Do NOT like how we finished that game offensively or defensively the last few minutes. Movement stopped offensively. Got pushed around defensively and on the boards.
Washington has a shit ton of talent. No clue how their record is what it is. We didn’t turn the ball over and made shots. Second half we fouled too much and Bailey had to make that front end and Enright has to make both foul shots in that situation. Had to have a win and got one. Mission accomplished
@spartans9312 for sure. A lot more good, than bad, tonight. I just didn’t like how we finished the game. Washington will beat some good teams yet, I’m sure.
@gthomas whiff 2 has had a marginally better start than CDD has, looking just as bad against the good teams they’ve played as IU has.
whiff 1…yeah…can’t argue that one. But while I wasn’t nearly as gung ho about May as some others were (tons of hindsight being 20/20 on this board right now on May. Beard was the main “can’t miss guy”, for most on these forums…he’s having an awful year)…I still desperately wanted Dolson to move on from Woodson…and I do think May would have been the choice had he been allowed to do it. So it’s for sure a huge whiff. Not sure McCollum is as big a whiff, because I don’t think he ever was ever interested…like I’m sure May would have been, last year.
We will take it. Covered the spread and a W.
To me, as close to a complete game as we've seen. I know there were dry spells, but they were of shorter duration....Some take-aways for me--
---Washington is more talented than us, but don't fit together well;
---We fit together better, but we're not very talented;
---Very pleased that DeVries & Wilkerson took fewer ridiculous shots...maybe the fewest of any game this year;
---Enright is constantly free in the lane...he needs to take a few of those shots;
---More Sisley and Alexis. For God's sake, less Bailey;
---I'm not much of a Dorn guy but I do give him props for not forcing bad 3s and for cutting without the ball;
---Can't believe how we continue to be screwed at home on calls. Is it because CDD is Mr. Nice Guy or because our action is mostly not toward the basket?;
---Until this game, I thought not much growth from this team was possible. However, Sisley came back from the dead last night, Conerway may have played his smartest game, and Wilkerson seems more determined lately to take the ball to the basket. Great to see us get away from over-reliance on DeVries and Wilkerson bombs.
@mushroomgod Every team has the potential to grow. A team that was completely thrown together less than a year ago, has quite a lot of potential to continue growing. And CDD's history shows he is pretty solid at coaching growth and building towards ends of seasons.
Maybe to your point, we don't have a lot of younger talent, so with regards to individual players growing...probably not a ton of room there. But even with that, the more games they all get under their belts together, hopefully the more comfortable and impactful they get. Tucker DeVries isn't going to become a better shooter, he's not going to get bigger or stronger, but he very well could become a better teammate to his current teammates... as an example of growth we could see.
Our ceiling is pretty high. Our floor can be pretty low. I agree the things that have plagued us didn't last nearly as long last night, as they have in some of our more poor outings. But we've had solid games like that too (Marquette and KSU). I think Washington is likely better than both those teams, both in talent level, and in actual output. But its not like we haven't seen IU play well for long stretches many times this year... we have.
A very big key for this team will be to continue to shorten those windows of loose, unfocused play. There aren't many road games we'll be able to overcome lapses like we've seen. And there are a number of very high level home games too that will have a pretty small margin for error.
It looks like Michigan is basically unbeatable, right now. Outside them, this IU team can beat anyone else, especially in Bloomington, if we're dialed in. Unfortunately, I don't really see any games left on our schedule that we couldn't lose, if we're not dialed in.
A frustrating end when we allowed them almost back into it. But I was really glad to see the rebounding . I still don't understand all the boards we miss out on when their guy starts 3-4 feet behind our guy and instead of hustling to body up and keeping them there, we go straight up for the ball, they close in and due to height advantage they get the board instead. 'Box out' is not rocket science. But, we did do much better on physically bodying them on the fly, using athleticism to get position and get up for the ball. As Tayton said, they are veterans and know they need to board. It showed yesterday. Much improved. Still need more.
Solid game. Was fun to watch the win! When we keep moving with energy, we score, when we slack off a little, we have trouble. No easier 'toss it to the post and back out' stuff available.
@mushroomgod On the fouls... we're definitely not a "north south" type team, offensively. Those teams that attack the rim more, often get rewarded more with foul calls. We also will rarely ever have a mismatch on the post where the defense opts to foul on a post entry. Half their free throws last night came off post mismatches. There were a string of them, at the end, where I thought the refs called some very ticky tack fouls on ball handlers/drivers. But for most of the game, the fouls were on post up situations. Also then defensively, pressuring the ball, and playing physical on the ball defense seems to be a basic tenet of CDD's system. We're doing that with maybe lesser size, strength, and talent. That's going to result in more fouling. I'm glad he's largely sticking with the philosophy though, when we're in man defense. Building the standard and expectations on something like that, is more important than maybe winning a game or two more... in my opinion. And he has a tricky little 2-3 zone that he used last night, for when he feels like we do need to back off a little bit. Mentally, that's probably better than just telling them to "back off" in their normal base defense.
It is Hoops 4 ALS tonight, IU wore special warm up shirts.
@ohio-guy I didn't know. Congrats on expanding this.
Thanks, man. And thanks to @thehoosierhuddle for posting about it. If any of you were at the game, there was a video they played beforehand mentioning Teri Moren's mom and my brother Andy. I actually wrote the script and recorded the audio, but it didn't sound like me. Regardless, their finishing touches on that video made it much better than what I submitted to them. They're going to send me the file of it - if I can figure it out, I'll post it here.
I'll be back in Bloomington for the women's game against Washington next week on January 14. I haven't officially figured out my plans yet, but I might be staying in Bloomington that night. We're doing the Ohio vs Ball State men's game on January 16. That one's a cool one too. Coach Lewis was my brother's college roommate and my son is a manager for the Ohio Men's Basketball team.
If you want to get a good look at what we've done so far, our instagram page is a good place to check out.
@unclemark For a Sunday night Big Ten game? I'd describe it as "light". It's not empty but it's nowhere near raucous and full.
Michigan @ Penn State appears to be very lightly attended tonight also. I don't think you can conclude too much when students are on break.
@unclemark For a Sunday night Big Ten game? I'd describe it as "light". It's not empty but it's nowhere near raucous and full.
If I'm remembering correctly, they announced the crowd at 12,000+. It was a late Sunday night game and most people probably had to be at work for the first time since before Christmas on Monday. I felt like it was still loud though.