SB Nation - Devan Dumes

Kentucky 90, Indiana 73: a closer look.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:31:38 -0000

More photos » by Darron Cummings - AP

The official stats are here. The Pomeroy gameplan is here.

It's no secret to anyone who watched the game that IU was dominated on the boards at both ends of the court. IU's 22.2 percent offensive rebound percentage is IU's second worst of the season, second only to the performance against Boston University. Further, at the offensive end, Kentucky rebounded an incredible 56.8 percent of its own misses. In other words, nearly 6 in 10 Kentucky misses led to another opportunity for the Wildcats to score. Unlike some other numbers, UK's rebounding advantage was constant throughout the game. In the first half, UK rebounded 7 of 14 of its missed shots. Obviously, this is an extremely difficult disadvantage to overcome. Still, for over half of the game the Hoosiers did overcome the board deficit, but only with unsustainable 63 percent shooting, including 5-8 from three point range, in the first half. IU's offense cratered in the second half (IU shot only 33 percent from the field), and UK rolled.

Really, for all of the justifiable John Wall hype, the entire stat sheet demonstrates UK's interior dominance. UK scored 44 points in the paint, IU 26. Kentucky blocked 7 shots, IU 3. One third of IU's field goal attempts were three point shots. In short, UK, while taking multiple opportunities of its own, essentially limited IU to a single jump shot on a typical possession. IU's offensive output of nearly 1.1 points per possession was the Hoosiers' best of the season. Unfortunately, IU's 1.32 points per possession yielded to UK was by far the worst defensive performance of the season and third-worst of the Crean era.

Still, the news was not all bad for IU. The Hoosiers turned the ball over only 9 times in a 68 possession game (despite each team's purported desire to push the ball, this was IU's slowes pace of the season). The turnover percentage of 13.3 represents, by far, IU's best ball-handling of the Crean era. Turnovers were the bane of IU's existence last season, but IU now is ranked #151 in Division I in turnover percentage, and has taken good care of the ball in the games against Pitt and Kentucky. Considering that UK pressed for part of the game, this is significant progress. I simply cannot accept a 17 point home loss to Kentucky as any sort of moral victory, but the Hoosiers, for the entire game against Pitt and in the first half against Kentucky, have looked like a transformed team. I have no idea how that will translate to Big Ten play, but things do not look as hopeless as they looked after 0-3 in Puerto Rico. All along, I and many others have said that unlike last year's overmatched team, the 2009-10 Hoosiers have enough talent to improve. That seems to be happening, however modestly. Enough to break .500 and sneak into the NIT? Keep watching, I guess.

Individual performances:

As I mentioned yesterday, Maurice Creek's performance was the finest of his short career. Creek shot 5-8 from three point range, 4-6 from inside the arc, and 8-8 from the line. Thanks to his success behind the arc and at the line, Creek averaged 2.2 points per shot for a total of 31. He also had 2 steals and an assist and only one turnover.
Christian Watford, talented but scrawny, continues to struggle against more powerful opponents. Watford scored 7 points on 3-8 from the field, did not get to the line, and had only 3 rebounds in 18 minutes.
Jeremiah Rivers should consider a Daniel Moore-style shooting rule (layups only), but other than his 3-9 from the field, he was very good, with 8 assists, 1 turnover, and a block.
Jordan Hulls scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (all behind the arc) but didn't have an assist in 17 minutes.
Devan Dumes continues to play reasonably well in a limited role. He scored 5 points on 2-3 from the field and had two assists, a block, and a steal.
Tom Pritchard was the invisible man. He played 20 minutes and was 2-2 from the field with one rebound, one foul, one assist, and one turnover.

The biggest problem facing these Hoosiers seems to be on the interior, and I don't see a great solution. We have to get bigger, better, and older, something that can't be done, at least not much, in a few weeks. Still, this team played very well at certain points against one of the best and most talented teams in the country.

As I said this morning, IU has another week-long layoff. This week, we will talk Big Ten expansion, take a long view of the basketball season so far, and perhaps some football post-mortem as most other Big Ten programs ready for bowl games.

Kentucky Wildcats @ Indiana Hoosiers: Pre-Game Analysis

Truzenzuzex — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:29:49 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

Eric Bledsoe is due for a performance versus the Hoosiers.

Browse more photos »

It's time again for the border war -- the Kentucky Wildcats head north to challenge the Indiana Hoosiers in one of the longest-running and best rivalries between two schools in the nation.

This game is simply chock full of tradition and great games, from the 1975 classic in the NCAA Mideast Regional Finals to the 1998 overtime game in Freedom Hall, this series has been full of twists, turns, blowouts and close games. I believe this will likely be the last time UK faces Indiana with a prohibitive advantage in talent, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Kentucky has a small advantage in all-time wins versus the Hoosiers, 29-23, with our last loss to the Crimson and Cream back in 2007 at the hands of Cell Phone Kelvin Sampson's second and final Indiana team that included Eric Gordon and D.J. White. IU creamed the 'Cats that day, 70-51.

The Hoosiers are in the process of rebuilding a team decimated after Sampson's firing and subsequent defection of players to the NBA, loss to disciplinary actions and just plain thrown out. What was left wasn't pretty, and the proud Hoosiers suffered through a 6-25 season in 2008-09, the worst I can ever remember at IU.

But with a strong recruiting class and some solid returning players, the Crimson and Cream are playing much better basketball now than last year, just coming off a huge win over the Pittsburgh Panthers in Madison Square Garden. That victory brought the Hoosier's record this year to 4-4, and although they don't figure to challenge for the Big Ten crown or even an NCAA berth this year, they have a good team that will only get better as the younger players get experience. And we know that Tom Crean is a fine coach, having owned UK the last two times he played us while coach at Marquette.

Today, I had a nice long Q&A with Scott at Crimsoncast, which you can find linked here for your listening pleasure. It was a wide-ranging discussion about the rivalry that you may find interesting.

More after the jump.

Four Factors Analysis

As usual, we will begin our pre-game with the analysis of the Four Factors to Winning, compiled in this nice, interactive dashboard by A Sea of Blue member sylvar.

