Are We Better Than Last Year?

[IUc2016 7,022]

30 minutes ago, Honkyman said:

 

However, when we played power 5 opponents and his athleticism wasn't as prominent, he consistently slid into the abyss.

Like the time Justin Smith scored 24 points against Michigan State? 

LOL. yes like that time, the OBVIOUS outlier. but good job man 

Would you like me to post all the times he did disappear or had terrible games? Dude played like 100 games at IU, might take me awhile to compile that list.........

[Honkyman 1,670]

Justin Smith was the team's 3rd highest scorer last year virtually tied for 2nd (10.4  for JS and 10.8 for DG). He was 2nd in rebounds. If he was so bad, blame it on the coach for playing him so much. Frankly, every player on the team except for TJD disappeared last year in that offense.

[Stuhoo 75,778]

12 minutes ago, Honkyman said:

Justin Smith was the team's 3rd highest scorer last year virtually tied for 2nd (10.4  for JS and 10.8 for DG). He was 2nd in rebounds. If he was so bad, blame it on the coach for playing him so much. Frankly, every player on the team except for TJD disappeared last year in that offense.

True!

Justin Smith did some really good things on the court, and added a dimension of athleticism that we only have this year with an untested, out of the rotation freshman (Geronimo).

He also had some serious on court deficiencies (and as you accurately said, so did much of our roster).

But here's the heart of my contention; while most teams have deficiencies, they are at their best when there is a culture of playing for each other and dealing with adversity in a positive manner. THAT is the primary reason why I believe we are better this year; in a real part because Armaan Franklin and Race Thompson are taking the minutes that Justin Smith had, and doing so as part of a team-first concept.

There's been some real clunkers in the Archie Miller era, and they tended to snowball. Now, look at the latest clunker, the Texas game, and the response only 24 hours later. Every team plays lousy now and then. Look at how this team responded versus the past three years of teams with Smith and Green playing major minutes.

[RaceToTheTop 23,803]

3 hours ago, Honkyman said:

Justin Smith was the team's 3rd highest scorer last year virtually tied for 2nd (10.4  for JS and 10.8 for DG). He was 2nd in rebounds. If he was so bad, blame it on the coach for playing him so much. Frankly, every player on the team except for TJD disappeared last year in that offense.

Per minute played, Smith was behind Durham, DeVonte and Brunk in points per minute.  He was also Race and Brunk in rebounds per minute.  The biggest reason he played the number of minutes he played wasn’t on the offensive end.

[Brass Cannon 24,068]

15 minutes ago, brumdog45 said:

Per minute played, Smith was behind Durham, DeVonte and Brunk in points per minute.  He was also Race and Brunk in rebounds per minute.  The biggest reason he played the number of minutes he played wasn’t on the offensive end.

He earned his PT one way or the another.  
 

That being said I wonder if Smith transferred because we had no choice but to go to 3 guards and he could beat Race for the starting role. 

[Stuhoo 75,778]

So far this year, Armaan Franklin is averaging more rebounds per game than Smith did at the three last year.

 

[Brass Cannon 24,068]

1 minute ago, Stuhoo said:

So far this year, Armaan Franklin is averaging more rebounds per game than Smith did at the three last year.

 

True but I doubt Franklin could have done that last year.  Smith earned his PT but that was more a situation of no better option 

[HoosierAloha 29,898]

I liked what Smith should/could of turned into but I never thought he got that for whatever reason.  He could have been the All Big Ten DPOY or at minimum consistently on the first team.  He would lock down the teams best wing for periods of time and then just completely forget to defend his man.  That was frustrating to watch.

[RaceToTheTop 23,803]

2 hours ago, Brass Cannon said:

He earned his PT one way or the another.  
 

That being said I wonder if Smith transferred because we had no choice but to go to 3 guards and he could beat Race for the starting role. 

Every indication is that he left because he didn’t want to play the 2 and actually thought he was a 2.....for some reason he thinks he’s an NBA level guard, LOL.

[JaybobHoosier 11,821]

Every indication is that he left because he didn’t want to play the 2 and actually thought he was a 2.....for some reason he thinks he’s an NBA level guard, LOL.

Daddy-dearest didn’t help either as he was a very big critic of Archie from the get go. I remember him deleting criticizing tweets about coach.

