Official 2016-17 IUBB Preseason Thread

JSHoosier · October 20, 2016

4 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Multiple tweets from Mike Miller:

Glass: "When it's all said and done, I think it's preferable this way."

Glass: "I felt it was best to go back to just the single year listings on those two banners that identify the Big Ten champions."

Glass estimates it'd have cost IU $50-100k to add necessary infrastructure to hang two more banners in current spot.

Glass said there have been no specific discussions about hanging the '83, '13 banners elsewhere, but he'd be open to consideration.

Fred Glass says it was his call to remove '83, '13 Big Ten banners. "My strong view is we should recognize all 22 champions in the same way"

I agree with this approach. I didn't like having a separate banner in the first place.

OliviaPope40 · October 20, 2016

6 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Multiple tweets from Mike Miller:

Glass: "When it's all said and done, I think it's preferable this way."

Glass: "I felt it was best to go back to just the single year listings on those two banners that identify the Big Ten champions."

Glass estimates it'd have cost IU $50-100k to add necessary infrastructure to hang two more banners in current spot.

Glass said there have been no specific discussions about hanging the '83, '13 banners elsewhere, but he'd be open to consideration.

Fred Glass says it was his call to remove '83, '13 Big Ten banners. "My strong view is we should recognize all 22 champions in the same way"

No mention of the banner when we went undefeated in 75.

Edited October 20, 2016 by OliviaPope40

Josh · October 20, 2016

Multiple tweets from Mike Miller:

Glass: "When it's all said and done, I think it's preferable this way."

Glass: "I felt it was best to go back to just the single year listings on those two banners that identify the Big Ten champions."

Glass estimates it'd have cost IU $50-100k to add necessary infrastructure to hang two more banners in current spot.

Glass said there have been no specific discussions about hanging the '83, '13 banners elsewhere, but he'd be open to consideration.

Fred Glass says it was his call to remove '83, '13 Big Ten banners. "My strong view is we should recognize all 22 champions in the same way"

Uh oh, Bobby's gonna be mad. He may never come back now!

Sent from my SM-G920P using BtownBanners mobile app

Class of '66 Old Fart · October 21, 2016

2016-2017 Player Profile: OG Anunoby

Heading into his freshman season, few knew of 6-foot-8 wing OG Anunoby. An unheralded recruit from Jefferson City, Missouri, he was widely considered an afterthought in IU’s 2015 recruiting class, ranked far lower than both Thomas Bryant and Juwan Morgan.

Through last year’s nonconference slate, Anunoby had logged just 100 minutes on the court. In those 13 games, Anunoby never scored more than six points or played more than 17 minutes.

When Big Ten play started, something clicked, and Anunoby began to blossom. He started off the conference schedule posting consecutive career-highs, scoring eight at Rutgers and 11 at Nebraska. In a road game against Michigan State, Anunoby had the Breslin Center awestruck when he dunked over Kenny Goins.

“His work ethic is second to none,” Juwan Morgan said of OG Anunoby on Wednesday. “Every time I’m in [Assembly Hall], OG is in here. Before practice, OG is in here. I knew it was just a matter of time before he really understood what he could do and applied it to the court.”

In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Anunoby effortlessly threw down a 360-degree dunk against Chattanooga on his way to a career night, finishing the blowout victory with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and adding two steals an assist and a rebound.

Two days later, he shut down Kentucky’s Jamal Murray, helping the Hoosiers reach the Sweet 16. The nation had taken notice.

Anunoby is now widely regarded as the top NBA prospect in the Big Ten and is one of 20 members of the preseason Julius Erving watch list, an award given annually to the best small forward in college basketball.

“I guess it’s nice,” Anunoby said. “But it doesn’t mean anything. The season hasn’t started. We haven’t played any games yet.”

Anunoby says he’s spent the offseason with an increased focus on ball handling, shooting and growing as a leader.

“Just talking everything out,” Anunoby said. “Communicating really, that’s the big thing. Switches, defensive positioning, offense, who’s going to post. All that stuff.”

If the comments from his teammates are any indication, OG Anunoby could continue rising up draft boards and piling up accolades.

“People will see when the season starts how much OG has improved.” Thomas Bryant said Wednesday. He’s a key focal point for our team. He has improved so much since last year. I just can’t wait for people to see it.”

Bottom Line: Anunoby hasn’t come anywhere near reaching his potential yet. His stats per 40 minutes as a freshman were outstanding: 14.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.2 blocks while shooting 61 percent from inside the arc and 45 percent from beyond it. The sample size, however, was simply too small to make any declarative statements. But if he continues his upward ascent while maintaining efficient shooting numbers and lockdown defense, the Big Ten better watch out.

Quotable: “He’s starting to use his body to his advantage. When he has a smaller player on him, he’ll put him down in the post. He’ll go down in the post more often. Also, he’s more efficient from three-point range. Me and (Anunoby) go head-to-head almost every time we play basketball. Clashing together, iron sharpens iron, and he’s getting so much better out there. He’s taking full advantage out on the court.” – Thomas Bryant at Big Ten media day.

ctory with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and adding two steals an assist and a rebound.

devkitt · October 21, 2016

What is up with the channel shafting this year?

