I cannot tell you how upset I am about the whole hedge the guard at the top of the key thing. This should have been corrected way before now. They have been doing this all year!! One other point, Jordan Crawford is nothing more than a one on one ball hog that cannot play defense. I guess he and his brother do have something in common.
MPmike
· 1 year ago
I wish I could comment on the game but I could not see it on tv like the rest of the games on the BTN. However, I heard the last few minutes on the radio. Why didn't IU made sure the ball was in the hands of Eric Gordon in the closing minutes? There were too many missed free throws and having DJ White and even Lance Stemler shooting free throws from in-bound plays is not smart basketball. Hopefully, IU will learn to closeout games before it will cost them.
Tom
· 1 year ago
The team is doing what the coaches want on hedging and offense.Lighten up. CKS was quoted as saying :"some teams pass the ball 4-5 times while we drive and dish or shoot--that's who we are"-or words to that effect. Craw ford played a decent game with Bassett hurt. Complainers like you above are laughable. We get to the foul line more than any team in the country.We scored almost 80 points against a team that gives up 55 a game. If not for the Twilight Zone shooting of Johnson , we would have won by double figures. Sometimes our offense isn't pretty- but usually its effective. Admittedly, we needed more assists--but give credit to Iowa--they did not prepare in a vaccuum and they were emotional.
MPmike
· 1 year ago
This is not a complaint. This is stating something that is crucial at the end of a game. The person above me hasn't answered my question. Would you like the ball in the hands of your best player, better ball handlers and free throw shooter or would you want one of your big men to dribble the ball and have a chance to loose it if not fouled then hoping they will hit al least one of the two free throws? The answer is simple- Give the ball to Eric Gordon to close out the game.
ray
· 1 year ago
iowa suffered only it's second conference loss at home in over two seasons...it's a win. i expected a much bigger win, but i also expected much less from iowa. now it's looking like minnesota may be iu's first loss and not the game in madison...i don't know it could go either way...hopefully iu can pull off an 18-1 start and then surprise wisconsin by knocking them off...again, i say HOPEFULLY!
ray
· 1 year ago
i read somewhere that bassett has bone chips in his ankle...that's not good, is it? i mean, does anyone know the severity of such an injury?
PostmanR
· 1 year ago
Steve:
I somewhat agree on the Crawford comment. I love that he's fearless and confident and he really can score in droves. But he also never saw a shot he didn't like. He seems to always look to shoot or drive first and that gets frustrating from time to time.
I guess it's that old adage: "He's a freshman." Hopefully KS will wrangle him in when appropriate. Although, since our offense seems to be based around this kind of play maybe we'll just have to deal with it.
Jim
· 1 year ago
One thing I like is the barrage of 3s Johnson hit at the end of the game. It's a good lesson for them to learn early - you better play to the final buzzer!
KEN
· 1 year ago
A win on the road in the B10 is a win. There are seldom any "easy" road games. I think that most of "us" expected a blow-out of sorts - maybe a 20 point win. This Iowa team may not end up with a very good B10 record this year but, at least at home, they are going to put up a good fight. This shows the character of their coach. Also, if Johnson doesn't throw in those last two prayers, IU wins by 15 anyway. Also, this is the first B10 road game for many of these guys. Good win.
Timmy
· 1 year ago
Disturbing trend all year has been our interior defense against post players. Illinois, MSU and UW will rip our hearts out if we don't get it together down low.
Ricky
· 1 year ago
It is absolutly incredible that only a few times a game do we run plays where gordon creates shots for himself off the ball. Think of all the plays Duke used to run for JJ Reddick. I hate the guy too, but if he could do one thing it was shoot, and Duke would set screens for him off the ball like crazy to get him open looks. If we do things like that it will make things a lot easier on gordon and will create open shots. We could even do things like that for crawford, albeit not as much hopefully
but i agree with the comments saying that a road win is a road win. Since IU is one of the top teams in the Big Ten and maybe the country, 9 times out of 10 we are going to get the best effort from teams we play on the road, and that is what happened last night. also on the road you will never get as many friendly calls from the refs, thats just the nature of the game. so a road win is a road win, no such thing as a bad road win.
