Defensive rebounding and guarding Big Ten centers.
Im less concerned about the initial shot as I am about rebounds and put backs in conference once they start playing bigger teams.
Foul trouble has also been a consistent problem.
@tr32 Looking forward to the Louisville and Kentucky games to see how IU deals with guarding multi-talented big guys. Teams like MSU, Illinois, and Michigan could cause big problems.
Ristic and Drake both participated in warmups prior to Saturday's game.
"Help is on the way." 😉
@pryght I thought Ristic looked like he could help in the backcourt. Nice looking shot and handled the ball well when he had to run the offense. No idea about Drake, although I believe he should provide some depth at PG.
I agree, I'm a lot more excited about Ristic. He has good size (6"4), shooting (39% from 3), and as you said, has a good handle and fundamentals.
I'd be surprised if Drake gets on the court.
Rebounding I think will be the central concern. In today's game, you don't often get beaten by a team that focuses on post offense. Just look at Woodson's teams. I hope Painter and May focus predominately on feeding their bigs in the post!!!
Its really hard to tell what we'll look like against elite level teams, as we haven't played one yet. Louisville isn't really a post dominant team, either. So we might get well in to the B10 season before we really see these weaknesses potentially exposed.
But we've already seen what giving up offensive rebounds does to a team. And when we play the Michigan, Purdue, Michigan State, Illinois of the conference, that's the primary concern.
@iunorth Have you watched PU this year? Haven't watched them, but assume they are playing 2 bigs, and start Loyer, Smith, TKR, Cluff and Cox? Looks like they are going 10 deep, with Jacobson at post depth and Mayer and Harris in the backcourt. So, how do you think we defend them? Assuming Enright on Smith and Connerway on Loyer, Devries on TKR? I'll be interested to see how that works. To me, TKR doesn't have as much a back to the basket game as he catches the ball 10-15' out and uses a dribble or spin move to get to the basket. I think Devries would have better luck defending this than them isolating TKR on the block. What are your thoughts on that? Sure help if we got Harris back by then.
@kkott I've watched bits and pieces of a few different games. I would think we'll go with what you laid out. IU, like many teams, ends up switching a decent amount. So that will play a role in who's guarding who. But I'm sure Enright will dog Smith as much as possible when he's in the game. Wilkerson and Conerway will guard Loyer and Cox. And then DeVries and Bailey, or Alexis and Sisley, or whatever the combo is there, will guard their 2 bigs. There's no way around them having a decided advantage in the post. But as we saw during the Edey years, that doesn't automatically mean they're going to beat us. Even if their bigs do kill us (Edey and company almost always did) if our perimeter defense can disrupt, if not shut down, much of their perimeter action, they're more than beatable. Can't let guys like Loyer, Cox, Smith, Mayer... get open, easy looks because you're worried about helping out down low...in my opinion.
*** and yes, getting Harris back, just for the depth aspect, would be huge against teams like Purdue and Michigan. Foul trouble is going to be an issue against those teams, I'm sure.
@kkott I've watched bits and pieces of a few different games. I would think we'll go with what you laid out. IU, like many teams, ends up switching a decent amount. So that will play a role in who's guarding who. But I'm sure Enright will dog Smith as much as possible when he's in the game. Wilkerson and Conerway will guard Loyer and Cox. And then DeVries and Bailey, or Alexis and Sisley, or whatever the combo is there, will guard their 2 bigs. There's no way around them having a decided advantage in the post. But as we saw during the Edey years, that doesn't automatically mean they're going to beat us. Even if their bigs do kill us (Edey and company almost always did) if our perimeter defense can disrupt, if not shut down, much of their perimeter action, they're more than beatable. Can't let guys like Loyer, Cox, Smith, Mayer... get open, easy looks because you're worried about helping out down low...in my opinion.
*** and yes, getting Harris back, just for the depth aspect, would be huge against teams like Purdue and Michigan. Foul trouble is going to be an issue against those teams, I'm sure.
Not worried about TKR. Aka One Move Trey.
Do we hedge and or blitz Smith? It seems to be the best way to slow them down.
I hope to hell we don't go under on pnr/dho and/or have the big play drop allowing Smith to go right, into open space. Thats probably the worst way to guard them.
Which is what Oates did. Memphis used soft hedges and Smith was giving up the ball too early. They had a better scheme than Bama did. Teams that hard hedge can slow that offense down.
It takes the ball out of Smiths hands and makes TKR the playmaker off of short rolls. I can live with that.
Bennett packline almost always hedged, Miller mostly did but Devries version is different. Far different.
Not worried about TKR. Aka One Move Trey.
Don't think you're giving TKR quite enough credit. He averaged 20ppg last year with that one move. Must be a heckuva move!
I need to change my screen resolution. On the forum listing I see this one titled "What's your major..."
So then I always channel Full Metal Jacket "What's your major malfunction, numbnuts?!"
But maybe that works.
Tonight at Minny proved that size is a huge issue. The rebound discrepancy was alarming. And….Minny isn’t any good. Imagine our guys going up against teams with legit bigs. It will be a bloodbath down low. We are going to live and die by the 3 ball and if Lamar ain’t hitting, Devries is the next option and he’s very inconsistent,
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