Looking at the offensive efficiency, we see that in all but the very first game, Kentucky has been far more efficient offensively than the Hoosiers. In fact, the Hoosiers have struggled at times this year, and even in their last game, a victory over a good team, they managed to achieve only 97.7 points/100 possessions. UK, on the other hand, had an OE of 110.6 in a tough, low-scoring battle with UConn. You can see the dial pointer well in the red for Indiana (the ranges use last year's top ten for scale), and Kentucky's is just below the green.

Defensively, Indiana is much better than they are offensively. As you can see, IU is allowing only 3.4 points/100 possessions more than Kentucky is, and both teams have been on a very even trend lately. So much like UConn, the Hoosiers are a solid defensive squad. Unlike UConn, the Hoosiers have trouble putting the ball in the basket.

Moving on to the Four Factors themselves, we see that UK is creeping up toward the kind of effective FG% they will need to reach the Great Eight at least in March, well over 50%. The Hoosiers are laboring around 47%, and that is an area they will need to improve to be competitive with the 'Cats.

Turnover-wise, the Hoosiers take better care of the ball, but not by much. Offensive rebounding is a mismatch, and will likely represent the statistic that will get the Crimson and Cream blown out if they allow the kind of disparity represented by the trend so far. Surprisingly, the Hoosiers are good at getting to the free throw line, and that is not a statistic that UK usually loses.

Defensively, the teams are very close to equal (remember lower is better for defensive eFG%). Indiana has been forcing more turnovers lately, but they give up way too many offensive rebounds. The Hoosiers also do not mind sending teams to the line, which could be a blessing or a curse for the Wildcats, depending on who they foul.

In the miscellaneous category, the Hoosiers are shooting 35.5% from three versus UK's 36.8%, and the Wildcats actually take more threes than the Hoosiers do per field goal try, which I find a bit surprising. Also somewhat surprising is that the Hoosiers actually play at a higher tempo, on average, than the Wildcats.

Next, we'll look at the players for the Hoosiers, and their stats:

Indiana Hoosiers Basketball Roster

	#	Pos.	Comments	W	H	College
Kory Barnett	-	F	-	186	6-6	sophomore
Bobby Capobianco	23	F	Spot minutes	230	6-9	freshman
Maurice Creek	3	G	Starter	200	6-5	freshman
Devan Dumes	33	G	Major reserve	188	6-2	senior
Derek Elston	32	F	Major reserve	220	6-9	freshman
Brett Finkelmeier	4	G	-	188	6-1	junior
Steven Gambles	24	F	-	220	6-4	senior
Jordan Hulls	1	G	Major reserve	170	6-0	freshman
Tijan Jobe	40	C	Spot minutes	255	7-0	senior
Verdell Jones III	12	G	Starter	176	6-5	sophomore
Daniel Moore	11	G	Spot minutes	167	5-11	sophomore
Bawa Muniru	15	C	-	260	6-10	freshman
Tom Pritchard	25	F	Starter	242	6-9	sophomore
Jeremiah Rivers	5	G	Starter	210	6-5	junior
Matt Roth	30	G	-	186	6-3	sophomore
Christian Watford	2	F	Starter	215	6-8	freshman

Indiana Statistics

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Maurice Creek	8	25.5	5.5	11.4	48.4	2.1	5.4	39.5	2.5	3.6	69.0	1.9	2.3	4.1	2.0	1.3	1.5	0.5	1.8	15.6
Christian Watford	8	26.8	3.9	9.5	40.8	0.4	1.1	33.3	5.1	6.4	80.4	1.6	4.9	6.5	0.6	2.5	1.3	1.1	2.4	13.3
Verdell Jones III	8	28.5	4.8	12.1	39.2	0.4	1.6	23.1	2.6	4.3	61.8	1.0	2.8	3.8	3.1	2.3	1.4	0.6	1.6	12.5
Derek Elston	8	17.6	3.1	6.3	50.0	0.5	1.0	50.0	0.9	1.8	50.0	2.1	2.6	4.8	0.5	1.1	1.3	0.1	2.1	7.6
Jeremiah Rivers	8	29.3	2.3	5.8	39.1	0.0	0.1	0.0	2.8	4.8	57.9	1.1	4.6	5.8	4.4	4.0	1.0	0.6	2.5	7.3
Devan Dumes	8	15.9	1.5	5.0	30.0	1.0	2.8	36.4	1.0	1.6	61.5	0.5	1.8	2.3	1.4	1.9	1.1	0.1	1.6	5.0
Tom Pritchard	8	17.9	1.9	3.1	60.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.1	1.8	64.3	1.6	1.6	3.3	0.5	0.5	0.3	0.6	3.8	4.9
Jordan Hulls	8	15.0	0.8	2.5	30.0	0.5	1.5	33.3	0.8	1.0	75.0	0.3	1.0	1.3	1.4	0.6	0.5	0.0	1.5	2.8
Matt Roth	2	5.5	0.5	1.0	50.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	1.0	1.0	100.0	0.5	0.5	1.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	2.0
Bobby Capobianco	8	9.3	0.8	2.1	35.3	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.4	0.8	50.0	1.0	1.1	2.1	0.3	0.6	0.4	0.0	1.9	1.9
Daniel Moore	6	5.7	0.3	0.5	66.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	1.2	71.4	0.2	0.5	0.7	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.0	1.0	1.5
Tijan Jobe	8	6.8	0.4	0.4	100.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.4	1.5	0.8
Bawa Muniru	4	3.5	0.3	0.8	33.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.0	25.0	0.8	0.3	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.8	0.8
Kory Barnett	2	2.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Brett Finkelmeier	2	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Steven Gambles	2	1.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Position Analysis: Point guard

The starting point guard for the Hoosiers is Jeremiah Rivers. Rivers is a transfer from Georgetown, and the son of NBA player and coach Doc Rivers. Rivers is a tall point, even taller than John Wall at 6'5". Rivers is a good ballhandler and passer, and a very good defender, although he is not ultra-athletic. Rivers does not shoot much from outside, and has only attempted a single three-point shot all year. He prefers to use his size and slash to the basket. Rivers leads the team in assists, and doesn't score a lot.

