Indiana Basketball: What is wrong with the Hoosiers?

Indiana basketball has struggled early under new head coach Archie Miller.  Can they turn it around and salvage their season before it is too late?

On the night of Dec. 19, the Indiana Hoosiers took the Assembly Hall floor to take on an in-state opponent in the Fort Wayne Mastodons. Indiana had momentum and was looking to turn their season around after a terrible start to the year. The Hoosiers had just beaten Notre Dame on a neutral floor and had recently given Duke all they could handle. If only Archie Miller could have sensed what he was about to ensure over the next 40 minutes.

Fort Wayne came out and throttled Indiana, running them out of their own gym. Fort Wayne beat Indiana like many other teams have beaten Indiana, by hitting a barrage of 3-pointers, and forcing Indiana into taking terrible shots on the other end of the floor. The Hoosiers gave up 17 threes for the second time this season. The Mastodons and Indiana State Sycamores were able to torch Indiana by making a lot of threes.

Indiana Hoosiers Basketball

Indiana has not been the victim of great shooting from deep in all of their losses, however. They have been guilty of taking bad shots, turning the ball over, and not capitalizing on key opportunities. It also appears that Indiana has a penchant for playing to the level of their opponents. The Jekyll-and-Hyde Indiana team is ultimately what led to Tom Crean’s firing last year. That mentality appears to have come back with a vengeance for Archie Miller in his first year in Bloomington.

In the losses that Indiana has suffered against their lesser opponents, it appears that Indiana gives up. They are not buying in on defense, often not running an offense, and they have a problem taking care of the ball. The Hoosiers look poised to be in for another long year, and even during an unimpressive start for the Big Ten, Indiana looks to be one of the worst teams in that league.

At this point, it is hard to single out one single player for Indiana who could be better and fix this entire problem. This appears to be a team-wide issue and Coach Miller has to find a way to get his team to buy in and play harder against lesser opponents. Juwan Morgan is a really good player and has shown up every night for the Hoosiers. The problem is that Morgan is often the only guy who seems to show up on the offensive end.

Last year, Indiana saw the departure of Thomas Bryant and James Blackmon. Those were huge losses for this Hoosier team. There was faith surrounding the Hoosiers that players like De’Ron Davis would have a huge year while getting most of the minutes from Thomas Bryant. Robert Johnson is the player who many expected to carry this team. Johnson was a nice compliment to Blackmon and Bryant a year ago and with the offense having to now run through him, he could have really taken off. This has not been the case and Johnson has put up a rather pedestrian 12.6 point on 44% shooting from the field.

Another problem plaguing the Hoosiers is that they turn the ball over quite frequently. While looking at the overall stats and seeing that the Hoosiers only average 13 turnovers a game isn’t bad, just look at their losses. In Indiana’s losses, they have averaged 15 turnovers and that number is skewed because of the nine they had in the loss to Duke. Lots of teams can overcome a lot of turnovers, but those teams usually play really good defense and take good shots.

The Hoosiers have a lot to work on if they want to turn their season around. Archie Miller should look to simplify his defense, and potentially consider playing a 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone. The zone would slow teams down and, if run properly, teams must take forced jump shots. This should lead to easy transition baskets for Indiana which will help either cut into a lead or extend a lead.

The Hoosiers need to find a way to guard the 3-point line, too. The reason teams are making so many of them is because they are taking uncontested and mostly wide open 3-pointers. The Hoosiers could commit to forcing teams to the rim by guarding the 3-point line more effectively. If nothing else, this may help Indiana build some confidence in what they are doing.

Confidence may be exactly the recipe the Hoosiers need to turn this around. Even if they don’t completely buy into what Coach Miller and staff are selling just yet, a little bit of confidence and proof in the product could show Indiana that even giving 80% on the defensive end of the floor could help them get stops.

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Hoosier fans should have faith in Coach Miller to turn this program around and return them to their rightful place in the top half of the Big Ten. Miller is going to have to keep the top talent in the state and make sure those kids enroll in the program. He is also going to have to search for players who buy into what he is trying to do and will play the way he is coaching them to play. If Miller can get this team and his future teams to buy what he is selling, it won’t take long for Indiana to return to their glory. However, it appears this year will be a learning experience for Miller and the Hoosiers.