Indiana at Tennessee (Exhibition), 10/27 at 3:00 pm SEC+ Network

[Dave from Dayton 3,367]

8 hours ago, Golfman25 said:

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.  Granted first exhibition game, but to me still looks like some structural issues remain — gave a lot of open looks to TN from 3 (which they missed) and IU missed a lot of threes as well.  Hopefully they’ll change that and/or the new talent will make it less concerning.  Everything else looked good for the first one.  

I would agree if this was about the first half and the early part of the 2nd half.  But, then things rapidly changed.  IU was playing against what may prove, again, to be an elite defensive team.  One of the best teams, possibly, in the SEC.  

Big difference in what I saw was a possibly elite PG in Miles Rice.  Quick, decisive, gets to the rim, distributes quickly, handles pressure well.  

Also, once Reneau got warm and he and Ballo played high/low, things started to click.

Finally Mack shook off the rust and contributed.  

Defense got better and IU got the ball across the half court rapidly.  Half of the 8 three point shots in the 2nd half were good.

And Coach Woody did not platoon and pull the starters all at once.  

Not only did this look different, after lots of questions in the first half, but it looked light-years better to me.

Holy Basketball, Batman!  A point guard that is smart and quick and makes things happen and defends.  Been yearning for this since...well...a bunch of seasons too numerous to count. And adjustments during the game that worked...and defensive focus.  Pinch me.

 

[HoosierCoop 3,971]

If Ballo averages 12 rebounds a game, that's huge!  I thought we sucked in the rebounding department last year.  Ware was good but not physical.  I want Ballo to be that bull in the lane.  Payback time!  I think he an Reneau will compliment the skills of Rice very well.  I think you will also see 3pt shooting sky rocket this year.  1st game of the year on the road against a decent team in exhibition play, I think we will be ok.

I am still interested to see what Gallo and Tucker will bring in the mix.

I am ready to settle in for the season!

[lillurk 3,835]

Was in the building, have not read the whole thread, but a few takeaways:

1. Thompson-Boling is quite nice, and it filled in quite well. Would guess they sold the whole lower bowl, which was basically full, and there were some folks in the top deck.

2. This was a real road environment: not as good as T-B can be, but MUCH louder and fizzier with energy than e.g. Crisler. Other than Kohl, Breslin, Mackey, @UI, and @UMd, I’m not sure how many B1G road environments would be louder or more intimidating, even at ~80% capacity.

3. Anyway, the game: Rice had 20 and 4, 0 TOs, played good defense, against one of the best defensive backcourts and defensive teams IU will play all year. Reneau was terrific. Both teams played to win, which is only noteworthy in validating the result since it was an exhibition.

4. I would really fade the rough start in your predictive heuristic given the circumstances.

5. When we got there and saw not just Jakai and Trey but also Tucker in street clothes, I was interested to see how much IU went to the one-big arrangements, or two PG lineups. Pleasantly, the answer was plenty. I’m pretty encouraged with that given the roster and injury limitations. I was encouraged by CMW’s comments about Jakai on Friday, but I’ll be worried until he checks into a game. Easier to believe the other two were sitting out mostly as a precaution.

6. even without that crew, the bench was dependable. Adding even Trey will be a big boost.

7. Rebounding was stout, and UT really pursued them. That will help the D finish possessions. Ballo clears space and has good hands; Reneau hasn’t been great in that regard with consistency in the past but looked engaged yesterday.

8. Ballo and Reneau have such different games that there’s a great changeup between them. Ballo REALLY clears space, which opens driving and passing lanes in ways the box score doesn’t always display. 

9. Wanted to see more horns sets. 

10. Not deeply worried about the shooting yet; the % hasn’t really been the issue under Woody but the volume has. IU got to the rim quite well yesterday and didn’t settle for tons of bad or timid shots vs. a great defense.

[ap2345 8,572]

12 hours ago, Joe_hoopsier said:

I predict that Ballo will only be ~70% of what we expected. Good, but not B1G POY or even close. I could be wrong and hope so.