Rivers' defensive prowess will be severely tested against John Wall. Rivers does have good size to work with, but he is not even in the same universe with Wall when it comes to speed with the ball and the ability to finish at the rim. But Rivers is a very smart player, a coach's son, and he knows how to maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. This will be a very interesting matchup.

Advantage: Kentucky

Position Analysis: Shooting guard

You may remember the name Verdell Jones from back during the Billy Gillispie days. Kentucky recruited Jones, although somewhat indifferently, and he was on the UK recruiting board right up to the very end, when he chose Indiana.

Jones is another tall guard at 6'5", but at only 176#, he is very slight of build. Jones is a very hard-working and intelligent player. He is reasonably athletic and shoots a solid percentage from three, even though he doesn't put the three-point shot up all that much. Jones is also a very good passer at over 3 assists/game, against just over two turnovers.

The matchup between Jones and Eric Bledsoe is one of length versus athleticism. Defensively, I think Jones has a slight advantage on Bledsoe due to his very long arms and size. Defensively, I think Bledsoe comes out on top. Overall, Bledsoe is the more talented player.

Advantage: Kentucky

Position Analysis: Small Forward

Freshman Maurice Creek starts at the wing for the Crimson and Cream. Creek is actually an off-guard rather than a true wing, so Indiana, in effect, is starting three guards.

Creek is a skilled player, a Rivals 4*, and quite dangerous offensively. Creek is leading the Hoosiers in scoring at over 15 points/contest and is a 40% shooter from deep. Creek is also a good passer, leads the team in steals, and is a very good athlete.

Darius Miller is significantly taller than Creek, but Creek is quicker off the bounce and will challenge Miller's defensive skills. Defensively, Creek will have to contend with a much taller and longer player, and if Miller can regain his shooting form after a poor offensive outing against UConn, Creek will be hard pressed to contain him. Overall, this is a fairly close matchup, but Miller's extra year of experience and solid fundamentals give him the edge.

Advantage: Kentucky

Position analysis: Power Forward

Christian Watford is the power forward for the Hoosiers and the star of Tom Crean's excellent 2009 recruiting class. I saw Watford play in the Derby Festival Classic game, and even though he is highly unconventional, he is extremely fast and athletic, can really get up in the air, and seems to invent new ways to get the ball in the basket every single time out.

Watford is second on the team in scoring at 13+ points per game, and leads Indiana in rebounding at 6.5/game. Watford is also a respectable 3-point shooter, and is capable of taking bigger players off the dribble.

Against Patrick Patterson, Watford will struggle in the role of post player. Patterson is bigger, stronger, and just as athletic, but unlike UConn's more ponderous power forwards, Patterson will have to make his living closer to the basket. He is not quick enough to take Watford off the bounce, and Watford is a long, tough matchup on the perimeter.

But Watford cannot match Patterson's experience, skill, and versatility. Patterson is also the superior defensive player and rebounder.

Advantage: Kentucky

Position Analysis: Center

Tom Pritchard starts at center for the Hoosiers, and he is a big body at 6'9"/240#. Pritchard is not a particularly good rebounder for a man his size, nor is he a scorer at just under 5 points per game. Pritchard is slow-footed and not very athletic, but he does take up space down low.

Pritchard, unfortunately, is over-matched by the bigger, stronger, longer and quicker DeMarcus Cousins. Pritchard plays good, tough defense as evidenced by his tendency to get into foul trouble, but Cousins is a very tough matchup for him. If Indiana tries to stay man-to-man (which I doubt they will), the 'Cats should try to get Cousins the ball every time in the post. He will force IU to double-team, and an open shot should be the result.

Advantage: Kentucky

Bench Analysis

Indiana has a couple of solid bench players in freshmen Derek Elston and Jordan Hulls, as well as senior Devan Dumes. These men are all nice players that can shoot, but IU has little bench size and their depth is as painfully young as Kentucky's

Advantage: Kentucky

Overall analysis

The Indiana Hoosiers are a young group, but their young talent is just not as good as UK's this year. Tom Crean has the nucleus of a very nice team, but he is one or two recruiting classes away from getting the Hoosiers back into contention in the Big Ten, let alone nationally.

Indiana plays very good, fundamental basketball and Kentucky will need to be aware of their length and athleticism, which is better than many think. They are a good defensive team who will force UK to beat them with better offense. Even though the Hoosiers are young, they are not the type of team who beats themselves.

UK's size, talent and athleticism will prove too much for Indiana. Crean will not be able to send his big guards to the glass for fear of a John Wall-lead runout, and that's likely to happen anyway. Defensively, the Hoosiers are going to be forced into a zone, and since they are already a poor rebounding team, second-chance points and putbacks are likely to be a frequent occurrence on missed UK shots.

The Hooisers are getting their groove back, but this year, they are no match for the young 'Cats.

Projected score: Kentucky 78, Indiana 63

Indiana 74, Pittsburgh 64: a closer look at the numbers.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:26:15 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

14 days ago: Indiana's Derek Elston, right, celebrates with Bobby Capobianco after Indiana took a 17 point lead in the second half against Pittsburgh during a NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Indiana won 74-64. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Browse more photos »

Here are the official stats for IU's win over the Pittsburgh Panthers last night . The Pomeroy game plan is available as well. This was a 74 possession game. What were the keys to victory?

Lack of offensive turnovers. IU turned the ball over only 12 times for a percentage of 16.2. This is IU's best turnover percentage in the Crean era against a major conference opponent, and it's only the fourth time that a Crean-led IU team has had a turnover percentage below 20 against a major conference program (IU did it twice against Iowa and once against Ohio State last season). Five of IU's 9 second half turnovers occurred in the final six minutes of the game, after IU had extended the lead to as large as 17 points and Pitt had no choice but to be aggressive. Obviously, this IU team needs to learn how to draw fouls rather than cough up the ball, but these guys haven't been in the position of defending a lead against a talented team. In any event, that means IU had only 7 turnovers in the first 34 minutes of the game. That's very good by any standard, and particularly by the standard of IU's last two seasons.
Free throws. and shot 25-34 (73 percent) from the line. Pitt was only 12-17. Coach Knight was quite complimentary of IU at halftime, and it's no wonder. Knight always has talked about limiting turnovers and shooting more free throws than the opponent attempts as keys to victory. At halftime, IU had only 3 turnovers and was 13-16 from the line. Christian Watford was only 3-12 from the field but he scored 18 points thanks to 12-15 from the line. A team that shoots free throws well, particularly a team that can rely on its big men to make free throws, can be dangerous.

