Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indiana Basketball – Eight early season truths (pretty & ugly) about Indiana after first four games

Is this finally the year IU returns to a facsimile of its former greatness? In some ways, the Hoosiers are on the right track! In some ways, not so much.

There is nothing like a quick three games in three days against power conference competition to take the early December temperature of a college basketball team, and that check-up at the Maui Invitational is complete for the Indiana Hoosiers.

Like all teams, there are ways in which Indiana has shown growth over last year’s unit, and there are more ways for it to improve before Big 10 play begins in 20 days.  The Hoosiers left Asheville (with two E’s, as it will always be known by those who listened to Bill Walton describe everything but the games this week) with some solid feedback and a lengthy to-do list.

Wins against Providence and Stanford showed the excellence of which they are capable, and the loss to Texas exposed a myriad of warts and carbuncles that must be removed if they are going to make noise in conference play or March Madness.

Here are the top 10 takeaways from the wins and losses:

8 – No seniors, no problem!  With Joey Brunk continuing to get his back right and Al Durham down with an ankle, there was a little worry that youth might be the undoing of the Hoosiers against Stanford.  No so much.  The lineup of juniors, sophomores, and freshmen played older than their years.

7 – Foul shooting still needs help.  One area of ongoing concern under Archie Miller is free throw shooting.  Tom Crean always had teams ranked in the top 100 in this area, and Miller never has.  Against Stanford, the Hoosiers hit 80%, but over the course of the season are at a mediocre 68%.  So far, the inaccuracy traces to Race Thompson and Jerome Hunter, who have hit 12-24.  If those two were 18-24 instead, IU would be sitting at 74%.  Nice!

6 – Indiana players are finally united in purpose.  There has been a sense over the last several years that many IU players were simply waiting for the NBA to come calling.  Players had been told how great they were from the time they could dribble, were feted like heroes upon arrival in Bloomington, and left without ever understanding that basketball is played by a team – not a collect of divas.  This group appears to have bought into the notion that a collective success leads to individual glory.  This might be the first time since 2013, IU is better than sum of its parts.

5 – End of the bench is functional.  Indiana’s 11 scholarship players are good enough – top-to-bottom – that any can and should play in a competitive game.  None will be groan (or cheer) inducers from fans.  Gone are the days when IU lavished scholarships upon players who couldn’t compete.

4 – Wings must get better position for entry passes to Jackson-Davis.  Defending the post isn’t just a matter of providing help once an offensive player makes a catch on the block.  It starts with denying the wing who wants to make the pass, and then it continues if the wing catches by making an entry pass uncomfortable.  Texas took Jackson-Davis away by harassing Indiana’s wings.  When Providence and Stanford sat back and allowed the wings room to catch and deliver, Jackson-Davis became a game-wrecking All-American whether he was double-teamed or not.

3 – Purposeful movement provides positive results.  In previous years, several Hoosiers would put the ball on the deck upon catching.  They would just stand and bang, then move – or not.  It was aimless, shiftless, pointless, and hopeless.  The result was a shot-clock issue possession after possession.  This year, the ball is popping.  No one holds and evaluates.  It’s like the switch has flipped.  Indiana now understands that the ball moves faster when it is passed than dribbled.  Of course, this is after only four games, and all it takes is one diva to wreck the whole thing, so we need to watch how this evolves.

2 – Three-point shooting must improve.  In 2020, there is just no way to win against quality opponents if you can’t hit threes.  Indiana has only made 29.3% of their bombs.  The freshmen have been especially poor, making only four of 24.  The good news is that the three-point defense has been awesome – allowing only 23%.  But if Indiana wants to create space for its offense to operate, goosing their percentage by 10% would help.

1 –  Key for IU is Defense! Defense! Defense!  It’s clear what ability Archie Miller demands, recruits to, and reinforces with playing time – DEFENSE!  For the first time in the Miller Era (as well as the last four of Tom Crean’s teams), Indiana is defending like it matters.  Through four games, the Hoosiers ranked #13 in defensive efficiency.  The last time IU ranked in the top 15, they went to the Final Four.

Indiana Basketball – Hoosiers look as bad in losing to Texas as they did good in thumping Providence

Basketball is a funny game. In 24 hours, Archie Miller’s Hoosiers have gone from destroying Providence to being destroyed by Texas.

Well, Indiana’s 66-44 loss to Texas was such a tough watch that ESPN analyst Bill Walton was easily the most entertaining part of the broadcast.

The question of whether the Hoosiers dominated Providence by 21 because of how soft the Friars was answered emphatically.  Indiana struggled to create open looks and were abysmal in converting the many contested shots they had.  The wide open passing lanes Providence allowed were well covered by the longhorns, and the uncontested rebounds the Hoosiers snared yesterday belonged to Texas.

At no point did Indiana threaten to turn this into a game.  In fact, this contest was very much like yesterday’s game in which Indiana led from stem to stern only in favor of Texas, who were longer, faster, tougher, and, well, I could string together another dozen comparative adjectives, but what’s the point of that?

