Indiana at Wisconsin Game Thread

[Dave from Dayton 3,298]

Ok...I will try not to complain about IU's alleged great defense.  Even though Wisconsin scored in the paint at will during the second half.  I will not point out that our great coaching staff didn't stop the bleeding by changing point guards when one was out of control.  And I won't point out that IU's 3 best players were on the bench at one time during the 2nd half.  

Heck, Race could bring the ball down and distribute it better.  But I won't say that either.

Just thinking out loud here.

Since I hadn't posted on here since the game started....thought I would pump my normal sunshine now...

Go Hoosiers!  Heck of a first half at Wisconsin and 2nd half against Syracuse!  Great halves!  (Sound of one hand clapping.)

[Uspshoosier 46,175]

10 hours ago, HoosierFan1994 said:

Bingo. That was my biggest worry before the start of the season. These kids while I guess are talented have never won at the big time level of college basketball. I don't think Kopp has even played in the NCAA tournament. Don't think he was there in 2017. 

Good catch.   No kid has played 1 minute in the ncaa tournament. 

[HoosierTrav 7,898]

21 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Good catch.   No kid has played 1 minute in the ncaa tournament. 

That’s such a depressing statistic.

[HoosierHoopster 7,192]

33 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Good catch.   No kid has played 1 minute in the ncaa tournament. 

That'll end this year. 

[GoIU8 205]

40 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Good catch.   No kid has played 1 minute in the ncaa tournament. 

That's the point i was trying to make last night, is that nobody on this team truly knows what it takes to finish. All it takes is a spark though. Just look at what Tom Brady did to the Buccaneers and he's just one guy.

[LamarCheeks 19,354]

Next four games should be interesting ... 

We should win all four comfortably. Maybe we get pressed a little by ND a little in Indy, but really, we should take all by double digits heading into the B1G play for good. 

I'm curious to see Lander's role in these. I think it's a good opportunity for the staff to get him some PT, evaluate him further and hopefully, build some confidence in him. Because with the way things went last night, we need somebody to take over when X has foul trouble or just sucks -- and right now, there isn't anyone. Bates, maybe? Phin isn't providing much relief. 

Lander looks lost on defense at times and inexplicably dribbled out 8 of the final 10 seconds of the first OT at Syracuse. But I think at times, he's played some quality minutes. Phin dribbled out the last 10 seconds of the first half last night.

Maybe what Lander is/isn't doing at practice is telling the staff what it needs to know? Regardless, if he doesn't get some floor time over these next four games, I think it will give us a good idea if he has a future at IU. Maybe that's too dramatic, considering he's in what should be his true freshman season, but still ... 

I didn't see him play in high school, like many of you have. I'm still scratching my head at how he was once the 11th-ranked prospect in his class ... 

[Five Prime 1,093]

5 minutes ago, GoIU8 said:

That's the point i was trying to make last night, is that nobody on this team truly knows what it takes to finish. All it takes is a spark though. Just look at what Tom Brady did to the Buccaneers and he's just one guy.

It's not that hard.  Programs get turned around all the time.  We have an all American on our team that didn't get the ball down the stretch because our PG play was just that bad.  Get your best players the ball, it's not that hard.  Wisconsin won because they understood that simple concept. 

[Five Prime 1,093]

Also Xavier Johnson seems to be a bit of a head case.  Smart teams/players are going to be able to take him off his game just like Wisconsin did last night.  

[bigrod 2,875]

I admittedly haven't read through all of the comments.

The first half was truly unbelievable, but Wisconsin seemed totally out of it for whatever reason. I was talking to friends at half-time and told them that I was worried we would collapse in the second half.  So it wasn't totally unexpected, but still hard to watch.

After sleeping on it, even though I still think it was a terrible way to lose, I think this team could be pretty decent by the end of the year. We have seen segments where they look pretty darn good. They need to bring consistency and learn how to make winning plays. They can get there by February and March. Some of the better players just need more experience. Hopefully, both players and coaches will learn the lessons games like this teach them and be better for it in the end.

This is a year we need to take the steps to start building the program back up. It won't always be pretty, so we have to look at just getting better. This team is totally capable of making the tournament. They just need to be playing their best if/when that happens.

 

 

[Five Prime 1,093]

7 minutes ago, Five Prime said:

Also Xavier Johnson seems to be a bit of a head case.  Smart teams/players are going to be able to take him off his game just like Wisconsin did last night.  

To elaborate, he plays with a lot of negative emotion.  You can see it in his body language, he gets frustrated and angry easily.  This isn't always a bad trait for an athlete, if focused correctly it can be very useful for like a defensive lineman in football.  But to have your starting PG easily frustrated and quick to anger is not great.  Other teams know this and use it to their advantage.  

[kreigh8 2,097]

11 minutes ago, Five Prime said:

Also Xavier Johnson seems to be a bit of a head case.  Smart teams/players are going to be able to take him off his game just like Wisconsin did last night.  

This, there's already enough tape on him from this season alone that you can get into his head and he'll react. Big10 teams will attempt to cash in it. Was something my dad said he did on the high school level, I can only assume that would/will happen on this level. Hopefully he can get that under control, as the backups aren't nearly as effective when X plays like he can, but last night he was brutal

[TheWatShot 14,195]

22 minutes ago, LamarCheeks said:

I'm still scratching my head at how he was once the 11th-ranked prospect in his class ... 

