BGleas

I’m by no means happy we lost, but I said earlier today that I was going to judge this game by energy, intensity and passion from the players. I’d give a passing grade for that. This wasn’t an effort lose, and unfortunately where we’re at is this is how we judge things. You simply just can’t win a game on the road when you literally can’t make a shot outside the paint. There was one point where we hit Hunter on a BLOB play completely wide open for a mid-range wing jumper and after he missed you could just see Archie double over in frustration. These are high major D1 players, at some point you have to sack up and make some shots and make some plays.

I tend agree, especially for a guy like TJD, but the reality is that the gap in payoff between playing major D1 hoops and potentially getting one of those 2-Way contracts is shortening. Just looking at the Celtics this year, they have 2 2nd round picks and an undrafted guy that have spent time in the G League and also have gotten minutes on the NBA Club. The world is changing, again especially if you're able to earn one of the teams 2-Way Contracts. Same with Juwan Morgan. I realize he was a senior so he had to leave, but he went undrafted but has earned his way onto the Jazz roster when they have injuries. It's becoming a much, much more viable option than it was even just 3-5 years ago. But again, I tend to agree that TJD would be better off staying in college at least one more year to see if he can raise his stock and get on of those all-important (though not as important as they used to be) first round slots.

I agree for the most part. It is really frustrating and shouldn't be a thing everyone has to worry about. With that said, if the effort, passion and intensity isn't there tonight then I put that squarely on the players, not Archie. Archie has shown them what they're capable of if they play hard and play with passion. It shouldn't be the coaches job to have to gas up the players for every individual game. If the players don't know these games are important and you need to play hard everytime out, then that is on them. The piece that does go on Archie is that if this continues to be a problem, then it's time to find new players in the offseason. But, pleading with his players to care, play hard and play with passion shouldn't be a huge concern of his or something he has to routinely worry about, it should be an expectation. If he has to constantly worry about it, then he has the wrong players.

It all comes down to what he and his family value and what's important to them. The NBA has done a very nice job the last several years of putting the pieces in place for the G League to be a viable option for kids that either don't want to be in college or that don't want to be in college longer than one year. I don't know where TJD's interests lie in terms of that. The question will boil down to whether he thinks the lights, cameras and attention of college basketball, especially at a place like IU, are more important to improving his draft stock, than being a professional and being in an NBA system, even if it's the G League and trying to work his way onto a roster that way. I think guys probably have a better chance of improving their game in the G League, because you're running an NBA system and an NBA style of play, you're working with coaches from the NBA teams, you're playing better competition and you're not worrying about school, conference, standings, etc. You can just focus on improving your game. But, that road can also be more difficult, the team doesn't have as much invested in you as they do higher draft picks, the luxuries aren't as nice, etc. I don't think TJD would get drafted this year, but does he think he can go the undrafted route and secure a 2-way contract? To a lot of these guys I would bet a 2-way NBA/G League contract is more valuable to them than playing for free in college and hoping your draft stock improves.

A couple of thoughts on this. 1) One season doesn't make a coach and it also doesn't break a coach. One thing that always frustrates me about the message boards is the wild swings on the commentary around coaches from game-to-game and season-to-season. A rough first season or two doesn't mean Jordan is a terrible coach, and this season alone, which isn't over yet, doesn't mean he's the best coach in the world either (I know that's not what you're saying). He didn't figure out how to coach over the last 3 weeks, just as Archie didn't forget how to coach over the last 2 seasons. Look at Holtmann, everyone was slobbering all over him for two seasons, yet in the last season and a half he's 10-16 in the Big Ten. I think Holtmann is a good coach, but he's going through some growing pains as the Matta guys get phazed out. You have to look at these guys over the course of numerous seasons and allow them time to establish their programs and cultures. 2) We had this discussion last week after the Maryland game, but the organization around the program matters. As much as people wanted to downplay all of that talk and say that the AD, compliance and the President weren't stopping Justin Smith from hitting a jumper or Devonte Green from playing hard (which is true), over the long haul the program and the university being aligned matters. There's a reason Xavier, Butler, Dayton, Gonzaga, Duke, Kansas, MSU, Kentucky, Villanova, Wisconsin and others are almost always in the conversion, year-in and year-out for the better part of 20 years. Regardless of coaches and players coming and going, the university, the President's, the AD's, the basketball programs are well oiled machines, all with the same goals and strategies. There's alignment from top to bottom. That isn't the case at places like IU, UCLA, etc. for example.

