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BTown's Bottom Line; Updated for UK Game
Tweet Topic Started: Nov 19 2009, 08:32 PM (844 Views)
BTown11 Nov 19 2009, 08:32 PM Post #1
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Since blogs never really took off on here like we wanted, I figured I'd just post something on the main site. Basically I'm going to try to write a new segment called The Bottom Line here after every game. It will include the good parts of the game, the bad parts of the game, and then I'll give my bottom line. So here we go for (real game) #1 for the young Hoosiers vs. Ole Miss

THE GOOD

IU Fan Support- Once again in a pre-season tournament, we have far more attendees than any other school, which is remarkable given our recent plight. One thing has remained constant about this program, and that's the fans, which is really something that can contribute to future success.

Verdell Jones- I've always been a pretty big VJ fan, especially considering his stark improvement from the beginning of last season until now. He stuffed the stat sheet tonight with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and only 2 turnovers. I think playing the 2 guard really suits him well.

Maurice Creek- After he's settled down from early this season, Mo has really hit his stride. 18 points tonight to lead IU, and he also did a nice job on the glass for a guard. Weak side rebound put backs are a big part of his game, which is something we sorely lacked last season.

Jeremiah Rivers- Right now, he's the best player on this team. Discussion ended. He had 14 points on perfect shooting from the field, and he was really the only player that Ole Miss couldn't stop. He is an extremely intense defensive player, and he makes a big difference when he's on the court.

Offensive Rebounds- Fifteen offensive boards is fantastic. Wish we could have gotten a few more points off of them, but the fact is that they're there, and that's an improvement. The downside is that we gave up 17 to Ole Miss, which can mostly be blamed on the zone defense and Tijan Jobe.

THE BAD

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers- 21 total, to be exact. Sound familiar? The only bright side is that there were only 7 in the second half, but turnovers kill you, period, and if IU wants to do anything with this season, they need to hold onto the rock.

Tijan Jobe- This should really be called "subs", but I'm going to make Tijan the scape goat. I like the kid as a person, but he's no more than a practice dummy. Having him on the floor that amount of time is a major liability, we're basically playing four on five on both ends when he's on the court, which we simply cannot afford. Honestly, I'd prefer players like Capobianco or Bawa, because at least they'd bring SOMETHING to the court -- Tijan brings nothing. Nada.

Shooting- Free throws and from the field. Too many missed opportunities tonight. 41% from the field and 48% from the stripe won't get you anywhere. They both baffle me, as if you look at the players on the floor, all of them seem capable of hitting those shots. I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, it needs to be fixed. FIX IT!

The Zone- Do not confuse this with the trap, our trap defense worked quite well. In our zone, our guards were able to make some nice deflections, but we are just too thin down low. We got murdered on the blocks due to the zone -- see Murphy Holloway.

Energy- The game started out with a high energy level, but that quickly subsided. If Rivers isn't in the game, our energy level sorely lacks.

The Offense- The only way we could score was in transition, which is good, but transition should only be one facet of your game -- not your entire scoring plan. How do you improve this? See shooting.

Devan Dumes- I really thought he might contribute something this season, but so far I've been proven very wrong. This preseason he truly looked like one of the better players, so his performance so far is mildly surprising. Firstly, he's a senior so we need some smart heady plays out of him. Instead we get forced shots, and his stupid attempts of being way too fancy (the 3-on-1). He needs to settle into his role, because we truly need him to be our sixth man. He has the capability of being a good player, he just needs to figure out his role in the offense.

THE BOTTOM LINE
The team is still extremely young, so to expect anything other than what happened is a little unrealistic. Honestly the game was a little closer than the final indicated, and we started to threaten late in the game. It's way too early to tell about this team right now, so all we can really do is give them a chance to bounce back from this rough game. Next game should be much easier for the Hoosiers, and it could be a nice confidence booster.
Edited by BTown11, Nov 19 2009, 08:44 PM.
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mongo Nov 19 2009, 08:39 PM Post #2
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Like the idea and great assessment.
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"Son, if you really want something in this life you have to work hard for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers."
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dreachon Nov 19 2009, 08:40 PM Post #3
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Nice analysis Btown. The one thing I'll add is our transition defense. You can't be a running team and then get beat down the floor in transition.
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crveech Nov 19 2009, 09:28 PM Post #4
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I was able to watch this game today but wasn't around a computer to post. Here is somethings I noticed:

-Rivers was solid today. He had a lot of intensity and made big plays. When he was out of the game, that's when we really looked lost. He really has to stay out of foul trouble this season.

