It's likely already 9 or 10 where you are, but out here on the West Coast we just finished up with press conferences and a brief practice on the eve of the Hoosiers' first round NCAA match up with No. 10 seed Gonzaga.
First, the practice. I wish I could say the practice was especially revealing or interesting, but honestly, it consisted of little more than variations of medium range shooting drills. Every 10 minutes or so, the drills would shift slightly, but the essence of the drill would remain the same: one or two passes, movement off screens, spot up shot. I would say each player hoisted roughly 150-200 shots - and perhaps more - during the 50 minute practice.
That said, it was interesting to see who was shooting well and from where, which I tried to chart (albeit extremely shoddily). For example, Lance Stemler shot well from everywhere. That's encouraging for the Hoosiers, who could probably use a Stemler injection tomorrow night. Rod Wilmont struggled for a while, but picked up his percentage toward the end of practice. Ben Allen shot well, as did D.J. White and A.J. Ratliff. Overall, the Hoosiers really warmed up toward the end of practice, making all but three or four shots in the last five or six minutes of jump shooting. It was impressive stuff, and encouraging, considering IU is in a new gym with different depth perception issues behind the basket. We'll see if that carries over to tomorrow night's game.
Practice closed with some casual free throw shooting, a huddle, Earl Calloway's patented "yup, yup" screech, and that was that. A few of the players signed some autographs after practice, including D.J., who actually ran the length of the court to sign a girl's shirt. What a guy.
Anyway, here are some of the highlights from the press conferences today:
-- When asked, Earl, D.J. and Rod cited the second half of the Duke game as the moment the Hoosiers started believing in their coach and in each other:
"If there was a single game, even though we lost, the Duke game," White said. "The second half we put together something that we thought was special that started us off playing his style of defense and the type of game that coach brings. That would be the game that I think jump started us."
"The Duke game," Rod Wilmont said. "He put myself, Earl and A.J. on the bench. That point was the turning point. We learned that if we don't play to his standards we won't play at all ... we learned his standards, and we know what he wants. He lives with our mistakes as long as we're playing hard."
Sampson addressed that dynamic also: "I knew it was going to be tough for this group because you have to change the culture a little bit," Sampson said. "We're not finished, we still have a way to go. For this group though, I remember being down 15 in that game (Duke) and seeing all the work we had done go down the drain because I saw kids revert ... it wasn't disheartening, it was disappointing ... I think we started two freshmen and a walk on in the second half and we had a chance to win the game."
-- Sampson was asked about Wilmont and the way IU sort of seems to attach its fates to his performance. (For example, when IU wins, Rod is averaging around 15 points per game, but when the Hoosiers lose, Rod's average drops to around 9 ppg. That's the largest discrepancy of any player, wins to losses, on the team.)
"Rod is an emotional kid," Sampson said. "We're not a good enough team to play without that. Rod gives us a little bit of a swagger I think. He brings that to the game. Just recently, when we were in Chicago playing Northwestern, just his bravado versus, say, the Illinois game a week later in Chicago - we need that from Rod. But a basketball team is usually made of its parts ... for this team, Rod's bravado and his swagger. One thing I have to get on Rod about is don't let your game be tied to your baskets. Sometimes if Rod's not making baskets he's not rebounding either."
-- When asked what D.J. needed to do tomorrow for the Hoosiers to be successful, Sampson offered some interesting stuff:
"You know, D.J. is almost a perimeter post guy having to play inside for us," Sampson said. "I think it's going to be important for him to pass out of double teams for us and get it to the right spot ... being able to pass out of the double teams is important. And he has to rebound like he did last game ... He's got to rebound the ball, do a good job of passing out of double teams, and be an opportunistic scorer."
-- Finally, the funniest moment of the day came when Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz asked Sampson what grade he gave himself for his job this year. Sampson shot back, "I don't give myself grades. What grade would you give me?"
"B," Kravitz said. "But that's on a Mike Davis curve."
Sampson had fun with it the rest of the way, saying that he was never an A student unless the class was P.E. and, more sternly, that he didn't think 10 wins in the Big Ten deserved a B. All in all, though, it was a funny moment.
We'll have more stuff tomorrow as we get ready for the game during the day. See you then.
