Indiana is NEXT, how do you see this game playing out?

[DSouthr]

Lets start talking IU vs UNC and how this one plays out.

I think it will be our hardest challenge so far in this tourney, I picked IU to beat Ky in my only bracket pre-tourney so I am not surprised at all they took Ky out. I think this will be a harder game than an elite 8 game would be if we get past this solid IU team that would be either Whisky or ND.

Yogi is a stud PG but I actually do like the size matchup between he and Joel Berry. Troy Williams, we all remember this kid, couldn't make his mind up on where he wanted to play, well the wheel turns for him back to UNC to see if he made a mistake or not. he is a heck of an athletic slasher but I like Justin and Theo being able to contain him. I do worry about Thomas Bryant he is a big ole talent, would not hurt my feelings to see him get in to foul trouble.

I know they have Robert Johnson, Tar Heels recall his name as one we wanted as well, looks like he maybe sprained an ankle and not sure if he will be ready to play us or not? Understand they also have another key injury, don't know much about that so maybe folks can advise who and what that is about. I will do some looking in deeper to IU but want to see what others are thinking leading up to that game friday late night.

Speaking of late night, is CBS trying to hook a deal to broadcast next season's Late Night with Roy? They sure seem to need to slot us closer and closer to mid-night tip times?

 

[IDUNK4HEELS]

Indiana reminds me of Virginia in the way they run their offense as they like to dictate the speed of the game using most of the shot clock looking for a good shot. Their bigs play the Big ten type of rebounding where they do not mind getting physical in the paint. I agree the point guard match up between Farrell and Berry will be the story of the game. If UNC can somehow speed up the game I like our chances.

 

[Tom79]

I'd love for Nate and JBII to get up under their guards a couple of times for steals.
We wanted Bryant at some point in recruiting. I've noticed the younger kids for IU are beginning to play.
Kinda like the younger set up at Wisc, they are beginning to pay as well.

 

[mikeirbyusa]

Survive and Advance........................................

 

[IUBtown]

Lets start talking IU vs UNC and how this one plays out.

I think it will be our hardest challenge so far in this tourney, I picked IU to beat Ky in my only bracket pre-tourney so I am not surprised at all they took Ky out. I think this will be a harder game than an elite 8 game would be if we get past this solid IU team that would be either Whisky or ND.

Yogi is a stud PG but I actually do like the size matchup between he and Joel Berry. Troy Williams, we all remember this kid, couldn't make his mind up on where he wanted to play, well the wheel turns for him back to UNC to see if he made a mistake or not. he is a heck of an athletic slasher but I like Justin and Theo being able to contain him. I do worry about Thomas Bryant he is a big ole talent, would not hurt my feelings to see him get in to foul trouble.

I know they have Robert Johnson, Tar Heels recall his name as one we wanted as well, looks like he maybe sprained an ankle and not sure if he will be ready to play us or not? Understand they also have another key injury, don't know much about that so maybe folks can advise who and what that is about. I will do some looking in deeper to IU but want to see what others are thinking leading up to that game friday late night.

Speaking of late night, is CBS trying to hook a deal to broadcast next season's Late Night with Roy? They sure seem to need to slot us closer and closer to mid-night tip times?

The other injuries were Juwan Morgan's shoulder. He's had issues of it all year and several lately. Keeps popping out of place. Should be fine. OG had a mild sprain during the UK games, should be ok. Not sure on Johnson but he and Crean said it wasn't as severe as what kept him out for 3 weeks, hopefully he's good to go. We don't mind playing a fast pace and typically do. Defense has been much improved the last half of the season. Shoot the 3 ball extremely well, although we didn't against UK. The emergence of OG has helped our defense and front court. He can basically guard every position, has NBA athleticism. Should be a good one. Haven't watched much of UNC all year but appears its going to come down to us keeping your guards out of the lane, dealing with your barrage of front court players and how well we shoot the 3.

