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| mid-season report card; warning: it's not pretty | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 30 2010, 07:11 PM (118 Views) | |
| panchen_lama | Dec 30 2010, 07:11 PM Post #1 |
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Coach
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alright, i know we are still a game or two from the mid-season, but with new year's coming up and needing to get back to work full time...figure it is now or never. watford: B. He's obviously stepped up his offensive game and, when healthy, looks capable of putting points up against most teams. however, i have not been too impressed with his work on the glass and he's shown a propensity for bad possessions late in games when possessions are at a premium. creek: C-. He's not in basketball shape. i was hoping to see some kind of linear improvement during the pre-conference slate, but i can't say i've really seen much, if any. going to take a full off-season to get him back. added to his lengthy recovery is a 3-point shot closely resembling my own...and that's not a compliment. poor on ball defense as well. jones: D. As an upperclassman with experience and an unquestionable skill set he has thoroughly disappointed. he can't even hit free throws at a decent rate thus far, while turnovers continue to be a huge bane along with poor perimeter defense and poor decision making. he talks a good talk post-games about needing to play smarter and be a team leader, but i've not seen any signs of that on the court. hulls: B+. Noticeable improvement, especially on the jump shot inside the arc following a shot/ball fake. has also become stronger on the ball. defense is still suspect at times, and he is vertically challenged, but overall i am pleasantly pleased with what i've seen out of jordan (cannot bring myself to call him jordy). pritchard: D. No elaboration necessary. see the next entry for why he did not receive a 'F', as it's all relative i suppose... capo: F. Absolutely floored by how poor and lost he appears on the court. turning into a poor man's, or at least a poor white man's, tijan jobe - 5 minutes, some hustle, 5 fouls. elston: B-. The hoosiers still need to identify a role for derek. he's proven he can score when on the court, and he's looked strong on some boards, but his defense is poor and help defense even worse. good energy, just seems to still be struggling to find consistent big minutes...for which there is a reason. rivers: A-. Wow. what a difference a year makes. i enjoy watching him play when he's in the game this year. the only thing keeping him from an 'A' is his lack of ability to stamp senior leadership and toughness upon the team. as far as filling the role asked of him, however, he's done an absolutely great job. oladipo: A. Yes, freshman mistakes. but we really couldn't have asked for much more to date. going to be a great kid to have around for four years. sheehey: B-. Raw tool set is there. difficult to postulate more accurately his development given little court time and my having no idea how he looks in practices. i would, nonetheless, like to see a bit more of him in game situations...we could use his athleticism around the rim as well. crean: C. no guy. no healthy creek. jones with his head up his ass. i wouldn't wish that upon any coach wanting to run out to a great start. team: C-. Less than double digit wins at this point with the schedule we had is disappointing, no way around it. however, the team has had some rough breaks and injuries. conclusion: going into the season with a line-up of jones, creek, watford, hulls and pritchard, it's pretty easy to see where the major disappointments have come that have largely contributed to the less than stellar run-up to the midway point. quite simply, jones, creek and pritchard have all underwhelmed for various reasons and i think it's had a kind of knock on effect in their approaches. two ways to go it seems to me...1) somehow get the production, at both ends, required out of those three, or 2) go a different direction with some of the guys that are performing or surpassing expectations. creek, you have to figure, will be back to being a significant factor next year. the bigger question for me is how to approach jones and pritchard. either they step it up big time or we need to start thinking more about 2/3 years down the line...and obviously neither one of them are factors there... here's hoping for 15 to 20 wins from january to april 2011. :goiu: |
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| BTown11 | Dec 30 2010, 08:54 PM Post #2 |
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Mer