Verdell Jones III. Jones scored 20 points on 7-13 from the field and 6-8 from the line. He attempted only one three pointer.

Defense, defense, defense. While Pitt rebounded 37 percent of its own misses, IU owned the Panthers' end of the court for the most part. Pitt shot only 32 percent from the field and IU had 7 steals and 10 blocks.

Other than Watford and Jones, who else stood out?

Devan Dumes. His stat line doesn't say much, but he played 17 minutes and didn't force the offense.
Maurice Creek. IU's leading scorer for the season finished with only 8 points last night, but he had 4 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals, and only 1 turnover.
Bobby Capobianco. Capobianco played a career-high 19 minutes, and while he had looked a bit lost in some earlier appearances, he held up very well last night inside. He finished with 7 points on 3-4 from the field and had four rebounds and a steal.
Derek Elston. Elston continues to make the most of his minutes. He scored 9 points in 15 minutes on 4-8 from the field.

It's important that we not get too far ahead of ourselves. This remains a young team, and I suspect that IU will win some games it should lose and lose some games it should win. IU's next game is on Saturday against Kentucky, a formidable test. Still, IU fans should enjoy last night's win for what it was, the best win in a long, long time.

Indiana Hoosiers 95, St. Joseph's Pumas 67.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:51:21 -0000

Again, I haven't seen this one yet (1 pm on the BTN this afternoon if you are near a TV), but here are some quick thoughts based on the box score:

Yet another quick game: 79 possessions. In light of that, IU's 18 turnovers aren't good, but aren't as terrible as they would be for a slower-paced team. Still, 22.7 percent is not good, and it's a bit troubling to see such high turnover numbers against a physically overmatched team (and SJC had only 14 turnovers).
IU shot well from the field (56 percent from the field, 50 percent from behind the arc). Free throw shooting slipped a bit, to 69 percent for the game.
Both teams had offensive rebounding percentages of about 38 percent. That would be a top 30 type number as a season average, but it's a bit troubling to allow such a high offensive rebound percentage to a Division II team.
St. Joseph's shot as poorly as IU shot well: the Pumas shot 32.5 percent overall and a ghastly 3-25 from three point range. SJC ended up with 23 second chance points despite shooting only 40 percent from two point range, so only the Pumas' excellent offensive rebounding prevented an even uglier final score.

The individuals:

After a so-so game against Grace, Maurice Creek played well. In only 19 minutes, Creek scored 16 points on 4-5 from the field and 7-8 from the line. He pulled down 7 rebounds and had two assists, no turnovers, and a block.
Christian Watford, the other highly touted freshman, had another nice game, scoring 13 points on 3-5 from the field and 7-8 from the line.
Jeremiah Rivers continues to play well and to shoot surprisingly well. For the second consecutive game, he was 6-10 from the field and finished with 15 points, 5 assists, and 1 turnover.
Verdell Jones scored 15 points on 9 shots but turned the ball over 5 times.
In his first game action, Bawa Muniru scored 7 points and blocked 3 shots in only 8 minutes. Again, Division II competition, but three blocks in eight minutes seems like a good yield against any team.
Jordan Hulls scored 7 points only only two shots but turned the ball over 5 times to only one assist.
Derek Elston didn't play as much as in game one, but in 16 minutes scored 8 points on 5 shots and had 8 rebounds.

The regular season begins Friday night at home against Howard University. To date, the freshmen and other newcomers, particularly Watford, Creek, Rivers, and Elston, have excelled. Verdell Jones has struggled a bit, and Devan Dumes has been hurt. It seems inevitable that the Hoosiers will be improved over last season, but it's impossible to say by how much. We will know more after next weekend's tournament in Puerto Rico.

Basketball preview, 2009-10: returning players (backcourt).

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:27:59 -0000

More photos » by Darron Cummings - AP

Indiana guard Devan Dumes.

Browse more photos »

While I have been engrossed in the football season, it's been easy to lose sight of IU's opening exhibition game on Wednesday night against Grace College. The regular season does not begin until IU hosts Howard on November 13, but it's time to begin digging in and discussing IU's prospects for improvement after the worst season in school history. I'll begin by reprising the 2008-09 performance of IU's returning players, borrowed heavily from my season in review series from the spring.

THE BACKCOURT

Verdell Jones III, 6-5 sophomore. Jones played in 28 of IU's 31 games and averaged 29 minutes per game and 11 points per game. He started 25 games, and while some of his teammates were hitting the wall, Jones seemed to come into his own near the end of the season. Early in the season, Jones was involved in one of the scariest moments I can remember: during IU's win over Cornell (IU's lone win over a NCAA Tournament team, for what it's worth) Jones ran into a legal screen set by a Cornell player and was knocked unconscious and carried off the court on a stretcher. Jones missed the next three games and didn't start the next two, but beginning with the Lipscomb game, Jones was in the starting lineup for good. Jones shot around 44 percent from the field and 32 percent from the line, stats that were consistent overall and in conference games only. Jones, forced into the starting point guard position, was barely in the black for the season, with 3.6 assists per game and 3.5 turnovers per game. In Big Ten play, he had 4.3 assists per game and 3.9 turnovers.

The highlights:

As I noted above, Jones finished strong. He scored a career high 23 against Wisconsin in the season finale and matched in in the Big Ten Tournament loss to Penn State, shooting over 63 percent from the field in each game and 100 percent from three point range.
Thanks mostly to 10-13 shooting from the line, Jones scored 18 points in his collegiate debut against Northwestern State.

