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Let's take a shot at Rutgers. Pre-game thread.


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5 minutes ago, tdhoosier said:

This would be a very big win for us on the road - maybe on par with the FSU win.

Actually....you'd be right in a way.  At the moment, they'd both be Q1 wins.  In fact, we only have 5 games left (home or away) that aren't Q1 games (Home vs Iowa/Purdue/Penn St/Minnesota, and At Nebraska). 14 out of our 15 games left are Q1/Q2. 

The B10 is murderer's row this year. 

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7 minutes ago, tdhoosier said:

According to Kenpom, Rutgers is 2 spots better than us. This would be a very big win for us on the road - maybe on par with the FSU win. 

That said, i'm not expecting a win or will not freak out if we don't win......as long as we are competitive and play hard. 

I think we're going to see the team playing better / competitively including on the road going forward -- assuming Rob is healthy and starting/playing most of the game ("Rob's health is the word"). And I think Green coming off the bench is a strong move -- we had like 5 bench points in the NWU game. Compare what Green and the bench did against OSU.

So, with Rob running the point, adding his offense and floor leadership, and the team building on the changes and revamped approach running from the OSU game, this is what I expect/hope to see. 

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13 minutes ago, tdhoosier said:

i'm not expecting a win or will not freak out if we don't win......as long as we are competitive and play hard. 

I think that was the big difference I saw Saturday...

This IU team doesn't have anyone offensively consistent enough to offset those long (almost 10 minutes in the OSU game) field goal droughts, but what we did do was match OSU's intensity with our defense.

That wasn't the case at Wisconsin or Maryland. We let the dry stretches on our offensive end snowball into points for them...

If we can do that at The RAC, we can win...

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24 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

I think that was the big difference I saw Saturday...

This IU team doesn't have anyone offensively consistent enough to offset those long (almost 10 minutes in the OSU game) field goal droughts, but what we did do was match OSU's intensity with our defense.

That wasn't the case at Wisconsin or Maryland. We let the dry stretches on our offensive end snowball into points for them...

If we can do that at The RAC, we can win...

Another subtle difference that I saw on Saturday is that we were willing to take open shots earlier in the shot clock. In our stretch of poor play we would often pass up open shots earlier in the shot clock as teams packed the paint. We would try to force it in the paint either through the post entry pass or the drive and turn it over giving the other team easy transition opportunities. That meant we couldn't get a stop and always had to face a set defense...things then snowballed. 

The other result of not taking the available shot earlier in the shot clock meant that we ended up with a worse shot later because we really don't have the ability to find a shot late.

We had 11 turnovers on Saturday. Two after the game was actually pretty well decided. Four were offensive fouls (either charges or moving screens). I think that two were travels. That meant very few live ball turnovers which gave our defense half a chance. Taking good shots in the flow of the offense earlier in the shot clock seemed to relieve some pressure in lots of areas of the game.

 

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Defense travels.  As stated by many, if we play hard and tough, like we did on Sunday, we can compete.  This team is not full of marquee talent other than TJD and Phinisee.  We need to compensate with savvy, toughness, and energy, and we saw that on Saturday. 

Let’s hope what we saw against OSU indicated a sea change.  The players saw that it worked so it should compute for them how we can be successful.  

On offense, much has been said about the poor shooting.  But, what’s been lacking is getting good shots for guys.  It’s not just being open, it’s being in the right spot, and being in the right flow and momentum where someone is prepared to shoot.  This can all be fixed and there’s still time this season.  Jay Edwards is not walking through that door but we can shoot adequately if we work on getting better shots. 

As examples, Hunter and Anderson may have the ability to shoot with range, but they take shots out of the flow, kind of with the “look what I found” concept.  But we all saw Hunter move much better.  That’s going to lead to open shots in rhythm where’s he is prepared to shoot.   When Green squares up, he can hit those jumpers.  Durham can hit it if he’s open with a good look.  There’s much more meat on the bone with the offense and shooting.  If you get guys moving the ball better, it’s possible.  

A guy like Smith could be valuable moving and screening.  It can actually lead to him getting his own shots too, coming off the screen if the defense overreacts.  There are things we can do.  

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I thought we hit rock bottom last year after the loss at Minnesota.  Even though we lost the two after that, I felt like we showed signs we were starting to turn the corner and we finished the season much stronger.  Maybe MD was rock bottom this year and we are turning the corner earlier.  Also, Green seemed to turn a personal corner after his three game suspension last year.  Maybe going back to the bench will have the same effect this year. 

I think this is an important game.  Not just in terms of potentially picking up a road win against a decent team, but also in terms of keeping the momentum rolling from Saturday. 

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IF IU plays like they really want it and plays like they do at home, they can win this game and pay Rutgers back for last year.

That's the problem though...it's all mental and that drives me crazy.  I don't have any question they are more talented than Rutgers, especially considering injuries.  I just see IU (and most of the Big Ten for that matter) as a very passive, pussified road team.  I'd love to see them get good and mad on the road and play like it's them against the world...play with some determination.  Play to shut up the home fans in attendance.  If they played like Archie did in college, they'd win a bunch of games.  Instead, they play on the road like they are satisfied with a participation trophy.

Here's hoping they get good and pissed and play to the level they are capable of at Rutgers.  If they do, then yes...they are absolutely capable of winning.  I just wish I was more optimistic about the kind of effort I expect to see on the road.

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24 minutes ago, Parakeet Jones said:

I thought we hit rock bottom last year after the loss at Minnesota.  Even though we lost the two after that, I felt like we showed signs we were starting to turn the corner and we finished the season much stronger.  Maybe MD was rock bottom this year and we are turning the corner earlier.  Also, Green seemed to turn a personal corner after his three game suspension last year.  Maybe going back to the bench will have the same effect this year. 