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watford: A. A huge jump from year one to year two, he simply dominated the pre-season. the move from the four to the three was really important to his success. his first step is much better, as is his endurance and athleticism. quite simply, he is the key for the hoosiers; and when he was sick in vegas and had back problems against PSU we struggled. creek: INC. He just needs time. jones: C. I think that Verdell was banged up early in the season and really struggled to find a groove. He absolutely dominated the Wright State game before going down to another ankle injury, so I'm looking for him to catch back up. He self-admittadly becomes selfish when a play breaks down, and that's where he makes bad decisions. Get the ball in his hands in the right situations and he's a deadly scorer. I'd like to see more leadership out of him in the second half. hulls: A-. Huge improvement from year one to year two. really confident shooter and ball handler. nothing else really to say, he's the surest thing on our roster. pritchard: C. Almost gave him a C+, but I think the last three games showed us that he really does have value. I'd like to see him re-inserted as a starter. capo: D. I feel like he's downgraded from last year even. He is a great hustler, but I think he needs to realize that it's not football. Also, looks like he added a bit of fat. elston: B-. Derek is a kid that when he just goes with the flow of a game, he can be the best player on the floor. A rangy, athletic shoter in a 6'9 body is a great player to have. Derek just needs to let the game come to him, because he can be a pretty big key to us being a better team. He was off and on so far this season. rivers: A+. for him, I think he has really taken into his new role on the team. he's really bought into what Coach Crean wants to do, and he's ready to make the best out of his senior year. with his limited offensive arsenal, he's done the best he can. I'd like to see him be more of a leader, but I'm not sure if he's naturally vocal. oladipo: A+. Much, much better player than I would have ever imagined. Kind of the "Chris Kramer" type kid Crean wanted last season. I think Victor will really grow with this program and become a valuable asset. His intangibles are off the charts. sheehey: C. Will shows flashes of brilliance sometimes, and freshmen mistakes others. I really like how Crean has handled his playing time -- not too much, not too little. What we know is that he's an athletic defender and a decent shooter. He needs to get bigger, but as I've said if he sticks with it he can be one of the best defenders we have. crean: A++++++++++. If you include recruiting with coaching. What he has done outside of the court has been nothing less than spectacular, and we need not let the last week cloud our judgment. There are some X's and O's questions, but he has an incomplete roster right now, so I'm not ready to judge that. If you don't include recruiting I'd give his season about a B so far. team: INC. (B- pre-season). This is a hard time to do this report card because it's coming off a bad three game stretch, which before we were raving. I think that if this young team can shake off last week, they have a chance to be a pretty threatening team. Overall in the pre-season, minus last week, 5 minutes at Kentucky, and 15 minutes at BC they've been much better than I expected. |
| Death to Signatures. | |
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| dedicatedIUfan | Dec 30 2010, 10:21 PM Post #3 |
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Coach
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I think Panchen's is more right on. Both your assessments are good. I think Watford deserves a B or B+, not worthy of an A. He turns the ball over way too much to deserve that. I think Crean deserves higher than a C but definitely lower than an A++++++++, especially if you include recruiting. I think Crean deserves a B-, but not any higher. I agree he doesn't have a lot of talent to execute his high level types of offense and defense of pressuring the ball. But some of the lack of improvement and, in the case of couple players, sliding backwards falls partly on him. But the guy is one hell of recruiter. :chug: |
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| BTown11 | Dec 30 2010, 10:22 PM Post #4 |
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Mer
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I grade on a curve, hence why Watford gets an A and Rivers gets an A+. |
| Death to Signatures. | |
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| yawnzzz | Dec 30 2010, 10:30 PM Post #5 |
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Coach
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Well, I think it's clear Rivers, Hulls, and Watford have been assets. Oladipo has a lot of potential, and the rest have their good and bad moments. Creek's been the biggest surprise to me this year. I figured he'd be sluggish the first few games, but he really hasn't shown anything near what he showed last year. Overall, Crean's getting a B mainly due to the recruiting. We knew our inside presence was going to be horrid, and we might've been saved by some great guard play if Creek returned to form. He didn't, which I think is the main reason we've been let down. |
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| Evilempire | Dec 31 2010, 11:29 PM Post #6 |
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Coach
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Not sure how you can have a mid-season report card when IU has basically played 10 exhibition games..........lets talk after the 1st week of February. |
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