The lowlights:

The aforementioned head injury.
In a home loss to Northwestern, IU's first such loss in 40 years, Jones scored 6 points on 3-7 from the field and turned the ball over seven times.

The future: as with all of IU's returning players, it is difficult to say what the future holds. While he was a late recruit, he was far from a desperation recruit. Although Illinois did not offer this Champaign native, Minnesota wanted him badly and believed they had him in the bag until his press conference. It's not clear that his future is at point guard, but his resilience, including playing his best games near the end of the season, seems to be a good sign.

Devan Dumes, 6-2 senior. Dumes entered the season as IU's only guard with any Division I experience (Dumes played for a season at Eastern Michigan before transferring to Vincennes JC).. Dumes wasn't a model of efficiency--he shot only 37 percent from the field, although he was a respectable 35 percent from behind the line--but he led IU in scoring with 12.7 points per game. The highlights:

Dumes had a remarkable game in IU's only Big Ten win of the season, against Iowa. He scored 27 points on 8-9 shooting.
He scored 26 points on 16 shots in IU's close loss at Northwestern.
Dumes improved his shooting during the Big Ten season. In conference games only, Dumes shot 41 percent from the field and 45 percent from behind the arc, good enough for first in the Big Ten in conference games.

The lowlights:

Dumes's temper got the best of him, infamously, in games against Northwestern and Michigan State. A couple of elbows thrown in the latter game earned him a two game suspension.
Dumes returned with limited success, and then injured his ankle in the home finale against Michigan State and missed the two final games of the season.
In his first three games following the suspension, Dumes shot 4-20 from the field.

As with all of the returning Hoosiers, it's not at all clear what Dumes's role will be this season. Given the composition of the roster, IU seems likely to employ a guard-heavy lineup, so there should be ample opportunities for Dumes to get some minutes. On the other hand, much depends on how ready freshmen Maurice Creek and Jordan Hulls are.

Most significantly, Dumes remains IU's most experienced player and will be the only senior receiving significant playing time. He has to get his temper under control and provide a solid example for the new guys. As the numbers above indicate, Dumes is one of the best three point shooters in the conference, but his poor shooting percentage inside the arc drags down his efficiency. Hopefully, more maturity and more support will help that.

Matt Roth, 6-3 sophomore. Roth, the leading three point shooter in Illinois high school history, started only 7 games, but averaged a respectable 21 minutes per game. He averaged 6.7 points per game and broke the double digit barrier only eight times.

Whatever Roth does for the rest of his career, he produced one of the most memorable moments of the 2008-09 season: his 29 point barrage in the home loss to Ohio State, almost entirely a result of 9-11 three point shooting. Overall, Roth shot 37.3 percent from three point range. His shooting was fairly consistent across the season: Roth's three point percentage in Big Ten games only was 38.1, good enough for 4th in the conference. Roth is basically a spot-up shooter who sometimes struggled to get open. His ballhandling numbers, at .5 assists per game and .6 turnovers per game, make clear that he isn't a point guard, but he also didn't do as much damage as many Hoosiers. The most disappointing statistic on Roth resume is his overall shooting percentage of 37.9, 40.7 in Big Ten play. This means that Roth's shooting percentage from inside the arc is barely better than from outside the arc. Obviously, this could be related to shot selection, strength, maturity, you name it, but obviously will have to improve if Roth is going to be more than a role player on future, more talented IU teams. Also, while Roth shot 80 percent from the line, he had only 25 free throw attempts all season. To be fair, 17 of those attempts came in the final 12 games of the season, so for whatever reason, Roth became more effective at getting to the line.

The highlights, in addition to the Ohio State game:

Roth shot 4-9 from behind the arc against IUPUI in his second college game.
He was one of the few bright spots in the blowout loss at Wake Forest, scoring 12 points on 4-5 from three.
In one of IU's more excruciating losses, the road game against Northwestern, Roth shot 4-7 from three point range in only 15 minutes of play.

As for the lowlights, it's hard to pick on a shooter like Roth. Shooters have good days and bad days. Still, the performance that stands out in this regard is his 1-6 three point shooting in the loss to Lipscomb. A better performance on that day might have prevented one of the most embarassing losses in IU history.

Roth strikes me as a player who can be very dangerous on a team with a couple of elite players. Consider 2001-2002. IU's opponents that year had a difficult job, because very few teams had a player good enough to guard Jared Jefferies one-on-one, but double teaming him opened up lots of three point opportunities for Kyle Hornsby, Dane Fife, and Tom Coverdale. Lots of players can hit wide open three pointers, and a very gifted shooter like Roth could do well in that situation.

Daniel Moore, 5-10 sophomore. I'm not going to recap the 2008-09 seasons of IU's multitude of walk-ons. Still, Moore received more playing time than any other walk-on by far, and more than scholarship player Tijan Jobe. Moore was an Indiana All-Star as a high school senior and he entertained low Division I offers (he was headed to Boston University for a basketball scholarship before deciding to walk on at IU). So he isn't a "typical" walk-on. Still, Moore was forced into action far earlier than would have been expected and on a team with little college experience.

Moore's game log shows that as Verdell Jones improved, Moore's playing time waned. Moore started 11 games, but one one during Big Ten play. He averaged 17 minutes per game overall but only 10 per game in Big Ten play. After playing more than 20 minutes in 10 of IU's non-conference games, he did so only twice in Big Ten play. Still, Moore played early because he was the most prepared to play point guard. Other than Verdell Jones (3.6/3.5), he was the only Hoosier to end up in the black on his assist/turnover ratio (2.5/2.1). Unfortunately, Moore brought little to the table as a scorer, and rarely took any shot that wasn't a layup. On average, Moore took 2 shots per game. He shot a respectable 36 percent from behind the arc but only 60 percent from the line. As with so many Hoosiers, it's tough to criticize Moore for any of these "failings." He was forced into a tough situation and was a very reliable player, particularly early in the season when Tom Crean had no one else to rely upon. Moore's career stats will be fairly unusual. He's unlikely to ever again play as much as he did as a freshman. Still, he was a steady hand when needed, and hopefully he will have the chance to contribute on some teams that are better than 6-25.

