Indiana v. Northwestern POSTGAME Thread

[Tom White]

Facts are we look much more focused since Blackmon went down. I hope he recognizes the passion, ball movement and defensive intensity it takes to win.

Yeah, and I hope the sun rises in the West tomorrow.

Seriously, I hope he "gets it" too. I'm not willing to bet on it though.

[Uspshoosier]

Take a look at John Perrotto's piece about it. He says they don't look at the "last 12 games" as much as they used to, but finishing is still a consideration; especially when comparing two teams. We're splitting hairs and both "right."

http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2014-02-12/ron-wellman-answers-questions-about-seeding-game-sites-and
Chairman head ron wellman 2 years ago. all I'm saying is years ago it was required for them to look at the last 10 games of the season now they are not required. Does that mean some of the 10 members use it? I'm sure there are some that use it as a guideline but it's not set in stone it has to be looked at like in years past

[8bucks]

I think the last ten or so games matter for us because it gives us a chance to get some wins vs top 25 teams.

We have some nice momentum and confidence is high. That will help as we enter the meat of the schedule.

Hopefully though as teams actually start to play better D against us, we can keep moving the ball well. Right now teams are playing so far off is we can pass around the key with very little difficulty.

[Ranger78]

The only 'concern' I saw from today's game and the last few is we hedge (too much) with our big's on the high ball screen, which sometimes leads to easy pick and roll baskets. I did see a change from this later in the 2nd half, so I'm basically looking for stuff to complain about here.

 

Great game and this team is becoming efficient and I'm thinking the sky is the limit for them. Ball movement is off the charts...

 

OG needs more time on the floor.... 

[biteoftheapple]

The only 'concern' I saw from today's game and the last few is we hedge (too much) with our big's on the high ball screen, which sometimes leads to easy pick and roll baskets. I did see a change from this later in the 2nd half, so I'm basically looking for stuff to complain about here.

Great game and this team is becoming efficient and I'm thinking the sky is the limit for them. Ball movement is off the charts...

OG needs more time on the floor....

I agree. On the hedge our bigs must,be able jeep in contact with their man. We often got too far removed.

[LockdownD]

The only 'concern' I saw from today's game and the last few is we hedge (too much) with our big's on the high ball screen, which sometimes leads to easy pick and roll baskets. I did see a change from this later in the 2nd half, so I'm basically looking for stuff to complain about here.
 
Great game and this team is becoming efficient and I'm thinking the sky is the limit for them. Ball movement is off the charts...
 
OG needs more time on the floor....

I noticed the same problem. I think Thomas looks so awkward trying to get back. Max can execute the hedge better than Thomas.

[JaybobHoosier]

Great performance by our Hoosiers today.  Regardless of who was at the bottom, most conference teams don't blow out their opponents by 30+.  Has the competition been great, nope, but IU continues to prove how hard they are working to become a complete team.  I am worried the Hoosiers are due for a stinker, but if IU plays the way they do like they have at home, they beat anyone in the country every time.  

 

I am completely impressed by this team, I had basically written them off after the Duke game.  I know a lot of people say that JBJ's injury has made this team better.  I agree 100%, but not because his lack of defense and selfish offensive play.  To me, the entire team (especially Yogi) felt they had to step it up instead of leaning on a few players.  From what I see on the court, this is a TEAM that plays together and is on a mission as a team.  This could have easily happened with JBJ still healthy, but unfortunately it took his injury for it to click with this team.  

 

I'm excited for this team's future in the rest of the season and post-season.  We've seen this team at it's lows, and I'm sure there will be more this season, but I'm excited for continued new highs for this team.  Go Hoosiers!

[Yogi'sBicep]

The only 'concern' I saw from today's game and the last few is we hedge (too much) with our big's on the high ball screen, which sometimes leads to easy pick and roll baskets. I did see a change from this later in the 2nd half, so I'm basically looking for stuff to complain about here.

Great game and this team is becoming efficient and I'm thinking the sky is the limit for them. Ball movement is off the charts...

OG needs more time on the floor....

imho Troy needs to be yanked every time he does something stupid, because his dumbness comes in packages. Gotta get a quick hook!!!

[Ranger78]

Yep, I agree Max is better at recovering and he has a better feel for where his man is off the hedge. NW saw this and started spreading the court and isolating this action early in the 2nd. Our big guys can't loose their primary responsibility .....

