Does One Game Change How You Feel?

[Inequality]

8 hours ago, hoosiermd said:

Here is the thing. If I'm Justin Smith I'm mad too. I think we spend too much time talking about Romeo and how he was the "HUGE" piece to the puzzle. I'm not saying any of that is true, but look at it from Justin's perspective. He's a 6'7/230lbs FREAK of an athlete. Yeah yeah you can argue he might not have a huge basketball IQ, but here is a kid who just put up 13pts, 10 rebounds & 3 blocks, one of which was crazy important. Let's assume the guy absolutely bleeds cream & crimson. He's already put in a year. Playing second fiddle to Juwan Morgan can't really be argued because Juwan is a senior, but Romeo coming in as "THE GUY" would make me mad too when he hasn't proven anything. 

We've been on here complaining at times that Romeo looks soft. He doesn't play with passion. He's not aggressive. He's not leading enough. He's not taking over games. He can't shoot. Justin sees all this too and probably wonders what all the fuss is about. Why is this guy getting so much hype? Sure Justin is from Illinois &  Romeo is from Indiana. Romeo is one of the best HS players in Indiana history. Romeo was Mr. Indiana, but that stuff wouldn't matter to a kid from Illinois. 

We want our guys with that ultra competitive spirit. I'm not saying Justin is right or wrong, but I think if you look at this from Justin's perspective, you can make a pretty good case for him not being Romeo's biggest fan. It's possible that Romeo has tried to downplay his reputation as an Indiana high school legend from the jump. He seems like that kind of guy, but I would have loved to see in this video, Romeo paying attention, hearing the reporter ask Justin a question, see the SID try to step in and then tell the SID to hold his horses & he'll wait as long as he has to until Justin is done  answering questions. That would have been leadership, but also deferring to a guy that played his heart out & is a year ahead of you. 

Again, not saying Justin is right, I'm more and more beginning to see how things might look from his side.

There is no place for a me first player in team sports. Those sick of hearing about a persons talent or popularity can either move on or put in work. There is plenty of free air and opportunity.

[BGleas]

9 hours ago, Inequality said:

There is no place for a me first player in team sports. Those sick of hearing about a persons talent or popularity can either move on or put in work. There is plenty of free air and opportunity.

Justin Smith has every opportunity to be averaging 12+ ppg on this team. If he could shoot like Goins did from MSU (not sure if that’s typical for Goins, haven’t watched a ton of MSU this year) the other night, he’d be getting a ton of publicity this year. Goins knocked multiple open shots off the pick and roll, and Smith is wide open all game long in the same situation, but can’t knock down the shots. 

[Artesian_86]

 

“That’s one thing coach was harping on, tight huddles and togetherness,” Romeo Langford said. “Every time there was a dead ball or a foul, we’d come in and talk, basically give each other confidence and make sure everybody’s on the same page for the next play, next possession.”

 These are the kind of comments I want to hear from, an always quiet, Romeo. Something positive has happened to this team within the last week or so. I noticed it all the way back to the Rutgers loss. I told my wife, after the Rutgers game..."That was an ugly loss, but something was different. They actually played like they cared in the second half......this game might be the game that turns them around." 

My wife must be onto something.....I was not very eager to watch the Michigan State game at all...as a matter of fact, I was out shopping with her an hour before the game. She told me we have to get home to watch the game. It is normally me saying that. She said, " This just might be the game that turns their season around!"

[ATX_sig]

20 hours ago, hoosiermd said:

Here is the thing. If I'm Justin Smith I'm mad too. I think we spend too much time talking about Romeo and how he was the "HUGE" piece to the puzzle. I'm not saying any of that is true, but look at it from Justin's perspective. He's a 6'7/230lbs FREAK of an athlete. Yeah yeah you can argue he might not have a huge basketball IQ, but here is a kid who just put up 13pts, 10 rebounds & 3 blocks, one of which was crazy important. Let's assume the guy absolutely bleeds cream & crimson. He's already put in a year. Playing second fiddle to Juwan Morgan can't really be argued because Juwan is a senior, but Romeo coming in as "THE GUY" would make me mad too when he hasn't proven anything. 

