IUBB vs UT Arlington - Tues., 11/20 @ 7:00 ET

Stromboli · November 21, 2018

Good morning, my dudes. Happy Wednesday.

Injuries, man. I've tried to consider whether or not the offseason training is part of it. Jerome's issue is a freak thing. Devonte's thigh contusion in practice is just from going hard. Same with Race's concussion. Who knows with Zach, probably from total disregard for his body diving after loose balls. De'Ron is still just getting a stronger healthy body from last year's injury. Al was previously out for soreness, and now from that nasty fall. Romeo's was a one-off accident. And so our injury problems are not from fatigue/overuse, but it is possible that the meat-grinder of practice competition needs to be dialed back. Bystander's prognosis:

Romeo: Likely fine, but will have a Phantom of the Opera mask.

De'Ron: Yeesh. Back in a boot? That's more than soreness.

McBob: It feels like he's being put on ice for more important games. I'd assume he's back for Duke.

Jerome: If he's still in the hospital, it's easy to envision this a red shirt year. A week at the Cleveland Clinic is no simple basketball injury.

Race: The internet tells me 7-10 days, but the more aggressive you are in allowing full healing, the better. It's his brain. My guess is that he'll have the opportunity to put a body on Zion. At this point I think we could really use him. Who knows, he might be a mid-season revelation for us. Does anyone know if he can shoot a free throw?

Al: Oh man. I couldn't tell if that was a pure tailbone thing, or general back thing. I've broken my tailbone before, and it's the worst. Like Al, I finished the contest without too much pain, but as soon as I stopped it locked. I think it was 2 weeks before I could really do anything, and maybe 5 before I was at 90%. I know injuries happen in basketball, but watching the little guy from UT Arlington "try real hard" and take Al's legs from him got me hating their whole team. Only got worse when someone else "tried real hard" and broke Romeo's nose. Not even knowing what ails him, I'd guess Al will be out through the Duke game, and not 100% through 2018.

Devonte: I thought he'd be back. Didn't he play after the thigh contusion happened? So what's going on? I'd say it must have been somewhat severe. Even still, I'd guess he's back this week. I hope so, our guards need a breather.

So we can hope to get back Romeo, McBob, Race, and Devonte. I'd probably forfeit the win if we could just go back and not play this game altogether. Romeo's face and Al's coccyx likely agree. Just not worth the cost of injuries and fatigue, and now the entire fanbase is in a feeding frenzy to zing which players are lazy or have weak hands or just don't have heart or BBIQ. You should have seen the fans go after De'Ron yesterday in the IUBB post wishing De'Ron happy birthday. Brutal.

Really hard to make generalizations after this game, since these really aren't the guys we envisioned playing. I am worried some about our offense. We look good in transition, but our half-court offense is stagnant or worse. Using screens to get open is not some ancient lost art. It seems like all we have are baseline cuts (these look more opportunistic than scripted), Juwan passing out of a double, or Romeo/Rob driving for a lay-up. And half the time when a guy takes a shot, Archie is screaming and scolding him for it. The guys have the yips. Personally I could stand for Archie to chill out. And maybe teach his guys about screens, both setting them and using them.

Now let's talk the good. We won. Kenpom and Torvik both have us at #19, and we have very balanced offense and defense efficiency numbers. In spite of our horrid 3pt shooting and my own analysis, our offense is very efficient, due mostly to our very effective play around the basket. Dare I say we have chemistry there? I think Juwan is a big part of that. Our defense is still pretty good, and I think we take that for granted. Our 3 best players are healthy, and they'll continue to make great plays for us. If we even get half the guys back we'll have 8-9 guys we can play. Armaan showed out last night for 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 steals. And tomorrow we can pour gravy on everything and no one thinks it's weird.

HoosierAloha · November 21, 2018

We either need the team to start blowing folks out of the water or we need a collective massive blunt for the board.

Stromboli · November 21, 2018

Just now, HoosierAloha said:

We either need the team to start blowing folks out of the water or we need a collective massive blunt for the board.

Porque no los dos?

Brass Cannon · November 21, 2018

I never understood trolling for entertainment. I especially don’t understand baselessly insulting kids for entertainment.

I am going to defer to every single coach who has ever been a success and most that weren’t and not some troll on the internet. The kids were tired.