 

With their sets in the first and our help side defense, we didn't get burned by this too much in the first. Our switching and overall defense is soooooo much better than it was earlier this season ,,,,

[Ranger78]

imho Troy needs to be yanked every time he does something stupid, because his dumbness comes in packages. Gotta get a quick hook!!!

I think Troy is starting to understand his position and responsibility. He still does some 'out of control stuff', but I think this has improved greatly over the last few weeks. TW is so dynamic on the baseline and his effort is improving on both the def end and with rebounding. TW is a key element for this team. I still want to see OG get more minutes ...

[Ryno6284]

This was an "Old School" IU ass whipping on Northwestern!  Love me some OG! Dude always acts like he has done that or been there before. 

[Stuhoo]

Oops! Almost forgot. It is most certainly, most definitely ...

 

HAMMER TIME:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh3PBlFLvQ4

[Tom White]

imho Troy needs to be yanked every time he does something stupid, because his dumbness comes in packages. Gotta get a quick hook!!!

I think we are seeing this actually happen recently. It seems Crean has been pulling him earlier than he did before. Maybe that is just my imagination at play, but it sure seems to be hapoening.

Maybe it is for rotation purposes?

[sirhoosierlot]

The only 'concern' I saw from today's game and the last few is we hedge (too much) with our big's on the high ball screen, which sometimes leads to easy pick and roll baskets. I did see a change from this later in the 2nd half, so I'm basically looking for stuff to complain about here.

Great game and this team is becoming efficient and I'm thinking the sky is the limit for them. Ball movement is off the charts...

OG needs more time on the floor....

it's a defensive set actually. what led to the layups was a lack of rotation from the help side. http://youtu.be/IXFb6EKNpJ0

[LockdownD]

I think we are seeing this actually happen recently. It seems Crean has been pulling him earlier than he did before. Maybe that is just my imagination at play, but it sure seems to be hapoening.
Maybe it is for rotation purposes?

I've noticed the same thing. Troy has a tendency to follow one turnover with another. I wonder if there is an understanding that he needs to slow down and the bench is a tool to help do that. Also, it helps the team avoid running 17's as a punishment for excessive turnovers in a game. Clearly, the team is buying into valuing the ball and defending as a team.

[Ranger78]

it's a defensive set actually. what led to the layups was a lack of rotation from the help side. http://youtu.be/IXFb6EKNpJ0

Yes, i realize it's a set and helpside rotation is needed. It  was there in the 1st half and  better in the later part of the 2nd. If they spread the floor, helpside rotation can be late and they where trying to cover it with the ballside hedge defender, which was not working. I agree 100 its a set and was done on purpose. 

[Ranger78]

Good video (nice breakdown) thanks

[USMCHoosier]

Just finished watching the game. My initial take: very solid game start to finish. I am very disappointed in Max and his repetitive traveling. VERY VERY tired of TB and his whining about EVERY call that goes against him. For the most part, Troy played within himself. I only saw a couple of times that he forced something that wasn't there. Once again, all-in-all it was a very good game start to finish and it was against a pretty good opponent.

[USMCHoosier]

Sick of the weak schedule talk. Yeah the teams we've been playing are on the lower half of the Big Ten rankings but they've played some good teams close and even beaten some. Plus it's not like we're barely beating these teams. We're blowing all of them out.

I agree, the weak schedule talk doesn't carry much weight considering 2 of our 3 losses were against weak opponents. This team has figured out how to win the games they are supposed to.

[USMCHoosier]

I agree. People need to stop saying that Indiana is playing better D because JBJ is out. Everyone is stepping up their D, especially Yogi. I was hard on him earlier this year because guys were getting by him too easily causing switching and help d which led to too many easy shots. He's really shored up his defense. The only thing you can really state causative by JBJ being out is that OG and Juwon are getting more playing time. Those freshman really do a good job on defense. Both can also guard multiple positions.

JBJ was a horrible defender. I do think him being out has made a huge difference in our defense because now there is only 1 guy playing poor D and that is Troy. When 40% of the team that is on the floor plays limited to no D, the team D will be horrible.

 

Now, I do agree that the rest of the team appear to be playing with more heart defensively and that is not on JBJ.

 

Lastly, when I read "The underclassmen who are seeing how effective this defense is will help pass it along to the next group and the next." I have to laugh. The freshmen are the only players that have consistently played D all year. I would argue that the upper classmen have seen how effective this defense can be.