The highlights:

Moore scored a season-best 10 points and added 5 assists in IU's Maui win over Chaminade.
While he scored only 1 point, he had 5 assists and only one turnover in a decently competitive home game against Ohio State.

DEPARTURES

As inexperienced as IU's 2008-09 team was, IU lost some solid contributors from that team.

Nick Williams scored 8.9 points per game, but scored more than 15 only twice and never broke the 20 point barrier. His 45.6 shooting percentage was fairly good for a guard, but his 21 percent three point shooting calls into question his ultimate ability to be a versatile scoring guard. Also, like all Hoosiers, he turned the ball over too much: 2.2 times per game, which would be okay for a point guard but is more than one might hope for a guard who averages fewer than 1 assist per game. Williams transferred to Mississippi.

Malik Story started 3 games and averaged 5.7 points per game on 37.6 percent shooting. He transferred to Nevada.

Returning frontcourt players tomorrow.

Season in review: Devan Dumes.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:00:16 -0000

Dumes entered the season as IU's only guard with any Division I experience (Dumes played for a season at Eastern Michigan before transferring to Vincennes JC).. Dumes wasn't a model of efficiency--he shot only 37 percent from the field, although he was a respectable 35 percent from behind the line--but he led IU in scoring with 12.7 points per game. The highlights:

Dumes had a remarkable game in IU's only Big Ten win of the season, against Iowa. He scored 27 points on 8-9 shooting.
He scored 26 points on 16 shots in IU's close loss at Northwestern.
Dumes improved his shooting during the Big Ten season. In conference games only, Dumes shot 41 percent from the field and 45 percent from behind the arc, good enough for first in the Big Ten in conference games.

The lowlights:

Dumes's temper got the best of him, infamously, in games against Northwestern and Michigan State. A couple of elbows thrown in the latter game earned him a two game suspension.
Dumes returned with limited success, and then injured his ankle in the home finale against Michigan State and missed the two final games of the season.
In his first three games following the suspension, Dumes shot 4-20 from the field.

As with all of the returning Hoosiers, it's not at all clear what Dumes's role will be next season. Given the composition of the roster, IU seems likely to employ a guard-heavy lineup, so there should be ample opportunities for Dumes to get some minutes. On the other hand, Maurice Creek, one of IU's two most heralded incoming recruits, is a scoring guard, and Verdell Jones may join the competition for minutes, particularly if Bloomington South's Jordan Hulls is able to handle the point guard duties.

Penn State, Big Ten Tournament round 1.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:55:37 -0000

Penn State Nittany Lions
Current record: 21-10 (10-8)
Current RPI: 64
Current Sagarin: 56
Current Pomeroy: 79
2007-08 record: 15-16 (7-11)
2007-08 RPI: 155
2007-08 Sagarin: 115
2007-08 Pomeroy: 108
Series: IU leads 27-6 (25-6 since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1992-93)
Last Penn State win: 2/21/2009 (61-58 in University Park)
Last IU win: 1/20/2008 (81-65 in Bloomington)
Big Ten Tournament history: IU leads 1-0 (77-49 in first round, 2003)
Pomeroy scouting report
TV: 5 pm Thursday, ESPN2

Today's Big Ten Tournament game could provide yet another negative milestone for the Hoosiers: as far as I can tell, IU has never lost three times in a season to a Big Ten team (or anyone else). Penn State handled IU fairly well in Bloomington, but the game at Penn State, just a couple of weeks ago, was very competitive, and neither school led by more than 5 points in that game. Penn State, despite the 10-8 record, doesn't have a signature non-conference win (at Georgia Tech is the closest) and probably can't afford to lose this game.

As yesterday's Bucky's Fifth Quarter post indicated, the 11 seed hasn't had much success in this tournament. In 1999, Illinois won three games and lost in the championship game (knocking off #3 IU in the process) but no other 11 seed has won a game.

The Nittany Lions, while dangerous on the perimeter, certainly seem to be a more reasonable matchup than many other teams in the conference. Unfortunately, IU seems likely to be playing without Devan Dumes again. The most recent Penn State game was Dumes's last full game, and he scored 16 points on 5-9 and 4-7 from three point range.

A win won't salvage the season, and likely would set up another loss to Purdue, but it would be something for this team to take pride in as they enter the offseason.

Big Ten Tournament Preview: Day 1

BoilerTMill — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:40:43 -0000

As many of you know, I am a basketball freak. If it wasn't for work tomorrow and the fact I need to take what I can get at this point my butt would be a few blocks from my apartment at Conseco Fieldhouse. Since tickets for Friday's Purdue game are ungodly expensive I was hoping to take advantage of some really cheap tickets for Thursday's contests. I will have to work instead, which is bad because this could be the best opening day ever in the history of the Big Ten Tournament.

What if God built a basketball arena, then put absolute morons in charge of running it...

Last year was just the opposite. There were almost no storylines on day one as Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern, Iowa, Michigan, and Penn State had little to no chance of getting an at large bid. Minnesota was probably the closest, but they came up short against Illinois in an unexpected semifinal. The Illini nearly ran the table and stole the automatic bid as a 10 seed, but didn't even have enough of a profile for the NIT. Of the six day 1 teams last year only Minnesota played in the NIT. The difference between the good and the bad in the conference last year was just that pronounced.

This year it is different. Penn State, Minnesota, and Michigan desperately need wins to help secure at large berths. Northwestern could make a deep tournament run to get right back into the picture. Iowa can play spoiler, and with 2 wins would claw their way into the NIT or CIB. Indiana is a wild card that can play only to piss on everyone else's parade. They won't go anywhere without four wins in four days, but they can sure hurt some other teams along the way.

#8 Minnesota (21-9) vs. #9 Northwestern (17-12) Noon - As far as competitiveness goes, this may be the closest game of the day. Minnesota has the conference's best out of conference win with a victory over Big East champ Louisville. I think the Gophers are in, but losing to Northwestern won't be a great way to finish the season. That would mean a loss to the Wildcats in 2 of 3 games. Minnesota won convincingly in Minneapolis.

