Euroclydon

IU has to get on the glass. J state is a volume team. They're going to run and shoot threes. If IU doesn't rebound or turns it over they are counting on hitting enough threes to stay in it.

The last three games the opponent's have really pushed to score in transition. IUs set defense has been so strong it makes sense. They can be better in transition and will need to be against a Kansas and UNC.

I thought Bates looked better and more under control. Only one forced shot early in the clock, which Race hammered down on the put back. He squared up his shot more even if he didn't get the best results. He guarded well. The only issue from last night was his lack of interest in rebounding. When shots go up he's a spectator. At his size he could help on the glass. Gunn is fun to watch. No fear. He has that twitchy, helter skelter movement going on similar to Galloway. Geronimo was swatting anything that moved. He brings the energy. JHS still taking too many early shot attempts without moving the ball, but he does so many things well to make the team better. I like his defensive effort but he has to stop leading with his face. He's going to be missing multiple chiclets if he's not careful. Everyone contributed and played hard. Nice start to the season. Go Hoosiers!

So you're going with the litteral definition of shortening the bench, meaning players who play regardless of minutes. In that case the bench was literally shortened. From 13 to 9. Simple check of the box scores confirms. My guess is CMW will shorten the bench as needed. And that was the whole question from the start. For some reason it is a crazy notion to a few.

That's a weak excuse. Moving on.

One on them played 5 minutes. You can't compare last nights minute totals to the first two games and see the bench was shortened? Sad. I guess if they had a big lead late and put in the walkons you could claim they expanded the bench. Those who watch and understand basketball would have to agree CMW shortened the bench last night.

And the bench was shortened. So even though nobody asked for it to be shortened, the reality is that's what happened against Xavier. Now we know.

I'm not concerned about a single game with one day off but I am concerned about 4 games in eight days starting with last night's win. This is where the bench needs to step up.

Quality road wins come in handy in March. Seems more and more teams avoid true road games in nonconference play these days.

Quality win on the road. Lots of good. Plenty to clean up. I would like to see CMW get on the refs more. Two techs on IU for talking, fair or not, and the other team can dunk and stare down an IU player. XJ is so big for IU. He's got to do more to stay under control and on the floor. Race on the bench a long time and late in the game. Interesting to see how that plays out.

That's a Sr missing winning FTs

Same play against IU every late game possession for the past five seasons. Screen to force a big (TJD) at the top of the key to stop a guard for one on one. It's usually Race that gets shot over. This time Trayce.

That's a Sr reaching in

Did Jerome Hunter transfer at halftime?

That's a Sr turning it over

Apparently you can stare down the other team as long as you don't open your mouth.

How do you lose close road games? Wasted trips on offense and a couple unnecessary technical fouls. This is similar to last season. In position to extend a lead but instead you're in a dog fight late. Time to see if they've learned anything from last season to this season.

Three point shooting is the difference so far. Nunge looked tired. Let's see if the IU depth pays off in the second half.

That's the starting PG taking himself off the floor in a tight road game.

By taking a patient approach to this team's early season results? Try again.

My response still stands. NOBODY said it should be shorter. But if you paid attention last season CMW did in fact shorten his bench. Not sure how else to say it so you can understand.

Read it again. I don't want the bench to be shorter but I'll be watching to see if it is.

First road game in a hostile environment. First dose of not getting calls and dealing with a tough crowd. Will be a good test especially for the freshmen. Interested to see how the rotation works and whether the bench gets shorter. Also watching to see if IU can set the tempo. Guessing the Muskateers want a slower more deliberate tempo than IU prefers. I know a loss would lead some to abandon ship early. I'm trying to take a more patient approach to these non conf games. Want to see continual improvement before the conf games start.

Lots of good last night and some bad. The good includes shooting from three, hitting FTs at a high rate, dominate rebounding, and quality depth play. Kopp on fire from three, Galloway showing signs of a shot, Geronimo bringing the energy and knocking down shots. X playing within himself and playing strong D was nice to see. Virtually everyone had something positive to add last night. The defense for the most part looked really good but there were some clear issues (see below) to be addressed. The bad includes giving up straight line drives to the basket from the wings with little to no help. Other than that the defense looked strong. Still, there was at least six times where an IU defender let the guy go right by them on the wing and nobody was there to help until it was too late. Against BC you can get away with that but quality teams will bash IU over the head with this until they prove they can stop it. The other concern on D is Geronimo picking up cheap fouls where, for no reason, he puts both hands on the guy he is guarding, which is an automatic foul. Other than that there were some rushed/unnecessary forced shots (multiple by JHS) where it was clear IU could score almost at will if they just ran the offense. Go Hoosiers!

Two really solid guards lined up but they need to add a big or two. Just not hearing much right now. Some visits and some speculation but I expected we'd have a big lined up by now. Not seeing any rumors about upcoming additions. Is it all coming down to the transfer portal to finish off this class?