Anyone that expected that didn't have realistic expectations. 

[Stuhoo 82,142]

Omuar Ballo might best be described as “an elite complimentary player.”

[dwtaylor1055 1,547]

22 minutes ago, ap2345 said:

Anyone that expected that didn't have realistic expectations. 

 

8 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Omuar Ballo might best be described as “an elite complimentary player.”

a nightly double double big that can clog the lane and contest/challenge/make it tought for opposing players to get up easy shots in the paint.  He'll overpower a good amount of bigs in the post.  A GREAT 3rd or 4th scoring option on the team behind Rice and either one of MM or Malik.  

[Stuhoo 82,142]

Omuar Ballo affects winning.

[Artie86 2,194]

59 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Omuar Ballo affects winning.

.....and wouldn't be surprised if he shattered a backboard after a monster dunk sometime this year! lol

[ap2345 8,572]

These are more realistic expectations for Ballo

[HoosierHoopster 7,265]

12 hours ago, cthomas said:

I watched a replay on YouTube and thought I was watching probably the bottom two teams in their respective leagues. Just kidding, but it was mostly ugly. I don't really know anymore about this team than I did before. Other than Rice looks like an upgrade and Ballo is going to be a load for opposing teams. I think as far as the league goes, I think Purdue we look good early because of their continuity, and everyone else will catch up as the season goes on. If things go sideways early, I may have to abandon this board for a while.

I've been a heavy critic of CMW but this was a very solid W and we looked good in the second half (along with Tenn) after both teams played really sloppy in the first half. So PU lost its exhibition, we won ours against a very good Tenn team.... Imo, we have plenty of reason to be at least cautiously optimistic about our conference chances, and PU? Not so much.

[rcbowla 7,180]

I'll be called a DD or whatever but I didn't see a whole lot that leads me to believe that the offensive or defensive schemes are drastically improved. We had guys offensively that took some tough shots and often in 1 on 1 situations. I mean clearly good to see them beat UT at their place but IU seems to run same stuff with different players. We'll see how things go from here but to me they had the look of being above average.

[str8baller 5,686]

4 hours ago, Dave from Dayton said:

And Coach Woody did not platoon and pull the starters all at once.  

This is the most promising thing I saw. I posted about it a lot in the off season and said to play small you have to be able to stagger your two bigs. Woody did that pretty well.  They have to add a wrinkle to get Galloway and tucker in there (I’d guess less Goode, spotty mins for Cupps and almost no leal or Hatton mins) but that shouldn’t materially alter how he constructed his rotations last night. 
 

Other things were classic Woody faults but fixing those lineups should pay dividends. 

[ap2345 8,572]

10 minutes ago, rcbowla said:

I'll be called a DD or whatever but I didn't see a whole lot that leads me to believe that the offensive or defensive schemes are drastically improved. We had guys offensively that took some tough shots and often in 1 on 1 situations. I mean clearly good to see them beat UT at their place but IU seems to run same stuff with different players. We'll see how things go from here but to me they had the look of being above average.

Well it's a scrimmage and they aren't going to put knew stuff on film for opponents to game plan with yet. That said scrimmages should always be taken with a grain of salt. 

[IUFAN1976 3,766]

41 minutes ago, HoosierHoopster said:

I've been a heavy critic of CMW but this was a very solid W and we looked good in the second half (along with Tenn) after both teams played really sloppy in the first half. So PU lost its exhibition, we won ours against a very good Tenn team.... Imo, we have plenty of reason to be at least cautiously optimistic about our conference chances, and PU? Not so much.

Many of us on this board thinks PU is overrated and won’t be near the same team they were last year with Edey.  Edey could not be guarded one on one by 99% of the players he played against.  He commanded a double and sometimes a triple team and that freed up many many open looks.  Who on their current roster will command that, ZERO!  That’s why Turdue will not win the conference and will be lucky to finish in the top 5 in the conference.  I actually think they will finish somewhere between 6-9, IMO.  Who did Turdue play in their exhibition?

