The Indiana basketball program escaped with a win on Wednesday but that didn’t stop Archie Miller from making some strong statements.
It has been a roller coaster of a past couple of weeks for the Indiana basketball program, and it was more of the same in Wednesday night’s performance against Northwestern. Despite the win, Archie Miller was not happy with the performance and some of the players following the game.
The early parts of the season had been defined by the depth that Indiana finally had. With a deep front court and experienced guards, the Hoosiers finally had what they needed in order to compete atop the Big Ten.
It took all but three conference games to realize that the rotation wasn’t fit for Indiana this year, unfortunately. But now, where does the Indiana staff turn? Who will step up? Who will be a consistent scorer? All of these are questions that need to be answered, and fast.
Despite the fact that many of the players on the roster have been playing college basketball for at least a year and a half, if not more, almost every single player on the roster has been asked to take on a bigger or more expansive role than what they are maybe used to. Hence the inconsistencies thus far.
Whether it be the backcourt failing to show up for every game, the bench losing some of its production, or the offensive schemes that have seen inconsistent success due to the players on the floor, something needs to change.
That change could be coming soon, too. During his postgame press conference, Archie Miller addressed the fact that there has been a major lack of energy and effort.
"“But we’re a little bit more conditional right now. We’re a little bit more about ourselves. We’ve got to figure that out. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t necessarily know right now if the 11-guy rotation is going to work. I just don’t know necessarily if that’s the best thing moving forward if we’re not going to get all 11 heated up and playing as hard and as unselfish as we possibly can. It may be five. It may be just five. I don’t know.”"
Because of all of this, let’s take a look at some of the possible lineup changes Miller could and should make.