Smith could not shoot. No 3pt shot. Poor FT shooter. No post moves. Only a weak floater or a dunk in transition. No ball handling ability. Weak with the ball inside, lost the ball going up to the rim. Played D but got burned on the perimeter and off ball when his focus and motor waned and was inconsistent. A lot like Eastern of Purdue. No shooting ability. But without the physical edge and energy that Eastern brought. Daddy Smith and Mommy Eastern both were negative tweeters about how their sons were NBA material, when neither were. Just a bad fit on an Archie coached team. This is a gift honestly, to not have to wait 4 years for all of the disgruntled former Crean recruits to move on. This is Archie's team now. NO excuses. Team Chemistry should be much improved. Just win.
Look for Smith to go to the G-League and get paid! There is nothing more he can get out of College basketball.
Not a huge loss if he was disgruntled.
It’s a loss but how big a loss depends on the development of Hunter and Geronimo. The silver lining is these guys will get more minutes and may turn out better to be better options than Smith.
Judging by his dad's tweets, his verbal fights with other players, and his nonchalant play at times I would guess he's been disgruntled (at least to some extent) for awhile. I feel like there's also been rumors of him transferring pretty much every offseason since he's been here. I could be wrong though.
Loyola of Chicago?
What's Archie going to say about his own player going into the season? That he sucks? That he can't lead?
This will probably hurt IU early in the season. He likely would've remained a starter at the beginning of the season.
You just described why Indiana will never be a elite basketball school again, IU used to be a basketball institution where an education was taught! Don’t take me wrong, he should have been ran off 2 years ago!
"Stole an education"? That education was his "payment" for play the last 3 years. He "stole" nothing.
Maybe Archie did plan for Smith's transfer. Hunter, he continues to improve, should be able to replace him quite well. Smith is a role player, he will never be a star. I never saw him as a great defensive player. I don't know what game it was but, the player he was guarding just right blew past him. I remember the color commentator for the game saying, "That is inexcusable, that should never happen to a third year player." The replay probably made it look worse than it was, but it looked really bad. Heck, other teams lose players like Smith and do well without them. I guess it will tell us a little about Archie's coaching ability.
Weeeellllllllllll... if the first 3 non-tournament Archie-years are any indication...which they are...hang on to your hat!
We shall see. I'm as unhappy with our progress as everyone else. But, I do think the guy knows what he's doing. Hopefully, he won't prove me wrong. If he does...well, one thing I do know, none of the cheaters will come here, IU will squeal on them! I don't whose left after that.
Well, that sucks. Hurts our depth up front. Though he isn’t a great player, he was a solid defender and rebounder and always did a good job with cleanup buckets. Wish he would have stayed. If we get another good player up front or stay healthy up front, it won’t be a big loss. Hopefully we will be fine.