-Creek looked great shooting the ball. He will be a future star, and I look forward to seeing his game improve.

-Jobe had no business being on the floor. What killed me was that his teammates were trying to get the ball to him. He looks like he's never played a single game of basketball in his life. Completely looks lost out there.

-Capobianco has not looked good. He got stuffed a couple of times, manhandled underneath the goal, and missed some bunnies.

-We got destroyed on the boards. Way too many putbacks for Ole Miss. Turnovers absolutely killed us, and we have to learn how to take care of the ball. And the free throw shooting was inexcusable. Rivers stunk it up at the line, and his teammates didn't do much better. Crean should make them shoot 100 free throws every day. That was just unbelievable.
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Boiler_22 Nov 19 2009, 09:41 PM Post #5
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Only caught about 10 min of the first half and a little bit on the radio. Showed some signs of promise then let it get away alittle a made a nice little comeback to get it with in 5. Good thing out of a young team not to quit. Defense has to be a little alarming. Ole Miss got way to many lay-ups in the time i saw.

And last looking at the box score. 12-27 from the line. There is no excuse for that. AWFUL. These are all D1 basketball players. For IU sake hope this doesnt turn into a mental thing where they go up there thinking there gonna miss.

Overall, still a very young team so some of these things you have to expect, showed some good things and a lot of things they can learn from.
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brumdog44 Nov 19 2009, 09:58 PM Post #6
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I'd like to add that thus far Tom Pritchard has been really disappointing. You like at the guy and know what he can be....he simply has to finish more plays. He's getting rebounds, keeping some alive....but isn't winning the battle for them that ensues. He's going to be a huge key...without him, we have no real inside game.

Maurice Creek has been better than expected thus far, especially considering that he's only been on campus since late August.

You can see Watford's talent and played well the first two games...really struggled tonight.

You have to be a real team first guy to go from being a primary player to being a spot player who knows their real...and Devan Dumes isn't that type of guy. He simply doesn't understand taking shots in the flow...the one three he knocked down came on a nice drive and kick to him, which was in the flow; the others he took were just him throwing the ball at the basket and hoping it goes in.

Pritchard has to stay out of foul trouble, but unless there is another big to help out down low, he's going to take the bulk of the fouls on interior defense. Capo or Muniru are going to have to be the guys do it. Hopefully they develop enough to at least be able to absorb a few fouls this year without being too much of a liability. Let's face it, on a normal Big Ten team as freshman they'd be guys that wouldn't play much and wouldn't be asked to contribute as a freshman...we are going to have to hope that at least one of them can give us ten or so minutes per game.
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Bobobinc Nov 19 2009, 10:14 PM Post #7
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Rivers is so quick and a great penetrator, but far too many times, when his penetration is stopped, he seems to just flip the ball in someone's general direction. 5 assists and 4 turnovers isn't going to get it. And sooner or later people are going to back off a little and make him drain some shots. Not saying he can't do it, just that he may have to.

Somehow Crean has to get Watford involved more. Maybe it's just a matter of slowing things down some, as others have said. I know Coach wants an up tempo game, but if it ain't working and it seems to keep your stud out of the flow, you might have to change some things up.

Tough 1st game matchup against a quality D1 opponent for the IU kids. Ole Miss has got some great athletes. They could make some noise this year.
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brumdog44 Nov 19 2009, 10:24 PM Post #8
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Nov 19 2009, 10:14 PM
Rivers is so quick and a great penetrator, but far too many times, when his penetration is stopped, he seems to just flip the ball in someone's general direction. 5 assists and 4 turnovers isn't going to get it. And sooner or later people are going to back off a little and make him drain some shots. Not saying he can't do it, just that he may have to.

