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Q & A: 2013 Cleveland Benedictine forward Mark Williams

by in Recruiting | October 18th, 2010

One of the new names to emerge on the IU recruiting radar from Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria was 2013 Cleveland Benedictine forward Mark Williams. The 6-7, 235-pound Williams spoke to Inside the Hall on Monday night about his experience at Hysteria and his interest in the IU program:

On his experience at Hoosier Hysteria

“The whole experience was great. The tradition speaks volumes. The fans were very involved and everybody loves basketball there. And that’s my love so that place and me, we get along well. The players are cool. It just was a great night. There was a lot of energy in that building.”

On how the visit to Bloomington came about

“Coach Tim Buckley came up to open gym. And then two days later, Coach Tom Crean came up. Coach Buckley came up last Monday and Coach Crean came up last Wednesday and then Friday I was down (to Bloomington).”

On his game and style of play

“I am a classic type player. I’m the type that will walk you down to the post, use jump hooks, a very fundamental type person. I recently developed a nice little jumper and have found my perimeter game expanding. I’m trying to be an all-around force.”

On the scholarship offer from Indiana

“Coach Crean did offer me. It’s a funny story because on Friday while my parents and I were talking to him, I guess he offered, but we were like uncertain, so my dad asked Coach Buckley, ‘did he offer us?’ And immediately, like no later than five minutes after, Coach Crean came up to my parents and I and was like, ‘yes, we definitely offered.’”

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2010-2011 Player Profile: Christian Watford

by in Commentary | October 18th, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS - MARCH 11: Guard Michael Thompson #22 of the Northwestern Wildcats defends against forward Christian Watford #2 of the Indiana Hoosiers during the first round of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 11, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)It’s time for Inside the Hall’s player-by-player breakdown of the 2010-2011 Indiana Hoosiers. Today: Christian Watford.

There was quite a bit to be encouraged with after watching Christian Watford’s freshman campaign in Bloomington.

On a team without a legitimate post threat, Watford was immediately called upon to produce in the paint and led the Hoosiers in rebounding at 6 per game. He was IU’s second leading scorer at 12 points per game, logged over 28 minutes a game and showed the ability to step out and knock down shots from the perimeter. And he was the team’s leading shot blocker and hit free throws at an 80 percent clip.

For his efforts, Watford was named to the Big Ten’s All-Freshman team and The Sporting News and FoxSports.com tabbed him as the league’s top freshman.

But for all of his successes, Watford struggled to score consistently (and with much efficiency) in the paint. The Birmingham native shot just 37.5 percent from the floor (36.3 percent in Big Ten play) and had difficulty finishing through contact against bigger, stronger opponents. Part of the problem was that Watford was playing, at times, out of position. And part of it was failing to implement creative ways to finish plays at the basket. By season’s end, Big Ten opponents seemed to have a beat on Watford’s book of post plays and blocked his shot with regularity.

The 2010-2011 season will be one of transition for the 6-9 sophomore forward as he makes the move from the four to the three.

Watford told Ryan in August at adidas Nations that two of his points of emphasis in the offseason were improving upon his strength and outside game. If he’s to blossom into the All-Big Ten caliber player that his talent suggests he’s capable of becoming, he’ll need continue using his size to exploit smaller defenders on the offensive side of the ball. Great players often find a way to make frequent trips to the free throw line and that’s an area Watford should continue to excel in. He wasn’t particularly great off the dribble as a freshman, but that’s another area of his game where he’s reportedly made strides.

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Transcript: Tom Crean at Hoosier Hysteria

by in Media | October 17th, 2010

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - DECEMBER 03:  Head coach Tom Crean of the Indiana Hoosiers yells to his team against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons during their game at Lawrence Joel Coliseum on December 3, 2008 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)IU head coach Tom Crean met with reporters following Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria at Assembly Hall. A complete transcript of Crean’s comments is available below:

Opening Statement

“The energy of the crowd was non-stop. It was just fantastic. I know our players and the whole program appreciates that when you come out there and see that. This is the last fun time of the year when they get to come out, there’s no real coaching going on. Not taking anything away from the honorary coaches, but we’d had a hour and forty minute workout before we came out. Maurice, we’re just going to go very, very careful with Maurice. He’s not injured, but he’s also not ready to go every day the way that we need to. We’ve been going pretty hard the last few days and we’ll go twice tomorrow and it’s just kind of where we’re at. We always take the last two hours that we get and we put those in at the end of the week right before we start practice because it’s so hard to go from a forty or sixty minute workout to now all of the sudden, you expect them to go a couple of hours. We’re going to try to be very moderate with him and at the same time, building our team.”

