2021 Minutes Per Game

[Stuhoo 79,785]

Rank 'em from 1-12 in minutes per game for the coming season. This will be an evolving thread. I'll try first:

1. TJD: starter
2. Xavier J: starter
3. Geronimo: starter
4. Race: starter
5. Kopp
6. Stewart
7. Phin: starter
8. Bates
9. Lander
10. Galloway
11. Leal
12. Duncomb

[rcbowla 7,035]

1 TJD
2 Stewart
3 Kopp
4 Johnson
5 Phin
6 Bates
7 Race
8 Geronimo
9 Lander
10 Galloway
11 Duncomb
12 Leal

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

[Honkyman 1,670]

It all depends upon who shows up ready to shoot. If Race Thompson, Leal or Phinisee find their 3-point shots they could see more time. The only one we know will get the most time is TDJ.

[HoosierFan1994 4,722]

1. TJD

2. Johnson

3. Stewart

4. Kopp

5. Geronimo 

6. Bates

7. Phinisee

8. Thompson 

9. Lander

10. Galloway

11. Duncomb

12. Leal

[Southside 1,914]

10 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Rank 'em from 1-12 in minutes per game for the coming season. This will be an evolving thread. I'll try first:

1. TJD: starter
2. Xavier J: starter
3. Geronimo: starter
4. Race: starter
5. Kopp
6. Stewart
7. Phin: starter
8. Bates
9. Lander
10. Galloway
11. Leal
12. Duncomb

Great topic. Almost made a poll on the topic, but chose to go with position/starters.

I'm just so torn on several elements... 

Going to go with 

• TJD - easy. What might make this an interesting (not minute) conversation is if we bring in a 5 to replace the spot Hunter left open. TJD will be featured and be on the court as much as possible. 
• XJ - only question to me is will he be featured at PG or Wing. Might even get as many as TJD. I personally think (my opinion is evolving) he will be a primary wing (I think you do to based on your starter tags). If Phin or Lander steps up, I think Woodson will prize having 2 ball handlers on the court, and he'll stay at the 2. Torn on his position, but not on minutes.
• Stewart - This might be different if Bates comes in and kills it, but I think Stewart will be the guy early that is solidly in the middle of starters. You could make a case for Kopp here too. 
• Kopp - I think he and Race will both be flex guys. Kopp will be the 3-4 guy and probably get a ton of minutes, even if he isn't starting.
• Race - He'll bounce from starting 4, but also backup 5 unless we grab a guy to fill Hunter's spot that can play 5. If he develops a shot, he could play even in the 3 range vs some teams, but that's wishful.
• 6th and 7th.... Phin/Lander - I think they'll split a lot. Phin for D, Lander for O
• 8th and 9th, but I think Bates and Geronimo will battle it out here. 

 

I know that's only 9... My darkhorses... 

Leal - if he can be the sniper, a ton more minutes.

Duncomb - If he can prove himself at 5, might change the dynamics of the team late in the year. I would absolutely love seeing TJD at 4. Boss.

[Stromboli 6,076]

14 hours ago, HoosierFan1994 said:

1. TJD

2. Johnson

3. Stewart

4. Kopp

5. Geronimo 

6. Bates

7. Phinisee

8. Thompson 

9. Lander

10. Galloway

11. Duncomb

12. Leal

Yesssss. This is my favorite iteration of this team. 
 

Having Phin/Race/Lander at 7/8/9 feels off, but only because I’m invested in them as veteran players. I love the dynamics of those top 6. 

[HoosierFan1994 4,722]

6 hours ago, Stromboli said:

Yesssss. This is my favorite iteration of this team. 
 

Having Phin/Race/Lander at 7/8/9 feels off, but only because I’m invested in them as veteran players. I love the dynamics of those top 6. 

It does feel weird but when you look at the overall talent on the team, I don't think Rob and Race are playing starting caliber minutes. I know a lot of you dislike him, but Dakich always said that outside of TJD and Franklin, nobody else on IU's roster last year would start on most B1G teams. Lander has to improve dramatically to get more minutes. I see improvement, but he has a loooooong way to go. 