Archie Miller wanted him here a year early. That should tell everyone what they need to know. I'm skeptical of anyone on this roster that was recruited by Archie Miller, sans TJD. His talent evaluation left a lot to be desired. 

[cthomas 6,512]

I won't place the blame for last night on any one player, everyone who played deserves a share. I really don't have a problem with how the staff coached. They took timeouts, substituted players and nothing worked. Our bigs were being out rebounded and out hustled the entire second half. It's the first time I've seen that. Players stopped moving with purpose and shots, usually bad ones, stopped falling. And, yes, the entire team seemed more interested in holding on to the lead than playing basketball. The slide really started in the last two minutes of the first half. Study the film, learn, and move on.

[IUFAN1976 3,403]

24 minutes ago, Five Prime said:

It's not that hard.  Programs get turned around all the time.  We have an all American on our team that didn't get the ball down the stretch because our PG play was just that bad.  Get your best players the ball, it's not that hard.  Wisconsin won because they understood that simple concept. 

This!  X shots 10 times in the 2nd half and TJD 5, those needed to be flipped.  Race should have gotten more shots than X.

[IUFAN1976 3,403]

22 minutes ago, Five Prime said:

Also Xavier Johnson seems to be a bit of a head case.  Smart teams/players are going to be able to take him off his game just like Wisconsin did last night.  

Spot on with this too.  I’ve mentioned it before too, unless CMW and staff reels him in and gets him straightened out, we will continue to have this Jekyll & Hyde personality that we’ve taken from our point guard.

[Chris007 44,745]

39 minutes ago, Five Prime said:

To elaborate, he plays with a lot of negative emotion.  You can see it in his body language, he gets frustrated and angry easily.  This isn't always a bad trait for an athlete, if focused correctly it can be very useful for like a defensive lineman in football.  But to have your starting PG easily frustrated and quick to anger is not great.  Other teams know this and use it to their advantage.  

He definitely has a screw loose, you can see that. 

[colonel06 1,917]

40 minutes ago, cthomas said:

I won't place the blame for last night on any one player, everyone who played deserves a share. I really don't have a problem with how the staff coached. They took timeouts, substituted players and nothing worked. Our bigs were being out rebounded and out hustled the entire second half. It's the first time I've seen that. Players stopped moving with purpose and shots, usually bad ones, stopped falling. And, yes, the entire team seemed more interested in holding on to the lead than playing basketball. The slide really started in the last two minutes of the first half. Study the film, learn, and move on.

I disagree about the coaching part of your comments.  I feel this 2nd half debacle falls on Woody I’m sorry to say.  

[Chris007 44,745]

Quick thoughts after sleeping this loss off.

1st half of basketball was maybe the most enjoyable half of basketball I have watched IU play in the last 8-10 years. 

2nd half of basketball was something we have seen too many times over the last 8-10 years.

X is like a box of chocolates you never know what you're going to get. 

TJD and Race both need to step up in their leadership. Demand the ball. Your all-American can't finish the game with 9 points and 6 rebounds. 

We have too many guys who you don't know what you're going to get each night. So up and down. Like Leal great against Nebraska, nothing last night. Bates, Durr, Kopp, are all others that are up and down.

We don't have anyone who can beat you off the dribble consistently. Wisconsin took away our shooters in the 2nd half and we didn't have anyone who could create. Bates can be that guy I believe. 

Coach Woodson has to get better with rotations and some other in-game coaching things but I'm not worried there, he has good assistants to help with that. 

I think some people are overestimating what Matta does. He just oversees the basketball program. He's training to be an AD somewhere. Yes he sits in on meetings but I don't think he adds that much, not near as much as Hunger, Yasir, Fife, Walsh, and Hill. 

Learn from it and move on, it's all we can do.

[GloryDays 5,925]

4 minutes ago, Chris007 said:

Quick thoughts after sleeping this loss off.

1st half of basketball was maybe the most enjoyable half of basketball I have watched IU play in the last 8-10 years. 

2nd half of basketball was something we have seen too many times over the last 8-10 years.

X is like a box of chocolates you never know what you're going to get. 

TJD and Race both need to step up in their leadership. Demand the ball. Your all-American can't finish the game with 9 points and 6 rebounds. 

We have too many guys who you don't know what you're going to get each night. So up and down. Like Leal great against Nebraska, nothing last night. Bates, Durr, Kopp, are all others that are up and down.

We don't have anyone who can beat you off the dribble consistently. Wisconsin took away our shooters in the 2nd half and we didn't have anyone who could create. Bates can be that guy I believe. 

Coach Woodson has to get better with rotations and some other in-game coaching things but I'm not worried there, he has good assistants to help with that. 

I think some people are overestimating what Matta does. He just oversees the basketball program. He's training to be an AD somewhere. Yes he sits in on meetings but I don't think he adds that much, not near as much as Hunger, Yasir, Fife, Walsh, and Hill. 

Learn from it and move on, it's all we can do.

Totally agree about Bates.

I'd like to see him worked into the starting spot and have Kopp off the bench for him or Stewart depending on situations.

[HoosierFan1994 4,754]

1 hour ago, Five Prime said:

Also Xavier Johnson seems to be a bit of a head case.  Smart teams/players are going to be able to take him off his game just like Wisconsin did last night.  

Which unfortunately is most of the Big Ten. He is going to have to figure it out.