The Sky is Not Falling

[HoosierSadaseci 2,258]

I'm not concerned at all, it will take time to get players and coach all on the same page, and a loss like last night helps expedite that.  One thing I'm hopeful for is where Crean's teams would start out the season roaring only to fizzle later in the season, I'm expecting Archie to have the team playing their best basketball come tourney time.

[Stuhoo 81,065]

Yup. A lot of last night is a recruiting issue.
A new coach can teach new concepts; can even demand accountability and toughness.
But, a new coach cannot re-wire the personalities of a roster of twenty year olds.
The postgame presser with Rojo and Davis was awful; nice kids who didn’t make excuses... yuck.
I was hoping for two players who were 1/3 embarrassed and 2/3 angry.



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[schoosier 3,488]

With only one player over 3 rebounds, we need Race this year. I think he burns his redshirt and our 2 senior guards get benched. It's not like Johnson finally learns how to play defense, and defense will earn minutes moving forward. I'm not worried...we will win more games than our previous coach did in years 1-3.

[HooHooHoo22 3,902]

I understand the sky isn’t falling but the game last night took the wind right out of my sail.


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[VO5 8,272]

Agree with everything you said Old Friend. A few things I’d like to add:

-We have ZERO leadership on the court. Hartman didn’t play and I think that would have made a difference, but JN and Rojo have to step up. Archie can do everything right, but if you don’t have a player on the court enforcing Arch’s principles with his teammates you aren’t going to get very far.

- To piggyback off that, like Stu said we have a bunch of nice kids who Archie wouldn’t have recruited. No killers, no junkyard dogs (although I think Durham can become one of those). That’s a mental toughness issue that Crean never instilled.

- Speaking of Rojo, i’ve been one of his biggest supporters over the last year because I saw what he could be. He has regressed so much now that I cringe watching him play. No idea what’s happened to him but it seems mental. My only hope is he buys in and gets more focused throughout the year.

- This game was a perfect storm of sorts. I’d be willing to wager another team, let alone ISU, won’t shoot 17-26 from 3 on us this year. Likewise, we won’t shoot as abysmal as we did either. It’s one of those games, and it just happened to be the first one of the season while learning a new system.

- ISU has already played 2 BIG teams in the exhibition season while we played chopped liver. That makes a difference.

I’m still optimistic guys. It’s going to be rough in the non-con this year, no sugar coating it. But losing this game doesn’t mean we won’t improve or that we can’t upset someone down the road. I’m going to enjoy the ride this year and the ups and downs that come with it. I’d advise everyone else to do the same.

[Capt. Crimson 3,429]

Isn't the 3 the weakness of the Pack Line defense? Keeping them out of the paint forced to shoot from the perimeter? Granted they weren't great at contesting it, but ISU was shooting lights out. We will bounce back.


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[Str8Hoosiers 2,965]

I agree with what most on here are saying, the sky isn't falling... we will improve.... but I don't agree with the lack of talent... we should have enough talent to compete with anybody not just the ISU of the world.... Maybe it isn't Archie's talent but it is talent that he gets to work with.

It is easy to say the sky isn't falling but we are 1 day into basketball season and I have already heard from every UofL, UK, & Duke fan I know how we reached with Archie, Dayton runs were a fluke, we are going to be horrible... burn the "Miller  Time" shirts... reminiscent of the Crean & Crimson shirts.... why couldn't this game have happened 3 or 4 games into the season.... be undefeated until Arkansas State and lay this egg.... wouldn't be nearly as bad....

On the same token win the next 5 (including on the Road at Seton Hall) and spirits go back up!

[Josh 12,649]

I haven't seen anybody panicking.  Where is that?

 

I think it's ok to put some blame on Coach.  The team wasn't ready and didn't seem interested last night.  That's on Coach.  I know we don't have great talent, but we had more talented players than Indiana State did.  

 

I know it's the first game.  I know and I expect that things will improve throughout the year.  But is nobody concerned that it was a complete blowout?  I mean, if we lose a hard fought game it's a shame.  If we don't even compete on our home court, that's concerning.

[Yogi's Picnic Basket 5,004]

Being my first official game to cover, it wasn't a good start at all. Archie was beyond himself with the team. Didn't sound like a single kid wanted to speak up after either and that worries me. Hartman didn't play and I pray he comes back soon because RIGHT NOW he is our only player who holds these guys accountable ON the court. Green showed somewhat of a leader I hear after, but it'll take him a bit to learn how. He shouldn't be expected to with RoJo, Newkirk, McSwain, Priller and Hartman but it is what it is. 

It was only one gamel, but we have to turn it around quickly or this season will be a waste. Regardless though, this isn't on Archie. Like plenty have said, most of these guys have established their personalities here and it will take longer than what he has been given so far to really get these guys playing his style. I expect this team to only get better as the year goes.

Archie was asked if he would consider playing Race and it sounds like it isn't an option right now. I do expect Moore to get some more run if Hartman isn't available the next few games. The Seton Hall game could be ugly. I'm praying for good news Monday because the talent level isn't on par with a tourney team right now. We are sorely missing a go to guy on offense.

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 9,192]

I haven't seen anybody panicking.  Where is that?
 