[Hoosierfanyuh 2,607]

12 minutes ago, IUFAN1976 said:

Many of us on this board thinks PU is overrated and won’t be near the same team they were last year with Edey.  Edey could not be guarded one on one by 99% of the players he played against.  He commanded a double and sometimes a triple team and that freed up many many open looks.  Who on their current roster will command that, ZERO!  That’s why Turdue will not win the conference and will be lucky to finish in the top 5 in the conference.  I actually think they will finish somewhere between 6-9, IMO.  Who did Turdue play in their exhibition?

Creighton

[Home Jersey 9,091]

Watched the game back and nothing major to add, but Mgbako’s defense looks much improved. He was hot on offense in the second. I wish he had a little more of a motor to help him find consistency but he will be a valuable player on this team. I think our “big 3” are Rice, Reneau and Ballo though. Having capable guards will make such a difference this season. Excited to add Gallo and Tucker to the rotation. This could be a very, very, very good year. Frustrations with the scheme will be the same.

[Stuhoo 82,142]

1 hour ago, HoosierHoopster said:

I've been a heavy critic of CMW but this was a very solid W and we looked good in the second half (along with Tenn) after both teams played really sloppy in the first half. So PU lost its exhibition, we won ours against a very good Tenn team.... Imo, we have plenty of reason to be at least cautiously optimistic about our conference chances, and PU? Not so much.

To get slightly off-topic but because you mentioned it; in their exhibition Kaufman-Renn was very good, but their centers got owned, especially the starter Berg. Do they end up playing Kaufman-Renn or Furst at the 5? If so, they get a better, smaller player on the court at another spot, but their rim protection becomes non-existent.

[HoosierHoopster 7,265]

2 hours ago, IUFAN1976 said:

Many of us on this board thinks PU is overrated and won’t be near the same team they were last year with Edey.  Edey could not be guarded one on one by 99% of the players he played against.  He commanded a double and sometimes a triple team and that freed up many many open looks.  Who on their current roster will command that, ZERO!  That’s why Turdue will not win the conference and will be lucky to finish in the top 5 in the conference.  I actually think they will finish somewhere between 6-9, IMO.  Who did Turdue play in their exhibition?

Creighton

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 9,474]

1 hour ago, Stuhoo said:

To get slightly off-topic but because you mentioned it; in their exhibition Kaufman-Renn was very good, but their centers got owned, especially the starter Berg. Do they end up playing Kaufman-Renn or Furst at the 5? If so, they get a better, smaller player on the court at another spot, but their rim protection becomes non-existent.

Furst gives you very little offensive, too. 

[HoosierHoopster 7,265]

1 hour ago, Home Jersey said:

Watched the game back and nothing major to add, but Mgbako’s defense looks much improved. He was hot on offense in the second. I wish he had a little more of a motor to help him find consistency but he will be a valuable player on this team. I think our “big 3” are Rice, Reneau and Ballo though. Having capable guards will make such a difference this season. Excited to add Gallo and Tucker to the rotation. This could be a very, very, very good year. Frustrations with the scheme will be the same.

I'm with you on what you refer to as the scheme -- still looked like "Woody ball" for good stretches but -- lineups were better as someone pointed out above, we have a heck of a point in Rice, which changes a lot on its own, Bako looked a lot better to me,  3-point shooting was way off in the first half but we shot I think it was 11 outside shots and in the second took good outside looks and made 50% of them, and end of the day talent (that hustles) and size usually will beat lesser talented teams. We have the talent -- across the floor -- with a terrific point guard, and especially as this was without a key player in Gallo and what likely will be a key player at some point during the year in Tucker, my optimism level is going up. So, agree also this could be a very good year, and that's kind of despite CMW (though I do want to give the staff credit for running different looks during this exhibition).