Inside the Hall - Latest Comments in The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

woodpecker — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:41:04 -0000

exactly, I really cant believe all of the complaining going on. everyone knew this would be a long.... long ..... long .... season.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

generalfan89 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 07:24:34 -0000

i gotta few ideas on how to win games:
1. do not let dumes and jones handle the ball. in jones first min of the game he had 4 straight turnovers. along side him dumes gave it away about 3 times. accounting for almost half the turnovers for the whole team.
2. bring roth off screens to give him open looks rather than giving it to him with the clock running down at mid court. he is a good shooter and shooters need to shoot.
3. block out!!! we give too many second chance points.
4. hit free throws. its 15 feet away and you are wide open there is no excuse to be less than a 80% free throw shooter.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

MPmike — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:52:38 -0000

I think Devon Dumes could be that go-to-guy. He just needs to have a little more confidence that will come whenever he gets a break out game in the Big Ten.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Kelin Blab — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:37:22 -0000

Maybe these will make you feel better....video clips of Mo Creek, Bobby C, and Wateford

http://insider.espn.go.com/...

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Kelin Blab — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:51:16 -0000

I think Rivers stabalizes our team next year with Creek and Wateford coming in to help out in the scoring, he will be big help.

Would anyone be pissed or upset if Rivers little bro decommitts on his verbal to Florida and heads to IU? mmmm do we want to deal with that again, but geez the kid scored 46 the other night with 8 3's

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Uncle Joey — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:39:01 -0000

Attend home games.

Cheer.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Hardwood83 — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:22:29 -0000

None of this should be a suprise. We're the same as a first year program,starting from Scratch. I give a complete pass to Crean this season. Yes I want improved FT shooting, fewer turn-overs, better rebounding, a few B10 wins etc. I expect them to improve as the year goes on, but this is NOT representative of IU or Crean, it is a cobbled together mess that couldn't be avoided based on the circumstances. It's unlikely that any of this year's team will start in 2 yrs. They appear to be giving it a great effort but are not equipped to compete at a major D1 level. I don't like it but I've accepted it. Rehashing 'they suck' is like harassing a 3 year old for not understanding Algebra. they CAN'T do it. They can/should compete every game and strive to get better- but if you're shocked this IU team is not good- or even decent- you're just not paying attention. Relax and enjoy the process of rebuilding- will make the return to glory that much sweeter.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

JerryCT — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:00:56 -0000

A little analogy might be helpful to keep disucssions of winning & losing in perspective

In power boating you start at A and you drive like hell to B. Being at B is the goal

In sailing you are at A but the sport is the "process" of getting to B that is the enjoyment or goal.

Most of us recognized before the season that this year was going to be measured as a journey or process and not as to whether we are at point B yet. Controlling our "power boat" instincts is difficult to be sure.

I actually believe this year is good for Crean and staff as it helps them sharpen coaching skills.

Noticing improvement in our teamplay will be difficult because I think improvement will be very subtle. Look for new stuff like:

1. we get an open shot in the half court offense, and we take it w/o hesitation ( forget if it goes in )
2. we donot back down or quit
3. play to win vs play not to lose, ie we take some risks to win
4. new defenses like half court traps or zones ( forget if it works )
5. new player skills like:
- Roth fakes a 3 , drives and pulls up for a mid range
- Williams and Story drive to the basket hard
- Pritchard uses his right hand to score , or does not foul out in B10 play
- Dumas runs the point
- Jones knocks someone else down
6. team makes grades and no one throws a potted plant at Crean

what else ? ..........we are not used to measuring the journey

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

NC Fat Boy — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:50:07 -0000

I think this was the first game where it's difficult to identify improvements. I think there has been improvement game to game, with the exception of this game.

While each game has had it's improvements and regressions, I think overall it's been a progression. I expect games in which there was/is little improvement, no improvement or even regression and remain confident continued improvement will be the norm. I suspect we will see at least one or two horrifying games in the conference season.

Brace yourself for them. I suspect one will be Purdue and it's likely Illinois will be up to crush us. Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State have shown they are capable of high caliber play and could lay a severe beating on us.

While there will be setbacks, these guys have shown they will continue to work hard.

To me, reducing the turnover rate is something that can be coached (during a game) with an experienced team. This team's turnover rate is simply a factor of inexperience and reducing the turnover is a product of teaching, not coaching. As Coach teaches (in practice) these players through the season, and they learn and mature, we should see the turnover rate drop. It's going to take patience.

Who else is playing this many freshmen this many minutes? It makes sense we're the fifth worse team for turnovers.

