Eamonn here. Matt, myself, and Keith MacDonald, IDS crack staff photographer, are still getting settled into our hotel room here in downtown Durham - which, according to our quick driving tour, is nowhere near as nice as Chapel Hill - and it's still early in the day. But we wanted to quickly discuss Coach Sampson's interesting, if risky, decision to start Armon Bassett and Joey Shaw tonight at Duke.
You don't need us to tell you that Duke is a rowdy environment; if you have ESPN, you've had that fact crammed down your throat about 1,000 times by now. But it IS raucous - perhaps the most raucous in the country - which, combined with two freshmen in opening roles for IU, could end badly.
The strategy, I think, is to have Earl Calloway and Rod Wilmont immediately available off the bench to provide an early spark, and Sampson will surely get them in the game if Bassett and Shaw falter in the slightest, but still: Do you think it's a good idea to start the team's first home game, at Duke, with two inexperienced freshmen in the lineup?
My answer is no - with shades of gray. It probably isn't the best idea if Sampson thinks he has a serious chance of winning this game, which, though he'd never tell you this, probably isn't the case. Obviously, he wants to win, and he'll coach to the best of his abilities like any other night. But he's talked a bit too much about "gaining experience" in the past week to seem confident about his team's chances. If he is more interesting in fortifying his new team with experience and mixing things up early in the year, then by all means, he should go with Bassett and Shaw. Like he says, it's a long season, and a Duke win won't make or break IU's NCAA tournament chances. And after all, a freshmen-infused lineup worked extremely well against Chicago State. Duke in Durham, however, is not Chicago State. Or Lafayette, or even Butler. (By the way, how about those Bulldogs? The hell?)
It becomes an opportunity, then, to let two freshmen pick up major experience while still maintaining some sort of strategic element of surprise, if you will. Sampson can rest assured that if Bassett and Shaw look shell-shocked early, he has two senior captains on the bench to right the ship. Wilmont has been the best, most consistent player on the floor for the Hoosiers in the early part of the season, so it's telling that Sampson thinks he's better off bringing Rod off the bench - telling that Rod might be a better bench player than a starter and telling about Sampson's confidence with his strategy.
Another interesting question - for all that Sampson has been talking about Armon Bassett lately, what about Calloway? The Goateed One can't be happy with the reduced role he played vs. Chicago State, especially considering his play against Lafayette and the vocal role he's taken thus far. Is he in Sampson's doghouse?
Clearly, we're just getting started on the day, we love talking IU hoops, and we've got tons to discuss in this space before Ryan takes over for the night. We'll be back later, live from Durham.
