Kdug

The inability to make free throws at an even below average rate is infuriating

A couple of good plays by XJ there. Need more of that to pull this one out. All of the focus for Rutger seems to be on stopping Malik - which is a smart strategy.

Rutger players complaining about foul calls when they get all arm is hilarious

Ware getting mauled every time he goes up for a shot down low.

Leal should play over banks in the 2nd half. Banks was completely lost and had one play in particular where his lack of hustle directly led to a Rutger rebound.

Rutger always plays a disgusting brand of basketball. This year, IU has had plenty of ugly games. Combine those two and you get that half. We got the Nebraska XJ in the first half, and turned it over on 33% of possessions. The fact that we’re not getting blown out is a miracle.

Absurd. Banked in half counter for Rutgers to end the half

Haven’t scored in 5:30 and counting. Some bad offense in that stretch and some open shots missed. Need to find something quick

For some of the stuff our bench has been T’d up for, they’re letting Rutgers’ bench do whatever they want. Players literally going on the floor yelling that the refs are blind after a fairly obvious call. Seems ridiculous

20-19 IU. Currently in a scoring drought though

Banks has had some bad minutes, then jogs back and is the last guy back on a fast break. Unacceptable

Rough start with the turnovers, but seemed to start to calm down and get into things better the last 2 minutes. Defense looks good to start.

I don’t really see a lineup change that would make too much sense. If Gunn played like Ohio State and Michigan, I could see an argument for him starting over Mack, mainly for the defense. Mack is already playing like 20 mpg, so he could still get that coming off the bench. You could also have him play more 4 in a smaller lineup. But I’d have to see a lot more consistency from CJ before that’d even remotely make sense. I don’t really see anyone else on the bench that would make sense to start.

Agreed with all of this, but the bold is what I think is the biggest thing for Gunn. CJ seems to love taking off-balanced or pull up midranges shots, which are just terrible shots to take unless it’s late in the shot clock. If he focussed on taking open threes and attacking the rim, I think he could be a very productive player for us. Unfortunately he hasn’t really shown that outside of the Michigan and Ohio State games. Because of that, he has some of the worst shooting stats in the entire conference. It all comes down to shot selection with him imo.

I know Rutgers has a bad offensive team, but I still think how we defend them is going to decide if we have a shot to win. The Army game showed that if you let bad teams get comfortable they can score. And considering how good Rutgers is on defense and they’re at home, I think it’ll be tough for IU to have a high scoring game in this one. I haven’t watched Rutgers this year, but I’m assuming they’re going to be physical on defense. That worries me with Ware since it seems like physicality has been what causes him to struggle. This is the type of matchup we need to win if we want to make the tourney. Road games are always tough, but this isn’t a good Rutgers team.

I don’t really think Alabama was a top 4 team this year. They lost a home game vs Texas by double digits, and basically had a running back at QB. The only reason they took Michigan to the wire was because Michigan had a nightmare special teams performance. I’d take Penn State, Texas, Oregon, and a healthy Florida State over Alabama this year.

I’d have to imagine this came down to an allocation of resources. In a vacuum I would’ve loved to keep Lucas, he’s an electric returner who can change a game in one play. The issue is he can get a lot of NIL money elsewhere, and I don’t think IU should be allocating that much to a kick returner. He’s not been overly productive or explosive as a running back yet, and I feel like spending the NIL needed to keep him would’ve been a big bet on him becoming productive at RB next year. And as Cignetii said in his opening presser, he looks for production over potential.

Not sure what the point is with that example, but Alford’s senior year is a perfect example on why teams aren’t shooting many midrange shots anymore. He shot 53% from three, and 43.8% from two (all twos including layups, not just midrange). Most players can’t shoot a meaningfully better percentage from the midrange to give up the extra point from shooting a 3.

Yes, all time greats will be better than the averages. Also Woodson shot 50.5% on all field goals and May 51.3%, and that’s including layups. If they were shooting better than 50% from the midrange, they must’ve been really bad at getting to the rim. And there can be exceptions to the rule too. Joel Embiid shot 51% from 10-20 feet last year. So the analytics are dependent on personnel.

If you’re interested in a longer explanation, this article does a pretty good job. It uses NBA data, but I’d imagine the numbers would be similar in college: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-mapping-shots-in-the-nba-changed-it-forever/amp/ If you want a short answer, this quote from the article pretty much sums it up: “As it turns out, NBA players make only 40 percent of their shots between 8 and 9 feet from the rim, and that number drops to only 35 percent between 25 and 26 feet from the rim.” So basically you can take that 15-17 foot 2 point jump shot and make it at a 40% rate, take a 25 foot 3 point jump shot and make it at a 35% rate, or get to the rim and make it at a 60% rate.

Yup, that’s a pretty straightforward example of “analytics”. You’re going to make a 21 foot shot and a 22 foot shot at virtually the same rate, but the 22 foot shot is worth one more point. The analytics aren’t telling you to do anything, but any reasonable person would conclude they shouldn’t be shooting the 21 foot 2 point shot.

I love hearing that. It means MSU is going to make under-informed decisions, and put themselves at a disadvantage. A lot of people have a fundamental misunderstanding of what analytics are. Analytics don’t make decisions for you, they just give you information. It’s up to a coach/team/player to interpret and figure out what to do with that information.

If you look at recent games, we’re shooting 16.8 threes a game since the Auburn game. I’d like for that to be at 20, and preferably even higher, but at least that’s not lowest in the country. It’s a small sample so we’ll see if it continues, but hopefully it’s a trend.

Gunn should’ve shot the 3 instead of the pull up two on that play imo. It feels like IU as a team is way too content to settle for mid range shots.

What a game! I’ll give my thoughts tomorrow, but I’m leaving assembly hall now and I love the defense tonight. This season isn’t over yet!