The 2013-2014 season got underway with Indiana's annual tip-off event - Hoosier Hysteria - Friday night in Assembly Hall. Here’s a look at five takeaways from Indiana's first public practice: · The youth must come through: Yes, Will Sheehey and Yogi Ferrell both return and played starter's minutes a season ago. And Evan Gordon arrives as a graduate senior with plenty of experience after stops at Liberty and Arizona State. But the reality beyond that is this: Indiana is very thin on experience. The Hoosiers have six freshman and three of their returning sophomores have played limited minutes. Peter Jurkin and Hanner Mosquera-Perea barely played a season ago and Jeremy Hollowell, who will be counted to shoulder a much bigger role, only averaged 9.7 minutes per game as a freshman. There will be bumps in the road early for this team, but the young talent is there to mold into a tough out come March. · Injuries aren't a major concern, yet: It wasn't a surprise that Troy Williams and Luke Fischer were held out of Hoosier Hysteria. Williams is nearly back from a right hand injury and Fischer, who's had tough luck all offseason in terms of staying healthy, is battling a shoulder injury that will keep him out a few more weeks. What we didn't know is that Noah Vonleh is out with a mild ankle injury, which kept him out of the scrimmage portion of last night's festivities. And then late in the scrimmage, Stanford Robinson went down with what Tom Crean described as a knee bruise. None of these injuries figure to linger on long enough to force anyone to miss significant time, but Indiana needs to get all four players back sooner rather than later with the season opener just over four weeks away.
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Add Stanford Robinson and Noah Vonleh to the list of injured Indiana Hoosiers. In the waning seconds of Friday night's scrimmage at Hoosier Hysteria, Robinson went down, clutched his knee and limped off the court after a collision in the paint. Indiana coach Tom Crean said after the scrimmage that early word is Robinson has a bruised knee. "I say that hopefully. I say that as what was said in there," Crean said. "It looked like everything was intact and I hope that's what it continues to be. Dr. (Steve) Ahfeld was on it right away. "He was in a lot of pain, but I mean, those hurt like that. Hopefully everything will be good there. We don't need any more guys missing time that are gonna play." After competing in the 3-point contest earlier in the evening, Vonleh sat during the scrimmage. Crean said that Vonleh hurt his ankle during a practice on Wednesday and held him out of the scrimmage as a precaution.
Check out 35 photos by Jamie Owens from Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria at Assembly Hall in the embedded photo gallery after the jump. Purchase prints from J. Scott Sports.
Tom Crean and Yogi Ferrell met with the media following Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria at Assembly Hall. Watch and listen to their reaction in the embedded media players below:
Sophomores Yogi Ferrell and Hanner Mosquera-Perea were among the standouts in Friday's Hoosier Hysteria dunk and 3-point shooting contests. Ferrell made 30 of 50 shots over the course of two rounds to capture the 3-point contest and Mosquera-Perea finished as the runner-up in the dunk contest to Devin Davis due to scoring in the finals, but had the better performance of the two overall.
In a televised announcement on ESPNU, class of 2014 forward-center Goodluck Okonoboh announced his commitment to UNLV. Okonoboh, the No. 24 prospect in the 247Composite, also considered Duke, Florida, Indiana and Ohio State. The Wilbraham and Monson Academy (Mass.) took ...
With Hoosier Hysteria set to tip off the 2013-2014 season on Friday night, Indiana released final details on the season-opening event via a press release on Thursday. Here is the full release: The 2013-14 college basketball season begins when Indiana ...
Wednesday night, Indiana coach Tom Crean gave his annual "State of the Hoosier Nation" address to an assembled crowd of about 500 people at the IU Auditorium. During the speech, he spoke in depth about this season's roster, and selected thoughts about each player are gathered below: Will Sheehey "Will Sheehey has had an up-and-down offseason because he has had a couple different injuries. He's still coming back, but he had his first full practice yesterday. He's still trying to come back from a groin injury and put himself in position. Today was a Will Sheehey level practice. The leadership was strong. He was very active. Will Sheehey is one of the most gifted, smartest players that I've ever been around in my entire life. Will Sheehey is the kind of person that he understands what it takes. He understands how to win. He understands what's going on on the floor. He's a tremendous teacher for somebody that's his age of helping his teammates." Evan Gordon "He's got to come in here and he's got to see his game go to another level. He's got to see his game rise on both sides of the court — offensively and defensively — and see that leadership rise. He's got to get out of whatever comfort zone has been acceptable for him — because he works hard, now — and step above and beyond that. He's got to bring a pitbull, junkyard dog mentality daily. He's got to take people with him. And that's one of the biggest things that will show: is he going to have that kind of year? Here's a guy that's a great young man. He works hard, comes from a great family, spends a lot of time at the game. But he can do more."