I wouldn't give up on Northwestern's hopes just yet. They have proven they can beat anybody in this conference and they already have wins over the first two teams they would face in Indy. I think getting to the semifinals would possibly put them into the tournament for the first time ever, so they still have a lot to play for. Even one win would give them the most victories over top 50 opponents of anyone in the league. Depending on what happens elsewhere around the country they would at least be in the discussion.

The key to this game will be defense and tempo. If Northwestern can control the pace and force turnovers they will be right there. They have to prevent Al Nolen from running the Gopher offense and distributing the ball. When teams do that the Gophers grind to a halt and cannot get their size involved. Northwestern has to shoot better as well. They shot just 30% in a 72-45 loss in Minneapolis three weeks ago. Northwestern won three straight after that and has held each opponent since to less than 61 points. Minnesota has exactly been lighting the scoreboard up recently either.

If Northwestern can stop Nolen from distributing and make sure that Lawrence Westbrook doesn't get hot they have an excellent chance of moving on. They played determined basketball against Ohio State Sunday but just couldn't get the one break they needed in the final minutes. They still have a ton to play for and I think they will get this game. Northwestern 61, Minnesota 58

#7 Michigan (19-12) vs. #10 Iowa (15-16) 2:30pm - This is the first of two very straightforward games for Big Ten bubble teams. If the Wolverines win they are likely into the tournament. A loss means they are NIT bound. They simply cannot afford a second loss to the Hawkeyes in 3 weeks.

When Iowa won in Iowa City on February 22^nd it was mostly because of a strange decision to bench Manny Harris in overtime. We never found out why, either. Michigan won the game in Ann Arbor by 15, but completely fell apart in overtime in Iowa City.

The biggest question heading into this game is how well the Hawkeyes will play away from home. In conference play they did very well at home, going 5-4. Three of the losses were by 3 points or less to Minnesota, Purdue, and Ohio State. On the road they were 0-9 and had the stigma of being the only team to lose to Indiana. Iowa currently has four players averaging in double figures while Michigan has only Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims.

It is no secret as to why the Wolverines are so up and down. Their fortunes absolutely hinge on the play of Harris and Sims. When those two are on they can play with anyone. If they are off Michigan looks real ugly. They have needed overtime to beat Indiana and Savannah State this season. Laval Lucas-Perry is a wild card too. He had 19 in the huge win at Minnesota last weekend. That was a season high, topping the 18 he had at Indiana, but it was only the second time in 16 games that he has been in double figures.

I just don't think Iowa has it in them to get a win away from Iowa City just yet. This is a rematch of last year's 8/9 game. I have some friends that are Iowa fans that worked with me at the NCAA. They took the day off to watch this game last year and the 55-47 result in favor of Michigan almost made their eyes bleed. If Harris and Sims are on this day I think Michigan wins in a walk. If they are off Iowa can absolutely pull the upset and move on. Michigan 65, Iowa 55

#6 Penn State (21-10) vs. #11 Indiana (6-24) - Penn State has Iowa to thank for playing on Thursday. On paper it looks like they get a free win, but in reality they could have used the bye much more. Had the Nittany Lions not blown their chance in Iowa City they would be sitting as the #2 seed right now and they would feel a lot better about their NCAA chances. Instead, they are the #6 and if Indiana pulls the upset it may knock them out of the tournament.

Indiana is certainly playing better than many people have expected. For a team that has lost 21 of 22 I am sure Penn State isn't treating them like their record reflects. Part of that reason is because the Nittany Lions barely escaped with a home win over the Hoosiers a few weeks ago. This is also a virtual home game for Indiana, and the Hoosiers were much better at home. They play hard and absolutely have a chance in this one.

Indiana was able to stay close to Penn State a few weeks ago because Devan Dumes was shooting well and they limited their turnovers. Indiana essentially played with a six man rotation in that game and may have just run out of gas at the end. They actually led for a good portion of the game but couldn't close the deal.

Honestly, Penn State needs to let their big three of Cornley, Battle, and Pringle dominate. That is one of the best trios in the league. When the Nittany Lions won in Bloomington they combined for 48 of 65 points. As long as those numbers are similar we can expect to see Penn State facing us Friday night. Penn state 70, Indiana 61

Big Ten Hoops Day 5k

I am still looking for people who are interested in joining me for Sunday's Big Ten Hoops Day 5k. The weather on Sunday is supposed to be 54 degrees and rainy, but I am still planning on running if anyone is interested. Afterwards I wouldn't mind scalping some tickets to go see Purdue play in the championship. The run starts at 11am on Sunday morning.

Baseball update:

The baseball team plays its first game in the state of Indiana this season when it plays Butler in Indianapolis this afternoon. The Bulldogs are 1-8 on the year with their only win coming at Marian College in the season opener. I'm sure that cross-town rivalry is heated, but Bulldogs have been awful since. They dropped a game to Taylor University on March 3^rd and got swept in four games at UNLV last weekend by a combined score of 66-19. If Purdue can't win this game it has no business going to the NCAA Tournament or even entering Big Ten play really.

Purdue is currently 2-7 after getting swept at Texas State and will play in the Dunn Hospitality Diamond Classic in Evansville this weekend against Mississippi Valley State (5-5), Evansville (3-8), and IPFW (2-6). It is clear that now is the time that Purdue needs to win some games against opponents it should beat and start building for the conference season. The home opener is March 24^th against IPFW.

Saturday Distraction:

Onward, Kokomo. Beat the Giants (and yes, the guy in the middle is our head coach and not a player since 1996) - Courtesy of my friends at the Kokomo Tribune

Should Purdue win Friday night against either Penn State or Indiana I will be slightly distracted for our Saturday quarterfinal. It is regional Saturday here in Indiana, making it the only real day of the year that it feels like we still have a good high school basketball tournament. My beloved Kokomo Wildkats (15-7) are taking on the evil Marion Giants in the Marion Regional, so I'll have a chance to see some solid talent among all four teams involved. Marion (20-3) and Ft. Wayne Snider (22-1) are solid teams while Anderson (20-4) could surprise. I saw the Kokomo-Anderson game earlier this year and Troy Taylor (a potential Ohio State recruit) dropped 30 in an overtime win for the Indians.

