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Indiana Basketball: Three most important players for Hoosiers’ success in tournament

By Adam Childs

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - MARCH 04: Justin Smith #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers steals the ball in the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the first half at Assembly Hall on March 04, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - MARCH 04: Justin Smith #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers steals the ball in the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the first half at Assembly Hall on March 04, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /
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BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA – MARCH 04: Trayce Jackson-Davis #4 of the Indiana Hoosiers rebounds the ball over Jarvis Omersa #21 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the first half at Assembly Hall on March 04, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA – MARCH 04: Trayce Jackson-Davis #4 of the Indiana Hoosiers rebounds the ball over Jarvis Omersa #21 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the first half at Assembly Hall on March 04, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /

2. Trayce Jackson-Davis

Jackson-Davis has been the best player for the Hoosiers this year and it is not even close. So obviously he is one of the most important players for Indiana’s success come tournament time. Jackson-Davis has recorded 11 double-doubles this year and is the team leader in points and rebounds per game.

Jackson-Davis has been one of the best freshmen in the Big Ten this year and when the Hoosiers run their offense through him they have more success. The main complaint out of Hoosier fans is that he doesn’t get enough touches during a game. He has been very good finishing around the rim but he wasn’t getting enough shots early in the season.

He hasn’t been any threat from the outside, but he is good off the dribble and has been good working through contact to get to the rim. If he stays at IU for his sophomore season, which he should, it would be good for him to develop a midrange to outside game, but for right now he has been a force inside for the Hoosiers.

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Keeping him on the court and getting touches will be extremely important for the Hoosiers if they want to win any games in the tournament or make any sort of run. Jackson-Davis will need some help inside from Joey Brunk and others, but he is definitely their main option inside and honestly the whole offense also.

To put it bluntly, the Hoosiers can’t win without Jackson-Davis playing well. He is too big a part of their game both offensively and defensively to have a bad game and Indiana to pull off any kind of upset and that is exactly what they will have to do in the conference and hopefully NCAA tournament.

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