Certainly still a long ways to go with this IU squad, and they were very obviously far and away more talented than Hope College - but I thought the Flying Dutchman were well coached and did some nice things to give IU a good workout, if anything else.
· Starting lineup – Maybe this was just some coaching/motivational tactic, but Crean opted to go with Juwan Morgan/James Blackmon/Zach McRoberts/OG Anunoby/Thomas Bryant. Crean told us not to look much into the lineups, so that's important to remember.
But just to note it, the lineup lasted until 17:13 in the first half after Hope College grabbed an 8-4 lead, when Robert Johnson subbed in for McRobert. Like most exhibitions, frequent substitutions followed after that. IU opened the second half with the same lineup, and Hope outscored the Hoosiers 7-3 before IU subbed Josh Newkirk for McRoberts at the 18:02 mark. It just felt like a weird lineup from the start and the Hoosiers were outscored a combined 15-7 with it to open the periods, although, that's only a handful of minutes of data.
· Juwan Morgan – Initiated the offense some and did bring the ball up the court. When he brought it up the court, several times he aggressively drove right to the rim. In that role, he never really did anything fancy with it, but made some basic plays and didn’t really make big mistakes either. Finished with 12 rebounds and seven points in 22 minutes, plus two assists to one turnover.
· OG Anunoby – Oh boy. Anunoby was the first player on the court today for warmups – I saw him two hours before the exhibition started – and during that time, he was just working on his three ball with managers. That work has showed. After he hit a couple just at the just for fun Haunted Hall of Hoops, he shot 4-for-7 from three tonight. Not really creating his own shot or anything with it, but find him open and he’s showing he can hit it. He did turn the ball over five times in 27 minutes.
· Devonte Green – Picked up some good reviews at Hoosier Hysteria and those continued into tonight. Couple of one-on-one drives where he got to the rack off the dribble and scored, including a pretty good crossover that’s embedded below.
Green also is very aggressive on D. Gets right up in the grill of the opponent. He finished 7-of-9 from the field for 17 points, and was the only Hoosier who played more than five minutes to not commit a turnover tonight.
· Josh Newkirk – One of the main questions going into tonight was who would take the reins at point guard. The committee approach was real, as a handful of players brought the ball up and initiated the offense depending on the lineup – but Newkirk brought it up more than anyone else when he was in. He was a true facilitator tonight, finishing with seven assists to just one turnover. He took only two field goal attempts, missing both, but he could have had additional assists if other IU players had finished their own. Crean was talking about how tough it is to come back from the surgery he had, but he looked healthy tonight.
· Curtis Jones – I don’t think this kid is getting enough attention. He hasn’t done as many flashy/productive things as Green, but he’s silky smooth. He’s definitely a true combo that can play both point and offguard. I love, love, love his vision, and I think he’ll be a really good one down the road. He finished with seven points, including 2-for-3 from three-point range, two rebounds, two assists, one block and one turnover in 14 minutes.
· James Blackmon Jr. – Certainly looks back to full health. His shot is as nice as ever. Don’t think I remember seeing him actually running the point as much as the other talked about options. Finished with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 23 minutes.
· Thomas Bryant – We all know what we’re getting with TB. He even played a little small tonight, putting the ball on the floor against a smaller defender and driving to the rack for a score at one point, and feeding Davis in the post on another possession. I’d like to see him get the ball more down low and be able to go to work, but maybe this just wasn’t the night for that. He finished with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting plus nine rebounds in 27 minutes.
· Robert Johnson – I was surprised to hear he finished with the best +/- on the team by far, +44 in 21 minutes of play. The next closest was Newkirk (+27). Wasn't on his three game tonight and did finish with three turnovers. However, he did grab five rebounds and dished out three assists. I'm starting to like him more as an off guard that can also handle the ball than the primary guy (maybe Newkirk?)
Anyway, still think Rob is a very solid player, but it will be interesting to see who ends up the odd man out. 6 players - Anunoby, Bryant, Blackmon, Morgan, Newkirk and Johnson - all had over 20 minutes.
· De’Ron Davis – Saw some things I liked and some I didn’t of Davis, which is typical for a freshman. Had a nice post move for a score in the first half (against an undersized defender,) but threw a bad outlet pass that ended in a turnover. Still, all things considered with him (arriving late to school, recently nicked up,) the potential is there. I think we’ll see him as more of a backup to Bryant than them side-by-side this year, but we’ll see. He finished with six points and seven rebounds in nine minutes.
· Zach McRoberts – Played 13 minutes without a field goal attempt, registering one assist, one steal and one turnover.
Thoughts? Agreements/disagreements? Hard to observe everything to perfection while tweeting and also posting in the game thread - plus, my very first game in Assembly Hall (which was awesome!) - so, fire away heh.
