You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home
Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson, Cascail
and Clavio. Here it is Sunday, October 29th.
I managed to flip jobs with Scott.
Scott had to do the Football Post Game Podcast, and I get to
talk about IU basketball this weekend.
So I finally feel like I won in the office assignments for
Crimson Cast this week. But we got a fun show coming up
here, our old friend Chronic Hoosier joining us to talk IU
basketball. The IU Indianapolis game just
finished like an hour ago, so we're going to give our hot
takes from that one and then talk about the setup of the
season as we move into it here. Looking forward to all of that.
But first, just a reminder folks, two things.
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fashion. All right, it is time to bring
in for the first time in about a year.
I think Chronic Hoosier joining us once again.
Always a pleasure, my friend. It's been too long.
How you doing? It's been entirely too long.
And I I got to say before we even start one thanks for having
me too. You don't even look at thousand
episodes old. But here we are.
What a pod that has grown up it's been.
It's been wild to a. To to watch the the the lifespan
of Crimson cast. Congratulations on on your
thousand pod milestone. It's just truly remarkable that
you have spent this long talking about not just IU sports but
particularly IU football. But that's not where we're here
today. But just a remarkable
achievement. I cannot cannot thank you guys
enough for all the content you've posted the conversations
we've shared together and as you mentioned it has been a minute
since I've been on. So it's glad to be, I'm glad to
be back with you. I appreciate all that.
Thank you. It's funny.
A couple of things. I'll pick up on that.
First of all, AI does wonders for how we look after 1000
episodes these days. So I'm just a Bing, you know,
simulation of Doctor GC at this stage as opposed to the actual
person. I feel like I'm in Tron
sometimes where like we've just kind of entered into the circuit
board. But I always this time of year,
I always remember that the first time I met you in person was via
Twitter when I was at a Hoosier Hysteria and I tweeted out
Where's Chronic Hoosier? It turned out Chronic Hoosier
was literally sitting in the next row in front of me, and we
sat there during Hoosier Hysteria and we watched D Marc
Michelle playing for IU. We never actually saw him put on
a uniform in the regular season, but that's been.
Stop them from getting one at Senior Dick.
That's a fairpoint. Yes, firmly in the always will
be an Indiana Hoosier family along with Josh Smith.
But what was that 13 years ago, I think, at this point?
It's been a minute ago. It's been a long minute ago.
I still remember sitting on your couch over on the North Side and
having a conversation with you and Scott and Matt Zimmerman.
And just remarking that you know you can meet people online and
you actually get together in in person, face to face and share
your misery of being IU football fans together and people tuned
in to listen. It was the easiest.
Thing in the world. What a, what a wonderful,
sadistic bunch we all are. So truly well, it's.
Been a wild ride it has been and it it's ongoing which I guess we
should be thankful for because I'd rather it was ongoing than
not at this point. So so let's dive in.
Indiana played an exhibition game today as they kind of
officially kick off the we're going to play other teams part
of the 20/23/24 season they take on the University of
Indianapolis really for most people the first chance that
they've gotten to see some of these new Hoosiers in action.
Pretty rough first half, which that has been kind of normal
around college basketball. If you read about some of these
exhibitions and some of these secret scrimmages that we've
seen. Kentucky struggled in their
first game, their first exhibition game.
We've seen a couple of other teams do that.
Indiana was not spared that. They really struggled in the
first half. They end up really pouring it on
in the second-half and kind of found themselves offensively.
Defensively, really played well, I think in both halves.
Overall, I know that you didn't get a chance to watch the whole
thing, but just from what you've seen statistically and what you
did get to see with the game, what stuck out to you, I guess
first and foremost? Well, I I did get to watch all
of it. I I maybe I was incomplete.
I spent most of it fumbling with a laptop while watching the BTN
broadcast being Chromecast on my my 75 inch.
So kudos to the Kudos to Zion and Austin.
For tremendous broadcast Amanda. Like a lot of folks in my house
battling some some full time cold issues, but always always a
top notch professional broadcast.
Which I greatly appreciate. We had some commitments that
kept us from attending. The game would have missed start
by about the first, probably half of the first half had we
tried to go, so we decided to just stick it out on the couch.
Plus that way I could join you afterwards.
But no, it was everything you'd expect from an exhibition game.
With just a boatload of new faces on the floor, a completely
remade roster A-Team that's really going to have to find
it's it's itself effectively. And that's exactly what
exhibition games are for here. The first half was just
absolutely as clunky and sloppy as you would expect from you
know from those circumstances. But you know, I think I was, I
was more interested to see how they responded at after after
the halftime break, how they settled it in the 2nd and they,
you know, they came down, they put the foot to the floor.
And they got the job done. And you know, I I thought
there's a lot of promise across the floor.
You know, it's certainly going to be weird seeing this team not
consistently dumping the ball down in the little blocks and
just living in the paint. And and you could tell early on
that those that muscle memory was still there at times and the
ball didn't necessarily know how it's supposed to move.
But I think that the thing that I was probably most impressed
with, even in spite of some of the offensive struggles, was.
The the defensive commitment. I felt like you Andy was only
able to, you know, took the lead into half and kept it relatively
close, largely because they were, they were pretty effective
from the three-point line. Indiana, you know, as Hoosier
fans have seen for a while, they get stuck in rotation.
They get lost in rotation a little bit or a little.
Slow in the rotations ended up giving up some pretty easy
buckets, and when you're shooting, is just the volume of
three pointers that Indy was. Eventually those things are
going to go in. So for a team that was
struggling to get some offense generated, I thought All in all
it did a pretty decent job defensively.
I was a little bit disappointed with the rebounding effort.
I thought UND compete on the glass a whole lot better than
what they probably should have given the the length of the
athleticism differential. But All in all, you know I I
like what we saw from some of the new guys.
I think it's obviously going to be a work in process.
We're talking about Game 0 effectively, then you know this
one doesn't count, but. You know, with the exception of
the the injury to Peyton Sparks. You know, I think All in all it
was a pretty it was a fun afternoon.
It maybe wasn't the prettiest afternoon, but it was just fun
to see the guys back on the floor, get some run and see the
ball go in the hoop again. I echo a lot of those
sentiments. Yeah, the the three-point
shooting for you, Andy was really interesting.
