said:

I can understand this point on McSwain if he were a Freshman. As a junior he will have moments where his athleticism shines through, but it should be against teams like this. He doesn't have the handle Will and Troy did to get to the rim. Defensively he is ok. To get more run against solid opponents he will have to do a lot on that end of the floor. I don't see him as more than a 7 mpg player. I don't mean that as a negative as you need those players. I just don't see him as a viable option down the stretch or in critical times of the game.


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Yup. it's not that I don't like McSwain, it's just that we have a player in JM who does everything better than him. I realize the competition last night, but JM only got 15 min and McSwain got 14. Juwan can handle and should be taking all of those minutes in meaningful games.

[SlamaJamaSisley]

I haven't read all of the comments so this may have already been added, but I felt like the tone of this game changed when Deron and Thomas entered the game together.  

[Stuhoo]

7 minutes ago, mdn82 said:

I can understand this point on McSwain if he were a Freshman. As a junior he will have moments where his athleticism shines through, but it should be against teams like this. He doesn't have the handle Will and Troy did to get to the rim. Defensively he is ok. To get more run against solid opponents he will have to do a lot on that end of the floor. I don't see him as more than a 7 mpg player. I don't mean that as a negative as you need those players. I just don't see him as a viable option down the stretch or in critical times of the game.


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Seven minutes a game? That sounds about right; remember, in meaningful games, Freddie is the 10th guy in the rotation, especially with DeRon looking so good. JBj, OG, TB, JN, RoJo, DD, JM, CuJo, DGreen, and then Freddie. Also remember; if Freddie doesn't pan out, Zach McRoberts is a Burton-esque excellent choice for a replacement 10th man in the meaningful game rotation.

 

[Brass Cannon]

1 hour ago, BGleas said:

I'd even argue that if this was better competition the majority of McSwain's minutes would have gone to Juwan Morgan. 

Agreed. Looks to me like come big ten season we will have a 9 guy rotation.  That's all you really need when you have starters as good as our Big 3. 

[Sota Hoosier]

There were some nice takeaways from this game and clearly we have a very talented and deep team.

That said, I didn't come away from this game with a fuzzy feeling. There are defensive issues and I thought we were pretty sluggish (understood given coming of KU game on another planet but still). The issues can certainly be fixed and we'll be a much more polished team as the season goes on but I was hoping for a better performance defensively. UML made a lot of shots so credit to them but it seems like a lot of teams have done that to us the past couple years.

We have an elite offense and immense talent, no doubt, but certainly a lot of stuff to work on and polish.

Apologies if this is not a popular post but wanted to share. Need more of a sample size but I'd really like to see strides defensively this season and I truly believe that will dictate what this team's ceiling is in March.

[Trish]

Only watched the first half, but we didn't come out with much energy. We tend to play down to our competition in these cup cake games from time to time. However, Lowell made some pretty decent shots. JBJ back to doing his usual. We need him to stay healthy. Josh looks very rusty which is understandable. Of course like Crean has mentioned, this team hasn't gotten much run time together from all the injuries. 

Even though we beat Kansas, i think it's important to remember we're still learning how to play together. Even without Collin, we look good at times, but have a long ways to go if we want to make it to another Sweet 16.

Like others have noted, Thomas needs more looks inside. He has a nice touch down low and has some spiffy moves, i sort of liked when him and Davis were playing together. 

Credit to Lowell once again though, they scouted us well and shut us down on our usual looks in the first half. 

[Brass Cannon]

5 minutes ago, Treesh said:

Only watched the first half, but we didn't come out with much energy. We tend to play down to our competition in these cup cake games from time to time. However, Lowell made some pretty decent shots. JBJ back to doing his usual. We need him to stay healthy. Josh looks very rusty which is understandable. Of course like Crean has mentioned, this team hasn't gotten much run time together from all the injuries. 

Even though we beat Kansas, i think it's important to remember we're still learning how to play together. Even without Collin, we look good at times, but have a long ways to go if we want to make it to another Sweet 16.

Like others have noted, Thomas needs more looks inside. He has a nice touch down low and has some spiffy moves, i sort of liked when him and Davis were playing together. 

Credit to Lowell once again though, they scouted us well and shut us down on our usual looks in the first half. 

20 Bucks their coach actually knew who Curtis Jones is

[HoosierAloha]

I really liked McSwain's post move to get his lone bucket.  He caught and immediately went into his move.  Davis did this a time or two.  I really hope our post players continue to do this when they have a smaller player or deep post position.