Indiana Basketball: 5 possible lineups for the 2020-2021 season

Size And Spacing

Point Guard: Khristian Lander

Shooting Guard: Al Durham

Small Forward: Jerome Hunter

Power Forward: Justin Smith

Center: Trayce Jackson-Davis

I cannot emphasize how much I love this lineup. It all depends on the leap Jerome Hunter takes from his freshman to sophomore year, but Archie Miller’s choice to play him more and more as the season went on proved that he has some trust in Hunter.

This lineup gives more shooting than the previous lineup while hardly decreasing size. In fact, this lineup is pretty massive. Hunter and Smith can both guard smaller players as well as post players, giving them versatility on defense. Hunter has some work to do on that end, but he has the physical gifts to be a fantastic defender, and will undoubtedly come into that potential eventually. The question is, will it be next season?

If so, it would be a great thing for Archie Miller to play with. Although Jerome Hunter didn’t shoot well overall last season, he was getting back from a really bad injury and it’s likely he comes back next season in a better rhythm. In his final 14 games of the season, he shot 42.8 percent from deep (15-of-35).

His added shooting and scoring gives Indiana four decent-to-great scoring options on the court, with Smith being the odd man out, contributing mostly to defense. Indiana could then play a four-out lineup, giving more space to let Lander use his gift of attacking the hoop with less defensive bodies clogging the lane.

Any four-out lineup will help the offense score more, it’s just a matter of if the loss on defense is worth it. In this case, even if Hunter is just an okay defender, I think the added offense offers more upside.