They ended up shooting 35 threes on the game.
They hit six out of the 19 they shot in the first half.
They were only two for 16 in the second-half.
And I thought Indiana did a good job of kind of recalibrating
what they were going to do defensively.
And you mentioned the interior defense.
We didn't see it in the first 10-15 minutes, I thought, but
Coel Ware really started to assert himself and as he started
to find where the ball was going and and where you Andy was
trying to to do things internally, offensively, he was
really making it miserable on them.
And that's always been kind of the the, the promise of Coel
Ware was that if he could get a focus on what was going on on
the floor, he could really change dynamically what
Indiana's been able to do. Defensively, this looked a lot
more like a defensive effort from two years ago when Indiana
was top 25 or top 30 in the country, as opposed to last
year, where they kind of took their foot off the gas a little
bit Defensively. It felt like offensively, I'm
with you. I mean, I think it was
interesting watching players fall into roles.
You used to go with the starters.
It obviously took Colell Ware a little while to get going, but
when he started to really slow down a little bit and take his
time getting his shot off where he needed to go, he ended up six
for 10. He had that three, which got me
certainly excited because that's that Tyson Chandler sort of mold
that we've heard about with him. If he can just pop one of those
occasionally, that could completely open up what Indiana
can do. Imbacco, you wondered how he was
going to come in off of the week he had last week.
Seemed a little bit rushed at times, struggled on defense,
certainly in the first half. Tightened that up quite a bit
and offensively I was just happy to see he was not afraid to take
threes. He wasn't afraid to drive.
That's a really athletic player that Indiana's got.
And then once he gets kind of used to the speed of the game, I
think the thing that was probably the most remarkable to
me, and the thing I didn't notice until I'm looking at the
statue now, LED Indiana and rebounds, had eight rebounds on
the game and really was in a bunch of opportune spots.
The other guy that really stuck out to me was Gabe Cups who was
all effort out there, you know hit a couple of layups and you
know, dish. Some, you know only only end up
with one assist, but certainly put the ball in the right spot
and certainly was getting the Indiana crowd excited about some
of the play as he was diving all over the floor.
He looks a lot more ready than it had been intimated to me that
he might have been. As far as the college game was
concerned. He certainly didn't look like he
was too rushed or not physically capable out there.
So yeah, overall, you know, nice to see.
I think it, you know, if you're looking at disappointments
offensively, obviously Trey Galloway really looked off.
I thought offensively ended up one for five on the game.
Malik Renew. There were a bunch of times on
the defensive end or in rebounding where he just didn't
seem to quite know where he was supposed to go with things,
which that's a little bit concerning given that that was a
big question mark. But it's also the first
exhibition game and he also finished with 12 points and six
rebounds, so maybe he figured it out by the end of the game.
It's it's an interesting mix of guys and certainly everybody
that played Indiana played ten players in this game.
Everybody looked like they had something to contribute when
they were out on the floor and that has not always been the
case. No, absolutely.
I I think you know you could tell that it was it was really
wonky from the jump and then you see that everywhere.
I mean, unless these guys, you know, say for the teams that
have had a chance to go play and.
Some of the preseason tournaments abroad, you know the
first time that you go out underneath the lights, you know
there's been a starting lineup that's designated.
Sounds like from the postgame comments, this team has very
much been playing a first squad and a second squad set up.
So you know, for the first time for a lot of these guys stepping
on the assembly hall floor in a real competition, you know,
albeit an exhibition, you expect some of some of the jitters I
guess. It wasn't very fluid certainly,
but you know I thought Khalil Ware was was pretty effective
underneath the the basket. You know, there were times where
I felt like the ball was kind of sticking when Malik had it,
which is you know, the way the ball was intended to to to work
last season. So you know, you could tell they
were trying to figure out what that new rhythm is going to look
like. I thought early in the game, CJ
Gunn when he came in. I thought he provided a ton of
energy. He's really good in getting to
the basket, you know, He seemed to be one of the stronger
finishers up front. You could tell Mack was kind of
struggling at first. He's got the explosiveness, but
it was just getting everything clicking together.
And then come the second-half, you certainly saw the potential
that we've we've expected in his game.
He's just one of those dudes that there's a time where I kind
of took a step back and like, these are the guys that always
burn Indiana, the dudes that are just impossible to guard create.
Catch up problems, you know can can take a three-point shot from
the corner just as easily as they can.
They can attack the basket. You know, I thought Indiana
settled for some mid Rangers. Where they passed on an open
three, you saw Mac do it early, you saw Gabe Cups do it early.
And I get it. Guys trying to be smart, trying
to be unselfish, trying to make the smart play, even though
that's not necessarily the smartest play on the floor, the
mid range jumper anymore. But you know, for a for an
exhibition game. I I felt like they were able to
settle then well enough that you, you know that there's
there's a there's a foundation that's been laid at least
offensively. And I think that probably the
most impressive element of the game was the way this team
looked in transition when they when they were able to ratchet
down the D and get some turnovers and get up up the
floor. I thought this really showed
where the team probably greatest potential may lie this year
compared to last season. And as you mentioned, I think
Gabe Cups just did an Absolutely Fabulous job in turning up the
energy on both ends of the floor.
I thought he made a lot of heavy plays.
There was one point. It's been a minute where Don
Fishers voice jumped in my head and all I could think was this
kids a pepper pot like he is, he is that dude.
He's the pepper pot of this generation, and it's been a
while since Indiana had a pepper pot like that.
So you know shout out to Eric Sewer, you love to see that kind
of energy, you love to see that type of intensity and most
importantly you love to see the contagiousness of it.
And I felt like, especially in the second-half, Gabe really
brought some synergy to the floor that was just a welcome
sight and the crowd got into it as you would expect an assembly
hall and I think everybody elevated their game.
But the ability to turn that defense into offense is again as
Woody mentioned in the in the post game, that's something that
he really wanted. To see and I think that's where
this team can really excel by leveraging that athleticism when
they can get out of the transition.
So should be exciting to see how that element of their game
develops. Yeah, it should be.
And I think you brought up a good point on the passing up
threes for twos. That's been it.