Brass Cannon · November 21, 2018

4 minutes ago, Stromboli said:

Good morning, my dudes. Happy Wednesday.

Injuries, man. I've tried to consider whether or not the offseason training is part of it. Jerome's issue is a freak thing. Devonte's thigh contusion in practice is just from going hard. Same with Race's concussion. Who knows with Zach, probably from total disregard for his body diving after loose balls. De'Ron is still just getting a stronger healthy body from last year's injury. Al was previously out for soreness, and now from that nasty fall. Romeo's was a one-off accident. And so our injury problems are not from fatigue/overuse, but it is possible that the meat-grinder of practice competition needs to be dialed back. Bystander's prognosis:

Romeo: Likely fine, but will have a Phantom of the Opera mask.

De'Ron: Yeesh. Back in a boot? That's more than soreness.

McBob: It feels like he's being put on ice for more important games. I'd assume he's back for Duke.

Jerome: If he's still in the hospital, it's easy to envision this a red shirt year. A week at the Cleveland Clinic is no simple basketball injury.

Race: The internet tells me 7-10 days, but the more aggressive you are in allowing full healing, the better. It's his brain. My guess is that he'll have the opportunity to put a body on Zion. At this point I think we could really use him. Who knows, he might be a mid-season revelation for us. Does anyone know if he can shoot a free throw?

Al: Oh man. I couldn't tell if that was a pure tailbone thing, or general back thing. I've broken my tailbone before, and it's the worst. Like Al, I finished the contest without too much pain, but as soon as I stopped it locked. I think it was 2 weeks before I could really do anything, and maybe 5 before I was at 90%. I know injuries happen in basketball, but watching the little guy from UT Arlington "try real hard" and take Al's legs from him got me hating their whole team. Only got worse when someone else "tried real hard" and broke Romeo's nose. Not even knowing what ails him, I'd guess Al will be out through the Duke game, and not 100% through 2018.

Devonte: I thought he'd be back. Didn't he play after the thigh contusion happened? So what's going on? I'd say it must have been somewhat severe. Even still, I'd guess he's back this week. I hope so, our guards need a breather.

So we can hope to get back Romeo, McBob, Race, and Devonte.  I'd probably forfeit the win if we could just go back and not play this game altogether. Romeo's face and Al's coccyx likely agree. Just not worth the cost of injuries and fatigue, and now the entire fanbase is in a feeding frenzy to zing which players are lazy or have weak hands or just don't have heart or BBIQ. You should have seen the fans go after De'Ron yesterday in the IUBB post wishing De'Ron happy birthday. Brutal.

Really hard to make generalizations after this game, since these really aren't the guys we envisioned playing. I am worried some about our offense. We look good in transition, but our half-court offense is stagnant or worse. Using screens to get open is not some ancient lost art. It seems like all we have are baseline cuts (these look more opportunistic than scripted), Juwan passing out of a double, or Romeo/Rob driving for a lay-up. And half the time when a guy takes a shot, Archie is screaming and scolding him for it. The guys have the yips. Personally I could stand for Archie to chill out. And maybe teach his guys about screens, both setting them and using them.

Now let's talk the good. We won. Kenpom and Torvik both have us at #19, and we have very balanced offense and defense efficiency numbers. In spite of our horrid 3pt shooting and my own analysis, our offense is very efficient, due mostly to our very effective play around the basket. Dare I say we have chemistry there? I think Juwan is a big part of that. Our defense is still pretty good, and I think we take that for granted. Our 3 best players are healthy, and they'll continue to make great plays for us. If we even get half the guys back we'll have 8-9 guys we can play. Armaan showed out last night for 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 steals. And tomorrow we can pour gravy on everything and no one thinks it's weird.

Isn’t it a different foot for Davis?

Rip Hamilton thought the phantom of the opera mask helped him. Let’s hope it helps Romeo

HoosierAloha · November 21, 2018

5 minutes ago, Stromboli said:

Porque no los dos?

That would work too

Hoosierfan2017 · November 21, 2018

I don't buy that them being tired as an excuse. NBA players play back to backs all the time and they have much more mileage on their bodies than 18-22 year old college kids. If Romeo or any of the other guys have NBA aspirations they better get used to playing on one day's rest.

