IU Basketball News and Notes

[Home Jersey 16,732]

3 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

It's a good listen. My one disagreement with Dauster? (and agreement with Goodman): I'm not sure what the basis is for thinking that Alexis will be a rim protector. 

Alexis is an experienced, undersized post with good efficiency near the rim - he's a good player to have and will be rotation-worthy. But he's only 6'9" and isn't that long or explosive. Yes, he had a very good block rate at UT Chatt. At Florida his block rate was above average but not extraordinary. Alexis lost his backup big minutes at UF to Micah Handlogten. So for UF's championship run, he was behind Condon, Hough, Chinyelou, and Handlogten in their big rotation.

He should be a piece to the puzzle if this season goes well, but I'm not sure he's not the long, tall defensive presence that Dauster believes he can be.

Broadly agree that he's a piece to the puzzle if the season goes well and Dauster may be overselling him as the "x-factor."

For the sake of conversation though, RE: the bold part - true, but having good positioning, timing, and a high motor at 6'9 can make up for the relative lack of length or elite explosiveness IMO. I didn't see him play at Chattanooga so not sure if any of that reflected in his tape or he was just dominating easier competition, but sort of steel manning Dauster's case...

Fit is so important for transfers, sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. I recall Timberlake going to KU a few years ago and being a lousy fit. Knecht was a great match for UT. Those four guys were ahead of him on a championship team but he could still be an impactful player at this level. Maybe the fit will be better at IU... he definitely has more opportunity for a bigger role here.

Hopefully he can be solid or Dauster is right and he can step up to be a big contributor. Can DDV set him up for success? 

At a minimum I'm excited by the idea of IUBB being the better coached team in a given game for the first time in a decade. 

[str8baller 7,772]

2 hours ago, HoosierHoopster said:

Our SOS actually looks pretty good

Yea, but last years SEC was ridiculous. There’s almost no way the B1G is close to that.  
 

So if you want a gauge of where those efficiency numbers might net out, I would look at last years B12 or B1G teams for a better comparison. 
 

Again, all this assumes a top 20 OffE, which is not a given but doable. Just a thought exercise to rebut some of the doom and gloom about our defensive personnel 

[HoosierHoopster 8,833]

43 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Yea, but last years SEC was ridiculous. There’s almost no way the B1G is close to that.  
 

So if you want a gauge of where those efficiency numbers might net out, I would look at last years B12 or B1G teams for a better comparison. 
 

Again, all this assumes a top 20 OffE, which is not a given but doable. Just a thought exercise to rebut some of the doom and gloom about our defensive personnel 

One difference is our noncon SOS is better than last season. B1G should be plenty strong enough for a pretty good SOS, imo, coupled with a better noncon SOS.

[RaceToTheTop 31,548]

4 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

It's a good listen. My one disagreement with Dauster? (and agreement with Goodman): I'm not sure what the basis is for thinking that Alexis will be a rim protector. 

Alexis is an experienced, undersized post with good efficiency near the rim - he's a good player to have and will be rotation-worthy. But he's only 6'9" and isn't that long or explosive. Yes, he had a very good block rate at UT Chatt. At Florida his block rate was above average but not extraordinary. Alexis lost his backup big minutes at UF to Micah Handlogten. So for UF's championship run, he was behind Condon, Hough, Chinyelou, and Handlogten in their big rotation.

He should be a piece to the puzzle if this season goes well, but I'm not sure he's not the long, tall defensive presence that Dauster believes he can be.

Alexis was hurt during the championship run.  He only played one minute after February 11th due to injury.

 

[Demo 24,537]

Do we have any timetable on Ristic getting to town? Assumed he’d be on the Puerto Rico trip even if he didn’t play much but if anything’s come out I missed it.

[Stuhoo 90,693]

57 minutes ago, RaceToTheTop said:

Alexis was hurt during the championship run.  He only played one minute after February 11th due to injury.

 

It's a little more complicated: 

Handlogten, the starting five from the prior year,  was planning on taking a redshirt year because he was destined to miss over half the season recovering from a bad leg break, and would've been behind Condon, Chinyelou, and Hough. So Alexis was the fourth big.

Then both Condon and Alexis got hurt in February and Handlogten decided to forego the redshirt and play as the primary backup big. By the tournament Alexis was again cleared, but with Condon and Handlogten back he was the fifth big and out of the rotation.

And with Condon, Chinelou, Handlogten, and Hough all returning to UF this year, Alexis saw himself as the likely fifth big, so he portalled.

[mike vannice 484]

18 minutes ago, Demo said:

Do we have any timetable on Ristic getting to town? Assumed he’d be on the Puerto Rico trip even if he didn’t play much but if anything’s come out I missed it.

Same with Acimovic the sooner the better. As you said probably wouldn't play but could get to know the guys and do team bonding stuff and practice. Maybe sit with an assistant during the game and learn the offense.

[WayneFleekHoosier 51,741]

23 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

It's a little more complicated: 

Handlogten, the starting five from the prior year,  was planning on taking a redshirt year because he was destined to miss over half the season recovering from a bad leg break, and would've been behind Condon, Chinyelou, and Hough. So Alexis was the fourth big.

