In Hindsight: Michigan Wolverines

Wait, is there a game on tonight?

On a night that featured the highest ranking teams to ever square off in Assembly Hall, this Indiana team did something no other Hoosier team has done: beat the number one team in back-to-back seasons.  It was only fitting that a game of this magnitude was primetime the Saturday before the Super Bowl. 

I found myself watching the game at a local beverage distributor with some friends, of which, one was a diehard Michigan fan.  Throughout the game there were certainly some questionable calls that maybe an unbiased fan would say went the Hoosiers way.  Naturally, talks of the "Hall of Calls" and "homer-isms" were directed at the TV by the Wolverine fan and other objective viewers.  This talk would have normally bothered me in the past, but I gained some knowledge from Dan Dakich this past week from his radio show and I want to share it with the rest of you.  I am going to paraphrase what he said and I promise I won't be able to put it as elegantly as he put it:

I don't think people realize when they refer to Assembly Hall as the 'Hall of Calls' I take it as a compliment.  It speaks to tradition.  Does Mackey Arena get those calls? No.  You have individuals that get paid $15,000 to be objective that do not always make the right call.  It's tradition.

After thinking back to Dakich's wisdom, for the first time I embraced the pseudo trash talk. The result? It absolutely increased my enjoyment of the game watching experience, much to the chagrin of the Wolverine fan.  With that small tangent out of the way, let's jump into three things we learned from last night's game:

1.  The real winner last night was Hoosier Nation.  I could only guess that the attendance for College GameDay was one of the largest the show has seen.  The door's opened at 8 AM and when the show started at 10 AM the entire West side of Assembly Hall was completely full.  Hoosier Nation and the tradition of Indiana University basketball were on full display for the world to see.  And let's just say you prefer to watch golf over basketball for whatever reason, you still knew there was a game.

 

 

IU alumnus Jeff Overton received permission from the PGA tour to wear the candy stripe warm-ups for one hole during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open yesterday afternoon.

 

The energy that was showcased during the two hour show on ESPN carried over to tip off.  Local, regional, national media members alike were impressed with the environment.  Mike Pegram, founder of Peegs.com stated it was the loudest first five minutes of a game he's ever attended.  Assistant Athletic Director Jeremy Gray confirmed that last night set a new decibel record at 116.  Post game, Jay Bilas noted that "College GameDay at Indiana was one of our best ever.  Assembly Hall is a special place, and the people of Bloomington were tremendous!"

 

Side Note:  I think what makes events like this special at Indiana is the tradition.  My father graduated from Indiana in 1982.   He still gets goose bumps when he attends games because it has remained unchanged. 

 

 

 

For those who haven't seen it, the above is a picture of Indiana's alternate jersey's provided by Adidas.  Personally, I am not a fan.  I feel like Indiana is unique because they don't give in to fads such as this.  All that I ask is that if the Hoosiers do sport these jerseys at some point, please do not let it be in Assembly Hall and they better not have a name on the back.

 

2.  Victor Oladipo is NBA bound... after this year.  If there was any remaining doubt about whether Oladipo was leaving at season's end, he answered it this week.  In a week that featured two nationally televised games against ranked conference foes, as well as, a heated rivalry game his stat line reads:  17.6 PPG on 58% shooting, 38% from deep, 5.0 RPG, 3.6 SPG, 1.7 APG and 1.3 BPG.  He is the best defender in the Big Ten and arguably the entire country.  He doesn't play five positions, but he can guard all five effectively.  And with the addition of a jump shot that other teams have to respect, he has the most complete offensive skill set on the nations top-rated offense.  With that being said, let the unfortunate countdown begin.  Assembly Hall has four games left to enjoy "Zell-adipo" (they deserve a nickname that rivals Hollywood couples).

 

3.  Trey Burke will be the National POY.  There was a ridiculous stat thrown out there after the game last night.  In forty-five possessions, guarding four different people, Oladipo only gave up four points.  They were to Trey Burke.  I treat that like shooting Chuck Norris the wrong look twice and getting away with it.  His actual stat-line from last night's game was 25 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.  The crazy thing is, the numbers alone do not do any justice to how impressive he was.  He made step-back fade-aways look easy, did cross-overs that made my ankles hurt and it didn't even look like he was trying.  He is better than advertised and all you need to know is that the only person in Big Ten history to average 17.0+ PPG and 7.0+ APG over the course of an entire season is Magic Johnson.  Burke is currently averaging 18.2 PPG and 7.2 APG.