It's it almost feels like it has to be a philosophical thing
right now that that gets drilled in practice because we've seen
it now for two solid years and now we see it here in this.
You just would like to see players just let just loft it
sometimes from deep as opposed to always thinking about shot
faking and stepping in because generally speaking those shots
from 1415 feet are are not automatic and they're just not
as efficient. And so gun on the other, you
know, overall though I thought was was pretty impressive in
terms of, as you said, how he moved ended up with eight points
in this exhibition. And certainly, you know, as as
much concern has been expressed about Indiana's guard depth, he
was certainly playing in that mold as as a guy who could cut a
swing between the two and the three as necessary.
And you know, I thought Xavier Johnson looked perfectly fine
out there. Trey Galloway will certainly be
much better than we saw him. Gabe Cups looks like he's a guy
who's going to get a significant out of minutes.
If you can integrate gun into that rotation, that should
alleviate a lot of concerns that people had about the perimeter
play and just generally speaking, what Indiana's doing
out there. But I do think that you know,
something that'll get harped on in general, both involving that
group of players and just in general for IU, is people are
going to be nervous about the three-point shooting until it
becomes a more regular part of the repertoire.
And what I did like to see was that both Ware and Embako were
not hesitant to pull the trigger on the shots that they had when
they were available. That may end up being what has
to happen, because it appears like the guards are still very
much focused on trying to pass it into the paint and get
penetration that way, rather than necessarily trying to shoot
from outside. Yeah, and you know it.
It certainly the first half and second-half was pretty stark in
the differences. I felt like the ball did a much
better job of moving though, especially as the game wore on.
It was. It was much, much more fluid.
I think part of that is the guys just kind of figuring out each
other's rhythm. You know, There were times where
I was watching Imbaco move and it's like he's got one of those
glides. It's just he's playing at a
different rhythm than the rest of most of the guys out there
with his strides in the ease at which he can move.
You know, him and Xavier Johnson had a couple of times when they
got their wires crossed. Was he going to go all the way
out to the corner, was he going to slash in or vice versa?
And I I think you're going to see as these guys get more sets
together, more trips up and down the floor, that familiarity just
builds in and I you get the sense that Woodson is going to
to run them. Largely is is kind of that
platoon, but I think it was promising that when, you know,
the second team came in, there really wasn't that big of a drop
off like we've seen in the past. You know, I thought Anthony
Walker did a really good job of providing a little bit of
everything around there. Three boards, 3 assists.
Got six points on it. I thought Peyton Sparks looked
pretty good and the limited minutes we saw him, you know, it
wasn't that massive. Now obviously the level of
competition is going to really draw those contrasts a lot
sharper. As the season goes on and and
becomes real here in a a couple weeks but I I think you saw a a
roster that that has potential to give Mike Woodson some real
serviceable depth. You know, he spoke in the post
game about, you know. The the role.
Caleb Banks is going to play in that, so I'd expect him to be
one of those guys vying for minutes in that second string.
But you know, it's we, we've talked about it last year quite
a bit that you know the depth was going to be one of those
team's strengths and then due to injuries.
That kind of got away from him and then it came back later in
the season. You know for a team that is is
going to be figuring a lot of things out about who it is and
how it wants to play. I I think it's promising to see
you know everybody they got on the floor today got some buckets
you know got some pretty much filled up multiple stat lines.
I don't think there was anybody who put up any trillions for the
most part. So it good to see there and
again, you know, I I think this team's probably going to going
to be a work in progress and a lot of efforts.
But I think the defense, just the length that this brings
them, the speed that they can close out.
You know early on I thought Gabe Cups his first couple of minutes
I was like oh this is where he gets burned for his size.
I can't remember the guy's name. The Indy guard, a little more
seasoned, had had several inches on him and really was getting in
Gabe's space and and seemed like it was causing problems.
And then second-half comes around and Gabe completely flips
the script on that guy and he's just completely pestering him on
every set, causing turnovers, getting him to dump the ball.
You could tell there came a point where he almost raised the
white flag and just didn't want to fight with the kid anymore.
So you love to see that and and you know, there was a glimpse
there where you see this is what all that time spent going up
against Xavier's done for him this summer.
And perhaps that really shortens, or rather, you know,
gets him further down the runway as he has to make that
transition into the college game against bigger, faster, stronger
guards that he's going to see throughout the course of the
season. So let's maybe pull back and
kind of widen the lens a little bit here and talk about what
we're anticipating. We've got a little more
information now, obviously, than we had a month ago when we
started doing these preview podcasts and trying to figure
things out. Maybe let's kind of start off
with like your perception of the overall atmosphere of this
program right now compared to where it was, you know, even
three, five years ago. You know, Mike Woodson, first
two seasons, they're in the tournament two years in a row.
They go into this year. They've got a lot of new faces.
They've lost somewhere between 70 and 80% of their production.
And and everything. Points, assists, rebounds,
whatever, They're not particularly highly rated by
most of the pre season projections.
Statistically Ken Pom has them around 50th.
They're not particularly rated by people making polls or making
lists. But when you think about where
the program's at right now, and you've been a keen of an
observer of this is anybody. How do you read the atmosphere
around this IU program right now and where it's at compared to
where it's been? I I think I use in a great place
right now, honestly. I think you know you're coming
off a season where Mike Woodson really cemented himself and this
program as a team that was going to going to compete again
against the best of the Big 10. You saw that in last year's You
Know, sweep of the Boilermakers. It's something that you haven't
seen in a while from Indiana, a team that can go in and
consistently play against the best in the league, if not beat
them. And I think first and foremost,
you've got to acknowledge that. I know every Indiana fan
believes that, you know, by Birthright we should be in the
Final four every year. We should be hanging conference
banners. And I don't want to dilute those
expectations because you know, quite honestly, those
expectations are exactly how you end up where we are today
because unlike some other programs on campus.
They have remained committed to to furthering the program to
getting it back to where they think it needs to be rightfully
where it needs to be. And you know from a resource
standpoint, I I think it's it's exactly what you you you would
expect for a program that treats itself seriously as a blue bud
as a conference contender and you know aspiring to be back on
the on the national stage at a higher level with regularity.
