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Stuhoo

Are We Better Than Last Year?

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1 hour ago, cappymo14 said:


It concerns me that this defense cannot stop penetration. It concerns me because it was created specifically to stop that very thing. The Davidson kid stole our lunch money last night in the 2nd half.. he’s the third option on a very bad team, and he exposed IU. He did most of it while Rob P. was out. Those of you who think Rob P. will be replaced? That’s a very bad idea.


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Rob definitely has to play because of his defense. He also shot a good % from deep. Hope he stays healthy and improves as the season progresses. 

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29 minutes ago, Feathery said:

Rob definitely has to play because of his defense. He also shot a good % from deep. Hope he stays healthy and improves as the season progresses. 

I've always been a big fan of Rob's. Injuries have robbed him of what he could have been the last two years. I like what Lander can be and I love him as a backup to Rob, but he is not better or ready to be a starter.  This team needs a junior Rob at his best to be as good as it can be.

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Way too early to make any legit forecasts.

My gut says however....

  1. The adds (Frosh) will be an upgrade over the losses
  2. 3pt shooting will improve in time. Durham was near 40% last year, and the 1-5 last night was rust. I expect a little improvement from Phin. I expect one or more of the Frosh to improve and contribute (1-8 last night). I don't seeing us being great or anything, but I do think we'll improve as the year progresses and be at least respectable.
  3. FT% is just bad. We need to improve big time for the system to be successful. If anything (underlying to the simple W/Ls) will get CAM fired, this is it. Simply no excuse. I can stomach it a bit from TJD since he dominates in other places and makes up for it, but some of the others have zero excuse and not a lot of off setting benefit. 

We'll know a lot more next week. Providence is a good match up to kick things off. As far as KP rankings are concerned, IU/24 vs Prov/46, then either TX/9 or Davidson/85, then UNC/22, UNLV/132, Stan/33, Bama/48. The only real scrub is possibly UNLV. Getting a win over Providence, and a good showing vs TX would make me optimistic. Then we need a good showing vs FSU.

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We were supposed to be a top 25 team this according to many who told us to hang on last year. We have enough highly ranked kids and some key veterans for this to be the case. Too early to tell at this point but at a minimum we better be better than last year


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I figure that last night's game was basically meaningless and the question is being asked far too soon.  The freshmen are going to play like freshmen for awhile, so we can't guess how good they are going to be until they have more games under our belt.  Remember last year it looked like Franklin was going to be a stud after about five games but he faded as the games got tougher.  Smith would have manhandled Tennessee Tech for about 30 last night.  But we all know what would happened farther down The road.  At this point all I can say is that the players we lost all had major negatives and I can't feel too bad about their leaving.  On the other had this is the first IU team that I have seen in quite some time where I honestly "like" every player.  That will probably change as the season progresses but I hope not.  It will be nice to root for old IU without yelling at the TV constantly because I'm irritated by who is on the floor and what they are doing.

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Simple Answer is YES

Yes we are better than last year. And I am one who thinks it isn't just marginally... I think we are significantly better than last year. The Top 5 seed in the tournament, playing against a Play In 12 seed type team.

As somebody just mentioned this is the first time in a long time I can watch and not dislike somebody on the floor (now that may very well change as the season goes on LOL).

I was a HUGE DGreen supporter and that is a big loss with nobody really going to be able to fill that on the court.... however we are better without him off the court according to what many say....

The freshmen are exciting after 1 game, considering our Mr Basketball gave us the least impact.

I know everybody says it was Tennessee Tech and that they hung with us for 30 minutes... and I know some will not like this argument to that because they think we shold be foot on the gas 100% of the time, but it is competitive nature to not go all out when up 30 points... or even to start a game against a team you know you are(should) beat by 30 points.... There are a LOT of really good basketball players in the country, and only a small fraction of them can play D1 basketball... no they shouldn't be a threat to IU but they alos aren't a bunch of scrubs picked up at the local YMCA before the game.... they have dedicated most of their life to getting better as well.

But to me the biggest reason we are going to be so much better is that we were still young, and now we are not.... Durham has improved every year and his SR year will be his best, TJD is getting big hype, Rob, Race, & Jerome finally healthy and will be big contributors... Franklin showed flashes last year and will be more consistent this year.... Brunk can do some good things, and he will be a smart calming factor when he is on the floor.

