IU vs Austin Peay Post Game Thread

[Uspshoosier 53,153]

FYI, forget his name but I actually enjoyed the color analysts call. Thought he was much better than most BTN analysts.

jon crispin, he played at penn st. He did a couple of our games last year as well

[Old Friend 8,613]

Gotta love people criticizing the offense after a 66% shooting performance and breaking the century mark...

Just yin to yang....Making shots or getting hot on a given night is not necessarily indicative of a good or efficient offense.  Mike Davis' team went 20-11 in 2001-2002, largely with a very mediocre offense, especially against zone defenses.  Indiana got hot for a couple of weeks, and ended up in the title game, but the offense itself didn't change.  Making shots makes any offense look good.  My point is simply that a good shooting percentage doesn't necessarily mean our offense or offensive system is great; and we do tend to play out of control at times.  20 turnovers is too many, regardless of whether or not we shoot well.

 

Having said that, I don't necessarily have a problem with what Indiana did tonight.  I thought early on, too much was off the dribble; but that changed later in the game and we moved off the ball better, and as I said before, we spaced the floor incredibly well tonight.   The offense is imperfect; but it's better than it has been, or at least was tonight.

[JaybobHoosier 12,889]

My main issue with our offense was with the zone tonight. Crean still doesn't have anyone flash middle, and I just don't get it. RoJo made a driver and got into the lane. It led to a very wide open Yogi. Beating a zone if getting to the middle, and we fail to do that all the time. Just nitpicking at something I've said since Crean got here. Get in the zone, and you make it collapse, which leads to open sharp shooters, and we have some good ones!

[Kepner 1,261]

Man reading through the majority of comments on here and on Inside the Hall, you would've thought we lost the game tonight. Of course there are always things to improve but the offense looked fantastic for long spurts tonight. We enjoyed a nice shooting spurt. This is still a team learning to mesh and talk and play together. Thats why there are so many miscommunications on the court. Lots of turnovers and a handful of bad plays on D because of miscommunication. I still think the team is learning how to play together. Everyone is still learning that they can actually throw the ball inside and trust the guy receiving it. There were way many more positives in this games than negatives. 

[rebelhoosier848891 9,588]

Late to the party---just finished watching the game on DVR.   The performance reminded me of "The Good--The Bad--and The Ugly"!

 

THE GOOD---Our Offense can be breathtaking because we have so many weapons.  The numbers are staggering--15 straight made shots---81% shooting in second half including making 18 of 20 of our last shots--- 59% from 3 (16/27)

 

Yogi's stat line was BOSS---22 points on 8/10 fg including 4/5 from 3, with 9 assists and 6 rebounds. We have one of the best point guards in the country.

 

JBJ's shooting--fun to watch---4/6 from 3.

 

Nick Z--tough and gritty---pop that finger back in place and keep rippin' threes----5/7 on the night.

 

Troy--human highlight reel dunks again--going to be hard for any team to stay in front of him--showed some range too.

 

Max--solid and blue collar--Bleedhoosier still has the best analogy I've read for him---Max is like opening your wallet and finding a $20.00 bill.

 

TB--I think he's doing well for a newbie. He is a team player and makes things happen.

 

THE BAD---20 Turnovers---I know we play fast but this is way too many. Most were unforced and correctable.

 

Too much sloppy play.

 

We do not feed the post enough--especially to TB!

 

ROJO--had a great game the other night--but was out of synch tonight. He'll bounce back.

 

Juwan (and to a lesser extent OG)  looked like freshmen---they will need minutes to keep developing.

 

THE UGLY--Our Defense.  We were back to out of position, matador defense, lunging at the ball, and looked unorganized and confused. We have to get this fixed quickly. We made one of the worst shooting teams in the country look good and gave up 40 points in the paint.

 

 

OVERALL--defense was disappointing but the game was never in doubt. When you look at all the major conference teams getting upset--we are off to a good start. Our offense is light years ahead of most teams and we have seen spurts such as in last game where our defense was much improved.  One area of improvement is we are turning our opponents over more frequently than last year---so we are getting something out of that pressure defense that often leads to us being out of position or leaving a man open. We are still a work in progress on defense but the season is still young. Our defense will also tighten up some when we get our set rotations down. A lot to like. This is going to be a fun team to watch---we'll know more in just a few games because we are about to be tested. 2-0--Let's Go Hoosiers!

[HoosierAloha 30,102]

FYI, forget his name but I actually enjoyed the color analysts call. Thought he was much better than most BTN analysts.

Agreed, mixed some knowledge with humble goofiness. Would love to hear a Gus Johnson/Bob Knight called game.

Edit: give me some Bill Walton too!

