So very many posts in various threads stating what IU's Players are and are not capable of doing on the Court. Mostly a lot of swamp gas IMO because almost no one posting has seen any of the veterans play since last March, nor will they until HH. Same mostly goes for the recruits. Far too often little to no consideration of the possibility or likelihood of off-Season development and maturation: Devonte Green is going to be the same reckless NY-style guard as before, Moore will still be challenged, Aljami won't really have a groove or stroke, Zach fated to be an offensive liability, etc., etc. Fact is, no one really knows or will until they get on the Floor and play.
Granted there are general trends WRT player evolution or a lack thereof, ranges for realistic expectations of growth and development, reams of statistical data for charting year to year growth and improvement, etc. There are also anomalies, outliers and exceptions - VO in particular comes to mind as someone who walked onto campus (largely unheralded) with at-best modest skills as a ball-handler/defensive presence and through successive off-seasons busted his ass and developed into a phenom on both ends of the Court. Doubtless a lot of posters that imagine he did that in spite of rather than because of CTC, also imagine that CAM and his Staff are better at development and conditioning. Maybe, maybe not, but again it's really too early to know, and by extension, way too early to pigeonhole Players and assert what their ceilings are on the basis of what they've done previously. Sure, it's a tell but hardly anything definitive or that should be written in stone.
There are reasons why pre-season and post-season polls generally bear little resemblance to one another, why KenPom, Sagarin, et al. rankings carry disclaimers until enough games have been played to represent a significant sample size and/or 'link' performance, why there are always projected bottom-dwellers that miraculously rise to the top and locks that tank and settle for or even fail to make the NIT (see IU 2016-17). Free country, open board, say what thou wilt, but the certain pronouncements on Player roles and upper limits are tedious BS absent any actual, real-time data/observations.
Whatever. Just hard to fathom why anyone is slagging off on any IU Player before the Season even starts or pretending to know what they will or will not be come November, and especially when its highly probable those same Players are in the gym right f-ing now working like men possessed.
Granted there are general trends WRT player evolution or a lack thereof, ranges for realistic expectations of growth and development, reams of statistical data for charting year to year growth and improvement, etc. There are also anomalies, outliers and exceptions - VO in particular comes to mind as someone who walked onto campus (largely unheralded) with at-best modest skills as a ball-handler/defensive presence and through successive off-seasons busted his ass and developed into a phenom on both ends of the Court. Doubtless a lot of posters that imagine he did that in spite of rather than because of CTC, also imagine that CAM and his Staff are better at development and conditioning. Maybe, maybe not, but again it's really too early to know, and by extension, way too early to pigeonhole Players and assert what their ceilings are on the basis of what they've done previously. Sure, it's a tell but hardly anything definitive or that should be written in stone.
There are reasons why pre-season and post-season polls generally bear little resemblance to one another, why KenPom, Sagarin, et al. rankings carry disclaimers until enough games have been played to represent a significant sample size and/or 'link' performance, why there are always projected bottom-dwellers that miraculously rise to the top and locks that tank and settle for or even fail to make the NIT (see IU 2016-17). Free country, open board, say what thou wilt, but the certain pronouncements on Player roles and upper limits are tedious BS absent any actual, real-time data/observations.
Whatever. Just hard to fathom why anyone is slagging off on any IU Player before the Season even starts or pretending to know what they will or will not be come November, and especially when its highly probable those same Players are in the gym right f-ing now working like men possessed.
