Good news/ Bad news

[dwhitebash11]

BAD NEWS:
I gave a prediction that in order to win, we needed a few things to happen:
- Get our bigs going early, which I thought we did a pretty good job at.
- Limit turnovers, again, we did a solid job at.
- Shoot 30%+ from three.... HELL NO, we were 3-25. We didn't even have a bad shooting night. That would be putting it too lightly. We need to shoot 20% to win this game (prior to the garbage FT points at the end Maryland got). If we hit 2 more threes throughout the game at some point, I think we win.


Many will complain about the FT discrepancy, and although there were some bad calls, it wasn't nearly as bad as the games vs. Iowa or Butler. I thought the officiating was evenly horrible. It really came down to missing that many threes. And for a team to have some of the "best" shooters in the NCAA, Cline, Mathias, Stephens, why can't we get them open looks? I hate how our bigs set screens. It looks so lazy every time, and the defender is always right on top of the shooter as soon as he catches the ball because of it. Then I'll watch the opposing team set screens, and they really put emphasis into it. Just something that bothers me. But Hammons had his typical inconsistent motor as well. I remember at one point he came in, got the ball in the post, hit the layup, then next time down, got the ball trailing for a deep jumpshot. I was thinking, here we go, he's focused, this is what we need on the road. But then he just kind of went on cruise control. We need complete focus and a desire to win to beat a team like Maryland on the road. And they weren't even dialed in either. That was a good chance to steal one on the road, and we let it slip away.



GOOD NEWS:
We get a shot to redeem ourselves against another top 10 team Tuesday, MSU at home. This is the biggest game of the season to date. It's a chance to get a win vs. a ranked team, top 10 at that, at home. It's really a must-win situation to be a contender. Our boys have GOT to be really pissed off on how they let that Maryland game slip away. I thought we played solid defense for the most part except for Biggie. He needs to learn how to recover from screens one second quicker. As much as I don't want to put blame on one guy, but that was our only weakness defensively @ Maryland, possibly the #1 ranked team in the nation now. If he recovers one second sooner, contests the 3 against Carter, then maybe he misses 2 or 3 of his wide open threes.


Our schedule gets tough, which is a good thing IMO. I'd rather end the year playing really good teams, knowing we're getting into the tournament anyway, than end it playing bad teams. So this is the time to get focused, get that fire back, and end the season on a good note. We can't win the BT season champ, but we can win everything else, and have the build to do so. We're an inside team. We HAVE to get the ball down low, no matter who we're playing or how they're playing us. Our team is built that way. Our guards can't create by themselves. They need someone to do it for them, like Haas/Hammons/Biggie, and VE at times. No team can handle our bigs by themselves. We proved it against Maryland and Iowa. We just need our bigs to learn how to play help D on the perimeter a little better to off-set the mismatch.


And to conclude my long ass post-game summary...


IU lost

 

[tjreese]

BAD NEWS:
I gave a prediction that in order to win, we needed a few things to happen:
- Get our bigs going early, which I thought we did a pretty good job at.
- Limit turnovers, again, we did a solid job at.
- Shoot 30%+ from three.... HELL NO, we were 3-25. We didn't even have a bad shooting night. That would be putting it too lightly. We need to shoot 20% to win this game (prior to the garbage FT points at the end Maryland got). If we hit 2 more threes throughout the game at some point, I think we win.


Many will complain about the FT discrepancy, and although there were some bad calls, it wasn't nearly as bad as the games vs. Iowa or Butler. I thought the officiating was evenly horrible. It really came down to missing that many threes. And for a team to have some of the "best" shooters in the NCAA, Cline, Mathias, Stephens, why can't we get them open looks? I hate how our bigs set screens. It looks so lazy every time, and the defender is always right on top of the shooter as soon as he catches the ball because of it. Then I'll watch the opposing team set screens, and they really put emphasis into it. Just something that bothers me. But Hammons had his typical inconsistent motor as well. I remember at one point he came in, got the ball in the post, hit the layup, then next time down, got the ball trailing for a deep jumpshot. I was thinking, here we go, he's focused, this is what we need on the road. But then he just kind of went on cruise control. We need complete focus and a desire to win to beat a team like Maryland on the road. And they weren't even dialed in either. That was a good chance to steal one on the road, and we let it slip away.



