DISQUS

PostmanE · 2 years ago

That was an exercise in frustration. I'm going to sleep on it before I write the Morning After; I'm afraid I'll sound angrier than I should be if I post the thing now.

Grrr.

McD · 2 years ago

As easy as it has been to get excited about the offense and EJ, the team just hasn't made the strides defensively and rebounding like I thought a KS coached team would. Hopefully this is the wakeup call these young men need because they were outplayed in all facets of the game tonight. Can't believe we didn't make a run at them. I'm sure they will have plenty to work on in the coming days of practice, but though I might throw my 2 cents in as well:

1. Let's sprint back on defense. Stop swiping at the guy who gets the rebound and get your butt back down the floor. I'm sick of seeing uncontested layups.

2. High pick and roll. DJ was exposed out here tonight. How many times did Lavendar split the defense and we maybe got one rotation out of help defense. They ran this every time down, maybe go zone a couple of possessions.

3. Dribble contain. Enough said.

4. Line-up rotation. We are basically 7 deep and these guys were gased tonight. Eli and McGee saw very limited minutes, even under foul trouble. These boys need more minutes, especially in our cupcake games for us to be effective later in the season. Why is Mike White redshirting again?

5. Rebounding. We were active early in the game, but it just wasn't happening tonight. Guys were turnind looking while Xavier was jockeying for position and every rebound.

6. Share the ball. We penetrated a lot tonight but it was mostly guys looking for their own shot. We shoot a much better percentage of inside out threes. Reminded me a little of the old Mike Davis offense with a lot of standing and watching.

A lot of this just comes down to pride. Film session should be pretty educational and we could learn a lot just by the excellent play of Xavier. Let's hope a lot of maturing takes place over the next 2 weeks.

Kelin · 2 years ago

Ok saw my second IU game and thanks for some primetime stuff in the coming weeks.....here is my recap

1. Never said this before but KS got outcoached. I agree with MCD we needed to switch defenses a little or a lot. Xavier exploited us bad over and over.

2. Now for those of you who booed Lance Stemler...wouldn't you like to see him on the court more right now than DT. Deandre's foul trouble has gotten him on the bench too much and I have not seen that offensive game we need. Lance Stemler is our SECOND best defender period and SECOND best rebounder!

3. Our offense focuses more on establishing our perimeter players as opposed to the inside game. I was talking to an Xavier fan behind and he said...DJ was a big concern cause Xavier has NO ONE who could guard him in the block.....

4. Jamarcus is our best poing guard. I won't dismiss Armon or Jordan from that role but Jamarcus makes more happen as playmaker and is such a good passer.

5. Where is our transition game. Haven't seen it in since exhibition season....I thought we would run more tonight but we didn't and our transition D was bad.

I think against GT you will see IU win by double digits because this is a loss to learn from and they will and they will be ready to play on Tuesday.....

Jude Komyatte · 2 years ago

IU looked good against teams which are borderline Division I teams. I think we caught a glimpse of how well this team can compete among elite teams. I posted it here when I first saw an IU exhibition game that offensively Gordon is a spot up shooter and that is it. Tonight he tried for the first game that I saw to drive, slash, penetrate, and create off the dribble. This is obviously not his game. He looked like a different player shooting contested shots. At 6' 4" he is undersized for this roll. He will never be a complete shooting gaurd. I watch a lot (too much) of the Bulls. Eric Gordon is Ben Gordon. They are limited as jump shooting specialists. Players like Vinnie Johnson contributed to championships in this roll, but he will not carry a team to a championship. The only other player with any NBA potential on IU, White, is also limited. Too slow to match up with an NBA wing, and too weak and small to play NBA power forward. I saw IU as completely overmatched physically last night. The Xavier team was just as quick and athletic as IU, but so very much bigger and stronger. Sampson is a cheater in recruiting, but there is no evidence here to suggest that he is pushing the kids to get gopped up on the goop. The good news is that they are pretty young. They have a few months to develop as a team. Their window is definately a few months, not a few years. The talent leaving is a lot more than the talent coming in the future years. This is the year.