 

[HoosierFan03]

I would agree with IUBtown, we are basically the opposite of Virginia. We like to play fast and uptempo as much as possible but can play a half court game if the game goes that way. If we don't shoot the 3 well in this game we'll lose. We don't have enough horses up front to play a slow down half court game. If we shoot it well and can get penetration from our guards/wings then I think this could be a very close game.

It should be fun either way!

 

[ChiShankCity]

Indiana reminds me of Virginia in the way they run their offense as they like to dictate the speed of the game using most of the shot clock looking for a good shot. Their bigs play the Big ten type of rebounding where they do not mind getting physical in the paint. I agree the point guard match up between Farrell and Berry will be the story of the game. If UNC can somehow speed up the game I like our chances.

Indiana is not really like UVA. Indiana has played 72 and 71 possession games in the tournament. Pace wise... This will be a comfortable game for us.

Indiana's bigs are foul prone. So we should have an advantage there. Also, Indiana is very turnover prone.

The worrying thing for me is Indiana shoots 40% from 3.

Hopefully we can shoot well enough to nullify their 3. It will be a tough game.

 

[gary-7]

Lets start talking IU vs UNC and how this one plays out.

I think it will be our hardest challenge so far in this tourney, I picked IU to beat Ky in my only bracket pre-tourney so I am not surprised at all they took Ky out. I think this will be a harder game than an elite 8 game would be if we get past this solid IU team that would be either Whisky or ND.

Yogi is a stud PG but I actually do like the size matchup between he and Joel Berry. Troy Williams, we all remember this kid, couldn't make his mind up on where he wanted to play, well the wheel turns for him back to UNC to see if he made a mistake or not. he is a heck of an athletic slasher but I like Justin and Theo being able to contain him. I do worry about Thomas Bryant he is a big ole talent, would not hurt my feelings to see him get in to foul trouble.

I know they have Robert Johnson, Tar Heels recall his name as one we wanted as well, looks like he maybe sprained an ankle and not sure if he will be ready to play us or not? Understand they also have another key injury, don't know much about that so maybe folks can advise who and what that is about. I will do some looking in deeper to IU but want to see what others are thinking leading up to that game friday late night.

Speaking of late night, is CBS trying to hook a deal to broadcast next season's Late Night with Roy? They sure seem to need to slot us closer and closer to mid-night tip times?

As I posted earlier, I wouldn't even have batted an eye worrying about UK. We match up everywhere and we're just better. Despite Seth Greenberg's BS, their pups on the front line would get absolutely pounded by our Bigs, Buckets and Theo would take Briscoe to school, and yeah, lessee what that those vaunted Guards would do with JB and Marcus in their grilles all night. (Open message to any schmuck who picked UK to win the East: AYFKM?)

Indiana is a tougher matchup for us. Yeah, we're still better, but they're another of these teams with guys who aren't always purely defined position players, but who can shoot 3s. We need to force our game early instead of reacting to them. Indiana likes to run and that's fine --- running with Carolina usually doesn't end well for those foolish enough to try it. We need to make their perimeter guys uncomfortable and may have to go small at times to do that. Bryant is a nice freshman, but not quick. He will have a tough time handling defending without fouling.

If we shoot a high pct. and cover their shooters we could take care of this fairly early --- if we don't it's going to be a battle.

 

[tarwhiz]

Not see

Indiana reminds me of Virginia in the way they run their offense as they like to dictate the speed of the game using most of the shot clock looking for a good shot. Their bigs play the Big ten type of rebounding where they do not mind getting physical in the paint. I agree the point guard match up between Farrell and Berry will be the story of the game. If UNC can somehow speed up the game I like our chances.

Not seeing Virginia comparison at all, IU wants this game just as fast as we do. I am very confident we will put up points and have opportunity to dominant inside, but this game will be decided by IU offense vs UNC defense. We have to lock them down on D. They have a half dozen shooters they will rotate through their lineup.

