Indiana Basketball: Lineup changes possible in near future?

Bench Rotation

If Phinisee and Green switch spots, there are still a few other parts of the bench that needs changing.

First, is like Coach Miller said; trimming down the 11-man rotation. It starts with Jerome Hunter and Damezi Anderson. Both players have the skill and have shown it at times, but when they aren’t making shots, neither of them provide much to the lineup and end up hurting the team.

While I can still see both seeing spot minutes, that’s all that it should be, at this point.

After that change, it goes right to Armaan Franklin. Though he is just a freshman, his role needs to increase, and fast. His defensive ability and energy is near the top of the roster on a consistent basis, hence why he played nearly the last 10 minutes of the game against Northwestern while Green sat on the bench.

Though Franklin is still wildly inconsistent with his shot, his energy is what is needed on the floor, and continuing to play through freshman mistakes will only benefit him and the team in the long run.

Shortening up the wing rotation will allow the guards to get in more of a rhythm and start becoming more consistent on an every game basis.

As for the front court, it is clear that Trayce Jackson-Davis is the best player on this roster, so keeping him on the floor is a necessity. After Jackson-Davis, Joey Brunk has stepped up lately and has started to assert himself down low, averaging 11.7 rebounds a game over the last four games. With those two, and Justin Smith able to play as a stretch four, that means there really only needs to be one big off of the bench.

That comes down to Race Thompson and De’Ron Davis. Both bring a different skillset to the table, but both are unable to play extended minutes. So that leaves the Hoosiers using both of them as spot minutes, preferably around media timeouts.

With that, the rotation will trim from 10 guys playing at least 12 minutes a game, to eight playing 10+ a game, meaning a much tighter and hopefully more effective lineup from game-to-game.