On the crowd’s first impression of Victor Oladipo

“I didn’t have any doubt that they’d fall in love with him quickly. He’s got a tremendous personality. We’re talking about a kid that there’s 380 young men in his school in Hyattsville, Maryland, he was one of ten people picked out of the whole school as a junior to go have lunch at the White House with the President. He’s got some special qualities and I think people will see that in him. I think the same thing with Will and with Guy. Those are three guys that have come in and set a standard for what young guys should look like with the way that they work on their bodies and the way that they should work on their games and certainly with what they’re doing academically. And Victor, I think the crowd got a chance to see some of that.”

On Matt Roth being ready to go

“I think he is. And he’s only been back a week because he had a concussion that he got trying to draw a charge in one of our four-on-four games and he missed two weeks. There’s a huge amount of confidence when he’s on the court and he gets that ball in his hands. He’s got range and I didn’t know Christian (Watford) had that kind of range, but then Christian’s legs left him quick, but Matt, he’s got a feel for it and he knows how to get open and I think he’s going to be a bigger part of what we do. When you sit there and you watch him shoot the ball you realize how much we missed him last year.”

On expectations for Guy-Marc Michel

“I just think improvement. He really wants it. He really, really wants to be good. And I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s going to get a lot better. He’s got a good feel, he’s got the jump hook and we want to continue to develop that. We’ve got to get him tighter in every area of his game with getting the ball below his knee on his crab dribble, sealing with his back side, not his back and continue getting him in shape. This is hard for those guys. We’ve had a very challenging preseason by design and it’s not like we’ve put a lot of offense in and it’s not like you can run any offense in this first one anyways. We expect a lot out of him and he expects a lot out of himself.”

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Video: More Hoosier Hysteria

by in Video | October 16th, 2010

A couple of more Hoosier Hysteria videos, courtesy of The Palestra and The Big Ten Network:

For three different Hoosiers, three different sets of expectations

by in Commentary | October 16th, 2010

BLOOMINGTON — They came, as they always do, from all over the state, to see 16 college-age basketball players. They found a recovering record-setter, a 95-percent star and a 7-foot-1 giant born closer to Brazil than to Bloomington.

Hoosier Hysteria — we’re going to refrain from calling it Midnight Madness, because as I type the first words in this column it is 11:15 — is so often defined by optimism and hope.

For Matt Roth, Guy-Marc Michel and Maurice Creek, Friday offered one combined stage to prove three individual things.

Much of the focus of IU basketball fans Friday, at least based on the enthusiasm behind the applause he got from the crowd, was on  Creek, and his left knee. Creek’s rehabilitation has been a popular topic in the offseason, and coming into this night’s festivities, all appeared on schedule. Tom Crean said afterward that’s where Indiana left it, as well.

“You don’t just pick up from where you left off. He’s still going through a very strenuous rehab,” Crean said afterward. “I just don’t want to rush it too quick for him.”

Creek came down the stairs of the south bleachers, through the students’ section, apparently favoring that left knee, if only slightly. During warm-ups and layup drills, while his teammates spun and moved nimbly with the ball, Creek often chose to shoot spot-up jumpers.

He did not participate in the scrimmage at the end of the night.

“Me coming back from a tough injury is perfect right now. I’m walking, shooting and working out in the gym,” Creek said, describing himself as “about 95 percent.”

“It’s gonna take some time to get to 100, but I feel real good about myself.”

Both coach and player were confident that Creek will be good to go once the season begins in just less than a month.

While Creek worked quietly, Matt Roth was trying to prove himself all over again. The best 3-point shooter in Illinois history came into last season hoping to show off improved athleticism and defense. Instead, he was saddled with a season-ending injury after just two games, and Friday night might have felt like something of a forgotten man.

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Hoosier Hysteria Video: Crean, Creek, Oladipo, Roth

by in Video | October 15th, 2010

Indiana coach Tom Crean and guards Maurice Creek, Victor Oladipo and Matt Roth met with the media following Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria:

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