Hey all you Hoosier fans attending the Hoosier Hysteria event tonight (and even those of you watching the broadcast at iuhoosiers.com)! It's always fun to watch and speculate wildly based on first impressions. So, I'm interested in what you think about what you see tonight. Here's five areas to think over and post your thoughts about the coming season.
1) Zell on Earth:
How does Cody look against the veteran players? Does he warrant double-teams, and if so, how does he handle them? I'm particularly interested in his ability to score one-on-one versus Pritchard, as if he can do that... well, it would key a lot of good things for IU's offense.
2) Injuries:
Last year Verdell Jones, Christian Watford, and Derek Elston all played through injuries. Do any of them look like they have more spring in their step? Does Watford show off more wing moves (thinking Cheaney-like) in his arsenal? (Watford not playing - save this question for the exhibition games). How are Elston & Jones's jumpers - how do they look on defense?
3) Guards - point play & defense
Who's playing point for both the first and second team? Is it mostly Hulls & Moore, or do Jones & Abell see significant time? Does Remy Abell look like he can contribute right away? Can any of them stop dibble penetration?
4) Possible redshirts: Austin Etherington & Maurice Creek
Is Etherington look good enough to warrant time on the wing, or will the logjam of Watford, Jones, Oladipo, Sheehey, and Roth mean a redshirt season for the freshman? I pose this without judgment on Etherington - Brian Evans was a pretty good player who redshirted under somewhat similar circumstances. With all of the talent coming in next season - is it worth redshirting Etherington and/or Creek?
5) What are the referees in the scrimmage calling or not calling?
Going back to the Knight days, I've always found it interesting to see what the refs were (sometimes obviously or strangely) calling or swallowing their whistles on. It usually seems to suggest an area that at least the coach thinks should be a point of emphasis. The first time I noticed it, it was the highly-hyped Andre Patterson's freshman year, and they would not let him use any baseline moves at all. He looked legitimate and non-travelly to me, but I then later I figured that Knight probably wanted Patterson to develop his outside & high-post game more, since senior Alan Henderson was going to be putting up 23 points a game on the block. Sure enough, late in that season, Patterson developed into a starter by pairing nicely off of Henderson and hit four three-pointers in a key win over Wisconsin.
Thanks everyone, and Go Hoosiers!