Overview: Roth is a 6-3, 185 pound guard from Washington, Ill. As a junior, Roth averaged 3.4 points and 0.5 rebounds per game. Roth's minutes were limited throughout the 2010-11 campaign due to a knee injury which forced him to miss four games. As a sophomore, Roth was sidelined for all but two games with a foot injury. The senior's best statistical season was his freshman year, when he averaged 6.7 points per game and led the Hoosiers in 3-point shooting.
Best Case: Roth is absolutely lethal from beyond the arc. Similar to what he did freshman year, Roth has games where he takes over. He has games where it seems like he can drain anything inside of halfcourt. Roth's role as a specialty player is fully utilized coming off the IU bench and his play demands twice the minutes he played last year. The threat Roth possesses forces the opposition to put their best defensive guard on him, freeing up the the likes of Jordan Hulls and Verdell Jones to do their thing.
Worst Case: The one-dimensional Roth loses his one dimension. Often times with a 3-point shooter coming off the bench, the worry is that they won't be able to get into the shooter's rhythm. A trend that repeats itself too often with Roth continues to repeat itself, making his presence useless. Roth's minutes become few and far between and he rides the bench while underclassmen like Will Sheehey, Victor Oladipo and Austin Etherington take his minutes.
Outlook: We've seen how good Roth can be when he gets going, like in his freshman year when he tied a school record with nine three-pointers in a 29-point outburst against Ohio State. The upside of Roth is that when healthy, he's capable of nights like that. Roth's health has prevented him from putting in a full season since freshman year. But expect Roth to be IU's best shooter off the bench. He'll have some games where he's in Ohio State mode and he simply cannot miss. Then he'll have others where he's invisible and you forget he's on the active roster. But Roth's impact will definitely be felt and could ultimately be the difference in a few Big Ten games.