I'll be paying attention to what D.J. Byrd (North Montgomery vs. New Palestine at Shelbyville), Jeff Robinson (Lawrence North vs. Hamilton Southeastern at Hinkle), and Patrick Bade (Franklin Central vs. Pike also at Hinkle) do. Should Kokomo lose and Bade takes on Robinson in the championship at Hinkle that night I may drop in on that game. I don't want to be there though. 11 years ago Marion beat us to end my senior year on our floor in the regional 71-67 in overtime. I have waited since then to return the favor on their floor. This is a bitter rivalry that I know I am not rational about, but I don't care. I'd rather watch Indiana beat us a hundred times than watch the Giants succeed at anything basketball-related.

If Kokomo does win I will likely take the laptop with me and try to do a liveblog of our semifinal at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Notes.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:19:48 -0000

The IU women's basketball team lost 68-64 to Purdue on Friday, and seems to be a longshot to make the NCAA field, where they haven't been since 2002.
Devan Dumes is officially out for the Wisconsin game Sunday. Dumes injured his knee early in the MSU game.

Are two enough? That's all I have for now.

EDIT: Oh yeah, a third point. You aren't hallucinating. This blog has been live only since Tuesday, but the entirety of The Hoosier Report's archives are now contained in this blog. There was some difficulty with getting the archives online. Given the option between waiting for the fix and going live immediately, I decided that I wanted to go live while IU's soon-to-be-over basketball season was still ongoing. But it's all here now, and so if you click on the tags you will see prior stories on any given topic.

Michigan Basketball Update and Indiana Preview

Maize n Brew Dave — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:18:14 -0000

It's been a busy couple of weeks for the Men's Basketball team. They've beaten a top four team. Lost to a top four team. Lost to a good Maryland squad in College Park. Beaten a top four team. Lost to Wisconsin at home. Then beat a 13-1 team that beat #9 Purdue (in West LaFayette), and in the process secured a better record this year than all of last year. They've been unranked. Ranked. And then back to unranked. They've lost a player to a redshirt and gained another.

And all that's in just 14 games.

via multimedia.detnews.com

The transformation of Michigan under Beilein from bottom feeder to a legitimate NCAA bubble team in just one year has been downright staggering. But, as Beilein will be the first to tell you, the transformation isn't complete. The team still lacks a legitimate big man to fit Beilein's offense. The point guard position, while not critical to the offense, is still somewhat up for grabs. There are still way too many forced, bad three pointers. Even so, this is a good basketball team that appears just as capable of shutting down one end of the court as it is lighting up the other.

Tonight Michigan faces its first road test of the Big Ten season when they travel to Assembly Hall to play Indiana at 6:30 Eastern Time. As UMHoops.com points out, Michigan hasn't won there since 1995, so this is a great time to pick up a road win a exorcise whatever demons have plagued the Wolverines in Bloomington.

The reason its such a great opportunity is because, well, Indiana is terrible this year. If you're looking for a traditional power to kick while it's down, Indiana's your team. The Hoosiers currently rate 226 in KenPom's rankings, and have one of the worst turnover ratios in all of college basketball. As a result, Indiana sports an anemic offense averaging just 61.8 points a game, a league low 43% field goal percentage, and a league high 19 turnovers a game. On defense things are just as bad. Indiana gives up nearly 70 a game and allow opponents to shoot at a nearly 47% clip.

This isn't to say tonight isn't a dangerous game. One of the few things Indiana does well is limit three point shooting. The Hoosiers have allowed just 221 three point attempts this season. Part of the reason for that is the Hoosiers are slowing the game down as much as possible. Teams aren't pounding Indiana inside as such low 3 point numbers would indicate. In fact, the Hoosiers are near the bottom of the league in opponent's field goal attempts as well.

For a team allowing 68 total possessions a game, you'd expect higher numbers. Especially when Michigan averages 63 total possessions a game and has given up almost 100 more field goal attempts!!!

What it comes down to is Indiana isn't a particularly talented team right now. If you're looking for an analogy, look at Michigan football. Indiana's going through a purge and transition and will come out stronger for it. But man, oh man, is this year going to suck. Starting four freshman that aren't McDonald's All Americans tends to do that.

Indiana is led by Jr. Devon Dumes (G) and Fr. big name Tom Pritchard (F), who are both averaging more than 12 a game. At this point, Indiana doesn't have a game breaker and relies on a pressure defense to cause turnovers and fast break points. Oddly, there are eight players averaging close to or more than 20 minutes a game, so expect to see a lot of bodies on the court tonight for the Hoosiers.

For Michigan, it seems everyone is fairly healthy. The ankle injury that's been bugging DeShawn Sims is apparently healed and Novak's gash over his left eye, aside from the stiches, is just a bruise. That same Detroit News article echoes a Free Press article on Zack Novak's summers at Assembly Hall for basketball camps. Zach Gibson's dunkeration is apparently helping him get his groove on. Laval Lucas-Perry is apparently just like Illinois Football, he's gettin' better all the time.

via multimedia.detnews.com

Tonight's probable starting line-ups Courtesy Jeff Arnold of the Ann Arbor News:

Probable starters
Michigan Wolverines (11-3, 1-1 Big Ten)
P Name Yr. Ht. Wt. Ppg Rpg
F DeShawn Sims Jr. 6-8 235 16.6 8.8
G Zack Novak Fr. 6-5 210 7.1 2.6
G Manny Harris So. 6-5 210 18.8 7.6
G Laval Lucas-Perry R-Fr. 6-3 185 12.0 3.0
G David Merritt Sr. 5-10 170 2.0 1.5

Indiana Hoosiers (5-8, 0-1 Big Ten)
P Name Yr. Ht. Wt. Ppg Rpg
F Tom Pritchard Fr. 6-9 242 12.8 7.3
G Matt Roth Fr. 6-3 186 5.6 1.3
G Verdell Jones III Fr. 6-5 176 7.6 1.9
G Nick Williams Fr. 6-4 211 8.4 4.8
G Devan Dumes Jr. 6-2 188 13.5 3.1