I think it's ok to put some blame on Coach.  The team wasn't ready and didn't seem interested last night.  That's on Coach.  I know we don't have great talent, but we had more talented players than Indiana State did.  
 
I know it's the first game.  I know and I expect that things will improve throughout the year.  But is nobody concerned that it was a complete blowout?  I mean, if we lose a hard fought game it's a shame.  If we don't even compete on our home court, that's concerning.

No, it's not on coach. Is it on the teacher to get their students motivated to get good grades? Absolutely not. Why do you think AM didn't do everything he could to have them ready? This is 100% on AM.

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[Hoosierfan2017 21,502]

7 minutes ago, btownqb said:

No, it's not on coach. Is it on the teacher to get their students motivated to get good grades? Absolutely not. Why do you think AM didn't do everything he could to have them ready? This is 100% on AM.

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If the team needs Archie to get them excited for the first game of the season then that's the players' fault. Archie can only do so much to get them ready to play. 

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 9,192]

If the team needs Archie to get them excited for the first game of the season then that's the players' fault. Archie can only do so much to get them ready to play. 

THANK YOU!!!!

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[MikeRoberts 7,030]

Of course the sky isn't falling. I read the entire game thread and that was not my take away at all. What I did see is some placing the blame on Crean still and saying we need to wait until Archie gets his guys in there.

It is going to take 3 years before he really has a team of his guys, we cannot get blown the f out by every middling school at home in the interim. This isn't a cupboards are bare scenario like some have said. That is lazy and making excuses where excuses aren't needed.

We may not have any studs that can put the team on their back but we don't need that. We have a team of quality players that Archie needs to get the most from.

The good news is that he hasn't had that much time with these guys yet so I believe things will improve, hey kind of have to, nowhere to go from here but up.

I have faith in Archie but he needs to get results before his guys get here and I don't mean a final four, just respectable and competitive which should win us a lot of games


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[LIHoosier 26,265]

 

[HoosierAloha 30,068]

The sky is not falling. CAM is an alpha dog leading mostly beta players recruited by a previous beta coach that had no idea what grit and toughness are.

If there are any alpha dogs on this team (thinking there only might be a few in Durham and Green) CAM's system will allow them to come to the front.

Last nights loss showed this isn't a talent or experience problem but a mental and personality problem. I love the fact CAM took responsibility for the loss but also called out the team for being soft. I've seen more fight out of 10 year olds in the local YMCA league.

The key moving forward will be finding the balance of toughening up these players without losing them. I trust CAM to do that but do expect a few games to look like this along the way.


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[Baltimore Hoosier 986]

The sky isn’t falling but there is definitely a low hanging fog... gotta think the Garland and Langford families were watching that scratching their heads.

[Walking Boot of Doom 18,170]

With only one player over 3 rebounds, we need Race this year. I think he burns his redshirt and our 2 senior guards get benched. It's not like Johnson finally learns how to play defense, and defense will earn minutes moving forward. I'm not worried...we will win more games than our previous coach did in years 1-3.

I agree rebounding was poor, but rebounding isn’t the core issues this team faces and I don’t want to waste Race’s redshirt to fix a secondary problem.

We need a true PG and a true leader on the floor, and until someone steps into those roles, I don’t expect much from this team.


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[Trish 11,611]

2 hours ago, Capt. Crimson said:

Isn't the 3 the weakness of the Pack Line defense? Keeping them out of the paint forced to shoot from the perimeter? Granted they weren't great at contesting it, but ISU was shooting lights out. We will bounce back.


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The pack-line defense is different from coach to coach. Each coach has their own little twist to it, I actually run an elementary version of it. The 3 is vulnerable especially if,

1) We can't close out properly

2) Our defensive rotations are bad (lack of communication , awareness) 

3) We don't apply tremendous ball pressure on the handler

I didn't watch the game so I don't know how well the pack line looked, I assume bad lol. With the packline , we're looking to prevent drives and increase our defensive rebounding. It works well if you have the correct players for it. I'm still studying it tbh. 

[AKHoosier 6,945]

2 hours ago, Yogi's Picnic Basket said:

. Archie was beyond himself with the team. Didn't sound like a single kid wanted to speak up after either and that worries me.

What do you mean by this?  Archie lit into the team in the locker room and none of the players spoke up at all?

[Myrmidon76 614]

The packline defense is only as good as the ball pressure. When Seniors allow easy passing lanes on the perimeter its going to fall apart and 2 guys follow 1, it's all chasing at that point. Only Green and Durham have executed the defensive ball pressure that's needed. I'll be honest, it should concern fans more that we have upperclassmen who still define their effort on the offensive side of the ball. If they don't hit shots early, they fold. Archie is dead-on when he said we're soft. Specifically, the majority of our back court is soft. Archie was looking down the bench for players who are not there. It's really not on Archie and it's really not on Crean....it's on the players who shrink and define themselves by early offense. Sickening..absolutely sickening. If anyone still has the IPFW game on DVR, go back and take a peek....you'll see the same offenses performed by the same players in a completely different defensive scheme. Sit the senior guards to start on Sunday and seriously reduce Jones' minutes if he just wants to let a guy drive right by him uncontested. I need a drink....