Ask The Idiot -- The Answers

Wow, great questions.  Keep the questions coming and I'll continue to provide my thoughts.  I thought it might be easier to read the Q&A in a new post, so here we go with the questions that have been received thus far:

********************


TheCoach said...

why is dan moore playing in front of hulls?

The Idiot's Answer:  I have no fucking idea.  Hulls is the better player right now.  Hulls has 100 times more upside potential. 

*********************

TheCoach said...

with capo having a break out game, is it about time to sit jobe and muniru both other than mop up time?

The Idiot's (very long) Answer:  Not so fast, my friend.  Great to see Bobby contribute with 7 points and 10 rebounds in just 17 minutes against George Mason, but one game does not earn you a permanent spot in the rotation.  But Capo's game on Sunday morning was certainly a step in the right direction.  While he did have a couple awkward putback attempts, he did play with a physical presence that this team desparately needs.

So, Capo certainly earned more minutes, but I'm not ready to send Jobe and Muniru to the far end of the bench just yet.  At least, not both of them (more on this in the next paragraph).  My concern is that I think a big part of the defensive problems on this team is that they do not have a shot-blocker underneath that can help erase some of the defensive mistakes.  Right now, the guards get beat, then our bigs try to step up and help out and they either commit a foul or the other team makes an extra pass and we get dunked on (man, we get dunked on A LOT).  We need someone that can protect the basket and force the other team to at least pull up for a contested mid-range jumper or if they do make that extra pass, we need a big guy with wing span that can recover and challenge that dunk or contest a shot.  In addition, right now, we are giving up offensive rebounds and also giving up easy put-backs.  If you do give up offensive rebounds, those put-backs at least need to be contested by a shot-blocking threat or possibly even start a fast break by blocking a shot and heading the other way.  Right now, we have no threat of blocking shots and it's hurting us in a bad way. 

Now, are Jobe and Muniru the answer to that problem?  No, not right now.  But I say we give Bawa as much on-the-job training as possible.  I don't see the point in playing Jobe (a senior) over Bawa (a freshman).  Just from a timing standpoint, Jobe's upside is limited whereas Bawa's is unlimited.  I think Bawa needs to get 4-8 minutes in most games to get a feel for the game and learn as much as possible.  Also, I don't think Bawa's minutes would necessarily be solely for the purpose of learning.  Just one drop-step and dunk in an exhibition game and 3 offensive rebounds in 3 minutes in a regular season game showed me that he can contribute while he is in there.  It won't all be pretty and there will be mistakes, but that's the case with the whole team right now.  I think Bawa could really be the key to future success, so I want to see the coaching staff doing everything possible to develop this guy.  I love Tijan Jobe, but I think his role needs to be the most intimidating cheerleader in all of college basketball.
********************

TheCoach said...

isn't this zone defense the worst attempt at playing D you've ever seen at the D1 college level?

The Idiot's (very short) Answer:  Yes.

********************

TheCoach said...

who would you start tomorrow if you were the coach?

The Idiot's Answer:  Right now, I would stick with Crean's starting lineup of Rivers, Creek, Jones, Watford, and Pritchard.  I see significant minutes every game off the bench from Hulls, Elston, and Dumes (more on him in a Q&A below).  With Capo's break-out game on Sunday, I think he definitely gets minutes over Muniru, but as noted above, I would still like to see a handful of minutes for Muniru if at all possible.  I only see Moore and Jobe in mop-up duty.

I would have definitely seen Roth as a part of the rotation, but now that he has a broken foot, he is out until at least conference play and may end up as a medical redshirt.  Roth probably wasn't going to help the defensive struggles, but he typically plays mistake-free basketball and he can flat-out shoot the ball.

********************

TheCoach said...

NOW how many wins do you think we'll get?

The Idiot's Answer:  12

********************

Dumas has made some really dum-as plays this year.

Outside of the couple of nice 3's he really hasn't done anything of consequence.

Does he look completely disinterested and how much more PT does he deserve?

Is he pissed that he isn't the go to guy?

Is he becoming groin elbowing Dumas again?

Thanks. Long time listener first time caller.

Gavin

The Idiot's Answer:  Excellent questions and I was definitely hoping to touch on this topic.  I don't think he is disinterested and I do think he still deserves significant playing time.  He might be pissed that he isn't the go-to guy, but I think it is more that he is trying to find his role on this team.  Keep in mind that he sat out most of the pre-season with a knee injury, so he's probably coming in and trying to do too much.

The crazy thing is that I think he might be the key to an increased level of success this year.  The thing is that he is a very good defender which this team desperately needs in any capacity.  The problem has been that he has been horriffic on offense.  Especially with the increased talent on this team, I think Dumes needs to focus on just being a 3-point shooter.  If he can get his shot going again, it would be a major boost to this team.  Remember that the best stretch for IU in conference play last year was fueled by Dumes getting hot.  He had 27 points on 5-5 3PT shooting in IU's only Big Ten win.  Two games earlier, he had 26 points on 6-10 3PT shooting in a 2-point loss to NW.  And in the game prior to that, he had 19 points on 4-6 3PT shooting in a 4-point loss to Minnesota.