Cutter in Chicago
· 1 year ago
The high hedging screens drive me nuts. Its been a problem all year and DeAndre and Stemler are particularly bad at this. I understand going out on a screen but anything beyond the 3 point line is nuts and in the case of DeAndre, past the foul-line is silly. I realize that Iowa was shooting the lights out but I'm a little surprised we did not use a few possessions of zone defense, particularly when DJ picked up his 3rd foul just to try and change the tempo up a little. Jamarcus is becoming a favorite of mine, still some defensive lapses but overall he's a gamer. Jordan Crawford's ball handling is maddening, his dribble is as high as Uew Blab's dribble. I do like his outside shooting though (how he can't hit foul shots perplexs me). A road win is a win and that's the key. It was not pretty but we would have won by 8 or 9 had the 3pointers not started falling from all over. Maybe this will open their eyes to the rigors of Big Ten play.
Chuck
· 1 year ago
I am anxious to see how Indiana does against Michigan... specifically, the defense noted throughout all these comments, but also the offense. How our team has by most accounts the best shooter in the country and does not make sure the ball goes through him at least once every half court possession is beyond me. We have the best shooter in the country for one year, let's do all we can to make sure he is getting some open looks. Gordon scored 25 last night and it did not seem like he did that much... have to run the ball through him to keep the opposing defense honest, if nothing else. I was releived that our first road game was a win, but I was stunned that Indiana did not get the ball to Gordon at the end of the game as someone else noted above... it did not even appear that they were trying to get it to him, that comes down to Coaching! It was directly from a timeout one time. Hopefully, many of these items will be fixed in the next game and it was just first Big Ten road game gitters... we will see.
TBall
· 1 year ago
Being at Carver Hawkeye arena, this is what I witnessed. Decrepit? Why, because of no skyboxes..there is not a bad seat or sight line in that arena. Critique Crawford all you want, but right in front of me I saw him get beat on a drive, recover, block the shot and keep possession. He also followed his missed shots which very few basketball players do these day. Lastly, Stemler is a joke. The last out of bounds to him, he had someone at midcourt wide open, but instead of passing, he wants to be the hero, keeps possession and almost loses it for IU.
ronb
· 1 year ago
Tom has it right. There are 2 teams in the country that go to the line more than anyone IU and North Carolina. EJ is a great shooter but 86% at the line is a better average than anything he shoots! He had more points than any IU freshman in history at his 1st Big Ten game. I hope he goes to the line 30 times a game if he can. Most of us grew up playing or coaching the Bob Knight motion offense so it drives us crazy not to see all the screens and movement of players but this is what IU does now so you can let it continue to drive you crazy or change and be happy. Why do you think NC goes to the line so much? They go one on one to the hole. The 2 teams are 26 wins and one loss. Also DJ and Stemler are seniors and road tested. These freshman are not so if you can't get the ball to EJ and Bassett is hurt then DJ and Lance were our best percentage shooters at the line in the game. I believe last year IU was 2-6 on the road in big ten play so we already have 1 road win. This is a good team!
Alan
· 1 year ago
MailmanE:
I hope you were kidding (or intentionally using hyperbole) when you said, "We deserve it."
It's good to be a fan and root for IU. It's certainly acceptable and healthy to comment on team and individual player weaknesses. This is what I think most people on this board do.
But some people, the "We deserve it" crowd, go too far. They seem to identify themselves in an unhealthy way based on how IU is doing. That's why I hope you were joking or exaggerating when you said, "We deserve it." In my opinion, "You deserve better."
PostmanE
· 1 year ago
Alan:
I definitely am not one of the "I deserve a good IU team" people -- I hate those people too. Their haughty sense of entitlement makes want to kick them in the balls, presuming, of course, they're male and have said balls to kick.
