what did i learn?

With game one of the Mike Woodson era now in the books, and now having had time to rewatch and process what I saw, I feel confident enough to share what I learned.

Now, I’m fully aware that your thoughts may not mirror mine, and that’s okay. But for spurts of the game the potential of this team going forward this season was evident. The future of the program based on style of play, both offensively and defensively, was much clearer to me as well. And I personally liked what I saw for those stretches.

The defense was aggressive and active. They were fighting through screens, they were switching when needed, and they were communicating. Following a few early breakdowns defensively they seemed to be willing to hold each other accountable, but in a constructive critiscm way, not a finger pointing way. The pressure on the ball and the awareness by the week side defenders was a welcome change from the recent past too. And all of that held true for about 22 minutes of game time.

Such was the case offensively as well. The movement with, and without the ball, was at times a thing of beauty. Spacing, cutting, passing, driving, screening, and communicating were obvious improvements from the past few years. The ability to have virtually anyone rebound the ball and push it up the floor to create a few easy looks, as well as put some pressure on the defense to get back as opposed to the methodical walking the ball up the floor looking at the bench and allowing the defense to set up and catch their breath was more than welcome. My wife even commented on it, and remarked that she was so happy to not have to hear me scream about it 40+ times a game.

The most glaring and concerning thing…AGAIN…was the inability to make a shot after starting so well in that department. And I mean go way too long of stretches without being able to put the ball in the basket. I’m ever the optimist, and I stayed positive because the offense was creating good shots, but scoring the basketball is kind of a big part of winning basketball games and if that doesn’t improve even gradually from game to game it will the most mentioned thing in almost every interview, article, and discussion about Indiana Basketball this year.

You usually counter an off shooting night by getting the ball in the paint via the pass or driving the ball for higher percentage shots and/or getting to the line. But once again the free throw shooting left A LOT to be desired. So many runs in the gamed momentum swings inside of a game can be stopped by getting to the line and getting easy, or “free” points. Unfortunately IU struggled in that department. When you couple that with a player from the other team catching fire to the point that no matter what he throws up it’s going in, a game can change in an instant. Tuesday night was the perfect example of all of those things.

If as the season progresses IU can be even an average shooting team from the field, with the amount of open looks the offense creates, they will have some success. Throw in getting to at least 70% shooting from the line as team, the season will be definitely more enjoyable than what we’ve experienced of late.

When you have a first team All-American candidate like Trayce Jackson-Davis (TJD) on your roster, simply being able to keep defenses honest and them having to guard everyone makes your success rate go way up. And for as dominate as TJD can be at times, his inability to be consistent from the line makes fouling him and taking their chances a more viable option for opponents.

Factoring in everything, ie…A new coach coaching his first ever college game. New players. New system. Some injuries. I mean in the big pictured all things being considered there were more positives than negatives. And at the end of the day it was a win. We can all ask why so and so didn’t play? Why didn’t IU call a timeout? (which I personally liked). I mean really, what would the coaching staff had said? “You have to make some free throws.” Yes, for stretches of eastern Michigans run IU took some quick shots early in the shot clock, but I felt for the most part during that stretch in the 2nd Half they were doing what you would have called a timeout and told them what to do.

All in all, more positives than negatives. Plus they now have 40 minutes of real game footage to break down so coaches and players alike can see their mistakes and what they need to improve on moving forward. I expect to see some improvement in some of these areas as early as Friday night. Having grown up watching Mike Woodson play I feel confident that there is not only a level of frustration in the shooting woes, especially the free throws, but also an understanding that it has to be corrected, and some serious attention has been paid to it. Not that it hasn’t been thus far, but when you finally play a game and the weaknesses become more apparent, Mike Woodson and the coaching staff will put in place a plan to correct it.

I’m thrilled basketball season is finally back. I’m thrilled IU is 1-0. I’m thrilled with the coaching staff that is in charge of the future of this program. I’m thrilled with the recruiting so far. I’m thrilled that the current team seems to enjoy playing together and for the coach. I’m thrilled that the pieces seem to be in place to be a pretty decent team this year, as well as being a good foundation to sustained success in the years to come. Now, I just want to be thrilled and able to say, “Damn we can flat shoot the ball!”

Hope to see you Friday! GO HOOSIERS!