Analysis: Where does Indiana Basketball go from here?

[IndyHutch]

I didn't expect Indiana to beat Duke Wednesday night. But I didn't expect the Hoosiers to roll over and play dead either. Here is my take following a disappointing effort in a 94-74 loss to No. 7 Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

I can’t really say I expected Indiana to beat Duke Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

 

The writing was on the wall. Defending national champs. A winning streak of 120 games against non-conference foes. A 6-0 record at home in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. A No. 7 national ranking against a team that had fallen out of the rankings last week.

 

No, this one never felt right going in.

 

At the same time, I didn’t expect this either.

 

I didn’t expect Indiana to lay down. I didn’t expect the Hoosiers to roll over. I didn’t expect this Measuring Stick game to turn into an outcome that made you feel like the two programs were light years apart.

 

The big question today is where does Indiana basketball go from here? With the exception of the Notre Dame game, the other four remaining non-conference opponents hardly will be foes to lose sleep over. And so very likely Indiana will head into Big Ten play with a record of 9-4 or maybe 10-3.

 

But what does it all mean? Maybe, what does it all matter?

 

The bottom line here is if Indiana doesn’t defend better than it has in the first eight games, this will be a team that will be firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble at best come mid-March. And that’s if the all the stars were to align just right. The reality is, take away the first 10 minutes Wednesday night, and Indiana was a work in progress at best.

 

That one was hard to watch. I’ve read all the postings on Social Media in the last few hours after Indiana lost to Duke Wednesday night 94-74 and while people are absolutely losing their minds, it’s hard not to argue with a lot of the sentiment.

 

This team has talent. A lot of talent. And yet, they simply don’t defend at the rate they need to defend. They don’t even defend at an average rate. You have to be passionate to play defense and it’s just not there. Every opponent Indiana plays, whether it’s Duke or Alcorn State, simply drives the ball to the basket one time after another against Indiana and no one gets in the way.

 

SOMEBODY GET IN THE WAY. SOMEBODY MAKE A PLAY. SOMEBODY GET OUT ON A 3-POINT SHOOTER. SOMEBODY SHOW SOME PASSION.

 

You can single out one or two players if you want but this is a team thing. These guys simply do not defend. And the reality is that simple fact makes it in turn very difficult to defend what is Indiana basketball right now.

 

There is simply no defense for what we are witnessing first hand right now.

 

But I still come back to where does IU basketball go from here? What is it going to take for this group of individuals to realize that they have to play defense differently than how they are playing it right now?

 

Maui certainly didn’t serve as the wakeup call that many thought it would.

 

Will Duke do it? I really don’t know. I can’t understand why it takes anything to motivate you to play better on the defensive end. This should be a pride thing. This should be an IU basketball thing.

 

But right now there’s a major disconnect. And the reality is, with the schedule that IU has left to play before the Big Ten opener at Rutgers on Dec. 30, there is going to be no way to know if Indiana is indeed able to improve heading into conference play.

 

And that single point is a very frustrating one.

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[IU Hoosier41]

Nailed it. This team has all the keys to be great. 3 McDonald's all Americans and a bunch of solid players mixed in.

ZERO and I mean ZERO desire to play defense. Either that, or Crean has confused them so much with what he is trying to accomplish on defense that it completely falls through. I have a feeling it's more on Crean than the players effort. They always look lost.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Our resident Basketball4iu always spoke on how confusing Crean was in practice. Players didn't know what he was trying to get across. Describes his coaching as "spastic". It's a confused team for sure. It's odd how bad we look. Just falling back on instincts should make us better than we are.

[HoosierAloha]

Nailed it. This team has all the keys to be great. 3 McDonald's all Americans and a bunch of solid players mixed in.

ZERO and I mean ZERO desire to play defense. Either that, or Crean has confused them so much with what he is trying to accomplish on defense that it completely falls through. I have a feeling it's more on Crean than the players effort. They always look lost.

 

Great article..

 

Zoom out a bit.  How often did we see half the team playing zone while the other half play man to man last season?  It's as though the players are playing defense like the coach is struggling to defend his job status. 

[IUsafety]

Watch coaches of good defensive teams. Izzo, Pitino, Coach K, and Boeheim etc. It doesn't matter if they are down by 20 or up by 40. They are relentless and passionate about getting a stop every possession. This rubs off on the players. We do not have this. The talent to play D is there but someone has to light the fuse.

[HoosierCoop]

How many times last night did we get burned by a simple high ball screen?

 

You would have thought after the first 10, we would have stopped the game and figured it out.

 

Whether it was an open 3 or an uncontested layup, we had no answers.

 

Help defense isn't rocket science to teach.  It's a team culture that drives help defense and it starts at the top.

 

I have no idea what this S### is that we are seeing on the floor but it sure isn't help defense.

[IndyHutch]

Our resident Basketball4iu always spoke on how confusing Crean was in practice. Players didn't know what he was trying to get across. Describes his coaching as "spastic". It's a confused team for sure. It's odd how bad we look. Just falling back on instincts should make us better than we are.

