Indiana vs Purdue break it down..
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Funny, there is a post on GBI where a guy says he knows the writer Eamonn Brennan and Brennan admitted to hating Purdue and writes accordingly. If he has no issues pushing Purdue down in his writing don't you think he will boost IU as well?
Brennan did the rankings but it was Lunardi that had them as a 8 seed so it is more than just Brennan that had Purdue lower than expected.
Why is that because I think they have the best team and one of the best coaches in the country.
In an all-star game, Bryant was able to defend Stone in the paint. It wasn't the typical effort you see in a game like this. I liked that Bryant didn't want to be scored on even in a game that didn't mean anything. Bryant was the player of the game for whatever that means.
Stone scored almost all his points beyond the 3 point line. When stone got the ball in the paint, Bryant did not allow him to get off clear shots and defended Stone very well. As far at this Taylor, he will have to prove he is better than Bryant. I am not buying it. I remember the Boiled fans saying how Travis Carroll was going to be better than Zeller. Laughable.
You mean the maybe 3 fans that though Carroll would be better than Zeller?
Enjoy beating Indiana State in front of 22,000 die hard fans at home and going 1-11 in football this fall!!!
There were threads on GBI from many that felt he could check Zeller and outplay him. One of the few times I went to that cesspool was to confirm there were people that dumb.
I think you're exaggerating a bit. I'm sure some fans said that but the overwhelming majority knew Zeller would be the much better player.
Hahahaha! Rick Mount has left the building.
There are incentives to Yogi, JBJ, and Troy to improve their effort on defense. They are all capable of playing defense. I would expect their effort to raise the play of everyone. Hearing assessments from NBA scouts that they needed to improve in that area was the best thing about them testing the waters. The got to hear that people are paying attention to defense. Bryant's effect isn't as great as the rest of the team playing better D.
Without ever playing a game, I am going to rank Bryant ahead of HMP. Except for the occasional block, I rarely saw HMP play good defense. He reacted slow and was terrible at anticipating what the offense was going to do. He must have ignored every scouting report.
The majority sure. There was a surprising number that thought Carroll was going to be a stud and underestimated Zeller's ability.
You make a good point about the motivation to play better defense. I think that was only part of the issue with this IU team last year. Increased desire to play defense needs to be coupled with better "team defense". In other words, there are teaching points about how to apply that motivation that might be lost on IU's coach. Kids out of position, or lack of help on drives, misunderstanding the opponent's play and making the wrong decisions about guarding an individual player all factor into playing better defense. Those are coaching points. Me personally, I will take a wait and see attitude about IU playing better defense.
As for Carroll, he was a good kid, but never met the expectations of many. Every fan has in his mind what a player "could become", and that same fan will often ignore what the player is reallistically capable of becoming, which is often less. It is hard to look at the kids who committ to your school and not see them as better than they really are. It happens to all of us. We bet on the "hope" and not on the "real".
Adding Bryant will help "team defense" right from the get go. But yes, our players do individually need to buy into playing better defense. I do think it'll happen given the feedback some received along with having someone bigger than 6'6 in the post.
The whole comment on "how to apply motivation might be lost on IU's coach" is a load of crap...
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As scary as this sounds, I do agree with you (that might be a first!) that Bryant will be a better defender than either the 6'6" guy or HMP. HMP was not very well coached in fundamentals. That happened before he came to IU, and IMHO, Crean and his staff did little to improve his skills. In theory, a 3-year player should be better than a freshman. HMP had good physical skills. Bryant will come in the door with better fundamentals and more basketball IQ.
Better defensive teams force their will on the other team. They force the ball to go to certain players, or they force their opponent into taking certain shots. Of course "forcing" is not always 100% acheived, but you get the idea. It is more than 1-on-1 guarding of your player. They play a "team defense". I think IU will have shorn up their primary defensive weakness in the center. However, I still have doubts that IU will play an over-all better team defense. Maybe they can improve just enough that their offensive power can overcome the defensive weakness. I think that is the best you can hope for.
Again, more nonsense from you. How do you know HMP wasn't well coached in fundamentals? You have no clue and again just throw out random, baseless comments. Clearly HMP lacked some of the basketball IQ and fundamentals that other players around the B10 have. I know it was a big focus for him (as simple as just catching the ball) but he just struggled with those little things. I know he focused on a lot of the little things, but it just never seemed to stick with HMP. That doesn't mean coaches (both in college and prior) didn't do a good job of teaching, maybe it was just hard for the kid. As bad as he was last year at times, he still got better from when he came into IU. He missed a ton of playing time over his career which I believe really hurt his development.As scary as this sounds, I do agree with you (that might be a first!) that Bryant will be a better defender than either the 6'6" guy or HMP. HMP was not very well coached in fundamentals. That happened before he came to IU, and IMHO, Crean and his staff did little to improve his skills. In theory, a 3-year player should be better than a freshman. HMP had good physical skills. Bryant will come in the door with better fundamentals and more basketball IQ.
Better defensive teams force their will on the other team. They force the ball to go to certain players, or they force their opponent into taking certain shots. Of course "forcing" is not always 100% acheived, but you get the idea. It is more than 1-on-1 guarding of your player. They play a "team defense". I think IU will have shorn up their primary defensive weakness in the center. However, I still have doubts that IU will play an over-all better team defense. Maybe they can improve just enough that their offensive power can overcome the defensive weakness. I think that is the best you can hope for.
As for better team defense, I think we'll be a good amount better than Creans average (adj team defense) since he's been at IU. I think we'll be more improved than you think and also think your comment about our offense will play into it as well. Meaning we're not going to have a top 50 type defense, but our offense should be efficient enough to overcome that.
Part of the issue is the balance between sending your guards to crash the boards and also needing to get back quickly on defense. With weak post play, we depended on JBJ and the other guards to crash the board instead of protecting the backcourt. Too many times we had 5 players below the free throw line extended.
A better post presence helps relieve the pressure you put on the guards to rebound. HMP was not a good rebounder despite his athletic ability. He was no better at positioning for a rebound than he was in defensive position
Hey come on! Wilson has actually done a pretty good job for IU. He seems to have us getting better each year.
Tough to catch fish without using bait. You'll find few Purdue faithful that will try to argue with your statement. Hell we're probably one of the 10 worst teams in the country.
I will enjoy driving to that miserable hole in W. Lafayette in November and watching Indiana beat Purdue for the third consecutive year.
Enjoy it. You sure as shit won't beat us in basketball this year, so you better enjoy it while you can.
Yeah, I don't see Purdue coming away with another win in Bloomington this year. Put the Kool-aid down man. It's making you post nonsense....
I will enjoy it and I'll also take that basketball action NancyMan.
There is only one game this year and it is in Bloomington...which makes me happy because I won't have to go up to Mackey and have an obstructed view seat due to the Helms championship banner wafting in my line of sight.
Tangentially, what does "sure as shit" literally mean?
Thanks.
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I just wanted to respond to scouts nonsense post with a little of my own. You don't have to tell us how sad our football program has gotten. When you compete with IU in football you know you're bad.
Take it. Just like I'll take yours for football. Just like the game will be in Ross Ade this year and not in Bloomington like it's been the last two years.
Plus without you're best defensive player selling meth to the rest of your team this year, I'm sure your intensity and energy levels will be down this season.
I thought it was heroin? At any rate, it should be offset by Gelen Robinson's DUI so it's probably a wash.
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