· Starting lineup – Maybe this was just some coaching/motivational tactic, but Crean opted to go with Juwan Morgan/James Blackmon/Zach McRoberts/OG Anunoby/Thomas Bryant. Crean told us not to look much into the lineups, so that's important to remember.
But just to note it, the lineup lasted until 17:13 in the first half after Hope College grabbed an 8-4 lead, when Robert Johnson subbed in for McRobert. Like most exhibitions, frequent substitutions followed after that. IU opened the second half with the same lineup, and Hope outscored the Hoosiers 7-3 before IU subbed Josh Newkirk for McRoberts at the 18:02 mark. It just felt like a weird lineup from the start and the Hoosiers were outscored a combined 15-7 with it to open the periods, although, that's only a handful of minutes of data.
· Juwan Morgan – Initiated the offense some and did bring the ball up the court. When he brought it up the court, several times he aggressively drove right to the rim. In that role, he never really did anything fancy with it, but made some basic plays and didn’t really make big mistakes either. Finished with 12 rebounds and seven points in 22 minutes, plus two assists to one turnover.
· OG Anunoby – Oh boy. Anunoby was the first player on the court today for warmups – I saw him two hours before the exhibition started – and during that time, he was just working on his three ball with managers. That work has showed. After he hit a couple just at the just for fun Haunted Hall of Hoops, he shot 4-for-7 from three tonight. Not really creating his own shot or anything with it, but find him open and he’s showing he can hit it. He did turn the ball over five times in 27 minutes.
· Devonte Green – Picked up some good reviews at Hoosier Hysteria and those continued into tonight. Couple of one-on-one drives where he got to the rack off the dribble and scored, including a pretty good crossover that’s embedded below.
Green also is very aggressive on D. Gets right up in the grill of the opponent. He finished 7-of-9 from the field for 17 points, and was the only Hoosier who played more than five minutes to not commit a turnover tonight.
· Josh Newkirk – One of the main questions going into tonight was who would take the reins at point guard. The committee approach was real, as a handful of players brought the ball up and initiated the offense depending on the lineup – but Newkirk brought it up more than anyone else when he was in. He was a true facilitator tonight, finishing with seven assists to just one turnover. He took only two field goal attempts, missing both, but he could have had additional assists if other IU players had finished their own. Crean was talking about how tough it is to come back from the surgery he had, but he looked healthy tonight.
· Curtis Jones – I don’t think this kid is getting enough attention. He hasn’t done as many flashy/productive things as Green, but he’s silky smooth. He’s definitely a true combo that can play both point and offguard. I love, love, love his vision, and I think he’ll be a really good one down the road. He finished with seven points, including 2-for-3 from three-point range, two rebounds, two assists, one block and one turnover in 14 minutes.
· James Blackmon Jr. – Certainly looks back to full health. His shot is as nice as ever. Don’t think I remember seeing him actually running the point as much as the other talked about options. Finished with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 23 minutes.
· Thomas Bryant – We all know what we’re getting with TB. He even played a little small tonight, putting the ball on the floor against a smaller defender and driving to the rack for a score at one point, and feeding Davis in the post on another possession. I’d like to see him get the ball more down low and be able to go to work, but maybe this just wasn’t the night for that. He finished with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting plus nine rebounds in 27 minutes.
· Robert Johnson – I was surprised to hear he finished with the best +/- on the team by far, +44 in 21 minutes of play. The next closest was Newkirk (+27). Wasn't on his three game tonight and did finish with three turnovers. However, he did grab five rebounds and dished out three assists. I'm starting to like him more as an off guard that can also handle the ball than the primary guy (maybe Newkirk?)
Anyway, still think Rob is a very solid player, but it will be interesting to see who ends up the odd man out. 6 players - Anunoby, Bryant, Blackmon, Morgan, Newkirk and Johnson - all had over 20 minutes.
· De’Ron Davis – Saw some things I liked and some I didn’t of Davis, which is typical for a freshman. Had a nice post move for a score in the first half (against an undersized defender,) but threw a bad outlet pass that ended in a turnover. Still, all things considered with him (arriving late to school, recently nicked up,) the potential is there. I think we’ll see him as more of a backup to Bryant than them side-by-side this year, but we’ll see. He finished with six points and seven rebounds in nine minutes.
· Zach McRoberts – Played 13 minutes without a field goal attempt, registering one assist, one steal and one turnover.
Thoughts? Agreements/disagreements? Hard to observe everything to perfection while tweeting and also posting in the game thread - plus, my very first game in Assembly Hall (which was awesome!) - so, fire away heh.