I think what gets me excited about this year is there are proven veteran additions coming in that will play big minutes (Johnson, Kopp, and Stewart). Getting a borderline 5 start player also is pretty nice. I think some games Bates may start if IU wants to go small. It all depends on the matchup and that is how it should be. 

[Hoosierfan2017 20,931]

I really hope that we’re not in a position where Rob Phinisee is starting next fall. No offense to him, but I just don’t think he’s very good. He was a big reason for our struggles last year. He can be a good defender but I personally value offense a lot more in basketball than defense.  You need to score the ball to win. It doesn’t matter if you hold a team under 50 like we have in the past if you can’t score 50 points yourself. 

He’s basically not a threat on offense at all. He’s a career 36% from the field and 29.8% from 3. We can blame it on Archie, but Archie was regularly yelling at him to run the ball up the court but he continued to walk it up slowly. Armaan made a big jump in spite of Archie, while Rob never has. 

It’s possible that he makes a big jump, but I just don’t see it. He was a ~150 recruit who has played like one through 86 career college games. With Bates, Stewart, and Johnson, as well as Lander hopefully, I don’t see a lot of minutes for him next year. If we do then it will probably be because our other guards disappointed. 

[triple 408]

7 hours ago, Stromboli said:

Yesssss. This is my favorite iteration of this team. 
 

Having Phin/Race/Lander at 7/8/9 feels off, but only because I’m invested in them as veteran players. I love the dynamics of those top 6. 

The top 4 feel solid to me heading into next season.  I suspect that 5th spot will involve a lot of competition and rotation unless/until somebody breaks from the pack.  And I agree with sentiments on Rob...of all the guys on the team he requires the most significant mental adjustment to stay in the conversation.  I could see him landing anywhere from 5 to 10 on the list by mid-season.

[e1999doubleglock 36]

1 TJD

2 XJ

3 STEWART

4 RACE/KOPP (about even)

5 BATES (he's going to be reaaal good)

6 GERONIMO

7 LANDER/PHINISEE

8 GALLOWAY/Dunkin/LEAL

[Southside 1,914]

8 hours ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

I really hope that we’re not in a position where Rob Phinisee is starting next fall. No offense to him, but I just don’t think he’s very good. He was a big reason for our struggles last year. He can be a good defender but I personally value offense a lot more in basketball than defense.  You need to score the ball to win. It doesn’t matter if you hold a team under 50 like we have in the past if you can’t score 50 points yourself. 

He’s basically not a threat on offense at all. He’s a career 36% from the field and 29.8% from 3. We can blame it on Archie, but Archie was regularly yelling at him to run the ball up the court but he continued to walk it up slowly. Armaan made a big jump in spite of Archie, while Rob never has. 

It’s possible that he makes a big jump, but I just don’t see it. He was a ~150 recruit who has played like one through 86 career college games. With Bates, Stewart, and Johnson, as well as Lander hopefully, I don’t see a lot of minutes for him next year. If we do then it will probably be because our other guards disappointed. 

I'm still going with XJ as being our primary wing + 2nd ball handler on the court.

If that holds true, I think we'll see Phin and Lander rotate a ton at 1, and each will play more or less depending on opponent / game plan. 

I think he'll be a no brainer against teams with a talented 1 as scorer.

[Honkyman 1,670]

Phinisee looked good early in his IU career. It could be that Archie Miller's offense just didn't work well for him overall during those three years just as it didn't work well for most IU players. Fife seems high on him. If Rob starts it will be because he earned it. Woodson is not giving playing time to anyone who doesn't earn it.

[DChoosier 7,965]

Bates is the 11th top 30 player IU has landed since 2000 (using Scout rankings). 9/10 of the previous top 30 players (all but Lander) played a ton as freshman and I think we would agree that Lander came out a year too early as he was not physically ready.