Ollie Skrivanie · 2 years ago

Cleveland State revisited!!! 1. X is quicker, stronger, and more athletic than IU. 2. Miller outcoached Sampson. 3.IU's man to man defense was rendered totally ineffective by X's quickness,especially Lavender who carved up IU like a turkey on Thanksgiving. Sampson should have tried a zone to neutralize X's quicness and athletic ability(Knight didn't either vs. Cleveland State and Mouse McFadden and the other too quick players dominated in that game) At least it might have neutralized Lavender who was superb at the point. How many layups and easy putbacks did X have? And DJ was never in good defensive position! 4. IU's offense is willy nilly-too much 1 on 1 or 1 on 3! Some set picks were necessary to free Gordon and others. 5. Crawford not a point guard. Bassett is more valuable than thought. 6.Some impatience and frustration clear on Gordon's face and demeanor. 7. Holman and McGee looked lost out there!! Well, for that matter, so does Stemler at times. 8. IU will face the same toughness when they play SIU. However, SIU does not have the same quickness and athleticism as X. IU's jockstraps better be strapped on for that game!! OTS

Don D · 2 years ago

Ugly performance against a Xavier team. Many times IU was unable to get down the floor to set up their defense and when they did they we were using our hands. Why are we red shirting Mike White? We need big bodies inside and other than DJ we are not getting that type of play. Yes IU was outplayed and coached however the officiating was terrible. Eric Gordon was held all night and White's 3rd foul was a terrible call. If you think this game was bad wait until we travel to SIU to play a team much better than Xavier. I'm disappointed with IU's perfomance and expect we will see this again thoughout the season. 8th rank nationally -- give me a break.

ronb · 2 years ago

One game,tried legs cause poor shooting,work on interior defense,a good game to coach from. You guys are such doom and gloom fans. These guys are freshman and that includes Gordon. He played against an Indiana kid from Ben Davis who is strong and a senior. He had a bad game but he also managed 20 points. The rest of the team will get better so that teams can't just focus on stopping EJ. Ratliff will help some when he returns. He can hit 3's. Eric Gordon is so much stronger and better than Ben Gordon! As time will tell. He will be a top 5 draft pick and he will instantly help any team that gets him. So you fair weather fans need to step back and let this team grow a little. You same guys cried last year but Sampson showed he can coach and shut you up and he will easily do it again this year and in years to come. No team this young goes undefeated in today's college
basketball. Xavier has a good team,will have a 20 win year and go to the big dance. This game is just one in a long season so
relax,have some fun and watch EJ because you may never see someone this good in an IU uniform again. This team will get
better,have a great season and they will be fun to watch and
you guys who want to bash them won't make a difference in the
outcome!!

Kelin · 2 years ago

Jude to say Eric Gordon is a spot up shooter is an obvious indication you haven't watched him much. You don't get as many F/T's as the kid gets by spot up shooting. Ironically, his shots tonite were good shots that were just not falling. Here is a news flash....Bird, Jordan, and Oscar Robertson have had bad games before......Oh No! How about Stanley Burrell is a good defender.

Schultz · 2 years ago

"I posted it here when I first saw an IU exhibition game that offensively Gordon is a spot up shooter and that is it."

and i posted on here and said you were wrong last time and you're wrong once again. to compare him to vinnie "the microwave" johnson is an insult and laughable. EJ is one of the top ten players in the country easily...i mean look at what happens to this offense when he is not hitting shots?

