Turnovers still plaguing the Hoosiers - 1 Achilles heel
By Tim Ethridge
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Not-so-slowly and certainly not-very-surely, Tom Crean sees improvement in his Indiana University basketball team.

On the plus side there have been strides in competitiveness, as evidenced by last Saturday's relatively contested 70-54 loss to No. 5 Gonzaga. There is better rebounding, and more intensity on defense.

On the negative side there are turnovers after turnovers, an average of 20.1 per game that translates, according to Mike Pegram of Inside Indiana, into a No. 343 rating nationwide in turnover percentage. IU gives it up on 29.8 percent of its possessions, with only one Division I team — Arkansas-Pine Bluff — faring worse.

All of that will come into play at 7 tonight, when the Hoosiers (4-4) try to avoid dipping below .500 when they host Texas Christian (7-3).

"The speed of the game is still the No. 1 Achilles heel," said Crean, whose eight eligible scholarship players include seven newcomers. "It's just a process of going through it, and understanding the intensity and the mindset that teams have that have been together for a while.

"Our guys have just got to continue to play to see the speed of the game so that they get used to it. We can't mirror that in practice. We just can't. We can't mirror the speed and length — if we could, we'd play those guys. We just can't.

"We've got to continue to work through the best we can."

The Hoosiers have wins over the teams they should or could beat — Northwestern State, IUPUI, Chaminade and Cornell, and are 3-0 at Assembly Hall. They have lost to the teams that were clearly superior — Notre Dame, Saint Joseph's, Wake Forest and Gonzaga.

TCU has had a similar season. The Horned Frogs started out 1-3, with losses to Clemson, College of Charleston and Nebraska. They since have beaten McNeese State, SMU, St. Gregory's, Colorado, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Wichita State in succession.

The Horned Frogs have three players averaging in double figures — 6-foot-8 fifth-year senior and Cal transfer Kevin Langford (13.8 points), 6-6 junior-college transfer Edvinas Ruzgas (11.6) and 6-9 junior-college transfer Zvonko Buljan (10.5), who teamed with IU's Devan Dumes at Vincennes University last season.

Freshman forward Tom Pritchard (14.0) and Dumes (12.1) are the only Hoosiers to average in double figures. Verdell Jones III likely will sit out again as he recovers from a concussion suffered against Cornell three games ago.

If IU avoids the soft passes that its better opponents have turned into points, it will have a chance. If not, it could take a step backward tonight. "We're growing as a team," said freshman swingman Malik Story. "We know there are things we can do better, and we really don't want to let our age show on the court."

tonight's no exception-- only the Frogs are just as prolific.

Some Grad student(to remain unamed) is getting schooled by a frosh right now.

oofah. Ugly game. It's the depth that's killing them. Horrible phantom 5th foul on Lankford. Ridiculous call.

10-4 that was an abusurd call. JC did put him back in too early and got punished for it. Many poor calls. A few went our way.
Is officiating getting worse each year or what??

Heck! we played 'em great the 1st half I thought. Kind of like Clemson.

Perhaps if we had a crowd like that supporting our team at home ????

if you build it, they will come

This might be just the butt kicking this team needed. 1st half against A&M CC had crappy energy and execution. Stretches during WSU game with lack of focus. It appeared that our young team might have been getting a little full of themselves. Tonight should bring them back to earth. They aren't good enough to play like crap and win. Good expereince playing in front of a hostile crowd.

I'm starting to get concerned about Langford. With Cornelius in the area and coming to games, I'm worried that he's still in communication with Langford, and if that's the case, that's not a good thing. Seems like something is missing from him compared to earlier in the season.

Our football program is evidence to the contrary. Marketing needed.

32 points given up in the paint and almost no boards by one of your "big men". I would say turnovers are not the only concern. At 6'6" to 6'7", we should be plenty big enough to stop anyone in the middle.

There is NO excuse for Langford not having one freaking rebound.

I was just trying to gig you there Uni, but I could not agree with you more. It's been going on for two years.

I won't name player names, but ND worshipped a couple of players and when they weren't producing, he still would not get them off the court. Because of that, we blew games against Rice, smoo, TT, Texas, Wyoming, and SDSU last year. That would have almost given us 20 wins and would have saved his job. Indiana did exactly what others did to us. When we were playing with them or even having a lead, they went big and went inside on us. ND made no adjustments whatsoever and watched the games slip away. At this point, JC really doesn't have a lot of alternatives. I think he could have, but he made the decision to play small this year. As I said on another post, JC is a sharp coach and he will make corrections next year to have some more size when it is called for.

We need to have size, but I'm not a fan of size for sizes sake. I bet we'll see more size in the coming years. It might not be a 7 footer back to the basket type, but it doesn't have to be. There is plenty in between.

And, you don't have to be big to play big.
And, just being between your man and the basket does not count as boxing out.

Bet we will. As one well respected coach turned commentator said when watching an Elite 8 game; "Hey, I know you are a tired 7 footer, but you are still 7 foot. Put your hands in the air."

I agree. Doesn't have to be a back to the basket guy. I've seen a lot of blocked shots where the tall guy just stood there and put his hands in the air and stuffed the shot. It really works some time. Of course there are refs who really have it in for big guys and will call anything on them, but unless you want to here a lot of profanity and pent up anger, don't ask me to go into that.

You and I are not in as big a disagreement on this as you might think. Sometimes going small is the best line-up, and sometimes you gotta go big. Had we done that a few times last year, things would have been different. You just gotta have both so you can respond with different schemes as needed, unless of course you can load up your team with a bunch of 6'8" five-star recruits, which ain't gonna happen here.

OK, now you really gotta think about this one. You are exactly right if you are a 6'6" guy boxing out a 6'10" leap frog. BUT, if you are a 7 footer boxing out a 6'6" guy, you have boxed out, because, and unless you don't have your hands in the air, the only way the short guy is going to get the ball is to either shove you or climb up your back.

I'm pretty much willing to give him a pass on the roster for this year and next. It's obvious the guy can coach, and I am very pleased with that. Can he evaulate talent and get it in here? That remains to be seen, but since he can coach (and I think good coaching can make you competitive in the MWC), I'm willing to be patient.

All that being said, I think our current roster needs to do a better job competing on the inside. I think they're capable. The question is are they willin?

I was talking about our current team. It doesn't look like our "bigs" are putting their back side into the guy and clearing out space.

You don't have to shove. If the 7 footer isn't going to put a body on you, you can out quick him, or pin him under the basket with your body.

That is true. There is one that is just plain lazy underneath. He just wants to play offense. I'll send you a message on the size of the existing team. Something I really shouldn't go in to here.