4 BTN Plus Games (2 regular season)

2 ESPN 3 games (worst commentators ever)

1 ESPN U game during B1G play

Don't remember it being so all over the board in recent years..

HoosierD · October 21, 2016

What is up with the channel shafting this year?

4 BTN Plus Games (2 regular season)

2 ESPN 3 games (worst commentators ever)

1 ESPN U game during B1G play

Don't remember it being so all over the board in recent years..

BTN Plus games are likely just part of the TV deal and will always have a couple regular season games on there. As for the ESPN3 games, that's what scheduling Mississippi Valley State and Austin Peay gets you. If the cupcake games such as those two were replaced with some local mid major programs, then those games would be televised on ESPN or ESPN2.

Scooter D · October 21, 2016

Three weeks from today, the season officially begins...starting to get excited!

Brass Cannon · October 21, 2016

I'm only going to do this once so bear with me.

Everybody put in a ballot for Btown Banners poll!!!

give us something to talk about while we wait

Class of '66 Old Fart · October 21, 2016

Latest from Hutch at The Anderson Herald-Bulletin

Late arrival Davis has quickly gotten up to speed at IU

BLOOMINGTON — De’Ron Davis didn’t have the benefit of easing into his first year of college by arriving in June with the other incoming freshmen on the IU basketball team.

Instead, the 6-10 freshman stayed in his hometown of Aurora, Colo., to get some academic things in order. He got to Bloomington the weekend before classes started in the fall and was quickly thrust into the position of full-time college student.

“I had a lot of catching up to do when I got here,’’ Davis said. “I thought I had worked hard over the summer, but that first day was pretty tough. It was mostly conditioning. The game was pretty physical. The first couple of weeks it took me a little while to get used to the physicality of the games, but after that building my motor is what I’ve been really working on.’’

Davis said he had always had a favorable impression of Indiana basketball fans throughout his recruitment. He mentioned the word “passionate” several times when describing Hoosier Nation.

And he said his first impression of Indiana students was a good one, too, when he was trying to get moved in at the last minute in late August.

“There were just a lot of people around who wanted to help,’’ Davis said. “People were just coming up to me and asking what they could do. They wanted to help me feel like I was home, and that meant a lot to me.’’

Davis said he’s happy to finally be on campus and getting ready for the season. He said Indiana had been on his radar for a long time and getting the chance to finally be a Hoosier is something he had really been looking forward to throughout the summer.

“Everyone knows that Indiana had been recruiting me since the eighth grade,’’ Davis said. “I was the number one player in the nation in the eighth grade, but as the years went by I started to fall out of the top 15. But Indiana and the coaching staff stood by me through it all. Every time they would come to my practices or games, they would encourage me to continue to get better.

“At one practice this year, Coach (Tom) Crean came in and handed me a list. It was all the things he wanted me to work on. I just feel like this is a place where I’m going to get better.’’

Having seen players like Noah Vonleh, Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo go through the college experience at IU and stick in the NBA in recent years has been something that has gotten Davis’s attention. But he said what he likes the most is seeing how much Crean and his staff influenced those players when they were at IU.

“You can just see it in their games,’’ Davis said. “My main thing is that most players when they get to the league you can see how good their talent is, but when you see Cody Zeller and Noah Vonleh they’re still doing things that Coach Crean has taught them. Coach Crean knows the game well so if they’re still doing stuff that Coach Crean taught them in college and it’s working at the next level, it’s pretty clear that he really develops players.’’

Davis arrives at Indiana with lots of expectations. At 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, he is seen as a player who could make an immediate impact. He was a four-star recruit out of high school and ranked as the No. 44 player in the nation by Rivals.com.

Indiana fans will get their first opportunity to see Davis, who will wear No. 20, in live action Saturday night when IU has its annual Hoosier Hysteria event in the newly renovated Cindy Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. All fans in attendance will receive an IU men’s basketball poster calendar, and the IU team will be available beginning at 5:15 p.m. to sign the posters for an hour.

Davis said he hopes the first impression he is able to give off to his new fan base is that he’s an unselfish player. He also mentioned defense.

“First I’m a team player,’’ Davis said. “The open man is the best man, the best pass. But I take a lot of pride in my defense, too. Easy stops on defense can lead to easy points at the other end.’’

Sophomore teammate Thomas Bryant said that Davis has impressed him every step of the way.

“He’s a really solid player who is going to come in here and be successful right away,’’ Bryant said. “One of the things you see with him is that he’s willing to put in the work to take his game to that next level. When you have people who are willing to work hard, good things are going to happen.’’

Saturday night will be Davis’s first experience with Hoosier Hysteria. He said from everything he has heard he’s getting pumped up for it.

“The players say it’s just crazy,’’ Davis said. “Every seat is going to be packed. And they just said to go out there and have fun and enjoy the experience.’’

Class of '66 Old Fart · October 21, 2016

Not to be outdone by JBJ and OG, a 3rd Hoosier up for a national award.

Bryant named to preseason watch list for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the preseason watch list for the 2017 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, which honors the nation’s top center, on Friday.