We've been on here complaining at times that Romeo looks soft. He doesn't play with passion. He's not aggressive. He's not leading enough. He's not taking over games. He can't shoot. Justin sees all this too and probably wonders what all the fuss is about. Why is this guy getting so much hype? Sure Justin is from Illinois &  Romeo is from Indiana. Romeo is one of the best HS players in Indiana history. Romeo was Mr. Indiana, but that stuff wouldn't matter to a kid from Illinois. 

We want our guys with that ultra competitive spirit. I'm not saying Justin is right or wrong, but I think if you look at this from Justin's perspective, you can make a pretty good case for him not being Romeo's biggest fan. It's possible that Romeo has tried to downplay his reputation as an Indiana high school legend from the jump. He seems like that kind of guy, but I would have loved to see in this video, Romeo paying attention, hearing the reporter ask Justin a question, see the SID try to step in and then tell the SID to hold his horses & he'll wait as long as he has to until Justin is done  answering questions. That would have been leadership, but also deferring to a guy that played his heart out & is a year ahead of you. 

Again, not saying Justin is right, I'm more and more beginning to see how things might look from his side.

Defenses pay a ton of attention to Romeo and Juwan. I don't know if he has any beef with romeo but if he thinks he can do anything remotely close to what Romeo does offensively he is wrong.  I expect that is not the case either.  He practices with romeo every day.  I'd vote that he was annoyed with the guy who was timing the interviews. 

Also, I don't think Smith has anything to complain about. He's playing 30+ minutes per game at IU.  The team is not as good as hoped.  If the roster was balanced, he would probably be backing up morgan at a forward position.  Instead, he is being allowed to play through a lot of mistakes. I hope smith stays all 4 years at IU. He has the makings of a really good player as an upperclassmen.  

 

 

[Reacher]

4 hours ago, Artesian_86 said:

 

“That’s one thing coach was harping on, tight huddles and togetherness,” Romeo Langford said. “Every time there was a dead ball or a foul, we’d come in and talk, basically give each other confidence and make sure everybody’s on the same page for the next play, next possession.”

 These are the kind of comments I want to hear from, an always quiet, Romeo. Something positive has happened to this team within the last week or so. I noticed it all the way back to the Rutgers loss. I told my wife, after the Rutgers game..."That was an ugly loss, but something was different. They actually played like they cared in the second half......this game might be the game that turns them around." 

My wife must be onto something.....I was not very eager to watch the Michigan State game at all...as a matter of fact, I was out shopping with her an hour before the game. She told me we have to get home to watch the game. It is normally me saying that. She said, " This just might be the game that turns their season around!"

Smart woman!

[5fouls]

My wife loves when IU games are on.  Not that she likes IU or even basketball.  She doesn't.  But, if I'm watching IU, I'm not around her.  She does like that.  

[IowaHoosierFan]

If JM has soft hands he would average 15+ a game.  But the kids fumbles so many passes that make it difficult for him to makes cuts and take passes.  He also needs to change his shooting style and pick up a 12-15 footer.

[CauseThatsMyDJ]

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/3-point-play-latest-on-indiana-big-time-clash-sleeper-emerges

[FW_Hoosier]

25 minutes ago, CauseThatsMyDJ said:

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/3-point-play-latest-on-indiana-big-time-clash-sleeper-emerges

I still disagree with the framing of “for all those thinking that Romeo Langford was going to walk into the program and immediately make IU a national-contending force, well, they were fooling themselves.”  I didn’t know any IU fan that was expecting a Final Four or something similar before the season started.  Big difference between expecting that and expecting 20-something wins and a decent seed, which I think is what most of the fanbase wanted.

