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Musing

rikki-tikka-tava

All-American
Jul 17, 2002
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Montana State maybe not a great 'barometer' but better than nothing. Mildly disturbing that IU managed only a dozen points the last ten minutes of the game, defense stayed strong but expected something a bit more coherent and efficient offensively even with main rotation on the bench. Maybe better to focus on the first half...

Starters: Juwan has such a solid all-around game. Strong, tough, great hands, steady and smart with the ball, no wasted motion - only thing I haven't seen from him is the reported improvement on range from deep.

Justin playing very efficiently and within himself but suspect nowhere near his ceiling.

Zach appears to reliably be more of everything we wanted out of Hartman and a far better defender.

Romeo is going to be a great team player. Good court vision, handle, length, not stellar from range as yet but playing like a hybrid point/small forward.

Phinisee. Exceeding expectations on all counts.

Second unit: Evan is pretty solid as well but not as good keeping his man in front of him, defense probably why he hasn't cracked the starting line-up.

De'Ron still at a at the 'lumbering' stage and looks heavy but encouraged that he's playing and expect he'll improve steadily.

Aljami. IU's 'sleeper'. Little wild last night but expect him to be huge going forward.

Devonte. IU's 'enigma'. Better last night, didn't seem to be looking to score but needs to score and bring his 'A' game for IU to get to the next level.

Damezi. Solid if tentative to this point but presumably only going to get better.

That's ten deep and the main rotation at this point. Range from deep looking sketchy and FT shooting just shy of abysmal. Ball movement looking crisp, but not sure where it's supposed to be leading. Apart from Romeo, not much backcourt penetration or inside-outside movement on display, if anybody can shed some light on the offensive strategy Archie is trying to employ to go along with packline-D would be obliged.

Seemed to be a distinct drop in performance once substitutions began in earnest away from starting rotation. To be expected but didn't expect it to be so dramatic nor that the last ten minutes would be quite as ugly - film study this week going to be just chock full of 'teachable moments'.

Not sure which combo performed best last night but the starting unit looked far better than anything IU put on the Court all of last year. Again, Marquette game should be revelatory on a number of levels, glad they have five days to prepare.
 
Pretty accurate so far.
Damezi can be even more effective as be gets more comfortable at the B1G level. One of the best perimeter shooters on this IU team, he is very important to IU's B1G season.
 
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