So. You know, and it all starts with
dudes. Indiana got some dudes, you
know, straight up, and Indiana's had some good players and
they've been kind of sprinkled in over the last several
rosters. You know, Romeo Langford was a
heck of a player. Problem was he just didn't have
squad around him and he really didn't have any runway
whatsoever to grow and develop into the the.
The expectation of what he could do for the program and obviously
as we've seen before, injury certainly played some part in
that. Trace Jackson Davis was a dude,
but Trace committed to a program that didn't have a lot of talent
around. And you know, you look at what
what Mike Woodson staff has been able to do and just from a
roster construction standpoint in a really short period of time
in the way that they've been able to turn things over so, so
dramatically, so dynamically. Not just from a star rating
which is really easy. It's kind of the the the default
setting is you know just look at the the recruit rankings and
that translates into whether you're doing a good job or a bad
job in the talent acquisition business.
But as we've seen over the last couple of seasons, Mike Woodson
recognizing where these teams liabilities are and you know
going out and getting guys that could address those and you know
seemingly do it. Relatively quickly, you know in
this day and age with the portal and nil and all the changes, you
know you have to be able to retool on the fly and you have
to be able to fill in those key voids.
Very strategically if you're going to compete.
Because you know, if you're not developing talent from freshman,
you know through the your your high school recruiting and then
getting those, you know, those upperclassmen that really
contribute, you've got to find guys one way or another who are
going to be able to step in. And and give you some
contributions and I think Indiana has done a great job of
that not just with you know the Jalen Hood Schaffino obviously
whenever you can get a one and done like that that's obviously
kind of the the the bullseye in in this recruiting game
nowadays. But also finding guys like Malik
Renew, You know, being able to pick up transfers like Clear
where being able to step in when there's a Big D commitment in
the case of Mackenzie and Bacco, and being able to pull a guy
from Duke. You know from Kansas for that
matter and get them in Bloomington, that's exactly what
you want to see from a program with the aspirations that
Indiana has has embraced and made very public.
So I think it's good. I think ultimately it's going to
have to it's. Going to have to translate into
wins. It's going to have to translate
into, you know, some tournament appearances, preferably later.
You know, beyond the first weekend you know.
And it's not to say that you, you shouldn't expect this team
to be able to go. You know if things are going to
plan that you shouldn't see a team develop into, perhaps in
the lead 8 contender or or you know, heaven forbid even a final
four team. But unless you're one of those
teams that just has a lot of really solid dudes and has that
core and has that continuity, you better be bringing in some
players. And you better bring in enough
of them that you can not only, you know, field A a starting
line up that's fit to compete with the best, but also the
reserves. And, you know, I don't want to
keep beating the dead horse. That's depth.
But just depth of talent is how these teams end up making that
next level jump. And I think Indiana appears to
be on the way there, but I think there's going to be a lot of, a
lot of developmental issues. They're going to play heavily as
far as what this team ceiling ultimately going to be.
And that then ripples in the next season because not
everybody on this roster, you know, I don't even know if
anybody on this roster right now is a sure one and done, you
know, And Bacco is probably the one that most people are dog
earing for that, for that leap. You know, Khalil, where's one of
those guys that made some of the national watch list?
We certainly haven't seen anything in in one game so far
that suggests, yeah, this dude's totally going to be standing out
there shaking Adam Silver's hands in a few months, but the
potential's there. But more importantly, how they
can, how they can really explore their roles and the chemistry
amongst themselves. I think that's going to be the
big challenge for Mike Woodson taking this season and and
putting the program in a in a stronger position come this time
next year. That's I love all of that.
I mean, I think it's interesting because it almost feels over
time like IU fans. I felt like that success for the
program is somehow exempt from getting high level recruits and
athletes and then having them perform consistently.
It's like, well, if we just play the right way, it doesn't matter
who the recruits are. It's it's one of the the
misleading things about the Night era that I think somehow
got into the way that IU fans thought about the program.
Not everybody, mind you, but a lot of people who you know, I
think. Didn't quite understand that IU
couldn't afford to not be recruiting right up against what
Kansas was doing, what Duke was doing, what North Carolina was
doing, so on and so forth. And certainly people would get
upset when IU wouldn't pull those recruits in.
But it was almost like, well, you know, it's not a
prerequisite or something like that to to being highly
successful and a lot of the lack of success that Indiana's had
early since 2002. Can you know and the few times
that they have been successful and and gone beyond the first
weekend of the tournament has been due to dudes as you
described. And that's what I've found so
fascinating so far about Mike Woodson's tenure is it's not
that he's not just that he's bringing in dudes but it's it's
such a fundamental shift in the way that Indiana has recruited
really that we hadn't seen in the last decade.
I mean Tom Crean, he, he never really recruited quite like
this. He would pick.
An occasional highly rated guy he, you know obviously got Cody
Zeller. He got Noah Vonley, he got
Thomas Bryant. There were a couple of other
people sprinkled in there but you know Victor Oladipo was more
of a project type of guy. Max Biel felt just kind of fell
through the portal sort of speak the pre portal period of
transfers. Archie Miller, while he was, you
know, certainly he pulled in Romeo Langford, you didn't have
that. The level of recruiting that
Woodson has been going after here and.
Also the idea and I and you know part of it, I think Woodson's
been able to leverage both the portal and kind of late season
decommits from other programs that Indiana just wasn't really
sniffing before. There's a message of his that
does seem to be resonating with the significantly higher levels
of talent, the basketball that you need in order to get to the
next level. Now the success hasn't been
there yet, but it's beginning a year three, you know, and I
think people have. Perhaps struggle to fully
understand how far Indiana had to go, both in terms of who they
were recruiting and how that recruiting effort actually
manifested itself on the floor with the way that players were
playing. And we're still a work in
progress on this. I think it's really interesting.
You know, the Trace Jackson Davis departure is going to be a
fascinating bellwether in terms of a.
How the team plays and how Woodson decides to coach them
and how stylistically they look different.
But also just, you know, is this a model that Indiana can master
where you're bringing in high level guys, you're integrating
them with guys who are sticking around for a bit longer?
You know, this is a model we've seen some programs be able to
use successfully. We're just very not used to it
here in Bloomington. Yeah, and you know, I I don't
want to to say that Indiana hasn't had dudes either in the
last decade. I mean we've we've seen a lot of
NBA players come through the program.