 

[DSouthr]

The other injuries were Juwan Morgan's shoulder. He's had issues of it all year and several lately. Keeps popping out of place. Should be fine. OG had a mild sprain during the UK games, should be ok. Not sure on Johnson but he and Crean said it wasn't as severe as what kept him out for 3 weeks, hopefully he's good to go. We don't mind playing a fast pace and typically do. Defense has been much improved the last half of the season. Shoot the 3 ball extremely well, although we didn't against UK. The emergence of OG has helped our defense and front court. He can basically guard every position, has NBA athleticism. Should be a good one. Haven't watched much of UNC all year but appears its going to come down to us keeping your guards out of the lane, dealing with your barrage of front court players and how well we shoot the 3.

Hey, appreciate the info, as someone who has had major reconstructive surgery on a shoulder I can absolutely relate with the young man that is having to deal with that. If he has been trying to play thru that, nothing but kudos from me because I know that pain when it pops out!

I would actually prefer you guys to be at full strength when we play, to be the best you have to beat the best and I actually want us to best on best and see where the chips fall. I will take a win no matter what but honestly, I prefer to see best on best, doubt you are any different.

If you have not watched a lot of our games, we can be hot and we can be cold and we can be that from one half to the next. If we come out with good intensity, if we come out working on defense as we have for the last several games, we are hard to beat, even if we are not shooting really well. We have very active big men in Brice and Issiah Hicks, we have very good wings that are long and will defend hard. The guard you may have heard of is marcus paige but don't be shocked if you see Joel berry and wonder why the entire basketball world is not talking about him.

If IU wants to run with us, trust me, we will be fine & dandy with that, that is our best game. Our big men run the floor, our wings are deers on a gallop similar to Troy Williams. I love when we go to our version of small which is both our 6'7" wings on the floor, one of them at the 4 spot and the other at the 3, our defense ramps up big time from that look.

Really looking forward to this game, we have a good shot but IU is no joke, I really think this game will be a harder matchup for the winner than their next game (elite 8) will be. It is survive and advance time baby, I just want us to survive this one so we can advance to the next one!

 

[gary-7]

Hey, appreciate the info, as someone who has had major reconstructive surgery on a shoulder I can absolutely relate with the young man that is having to deal with that. If he has been trying to play thru that, nothing but kudos from me because I know that pain when it pops out!

I would actually prefer you guys to be at full strength when we play, to be the best you have to beat the best and I actually want us to best on best and see where the chips fall. I will take a win no matter what but honestly, I prefer to see best on best, doubt you are any different.

If you have not watched a lot of our games, we can be hot and we can be cold and we can be that from one half to the next. If we come out with good intensity, if we come out working on defense as we have for the last several games, we are hard to beat, even if we are not shooting really well. We have very active big men in Brice and Issiah Hicks, we have very good wings that are long and will defend hard. The guard you may have heard of is marcus paige but don't be shocked if you see Joel berry and wonder why the entire basketball world is not talking about him.

If IU wants to run with us, trust me, we will be fine & dandy with that, that is our best game. Our big men run the floor, our wings are deers on a gallop similar to Troy Williams. I love when we go to our version of small which is both our 6'7" wings on the floor, one of them at the 4 spot and the other at the 3, our defense ramps up big time from that look.

Really looking forward to this game, we have a good shot but IU is no joke, I really think this game will be a harder matchup for the winner than their next game (elite 8) will be. It is survive and advance time baby, I just want us to survive this one so we can advance to the next one!

Honestly Dave, once again it will be about defensive rotation (not just 2 guys --- the entire defense) to prevent kick-outs and cheapies backside. When we do that --- as Roy pointed out last week --- we're pretty doggone good. On offense make shots, finish thru contact and pound the offensive glass.

 

[Heelicious]

Really looking forward to this game, we have a good shot but IU is no joke, I really think this game will be a harder matchup for the winner than their next game (elite 8) will be. It is survive and advance time baby, I just want us to survive this one so we can advance to the next one!

Great post, Dave, and I really agree with your thoughts on the next game.

