Finding identity at the point

Everybody loves Errek Suhr. \nI do, you do (if you don't, you really should) and, upon meeting him, your grandmother would probably pinch his cheeks and call him a nice young man.\nHeck, with the holiday season looming, I'd bet the Grinch and Scrooge would have a hard time not liking him.\nHe's a Hoosier in the truest sense. Suhr is the hard-working hometown kid with veteran moxie and a heart bigger than Assembly Hall. \nAnd as a reward for his invaluable second-half play against Duke University on Tuesday night, IU coach Kelvin Sampson gave Suhr the starting nod in Saturday's 75-57 win against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. \nHe played the first nine minutes of the game. He turned the ball over. He was underwhelming.\nNow, don't get me wrong. I really do think Suhr deserved the start. In typical Sampson fashion, Suhr's inspired play got him into the starting five. He earned it -- for one game.\nSampson talked a lot about this team's "identity" and finding its "roles" this season. \nSuhr's play probably helped speed along the process of Sampson figuring out the identity of the point guard position -- the most perplexing challenge for the new coach this season.\nThe former walk-on's role is being an instant spark off the bench. Come in, draw a charge, nail a three, get a steal. He can bring the crowd to its feet. He's great at it. It's where he fits in on this team. And it's exactly what he did in the Duke game. He came off the bench and provided instant energy.\nSo that leaves Sampson with senior Earl Calloway or freshman Armon Bassett getting minutes as the floor leader. \nProblem is, neither seems to possess the mentality Sampson desires out of his point guard. He wants his floor leader to set up shop in the half-court offense and feed other IU players for a score. So far, each seems to own more of a scorer's mentality.\n"Earl's not a half-court, run-your-team point guard. That's not what he is," Sampson said. "Let him attack, let scoring be who he is. Because I think he can score. The more he attacks, the better Earl is as your point guard."\nBassett saw time almost exclusively at shooting guard against Charlotte.\nThere were numerous times in both halves when Calloway played faster than the team, quickly dribbling the ball ahead and finding himself in the face of four 49er defenders. He had to wait for the Hoosiers to get back down the court to get anything going. This type of play seems to have irked Sampson a bit this season.\nBut when IU followed with the senior in transition, the 49ers were thoroughly outclassed.\nWhen the combination of Bassett, Calloway, D.J. White, A.J. Ratliff and either Lance Stemler or Ben Allen was on the floor, IU's offense looked the best it has all season.\nThe Hoosiers were athletic and strong. They were intimidating and fluid. Their half-court play was solid, too.\nA mix of quick transition \nbasketball and half-court sets seems to fit this team the best.\nI'm not quite sure if that's exactly how Sampson wants this team to look, but he might have to concede to this play a bit if he wants IU to compete with the likes of an athletic, talented Ohio State squad once Big Ten season rolls around. \nIt seems as if Sampson is starting to understand Calloway isn't his ideal point guard, but that's going to be OK.\n"That's part of learning with these guys," Sampson said. "I didn't see Earl play in high school or junior college. I didn't see him play last year here. What I've seen of Earl Calloway has been in the last two months. As you get to know him, you realize that Earl's not gonna go out there and run your team. That's not his deal."\nSaturday night in his post-game address, Sampson said his Hoosiers are "a lot closer" to figuring out their identity.\nThat identity just might not be exactly what he envisioned.