Tonight during halftime of an ESPNU college football broadcast Indiana, Ohio State and UNLV will learn where class of 2014 forward Goodluck Okonoboh will play next season. Okonoboh, a senior at Wilbraham and Monson Academy in Massachusetts, will announce his intentions a little after 9:00 p.m. ET (assuming the first half of the Louisiana-Monroe and Western Kentucky first half doesn't run long) from a studio in Bristol, Connecticut. Here’s our primer for the announcement with everything you need to know: The Essentials Forward/Center, 6-9, 220-pounds, Wilbraham & Monson Academy (MA), Mass Rivals 247Composite: 4-star (24); ESPN: 5-star (21); Rivals: 4-star (32); Scout: 4-star (37) Schools: Duke, Florida, Indiana, Ohio State, UNLV Official visits: Indiana, Ohio State, UNLV
With the start of college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next month. Today, we look at freshman Noah Vonleh. For the third ...
Wednesday night, Indiana coach Tom Crean spoke for more than an hour to an assembled crowd at the IU Auditorium for his annual “State of the Hoosier Nation” address. Below is audio from Crean’s entire speech, including his thoughts on ...
With the start of college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next month. Today, we look at freshman Devin Davis. Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria ...
The Inside the Hall Mailbag is a collection of questions tweeted to us via Twitter (@insidethehall) and sent to us via our Facebook page. Submit your questions and we’ll answer as many as we can. Aaron Miller writes: Hey guys, love the site and appreciate all your hard work. I wanted to get your take on the attitude of this year's team compared to last year's. I absolutely loved Hulls, Watford, Zeller and Oladipo leading last year's team and they will all be revered as all-time great Hoosiers, but did you ever get the feeling that they were almost too nice? All four were very stoic during games, and it occurred to me that the more aggressive and outspoken attitudes of this year's leaders, Sheehey and Yogi, could bring a beneficial edge to the entire unit. Thoughts? Thanks for the question. I don't agree that the four players you mentioned were stoic, but maybe some perceived it that way because of on court personalities. All four were intense competitors who really helped transform the program's culture back into one of winning. Their body language might have been different from a guy like Will Sheehey, but it's not fair to say that Cody Zeller was stoic just because he was quiet at times on the court. That's just his personality. I just don't buy the narrative that any of the four guys you mentioned could be considered "too nice."
With the start of college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next month. Today, we look at freshman Stanford Robinson. Following the departures of Victor Oladipo, Remy Abell and Maurice Creek this past offseason, Indiana has been left thin at shooting guard. Along with it, 77 percent of the Hoosiers' 3-point production from 2012-2013 is gone. Enter freshman Stanford Robinson, a 6-foot-4 Landover, Md., native, who is the Hoosiers' only scholarship player at the position this year. What that means is that Robinson could get on the court early as an Indiana Hoosier, filling a void left by those multiple departures.
While fellow freshman Noah Vonleh possesses the most basketball talent out of the freshman class, it's Troy Williams high-flying, energetic style of play that might endear him most to Indiana fans. There is a youthful exuberance to Williams' game; he makes it all look so fun. (This is a kid, after all, who has proclaimed he's still trying to give the dunk contest a go despite a right hand injury.) Williams' pedigree and accolades are well-known at this point. The Virginia native played AAU ball for his uncle, Boo Williams. He was named Gatorade Player of the Year in Virginia and spent his senior season playing for Oak Hill Academy, a program that's pumped out NBA talent like Carmelo Anthony and Rajon Rondo. A stat stuffer, he averaged 16.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 blocks during the regular season. More recently, Williams picked up MVP honors at the Derby Festival Basketball Classic.