Indiana Basketball: IU has a misunderstood shooting problem

The simple solution to this shooting problem

Simply put: there’s no way to win basketball games this way. The only way it could work is if Archie Miller had a monstrous low post scorer who could generate 15 points on his own every night. Trayce Jackson-Davis and Joey Brunk have size but the low post dominance is… lacking.

To blame this oversight in offensive strategy on the players is ignorant. If a football team comes into a game and announces that — due to injuries — they will be starting the punter at quarterback, it doesn’t matter if the running back is Emmit Smith or a guy off the street. When there isn’t a passing game to account for, the defense will just key in on the running back and live with the minor risk that the punter somehow happens to connect with receivers enough to score a touchdown.

In the same way, when there are only two shooters on the floor and their last names aren’t Curry, Thompson, or Lillard, then the defense is just going to overwhelm them. There are no other perimeter threats to even consider. Even an above-average 3-point shooter is going to see their percentage tank due to the difficulty of their attempts, which leads me to my point: Indiana has shooters, they just need to play more of them together.

The good news is that this is easy to fix. Justin Smith is gone to Arkansas, and top-20 point guard Khristian Lander will be on the roster next season. Additionally, Jerome Hunter and Armaan Franklin are both going to improve over the offseason and come back capable of sharing a greater chunk of responsibility. Miller’s recruiting class also features two very good shooters in Anthony Leal and Jordan Geronimo and a capable shooter in Trey Galloway. The pieces to fix these problems are on the roster already.

The question and the problem is will Miller use these players or will he continue to use his archaic lineups? Sure, the defense may not be as superb, but if your team keeps clanging balls off the side of the rim then it doesn’t really matter how good your defense is: you’re going to lose.

So just consider next time you take to Twitter to gab about IU’s shooting problems: is it the player’s fault for missing threes, or is it just inevitable based on circumstance? Close your eyes and picture a lineup featuring Phinisee, Lander, Durham, Hunter, and Jackson-Davis. I think you’ll find that they may not be so bad at shooting after all.