I think this is an important game.  Not just in terms of potentially picking up a road win against a decent team, but also in terms of keeping the momentum rolling from Saturday. 

I think the NW game was by far worse..  What a comedy of errors. NW didn't even have to guard them and they were turning over the ball. I'm just glad the  feds weren't investigating some tanking/gambling scheme. 

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1 hour ago, Artesian_86 said:

.....any chance there is a stud IU lacrosse or soccer player that could motivate a few of our players and compete, like Northwestern's Pat Spencer?.....😁

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?

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2 minutes ago, BGleas said:

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?

By the way, I know we were giving our team a hard time about Pat Spencer being so effective against us, but I watched Northwestern play at Minnesota the game before us and he was one of the best players on the floor in that game as well. Minnesota shot really really well in that game and Northwestern hung around. Watching that game I knew that Northwestern would give us a tough game....

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12 minutes ago, mchenry34 said:

By the way, I know we were giving our team a hard time about Pat Spencer being so effective against us, but I watched Northwestern play at Minnesota the game before us and he was one of the best players on the floor in that game as well. Minnesota shot really really well in that game and Northwestern hung around. Watching that game I knew that Northwestern would give us a tough game....

In their win over NEB, Spencer had 14 pts and 8 rebs in 34 minutes. He did have 6 TOs, though. He's a tough hombre. Quite a story.

https://www.si.com/college/2019/07/11/pat-spencer-lacrosse-loyola-transfer-northwestern-hoops

Once he gets on the hardwood, the 2015 Maryland high school basketball state champion hopes others will see his passion for hoops.

“I don’t think people understand that I can actually play basketball,” said Spencer, who was named to the Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro second team as a senior at The Boys' Latin School of Maryland. “People think I’m doing this as an athlete who had a pretty good lacrosse career, and people haven’t seen me play basketball, so they form their opinions on my basketball game without having any idea what I can do on the floor.”

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I'd like to hear from some of our resident coaches on here, as to how do you motivate your teams when YOU go on the road.

When I played ball in school (we were still using peach baskets and bean balls), I just played the same as I did when we were at home. Crowds were not nearly as negative to the visiting teams like they are now. So I have no reference point to what kids put up with on the road. I just remember that when I was focused on the game, I didn't even here our home crowd cheering.

Doubt if that's the case today at the college level.

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2 minutes ago, DWB said:

I'd like to hear from some of our resident coaches on here, as to how do you motivate your teams when YOU go on the road.

When I played ball in school (we were still using peach baskets and bean balls), I just played the same as I did when we were at home. Crowds were not nearly as negative to the visiting teams like they are now. So I have no reference point to what kids put up with on the road. I just remember that when I was focused on the game, I didn't even here our home crowd cheering.

Doubt if that's the case today at the college level.

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 😀

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16 minutes ago, 13th&Jackson said:

In their win over NEB, Spencer had 14 pts and 8 rebs in 34 minutes. He did have 6 TOs, though. He's a tough hombre. Quite a story.

https://www.si.com/college/2019/07/11/pat-spencer-lacrosse-loyola-transfer-northwestern-hoops

Once he gets on the hardwood, the 2015 Maryland high school basketball state champion hopes others will see his passion for hoops.

“I don’t think people understand that I can actually play basketball,” said Spencer, who was named to the Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro second team as a senior at The Boys' Latin School of Maryland. “People think I’m doing this as an athlete who had a pretty good lacrosse career, and people haven’t seen me play basketball, so they form their opinions on my basketball game without having any idea what I can do on the floor.”

I like kids with an edge to them.  

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2 minutes ago, BobSaccamanno said:

That’s really cool.  Great for him.  

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. 

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3 minutes ago, BobSaccamanno said:

I like kids with an edge to them.  

His style of play kind of reminds me of Tom Coverdale...not quite the shooter, but just as competitive....

We have lacked that in recent years. Especially at the guard spot....Our guards over the last five years have been really laid back (Robert Johnson, Blackmon, Langford, Devonte Green)...That may be the best thing about next years recruiting class (and last years) is just how competitive they are

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4 minutes ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Even more impressive is that that they all drive themselves to practice!

True story -- when my oldest was playing club and academy soccer, he had a U-14 game. They beat us up and yellow cards were flying. I went up to the ref after the game and said man those kids looked a bit old don't you think. He said he just watched three of them leave in their own cars....

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1 hour ago, DWB said:

I'd like to hear from some of our resident coaches on here, as to how do you motivate your teams when YOU go on the road.

When I played ball in school (we were still using peach baskets and bean balls), I just played the same as I did when we were at home. Crowds were not nearly as negative to the visiting teams like they are now. So I have no reference point to what kids put up with on the road. I just remember that when I was focused on the game, I didn't even here our home crowd cheering.

Doubt if that's the case today at the college level.

Give em the fist.

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2 hours ago, BGleas said:

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?

Could not go wrong with either school.  Each school has multiple National Championships.

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21 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

All week, Coach Knight's famous quote keeps ringing in my ear.  "I was worried about this game. Until I looked over to the LSU bench.  And saw who was coaching the game"

_______________________

Coach Pickle's ( err Pikiell ) record at Rutger :  53-56.

LOL...he hated Dale Brown with a passion but Brown had a lot of success at LSU (probably bought a lot of players too).

Pikeill (sp?) does appear to be a pretty good coach.  One thing the B1G has is good coaching.  I think Little Ricky is pretty poor, but beyond that, a lot of good coaches in the league and I'd include Rutgers coach there as well.  Little Ricky = bad and not yet sold on Underwood, despite his success this year, but beyond that, I can't think of a bad coach in the league.

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