Did you see the stats on the freshmen displayed during the game? I don't recall what they all were (one was points or minutes/game which I think we were first), and the others we were 2nd and there were at least 4 or 5 stats. That either means we've got some great freshmen or we're playing alot of freshmen alot of minutes.

I thought we were going to see something from Daniel Moore in this game. He started out well, driving and dishing, a layup, a three pointer. Then when the 3-2 zone came in, we had no offense. You can bet they're practicing againse a 3-2 in practice this week.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

NC Fat Boy — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:31:31 -0000

While Rivers may possess defensive prowess, however, this team needs offensive help. While his turnover rate may help offensively by preserving more offensive possessions. We still need some offensive consistency. Story, Williams, Jones, Roth, any of them could become that help.

I am hopeful that well see these guys develop skills offensively and defensively this year. I would also hope that as the year goes on, we'll see some offensive consistency develop.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

jjwires — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:41:46 -0000

Last night on TBTN they aired the 1981 NCAA final. It was really great to see how the game was played back then. There were no shot clocks, no three point baskets, just good old defense and offense. Maybe Crean needs to bring in more of the old school players in for a visit and boost the confidence of his young pups! It will take time, but anybody have ideas on what the fan base could do to cheer up these guys? It has to be hard on them each game.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

jjwires — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:30:58 -0000

Hope these young newbie basketball players can tough it out this season. I can't imagine how they feel after each loss. We just have to keep supporting them. Think a cheer up card is in order loaded with lots of prayers? I honestly don't know how Crean can be so upbeat and positive all the time. He certainly is animated isn't he?

Last night on TBTN they ran the 1981 NCAA campionship game. That was when basketball was really basketball, no shot clock, no three point baskets, Carolina four corner offense, etc. It will take a long time to undo the Samson mess, but yes, we will get back to our traditional IN. hoops.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Seth — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:54:52 -0000

If he can dribble up the court and pass to some one in uniform I'll be impressed. At this point I really don't see us being competitive in a Big 10 road game. There is always the chance a team lays an egg but I doubt it. Teams that suck in the B10 will love having a chance to blow us out and the good teams will blow us out regardless of how they play. I watched part of this game over again due to loud family in the house. Two things stood out, that continue to stand out

1) I don't know if I would trust one person with my life to dribble the ball from baseline to basline. VJ can't dribble, Dumes can't dribble well, Moore is spastic and if he gets it up court ends up throwing it away. VJ and Dumes should spend every practice dribbling because Dumes could be decent if he had a handle. I think VJ should red shirt next year and spend the year dribbling and getting better.
2) we can barely jump above the rim on rebounds. from a standing position under the basket jumping for rebounds its amazing how little our players can jump. off season needs to be spent on some explosive movement for Pritchard.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

JerryCT — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:27:46 -0000

Rivers was already on the bench behind Sapp and Freeman last year but his min/gm were greater than Wright. There is a reason he played 18min/gm on a team w 4 good guards.

It is clear that he would have shared PT with Sapp, Wright, Freeman and maybe CLark and only Sapp is a SR.

So while I agree he probably left to better showcase his talent for 2 years you make it sound like he would ride the bench due to not good enough to play. That was not true last year and would not have been true this year.

Stare at his ONE turnover a game for awhile and think about our team this year. How much would that be worth ? Add to that tough defense at the point. How much is that worth ?

Then you got your answer. Thanks for the question . I now feel much better about next year

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

BGleas — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:09:22 -0000

Exactly JerryCT

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

JerryCT — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:21:33 -0000

Alex- You ask a fair question . Living here in B-East country I have seen him play many many times. Your stats donot show what you are missing by not seeing him play.

1. Defense - 6'4" defender on the ball. No stats show this effectiveness. You would have to count Pts scored by other team's guards while in the game
This makes a difference becasue we have no one who can stop the point of attack eg Teague at Wake, Jackson at ND , Pargo , Allen and Bataille last night etc

2. Low TO's/minute - no more needs to be said about how that helps us. His passing is crisp compared to our guys softness ( except Story )

3. Experience - he has been in wars on the court and never cost Gtwn anything by being in the game. In fact his typical substitution pattern was to play with a more defensive lineup w/o the scorers. He has never been a big scorer even in HS . Therefore one would expect these stats from a player whose role was to defend within a defensive lineup

