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Some Encouraging Signs from Ark St Game

Hoosierhoopster

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Hoosierhoopster

Hoosierhoopster

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It's one game, but thought a few things stood out that are worth watching going forward.

- 8 TO's. And 0 over about the final 12 minutes as the team pulled away. 

- Al D has a total of two -- two -- TO's the whole season so far. 0 again last night. That's really something worth noting.

- Free throws are coming back in line with the guys' actual shooting. 76% last night, and Morgan, 10-10. 

- Morgan. On top of that 10-10 from the stripe (where he should live), he's showing great offensive rebounding, and he can be key to breaking the zone. Smart player inside, really works, and now he's healthy.

- Winning without shooting well from the arc. Yes Rob had another bad shooting game, but on the flip side he was good over the final stretch, 8 boards to go with 2 assists and several key plays. We need better outside shooting (and Collin should help) but winning with better D and without strong outside shooting is a good sign going forward. 

- Balanced assists across the board, every starter had at least 2 assists, and Al D had 3 off the bench. More on Al. What is not to like about this kid? Talk about underrated. Shining example of why just looking at a recruit's rank only gets you so far.

- Blocks. We had 9 last night. Will be interesting to see how we do against bigger teams but Davis had 3 to go with Morgan and McSwain both with 2. 

- Davis is still working on avoiding fouls, but they're going down on his minutes played. Once he gets that down, we'll be a stronger team.

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KoB2011

KoB2011

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54 minutes ago, Indykev said:

The best thing I saw was Archie use a timeout to rip a player ( Freddie ) for bad D. I haven't seen that at IU since the old man was fired. Great to see the players being held to some standard.

I thought he ripped Green for not diving for the ball on that play. Either way, it was wonderful to see. 

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BGleas

BGleas

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Good post HH. Some of my thoughts. 

- That’s the kind of game we need from RoJo when he’s not hitting. I think for this team to reach its potential Rob needs to be more consistent offensively, but with that said last night was what you need from a senior guard when he’s off. He didn’t have those bonehead turnovers, he let the game come to him, and when needed in the second half he stepped up defensively on the kid that was torching IU. Good stuff. 

- Two really strong games from Morgan. Really like what he’s doing. He’s a calming presence, smart player, and sets the tone in terms of effort. Love what he’s doing in the paint and on the boards. Again, just in the vein of the team reaching its potential, I hope he can work a nice mid-range game into his repitoire. 

- Love seeing Archie get on the guys about not diving on the floor. It’s refreshing to see a coach that goes at the guys at times, but picks his spots in doing it. I’m loving Archie so far

- Really impressed with Al again. Though he didn’t play a huge role last night, really liking Smith as well. 

- We need to find a way to get CuJo confident, and I think that’s what Archie was doing last night. IU really could use another perimeter threat and CuJo seems like the guy, but he just has no confidence right now. 

- Green. What to say. I really like him and think he’s a threat this team needs, but he’s got to figure out how to play with pace and tempo and not always go for the hero play. If he can reign it in it would be huge for the team. 

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zerawkid

zerawkid

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1 hour ago, Indykev said:

The best thing I saw was Archie use a timeout to rip a player ( Freddie ) for bad D. I haven't seen that at IU since the old man was fired. Great to see the players being held to some standard.

And he did this right after McSwain made a really good offsensive play.

Really enjoying watching the commitment to fundamentally sound basketball, and the passion, from Coach Miller.

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NCHoosier32

NCHoosier32

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2 hours ago, zerawkid said:

Can we use this thread as the unofficial place for the Juwan Morgan haters from a few days ago to show up and voluntarily ingest their share of crow?

i did that somewhere already.  don't consider myself a morgan hater, but i had just said that he hasn't impressed me.  love looking bad for that.

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KoB2011

KoB2011

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6 hours ago, NCHoosier32 said:

interesting to see the optimism back.  i'm still going to be surprised to see us any better than our 7th-9th predicted finish.

Mine never really left. I guess I've lowered my expectations for non-conference a bit, but I still like what I see and what I think we are capable of. 