GOOD NEWS:
We get a shot to redeem ourselves against another top 10 team Tuesday, MSU at home. This is the biggest game of the season to date. It's a chance to get a win vs. a ranked team, top 10 at that, at home. It's really a must-win situation to be a contender. Our boys have GOT to be really pissed off on how they let that Maryland game slip away. I thought we played solid defense for the most part except for Biggie. He needs to learn how to recover from screens one second quicker. As much as I don't want to put blame on one guy, but that was our only weakness defensively @ Maryland, possibly the #1 ranked team in the nation now. If he recovers one second sooner, contests the 3 against Carter, then maybe he misses 2 or 3 of his wide open threes.


Our schedule gets tough, which is a good thing IMO. I'd rather end the year playing really good teams, knowing we're getting into the tournament anyway, than end it playing bad teams. So this is the time to get focused, get that fire back, and end the season on a good note. We can't win the BT season champ, but we can win everything else, and have the build to do so. We're an inside team. We HAVE to get the ball down low, no matter who we're playing or how they're playing us. Our team is built that way. Our guards can't create by themselves. They need someone to do it for them, like Haas/Hammons/Biggie, and VE at times. No team can handle our bigs by themselves. We proved it against Maryland and Iowa. We just need our bigs to learn how to play help D on the perimeter a little better to off-set the mismatch.


And to conclude my long ass post-game summary...


IU lost

The FT difference was huge whether or not the zebras made bad calls. Perhaps if Purdue shoots less 3's and drives the ball more that difference is not as great?

 

[dwhitebash11]

The FT difference was huge whether or not the zebras made bad calls. Perhaps if Purdue shoots less 3's and drives the ball more that difference is not as great?

I agree, but we truly don't have a slasher. RD, and Hill are our best, but neither are elite. We get to the FT line due to our bigs drawing fouls, but Maryland forced CS to shoot the open 3 when we reversed the ball. If Purdue complained about the calls, I'd say look at your post, because you're dead on. If you want more FT attempts, then attack. Maryland is built to slash with MT and RS in the backcourt. It's what they do, and that's the reason why they're #1 in FTs in the conference.

 

[tjreese]

I agree, but we truly don't have a slasher. RD, and Hill are our best, but neither are elite. We get to the FT line due to our bigs drawing fouls, but Maryland forced CS to shoot the open 3 when we reversed the ball. If Purdue complained about the calls, I'd say look at your post, because you're dead on. If you want more FT attempts, then attack. Maryland is built to slash with MT and RS in the backcourt. It's what they do, and that's the reason why they're #1 in FTs in the conference.

Purdue doesnt have the slashes but they only need a few ft's as the general without the ft's was anyone's game with 3 minutes to go. What if Purdue has 6 more ft's made with 3 minutes to go...probably purdue win

 

[lbodel]

The FT difference was huge whether or not the zebras made bad calls. Perhaps if Purdue shoots less 3's and drives the ball more that difference is not as great?

I think one thing to note from yesterday is two-fold...

1. Maryland's defense was good. They aren't a bad defensive team and they did a pretty good job in the interior (they also have good size).

2. Our bigs do not really initiate contact. They do not go into contact, they fadeaway from contact. You don't always want to be a bull in a china shop, especially when you're facing smaller opponents where offensive fouls can be easier to get, but when you face a big team, you have to be aggressive inside some. When they are bodied up, you RARELY see them go into make contact.

 

[Ross Mackey]

I think one thing to note from yesterday is two-fold...

1. Maryland's defense was good. They aren't a bad defensive team and they did a pretty good job in the interior (they also have good size).

2. Our bigs do not really initiate contact. They do not go into contact, they fadeaway from contact. You don't always want to be a bull in a china shop, especially when you're facing smaller opponents where offensive fouls can be easier to get, but when you face a big team, you have to be aggressive inside some. When they are bodied up, you RARELY see them go into make contact.

