You DO realize the game is going to be played at IU this year, right? You DO realize that the game was very close all the way through, right? None of your guards can stop Yogi. None. Even if you put Davis on Yogi, Yogi would still have his way. What I don't think you are comprehending is how much we were at a disadvantage last year because of our lack of a center. Everything we did seemed like it was to try and mask the deficiencies or overcompensate/over help for that disadvantage. We're not going to have to do that this year. That is the thing I don't think you're smart enough to understand. Along those same lines, Hammons won't be able to just play off of Bryant like he did Perea. He won't be able to just patrol the lane. Because of that, your guards won't be able to press up nearly as much as they did last year because they knew they had help down low. And you think Swanigan is going to get "good looks" against Bryant? Bryant is 6'10. Swanigan is a below the rim player who is what, 6'8? I'll gladly take that matchup any day. Plus that puts Edwards on Williams which I don't think Edwards would be able to handle. Stephens didn't have a great year shooting the ball. Neither did Mathias. Neither did Davis. You don't have any knock down shooters. Any of those three can get hot, but let's face facts here, none of them shot over 40% last year. Now magically, they're all going to be great shooters? It's funny reading your responses. You basically think that everything will work out for Purdue, but not for IU. If you honestly think that all IU did was shoot 3's last year, then you clearly didn't watch many of our games. We also had several guys shoot the ball better than your best shooter.
Why don't you try and view this from a non homer perspective. It was a four point game at IU last year. We addressed our BIGGEST weakness last year. You lost a very good defender in Octeus. You have no proven point guards (please don't bring up PJ or Weatherford, or I guess I should say I hope those two play a lot). You have no proven shooters. Yes you guys play good defense and have size down low. How did that work out for you last year? You were ONE game better than IU. One game. Now all of a sudden you are going to be at the top of the league and IU is going to just fall away? Hmm. It seems quite strange that most people (at least the ones smart enough to understand the game of basketball) understand what IU was missing last year, what we bring in and why it will make a big difference. All of the pre season publications that have IU ranked must just be homers, right? GTFO....
I'm not saying IU is going to the Final Four or going to win the B10, but they'll be right there. Both IU and Purdue are top four or five in the B10 but I don't see either winning the league. And I see IU finishing ahead of Purdue and beating them at IU.
Stephens shot 38.5% from 3 last year with a messed up pinky finger. I'd absolutely call him a knock-down shooter. Having both Kendall and Dakota healthy should do wonders for our 3-point shooting percentage. I envision Edwards being a 35% 3-point shooter and if Cline plays, he will be up there too. I'll say we'll have 2 guys near or at 40% this year. Now I'd still take your shooting over ours but I think ours has a chance to improve quite a bit this year.