Somehow Crean has to get Watford involved more. Maybe it's just a matter of slowing things down some, as others have said. I know Coach wants an up tempo game, but if it ain't working and it seems to keep your stud out of the flow, you might have to change some things up.

Tough 1st game matchup against a quality D1 opponent for the IU kids. Ole Miss has got some great athletes. They could make some noise this year.
Watford was definitely more involved in the first two games. Today he simply didn't have it.

In terms of Rivers, yes, he is going to have to be better when his penetration gets stopped. What I will say, though, is that I didn't expect him to provide any kind of offense for us at, so the fact that he has been able to get penetration is a plus. I figured on him being used as a guy who would just defend and not add anything offensively.
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Bobobinc Nov 19 2009, 10:32 PM Post #9
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Nov 19 2009, 10:24 PM
Bobobinc
Nov 19 2009, 10:14 PM
Rivers is so quick and a great penetrator, but far too many times, when his penetration is stopped, he seems to just flip the ball in someone's general direction. 5 assists and 4 turnovers isn't going to get it. And sooner or later people are going to back off a little and make him drain some shots. Not saying he can't do it, just that he may have to.

Somehow Crean has to get Watford involved more. Maybe it's just a matter of slowing things down some, as others have said. I know Coach wants an up tempo game, but if it ain't working and it seems to keep your stud out of the flow, you might have to change some things up.

Tough 1st game matchup against a quality D1 opponent for the IU kids. Ole Miss has got some great athletes. They could make some noise this year.
Watford was definitely more involved in the first two games. Today he simply didn't have it.

In terms of Rivers, yes, he is going to have to be better when his penetration gets stopped. What I will say, though, is that I didn't expect him to provide any kind of offense for us at, so the fact that he has been able to get penetration is a plus. I figured on him being used as a guy who would just defend and not add anything offensively.
You're right. Some said his strength would just be on defense. Looks to me like he's got some game on the offensive end. Just get it under control a little more. He's got a great handle, good size for the point and seems to finish pretty well.
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panchen_lama Nov 19 2009, 10:53 PM Post #10
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great idea btown,

having been out of the country last 5 years and only reading about hoosier basketball 12 hours after the fact... look forward to wasting my two cents in this thread as well.

overall, i can agree with your analysis. some additions...and apologies for any replications...

1 - we HAVE to get an inside presence. bawa should play...if for no other reason than he's the only person who offers the potential to develop into that presence. pritchard is not the answer...to anything other than 5 fouls. getting selby would be great next year...not going to say no, but at the end of the day we can't just have 11 6'5" decent athletes.

2 - the necessary depth to play crean's game isn't there yet. much better than last year and it was at least some kind of game for 40 minutes (last year's team would have lost by 30 to 35 easy).

3 - defense has to improve immensely. too early to say if this is simply youth and/or coaching.

4 - VJIII - he has improved so much in one year. is his game perfect, no. but if crean can get the same improvement out of this year's crop of freshman, who have more talent to begin with, then IU will be back sooner rather than later.

5 - success this year (8th place big ten and 2nd round NIT) will be decided by whether elston, capo and bawa can develop into a sum of two post players. feel good about elston...but those other guys have to contribute.

6 - so looking forward to senior day...how can we not be excited to say goodbye to those guys.

7 - rivers is good. has to make his free throws, but that was a nice transfer pick-up by crean.

8 - i'm looking forward to watching this season and despite the loss today am on the whole positive about the direction of the team/program. there's a long way to go...but that had to be expected.
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panchen_lama Nov 19 2009, 10:56 PM Post #11
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great idea btown,

having been out of the country last 5 years and only reading about hoosier basketball 12 hours after the fact... look forward to wasting my two cents in this thread as well.

overall, i can agree with your analysis. some additions...and apologies for any replications...

