Comments on: Hoosiers hand Buckeyes first home conference loss

By: Jerry

Jerry — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:18:03 +0000

As for 3-0 in the next games I would settle for 2-1( the 1 NOT being Purdue ) IF we can continue to improve on the things folks have all been talking about because:

Principle #1: the goal of college B-ball is to deep into March

Principle #2: The purpose of the reg season is to develop the ability to achieve Principle #1

I want Gordon and Crawford to drive and dish like Bassett and Ellis tend to do, start the offense like I see in the ACC w/o standing and staring , tighten the zone and develop a serious trap out of it, play with high and continuous intensity for 40 minutes…………………………………..thats all

By: IndianaJoe

IndianaJoe — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:09:57 +0000

They did get good looks, but who got the good looks. Their best 3 point shooter is Butler, and I don't think he got a good look all game. I think the only time we are going to get hurt in the zone is when someone like McCamey from Illinois. Someone that's under the radar in our matchup zone. I'd let Lighty and Turner shoot open 3's all day until they start hitting them.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:18:03 +0000

As for 3-0 in the next games I would settle for 2-1( the 1 NOT being Purdue ) IF we can continue to improve on the things folks have all been talking about because:

Principle #1: the goal of college B-ball is to deep into March

Principle #2: The purpose of the reg season is to develop the ability to achieve Principle #1

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:09:57 +0000

By: tacojohn

tacojohn — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:39:09 +0000

Pretty sure they never played together. Armon left and Jordan replaced him at Hargrave.

By: tacojohn

tacojohn — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:37:16 +0000

I still have a huge love hate relationship with TUO. When he understands his role and grabs lose balls, keeps the offense moving, and hits open shots, he's a tremendous asset.

Then he decides to fire up a defended NBA three with 20 seconds left on the shot clock late in a close game. And you just want to pull your hair out.

By: T

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:02:07 +0000

It's really tough to win two conference games in four games, great work by Indiana this week.

Wednesday's game is BIG. Wisconsin is tough, and have those two good big men that can cause problems for Indiana. IU needs to be hungry for 40 minutes otherwise they'll suffer the same fate they did the first time the teams met.

By: kelin

kelin — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:22:29 +0000

Here I go…KS has made some adjustments that seem to be for the better….lest we forget Jordan and Armon played together at prep school so they have a good feel for each other…I think Jordan plays better with Armon on the court, he seems more comfortable……Ellis at the 4, is a good move. We won't see too many UCONN type of teams so we can get away with it….

The ZONE, has done wonders for our defense and keeps DJ safe. I think we have defended better in it…can we continue to make it our core D…we will see….thus far it has work so I will give KS and the gang some credit….

I think we can go 3-0 in these next 3 games…..we OWE wisconsin something and this could be our signature win finally….

By: MikeyD

MikeyD — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:03:00 +0000

and puts him further out the court for fast break opps.

By: peaychris

peaychris — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:41:33 +0000

i HATED crawford in the begining but i LOVE him for the last few game. ok i know he took some bad shots, but he is a legitimate threat to score and besides the EJ DJ show they need someone else!
i hate it when taber and stemler are in together though cause it really limits us on offense besides the fact there must be a law against having 2 white guys on the floor at once…

By: Disco Briscoe

Disco Briscoe — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:10:24 +0000

Playing Ellis at the "4" is the best line up. Our 4's dont play on the block and arent very good against any kind of competition. Lets put the best 5 out there. OSU should have attacked the left wing with Tabar out there. It's great to have "hustle" guys out there but if they arent atheltic that hustle doesnt really account to much. Too many times it looks like we are playing down a man.

I think Gordon's driving has been a little scary lately and I hope it relates to the wrist. Offensive fouls, jumping in the air with no where to go with the ball. I expect it from Crawford but EJ has to get that under control.

DJ is the man and we need to stay in the zone to keep teams from going at him, getting him in foul trouble.

By: Sherron Wilkerson

Sherron Wilkerson — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:13:21 +0000

Zone or no zone, whatever works, you cant use the same D against every team unless your just a bad-ass defensive squad. I love Basset, Crawford, Gordon,Ellis and White. Its the line-up I've used on NCAA 2K8 all season.

By: Hoosier_Hound

Hoosier_Hound — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:30:12 +0000

I disagree, while I think that Gordon probably is better at the top of the zone, that's not our best zone d lineup. In my opinion we are best on defense in this 2-3 zone with these players.

Bassett – Crawford
Gordon – White – Stemler

I especially love Crawford and Bassett at the top where they seem to be totally in sync.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:15:37 +0000

ABout the zone possibilities? Check out the Providence vs UCONN score at UCONN. When you do you might decide to love the zone against some teams

By: tacojohn

tacojohn — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:13:38 +0000

I don't like Gordon in the corner, I think he's better up top where his speed and strength is better at stopping penetration, while he tends to lose shooters more in the corner.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:13:36 +0000

I began to call for a zone 2 games before UCONN due to matchup issues that were showing up . Now I like it even better though we are not yet good enough in it either.

As far as lineup I agree with yuo except that now that we zone more then I play McGee some serious minutes becasue he can hit shots when and if Gordon and Crawford decide to kick.

AND lets face it we need our offense to win games since our defense cannot

By: tacojohn

tacojohn — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:12:40 +0000

It was poor, but it was even. They just let the two teams kill each other down low. It's a little surprising though that we had so many boards and so many points in the paint but didn't shoot a free throw until late in the second half.

By: HoosierSmitty

HoosierSmitty — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:58:51 +0000

Excellent points and very true about “having to hate” the zone as an IU fan…but if it works, it works

Crawford made some nice plays today. I loved his stat line.

By: Hoosier_Hound

Hoosier_Hound — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:36:44 +0000

As an Indiana fan, I am partly bound to hate zone defense, and I do. But I think I finally figured out why playing this 2-3 is such a strength for this team. My reasons:

1. Most of the team is not very good at man-to-man, Ellis and Crawford are especially notable at their poor defense. But the zone hides that, and I actually believe Crawford excels at defense in this zone.
2. It keeps everyone out of foul trouble, only 10 team fouls today. Plus, we saw how important that was on Thursday in a 50 minute game with no one fouling out.
3. The zone partly angers me because we are waving the white flag on defense. But it does give us a better chance to win the game. It forces the other team to try and keep up with our shooters, which on most nights no team in the conference can do. As we saw today, OSU went dead cold down the stretch, chucking several air balls.
4. It keeps everyone from tiring out. DJ played 48 minutes Thursday and 40 minutes today and Gordon, Ellis, and Bassett also log very heavy minutes.
5. It makes the game less physical. If there is not a lot of contact on one end, the refs are more likely to call fouls when there is on the other. This definitely played a role at Illinois and favors IU and their ability to make free throws as they go against several really tough man-to-man teams in the conference. On the two-sided coin it causes the entire game to be more open, which also favors IU as we saw today with the flowing offense from the Hoosiers.

So despite my love of tough man-to-man and my general dislike of zone, I am embracing it this season. Hopefully it will continue to carry the Hoosiers a long way.

By: HoosierSmitty

HoosierSmitty — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:25:34 +0000

A few issues with the 2-3 zone.

OSU did not shoot the ball great from 3, and they did have plenty of open looks. Better teams are going to knock those shots down, so we have to recover much faster and not get lazy while in a zone. We were active today for the most part, so I was pretty happy.

The second issue is finding someone to box out, but we have handled that pretty well so far.

Otherwise, I think it can be a successful strategy for teams that we can't match up with man-to-man.