That’s really the issue with this team. Phinisee and Franklin are talented, intelligent players. 1 year from now, that’s probably a really good backcourt. Right now it is adequate. But the upperclassmen, are just bad. Al Durham plays as hard and committed as anyone on this team, but he’s just not Big Ten level starting guard. He’s the 4th or 5th guard on a really good team. Green, has plenty of talent but he just can’t get the Rucker park out of his system. We missed on so many good guards the last 2 years, that landing just one of them, would have made a difference. Carton, Terry, Quionnes, Bouknight, Lewis, Devoe, Akinjo. Just too many to name. We whiffed on some good scorers.
It’s the guards.
- Thread starter fkfootball
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Durham would be effective in short bursts from the bench, ala Remy Abell from our good team in 2012. But 30 mins a game just isn't workable. Not enough scoring, not enough D.
And yet, compared to Devonte Green, he is a breath of minty fresh air. He could be a solid D and 3 combo guard, but he thinks he's Bob Cousy. And Archie's "take the reigns off and live with the consequences" experiment has been a failure. And I think that's a knock on Miller.
Hopefully our recruits next year can contribute like Franklin has.
And yet, compared to Devonte Green, he is a breath of minty fresh air. He could be a solid D and 3 combo guard, but he thinks he's Bob Cousy. And Archie's "take the reigns off and live with the consequences" experiment has been a failure. And I think that's a knock on Miller.
Hopefully our recruits next year can contribute like Franklin has.
Durham had two wide open 3s in a row in the right corner and about 3 seconds to get a shot off, and neither shot was even on line. Crean really stopped valuing shooting for some reason.
Remy Abell was far better than Durham though.
Again, I don't want to get too far into ripping a kid up but looking at this game, the wide open three and barely drawing iron on two free throws at crunch time. Last week in the OSU game he had a couple unexplainable TO's down the stretch. He just seems to be in over his head in really big moments. He reminds me somewhat of VJ III. Maybe he'll rise to the occasion in his senior year.
This group of four guards would look much better if you could swap Green for another Franklin. Franklin plays solid defense, moves the ball, and rebounds. He contributes to the team. Green plays in a vacuum, which doesn’t help anyone. Any player in division one can create the shots he is taking. The problem is that he doesn’t make them at a high enough rate, and he brings nothing else to the game. All we can do is hope he catches fire at the right times this year.
Both of our Team Captains (AD & DG) need to come off the bench. Al's on the ball defense is horrific.
One of the problems is that we don't have that Alpha Type Guard who can take over control of the game in the final minutes and control the game or assure that the Offense can run effectively through him, and get the ball to the right people at the right time. In other words a guy you can trust with control of the team who can make the rest of the players better.
Green and Durham are too erratic and inconsistent to be "that guy".
Phinisee could be that guy, but I get the feeling that he is still trying to find his game after the injury problems, and he may be too quiet to fit that role.
Franklin as the youngest guy in the Group isn't ready to assert himself in that role, but I can live with him on the floor during crunch time even with the mistakes of inexperience.
Green and Durham are too erratic and inconsistent to be "that guy".
Phinisee could be that guy, but I get the feeling that he is still trying to find his game after the injury problems, and he may be too quiet to fit that role.
Franklin as the youngest guy in the Group isn't ready to assert himself in that role, but I can live with him on the floor during crunch time even with the mistakes of inexperience.
So I was looking at some comments on an IUBB Facebook page last night. One of the comments said "when Green is in the game, it's like the three point line is an underground electric dog fence the the ball cannot cross.
Yep. Too bad AD and DG haven’t worked out better. They have improved, just not enough. We certainly need a couple better guards on this team. I really hope we get 1 or 2 very good players out of the incoming kids.
Crean might have missed on Al. He probably thought Al could shoot or would become one. You can say this about Crean. He was all about the O. Play faster was his motto. He could care less about D. I love Crean as a man. He was honest at IU and brought us out of the abyss left by Calvin Samscum, but his D was atrocious.
Galloway and Leal are on the way as guards.
Galloway has high BB IQ, plays hard on both ends of the court, and brings toughness and leadership.
I agree, Crean did not have sanctions.
Talking X and O's coaching, Sampson was far better than Crean.
He just should not have been hired by IU with the phone calls sanctions baggage from Oklahoma, even though his phone calls now are perfectly legal by NCAA rules.