I liked Justin, but I found him more frustrating than Troy Williams. Smith had so much talent but was lazy a lot of the time. Some may disagree, but he checked out at parts of the game and lost focus randomly. While we will miss him to start the season, we are better off overall this season imo.


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[bigrod 2,786]

1 hour ago, JaybobHoosier said:

 

Daddy-dearest didn’t help either as he was a very big critic of Archie from the get go. I remember him deleting criticizing tweets about coach.

I liked Justin, but I found him more frustrating than Troy Williams. Smith had so much talent but was lazy a lot of the time. Some may disagree, but he checked out at parts of the game and lost focus randomly. While we will miss him to start the season, we are better off overall this season imo.


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I agree. Tons of talent and physical ability, but I couldn't ever figure out if he over-thought everything or didn't think enough. Much of the time he (mentally) seemed to be somewhere else.

[Brass Cannon 24,068]

11 hours ago, brumdog45 said:

Every indication is that he left because he didn’t want to play the 2 and actually thought he was a 2.....for some reason he thinks he’s an NBA level guard, LOL.

Why wait so long then?

[Uspshoosier 44,334]

1 hour ago, Brass Cannon said:

Why wait so long then?

Why wait so long to transfer?    Simple answer would be he didn’t want to sit out a year and knew he could graduate in 3 years and be a grad transfer 

[JaybobHoosier 11,821]

Why wait so long to transfer?    Simple answer would be he didn’t want to sit out a year and knew he could graduate in 3 years and be a grad transfer 

Makes you wonder if he did transfer earlier we may still have Jake Forrester?! 🤷‍♂️


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[RaceToTheTop 23,803]

20 hours ago, Uspshoosier said:

Why wait so long to transfer?    Simple answer would be he didn’t want to sit out a year and knew he could graduate in 3 years and be a grad transfer 

Yeah....sometimes there are obvious answers to questions.

[Brass Cannon 24,068]

2 hours ago, brumdog45 said:

Yeah....sometimes there are obvious answers to questions.

If that’s all it was it was still extremely late.  Plenty of other kids had already announced they were grad transferring.  Ok for a good student like Smith I doubt it came down to wondering if he was going to pass a particular course. 
 

Matt Haarms had already committed to his new program like a month earlier. The Justin Smith Transfer was late simple as that. 
 

He saw the kids developing around him. Saw his starting spot was going away so he went somewhere he could start.  

[IUc2016 7,022]

If that’s all it was it was still extremely late.  Plenty of other kids had already announced they were grad transferring.  Ok for a good student like Smith I doubt it came down to wondering if he was going to pass a particular course. 
 
Matt Haarms had already committed to his new program like a month earlier. The Justin Smith Transfer was late simple as that. 
 
He saw the kids developing around him. Saw his starting spot was going away so he went somewhere he could start.  

Not sure that last part is mutually exclusive from what USPS said. Think it was a bit of both.

I also think that he and Archie compromised last year regarding his role and Justin hoped it would allow him to showcase his skills to be able to go pro. That obviously didn’t happen.

But I do agree with you that he knew he wouldn’t be getting 30 min a game this year like last year.



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[HoosierAloha 29,898]

Call me crazy but I wouldn't mind having J. Smith coming off the bench this season.  I wouldn't want to see the 30+ minutes he was getting last season but in a backup role to Thompson might help.  My only concern would any chemistry issues.  If those were still a concern it wouldn't be worth it.

[IUc2016 7,022]

Call me crazy but I wouldn't mind having J. Smith coming off the bench this season.  I wouldn't want to see the 30+ minutes he was getting last season but in a backup role to Thompson might help.  My only concern would any chemistry issues.  If those were still a concern it wouldn't be worth it.

Yes if Justin were to accept that role, sign me up. But from everything I watched and heard, it wouldn’t happen. Unfortunate because he could be a rebound and defense specialist when race was out for about 15 min a game.


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[JaybobHoosier 11,821]

Call me crazy but I wouldn't mind having J. Smith coming off the bench this season.  I wouldn't want to see the 30+ minutes he was getting last season but in a backup role to Thompson might help.  My only concern would any chemistry issues.  If those were still a concern it wouldn't be worth it.

I disagree but completely understand. Was it TJD who said last year hardly anyone would be in the gym working on their own, but this year is 100% the other way? Why in the world would Justin not be in the gym working on his shot, Green working on his shooting, and DeRon trying to get back into it with so many injuries? To me, that screams bad leadership and complacency, so no thanks :)


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