The challenge was though, you know, for every Thomas Bryant or
OG or you know whomever it may be during that span, you know,
kind of in the post Cody era, you're also looking at them out
on the floor with and I'm not slamming these guys.
But you know, Thomas Brown's a great example.
He's out there getting a lot of wrong with Ron Davis, with
Freddie Mcswain, with Josh Newkirk, Devante Green, Curtis
Jones. You know, and it's there, there,
There's some guys, there's some Ballers on those team.
But it's just the the the comprehensive construction.
That was really lacking. And it wasn't just that the
volume, but it was also where those guys were developmentally
in their careers and what they were reasonably expected to
contribute. And you know, far too often you
saw guys get thrust into a a critical role well before their
their natural maturation process would have had it or would have
chosen for them. So to see guys now come in and
and. You know, whether it be guys
like Khalil Ware, for example, you know, looking for a greener
pasture, looking for a restart. You know when you, you have to
replace a guy like Trace Jackson Davis, who has been the absolute
linchpin of your team offensively and defensively as
well as stylistically. That's a critical piece to have
to replace. Because quite honestly in the
past, you know, it would have just fallen in Malik's lap.
And you know, don't get me wrong, it's it's it's hard not
to see Malik as a veteran. On this team.
But make no mistake, this is his 2nd fall ever in Bloomington.
As a college student, you know that's still a lot to put on his
plate. So when you can have guys like
Khalil Ware come in but also pair them with you know, with
Walker and Sparks, I I think it just it it gives the depth of
talent. The breath that it needs in
order to let everybody kind of naturally come into this.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they have to exist
in this zero pressure area. I think that's quite the
opposite. But I think it's nice and you
saw it today when the team was struggling.
Woody had no problem pulling that second string out there and
letting them just kind of reset, recalibrate and getting the guys
ears on the bench and show them. This is why you're sitting here.
This is where we need to be doing it.
And you really don't. There's no step backwards during
that process. And I think that's an important
part of any team is to be able to kind of take a step back, hit
the reset button after a a not so great start.
And not find yourself, you know, 10 points down all of a sudden,
and obviously you don't expect that type of a swing against the
UND. But just giving guys a chance to
kind of come into the game when maybe they didn't step on the
floor ready to play their best game, I think that's going to be
everything for a team like this. And you know, one of the more
surprising stat lines of the game?
Probably Trey Galloway. You know, one of the team's
captains, one of its most experienced members, both in
minutes and everything that they they they're expected to do for
this team. Trey was relatively quiet today
and in really very little times. Did you sit there and go, man,
if if Trey just was playing better, this wouldn't be
happening. A-Team that's that's got the
depth of talent that can absorb. I don't want to say it was a no
show performance. He played 25 minutes, but you
know, one for five shooting three points, got got one of two
on the free throw line, one board and three assists.
It. It was a pretty pedestrian
outing from your senior captain and it didn't matter one bit and
obviously it shouldn't against the team like Indianapolis.
But also when everybody else is there and capable of just
seamlessly filling in. I think that's a real promising
sign. Because in in too many seasons
past, you know, whether it was Trace Jackson Davis kind of the
obvious candidate or you know last year with with Hudgifino.
But how many times you'd be like, you know, race just was
off and that was the, you know, that was the third leg that that
it needed to stand up and it wasn't there and it was just
that's the outcome you're going to get when you don't get all
three guys showing up. You know, thinking about
specifically the changeover from last year to this year and when
I look at this roster so far and what Woodson seems to be trying
to do and and now getting some visual evidence of how these
guys are going to play. We've talked a lot and I and I
actually don't think it's been talked about enough in the
larger sphere of IU basketball. But you know, the downfall of
last year's team was really defense.
And if you look at defense. I mean, they were still fine.
You know, they were, they were, they weren't a bad defensive
team, but they were just kind of an average defensive team for
the level that they needed to be at.
And a lot of that, if you look at the numbers, it really
centered around not turning the opponent over.
They were so poor at forcing turnovers throughout almost the
entire season. They really only had one game
where they feasted in Big 10 play.
As far as forcing opponent turnovers, and that was the game
at home against Purdue where you know they forced Edie and and
the the rest of the Boilers into turnovers on 25% of possessions.
The rest of the time though, I mean, there were games in Big 10
play, even the games that they won, where it was like single
digit turnover percentages for the opposition.
And you know, in an era where you've got a lot of.
You've got a lot of of ball screens.
You've got a lot of movement with point guards trying to
drive and pass. You just can't say, well, gosh,
we're not going to risk fouling. So we're going to back off of
trying to force turnovers and we're going to try to live on
the glass or live on just forcing bad shots.
I don't think you can really do that at this point.
And I look at the way that this team is constructed.
They're so long. They are so athletic.
They've got a tremendous rim protector that they really
didn't have last year. I mean, Trace Jackson Davis was
more of an intervener as opposed to being a guy that was just
going to straight up protect the rim.
I mean between that and the athleticism that they now have
with Reece Thompson having, you know, obviously ended his career
and the amount of pain and and injury issues that he had
towards the end, he just wasn't able to move quite as much.
That's where I probably in the most excited about where this
team could be. And it's where even in this game
against the University of Indianapolis, I wasn't too
worried. I figured the offense would get
there eventually and I think the offense will probably be a work
in progress throughout the year because you are essentially
going from a very alpha male dominated offensive approach
that they've had the last couple of seasons with Trace Jackson
Davis being the guy that you fed everything through to.
Now a more democratic approach, but.
The fact that Indiana struggled on offense but played really
good defense against you and D, and you and D just hit a bunch
of threes, you figured they were going to adapt and stop that.
That worked. I really want to see what
they're able to do. You know, for the course of a
whole season defensively, they forced 18 turnovers today for
you and D that's exactly what they're going to need to do.
And I think they've got the personnel now to really pursue
that in a way that they didn't the last two seasons.
No question whatsoever. And I think you know you talk
about the the regression last year's defense, you know just
how much they they lost at the point of attack after Xavier
Johnson got hurt. And I think that's that's going
to be a big thing. And you saw it with Cups when he
in the second-half. You know, the ability to keep
teams from getting into their stuff early, making them burn
clock to get into the ball in the positions and the guys in
the positions where they want to be at.