So, with this year's team, he should be able to spot up and get even better 3-point looks than he did last year.  If he can stop turning the ball over at an alarming rate and get hot from beyond the arc, you can add that to his defensive efforts and this team could win some games.

Keeping the injury in mind, I definitely think Dumes needs to continue to get minutes to see if he can find his rhythm and get going. 

Interestingly, Dumes saw exactly 0 minutes in the second half against George Mason on Sunday, so I think that's an indication of how Tom Crean thinks he is playing right now.

********************

Chris Asks:

Do you have any doubts about Tom Crean's coaching?

The Idiot's Answer:  Yes.  That said, I absolutely still believe he is the right man for this job right now.  He is doing everything possible to rebuild this program the RIGHT way and that is great.   I think Crean is a very good coach, but I would not consider him to be a great coach right now.  I have found it tough to analyze him as a coach because the the team is so young and had to completely start over. 
I think Crean is a good recruiter, good at getting the team ready to play, a great motivator, a great PR guy for the program, but my only minor doubts are with the half-court offense and the in-game coaching and adjustments.

*********************

Chris Writes:

Is the "our team is young" line still valid in today's College Hoops? (so many upperclassmen leave early.)

Could this be mental crutch?

The Idiot's Answer:  In this case, yes it is a valid line.  What Crean had in year 1 was really unprecedented in major college basketball.  What he has in year 2 is still what would be considered one of the largest re-building efforts.  Even when teams lose their 5 starters or anything like that, they still at least have solid role players coming back as juniors and seniors to step in.  In those cases, you can supplement with a good freshmen class. 

In IU's case, you still have a team where the 12 players that are getting minutes include 7 first-year players (with 6 being true freshmen) and 5 second-year players in the program (3 true sophomores and 2 Juco transfers).  This is completely starting over.

The Fab 5 are known and still remembered as The Fab 5 because it was so unique for a group of freshmen to come in and have that level of success.  There are freshmen that come in and significantly contribute to a team or even lead a team (Carmello Anthony), but they always have 3 and 4 year players in the program on that team with them.  Even The Fab 5 had veteran players coming in off the bench.  So, when an entire team includes first and second year players like IU's current team, it is truly unprecedented.  Then, you also have to add in the fact that a full recruiting year was lost and subsequent recruiting years were negatively impacted.

So, in IU's case, I do think it is a valid line and I don't think it is a mental crutch at this point.

********************
Chris Writes:

What is Tom Crean's half court offensive philosphy?

The Idiot's Answer:  This is why they call me the idiot....I don't know.  I can't seem to figure it out.  It seems that it is to do nothing for the first half of the shot clock and then set up a high screen that takes place well outside the 3-point line and then it's a crap shoot off that high screen.  That's the way I see it and I have to say that I don't like it.  If this is Crean's half-court offense, then I really hope he gets even more serious about playing up-tempo because that half-court offense does nothing for me.

Tom Pritchard had clearly struggled so far this year, but what happened to trying to feed him in the post?  Last year, especially early, Pritchard proved that he had some nifty and effective moves in the post.  I thought he would have even more room to operate with the increased talent on this year's team, but he really hasn't even been given a chance.  Part of that is his own fault because he has had his head up his ass and gotten into foul trouble, but a larger part has been that Crean has not called his number or tried to get the ball inside at all.  Pritchard is currently shooting 65% from the field, so he has been effective with limited opportunities.

I do understand Crean's philosophy of drive and kick and I do like that philosophy, but it can't be the only thing you try to do.  This is where Rivers needs to step up and deliver.

********************
Chris Writes:

Purdue's recent success, ranking, and level of play causes me to seriously hate Sampson, Greenspan, the NCAA, Knight's anger issues, and our lack of a 4 star big man in the recruiting pipeline.

This is more of a statement, or hatement, rather than a question.

The Idiot's Thoughts:  I agree on all accounts.  And I am very concerned about the lack of a true big man in the recruiting pipeline.  That's why I see Bawa as the key to our future success because he is the only guy with future shot-blocking potential on the team and there is nothing in the recruiting pipeline right now.

Kelvin Sampson is a jerk-off.

*********************

B-Healy said...

Why does this year seem to be headed down the same path as last year? Weren't we promised visible improvements this season? No defense, spotty FT shooting, guys going in and out like there is a revolving door at the end of the bench. Seems the same to me.

The Idiot's Answer:  If you wanted to, you could make the argument that this year's team is off to a worst start than last year's team.  In both years, they started the year by beating two cupcakes before heading off to a pre-season tournament.  Last year, we won a game in Maui.  This year, nothing in Puerto Rico.  I personally would not make that argument, I'm just saying that you could make that argument.