And Geronimo brings elite athleticism combined with good skill level.
You and I are in agreement. I can't call him by his name because he has never apologized to us. He should have. But his team yesterday beat a ranked team. No doubt he is a very good coach.
Durham has definitely struggled this year, I really expected more after the improvements last year.
If you’ve seen them play, none are likely to make an immediate or significant impact. Nice players, and a couple are decent spot up shooters, but you should tap the brakes as far as what they can do next year.
I really haven't seen improvement in either. I think Al fooled us with lesser competition early. Green is the same. Wish they had improved.
Really like Phin & Franklin. Phin needs health and Franklin minutes....
Hunter showed some signs that he can contribute.... hope that is true.
Thanks. I do not get to see any high school basketball. I am also always interested in forum thoughts.
Galloway is a very solid defensive player and fundamental offensive player who sees the floor well with the ball in his hands. Galloway plays with a high energy level, and with a strong competitive purpose to win. Galloway leads by example and by his encouraging words in the huddle. Leal has good spring and bounce to his legs and his jump shot and shot release is very consistent. Leal plays the game with emotion.
I think Galloway is probably the more likely of the two to have any early impact, but neither will be impactful with the ball in their hands. They aren’t going to be those kinds of players at the major college level.
Only Phinisee has a decent handle. The other 3 are very sloppy with the rock. The shot mechanics for Phinisee and Franklin are pretty good. Durham and Green....I don’t know why it’s never been addressed.
Passing gets sloppy way too often. Rarely good ball, shot, pass fakes.
Do guards today overplay the ball handler’s strong hand anymore? Our on ball guarding seems straight up.
Passing gets sloppy way too often. Rarely good ball, shot, pass fakes.
Do guards today overplay the ball handler’s strong hand anymore? Our on ball guarding seems straight up.
Yeah, see a lot of good things in RP and AF. Hunter has shown some goods thing as well, and finally knocked down a couple 3s. He’s long and has a high upside. I could see him really good next year.
I agree that Armaan and Rob are the better competitors in Big play. Armaan has been competitive all year and is a good defender. We need a healthy Rob to run point most of the game and if that happens IU can be good. Two more guards coming in next year should help too but the biggest thing is getting Rob healthy.
To be fair Durham has improved. His numbers are a lot better this year than last year. It’s not saying a lot, considering he wasn’t that good last year, but he has improved offensively. He has been a disappoint defensively.
I personally think the biggest issue has been Phin. He hasn’t improved from last year (his to% is bad for a point guard). He’s also made a lot more silly passes this year. Hopefully, it’s the injury that is slowing him down.
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I also have felt RP was better as a freshman than now. Could be injuries. We really need a jump for junior year. I have been surprised by AF. Only way to make a team jump next year is for the players to jump and frosh to surprise.
Someone said or suggested RP had a hernia, and if you saw him sit down on the bench in the 2nd half, he was really wincing. That would seem to make sense, and I know they can linger, as his seems to be, but I don't know much about the treatment or recovery... or if he can damage it further by playing.
Several things I've noticed about Al:
--Does he ever hit a big shot? So many times in the last two years he's had wide open 3s to either salt a game away or get us back in the game. It sure seems to me he almost never hits those kind of shots......with the exception of FTs. Until the Nebraska game, he's generally hit his FTs when it counted.
--In his 1st year especially, and sometimes last year, it looks like the ball has sometimes just come off his shooting hand incorrectly.....left or right. It looks like it just slides off instead of coming off cleanly......as soon as he shoots it, you can tell its mis-directed. I hadn't noticed that much this year until Nebraska. One of his late 3 attempts and both FTs were immediately off coming off his hand.
--He took another horrific off-balance 8 footer in the lane late in the NEB game. He takes as many hopeless shots as DG....in fact more hopeless because DG can pull some of those out his ass and Al can't.
Concerning shot fakes.......Phin and Green utilize them sometimes....never see Al use them. Also, on his drives If he would just stop and let his defender fly past him occasionally he wouldn't be forced into so many off-balance contested shots. He could either get an open shot or pass the ball out.
Al continually reminds me of VJ3, particularly when he drives to the rim somewhat out of control, crashing to the floor and looking back to see what happened to the ball.
I don't think many people will debate that. Unfortunately for KS, his other issues far outweighed his coaching ability.
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