Maryland vs Indiana - Game Thread, Fri., 12/1 @ 7 BTN

[OliviaPope40 6,317]

36 minutes ago, Dave from Dayton said:

Spin right and shoot left or use the muscle memory or psychotic shot doctor or socks, shorts, 1 2 3 swish or ...

The limit does not exist.

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 8,668]

What's Sparks done wrong? Tough crowd. 

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 8,668]

57 minutes ago, OliviaPope40 said:

Me on figuring out what to do with Gallo's broken shot. 

 

39 minutes ago, Dave from Dayton said:

Spin right and shoot left or use the muscle memory or psychotic shot doctor or socks, shorts, 1 2 3 swish or ...

Wheel of Fortune and Gladiator? Two of my favorites. 

[Home Jersey 5,480]

2 minutes ago, btownqb said:

What's Sparks done wrong? Tough crowd. 

He's been playing like a bull in a china closet that can't shoot a FT recently. 

A very defined role is fine for him this year. Hopefully he keeps improving and next year can be a solid back up/rotation player. 

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 8,668]

2 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

He's been playing like a bull in a china closet that can't shoot recently. 

A very defined role is fine for him this year. Hopefully he keeps improving and next year can be a solid back up/rotation player. 

Its not recently, he just can't shoot.

[Home Jersey 5,480]

4 minutes ago, btownqb said:

Its not recently, he just can't shoot.

I mean the bull in the china closet part, when I say recently.

And his freshman year at BSU he shot 70% from the stripe. His sophomore year and this year, he's drastically regressed. 

[Banksyrules 4,306]

Chemistry takes time.  I don't think we can make projections for this kid or that kid yet. Nowhere near our ceiling. Losing to  UCONN early is the best thing that could have happened to us. The kids now know at what level they need to be at to achieve great things in March.  

- The big guys have growth  because they're still figuring out space and positioning relative to each other. Could be scary. Walker and Sparks are still looking at how they fit in the system but I'm not worried.

-Mgbako is slowly figuring it out and if he hits the three consistently that will make us scary.

-Don't know much about conditioning but if Cupps can gain a little muscle and gains experience he could be a problem for other teams who don't have elite guards. 

-Gunn and Banks need playing time. Banks could be a wild card for us in terms of depth and being a good rebounder. Gunn needs to build his confidence to the point where he can knock down jumpers.  

 

Each of our players have growth potential.   Just gotta tolerate the bumps early.   

[DChoosier 7,149]

1 hour ago, btownqb said:

Respectfully, this stuff is a waste of time. 

Respectfully….ALL of our posts, and being on this site, is a waste of time. LOL

That being said, I enjoyed his post breaking down the minutes and being on the site.

[DChoosier 7,149]

Any word on Cupps?

Towards the end of the game a Maryland guy was barreling/falling down in the paint and his head made direct contact with Cupps wrist. The announcers glossed over it but Cupps got up grimacing and rubbing his wrist, was taken out and did not return. Hopefully it’s nothing but he was obviously in pain.

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 8,668]

23 minutes ago, DChoosier said:

Respectfully….ALL of our posts, and being on this site, is a waste of time. LOL

That being said, I enjoyed his post breaking down the minutes and being on the site.

I didn't mention anything about him being on the site. I like what he has to say. 

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 8,668]

43 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

I mean the bull in the china closet part, when I say recently.

And his freshman year at BSU he shot 70% from the stripe. His sophomore year and this year, he's drastically regressed. 

Believe he had to have a fair amount of luck in that 70%.

But I think PS is pretty useful for 5-10 mins a game. Pray KW stays healthy, outta foul trouble moving forward. Sparks at least brings an offensive rebounding threat. 

[DChoosier 7,149]

2 minutes ago, btownqb said:

I didn't mention anything about him being on the site. I like what he has to say. 

I didn’t mean to imply that you didn’t want him on the site.

I was just joking that ALL of the posts  (ie not just that particular post) and being on the site could be considered by some (ie my wife, as an example. LOL) a waste of time.

