Indiana Basketball: What is behind the numerous scoring droughts?

The Solution

There’s no magical solution for fixing this glaring problem. It comes down to the basics: play team basketball instead of resorting to no-man’s land post-ups and selfish huck-ups. No player on this team is anywhere near talented enough to play one-on-one and propel the team to success.

This is especially true for the big man trio of Joey Brunk, Trayce Jackson-Davis and De’Ron Davis. They are adept at scoring off of assists, but completely ineffective when isolated in the low post (although Jackson-Davis is fairly decent in the high post).

Many successful college big men that go on to have NBA careers don’t have a low post game; they simply rebound, defend, and get points off of alley-oops and dump-offs. Right now, Indiana’s frontcourt is being asked to do more than they are capable of.

Whether it makes you mourn or not, the days of the skilled back-to-the-basket big man are nearly dead. In order for Indiana’s size to be effective on offense, the guards need to do a better job of scoring from the perimeter in order to stretch the floor and use aggressive drives to create for the big men.

The ball needs to move faster along the perimeter with passes. Indiana could benefit from the old shell drill. It’s basic elementary school stuff: a pass moves faster than a dribble, and quick passes shift the defense more to create open shots. Indiana was doing this to begin the game but downgraded to something completely different in the last ten minutes of the half.

Indiana has managed to take all the teamwork out of basketball on offense. Maybe it’s Archie Miller’s offensive scheme, or maybe it’s the players’ lack of effort or willingness to work for good shots, but something is just not clicking during this stretch.

I’m of the opinion that this Indiana roster is not very talented, but several members of the team tend to play like they’re the capital M-A-N MAN.

In order for the Hoosiers to ever find their stride and stop these scoring droughts, they need to learn that, in the words of the great Gregg Popovich, “It’s not about any one person. You’ve got to get over yourself and realize that it takes a group to get this thing done.”