Then both Condon and Alexis got hurt in February and Handlogten decided to forego the redshirt and play as the primary backup big. By the tournament Alexis was again cleared, but with Condon and Handlogten back he was the fifth big out of the rotation.

And with Condon, Chinelou, and Hough all returning to UF this year, Alexis saw himself as the likely fourth big, so he portalled.

This is the Truth Serum Stuhoo I rock with.  

Seriously though, we've got a bunch of guys with chips on their shoulders and mid-major tags/disrespect.  Hopefully our scouting is advanced and a couple of these guys pop to quiet the pundits, myself included.  I can squint and see it.  I just kinda prefer the "off the bus" variety of talent, size, and reputation.  

Can't lie though, watching 10-13 new Hoosiers play this season is very exciting.  The players and the system from the last 2 years became a chore to watch on both ends of the ball.  I turned off several of the blowout losses and that is very, very rare for me. 

[Stuhoo 90,693]

9 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

This is the Truth Serum Stuhoo I rock with.  

Seriously though, we've got a bunch of guys with chips on their shoulders and mid-major tags/disrespect.  Hopefully our scouting is advanced and a couple of these guys pop to quiet the pundits, myself included.  I can squint and see it.  I just kinda prefer the "off the bus" variety of talent, size, and reputation.  

Can't lie though, watching 10-13 new Hoosiers play this season is very exciting.  The players and the system from the last 2 years became a chore to watch on both ends of the ball.  I turned off several of the blowout losses and that is very, very rare for me. 

Sometimes the truth is happy sunshine (and sometimes it's tricky).

Re: Alexis; he never had a stretch at UF where he played badly - pretty much the opposite - he was solid. And that was until he got hurt, and on a top ten team. By the time he got healthy again they were so over-loaded with bigs (and would have been again this year) that the rotation was established and he was left out.

That doesn't preclude him from being really good for IU, though he is still fairly unproven at the P5 level, even with one P5 year under his belt.

[RaceToTheTop 31,548]

1 hour ago, Stuhoo said:

It's a little more complicated: 

Handlogten, the starting five from the prior year,  was planning on taking a redshirt year because he was destined to miss over half the season recovering from a bad leg break, and would've been behind Condon, Chinyelou, and Hough. So Alexis was the fourth big.

Then both Condon and Alexis got hurt in February and Handlogten decided to forego the redshirt and play as the primary backup big. By the tournament Alexis was again cleared, but with Condon and Handlogten back he was the fifth big and out of the rotation.

And with Condon, Chinelou, Handlogten, and Hough all returning to UF this year, Alexis saw himself as the likely fifth big, so he portalled.

I don't disagree, but your statement was that Alexis was the fifth big in their championship run which was only true because of injury.  Handlogten wouldn't have played last year except for injuries.

[RaceToTheTop 31,548]

57 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

 

Can't lie though, watching 10-13 new Hoosiers play this season is very exciting.  The players and the system from the last 2 years became a chore to watch on both ends of the ball.  I turned off several of the blowout losses and that is very, very rare for me. 

One thing I am looking forward to is having players I actually want to root for.  The only reason I pulled for some of our players last year was that they were wearing the cream and crimson.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 92,964]

1 hour ago, mike vannice said:

Same with Acimovic the sooner the better. As you said probably wouldn't play but could get to know the guys and do team bonding stuff and practice. Maybe sit with an assistant during the game and learn the offense.

Might be questionable per 247.  Has to get a visa and other stuff in order before he can travel to the U.S.

[mike vannice 484]

1 hour ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Might be questionable per 247.  Has to get a visa and other stuff in order before he can travel to the U.S.

Is that true for Ristic too?

[Class of '66 Old Fart 92,964]

1 hour ago, mike vannice said:

Is that true for Ristic too?

Not from anything I've read.  Expect him on the PR trip although don't anticipate a lot of minutes simply because he won't have had much practice time with the team.

[mike vannice 484]

So now we wait: Wait for Aleksa and Andrej to arrive in Bloomington. Wait for more visits. Wait for the Puerto Rico trip. Wait for more commitments. Wait for football season. Slow time of year in IU sports. Go Hoosiers.

[HoosierHoopster 8,833]

1 hour ago, mike vannice said:

So now we wait: Wait for Aleksa and Andrej to arrive in Bloomington. Wait for more visits. Wait for the Puerto Rico trip. Wait for more commitments. Wait for football season. Slow time of year in IU sports. Go Hoosiers.

It's our own "Dead Period" 

[Pagoda 5,306]

There was an open practice today (first since Crean era) and a presser.

 

[Home Jersey 16,732]

8 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

There was an open practice today (first since Crean era) and a presser.

 

I love listening to this guy talking ball. Feels like we are in very good hands with DDV. 

[jermhoosierfan 415]

45 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

There was an open practice today (first since Crean era) and a presser.

 

If he is actually being honest, which I don't think he would otherwise be, and they are playing like they have been together for a while on offense, they should be a pretty good team.  As long as they can build a solid foundation this coming year, we will be fine in DDV hands.

[WayneFleekHoosier 51,741]

43 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

I love listening to this guy talking ball. Feels like we are in very good hands with DDV. 

Encouraging assessment.  Conerway has a bit of “Razzle Dazzle”.  lol.  DRock feels good, so WayneFleek feels good too.