Indiana sophomore Thomas Bryant was one of three Big Ten players named to the 20-player list along with Purdue’s Isaac Haas and Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ.

The complete watch list, per a release, is available below:

Moses Kingsley, Arkansas
Eric Mika, Brigham Young University
Justin Patton, Creighton
Marques Bolden, Duke
Zena Edosomwan, Harvard
Thomas Bryant, Indiana
Bam Adebayo, Kentucky
Tim Kempton, Lehigh
Omer Yurtseven, North Carolina St.
Chris Boucher, Oregon
Isaac Haas, Purdue
Paschal Chukwu, Syracuse
Jarrett Allen, Texas
Tyler Davis, Texas A&M
Thomas Welsh, University of California, Los Angeles
Kennedy Meeks, North Carolina
Luke Kornet, Vanderbilt
Mo Alie-Cox, Virginia Commonwealth University
Josh Hawkinson, Washington St.
Ethan Happ, Wisconsin

HoosierAloha · October 21, 2016

IU has a preseason top 20 SG in JBJ, SF in OG, and C in Bryant. If we use those three as constants, meaning they'll produce at a top 20 position rank all season, what are the keys for IU to achieve its goals this season. The goals I have in mind at as follows:
- 11-2 in noncon play
- B1G regular season title
- B1G tourney semi-final
- Get past Sweet 16

1) This team has to get and stay healthy. It has been well documented numerous players are still recovering from offseason surgery or injuries. I think a healthy Colin Hartman could provide a boost midway through B1G play. This might be the deepest team in the Crean era with two legit contributors at each spot. However, this can be quickly neutralized with injuries.

2) PG play has to be solid to good. Newkirk grabbing the starting PG spot could be huge. He's the only true point on the team with several other CGs filling in. Limiting TOs and pushing pace while defending at an elite level could push this team over the top.

3) Role players playing their roles. The team started to click last season when the role players started defending and hitting their open looks. This will need to happen again, mainly the frosh giving good minutes in backup roles.

4) Defending at a high level. This team might not have the explosive scoring that last years team had with Yogi and Troy. The calling card could be locking down on defense. Newkirk, RoJo, OG, JMo, DD, and TB could all be plus defenders. Green and CuJo have also been noted for their defense. We will no longer have to hide multiple weak defenders.

5) Crean continuing his development. I thought Crean did better last season using timeouts to stop runs (@UM comes to mind), substitutions, and using the bench as a motivator (Troy being taken out for long stretches). Can Crean coach a top 20 offense and defense to put IU in the contention for multiple championships in the same season.

I feel the ceiling for this team is really high. I don't see many teams with the guard depth IU has to go along with versatile wings and bigs. I'm stoked for Hoosier Hysteria tomorrow!

Class of '66 Old Fart · October 21, 2016

Zach Osterman - Indianapolis Star

Player Profile: Is Josh Newkirk ready to shine?

Numbers to know

Josh Newkirk.
6-1, 195 pounds
Redshirt junior guard, No. 2
5.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 2.7 apg*

*Stats from sophomore season at Pitt

About Newkirk

A last-minute addition as a transfer from Pittsburgh, Newkirk joined the Hoosiers right at the start of the 2015 fall semester. Still hampered by summer knee surgery, he spent his first months in Bloomington getting back to full strength.

Cleared in January, Newkirk set about making himself a nuisance on Indiana's scout teams, preparing the Hoosiers for opposing backcourts during a Big Ten title run.

Teammates routinely directed praise toward the North Carolina native, and as recently as this week, OG Anunoby suggested Newkirk is as underrated as any player on Indiana's roster. He will be expected to add depth behind James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson, though it's equally possible he could start alongside them.

One burning question

There's no direct replacement for Yogi Ferrell, but Newkirk is probably the purest point guard IU has. Is he capable of shouldering a big load on the ball, and acting as a legitimate third option next to Blackmon and Johnson?

Blackmon is the purest scorer of the three, with his impressive shooting range and ability to attack off the bounce. Johnson provides a nice blend of scoring and shooting, but needs to cut down on his turnovers.

Newkirk's assist rate (25.3 percent) as a sophomore was very good, but his turnover rate (21.7 percent) was, in equal measure, a concern. And after shooting more than 43 percent from behind the 3-point line as a freshman, his accuracy from distance fell to just 29.6 percent as a sophomore.

How much of that was related to the knee problem? Time will tell. But if Newkirk is an able facilitator and a threat to knock down open 3s, then he will have a significant role to play on this team.

Final word

If there's a secondary question to that one, it's how big can his role become?

Newkirk said at a donor event in June that he planned on starting at point guard, in an admittedly laid-back, somewhat tongue-in-cheek setting, but some of his past numbers, his experience and the endorsements of teammates all build a promising picture for him in 2016-17.

There is obviously no replacing a player of Ferrell's diverse impact. But -- even as good as Blackmon and Johnson are -- it doesn't appear out of the question for Newkirk to become this team's primary point guard long-term.

His emergence (or lack thereof) over the nonconference season will be worth close examination.

Class of '66 Old Fart · October 22, 2016