 

Confused hits the nail on the head. But I think there's an effort issue here, too. How many times do you see a player let a guy slip by to the basket, sag his shoulders and just give up on the play? This is where there has to be some communication and some help side defense. Man, it's hard to watch sometimes.

[IndyHutch]

Great article..

 

Zoom out a bit.  How often did we see half the team playing zone while the other half play man to man last season?  It's as though the players are playing defense like the coach is struggling to defend his job status. 

 

Interesting point. What I don't get is why people got lost on getting out on open 3-point shots. I watched Zeisloft sag to double team the high post last night and then the guy threw the ball 6 feet back out for an open 3. You have to be able to slide back out and make that a contested shot. It's basic fundamental stuff.

[IndyHutch]

Watch coaches of good defensive teams. Izzo, Pitino, Coach K, and Boeheim etc. It doesn't matter if they are down by 20 or up by 40. They are relentless and passionate about getting a stop every possession. This rubs off on the players. We do not have this. The talent to play D is there but someone has to light the fuse.

 

What I don't get is that I know how hard this group works on defense every practice. It's a priority. But something gets lost in the translation. It kind of goes back to the "confused" thought. These guys just look like something isn't right.

[IndyHutch]

How many times last night did we get burned by a simple high ball screen?

 

You would have thought after the first 10, we would have stopped the game and figured it out.

 

Whether it was an open 3 or an uncontested layup, we had no answers.

 

Help defense isn't rocket science to teach.  It's a team culture that drives help defense and it starts at the top.

 

I have no idea what this S### is that we are seeing on the floor but it sure isn't help defense.

 

How can there be no answers? That's the hardest and most frustrating piece about all of this. You would have thought this would have been figured out after the first 10 minutes. Heck, you would have thought this would have been figured out sometime in Maui or definitely on that plane flight home. This isn't rocket science. IU has the athletes.

 

There are a lot of teams out there doing a lot more with less.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Confused hits the nail on the head. But I think there's an effort issue here, too. How many times do you see a player let a guy slip by to the basket, sag his shoulders and just give up on the play? This is where there has to be some communication and some help side defense. Man, it's hard to watch sometimes.

agree. No accountability for lack of effort. No passion.

[HoosierCoop]

Have we had a guy reach 4 fouls yet this year?  It's like these guys are afraid to get close to the ball on defense.

[IndyHutch]

Have we had a guy reach 4 fouls yet this year?  It's like these guys are afraid to get close to the ball on defense.

 

That's an interesting point, too. I've always found that with teams that are more concerned with offense than defense that no one wants to risk getting in foul trouble because it will limit what they're able to do on the offensive end. Not sure that's what is going on here but it's an interesting thought. The only thing that will ever really speak to these guys when it comes to what they need to do on the defensive end is sitting them on the bench and letting them watch the game from that view. We saw that momentarily against St. Johns but I think that could be helpful, too, in some of this lopsided non-conference matchups ahead.

[sirhoosierlot]

Our resident Basketball4iu always spoke on how confusing Crean was in practice. Players didn't know what he was trying to get across. Describes his coaching as "spastic". It's a confused team for sure. It's odd how bad we look. Just falling back on instincts should make us better than we are.

I wish we could get some insight from him right now. It'd be interesting to say the least.

[Alford Bailey]

So where do we go from here? The IU basketball I grew up watching could look pretty bad in the non con. sometimes but you would see improvement throughout the course of the season. The last 8 years we've consistently watched teams trend downward over the course of a season. The team typically looks tired and uninterested at tourney time. This team looks uninterested right now. Any reason to believe we get better in conference?

[Alford Bailey]

Have we had a guy reach 4 fouls yet this year?  It's like these guys are afraid to get close to the ball on defense.

I absolutely think this is an issue with Bryant. And, I believe he is being coached to stay out of foul trouble. We saw it with Cody. No backup in the low post.

[Stuhoo]

I can sum up all these concerns and "how can this be happening?" mysteries in one word:

 

Coaching.

[mdn82]

I think the voice the boys are hearing isn't getting through. Time to change that voice.

[IndyHutch]

I absolutely think this is an issue with Bryant. And, I believe he is being coached to stay out of foul trouble. We saw it with Cody. No backup in the low post.

 

There may be something to that. He just looks completely tentative on that end of the floor.

[IndyHutch]

I think the voice the boys are hearing isn't getting through. Time to change that voice.

 

Let's say what you're saying is true and when it comes to coaching things I try to sit on the fence as long as I can. An occupational hazard perhaps. But let's say that was what needed to be done.

 

My question is when would you do that?  You don't do it now, I don't think. You wait until the season is over. But then what you have is a lot of people secretly rooting for IU not to do well so that they can get their ultimate end game at the end of the season. And then what happens when the decision is made and what you wanted to see happen doesn't happen?

 

I just think right now we need to focus more on what this team can do to fix the way it is playing on defense and not spend so much energy in that other direction. That's just my thought.