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So, forget about our projected record and level of competition. You’ve seen them in action.
We lost DGreen, JSmith, and DeRonDavis, and added Lander, Galloway, Geronimo, and Leal.
Add in some player development (one would hope).
We were a tourney team last year (but barely).
Do you think we are a better team this year?


Really good question and I think you can say either. I think collectively the team is better, but we lost veteran players that can take time to overcome. Our chemistry and scheme is better, but like I said, it will take time to work the kinks out. I think later in the season we will see a better overall team that will be a nightmare to play, even if we aren’t a top 15-20 team.

CAM has put new wrinkles and schemes on offense, and the defense adjusted its hedging some so everyone is still learning to some degree. While this can be said each year, I think this is CAM’s most important season because he’s losing some recruiting steam and it seems to be based on past teams performances. With Archie not being able to run his normal offensive style, results are really important this season from a recruiting standpoint.


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My short answer: too early to tell. Some things I liked from the TTU game:

1. Archie got flexible on defense: they switched some screens! If you were sick of watching unnecessary hedges non-shooters thirty feet from the hoop, then wide open roll/pop bigs, as I was: good news.

2. Fewer two-traditional-big lineups: I imagine this will continue, with Brunk mostly backing up TJD at the five. Race, Jerome, and eventually Jordan (?) all provide more athleticism at the 4 or in Race’s case, the five (maybe more shooting, too).

3. Theoretically, more shooters on the floor: the results weren’t good from three and FT but I’m not too worried about that, there were some surprising individual lows and they still won by dozens. 

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40 minutes ago, lillurk said:

My short answer: too early to tell. Some things I liked from the TTU game:

1. Archie got flexible on defense: they switched some screens! If you were sick of watching unnecessary hedges non-shooters thirty feet from the hoop, then wide open roll/pop bigs, as I was: good news.

2. Fewer two-traditional-big lineups: I imagine this will continue, with Brunk mostly backing up TJD at the five. Race, Jerome, and eventually Jordan (?) all provide more athleticism at the 4 or in Race’s case, the five (maybe more shooting, too).

3. Theoretically, more shooters on the floor: the results weren’t good from three and FT but I’m not too worried about that, there were some surprising individual lows and they still won by dozens. 

Meant to add:

4. Even if Lander is “only” a good backup pg this year, well...when was the last time IU had a good backup pg? Probably 2012-2013 when they started two pgs but almost never played without one of them on the floor (Yogi and Hulls). It’s a luxury not to chew through your nails when your starter has to sit. Even if Lander and Rob don’t play much together this year, what we saw Wednesday was promising.

5. that said, both Lander and Geronimo seem likely to grow into larger roles in just a few months, which is great.

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Archie teams at Dayton would have games like this. Which is why he wasn’t at the top of my list when hired. Still early in the season. Let’s see how things play o it a little bit. My gut tells me it’s too early for say get him out of here. If it’s ugly come March, my gut might be saying the opposite. 

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30 minutes ago, Josh said:

We are no better than last year.  This is Archie Miller basketball.

Holy crap I hope he's gone soon

At this point, and then what?  another 3-4 year rebuilding project and a hope and a prayer?  Whatever momentum Archie had from signing day is dwindling game by game.  That's my bigger concern.  I think he could succeed if he could recruit like Sean Miller.  

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2 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

At this point, and then what?  another 3-4 year rebuilding project and a hope and a prayer?  Whatever momentum Archie had from signing day is dwindling game by game.  That's my bigger concern.  I think he could succeed if he could recruit like Sean Miller.  

Free agency starts this year

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About the same. Our Defense is pretty good but we have zero shooters/creators on the roster. Lander can get there, possibly Leal? This will be the downfall of Archie, IMO. Guard recruiting has been subpar outside of Lander for this team and we have zero shooters coming in next year. You cannot be elite without really solid guards in today’s game. Can anyone look at this roster and say our ceiling is more than a fringe top 25 team? How about next year? I’ve wanted to like Archie so bad, but I’m trying to be realistic. His roster construction will be his downfall and ultimately he’ll be gone in a year or 2. No, this was not based on today’s game, but on patterns forming over the past 3 years. Hope I’m wrong 

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