B1G Thoughts

There is not much, as far as analysis is concerned, that can be said with regards to yesterday's tilt with Northwestern.  A more talented Indiana team dominated an inferior opponent in the first half.  This was promptly followed up by a hard to watch second half whereby Bill Carmody made adjustments and the Hoosiers just stayed the same.  I've already made my opinion known regarding Tom Crean's in-game coaching ability, here.  But, at the end of the day, one can not argue that the Hoosiers are currently 4-1 with three road wins in the toughest conference in the country.

Those three road wins are tops in the Big Ten.  Schools with two road wins include Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Northwestern.  On the other side of the spectrum, the only teams that do not have a Big Ten road victory on its resume are Illinois and Penn State.  Of course I know the Hoosier hater's response to the above statistic, "Well, look who they have played!" 

As only a Hoosier fan could, allow me to find the silver lining in each of Indiana's Big Ten road victories:

at Iowa - Iowa just beat Wisconsin.  That is the same Wisconsin team that was coming off of an unbelievable victory on the road against the number two team in the country (at this point the fact that team was Indiana is irrelevant to me).  Wisconsin simultaneously made Indiana look amazing and awful in the same game.  It proves that Iowa City is indeed a tougher place to play than most people realize.  Of course, that is in my completely unbiased opinion.

at Penn State -  It is quite simple.  Penn State beat Bucknell at home.  Purdue lost to Bucknell at home.  Purdue sucks.

at Northwestern -  Northwestern was coming off of its signature win of the season at then-ranked Illinois in Champaign.  That is the same Illinois team that beat Ohio State.  Illinois's other signature win?  Follow me through this semi-tangent:

Illinois also beat a top ten team that lost to Butler, has a stud seven footer, an inconsistent veteran forward that has a history of showing up for big games, a do it all guard and a young inexperienced point guard that shows flashes of brilliance.  No, Illinois hasn't already played Indiana, I'm referring to Gonzaga.  The more I thought about the similarities between the Zags and Hoosiers it began to scare me.  For this reason, I'm already concerned about the February 7th game at the fake Assembly Hall.  Someone please tell Crean that if they watch any tape in preparation for that game that it be the early season match-up between the Illini and Bulldogs.

My overriding point is any three road wins in this conference at this point in the season is impressive.  Indiana has done a lot of things right.  To this point, I do feel that this young team has handled the lofty preseason expectations well.  In order to end up where Hoosier Nation would like them to be at the end of the season, they still have a of work to do.  With that being said, I have identified three areas that I feel will dictate just how successful this team can be:

1.  Yogi needs to find his confidence.  Everyone knows what kind of point guard he is.  His ball-handling skills and court awareness are second to none on this team.  But when you look down Indiana's starting line-up, who are opposing teams least likely to game plan for?  This certainly isn't a knock against the freshman.  The fact is, you're beginning to see how teams are going to start playing Indiana.  They're playing off Yogi to prevent him from getting to the basket and to make it hard for entry passes into the post.  People from Indiana know he can score.  I have heard analysts say that his lack of confidence in his shot stems from the fact that he has gained so much muscle mass since arriving in Bloomington.  As such, his shot has yet to conform to his new body.  As soon as he trusts his shot, the number one offense in the country just got a lot better.

2.  A healthy #BenchMob.  One of the biggest advantages heading into the season was the fact that Indiana was going to be legitimately 13 players deep.  Of course, the Hoosiers have already lost Austin Etherington for the season at a time when he was beginning to provide quality minutes.  Add in injuries to both Maurice Creek and Derek Elston and you have a team that has had to deal with more injuries than most teams.  Creek provides another scoring threat that can come off of the bench for short bursts in order to provide others with rest.  Elston is a battle-tested veteran that brings an element of toughness to the Hoosiers second unit.  Given the up and down style that Crean uses, it cannot be stressed how important a deep bench is for this team; which also leads me into my final point:

3.  A rested Victor Oladipo is a stellar Victor Oladipo.  This isn't to say that the other players don't play hard and deserve rest, but realistically speaking, no one else for the Hoosiers has the motor that Oladipo has.  Because of that, I am already worried about how much his effectiveness could potentially diminish late in the season if we can't find him more minutes of rest.  Of course, the above point regarding a healthy bench (specifically Maurice Creek) can help this situation.  I honestly do think that Oladipo's newly formed habit of fouling jump shooters could have something to do with fatigue. At any rate, he thrives in this system, as evidenced by many calling "snub" on the fact he didn't make The Wooden Award mid-season 25 list.  In order to maintain his production, however, the Hoosiers need to find ways to sustain for longer periods of time without him on the court than they have shown so far this season.

