Indiana Basketball: Predicting the lineups for the 2019-2020 season

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EAST LANSING, MI – FEBRUARY 02: Devonte Green #11 of the Indiana Hoosiers drives past Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on February 2, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

3. The Floor Spacing Lineup

Rob Phinisee

Devonte Green

Al Durham

Trayce Jackson-Davis

De’Ron Davis

This may be my favorite lineup that Archie Miller has at his disposal. It provides three reliable shooters on the perimeter to space the floor and give the big guys space to go to work down low.

We saw last year how Justin Smith’s lack of shooting causes major problems for the whole offense. Juwan Morgan would get double-teamed, as Smith’s man would almost entirely abandon him to go help on Morgan with little to no consequences.

If Archie Miller is going to institute an inside-out style of offense, then he needs to put other guys out there who can make the defense pay for double-teaming the big guys in the post. This lineup does just that, and it also gives Indiana four guys who can make plays with the pass. If teams tried to double the post, there would be ample opportunity to kill them for a missed rotation, especially with the passing ability of De’Ron Davis.

The downside of not having Justin Smith in the lineup is you lose arguably your best athlete and most rangy defender. It’s easy to stick Smith on the other team’s best scorer to help shut him down. However, the parameters of what the offense can do with him, not on the floor are tremendously expanded.

Another option is to stick Jerome Hunter at the four and play with a very undersized lineup with Jackson-Davis, Davis, or Joey Brunk at the center position.

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