My concern in the backcourt.

[Trish]

With losing James for the season, we are short a guard. RoJo has been in a major slump for the past 7-8 games or whatever, he'll break out of it hopefully. But if Yogi or RoJo goes down with an injury, we are screwed. Nicky is more of a 3 to me. Below average defender, average handles, he's for sure a role player. 

 

I know it's damn near impossible to add a player this time of the year, but is anyone else worried about this?

[Alford Bailey]

With losing James for the season, we are short a guard. RoJo has been in a major slump for the past 7-8 games or whatever, he'll break out of it hopefully. But if Yogi or RoJo goes down with an injury, we are screwed. Nicky is more of a 3 to me. Below average defender, average handles, he's for sure a role player. 

 

I know it's damn near impossible to add a player this time of the year, but is anyone else worried about this?

Yes. We are in big trouble if we have to count on Z too much.

[Trish]

Yes. We are in big trouble if we have to count on Z too much.

 

Hopefully he is back, that 4-4 shooting stretch he had yesterday was pretty. 

[hoosierpap]

What I'm about to say doesn't play a role in the solution, but these are issues that need to be addressed in recruiting, imo. Crean ended bringing in 4 guys, none of which were guards and IU is currently holding a grant in their hand.

 

Now recruiting is a mess and complicated so it's not as easy as saying "you can't tell me there isn't a serviceable guard Crean could convince to come play basketball in Bloomington" but it is close. You could see Crean try to address it late with guys like Legerald Vick, Mychal Mulder and before that were just misses with Jimmy Whit and Shake Milton (probably out of his control on this one, to be fair), Conway, Edwards etc. 

 

For me, it sorta goes back to a guy like KJ Walton. I know Buckley liked him, but Crean wasn't all that hot on him. I guess that's his call, but there was interest on his end, he's in the backyard, and he's having a solid freshmen year at Mizzou with 5 games of double digit points in limited minutes. He would be precisely what Indiana could use in this situation. In fairness, DD and HMP were dismissed 9 days after KJ committed but, in reality, Crean oversigns so not sure that can be used as an excuse. 

 

I don't mean to make this about Crean, just saying while I like the current roster, I'm not sure the needs were completely addressed because accounting for injuries- to some degree- is part of it. Very sorry if this comes off as Crean bashing and the point is sorta moot, the roster is what it is. I could go on and on about roster makeup in the Crean era, but that would be derailing the thread further than I already have. 

[mdn82]

What I'm about to say doesn't play a role in the solution, but these are issues that need to be addressed in recruiting, imo. Crean ended bringing in 4 guys, none of which were guards and IU is currently holding a grant in their hand.

Now recruiting is a mess and complicated so it's not as easy as saying "you can't tell me there isn't a serviceable guard Crean could convince to come play basketball in Bloomington" but it is close. You could see Crean try to address it late with guys like Legerald Vick, Mychal Mulder and before that were just misses with Jimmy Whit and Shake Milton (probably out of his control on this one, to be fair), Conway, Edwards etc.

For me, it sorta goes back to a guy like KJ Walton. I know Buckley liked him, but Crean wasn't all that hot on him. I guess that's his call, but there was interest on his end, he's in the backyard, and he's having a solid freshmen year at Mizzou with 5 games of double digit points in limited minutes. He would be precisely what Indiana could use in this situation. In fairness, DD and HMP were dismissed 9 days after KJ committed but, in reality, Crean oversigns so not sure that can be used as an excuse.

I don't mean to make this about Crean, just saying while I like the current roster, I'm not sure the needs were completely addressed because accounting for injuries- to some degree- is part of it. Very sorry if this comes off as Crean bashing and the point is sorta moot, the roster is what it is. I could go on and on about roster makeup in the Crean era, but that would be derailing the thread further than I already have.

Yep that is what I have been wanting for a while is a balanced recruiting stretch that accounts for depth. Not upside lottery tickets. You can get that when you have depth.