The one part of Will that I hope rubs off on the entire team is the confidence he has had since day 1 at IU. He will be a pro.

The mid range jumper is the key to Will’s success offensively. He is very athletic and has a good first step. He has proven he can finish at the rim when he beats his man and he has a good 3 point shot. Those pull up 15 foot jumpers will make him an all aound threat on offense. There is just nothing not to like about this kid. If anyone can play their way into the NBA, it is WS. All aspects of his game are solid. Would love to see Remy grow like WS and VO.

I love the fire that Will plays with. He brings intensity to the court and his energy is contagious. Amazing to think just about every coach passed up on him.

There is a reason I am watching college football on my couch right now instead of coaching college basketball on a court. How-evuh…

It sure seems to me our best starting line-up is Cody @ #5, Christian @ #4, Victor/Will @ the #2/#3, and Jordan @ #1.

Offensively, there is no question in my mind that’s our most potent line-up. If we are going to start relying more heavily on the pick-and-roll w/ Cody now, Jordan is the best guard to initiate it.

Defensively, maybe there are teams who are so quick #1-#3 that Jordan is just too much a liability (though he will be stronger, quicker, and savvier this year). There will also be teams who are so tall #1-#3 that Yogi will be a liability (Bo Ryan, for example, will look to post him up as a primary option).

The other issue and one too overlooked is that Jordan and Victor are our two best off-ball defenders in the back-court (ranking #1 and #2 among guards in steals per minute), when I would argue off-man and weak-side defense are our bigger systemic problem. Jordan’s strengths in this regard became even more significant as Crean began to move him off defending the opponent’s point guard at the end of the year.

Oh, and Jordan fouled at the lowest rate among our starters, as well, which remained a weakness last year (IU ranked 130th), even if much improved compared to Crean’s first years.

Again, there will be the occasional team like VCU that provides a total mismatch, just as will be true for all our players except Cody. But in the other two games in the tournament, the kid scored 34 points, accounted for 4 steals, and dished out 12 assists against one single turnover.

And he just might be the best shooter in all of college basketball.

Not least, as everyone acknowledges, Jordan is the unquestioned leader of the team.

Experience counts in college basketball. Jordan’s experience is not the kind I’d want on the bench. Nor is Victor’s, Will’s, Christian’s, and Cody’s.

Doesn’t Sheehey look more muscular than he did last year? Yet his listed weight is the same as last year.

I completely agree with most of these points, however, I think you are overlooking the improvement that a player like Yogi Ferrell adds in the passing department. While Jordan proved himself an adequate passer last year, Yogi shows the potential to be one of the better passers in the Big Ten in just his freshman year. I think we need to tap into that passing potential to better get the ball to Victor cutting to the basket or Cody posting up.

Personally, I like the idea of taking the ball out of Jordan’s hands (maybe not right away, but as Yogi adjusts to the college game, we should move towards this) and letting Yogi take over the distributor role. My ideal starting line-up once we enter March is:
Cody
Watford
Oladipo
Jordan
Yogi
With Sheehey being an energy man who comes off the bench (similar to Manu Ginobili or James Harden in the NBA)
The biggest strength of our team this year is our incredible depth. Minute distribution will be the hardest thing for Crean to do in regards to this season (but that’s a pretty great problem to have).

Watching Will and all that he brings I can’t help but think about Devin Davis and the relationship he and Will could develop. They are similar in how they go about things, hard-nosed, athletic, etc. If Will is willing to take Devin under his wing we’ll all be better off for it.

He probably lost some fat and gained some muscle.