It all starts up front and then it just cascades all the way
down the line and you know when you can afford to be more
aggressive as the balls crossing the timeline.
Even saw him tease the press a little bit and I would love to
see how this team can leverage its length and that that
athleticism in certain press situations and really extend the
defense up the floor. But also how you know that that
space between the the timeline and the three-point line, that
can be critical as far as getting better defensive
outcomes, just making teams work harder.
And you know when you're putting a lot of pressure on the ball,
but when you can, you know you can, you can cover so much more
ground with the link that they have.
And you saw that with some of the the steals and the
deflections. You know Imbacco again is just
one of those fascinating specimens just with his
ranginess and the the way in which he can close there a
couple of times where they got put into transition and just his
ability to get back out almost gazelle like, you know just one
of those words it's it's one maybe 2 long strides and he's
right back up in his guy's grill with his feet and his hip
squared up to the to the ball. It's just.
It's a whole nother level that we haven't seen him.
You know, last year it seemed like Trace Jackson Davis
developed verticality in his defense because that was really
it. If he wasn't a backstop, we
weren't going to do a whole lot from the perimeter inside to the
hoop without him getting up top and beating you there.
So it's it's, you know, that's not a winning strategy when you
take him out of the mix. So this team's ability to really
to get in the passing lanes, to get up in the point guard's face
and really you know make things difficult all the way up and
down the floor, I think is going to go a long way for this.
And as you saw when you can get those deflections and those run
outs, these guys are absolutely bred for that type of
basketball. And you know with the exception
of of the the fast break where where Sparks injured himself.
And it sounds like, fortunately that's not going to be a
something that that Woody was too concerned about because it
really, really looked ugly in real time.
The way he went down and was just, you know, visibly in in in
pain and anguish. I think All in all they look,
they look pretty good when they were able to get out, You know,
there's that that backwards bounce pass from Galloway.
I forget who it was. Was it wouldn't.
Sparks at that point, nevertheless.
Looked unselfish. There were a couple of occasions
where I wish they were taking the three-point when the ball
got kicked out and the guys wide open.
I think that's probably one of those situations where early in
the season the guys were just trying to make a higher
percentage shot. Maybe don't wanna be the one
responsible for a. You know, a a four second
possession that ends up in a transition going the other way.
But at the same time those are exactly the buckets that Indiana
sometimes allows that let's team stick around or get back in the
game or they can really swing the momentum and that's that's
honestly one of the highest or the most effective shots on the
floor. So hopefully over some time the
guys will develop some confidence to take that because
not everything can be a dunk in transition.
But this is a team that looks like that's kind of its DNA and
that's probably where it wants to go more naturally.
I think that's where the offense is going to look most fluid and
that's one of those things just from a morale standpoint, you
know you some of these games, the energy and Assembly Hall can
get really funky when when lesser teams are are playing us
a little bit too tight. And man, of some of those, those
transition buckets just don't get the energy completely
reversed, which is everything that you you love to see in
Assembly Hall and more than anything.
It's just good to to hear the whole come alive again after
being dormant for so many months.
Absolutely. It's gonna be interesting that
that point. I mean Indiana in their first
three games, they play two teams that are no joke.
You know, Army. Army is.
I'm not too concerned about Army.
I think there'll be an interesting challenge.
They were 17 and 16 last year, but that that Florida Gulf Coast
game to start the season, that's a tough way.
To start the season you know Pat Chambers is the head coach
former Penn State head coach. He clearly knows how to bring a
team into Assembly Hall. They almost I'm not sure if Pat
Chambers ever won in Assembly Hall but they almost did several
times. If anybody remembers the Josh
Newkirk you know absolute last second lay up to take it to
overtime or double overtime you know, so Chambers I mean that's
the guy that knows what he's doing and and that's a team
that's going to be one of the challengers in the A sun and
then. You know, a couple of games
after that, Indiana's going to be taking on Wright State,
Wright State. I mean, if you follow basketball
at all in the Midwest, you know that that's a team that's
normally right up there. They were 18 and 15 last year.
They'll probably be challenging for the Horizon League title
this year. So this is where to some degree,
I mean we it feels like it's been this way for a long time.
Like the Assembly Hall crowd is such an important 6th man or
sixth person. In these games.
But it does sometimes end up not being that strong of a presence.
If it's an opponent that people aren't expecting to be good,
Indiana's going to need that energy early on because they are
going to be dropped right into the fire.
And I think that's a good thing. I mean, I would rather Indiana
was playing those games and having to challenge themselves.
Even this game against you, Indy, that's one of the best
Division Two schools in the country, that's you still should
beat them by a large amount, which Indiana ended up doing.
But Indiana has to challenge themselves.
The players have to feel like I can't take nights off.
I need to go out and play at my utmost every night.
And if I don't, somebody's going to come in and take my place who
will? This is one of the problems to
some degree. I think you saw in the Crane and
Miller eras with the scheduling, they played so many teams that
were just impossible to take seriously.
That can occasionally breed a circumstance where you've got
players who. They don't feel that urgency to
go out there and play at their highest level every single night
and then that can have a knock on effect when it is time to go
out and have that level of energy and focus.
And so you know a lot to clean up certainly.
But I just think the vibe with this team and where they could
take advantage of things, you can afford to struggle a little
bit and take some time to get your offense on track if your
defense is playing at a high level from the get go.
And I think that. You know, we'll see obviously as
they play Marion on Friday of this upcoming week and then
they've got the weekend and then they'll have that first game
against Florida Gulf Coast. But that to me, I think is going
to be the key for the Indiana early on.
Offense is going to take a while to suss out.
Defense is going to have to be strong from the moment that they
hit the floor. Yeah.
And I think just the opportunity to see some buckets go in quite
honestly, you know when when you see a couple of guys step up to
the free throw line. And you know short arm and long
arm and you know the ball's just not going down.
All of a sudden the yips get contagious. 3 point shooting.
You know a couple of guys that just rims some out.