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Indykev

Indykev

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17 hours ago, zerawkid said:

Can we use this thread as the unofficial place for the Juwan Morgan haters from a few days ago to show up and voluntarily ingest their share of crow?

That is how he is supposed to play against kids that are 6'6 and 180 pounds. Which isn't "hating" on him. Let's watch him next week before we give him player of the year. I hope these last couple of games is him breaking out and becoming the star we ALL thought he could and want him to be.

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IUwins0708

IUwins0708

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17 hours ago, zerawkid said:

Can we use this thread as the unofficial place for the Juwan Morgan haters from a few days ago to show up and voluntarily ingest their share of crow?

I’ve already eaten my crow, I dont even come close to hating the kid.  I just think he can give us what he has the last 2 games all the time.  I also hope he’s done on the perimeter by the 3 point line.  He’s a junk yard dog type of player, not a shooter.  (now he will make 6-7 3 pointers today!)

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Seeking6

Seeking6

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27 minutes ago, IUwins0708 said:

I’ve already eaten my crow, I dont even come close to hating the kid.  I just think he can give us what he has the last 2 games all the time.  I also hope he’s done on the perimeter by the 3 point line.  He’s a junk yard dog type of player, not a shooter.  (now he will make 6-7 3 pointers today!)

I'm with you. Not on the crow part but hoping Juwan realizes how efficient he can be in our sets if he stays near the rim and attack. Really hoping Deron has a great game today. Would like to see most of our key guys have a great game as we start the gauntlet next week. RoJo had his, Juwan had his...need Deron and others to get confidence up.

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NCHoosier32

NCHoosier32

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9 hours ago, KoB2011 said:

Mine never really left. I guess I've lowered my expectations for non-conference a bit, but I still like what I see and what I think we are capable of. 

yeah, definitely not to say that you personally hadn't lost the optimism.  i guess what i meant is that i'm surprised if people are really saying top 5 in the conference after how bad we've been, but beat a mid major that we should have beaten.  i'm an admitted pessimist when it comes to sports, but i just can't see this team finishing that well.  i'm not even seeing what that would be based on.  another time where i will be very happy to be wrong.

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Hoosierhoopster

Hoosierhoopster

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4 hours ago, Indykev said:

That is how he is supposed to play against kids that are 6'6 and 180 pounds. Which isn't "hating" on him. Let's watch him next week before we give him player of the year. I hope these last couple of games is him breaking out and becoming the star we ALL thought he could and want him to be.

Ark St:

Tristin Walley - 6'7", 211 lbs, played 24 minutes

Tamas Bruce: 6'7", 193 lbs, played 25 minutes

J Scoggins, 6'9", 211 lbs, played 10 minutes

Hater. :D

 

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Hoosierhoopster

Hoosierhoopster

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3 hours ago, NCHoosier32 said:

yeah, definitely not to say that you personally hadn't lost the optimism.  i guess what i meant is that i'm surprised if people are really saying top 5 in the conference after how bad we've been, but beat a mid major that we should have beaten.  i'm an admitted pessimist when it comes to sports, but i just can't see this team finishing that well not even seeing what that would be based on.  another time where i will be very happy to be wrong.

Definitely fair at this point, it's early, we haven't played consistently, we got blown out in our opening game, we eeked by Howard, etc.

On the flip side, the team looks to be showing improvement in taking care of the ball, in playing in the half court on both ends, in breaking the zone, in sharing the ball / ball movement, and guys like Rob have not been playing consistently at the level they can -- no way Rob ends the season shooting 33% from the arc, Newkirk's 25% will no doubt go up, Rob and Green are likely to improve in taking care of the ball as that is a clear focus of CAM's coaching, Davis's foul rate is dropping, Morgan's last game was encouraging, Durham has only turned the ball over twice total so far, and the main point -- the team is still learning a new system under CAM. They're going to improve, only question in my mind is how much and how quickly can they develop into a CAM team this season.

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BGleas

BGleas

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I personally just think this team has a talent ceiling. I could see Archie cobbling it together enough to maybe squeak into the tourney, but not much more. The good thing for IU is the Big Ten seems really down, so that’s good, but I think we lack certain things (size, length, athleticism, a just straight up “bucket-getter”) that cap how good this group can be. 

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