My real answer is that the main reason that this year's team is resembling last year's team is because we are barely leveraging last year's experience.  Even after the transfers of Malik Story and more importantly Nick Williams, we still had a core of Dumes, Jones, Pritchard, and Roth returning this year.  Outside of Jones, we are getting nothing out of our returning players.  Pritch is averaging only 5 pts and 3 rebs, Dumes is averaging 3 pts and nearly as many turnovers, and Roth now has a broken foot.  So, essentially, we are adding a transfer and a bunch of freshmen to a still skinny true sophomore.

Bottom line is that we need more out of Dumes and Pritchard.  Right now, we are forced to live and die with our freshmen.  Freshmen are going to be inconsistent, that is a given.  I was hoping we would have the option of periodically putting in a lineup of Rivers, Dumes, Jones, and Pritchard to hopefully steady the ship.  That's not happening right now.

That said, this team is considerably better than last year's and we just aren't seeing it yet.  I think hope that the FT shooting will be better and the worst is behind us for this season.

I also don't think that opening the season with 5 games in 9 days does a young team any favors.  This team needs more practice time to improve and I think we will start to see those improvements in December (well, probably not during the Maryland, Pitt, Kentucky stretch).  Regardless, if you listened to Tom Crean's last two postgame press conferences, he is not a happy camper and he is identifying exactly what is wrong with this team right now.  So, I do trust that these issues are being addressed in practice and we will start to see improvements.

**********************

andy.dart said...


Dear Mr. Idiot, I want to know if this team is going to compete or if they are going to fold up their tent and go home. Right now, it is very easy for fans to think that this is as good as it is going to get and this will be a repeat of last year but with more talent. So, we need your opinion on whether or not IU will show signs of hope and life this year (please be positive, Mr. Idiot. I fear i might jump from my roof if there is not hope)........

Mr. Idiot's Answer:  This team will absolutely compete.  My concern is that their youth is going to lead to a lot of inconsistency, a lot of bad defense, and some streaky shooting from the field, the line, and the arc.  The good news is that their talent level will show flashes of brilliance that includes scoring in spurts, steals on the defensive end, and even the occassional dunk.

I have no doubt that they will compete.  But as I have said before, I think this team will both play in a lot of close games and will unfortunately lose a lot of close games.  Puerto Rico is a perfect example.  The Boston game shouldn't have been close, we actually should have pulled away and won that game easily.  Unfortunately, we didn't play well in the second half, allowed the game to stay close, and then failed miserably at the end.  The George Mason game was different in that it was a close game the entire contest and IU even did many things that would normally deliver a win.  In this case, they fell victim to a piece-of-shit-banked-in 3-pointer.  Is it just me or has that happened to IU a lot in the past decade (Brian Butch, freakin' Brendan Plavich, and a few others)?  Anyway, even though IU played better against George Mason and were definitely unlucky, it was still another close game that they lost.

So, they will compete, they will show signs of life and cause for hope, but it might not translate to as many wins as we were hoping for this year.

********************

andy.dart said...

Mr. Idiot, Also, I would hate to jump from my roof into one of my bushes, only to survive and see another 6-25 season. We need hope Mr. Idiot.

Mr. Idiot's Answer:  Your roof to your bushes should result in nothing more than a few scrapes and maybe a bruise, so you're going to be OK.  And the good news is that the Hoosiers will have 6 wins by the time the conference season rolls around and they will definitely win more than one game this year in the Big Ten.

**********************

Westlake said...

Dear The Idiot,

Have you heard anything about Morrison entering the NBA dunk contest this year?

The Idiot's Answer:  No

Update:  I have to admit that the first time I read this, I was thinking why the hell is Westlake asking me if Adam Morrison is entering the NBA dunk contest.  So, since I was reading Adam and that would be both an absurd and unrelated question, I dismissed it as Westlake just being drunk.

And now, even though I am probably right about Westlake being drunk, I do realize this question was related to Mike Morrison of George Mason who dunked on us like a mad-man.

So, I don't know if I would change my answer from "No", but I would agree that our defense did not offer any resistance at all when Morrison was going up for dunk after dunk.

*********************

andy.dart said...

Maybe it should Dr. Idiot. And I mean that as a sign of respect. Does anybody agree?
Also, what does the Roth injury do to the rotation? Has anybody asked this yet? I like the fact that we have somebody on the team that can make 9 three pointers in 1 game. But does he give up 27 points on the defensive end?

Dr. Idiot's Answer:  Tough to really say what Roth's injury does to the rotation because it has been hard to identify any real rotation thus far.  Also, Roth only played 11 total minutes in the first 2 games of the season, so he wasn't seeing much action anyway.  However, I am wondering if that was due to the broken nose.  It's not that you can't play with a broken nose and facemask, but I wonder if Crean was just easing him back and wanting to see more of the freshmen in those opening 2 games.

I do think the injury hurts.  Yes, his defense is bad, but I don't think it is as bad as others think.  He is definitely slow of foot but he is also a smart player who is usually in the right position.  Defense, especially off the ball defense, is as much about positioning as it is about athleticism. 

I didn't see Roth getting a ton of minutes this year, but his shooting does have the ability to very quickly turn around a stale offensive performance. 

********************

Thanks for the questions and go Hoosiers!