Friday afternoon, members of the local media had the chance to meet with IU men's basketball freshmen Luke Fischer, Troy Williams, Devin Davis, Collin Hartman, Noah Vonleh and Stanford Robinson.
Although it is yet to be seen how well the six fresh faces to Bloomington can fill in the gaps left from departed players Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller, Christian Watford, Jordan Hulls and Derek Elston, one void was soon apparent: the Hoosiers don't seem to have too many players who can talk about the game much in front of a crowd.
Sure, it was their first time in front of the IU media, but let's just hope that more guys will be willing to take the big-time shot on the court this season than dishing off another pass like so many of the freshmen avoided the pressure of answering questions with much detail while dishing them off to their counterparts.
But aside from the question and answer side of the interview session, IU's six newest threats already looked like they were in form for the college season.
A top 10 recruit in the country coming out of high school, Noah Vonleh said he finished his high school season weighing 215 pounds, but with several weeks of meals prepared by the IU athletics staff and weight training with IU Strength and Conditioning Coach Je'Ney Jackson has gotten Vonleh up to 240 pounds.
Past teammates and peers commented on Vonleh's ballooning size while he was at basketball camps sponsored by LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire this past summer.
On the other hand, Robinson has been enjoying other perks of getting ripped.
"Sometimes I just touch my arms, just to see how big I've gotten," he said. "Sometimes I walk around with my shirt off all the time cause I can tell I've gotten bigger, and he (Jackson) always tells me to put my shirt back on."
Hartman added that since adding 15 pounds, he has felt more comfortable in the paint posting up against teammates like Vonleh, Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Zeller while he was in town earlier this summer.
An obvious knock on this year's squad is how young IU Coach Tom Crean's team will be, with 10 out of 13 scholarship athletes coming into the season as freshmen or sophomores. Only senior forward Will Sheehey and sophomore guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell have significant experience with loads of playing time at the college level in Bloomington.
But Williams denied any allegations that this team will fall short of last year's because of lack of experience.
"We'll be seen as young, but we're going to be really talented this year," he said.
Because of the common youth among so many players, Robinson said it's been easier to bond as a team and make everyone feel equal and comfortable calling people out or trying to make suggestions on how to strengthen their games.
"Everybody listens to everybody," Robinson said. "If Troy was to tell Will Sheehey something on his game and something he should change, Will Sheehey would take it into consideration...And I think that's what's special about our team. We all listen to one another. It's not 'Oh, I'm older' or 'I've been here longer.' I think that's what's going to make us special this year"
