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Guard Play...is it fixable?


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It’s been discussed in many threads and I was maybe trying to sum it up here. What is going on with our guards? It’s been almost 5 years since we have had respectable guard play at IU. Is it the recruiting, is it the kids fault, Archie and staff coaching? It hurts me to say this but out of all the teams in the B1G would we even rate our backcourt in the top 10? I don’t want to tear down individuals but wondering more about in general what do we have to do to get better play? I’m just at a loss.

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We just need someone that can knock down a couple 3s or even just a few buckets a game...someone to stem the tide when we are on these 0-12 1-10 shooting sprees. I guess at this point I’d rather dump it into Brunk and Trayce for 30 shots a game even if they are forced up contested shots because that’s still a better percentage shot then a wide open jumper from our guards. I honestly think they could shoot with their off hand and shoot as good a percentage.

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42 minutes ago, Parakeet Jones said:

I hope we are scouring the transfer portal and Juco ranks. 

Abandon that hope.

We're not a popular destination for transfers.  Those guys leave their schools so they can be on a tournament team that has a chance to make a run so they get exposure.

We haven't made the tournament in 3 years.

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Why did we recruit Damezi again?   My hope's of him being a solid contributor the next 2 years have been crushed.   That form of his is awful.  I really hope CAM brings in a shooting coach to work with him and the other guards next Summer.    

Go Hoosiers!!!

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My hope is Franklin comes around. Al is who Al is. So much for Green, he will never ever be a consistent player. For 1 half looks like a NBA lottery pick to the next 2 an half games looks like he should have never been given a college scholarship. I think we missed on Anderson, he just isn’t close to showing he can play at the Big Ten level. I can’t remember the last time he made a 3 , hell I can’t remember the last time he scored. 
As for as guards, I think Archie is going to have to find a juco, He needs a proven shooter, with some experience. 

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1 hour ago, Indy1987 said:

Why did we recruit Damezi again?   My hope's of him being a solid contributor the next 2 years have been crushed.   That form of his is awful.  I really hope CAM brings in a shooting coach to work with him and the other guards next Summer.    

Go Hoosiers!!!

Its been two years. His shot may actually be worse now.

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8 hours ago, GrangerHoosier said:

Abandon that hope.

We're not a popular destination for transfers.  Those guys leave their schools so they can be on a tournament team that has a chance to make a run so they get exposure.

We haven't made the tournament in 3 years.

Haniif Cheatham and Cam Mack at Nebraska are a grad transfer and juco. They went there with no hope for this year. I would love for those two guys to have those two unused scholarships we have sitting there. 

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IMO, you've identified a major part of our problem (guard play).  Fixing it would be the challenge.

My answer is mostly NO this season.  Too many data points to believe our shooting ability or poor decision making can be improved.  In fact, I'm not confident any current players can develop into great shooters.  The younger guys can improve their playmaking and defense.  But dramatic improvement in shooting ability is not something to expect.

Going forward I'd like to see Archie turn Jerome loose on offense - encourage him to drive and shoot.  While his shot hasn't been falling thus far, he's allegedly got/had the ability.  Try to get his confidence up - the other shooting options have had two seasons to get their act together and haven't - Hunter missing shots is no worse than Al, Rob, Damezi, Green, et al doing so.

Beyond this season we really need to get an infusion of shooting.  With only one scholarship open it needs to be filled with a difference maker.  I'm still mostly in the pro-CAM camp, but his failure to bring in multiple quality offensive players (scorers) is confounding.

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1 minute ago, AxnJxn said:

I'd say this is clearly mental. You don't miss that many open shots, and some of those 3s last night were absolutely wide open, without it being something in the head. I guess the question would be are these guys hitting these shots in practice?

I've wondered the same thing.  If they're lousy shooters in practice it would make the failure to bring in good shooters even more perplexing.

My guess is that they are much better in practice.  Gee, we miss so many close-in shots or layups that it's hard to believe we don't make them in practice.

Going back to last season you have a guy (Fitzner) who had a history of making three's and was said to be quite accurate in practice, but was not a factor in game action.  Some players may just have "stage fright", IDK. 

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