[HoosierTrav 8,278]

With the way ranked teams are losing to these mid majors, I'll take double digit W's any day. Defense and turnovers are concerning but it's what you get when you constantly change your lineup and try to play 10 deep. Can establish continuity. Players are perpetually trying to get back into rhythm. I'll be very interested to watch us play a team that controls the pace really well. Can we play in the half court? Can we get stops when we have to?

[HoosierAloha 30,102]

With the way ranked teams are losing to these mid majors, I'll take double digit W's any day. Defense and turnovers are concerning but it's what you get when you constantly change your lineup and try to play 10 deep. Can establish continuity. Players are perpetually trying to get back into rhythm. I'll be very interested to watch us play a team that controls the pace really well. Can we play in the half court? Can we get stops when we have to?

This. I believe Morgan had two quick TOs as soon as he came into the game.

[bleedhoosier 3,627]

Im not too alarmed by the d on this game. It wasn't ideal but we just watched the team (online) put the clamps on eastern Illinois and Ottawa wasn't hateful either.

Offense, wow, we had a few post feeds and I like it. Hartman freaking dunked, high wire Troy. How about that reverse? Troy is so odd to watch. It's like he is constantly bobbling the ball or flopping around like a wet noodle but makes some fantastic plays. That jumper he had but dumped down to TB for the dunk was pure maturity setting in. Loved that.

Are we good to pass "Hulls is nails" torch over to Z3?

[Alford Bailey 13,179]

We are hard to beat when we hit a bunch of threes. Everybody knows this. What about on an off shooting night? Can we execute in the half court and can our D keep us in games through stretches when we aren't scoring? With this tough non con I suspect our D will show its true colors one way or the other pretty quick.

[OliviaPope40 7,391]

Agreed, mixed some knowledge with humble goofiness. Would love to hear a Gus Johnson/Bob Knight called game.

Edit: give me some Bill Walton too!

We don't need the guy who sounds like they took too much LSD and is going to talk about Wooden the whole broadcast. 

[GnarlyNormEllenberger 1,462]

Some thoughts...

 

- Our transition offense was very good and we had it going early and often. This is our biggest strength. When it works, we look really good.

 

- I think there are a few players on this team that were never really asked to be a good defensive player in their prep careers and its readily apparent. Plain as day. The lack of communication, over-helping and general disengagement by some on that end of the floor is disappointing. But, it's fixable in many parts. We'll see if we correct it as the year progresses.

 

- Great shooting % from beyond the arc. Poor shooting % from the stripe and didn't get there often. If the three's aren't falling, we'll have to do a much better job getting to the line. Didn't have to worry about that in this game, though.

 

- We have so many offensive weapons on this team. There are legitimately eight guys on this team that you wouldn't mind shooting the ball on any possession. That's tough for defenses to guard.

 

- Another high turnover game. Don't know if it's because of the freedom of the offense or just a lack of concentration, but this seems to be a standard for us.

 

- Our freshman have some talent, but they are young and still adjusting to college basketball. They were over-thinking a bit last night.

 

- All this being said, there's only so much you can tell from defeating Austin Peay by 26. Take it all with a grain of salt. We'll find out more about what we have on Thursday vs. an improved Creighton team.

[AZ Hoosier 10,467]

We don't need the guy who sounds like they took too much LSD and is going to talk about Wooden the whole broadcast. 

 

True, but some of his stuff is pure classic... remember him talking about a player with an upset stomach... comment was something to the effect of "shove your finger down your throat, puke, and get back on the floor".

[AZ Hoosier 10,467]

The free throw situation really concerns me. How can a team shoot 67% from the field (59% from the 3) with guys defending them, but only hit 60% from 15 feet away, completely unguarded?

 

The need to step this up big time - they're being given free points and not taking advantage... and they need to run an offense that gets them to the line more often, as well.

 

That and defense needs some improvement... but overall, I'm fairly well satisfied for game 2 of the season... but we will be tested soon in Maui.

 

Let's go Hoosiers!

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

The free throw situation really concerns me. How can a team shoot 67% from the field (59% from the 3) with guys defending them, but only hit 60% from 15 feet away, completely unguarded?

 

The need to step this up big time - they're being given free points and not taking advantage... and they need to run an offense that gets them to the line more often, as well.

 

That and defense needs some improvement... but overall, I'm fairly well satisfied for game 2 of the season... but we will be tested soon in Maui.

 

Let's go Hoosiers!

Not to excuse it too much, but it was 60% on 10 free throws. Our 4 missed were: 1 from Yogi, 1 from Troy, 1 from Juwan, and 1 from Niego.

 

I'm more concerned about what that stat says about our ability to get to the line. We were one of the worst teams in the country last year to get to the stripe, we really need to improve there if we want to win close games. The points you score when the clock isn't moving are difference makers.