The top 30 players since 2000 are Gordon, Romeo, Noah, Zeller, DJ White, Blackmon, Yogi, Bryant, Lander, Bates and TJD. Nice lineup!

Being highly ranked does not guarantee anything but I won’t be surprised if Bates plays top 3 minutes including working his way into the starting lineup. Aside from his ranking he seems to have a lot of traits we have been lacking (tenacity, 3 level scorer, can get his own shot etc.) We will see.

[Hoosierfan2017 20,931]

1 hour ago, Honkyman said:

Woodson is not giving playing time to anyone who doesn't earn it.

Which is why I’ll be really disappointed if he’s starting next year. A lot of our hopes rest with our perceived greatly improved backcourt. If he’s still starting then our new guys probably aren’t anywhere near as good as we think. 

[Honkyman 1,670]

Hoiosierfan2017: If he’s still starting then our new guys probably aren’t anywhere near as good as we think. 

Of, Phinisee is as good as he seemed when he first got here. At that time he moved the offense and hit clutch shots. That Phinisee could be a real asset under Woodson's offense. 

[Hoosierfan2017 20,931]

20 minutes ago, Honkyman said:

Hoiosierfan2017: If he’s still starting then our new guys probably aren’t anywhere near as good as we think. 

Of, Phinisee is as good as he seemed when he first got here. At that time he moved the offense and hit clutch shots. That Phinisee could be a real asset under Woodson's offense. 

He seemed good when he first got here because he shot 45% from 3 in November and December 2018. He was on a hot streak and then suffered a concussion in December 2018. He’s never been the same player since. Maybe that’s just a coincidence, maybe the concussion is why he’s been different, but in the 74 games since then he’s shot 27.8% from 3 and 34.8% from the field. Idk, after how bad last year was I’m just ready for new blood at the guard spots. 

[Dalton26 16,892]

1. TJD (starter)

2. X (starter)

3. Stewart (starter)

4. Kopp

5. Race (starter)

6. Bates

7. Phinisee (starter)

8. Lander

9. Geronimo

10. Duncomb (minimal)

11. Galloway(minimal)

12. Leal (minimal)

[Honkyman 1,670]

Hoosierfan2017 said:  "I’m just ready for new blood at the guard spots."

I'm ready for quality guard play. The new players should be quite good.  So if they are the starters, that's great. But, as I said, if Phinisee starts, it means he has earned it. Nobody gets playing time under Mike Woodson unless they have earned it.

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,623]

Guarantee: TJD, starter, 30+ minutes per game. 

Everything else.. who the hell knows. 

Phinisee and Lander will battle for starting PG.

Stewart, Bates, Lander, Leal could start at SG. 

Stewart, Bates, Kopp, Geronimo, Galloway could start at SG. 

TJD, Kopp, Race, Geronimo could start at PF. 

Duncomb could start at C. 

I legitimately have no clue. I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. I feel we have legitimate depth for once. As in, if we have Leal, Galloway and Duncomb as out 10th, 11th and 12th men.. I think we are in a very good spot. 

If I were a betting man on the starting 5...

Phinisee, Stewart, Kopp, Race, TJD. 

[Stuhoo 79,785]

8 minutes ago, Loaded Chicken Sandwich said:

Guarantee: TJD, starter, 30+ minutes per game. 

Everything else.. who the hell knows. 

Phinisee and Lander will battle for starting PG.

Stewart, Bates, Lander, Leal could start at SG. 

Stewart, Bates, Kopp, Geronimo, Galloway could start at SG. 

TJD, Kopp, Race, Geronimo could start at PF. 

Duncomb could start at C. 

I legitimately have no clue. I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. I feel we have legitimate depth for once. As in, if we have Leal, Galloway and Duncomb as out 10th, 11th and 12th men.. I think we are in a very good spot. 

If I were a betting man on the starting 5...

Phinisee, Stewart, Kopp, Race, TJD. 

Xavier Johnson, sir?