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How does he look physically? Last yr you could tell whenever he drove to the bucket he would get knocked off by even minimal contact. My hope is he is putting on muscle to be able to compete. He really did look like a high school senior last yr. I really do root for Lander since he is a southern Indiana kid.
Hope you’re right.
He put on weight, put on muscle. He’s confident, he wasn’t last year. You can’t teach a 43 inch veridical. He will have some head turning moments before 22’, bet on that.
That part Miller got right. KL was a stark defensive liability and the worst shooter on the Team. That being said and contrary to what IUNorth said about him needing "an incredible leap to be a productive B10 guard", that's not the case - scoring isn't going to be an issue for him this year. Won't know about his defense 'til he gets some minutes, but 'productivity' per se is in no way a reach if the glimpses we got in the Bahamas and the comments by his Teammates run true.
You also stated that Mike Woodson was a C- hire. I am a KL backer. KL will be a star for IU in the future. Did you ever see him play in HS?
I saw him .
The day he was hired, yes. Things changed pretty quickly after that, and I changed my view of it accordingly. There weren’t many gushing over the hire initially. And they do still need to go out and win some games. But as of today, overall change in leadership and direction I’d give it a B+ or so.
Doubt he plays much with this group if he doesn’t defend and isn’t strong with the ball.
You have to admit he was really, really bad in those minutes. I was frustrated he didn’t get more minutes too. But he was basically a fence post defensively. Hard to keep a kid on the floor if he’s airballing and not guarding any one.
Yawn. Same could be said for virtually about every D1 Player.
Why is it a yawn? The response was disagreeing with me that it’d take a big leap for KL to be productive. Using the belief that he’ll be able to score. But not predicting he’d defend. My point is he won’t get much of a chance to score if he doesn’t defend and take care of the ball.
Because it's boring and not remotely insightful. As if Woodson would tolerate anything less.
So you’re an eternal optimist. That’s cool.
Pretty spot on.
Good post. Not boring. Suspend my previous judgment.
Fair enough...my minutes breakdown was far too simplistic, for sure. It should be categorized by strength of opponent, types of opponents (probably will need more bigs against Purdue, as an example), and then also include the 5 or so "end of bench" minutes that happen organically throughout a season. Also, as you point out, its very likely 1 or more kids from that 11-12 player pool of players that are legitimate candidates for playing time, will be injured in most of our games. It'd depend on who, who we were playing, etc... on if that would help Kristian's chances of playing or not.
That's not too small. I don't think physical size or athleticism are his limiting factors. He has long arms. He has hops. He's quick. I just question his motor. And his ability to compete in this environment and at this level. Also, he's a point guard...one of the most important attributes a PG should bring is making his teammates better...winning, etc... His HS teams never won a sectional. And his HS team actually got better the year he left early, winning their first sectional in a while without him. Major red flags for me.
Love to hear that! Hate it for KL. I probably have the typical "I wish I had played at IU" chip on my shoulder, that many HS stars/small college players had or have. So when I see someone with KL's obvious abilities, I'm probably harder on him than I should be. He's living through HIS reality. And it sounds like the last year or so wasn't much fun for him. Playing 2 minutes a game for IU, being left alone to my own whims in Bloomington, IN...ummm sign me up!
Curious as to who was better than him in SW Indiana when he played
Isaiah Swope and Kiryon Powell are a couple lesser heralded kids in his area that I'd say I was more impressed with from the few games I saw of all of them. I'm a Northern Indiana guy though, so that's just based off a few games. Obviously Khristian put up numbers. But when faced with other college level players, in the school ball environment...well his teams lost more games to those teams than they should have...for a good IU level guard type player. And Khristian had another really good player on his team with him...can't remember his name.
Well I coached against Lander in fall league and in SW Indiana he was the best in his class. I will say he has lots to improve upon and it was all about him in high school, but there is some major physical talent there.
No one more than me!. He still is nowhere near Tamar level good tho
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Oh I'm sure he thrived in that environment. And that's great. That is something to build on. He's a 5 star kid on IU's roster though...he should dominate a fall league though. And there's no questioning he has the physical skills to be really good in any environment. Hope Woodson can tap into the talent and get him to come along!
Me too! I posted before the season last year how important it was for Lander to take minutes from Rob and Al. That if he didn't, that wasn't a good sign for our team. Most misunderstood what I was saying. They thought I was expecting Khristian to start, to take over the team right away. I was just saying if he doesnt, we're not gonna be very good. I had really no expectations for KL heading into last year...similar to this year. To compete for a B10 title, you need high level guards. I'm sorry, Rob and Al are not high level guards. So when it was evident that Kristian, nor any of the other frosh were gonna challenge them for minutes...it was evident we were gonna cap out at bubble level.
I just heard that same thing from a friend that has seen a couple practices. Tamar>RomeoNo one more than me!. He still is nowhere near Tamar level good tho
I agree and I think we're in a vast minority to see it that way, but give him something to distribute to and he'll be a Jason Kidd on level of vision, which is NBA vision
His game is throwing it around, give him talent to work with and he'll be right back at his game. Plus he's a lot closer to his floor than his ceiling. He's probably a 4 year player that just got off on a shitty start due to system and misuse, he needs to work on confidence and I'm gonna do what ever the hell and you can't stop me kind of attitude. He has the talent
.. am not sure why you are so down on KL, but at least post the truth. KL led Reitz to a sectional championship his junior year, the covid year, and the regional was cancelled.. Reitz beat Castle 69-61, and KL had 16 points in 2 3/4 quarters of play (foul trouble). KL hit a crucial 3 and made 7 straight free throws inthe 4th q to seal the game. KL only had 2 seasons as THE starter at Reitz, and did win a sectional.