ray · 2 years ago

a few things...
...gordon can drive to the bucket, and it is actually one of his "nba qualities" that many will be hoping to land in next year's draft.
...jamarcus is our best point guard, our best playmaker, and overall likely the most talented and most multi-faceted player on the team (high, very high, bball iq)
...mcgee and eli should be playing more minutes, otherwise we should have never redshirted mike white (there will come a time again, probably very soon, when dt is on the bench early in the first half with foul trouble)
...conditioning was likely to blame for poor shooting, but xavier played two in a row as well, so sampson needs to emphasize conditioning in practice (the ncaa tournament is a lot of back to back games, so get ready)
...aj ratliff will be a very nice addition to this young team
...basset and gordon will come back to life in their outside shooting (they're too good of shooters to continue slumps as bad as last night)
...THIS IS A VERY GOOD XAVIER TEAM and their only loss was to Miami, OH (a MAC team that is being severely over-looked as well)...remember ohio state last year who struggled against xavier until the last second ticked off the clock
...please stop the foolish touch fouls after the play is over and the opponent is sure to hit the shot (or, foul him like you mean it)
...last night there was far too much one-on-one going on (and almost every night that is how crawford has played)
...stemler is the hardest working player i've seen so far on this year's team (without a doubt)

ray · 2 years ago

one last thing...
...i think it is almost absurd to think that another gordon-caliber player won't someday come along wanting to wear cream and crimson

with all of the games these kids play today under the spotlight, i can only imagine players will just continue to blow us away with their talents and abilities...the pool of super-talent recruits is growing at an alarming rate, and at some point iu (with its coach and its tradition) will land more superstar frosh as good, if not better, than ej

ronb · 2 years ago

Ray, I don't think you give EJ enough credit. I have watched IU basketball since the 1950'S and at this stage of his career he is
without a doubt the best all around guard to play at IU. It is sad
that he will only play one year or he could break all records. Now
I agree and hope IU will get another superstar but another player
at his position will be difficult to see. Let me know when the next
guard like EJ gets to IU because I may be in a nursing home and
need your help!

Bleeding Crimson · 2 years ago

Guys, This is what I like about blogs and chat rooms, we tend to get things off our chest. I'm glad I didn't post until now, otherwise I would be saying my first thoughts and not actually what I meant.

I think Robn has a good point in the fact that we have a young team and Xavier is a good team. It is still way early for any of use to cast stones. We are just a young team, period. We also are a team coached by a new coach who is re-building the program. I'm like everyone else on this page. Looking at our schedule in the beginning of the season and picking our win/loss record...I was even to the point where I had myself sold on the idea that we could even go undefeated, not going to happen. I think we have to look at the big picture.

Remember last year when there was talk about Florida doing a repeat. After they lost late in the season to Tenn & LSU (I think). I remember thinking that this team was not going to be able to make the run...well the rest is history.

Just to keep thing in perspective, Donovan has been at Fla for 11 years and won that game with well coach veterans of the game (six Sr & Jr's). Xavier has four six Sr & Jr's who help them beat Indiana. I know ref's can make or break a game but take the ref's out of the game, I hate blaming a loss on the ref's even though it is true.

Here are my points:
First, we have a second year coach who is rebuilding the program from the ground up. I think we all can agree that he has done better than expected.
Second, not only do we have a young team but none of these guys have been coach under a new system for more than two years and the fact that this entire team has only played together in five games.

Lastly, the good news is that I do see progress in everything about IU. The recruits, the attitude, even the dreams about IU are different dating back to 1992. I wonder what the Fla fans wrote about during their loses...probably similar things that we are writing. My concern is that we need to keep moving forward and keep the negative comments to a minimum. We never know who might be reading these pages? To continue to write comments about KS as OUR cheating coach does not due anyone any good. We can all agree that we may lose a few more games this year as many teams will but that's OK. The future looks much more bright that it ever has. By the way when and who was the last team to go undefeated and win it all???
bc

Phillip · 2 years ago

Like this is the first time Indiana has ever had an off night in their history...Maybe Xavier is good? Maybe?? Take Butler-we lose to them last year and they ended up being better than we gave them credit for.

Steve O · 2 years ago

Jude Komyatte:

How is Eric Gordon underseized for his role? He's play 2 guard... He's 6'4 215lbs. Have you ever heard of Dwayne Wade? He's 6'4 215lbs. And I'm pretty sure he's not undersized for his role.

He's bigger than alot of 2 guards in the country. But he's also a freshman. He had a bad shooting night against a good team... Xavier make the tourney every year. Go cheer for Purdue douche.