The best of all of them by a wide margin hardly ever gets mentioned, Gordon Hayward.

Even that one was still in the paint and pretty close to the rim, I don’t think he’s taken a shot outside the paint all season.

Yeah, it's fun to see a kid from our town in PA getting recruited by the Hoosier! I hear he's leaning Indiana. I don't know him, but went to school with his aunt and one of his uncles. Must be a smart kid. He seems really competitive. We recently played a school who has a kid that just put up 45 in a game, and this soccer player guarded him much of the game and was talking a little smack too. I think we held him to about 14pts.

Maybe Archie should give me a ring? My 5th Grade Boys Travel Team (8 of our 11 are actually in 4th grade) is 3-0 on the road!! I find it's all in the coaching 😀

It will have to wait a year, but there is a kid on my town's high school basketball team in PA that is choosing between scholarship offers for soccer from Indiana and Stanford. Does that count?

This next six game stretch is so difficult and challenging, and only gets more difficult if IU doesn't find a way to at least split these next two road games (@Rut & @Neb). I understand the road is really, really hard to get wins in the Big Ten, but you just have to find a way to split or even win these next two. Ultimately, every win counts and beating the top tier teams in the conference is great, but the real separation is going to be in performing well against the teams like Rutgers, Nebraska, Northwestern, Iowa, Penn State, Minnesota, Purdue etc. You need to beat those teams at home and split the road games against them. Rutgers has been really good this year and extremely tough to beat at home, but this is the type of game that 'old Indiana' would win, but current Indiana (the last 4-6 years) seems to always not show up for. I'll be looking more at the effort, intensity and passion as opposed to actual numbers, system, etc.

IU isn't ranked because of the eye test. All these road teams, certainly in the Big Ten and even in other conferences, are getting blown out, but we let Nebraska take us to 2OT and barely squeaked by NW at home. If IU had won those two games by 15, we're probably ranked.

This I definitely did in high school and college. But never did the thing everyone seems to do now when after getting announced in the starting lineup you run over and shake the other coaches hand.

There were some plays in the second half too where Durham and Green were running off screens away from the ball. The one where Green hit a 3on the right corner and one where Durham curled on the left side, Phinisee hit him curling and then Durham dumped it off to Brunk. Again a healthy, conditioned Phinisee changes everything for this team. I just hope yesterday was a turning of the corner for him, and not a inconsistent high.

I still think we should play smaller more often, but it does change things a bit if Phinisee is going to be healthy and building upon his performance last season. If Phinisee can knock down shots, Durham can knock down shots off the ball and you have Green as a sniper off the bench, then things change. The Phinisee thing changes a lot for this team. It would also help if Smith could become a reliable mid-range shooter. I think he hit two yesterday, that one from the left of the top of the key early in the second half, in rhythm, looked good. I still think we should go smaller more often, but I am much more comfortable with 3 bigs if Phinisee is shooting somewhere between 38-42% from 3, you have Durham in the 37/38% range and Green at 40ish%. That would just open up defenses so much, and then maybe even get guys like Franklin, Hunter and Anderson more open shots when they get opportunities. There could be a trickle down effect. But, it all starts with Phinisee and playing through TJD and Brunk. So much opened up when we got TJD the ball and OSU was doubling him. The perfect example was a play where we got it to TJD on the left block in the second half and OSU doubled him. TJD threw a skip pass to the right corner (can’t remember who), that guy quickly swung it to Smith on the right wing. Smith then dribbled hard to the middle of the paint, drawing in an already scrambling defense, then Smith hit Phinisee for a deep two fading to the left corner. That was beautiful offense, but it showed how key Phinisee is. We’ve done that before but guys weren’t hitting the shots and our ball movement wasn’t as quick and crisp.