1 - we HAVE to get an inside presence. bawa should play...if for no other reason than he's the only person who offers the potential to develop into that presence. pritchard is not the answer...to anything other than 5 fouls. getting selby would be great next year...not going to say no, but at the end of the day we can't just have 11 6'5" decent athletes.

2 - the necessary depth to play crean's game isn't there yet. much better than last year and it was at least some kind of game for 40 minutes (last year's team would have lost by 30 to 35 easy).

3 - defense has to improve immensely. too early to say if this is simply youth and/or coaching.

4 - VJIII - he has improved so much in one year. is his game perfect, no. but if crean can get the same improvement out of this year's crop of freshman, who have more talent to begin with, then IU will be back sooner rather than later.

5 - success this year (8th place big ten and 2nd round NIT) will be decided by whether elston, capo and bawa can develop into a sum of two post players. feel good about elston...but those other guys have to contribute.

6 - so looking forward to senior day...how can we not be excited to say goodbye to those guys.

7 - rivers is good. has to make his free throws, but that was a nice transfer pick-up by crean.

8 - i'm looking forward to watching this season and despite the loss today am on the whole positive about the direction of the team/program. there's a long way to go...but that had to be expected.
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tAmazingHoosier Nov 20 2009, 12:10 AM Post #12
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panchen_lama
Nov 19 2009, 10:53 PM
great idea btown,

having been out of the country last 5 years and only reading about hoosier basketball 12 hours after the fact... look forward to wasting my two cents in this thread as well.

overall, i can agree with your analysis. some additions...and apologies for any replications...

1 - we HAVE to get an inside presence. bawa should play...if for no other reason than he's the only person who offers the potential to develop into that presence. pritchard is not the answer...to anything other than 5 fouls. getting selby would be great next year...not going to say no, but at the end of the day we can't just have 11 6'5" decent athletes.

2 - the necessary depth to play crean's game isn't there yet. much better than last year and it was at least some kind of game for 40 minutes (last year's team would have lost by 30 to 35 easy).

3 - defense has to improve immensely. too early to say if this is simply youth and/or coaching.

4 - VJIII - he has improved so much in one year. is his game perfect, no. but if crean can get the same improvement out of this year's crop of freshman, who have more talent to begin with, then IU will be back sooner rather than later.

5 - success this year (8th place big ten and 2nd round NIT) will be decided by whether elston, capo and bawa can develop into a sum of two post players. feel good about elston...but those other guys have to contribute.

6 - so looking forward to senior day...how can we not be excited to say goodbye to those guys.

7 - rivers is good. has to make his free throws, but that was a nice transfer pick-up by crean.

8 - i'm looking forward to watching this season and despite the loss today am on the whole positive about the direction of the team/program. there's a long way to go...but that had to be expected.
nice post. I agree with just about everything you said.
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IUalltheWAY22 Nov 20 2009, 12:15 AM Post #13
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my biggest thing is Elston/Capiobianco/ any of our big men going up strong. Way to many times were they trying high school layups and just got stuffed. Also, Watford needs to control himself, and Creek needs to limit those stupid pull up fadeaways...

im excited to see where we are going to be in 2 years
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Unbiased Nov 20 2009, 08:22 AM Post #14
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the only positive I can see from that game is that last year IU would have lost by 35

so if they play again next year, Iu would only lose by single digits.

my, how the mighty have fallen. Ole Miss would have been an Indiana Classic Tomatoe can that IU would have beaten by 25 in years past.
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BTown11 Nov 21 2009, 03:05 AM Post #15
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Because none of us could watch the game, there is no BTown's Bottom Line writeup for this game.

I'll keep it short. This team has talent. They're not a bunch of newbie players who have never shot a ball in their lives (except for Tijan), but they continually act like it. I'm not just talking about this year, I'm talking about last season too. If you look at schools like Butler, they aren't bringing in any big time recruits; from an individual perspective, the talent level of their team is remarkably low -- however, they get results on the court. Why? They don't make boneheaded plays. I don't know what it is about this team, whether it's the atmosphere, the play style, or the coaching, but it tends to lead to boneheaded mistakes. We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot before we can even think about standing. Until then, it's going to be a long season.
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