[dwtaylor1055]

When Morgan went down in the Mich st game and we had a TRUE center healthy and play significant minutes, we were able to compete down low with other bigs.  Morgan can be a beast down low but we are asking an awful lot from him to go toe to toe against true centers in college basketball when he should be playing the PF position and even then he is on the shorter end for that position.  I think with Morgan getting hurt, it caused Archie to attack differently then running the offense through Romeo and Juwan then others.  I hope the Mich state game wasn't a fluke, I would hate to see us revert back to before 

[BGleas]

11 minutes ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

When Morgan went down in the Mich st game and we had a TRUE center healthy and play significant minutes, we were able to compete down low with other bigs.  Morgan can be a beast down low but we are asking an awful lot from him to go toe to toe against true centers in college basketball when he should be playing the PF position and even then he is on the shorter end for that position.  I think with Morgan getting hurt, it caused Archie to attack differently then running the offense through Romeo and Juwan then others.  I hope the Mich state game wasn't a fluke, I would hate to see us revert back to before 

I don't think it was really the Morgan injury, it was the simple fact that Davis was healthy and available. IU hasn't had a healthy Davis to bang with other Big Ten bigs since before January. Archie had gone to Davis to bang with Ward before Juwan went down. 

[cohete15]

10 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I don't think it was really the Morgan injury, it was the simple fact that Davis was healthy and available. IU hasn't had a healthy Davis to bang with other Big Ten bigs since before January. Archie had gone to Davis to bang with Ward before Juwan went down. 

I think it will be interesting to see how Davis is utilized from here on out. 

Is he used to play with Juwan, or in place of Juwan? Of course it's likely both...but one or the other is going to be the better combo...which one is it? It probably depends on opponent, however...

I think it's going to be with Juwan...you allow Juwan to play his more natural position. You then get more floor spacing. Juwan is a good passer, too. He's also not banging every possession, and should have a little more energy. Who does that move to the bench when those 2 are in? I think Justin. Justin will allow the other team to help on Davis in the post due to his lack of outside shooting. That leaves Rob/Devonte, Romeo, Al, Juwan around the perimeter...none of which should be left open. It's also important to keep in mind that I don't think we can EXPECT 25 minutes from Davis. He was running on pure adrenaline, he's also been known for quick foul trouble, and this year's MSU was a perfect matchup for him because Ward is basically a mirror image of him. 

Davis had his way against MSU because he wasn't doubled. Izzo thought his big boys could win 1-on-1...he's way too skilled (I think most people forget/forgot about how good he CAN be offensively...I know I did). I would fully expect DeRon to draw the double until he proves he can effectively pass out of it and we can capitalize on it. 

[ATX_sig]

I think Deron will come off the bench.  I don't like Morgan being the center but it is unlikely he will be totally removed in that role. I think they will see the court togther at times.

[FKIM01]

5 hours ago, FW_Hoosier said:

I still disagree with the framing of “for all those thinking that Romeo Langford was going to walk into the program and immediately make IU a national-contending force, well, they were fooling themselves.”  I didn’t know any IU fan that was expecting a Final Four or something similar before the season started.  Big difference between expecting that and expecting 20-something wins and a decent seed, which I think is what most of the fanbase wanted.

Had Romeo shot even close to what he did in high school from distance, that goal was very achievable.  With his high usage, I don't think it's unfair to say that his poor shooting has cost IU some games, while saying that overall, his presence has improved the team.

[FKIM01]

Specifically...at Arkansas 6-15 - lost by 1

At Duke - 3-15...IU was probably losing that one regardless

Nebraska - 5-14 - lost by 15 - a loss either way

@ Purdue - 2-10 - lost by 15 - this one probably doesn't matter either

@Northwestern 4-10 (0-3 from distance) - lost by 7

Michigan - 3-10 lost by a large margin

@Rutgers - 7-20 - lost by 8

With more typical shooting by Romeo, I think IU wins 2-3 more games thus far this year.  Certainly, there were other contributing factors, but I think it's fair to say that just seeing a normal shooting percentage from Romeo would have IU in a different spot right now.

 

 

[FW_Hoosier]

2 minutes ago, FKIM01 said:

Had Romeo shot even close to what he did in high school from distance, that goal was very achievable.  With his high usage, I don't think it's unfair to say that his poor shooting has cost IU some games, while saying that overall, his presence has improved the team.

And the injuries, chemistry issues, etc., have all also had an effect on the team’s performance as well.  Can’t deny that.  But for a while over that 7 game stretch, we were playing like the worst team in the Big Ten... Fans had every right to be upset.  And all the pundits/sycophants responding to that by saying, “Well, if you expected them to be national title contenders this year, you were just stupid,” were using a BS strawman argument.  That’s what was frustrating to me.

Let’s hope we’ve put that all behind us and can finish the season strong.