I sit here in disbelief at how superficial some of you look at IU and bball in general.

I can’t wait until Senior Night, when you escort TP out to center court and reveal that you are, indeed, his biological father.

Agree hard to rack up the assists when someone else has the ball in their hands most of the time. If we are going to look at a stat in that regard maybe it should be assists per minute of actually having the ball in their hands or what the percentage of their passes actually led to a basket as opposed to a pass to keep from getting a five second call.

20 a game?? im from ky and love iu hoops but uk fans have a piont. iu fans can be delusional at times.. comonman that kid will never see 20 points. we dont have anyone besides watford that can hit for 20. maybe gary harris next year. optimism is one thing but comonman!!!

thats not saying much!! i hope people dont get to pumped about this team. different cake same ingredients!!

I seriously think a stat like that is bogus!  I watched every minute of every game last year and the offense flowed much, much better when Hulls ran it.  The only reason his assist rate wasn’t higher is because he stood on the wing for a good portion of the season and watched Verdell dribble.  VJ3 never threw a single pass last year where anyone said, “Wow, what a pass” or “Man, how’d he see him.”  On the other hand, Jordy threw several.  He sees the floor better and runs the offense better.  He just needs to be on the ball more!  There is something to be said for watching the games and seeing what’s really happening verses looking at empty stats. 

I agree with you 100% of TP and think TP is going to have a huge impact and breakout year now that he has some help down low and also some quicker guards and wings to stay in front of their men, but I totally disagree that VJ3 needs to be on the ball.  He’s had 3 years where he’s had that responsibility the majority of the time and it has only led to TO problems and me losing more hair!

We may have to agree to disagree on this topic but I still think VJ3 is best suited as a Rip Hamilton type wing.  We’ll just wait and see which armchair coach is right on this one. 

Still love ya Jerry!  Hoo Hoo HOOSIERS!!!

I think the biggest keys to Verdell’s success is his shooting.  Sure, he can hit the midrange jumper, but teams figure that out and cut him off or invite him to dribble into trouble and then strip the ball if they don’t fear his outside shot.  If he could just get his 3pt shooting % up to say 37% from 27% last year and have a few big games from deep then teams would be forced to respect that and it could open up the floor for VJ3 and others. 

Also, he has to hit FT’s in order for his drive game to work.  I hated watching him go to the line the last two years.  I chewed to the cuticles every time he got fouled!

I honestly think we could slow down a guy like Sullinger if and only if TP stayed out of foul trouble and another athletic player like Will or Vic was responsible for dropping down on there side to double him now and again.  OSU may not have the shooters this year if we did something like that to kill us.  Thomas is hot and cold so if he has a cold night you can drop off him to double Sullinger. 

I love playing couch coach!!!

I sort of agree with you against a team like NW.  That weird named C isn’t much of a threat down low because he’s weak but he drags guys out and shoots the 3.  I would rather CZ be the one pulled away from the basket to guard him and leave TP down low.  Problem is that everybody on the NW team shoots the 3 so there goes that idea. 

Now against a team like Minn., CZ may be a better fit against Sampson III with TP on MBakwe (if he’s still there).  Then again, Will guarded him last year and did great so maybe Will should play more and guard guys like Besabe too!

I too believe that if TP would just give up the occasional easy basket and pick his battles better (obviously after our slower guards have been beat) then we’d have a much more successful season.  I watched closely last year as IU competed against PUke at home.  When TP was on the floor, he practically shut Johnson down!  Of course Moore still torched our guards, but IU played almost point for point with PUke during TP’s floor stretches.  As soon as he would pick up a foul and get back in foul trouble (and give way to DE) Johnson would start scoring again.  He ended up with 20+ and probably 14-16 of that was against a TP’less IU defense!

I honestly think the best offensive + defensive starting lineup IU could play would be:

Hulls – PG
Vic – Wing
CWat – Wing
CZ – PF
TP – PF

We wouldn’t play a true Center but I see this as the best offensive/defensive lineup.  Vic helps Jordy on D by switching off on the quickest guard and also helps CWat on D if he’s having trouble handling a quicker wing.  TP can help CZ on D by picking up the bigger/stronger player but he could also help CWat if CWat was being pushed around.  Will can come off the bench and do the same thing and VJ can come off the bench as well for extra wing scoring.  If Remy is doing his job at the point then we could play a quicker, smaller lineup with Vic and Will in together with Remy. 

Could you imagine the speed and athleticism on offense we’d have if Remy/Vic/Will could play together and somebody still pose a threat to shoot from the outside?  CWat is always going to be a threat from the outside and CZ can play the pick and pop game with those guys!

Sorry for the long post but the season in nigh and I’m getting pumped and thinking basketball!!!

I get the impression that mid-way through VJ3’s first B10 season, he looked around and thought, Well, if no one else is gonna do IT, then I will.  At the time, that attitude was a virtue.  He got a lot of positive feedback for it, didn’t he?  But that kind of attitude now is a weakness. 

If he had gone to Minnesota, say, he would have not picked up that attitude.  He would have been schooled, been humbled within the team.  He would have had to work really hard to get into the game.  And the fans would now be thinking, “Ah, VJ3 is coming on.  He’s got good energy.”

If VJ3 didn’t go to IU, he would have been a good 6th man by his third B10 season.  While he knew he wasn’t going to see big numbers in the Ws column, he knew he was going to see many more in the M column at IU than any other place.

I like the different point of view. Well said. Would not have started in most Big Ten programs. Even now?

The reality is this, when this kid was bad, he was really, really bad. I’m talking not Big Ten caliber bad. If nothing else, we should have the depth to yank him if he does not improve on his decision making.

I am sure The Pritch is coming up on Alex’s rundown but since we are talking about him now…….

You talk about how effective IU was with him on the floor etc. Aside from Mo Creek’s injury, I would argue that TPs inability to stay on the floor was one of the biggest issues we had defensively. You have an injured and ineffective Elston, Capo which well, we don’t need to go there. TP’s careless fouls killed our D.

So, here’s to The Pritch doing better in this regard. And yes Cody will help etc. But many of those fouls were just plain inexcusable.

Well from your point of view, The Pritch talks to God daily. So let’s ask the Good Lord for his opinion on Verdell.