[Home Jersey 5,480]

2 minutes ago, btownqb said:

Believe he had to have a fair amount of luck in that 70%.

But I think PS is pretty useful for 5-10 mins a game. Pray KW stays healthy, outta foul trouble moving forward. Sparks at least brings an offensive rebounding threat. 

Yeah I would agree PS is useful for 5-10 mins, a small role... KW needs to stay healthy or the season is shot! 

Sparks looks to me like he sometimes is trying to do way too much and getting outside of himself. Just want to see him slow down and play his game a little more without being as in his head. He was pretty darn good against Louisville. More of that would be great. 

When he's not playing well though, it's ugly... as is the case with most college basketball players I guess! 

It's tough playing 10/11 guys. But they've really all made a solid case to this point. I like this team a lot.

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 8,668]

5 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Yeah I would agree PS is useful for 5-10 mins, a small role... KW needs to stay healthy or the season is shot! 

Sparks looks to me like he sometimes is trying to do way too much and getting outside of himself. Just want to see him slow down and play his game a little more without being as in his head. He was pretty darn good against Louisville. More of that would be great. 

When he's not playing well though, it's ugly... as is the case with most college basketball players I guess! 

It's tough playing 10/11 guys. But they've really all made a solid case to this point. I like this team a lot.

Oh for sure. Simply put, I like him more than Duncomb and Durr as a backup center. 

[DChoosier 7,149]

Sparks has called IU his dream school and I agree that he seems to be pressing a bit (although that doesn’t explain his FT stroke…yikes).

There will be some BT football games, such as Purdue, where Sparks will be helpful.

[DChoosier 7,149]

In regards to Sparks FT “stroke”. I just looked at his free throw stats:

Freshman  142-202. 70%

Sophomore 115 - 219  53%

Junior (IU). 3-14 21%

Thats really an odd trajectory but shows he does have the ability to do better. I haven’t seen video of him shoot free throws as a freshman but no way he shot 70% from the stripe with his current stroke.

[J34 1,345]

As much as I love Malik, he needs to have better recognition in the post. The skip pass to the the weak side, usually has at least one guy open. Or kick it back out, and reestablish position. He's second on the team in assists,  however he has almost twice as many to's as anyone else. He could improve his 1:1 a/to ratio, by not putting the ball on the floor in so much in traffic. Plus, he is key in us having more open 3 pt opportunities. Love his attitude and skillset(and footwork), but improved court awareness will do wanders for his post game.

Same could be said about CJ on the perimeter. 

[JSHoosier 19,671]

56 minutes ago, DChoosier said:

In regards to Sparks FT “stroke”. I just looked at his free throw stats:

Freshman  142-202. 70%

Sophomore 115 - 219  53%

Junior (IU). 3-14 21%

Thats really an odd trajectory but shows he does have the ability to do better. I haven’t seen video of him shoot free throws as a freshman but no way he shot 70% from the stripe with his current stroke.

Small sample but wow 21% from the stripe is abysmal.

[cthomas 5,961]

5 minutes ago, J34 said:

As much as I love Malik, he needs to have better recognition in the post. The skip pass to the the weak side, usually has at least one guy open. Or kick it back out, and reestablish position. He's second on the team in assists,  however he has almost twice as many to's as anyone else. He could improve his 1:1 a/to ratio, by not putting the ball on the floor so much in traffic. Plus, he is key in us having more open 3 pt opportunities. Love his attitude and skillset(and footwork), but improved court awareness will do wanders for his post game.

Same could be said about CJ on the perimeter. 

This should be the next step in his development. Too many times he seems to make up his mind he is going to the basket come hell or high water. He would, and the team by extension, be so much better if he improves that aspect of his decision making.

[HoosierHoopster 6,293]

4 hours ago, johnsoniu said:

A nice Hoosier victory and the boilers face planting in Evanston again. 
Coffee tastes gooood this morning 

But not as good as from my 1970’s percolator!