This is the kind of loss after which fans talk themselves off a cliff by saying their team will be better for the many lessons learned.  That might be true, but after 40 minutes of almost nonstop offensive ineptitude, it is hard to imagine what will happen to correct IU’s lack of ability to create open looks through scheme or talent.

Truth be told, I’m writing this with roughly eight minutes left in the game to distract myself from the Hoosiers’ unending malfeasance and Walton’s relentless yammering about literature, Mickey Hart, Johnny Davis, and Camping World.  It’s an afternoon of misery that will be quickly forgotten by everyone except Archie Miller, who needs to quickly find the answer to the riddle of how Indiana can score.

To this point in the game – 32 minutes in – IU has a total of eight made field goals.  If you possess something less than mad math skills, that’s an average of one field goal every four minutes of game play – or a lone bucket between each TV timeout (including the halftime stoppage).

To add injury to insult, Al Durham just left the game with a sprained ankle.  Without Durham for any period of time, the Hoosiers will need to rely on Khristian Lander, who despite wayward  shooting (1-8 from 3s), has shown himself to be quite capable as a young freshman.

Are there reasons for optimism after a game like this?  You bet there are!  Here are six!

  • Nowhere to go but up after this game!
  • No team is as bad as you believe Indiana is.
  • IU outscored Texas from the foul line 20-15!
  • Hoosiers held Texas to less than 40% from the field and under 30% from beyond the arc.
  • Indiana forced one more turnover than they allowed.
  • Think of how bad this game makes Providence fans feel about the Friars!

The last three statistics are amazing to me. I never would have guessed any are true.

IU’s offense was so utterly inert there will be questions from fans about Archie Miller’s capability as a coach.  In scheme and talent, this group showed itself to be incompetent today and provided few hints of a potential upswing in conveying the ball into the basket.

Fans need to remember it is December 1, and this is a young group with only two seniors – Joey Brunk, who has yet to play because of a bad back, and Durham, who left with his ankle issue.  Youth is no longer an excuse defenders of Miller can use to keep alive the dream of a rebuild.  Miller has been the coach for nearly four years, so IU Basketball is what it is, and it needs to be better.

Quickly.

Whether Bill Walton delights or annoys you – he engages you as he shills for John Wooden, Maui Jim, and Tommy Bahama

Nobody shills as effectively – or relentlessly – for clients than Bill Walton during the Maui Invitational.

ESPN college basketball analyst Bill Walton is wildly polarizing.  When he and play-by-play voice Jason Benetti called the Maui Invitational’s first round game between Texas and Davidson, many Indiana fans were less than thrilled because IU played Providence in the second with that same team.

Instead of talking about the game, Walton stumps for those who send him swag, reminisces about Grateful Dead and Phish shows, and shares endless John Wooden-isms like “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”  The game is less interesting to Walton than whatever pops into his head in the moment, and that either entertains or infuriates fans.

So I asked for feedback in a Twitter survey:

The comments were more revealing than the raw results, which were more positive about Walton than I anticipated.  “Hate his blathering” is a narrow leader at the moment with 39%.  “Love his insight” is second with 33.4%.  “Mute” is last with 27.6%.  Many commenters asked for a fourth entry – “Love his blather,” which perfectly conveys what draws some to Walton’s whimsy.

The issue I have with Walton is his relentless pandering to those who buy Walton’s favor and ESPN airtime with a box of swag.  A company called Waxon sent Walton some tie-dye stuff, Camping World sent tents, Maui Jim shipped sunglasses, and Tommy Bahama delivered shirts.  Walton’s shilling was exceptionally successful as I can recall the sponsors without a reminder.  That’s Walton’s value to ESPN – not his ability to communicate basketball-related wisdom, but to validate client investment.

I would prefer to hear fellow ESPN analyst Dan Dakich break down a game and tell me why Indiana is either succeeding or failing, but Walton’s devotion to sharing silly thoughts or purchased endorsements rings the bell for the network as well as those who prefer to be distracted from the event they are watching.

Different strokes for different folks explains the co-existence of Walton and Dakich under the ESPN umbrella, and there is nothing wrong with that.  “Peculiar” works for weekday afternoon college basketball, and Walton brings peculiar in the same bulk as Dead fans pack hallucinogens to a show.

Part of the fun of Walton’s participation is the exasperation his broadcast partner feels and occasionally voices.  Benetti was fabulous yesterday – as always – in trying to be respectful and responsive to Walton while also describing the action.  His admonishments of Walton made the show go.  Dave Pasch is another great broadcaster best branded as the Walton wrangler during their broadcasts of Pac-12 games.  Like Bud Abbott and Oliver Hardy with partners Lou Costello and Stan Laurel, they would be unremarkable without Walton as an irritant.

Walton is one of those broadcasters who you can either choose to be annoyed or entertained by, and regardless of which side of that bed you sleep on he is impossible not to pay attention to.  That lack of indifference is the key to Walton’s success.

Despite my disdain for his pandering, I’m going to choose to enjoy him this afternoon as Indiana takes on Texas because if it’s my choice to be angry or happy (and it always is), I’ll pick happy.