It makes it quite a bit funnier that this year was supposed to be the resurgence of Indiana basketball, imo.
Yeah, and even before the injuries this team never really quite popped. Suddenly theyāve lost 6 out of 9.
I feel like most of us were skeptical of IU being as good as their preseason expectations, but they at least had known quantities.
Turns out we were probably right, and they were going to be a Tier 2/3 B1G team (whatever that means). BUT - Iām not judging them one bit anymore, based on the injury situation.
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I thought they looked pretty good early. Not an elite team nationally by any means but at least looked the part of a B1G contender. 8-3 before XJ went down with an awesome win at Xavier and a 12-point win against UNC. Their three losses were by large margins but losing @Kansas, @Rutgers and a neutral to Arizona are all looking like top 15 in the country type losses in tough environments.
They were the 22nd best team in country in the eight games XJ completed fully healthy according to torvik. 121st since. Losing Race amplifies it too but thereās a pretty clear line of where the season fell apart and itās when they lost XJ IMO.
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Yeah, they were fine. They won at Xavier but got run by Rutgers, Arizona, Kansasā¦ With their full roster.
Thatās where they went from a supposed top 10 team to top-30 type team IMO. Now I think they might be much worse than that without Race and XJ.
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Big Ten Rankings based on how much the players appear to like playing with eachother when I watch them:
- Rutgers
- Purdue
- Michigan State
- Penn State
- Ohio State
- Wisconsin
- Northwestern
- Nebraska
- Iowa
- Michigan
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Indiana
- Illinois
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The most Chase Audige shot in the history of Chase Audige shots and it wasnāt by Chase Audige.
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BIG shot Spencer
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Then he hits a pair of free throws that barely even touched net. So pure. Quite a finish for Rutgers to end on a 7-0 run
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Cam Spencer is incredible. Rutgers NEVER has a guy shoot 6-7 on three pointers. And heās got another year. Pikiell doesnāt use the portal much but the guys he gets fill a need and are multi-year players (Jacob Young, Aundre Hyatt, Cam Spencer)
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I know that heās a different player with different coaches in a different system and different teammates, but man I wish we could find a way to use Joey Baker the way Rutgers has found a way to weaponize the woefully unathletic Cam Spencer.
Everytime I see Rutgers play, I wonder why we canāt do that
To be fair, Cam Spencer has always been a better college basketball player than Joey Baker. I donāt really see the comp.
Thereās a huge difference between mid-major guys who were the No. 1 option and guys who have never been that.
Spencer played at a lower level but heās always had a ton of game (PNRs, DHOs, great steal numbers, etc.)
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Yeah, I was thinking that itās hard for a guy like Baker, who was mostly an afterthought, to rewire his brain to play that way than for Spencer to just keep playing that way.
Iām not sure if ābench role at Dukeā is āworseā than āthe guyā at a bad Patriot League team in terms of the physical talent demands required to perform the role.
Spencer is clearly a much better passer, and I donāt think that Baker would ever get there, but still, I canāt help but look longingly. Heās just a really smart offensive player, and it jumps off the screen every game Iāve seen them play (and its not just because he made all his shots, Iāve been impressed with his offensive IQ all season)
I know Cam was hurt the second year, but itās wild Loyola couldnāt win games with him AND a future NBA rotation player (Santi Aldama) in the Patriot League.
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They probably played like a dozen games together total with injuries and everything, so not sure you can take much from that.
Itās not about level or athleticism or anything like that. It is just how different they are as played. Spencer was a high-usage, three level scorer and creator. Thatās just not how Baker, a 6-7 shooting wing, has ever played at any level.
I also donāt think Spencer is as bad athletically as you are trying to make him out. Heās obviously limited but heās always been an impact defensive player and then it is easy to fit that in with all elite defensive players around him.
Either way, Iām guessing he wonāt shoot 57% from deep all Big Ten season.
Obviously not. It looks like Pikiell definintely subs him out situationally in close games though (ie, down the stretch as teams foul all the time, he gets pulled on D). All this is just me looking longingly at Cam (and to a lesser degree Andrew Funk), then at Joey (where I think at least part of the problem is usage/deployment, and not his play level).
Kevin Warren headed to the NFL.
Yeah, Funk and Spencer are both in a completely different category than Baker. Both were a completely different player archetype.
I feel like archetype wise Funk and Baker are pretty similar no? Itās just Baker has never had a time recently where heās just getting as many shots up as Funk, but both are catch and shoot only guys
Yeah I would have thought Funk and Baker were similar (Funk also way out over his skis in terms of performance vs. what he did in the Patriot)
Anyway, I think Juwan needs to leave the Ivy league and start going after Patriot League guys clearly.
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Not based on what they were at all. Funk was the 1A scorer for his team, primary PNR guy, primary guy off of off-ball screens, took over 100 OTD jumpers, etc.
Both guys have definitely benefitted from downscaling their roles at their next stops but you guys are all talking about upscaling Bakerās role to do more of that stuff.
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