And - FWIW - I'd take a game against "1-seed" Oregon, in a minute, over "5 seed" ?????? Indiana, who won a tougher conference (Big 10 vs. Pac 12) outright by 2 games. The selection seeding is just corrupt but to be the best you have to beat who is in front of you.

Nice for Dook that they don't face any legit teams until the Elite 8 though.

 

[Heelicious]

Honestly Dave, once again it will be about defensive rotation (not just 2 guys --- the entire defense) to prevent kick-outs and cheapies backside. When we do that --- as Roy pointed out last week --- we're pretty doggone good. On offense make shots, finish thru contact and pound the offensive glass.

Yep - those are the keys. I heard Roy say again over the weekend. Attack attack attack on offense. He stresses that so much which I know is what you've been preaching all year, Gary.

Staying home on shooters is huge. I just don't see any team beating us inside the arc. Especially not inside the paint.

It may just be wishful thinking, but I still think that Joel Berry and Justin can / will take it to another level shooting outside. We've won despite them having b minus or c grade outside shooting games recently.

I do like the concept of having a week to get ready for IU.

IF - IF we get by them, I do think the next game, ND or Wisc, is a much weaker opponent. We were just up on ND by 40+ and called off the dogs to "only" win by 31, .....

and if you get to 55 points against Wisky you win. We'd have that by early in second half.

I know, though.... one game at a time.....

 

[DSouthr]

Honestly Dave, once again it will be about defensive rotation (not just 2 guys --- the entire defense) to prevent kick-outs and cheapies backside. When we do that --- as Roy pointed out last week --- we're pretty doggone good. On offense make shots, finish thru contact and pound the offensive glass.

Other than maybe that 1st half vs FGC, I have liked our defensive intensity level since wow, since the first duke game? It has grown and we went tit for tat with Uva on the defensive end and that is saying a ton. IMO, UVa is by far the best defensive team we have played all year and for us IMO to be defending on par with them is big time.

But my concern, is it with us for the rest of the season or will we allow our intensity to wane cause IU can hurt us if we are not defending strong. While I agree gary on the back side rotations, for me it is more about our guards up front staying in front, pushing their offensive attack further and further out, so we have more time for our rotations. If we can do that and handle the boards, we should be fine, if we get jump shooting to go along with that then the only teams that I see giving us a game are Kansas & Uva. If we get our bigs scoring and not in foul trouble, we defend like we have been for the last several games AND we get timely jump shooting we may be at least double digits better than any other team in the country.

WE have frightening depth, we have depth that allows us to get in a wide open up & down affair and keep fresh legs in, we go a solid 11-12 deep. I have not seen another team as talented as deep as we are and it huge in short turn around games.

 

[DSouthr]

Great post, Dave, and I really agree with your thoughts on the next game.

And - FWIW - I'd take a game against "1-seed" Oregon, in a minute, over "5 seed" ?????? Indiana, who won a tougher conference (Big 10 vs. Pac 12) outright by 2 games. The selection seeding is just corrupt but to be the best you have to beat who is in front of you.

Nice for Dook that they don't face any legit teams until the Elite 8 though.

I understand, don't know if I would rather face IU or Oregon next but more so because I have not watched much of Oregon. But I do think the NCAA selection committee TOTALLY SCREWED BOTH INDIANA AND KY by putting them so close to us in our bracket.

On another thread I discussed that IMO duke yet again got a favorable path thru this NCAAT, for the umpteenth year in a row...But I have never complained about our seeding in this tourney, I do think it is harder for us than duke's path and question why that is but to me IU and Ky got royally screwed, first to face each other in what should be a elite 8 level game and then the winner has to see us next in what could be a final 4 worthy match up?

 

[gary-7]

Yep - those are the keys. I heard Roy say again over the weekend. Attack attack attack on offense. He stresses that so much which I know is what you've been preaching all year, Gary.

Staying home on shooters is huge. I just don't see any team beating us inside the arc. Especially not inside the paint.

It may just be wishful thinking, but I still think that Joel Berry and Justin can / will take it to another level shooting outside. We've won despite them having b minus or c grade outside shooting games recently.