4. Intangible - He is a leader . This makes a difference on and off the floor

Right now I would really really settle for 1/2 the TO's, 1/2 the points and assists from the opposing guards, and about 10pts/g, 5 assists, 5 rebounds in 33 minutes. All feasible with him . No one this year or next year is as ready to do this

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Kelin Blab — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:21:13 -0000

A-

I think there is something to be said for style of play and system and if the kid didn't think G'Towns system didn't fit well with what he wanted to be in, I can see him playing a major roll next year and settling one of the guard positions.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Harvo — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:21:07 -0000

I must say i'm a little bit dismayed. I knew we wouldn't be a real good team this year, but my gosh they haven't improved a bit. Why do they pass up so many 10 to 15 ft. open shots and end up either throwing the ball away or taking a contested 23 footer with the shot clock running out? Where was Tijan last night?

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

mamalickaboobooday — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:52:47 -0000

There was a great article by Seth Davis this morning where he mentioned how Tyreke Evans is not that good b/c he never developed as a player due to the fact that all he did was play AAU ball. Hopefully Crean will recruit players who are fundemental and have an upside...then it all comes down to coaching. As we have seen with the past 2 coaches (Davis, Sampson), the player regress. I am looking forward to seeing a fundementally sound IU team in the years to come. Good luck to Crean

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Ben_M — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:19:17 -0000

Rivers will make a difference due to the fact that he has experience at a major D1 school. That would go a long way this year. His stats just don't matter. He will be able to handle the ball and play good on the ball defense. Pritchard is solid. Once he has some help in the paint with new recruits, four of them being 6-7 - 7-0, he will be more affective espeacially with his ability pass in the paint.

The bottom line is we have to stay positive. We have to fully support this team and Coach Crean. Negative publicity isn't going to help our future. We have a great recruiting class comming in next year. The added size and talent will do wonders for IU. I think our biggest factor this year is that there hasn't been one guy that has really blossomed into a go to guy. We've always had a recruit that wasn't highly touted that emerged as a prolific scorer. This team doesn't have any upperclassmen to help these young players learn the ropes of major D1 basketball. I was at the game last night and these guys are young. They look like a highschool team out there because they are a highschool team.

Lets all stay positive, we knew this year was going to be rough, but our future is as bright as our fan base support.
GO HOOSIERS!

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Sallad — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:11:47 -0000

Serenity now, sanity later.

Missed the game last night, was dismayed to wake up to the score this morning. Makes me wonder if the students had been there if the result would have been any different. It's obvious that this young team really feeds off of the crowd's excitement.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Alex Bozich — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:00:15 -0000

It seems to me he left because he knew he'd be on the bench behind Austin Freeman and Chris Wright, not because of Georgetown's offense. They're averaging 75+ ppg this season and Freeman and Wright are their 2nd and 3rd leading scorers.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Uncle Joey — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:42:01 -0000

Georgetown is a completely different team, different style. Guards who feed big men the ball--a very slow styled offense. Crean's style of offense is guard heavy & run and gun. You have to realize he transferred BECAUSE he felt as though he did not fit the mold there with John Thompson, hence the poor stats during his time there, so I feel as though its unfair to attribute Rivers' potential success with IU to his statistics at a school that did not fit his playing style.

If you went to Hoosier Hysteria, anyone could see that Rivers was one of the few players (if not the only player) that looked confident in his skills, and actually looked like a genuine basketball player at the Big 10 level.

In that being said, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that Rivers will be a huge help next year. Not only does he have demonstrable Div 1 Big East experience at a premier basketball school at Georgetown, but he also will have spent the ENTIRE year this season getting to know IU's system inside and out by acting as a player/coach, so he'll know his role right away and what it takes to be a leader.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

DJW — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:00:40 -0000

It appears that IU usuallly will come out early and play competetive basketball against most of their opponents and then their the intensity or discipline falls off.

Turnovers seem to be be a consistent problem. I am not sure I agree with the consensus here that minimizing TO's cannot be improved upon.

TO's are generally a result of ball handling skills and a sense of court awareness and player positioning. Why can't improvement be accomplished with practice once the cause is identified?

I am not sure how to address the team's tendency to play well early and then the loss of focus or discipline as the game progresses.

Re: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

Alex Bozich — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:49:41 -0000

Why do people keep saying Rivers is going to make such a big difference?

Has anyone looked at his numbers from last year at Georgetown?

In 19 minutes a game last year, he averaged 2.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1 assist. He shot 32 percent from the field and 54 percent from the foul line. And those numbers were with a good supporting cast that included Roy Hibbert.

Just playing devil's advocate here, but what about that screams "he's going to make a big difference."