Here are my thoughts from the game:
Overall Team:
The defense was horrible. A common, yet often overlooked, problem with freshmen is their defense. And when you have 3 freshmen on the floor most of the time, the team defense is really going to struggle, especially early in the year. If we didn't get a steal, then Grace was getting very easy looks at the basket. I like the aggressive defense, but not to the point of consistently giving up easy baskets.
The FT shooting was outstanding. Last year, FT shooting was an achilles heel. I was very hopeful that this freshmen class would help improve that category. Well, in the exhibition opener, the freshmen were 13-13 from the line. If you take away Steven Gambles 1-4 in garbage time, the team went 21-25 up until that point. As I said previously, I think the Hoosiers will play a lot of close games this year, so the FT shooting will be a big factor in the number of wins this team is able to pull out.
Even though the defense was bad and the offense was sloppy at times, you quickly noticed the improved talent, athleticism, and depth on this team.
Christian Watford:
Get excited Hoosier fans. We've got a good one here. 19 points, 11 rebounds, 9-9 FTs, and 3 steals. Wow. The interesting thing about Watford is that you don't get the "this guy is unstoppable" feeling, but he is effective. He has such a good overall skill set that he will get his numbers in a variety of ways and I just don't see him ever completely laying an egg in games. Remember last year when Nick Williams would have a great game and then follow it up with a bagel. Not going to happen with Watford.
He seems to have a nose for the ball on the offensive glass, runs the floor well to get some easy baskets, and came play inside or out in offensive sets. The most promising stat was the 9 FT attempts showing that he has the ability to get to the line. Then the gravy was 9 FTs made. If he can get to the line and knock them down, he is going to put up some major scoring numbers in his career at IU.
Tom Pritchard:
Nothing new here. A couple nice crafty moves and a few misses from point blank range.
Maurice Creek:
Not a very impressive showing by going just 1-5 from the arc and 5 turnovers, but you can definitely see some talent here.
Jeremiah Rivers:
A solid effort. The highlight moment of the entire game was definitely his back-to-back break-away dunks. I found it interesting that he jumped off his right leg for both dunks. The first one was off the right leg and a two-handed jam. Then the second one was off the right leg and a one-handed left-handed dunk. Pretty damn impressive. Shortly thereafter, he had a very nice drive and finish through traffic. Definitely looks to be our best dribble-drive guy.
Verdell Jones:
Looked good. Very similar to the way he was playing at the end of last year. Unfortunately, one of those similarities was the turnovers. VJIII turned it over 5 times, but he did offset that with a team-leading 8 assists.
Jordan Hulls:
HELLO! I love this kid. Watching him play, I could once again start to envision IU winning Big Ten titles and making deep tournament runs. 14 points on 5-6 shooting including 2-2 from the arc and 2-2 from the line, 3 assists, 0 turnovers, and 3 steals. But numbers don't tell the story for this guy. Smart player, good ball-handler, great passer, smart defender, scrappy, and takes FULL advantage of opportunities. Tom Crean has been hesitant to praise the freshmen because he wants them to work and earn that praise. But in recent weeks, Crean has said that Jordan Hulls has been picking things up faster than any player he has ever coached. There's still the question of how he will do against bigger, stronger, and faster guards at the high-major level, but something tells me that he will find a way to more than hold his own.
Daniel Moore:
A good scrappy effort with 2 assists and 1 steal in 8 minutes.
Bobby Capobianco:
Struggled to truly get into the flow of the game due to 4 chippy fouls, but I like the 7 rebounds in 15 minutes. I definitely think he will play a role this year off the bench so that Pritchard is not playing 35 minutes a game like he did last year.
Matt Roth:
Is it just me or does IU constantly have white guys wearing those face-masks. Roth is the latest to wear one and admitted that it bothers him. He was 1-4 from the arc, but more surprisingly, he was 2-2 inside the arc.
Derek Elston:
One thing that jumped out at me was how athletic Elston was. He had a very nice reverse layup and some athletic rebounds. Like several of the players, he left a couple easy buckets out there, but overall a good effort with 10 points and 7 rebounds in 17 minutes of play.
Tijan Jobe:
You have to love the big fella. There is something wrong with you if you don't. He got a few minutes during the regular course of the game and a few more in garbage time. Nothing specific to report, but he did grab 3 boards in 6 minutes.
Bawa Maniru:
DNP due to not yet being cleared by the NCAA. The good news is that he did just get cleared to play by the NCAA in the last couple of days, so he should see some time in Monday's exhibition game.
Devan Dumes and Brett Finkelmeier:
DNP due to injuries. Neither expected to be serious.
Steven Gambles and Kory Barnett:
Garbage time only.
Student U Coverage:
By normal standards, the television coverage by Student U was horrible. However, for an exhibition game and the fact that it's being produced by students, it was definitely acceptable. I recommend setting your DVR for the Student U coverage of the second exhibition game, rather than paying $2.99 to watch it online. I thought Errick Suhr did a pretty good job as the color commentator. He wasn't the most exciting, but his points and basketball analysis were good. The play-by-play guy was horrific.
Monday's Exhibition Game:
vs. Saint Joseph's (Indiana)
Monday at 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)
Live on BTN.com for $2.99
Student U telecast -- Tuesday at 1:00pm ET (Noon CT) on the Big Ten Network
Go Hoosiers!
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