The Curt Miller era (un)officially begins tomorrow when the Hoosiers take on Division II Kentucky State at 7 p.m. in Assembly Hall in the team's only exhibition game of the season. Here are some notes from today's practice as the team makes its final preparations before playing the Thorobreds. Also be sure to check out a preview of the game in tomorrow's IDS or at idsnews.com.
Injury update: Bell likely to make first collegiate start at point guard
- Redshirt-freshman guard Kaila Hulls: Out for season (torn right ACL).
- Junior guard Andrea Newbauer: Out (ankle injury). Coach Miller has upgraded her status to "day-to-day" from "week-to-week." Miller said she continues to progress and is participating in individual drills, but has yet to participate in live five-on-five drills. She will be reevaluated in November and the teams hopes she will be ready for the Nov. 9 regular season opener at Valparaiso.
- Sophomore guard Candyce Ussery: Active (multiple undisclosed injuries). Ussery was limited by several injuries early in the preseason and missed considerable practice time, but has been practicing regularly during the last one-two weeks and will be available Tuesday. It remains to be seen how much live action she'll see, however, while she works to get in game shape.
Analysis: With Newbauer still rehabbing and Ussery behind in her conditioning, freshman guard Nicole Bell will likely get the nod at point guard against Kentucky State. Bell has been practicing with the starters throughout the preseason, and today was no different.
Miller expects more out of his post players
On Thursday at the Big Ten Media Day in Rosemont, Ill., Miller expressed concern about his team's depth at every position except one.
"The one position that we have good depth in is the center position," Miller said. "Now, when you look around the league and you look at the centers in our league, we may not have the individual talent ... and even though we might not have a superstar in the post, we have to have a lot of people step up and help us at the defensive end rebounding and running our ball screen offense that we believe so much in."
Fifth-year center Sasha Chaplin, who led the team with 6.5 rebounds per game last season, will anchor the position for IU. Junior Simone Deloach and sophomore Quaneisha McCurty will spell Chaplin to keep her fresh.
Though Miller praised his post players' ability to grab offensive rebounds last season (the team averaged a conference-best 16.1 per game), his new offense demands that they do more than just crash the boards.
"Last year they stood on the blocks a lot, which was one of the reasons they were such a good offensive rebounding team -- they had good position," Miller said. "But we're asking our post players to move a lot, spring into ball screens, then slip screens, the roll screens, pick and pop. So we're asking a lot of our post players to run around and not only help try to create opportunities for guards, but also create opportunities for themselves with all of their movement."
A goal within reach
As Curt Miller rebuilds IU women's basketball, he is charged with improving a team that won only one conference game and six games overall last season. He has repeatedly said that in the immediate future, wins and losses are not as important as changing the program's culture and executing his brand of basketball.
While a Big Ten title may be off in the distance, Miller does see a less tangible goal the team can achieve in the near future: becoming the hardest working team in the Big Ten.
"Today was not a team that was the hardest working team," Miller said. "This team has to create their own passion and energy. Specifically on the floor to be the hardest working team, you gotta see a desire out there, you gotta see the extra effort for loose balls, you gotta see enthusiasm on the bench, you gotta see kids running in and out of games and supporting each other."
During one defensive set that was worked on in Monday's practice, Miller implored his team to show more energy on the floor. Though energy can be a difficult thing to measure, Miller said the results of playing with high energy is not.
"We're looking for that chemistry and cohesiveness that we think is so important as a program, and we've got to really work hard at all the intangibles and get deflections and get loose balls and dive on the floor and take charges," he said.
All of those intangibles come back to the blue-collar brand of basketball Miller has said Hoosiers appreciate and look for in their teams.
"All the hustle areas in basketball has nothing to do with talent," Miller said. "I don't care that there are teams with more talent then us. We can still be productive in those hustle categories. And that's how we'll define if we're playing hard or are one of the hardest working teams in the Big Ten like we wanna be."
Quote of the day
"Nervousness is not necessarily a bad thing. If you're not nervous, than there's something wrong. If it's your first college game or whatever it is -- your first time coming back from an injury or anything -- being nervous is good. But just know that once the ball goes up, let that nervousness go as you touch the ball. OK, you make a mistake, go ahead and move on to the next one because you can't be stuck in that moment or else it's going to carry over to the entire game and possibly effect the entire team."
--Redshirt-senior center Sasha Chaplin on her role in keeping her younger teammates calm during their first collegiate game