Next thing you know the next guy is is maybe a little bit more
hesitant taking that shot not wanting to continue that mystery
can the way that those things can kind of spiral and it it
works in in in weird ways no different than you know the
assembly hall crowd. You know, we we all saw what
happens when. A a stumble against Indiana
State metastasizes into a Fort Wayne game and then there's
there's a cancer that never leaves.
So you certainly want to work on the psyche.
I'm not going to go, you know, full deep in here and start
freaking out about 55% free throw shooting or 30%
three-point shooting. It's certainly one of those stat
columns that we're going to dog ear and you know, everybody's
going to dog ear regardless going into it.
But I think the you know. To run up to some of these more
challenging games that are that are awaiting Indiana, probably
going to be made a whole lot easier if you can see, you know
those percentages, start making some pretty big jumps and this
guy settling and you know the rotation gets a little clearer
and those combinations of guys out on the floor get a little
more familiar to them. You know, seeing some of that
stuff come up and the confidence that that breeds because
confidence is absolutely something that's contagious,
whether it's it's shooting, whether it's you know being
aggressive on defense and reaping those rewards.
And that's one of the things that a lot of seems struggle
with. You know, we talk about the ball
movement, but I think just as important, you know, guys
confidence knowing that if I play a little bit more
aggressive that my help is going to be there where it should,
when it should. And you know, that's one of
those, the communication, it's, it's so cliche.
You hear all the coaches and all the players are always talking
about we got to talk better, we got to, you know, we we really
got to communicate better with one another.
But that's the rhythm that that winning teams are able to
establish. And are able to you know really
syncopate together. So I I, I think this is this is
going to be a fun season watching how those things gel
up. Because I I again, you know, I
think this is a team that that can be a problem on defense.
And you know, assuming that that the offense is able to clarify a
little bit and kind of get tuned up.
You know, it's going to be fun. If nothing else, just watching
Indiana stylistically make a big leap this year into a brand of
basketball that you typically see winning games in March.
And that's, you know, for all the bugaboos about the Big 10
and all its struggles and and Lord knows last year they
absolutely leaned into the meme that is Big 10 in the tournament
time. This is the type of team, this
is the type of roster that very much seems constructed to, to
break that mold. So it's a long way to get from
here to there, you know, winning those games in March.
But at the end of the day, as I said earlier, it starts with
having the dudes that are capable of playing that type of
ball. And you certainly see Indiana
right now transitioning into that, into that era of
basketball under Mike Woodson. There's stuff in there that I
think is really important. One of the problems in the
Archie era. It wasn't just that.
There, you know, there weren't as many high performing dudes,
but it was at the guys that were out there constantly seem to be
looking over their shoulder or seem to be uncertain about what
they were doing on both ends of the floor.
But I think especially on defense and I think of some of
that was likely the pack line and you know, such a kind of a
rigid rules based system on how you're supposed to play defense
and where you're positioned. And it's it's so interlocking.
If it's working, it can be outstanding.
But if the guys are never quite able to get their heads wrapped
around it in zip, almost being a millstone around your neck,
especially with perimeter play. And I I think last year's
defensive struggles weren't about a lack of confidence as
much as they were about a lack of depth, which you've mentioned
a few times. But Woodson seems to be able to
instill in his players A greater sense of confidence and maybe
assuredness would be the better way I would put it.
Where at least in terms of, you know, you look at the shooting
numbers, even the three-point numbers, they didn't take as
many threes, but they hit the but they hit about the same
number of threes in 2023 as they did in 2022.
The difference was they took fewer bad threes.
And a lot of it really does kind of end up being this mentality
shift where it's like, can you put players in a position where
they feel like they're doing what they're supposed to be
doing? And that they are performing at
a high level rather than constantly questioning
themselves or feeling like they're just not performing at
the level that they need to. And that's going to be an
interesting thing with this group that's in right now,
because I'm not worried about Xavier Johnson's confidence.
I'm not really worried at this point about Trey Galloway's
confidence. But I am really interested to
see, you know, Malik renew. If there was one thing you could
point to last year, it was like he seemed to lose concentration
and. I sometimes wonder if that's
because he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing.
So a big leap here, CJ Gunn, same thing.
And then with Mbacco and where Mbacco's kind of a special case,
separate case, but where you could say that was kind of a
similar thing that happened to him.
At Oregon. So this is where the coaching
takes over. If you can get those guys, even
Anthony Walker, who at times looked really athletic and
really like a guy who could be a real pain in the ass for an
opponent's second group out there.
Breaking up passes and and driving to the lane and things
like that, things like that, all of that.
I think if Woodson can harness that, the atmosphere seems to be
there. It was certainly there last year
with Trace, Jackson Davis and with Miller Cop.
Those guys seemed pretty confident what they were
supposed to do. That's where I think the
dividing line for how successful this season is is going to come
from. Yes, you have the performance in
terms of the shots and the rebounds and whatnot, but a lot
of it is, do guys feel and think out there like they are supposed
to be there, that they're doing what they can do to the best of
their ability? And that's sometimes been, I
think you know, in real short supply with Indiana over not
just the last decade but. Shit, take it back to 1995 like
it's it's been a long standing issue at this place.
Oh, no doubt, no doubt whatsoever.
And I, I I think one of the things you're going to see,
especially as this team starts to transition into the more
positionless basketball, it's going to take time just for
that, that that internal knowledge.
You know it. It only takes a couple of sets
where you see a guy. You know, gets knocked off the
spot he wanted to be down low rather than kicking the ball
out, you know, ends up reverting to that fade away.
That's just a real low percentage shot from the, you
know, from the outside of the low blocks.
You know, you got the sense tonight, for example, you know
Trey Galloway's contributions and just his willingness to
press. You kind of got the sense Trey
was out there just trying to figure out what the buttons on
the controllers do you know and and I I think that's to be
expected when you have so many new pieces out there.
But for a guy that you would really expect to be, you know at
this point in his career sniffing a shot honestly and his
percentage is certainly give him the I think the license to sniff
some shots. You know, and obviously the
quality of the shots going to go a long, long way and I'm not
saying the trait passed up a lot of quality looks tonight, but
the ball has a funny way of knowing where to go.
Once you get some of that that that experience those that
familiarity established and and this is obviously I mean we're
we're we're talking about a an October 29th game right now.
