Snap judgments are a prime example of a double-edged sword.
On one hand, first impressions always carry some weight when examined in hindsight.
On the other, you should never judge a book by its cover, as several children’s TV shows told me during my childhood.
Writers were granted access to IU men’s basketball practice Monday. We were asked to stay away from schematic tendencies, but I do have some general observations from watching this team practice.
This is where the doubled-edged sword comes in.
We have no idea how much this team will change in the coming months. The team IU is right now could be completely different than the team it is three months from now.
But way-too-early projections are always fun, so without further ado, here are some observations from practice.
New team identity
Before watching practice, reporters watched tape with IU Coach Tom Crean while he explained what he wants his ideal player and team to look like.
One word kept coming up: attack.
This team will try to run people to death. As Crean explained it, every team tries to make the other team ?fatigued.
For one team, it might use its depth to tire people. Another team might try full court pressure to wear out its opponent.
IU’s tactic will be attacking on both ends of the ball.
Expect to see a lot of drives to the basket and subsequent open looks from three created by those drives.
And remember how good current Charlotte Hornets forward Cody Zeller was at running the floor and beating his man for an ?easy basket?
Keep an eye on junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea this season. He’s a freak athlete. Let’s see if he’ll be able to beat his man down the floor for some of those easy baskets that have become a staple of IU big men.
Attack, attack, attack. Run, run, run.
That will be IU’s mantra, to an extent, this season.
Selfishly, as a fan of basketball, I can’t wait. This will make for a higher, more up-tempo pace, which is supremely entertaining.
Whether entertainment will translate to success is yet to be seen.
But I can’t wait to find out.
As Terrell Owens would say, get yo’ popcorn ready.
Shooting will be better
IU struggled to score last year for a variety of reasons.
But one of the biggest reasons was the lack of ?shooting.
I know, I know, you’re super happy you’re reading a basketball column where the columnist is telling you shooting is important. Seems rather intuitive.
But the lack of shooting also affected IU’s ability to attack the basket.
Think about it, if the man you’re guarding is shooting 15 percent from behind the arc, you don’t have to respect that shot at all.
You can play further off your man and play more help defense on the drive or the post.
Well that problem clogged up the lane for the Hoosiers last season.
There wasn’t enough room for junior guard Kevin ‘Yogi’ Ferrell or sophomore guard Stan Robinson to get to the basket.
And if they kicked it to the open wing or corner, they were passing to a shooter who the defense didn’t have to respect.
That won’t be true this year.
IU will play guard-heavy, because it has to.
Mosquera-Perea and sophomore forward Devin Davis, who are only 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-7 respectively, are the only real viable post threats.
This means sophomore forward Troy Williams will get a lot of playing time at the four.
Williams is more of a wing-orientated forward and won’t be banging with the big bodies down low.
The additions of freshman guard James Blackmon, who has an absolutely gorgeous jump shot, freshman forward Max Hoetzel and junior guard Nick Zeisloft are vast improvements in shooting over what IU had last year.
And while we’re on the topic, why not do a way-too-early projection of what the starting five will look like?
Way-too-early starting five projection
I could be way off. But this is my projection of what the starting five will look like this season, based of my beliefs about the game of basketball.
Guard — Yogi Ferrell
Guard — James Blackmon
Guard — Stan Robinson
Forward — Troy Williams
Center — Hanner Mosquera-Perea
Intriguing, isn’t it? Zeisloft, Davis, Hoetzel and freshman guard Rob Johnson will get significant playing time off the bench.
You could talk me into Johnson taking over Robinson’s third guard slot. But I’d like to see how Johnson plays during game-time pressure.
With Robinson, I know I’m getting a superb attacker of the basket and tenacious perimeter defender. His shooting was woeful last year, 19 percent from three.
But Robinson might have improved his shooting due to a small change in his jump shot.
He now shoots it right handed.
That’s right. Robinson, who played left handed all last year, is now shooting the ball right handed.
Apparently Robinson is natural with his right hand in a lot of things, so he decided to give it a try shooting with his other hand.
I’ve never heard of this tactic before, but if it helps him shoot 30 percent from behind the arc, then great.
His jumper looks a little more natural right handed than it did with his left. It still isn’t the smoothest of shots, like Blackmon’s, but we’ll see if improvement will follow with the drastic change in his jump shot.
We’ll know more once we see this team on the court playing in real competition.
But for now, snap judgments are all we can make.
ehoopfer@indiana.edu