Number 2 is spot-on, especially with regard to Haas. ike needs to power his way to the rim-- it's a weird dichotomy that he dunks repeatedly during pre-game layup drills-- as if to remind himself, then he resorts to that passive fadeaway crap in games. ..

 

[pboiler18]

I think one thing to note from yesterday is two-fold...

1. Maryland's defense was good. They aren't a bad defensive team and they did a pretty good job in the interior (they also have good size).

2. Our bigs do not really initiate contact. They do not go into contact, they fadeaway from contact. You don't always want to be a bull in a china shop, especially when you're facing smaller opponents where offensive fouls can be easier to get, but when you face a big team, you have to be aggressive inside some. When they are bodied up, you RARELY see them go into make contact.

AJ has been MUCH better at this this season so never say never.

Hass, for 7'2 is just awful at it though

 

[tjreese]

I think one thing to note from yesterday is two-fold...

1. Maryland's defense was good. They aren't a bad defensive team and they did a pretty good job in the interior (they also have good size).

2. Our bigs do not really initiate contact. They do not go into contact, they fadeaway from contact. You don't always want to be a bull in a china shop, especially when you're facing smaller opponents where offensive fouls can be easier to get, but when you face a big team, you have to be aggressive inside some. When they are bodied up, you RARELY see them go into make contact.

# 2 seems to be a problem at all levels of basketball and I have posted on this more than I wish. Bigs do not cut by initiating contact as they should. Instead they move through the lane many times and allow the D to get up higher (when playing behind) than they should. They need to take up the slack and go to the defender and pin him down as low as possible before reverse pivoting and sealing the defender. I truly think the refs have reduced Haas ability to play big for fear of an elbow. Speaking of Haas...besides his not needed fade-away and the fact he needs to jack some jaws in going to the rim...he is not swinging his reverse pivot far enough and going to the rim. Instead he steps to the baseline rather than the rim and it gives him no board to use and a much harder shot. If his shot gets blocked some...okay...keep going to the rim and they will start to penalize the guy guarding him. What would the game have been like if some Bigs for Maryland were in foul trouble? Lastly, drivers go wide for fear of blocks and slide away from contact. A driver should go through the side of the defender so that when the defender moves and contact is initiated a foul is called and Purdue's slow drivers still get a call...

 

[lbodel]

AJ has been MUCH better at this this season so never say never.

Hass, for 7'2 is just awful at it though

Hammons has had his moments. Yesterday, he took 16 shots and didn't shoot 1 free throw. Obviously it was not a foul happy game in general and we can complain about it (their big guys didn't really shoot free throws either), but it almost takes an effort to not be fouled while shooting when you take 16 shots in a game. The fadeaways from Hammons and Haas get me frustrated a lot.

As for Haas, unfortunately I think he's picked up some of those habits from Hammons. However, I think Haas has been in a difficult position because when he was a bit more aggressive last year, he got himself into foul trouble/flagrant situations. Obviously you don't want to turn that into shying away from contact, but you also have to take advantage of the size - he was one of the most fouled guys last year and it led to a lot of free throws.

Our last few games free throws...

Maryland - AJ 0, Haas 0 - 26 total attempts
Nebraska - AJ 4, Haas 3 - 23 total attempts
Minnesota - AJ 2, Haas 2 - 18 total attempts

There's a lot of room to improve on drawing contact by both of those guys. It's great to see the guys more involved offensively because that was a problem (@ Iowa they combined for 8 field goal attempts). And I have no stats to back this up, but I'm guessing most of their missed shots over those games were fadeaway shots avoiding contact.

Having AJ and Isaac should give us more "flexibility" in terms of taking chances with contact. Obviously we don't want to get into foul trouble, but we don't really "use up" our fouls either. It's kind of like timeouts, if you have a foul to give - use it to your advantage, whether it's being more aggressive on the offensive end, fouling instead of giving up an easy basket, etc. We don't want these guys to be careless and you have to pick and choose those spots, but especially later in a game when they know the situation (i.e. they have 1 foul), it'd be nice to see a bit more aggressiveness, particularly going to the basket.