I do like the concept of having a week to get ready for IU.

.

Yessir. No one is likely to beat us with 2 pt FGs. Not meant to sound arrogant, just that the point is that a hot-shooting team from 3 is the biggest danger... which is why IU is a more dangerous matchup than UK.

Now, some good folks (like our own Andrew Jones) have misplaced our issues on dribble penetration (and Roy corrected him on that last week, BTW). It is, and has been, a rotation issue. Without launching into a clinic, suffice to say our two Guards are damned good defenders. It comes down to what the other three guys do, because that's how our defensive scheme works. As you said, if someone wants to grind and drive and sweat they might score an occasional deuce, but that ain't gonna beat us. It's when they get open kick-outs (and backside layups).

We need to attack them on D and make them uncomfortable. One of the weaknesses I saw is that they can get out of control under stress. I also want to see JB get Yogi to get into a mano-a-mano thing.

As for offense, yeah, I'm hoping we see what we've been waiting for: Our three perimeter guys all start feeling it at the same time.

 

[CrazyHeel]

If we don't help off their jump shooters we will win. Make Yogi drive and shoot over our bigs.

 

[DSouthr]

If we don't help off their jump shooters we will win. Make Yogi drive and shoot over our bigs.

Hey hey hey, we could try to distract Yogi with a pic-a-nick basket...It could even draw BooBoo's kid's attention away from the game!

 

[superstar57]

Because of IU ability to hit 3s I am thinking we could fall behind early. I think we play IU very smartly and get there bigs in foul trouble and pound down low late.

92-81 with Paige or Berry catching fire late with a 3 or two to secure a hard earned victory.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

All I know is as much mouth as some IU posters have had already this week, I hope we kick their a$$ and send them crying back to Indiana.

 

[cmsnow84]

I think the winner of this game will be the favorites the rest of the way. I hope it is IU but UNC is a good team. If we play smart and defend the way were capable of defending then I think this game is a tossup. But if we play Roger Dorn defense or Bryant gets in foul trouble, we're toast. I just hope its a good game. Best of luck to your team and players.

 

[coryfly]

The shooters are obviously the biggest concern. They also hit the offensive glad pretty well, which has been a problem (big problem at times) for our guys. They are a pretty tough matchup for us IMO, much tougher than most teams left in the tourney. I hope they go fast. Many times teams have wanted to try and go as fast as us. Seldom has it not gone our way. Of course, one thing that may not be a factor is UNC wearing them down. That probably won't happen. Still, let's run.

 

[Acc1950]

I think the key defensively is to back off Yogi - once he gets by you there are only bad outcomes. Make him be a shooter and not a penetrator.

 

[YOTHN]

Indiana is not really like UVA. Indiana has played 72 and 71 possession games in the tournament. Pace wise... This will be a comfortable game for us.

Indiana's bigs are foul prone. So we should have an advantage there. Also, Indiana is very turnover prone.

The worrying thing for me is Indiana shoots 40% from 3.

Hopefully we can shoot well enough to nullify their 3. It will be a tough game.

I will give UNC that. Our bigs are foul prone and is a consistent problem. That will be a key for UNC to hone in on. Doing so will give them a decided advantage and in that situation, I could see the game get out of hand. Now we seem to be in foul trouble often in the post and somehow pull it out but I don't think that would happen with UNC's depth.

 

[tru123dt]

Yogi shot 42% from three so pick your poison.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

We will be lucky to stay on the floor with Indiana. Yogi is already better than Steph Curry with his ability to drive, shoot from the perimeter and handle the ball. Troy Williams is already better than Lebron and their bigs, wow, collectively they look like the Dream Team. Just ask most of the Indiana fans on here....geez

 

[Spaceytoyz]

their best 2 players cant be better than Providences those guys were NBA legit players just didn't have a lot of help

 

[feesch]

If the number of nba players decided the outcome you would be playing uk. It doesn't and your not.

their best 2 players cant be better than Providences those guys were NBA legit players just didn't have a lot of help