But I I think as the season goes on, especially in these, these
these couple of games running up to UConn, I would fully expect
some of that to work itself out maybe a little sooner than
later. You know, I I think some of the
LOB sets and some of the, you know, Woody had a couple of
really good plays coming out of time out.
But I think as the guys get some more and more of those under the
belt and they get more tape and I think that's that's absolutely
what the staff needs right now is just some tape against some
guys that we're not familiar with.
You know when you're not playing against yourself and everybody
knows the playbook and where everybody's supposed to be.
But once you throw in the uncertainty of of of various
opponents like this, having the tape to go back and look at what
happened versus what you're trying to do and and start
working on those tweaks and really fine tuning some of these
concepts that you spent the offseason trying to install and
developing these guys. I think it's just going to go a
long long way into giving us a clear look at at at truly what
this team ceiling is. Because I think everybody pretty
much agrees one and two in the league is is probably locked up
right now between the Spartans and the Boilermakers.
But I don't see any reason why this team shouldn't be competing
for a top five spot at the end of the year in the big 10 just
based off what what we've known was on paper what we saw today.
There's just there's, there's a. Whole lot of guys out there that
are capable of doing a lot of different things, how well they
play together. How well Woodson can mix it all
up with these different rotations.
I I think it's going to be a fun year for Indiana basketball,
man. I'm.
I'm certainly excited to to see how it unfolds and exactly where
it ends up. Because at the end of the day,
as much as we hate to admit it, most seasons don't in fact end
up with Big 10 titles or national titles.
But more than anything, just seeing the growth, the
progression along the way and you know how they learn from,
from their mistakes because quite honestly, that's that's
going to be expected with this many new faces out there.
How can you prevent them? How can you really figure out
how to leverage your strengths and you know, how to improve
upon your weaknesses? And for a starting point for a
team with this many new faces, I like where Indiana's at.
You know, I do fear and I hate to be that guy.
You know, injuries can always play hell on a roster.
We've seen it all too often before.
You know, Indiana has to figure out how to to develop a
durability among its its key rotation players, and obviously
there's stuff beyond your control, There's no doubt about
it. But I think part of that too is
is kind of an institutional thing and how do you approach?
You know load management if you will over the course of the
season because Lord knows once we get through the non
conference and the Big 10 starts up every night's just a grind
and it's it's really really tough it takes a toll on the
bodies. So you would hope that as the
team and the the program gets more experienced in in this set
up that they they learn and evolve and find a way to be you
know as as available as possible late in the year but also fire
and run as many possible cylinder as many cylinders as
possible come tournament time as well.
One thing I'll mention and we'll we'll wrap up here.
It's fascinating like the the separation between 5th place in
the conference. And 12th place in the conference
last year in terms of conference games was two you could and and
really it you could have gotten it up to 4th if Michigan State
had played that final game of the season potentially.
But you're talking about the difference between 11:00 and
9:00 and 9:00 and 11:00 of the of the 14 teams in the
conference Last year, 12 of them won nine games or more in the
conference. And so it's even you you
mentioned like you know competing for the top three or
four that's really been become the question mark.
It's like can you? Can you get above that 1011 win
range in conference? And it's about playing well,
it's about playing consistently, it's about avoiding the injury
bug. It's also about what your
schedule ends up panning out to do.
And you know whether or not the particular mix of teams that you
are playing in the conference is going to help lend itself
towards success. I mean, for Indiana, you get the
downside of you play Purdue twice, you play Maryland twice,
They're both in the mix, but. You're only playing Michigan
State once, I believe, and you get them at home and that's
helpful and it's the last game of the season.
You got a couple of other situations like that.
So a lot up in the air and and certainly we're, you know,
there's a lot of speculation and it's going to be interesting to
see what happens as the rubber hits the road here over the
first couple of weeks of the season.
So anyway, we'll we'll go and let me, Yeah, we'll see.
Anything else? Go ahead.
Yes. Conference titles are in the air
in Bloomington this. Yes, they are.
We just hoisted a trophy today over at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
One of those teams that most folks you know after the first
couple of weeks certainly did not expect to be competing for a
title found themselves lifting a trophy today.
So kudos Todd Yagli and staff on their 18th regular season Big 10
title. But that just shows you, and
that's that's the way that the soccer team has been built from
day one when Jerry Egli first started his club.
Here is, you know, when you can get the right guys together,
playing with the right teammates and they can get better as the
season goes on and they, you know, you consistently challenge
them and put them in tough spots.
That's where growth happens. And you know it.
It's almost it. It's just become so commonplace
with Indiana soccer, but never in a million years.
You know, at the end of September, what I thought this
day would be happening right now, but here we are.
So let's see if that doesn't. If that doesn't travel up, 17th
St. this year perhaps too. It's always nice to have soccer
reset things for everybody as we head into into the winter
sessions here, but Congrats to Todd Yeagley and the men's
soccer crew certainly. Not only sharing the Big 10
title, but they'll be hosting as the number one seed coming up on
Friday. So keep an eye out for that as
that game will get broadcast on I think Big 10 plus, so that
should be a a good one to say the least.
But get out there in person. That's one of those games you
definitely want to be at if you've never been to a a Big 10
tournament game or an NCAA game with Indiana, it's a different
kind of vibe and it's a great vibe.
So check that one out folks. It's going to unfortunately go
right up against. The next men's exhibition game
is it's the same night as the Marion game, which is just the
timing of this time of year. There's too much stuff going on.
But anyway we'll we'll go ahead and wrap there.
As always, this was a great pleasure.
Enjoy talking IU basketball with you anytime and we'll look
forward to having you on again here at some point early on in
the season as we're going to definitely need to reset what
we've observed after we get through those first couple of
Big 10 games. I've got my notebook out and my
pencil sharpened. There's a lot of blank pages.
I can't wait to fill them in. Galen.
All right. Chronic Hoosier joining us here
on the show. Thank you, my friend.
Once again, thanks to all you folks for joining us as well.
Be sure to tune in to all the back home network shows Assembly
call at their first post game show today.
The Do the Work pod is back. The Crimson cast women's
basketball show is back. And of course IU football
coverage as well. For all those folks, I'm Galen
Clavio saying thanks for joining us here on Crimson Cast.
We'll catch you folks on the flip side.