Like this Hoosier team, the Big Ten season is still young.  This is certainly going to be one of the most entertaining and unpredictable seasons in recent memory.  Although a lot has to go right in a season like this, Indiana is more than capable of being the last team standing.  Three conference road wins are three steps in the right direction, but the three areas above are going to go a long way in determining how far this team can dance.

Over Reaction or Valid Concern?

How far can talent alone take a team?  That's something to ask John Calipari about his 2010 team (a team that featured John Wall, Demarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe that fell short in the Elite 8).  How far can pure genius, from an in-game coaching perspective, take a team?  That's something to ask Brad Stevens about his 2010 and 2011 teams (neither team had high pre season expectations, but in hindsight his 2010 team was legitimately good).

One thing is for certain, Indiana has enough talent to make a run at both the Big Ten and National championships.  And up until this point, Coach Tom Crean has lived up to any and all expectations placed on him when he took the head coaching position.  He inherited a program with nothing to offer aside from its tradition and rich history and built it back up to where it used to be from a personnel stand point.  It is now "cool" to go to Indiana to play basketball once again.  However, for three years he was able to hide behind the fact that there just wasn't a lot of talent on the roster.  Now that the talent has arrived, fans have finally gotten the chance to see what the Crean system looks like.

It's fast paced, it's exciting and to use a term that Stephen A. Smith coined to describe RGIII, it's "box office"... when shots are falling, that is.  What seems to be occurring more and more frequently are long periods of stagnant offense.  This was never more apparent and more glaring than last night at home in Assembly Hall against Wisconsin.  Sure, the Hoosiers went into halftime with a one point lead, but our offensive struggles were overshadowed by Cody Zeller's 8-8 from the field for 18 point performance.  Take Zeller's statistics away and the Hoosiers shot in the 25-27% range. 

During his interview heading into the visiting locker room, Bo Ryan made it clear they were willing to allow Zeller to score at will, as they were trying to take away the Hoosiers three point shooting.  This was abundantly clear all game with how the Badgers swarmed Jordan Hulls every time he touched the ball.  I was expecting the Hoosiers to come out and run some set plays to free some of their shooters up, but they never came.  At each timeout, as the offense continued to struggle, I kept telling myself that adjustments were coming, but they didn't.

An offense that is predicated on taking place primarily in transition was stymied by a disciplined Wisco defense that forced the Hoosiers to play in the half court.  Their set plays, if you want to call them that, rely on the defense not being completely set and with enough ball movement, usually leads to wide open jump shots or easy baskets.  But when the transition game isn't effective, what is the Hoosier's Plan B?  I honesty don't have an answer to that.

Don't get me wrong, I would put Crean up against any coach in the country when it comes to recruiting (I've mentioned in a previous post that he is 3-0 in head to head recruiting battle with Roy Williams) and player development (Victor Oladipo, unranked high school recruit to top 30 prospect in most NBA mock drafts).  As far as in game adjustments?  That's where the uncertainty for this team lies. 

Call it an over reaction and I can admit that I'm still not quite thinking clearly after the loss, but could it be that Indiana's ceiling is based on Crean's ability (or lack thereof) to adjust to the flow of each game?  I know some people will say that some of the blame has to lie with the players and that he can't control how they play, I get it.  But much like the quarterback position in football, the head coach in college basketball has to call audibles to get his team in the best position to win.  I didn't see that from Crean last night and it's not the first time I haven't seen it from him this season. 

I'm not an expert.  I don't claim to be.  I am, however, an avid fan that has an opinion based on what I have been seeing.  That doesn't mean my support for Crean has diminished in any way, shape or form, but that doesn't mean I'm not concerned.

Consider this post my opinionated-driven, amateur-esque attempt at a call to action.  Shut me up Crean.  Shut up those that are having doubts, whether they're over reacting or not, and the Hoosiers will be just fine.