JSHoosier · November 21, 2018

10 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

I don't buy that them being tired as an excuse. NBA players play back to backs all the time and they have much more mileage on their bodies than 18-22 year old college kids. If Romeo or any of the other guys have NBA aspirations they better get used to playing on one day's rest.

It was only the 5th game too. They'd sometimes have one day rest in the tourney, after playing a full season.

JSHoosier · November 21, 2018

We do need players to get healthy though. No doubt about that.

That includes Green, and I never thought I'd say he's all that needed. 20 minutes of his guaranteed 'WTF are you doing? W. T. F' is still 20 minutes taking load off actual good players.

Brass Cannon · November 21, 2018

8 minutes ago, JSHoosier said:

It was only the 5th game too. They'd sometimes have one day rest in the tourney, after playing a full season.

They wouldn’t have to travel in the tourney between games.

Not to mention unlike pro athletes players at UNC our guys probably had class work to catch up on Monday

it’s less about the total minutes played. Even LeBron James gets taken out of games for quick breathers. A luxury Romeo and Rob didn’t have

Hoosierfan2017 · November 21, 2018

3 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

They wouldn’t have to travel in the tourney between games.

Not to mention unlike pro athletes players at UNC our guys probably had class work to catch up on Monday

Damezi played 26 minutes against Arkansas. Morgan played 23, Phinisee played 21, Fitzner played 18 and Smith played 15. Romeo and Al were the only two players who played more than 26 minutes. If those guys can't handle those minutes without being tired two days later then we have a big problem.

mamasa · November 21, 2018

43 minutes ago, HoosierAloha said:

We either need the team to start blowing folks out of the water or we need a collective massive blunt for the board.

Is this a public vote?

Stuhoo · November 21, 2018

6 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Damezi played 26 minutes against Arkansas. Morgan played 23, Phinisee played 21, Fitzner played 18 and Smith played 15. Romeo and Al were the only two players who played more than 26 minutes. If those guys can't handle those minutes without being tired two days later then we have a big problem.

All true, but I think that the minutes played issue is real, and that merely listing minutes totals is oversimplifying it.

The biggest problem with minutes played beyond expectations is not tired legs, it's mental focus. Especially when it is three freshmen who are playing more minutes than expected.

Hoosierfan2017 · November 21, 2018

12 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

All true, but I think that the minutes played issue is real, and that merely listing minutes totals is oversimplifying it.

The biggest problem with minutes played beyond expectations is not tired legs, it's mental focus. Especially when it is three freshmen who are playing more minutes than expected.

I don't doubt that they're feeling tired, but I don't see it as a legitimate excuse for the effort they gave against UT Arlington. I agree that Damezi is playing many more minutes than he should have expected. He would be getting spot minutes at a maximum of we were healthy.

I disagree that Rob and Romeo are playing more minutes than they should've expected, though. Romeo is averaging 31.4 through five games and Rob is at 26.6. I want my 5 star all American playing at least 30 minutes a night. Give him a long rest when you get a chance in blowouts, but he should be prepared to play 30+ on any given night.

Rob is playing more minutes than you'd expect from a guy with his high school ranking, but he's not playing like the #136th best freshman in the country. 25+ mpg should be expected from him, imo.

HoosierHoops1 · November 21, 2018

14 hours ago, Joe DeLow said:

Duke is going to beat us by 40.

Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

I'll take that bet, hell, I'll even take half of it.

Brass Cannon · November 21, 2018

Would really like an updated timetable on all the guys. I know The team will never release one though.

Str8Hoosiers · November 21, 2018

I am not saying it is an excuse but I can definitely see fatigue being an issue... both Tired Legs & Mental Focus.

There are so many factors.....

Juwan's 23 minutes for example doesn't seem like a lot but it was 20 straight minutes in the 2nd half vs Arkansas

Romeo & Rob should expect to play big minutes however 5 games in and that is a work in process, High School is not the same, the game is shorter and the effort required is lower. I watched a lot of NA games last year and I would say Romeo is definitely giving MUCH more effort per minute played!

They have been going harder and trying to learn more in practices early in the season. I don't think this is an issue that can be compared to the tournament as that is a much different scenario at the end of the season.