By "We deserve better", I was just trying to say that it's unfair to everyone involved to waste the talent on this team with sloppy defense and the other ugly stuff two nights ago. I just think it would be a shame to waste this team by being disorganized.
All Comments
The answer is simple- Give the ball to Eric Gordon to close out the game.
I somewhat agree on the Crawford comment. I love that he's fearless and confident and he really can score in droves. But he also never saw a shot he didn't like. He seems to always look to shoot or drive first and that gets frustrating from time to time.
I guess it's that old adage: "He's a freshman." Hopefully KS will wrangle him in when appropriate. Although, since our offense seems to be based around this kind of play maybe we'll just have to deal with it.
but i agree with the comments saying that a road win is a road win. Since IU is one of the top teams in the Big Ten and maybe the country, 9 times out of 10 we are going to get the best effort from teams we play on the road, and that is what happened last night. also on the road you will never get as many friendly calls from the refs, thats just the nature of the game. so a road win is a road win, no such thing as a bad road win.
I realize that Iowa was shooting the lights out but I'm a little surprised we did not use a few possessions of zone defense, particularly when DJ picked up his 3rd foul just to try and change the tempo up a little. Jamarcus is becoming a favorite of mine, still some defensive lapses but overall he's a gamer. Jordan Crawford's ball handling is maddening, his dribble is as high as Uew Blab's dribble. I do like his outside shooting though (how he can't hit foul shots perplexs me).
A road win is a win and that's the key. It was not pretty but we would have won by 8 or 9 had the 3pointers not started falling from all over. Maybe this will open their eyes to the rigors of Big Ten play.
I was releived that our first road game was a win, but I was stunned that Indiana did not get the ball to Gordon at the end of the game as someone else noted above... it did not even appear that they were trying to get it to him, that comes down to Coaching! It was directly from a timeout one time.
Hopefully, many of these items will be fixed in the next game and it was just first Big Ten road game gitters... we will see.
Critique Crawford all you want, but right in front of me I saw him get beat on a drive, recover, block the shot and keep possession. He also followed his missed shots which very few basketball players do these day.
Lastly, Stemler is a joke. The last out of bounds to him, he had someone at midcourt wide open, but instead of passing, he wants to be the hero, keeps possession and almost loses it for IU.
line more than anyone IU and North Carolina. EJ is a great shooter but 86% at the line is a better average than anything he shoots! He had more points than any IU freshman in history at his 1st Big Ten game. I hope he goes to the line 30 times a game if he can. Most of us grew up playing or coaching the Bob Knight motion offense so it drives us crazy not to see all the screens and movement of players but this is what IU does now so you can let it continue to drive you crazy or change and be happy. Why do you think NC goes to the line so much? They go one on one to the hole. The 2 teams are 26 wins and one loss. Also DJ
and Stemler are seniors and road tested. These freshman are not so if you can't get the ball to EJ and Bassett is hurt then DJ and Lance were our best percentage shooters at the line in the game. I believe last year IU was 2-6 on the road in big ten play
so we already have 1 road win. This is a good team!
I hope you were kidding (or intentionally using hyperbole) when you said, "We deserve it."
It's good to be a fan and root for IU. It's certainly acceptable and healthy to comment on team and individual player weaknesses. This is what I think most people on this board do.
But some people, the "We deserve it" crowd, go too far. They seem to identify themselves in an unhealthy way based on how IU is doing. That's why I hope you were joking or exaggerating when you said, "We deserve it." In my opinion, "You deserve better."
I definitely am not one of the "I deserve a good IU team" people -- I hate those people too. Their haughty sense of entitlement makes want to kick them in the balls, presuming, of course, they're male and have said balls to kick.
By "We deserve better", I was just trying to say that it's unfair to everyone involved to waste the talent on this team with sloppy defense and the other ugly stuff two nights ago. I just think it would be a shame to waste this team by being disorganized.