[Old Friend 8,613]

Man reading through the majority of comments on here and on Inside the Hall, you would've thought we lost the game tonight. Of course there are always things to improve but the offense looked fantastic for long spurts tonight. We enjoyed a nice shooting spurt. This is still a team learning to mesh and talk and play together. Thats why there are so many miscommunications on the court. Lots of turnovers and a handful of bad plays on D because of miscommunication. I still think the team is learning how to play together. Everyone is still learning that they can actually throw the ball inside and trust the guy receiving it. There were way many more positives in this games than negatives.

It's not about winning and losing when you play Austin Peay.   It's about how the way they play translates against good teams and against Big Ten teams.   This is Indiana.  We expect to beat cupcakes by 30.   If we play the way we did tonight on Thursday, the game will be close and we could lose it.  Same against Duke, Notre Dame, and 9 of the 13 Big Ten teams we play.

 

Every time we have a post-game discussion after a win, someone posts "dang, you'd think we lost."   It's not about that.   Indiana is fun but imperfect, and still has gaping holes defensively and in decision making.  Yes, they're very good.  Yes, they can score against bad teams.  Yes, they've got a high ceiling.  And they also have to get much better; which is fun to talk about and why chat boards exist.

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

It's not about winning and losing when you play Austin Peay.   It's about how the way they play translates against good teams and against Big Ten teams.   This is Indiana.  We expect to beat cupcakes by 30.   If we play the way we did tonight on Thursday, the game will be close and we could lose it.  Same against Duke, Notre Dame, and 9 of the 13 Big Ten teams we play.

 

Every time we have a post-game discussion after a win, someone posts "dang, you'd think we lost."   It's not about that.   Indiana is fun but imperfect, and still has gaping holes defensively and in decision making.  Yes, they're very good.  Yes, they can score against bad teams.  Yes, they've got a high ceiling.  And they also have to get much better; which is fun to talk about and why chat boards exist.

You're both right to an extent. I haven't noticed it as much this game, but some people do blow these games way out of proportion. All we know about Austin Peay is their game against Vandy and their projections on KenPom. That's why these early games can be hard to read. It's too early to say JBJ is never going to make it to the NBA or we are going to get destroyed by Purdue just based on what we've seen in these two games. People think the sky is falling if everything doesn't go without a hitch.

 

But, you're right that what we see in these games should be giving us a general idea of what we'll see this season and the areas we need to watch for improvement. If turnovers keep being high or defense isn't improving, there are serious concerns. So, it's totally fair to say "if JBJ doesn't fix his help-defense, he will not be in the NBA next year" and most people wouldn't be here if we weren't interested in deeper analysis and discussion.

 

It's all about being able to maintain a balance. You don't want to be a shortspace anymore than you want to be a... I can't actually think of a super negative poster who is banned instead of willingly left. Shortspace probably isn't banned anymore either if he asked to come back. What am I even talking about anymore? I have to get back to work.

 

The point is, on both sides of the fence, let's approach the game rationally and take it for what it is. The second game of the regular season against a probably terrible team. It has things it can tell us, it has things it can't. And like Jon or... Kevin? said last night, sometimes things (like rankings) are useless except for being conversation pieces. So, might as well talk about somethin'

[chitown hoosier 743]

Im just happy that his years team has the players and size to play man to man this year instead of that dreaded zone. Yes we need to improve on d but you also have to give credit to some of their players. Horton was making tough shots and sometimes made Bryant look foolish. It's a learning process for him and it was just his second game. A lot of the top tier teams are struggling to find their game as well and some are doing that in a losing effort. We will find out a lot about this team and where they are exactly at Maui. I for one think they have a legitimate shot at winning the whole thing as long as they keep up the effort on D and not get lazy.

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Im just happy that his years team has the players and size to play man to man this year instead of that dreaded zone. Yes we need to improve on d but you also have to give credit to some of their players. Horton was making tough shots and sometimes made Bryant look foolish. It's a learning process for him and it was just his second game. A lot of the top tier teams are struggling to find their game as well and some are doing that in a losing effort. We will find out a lot about this team and where they are exactly at Maui. I for one think they have a legitimate shot at winning the whole thing as long as they keep up the effort on D and not get lazy.

I'm most excited for Maui not just because it's legit competition but it's an opportunity to see how they play back-to-back games. Being able to play one afternoon, then the next, then the next is totally different than anything else they'll encounter up until it's Big Ten Tourney time. If nothing else, I want them to learn how to carry the energy and excitement of a win 20 hours into the future for the next game and so on.

[chitown hoosier 743]

I do want to add that I agree Creighton is not going to be an easy game. They have some serious size on their team and they have always been well coached. Hopefully this team will be ready for them come Thursday.