Former IU basketball player and assistant coach Dane Fife joined fellow former Hoosier guard and No. 11 Dan Dakich on his radio show yesterday.
The pair discussed a wide ranged of topics including the outlook for IU basketball in 2022-23.
Here were his thoughts on IU basketball this season.
(Note: You might be hearing much more from Fife this season. Dakich mentioned during the broadcast Fife will join the Big Ten Network as an analyst this year.)
On Indiana in relation to the rest of the Big Ten and nationally —
“Indiana, I think their head is above the rest right now in the Big Ten, and it’s going to be hard to stop them,” Fife said. “It’s a Final Four team if they find a way to score a little more. I think we were at 67 points a game in the league last year. We just have to find a way to score, and I think we did that, we had it figured out, and we really had our offense meshed by the end of the season last year.
“I love the team. I just think that they’ve got consistency in terms of who’s coming back. Veterans, size, talent. Trayce Jackson-Davis, Race Thompson, Xavier Johnson. You’ve got Miller Kopp, who has played in the league forever. He can hit shots.”
On Trey Galloway and how passing impacts 3-point shooting —
“Galloway can (hit threes). He’s incredibly talented. He can pass that ball. And passing has hurt 3-point shooting as much as the actual shot itself. There’s two things that are missing. You hear the term on-time, on-target. You don’t get a lot of passes where you need them. And if you get them, it’s generally the timing of it, it’s too early or too late. And that’s something that’s really hurt the game to me, is passing, because kids are trained with the ball at all times. And if there’s a pass thrown, it’s usually the overhead throw-back that hits somebody in the face.
“I don’t want to hear about Indiana hitting threes. They are gonna hit threes, they can hit threes.”
On Jalen Hood-Schifino —
“I like Hood-Schifino a lot. He’s a really good distributing point guard. He’s going to be really good for Indiana.
“He should be (one and done) if things go well. I don’t think he’s going to wow you with numbers as much as he’s going to wow you with his ability to compete and win games. But he is a freshman, and you know how that can go.”
On Malik Reneau —
“He’s a banger, he’s young-minded, but he understands how to play, and I think Coach Woodson said it the other day, he competes, he knows how to win. He’s going to be behind Trayce and Race out of the gate.”
On Jordan Geronimo’s play late last year —
“He was microwaving in a way. He’d come in and get a huge rebound, he’d get a big dunk, good defensive stop. I love Jordan Geronimo.”
On Purdue —
“I got the Boilers second in the conference. They’ve got threes and fours that can stroke it. And if you can get Zach Edey to the point that he’s in at the end of the game, and it’s not a defensive liability, and he doesn’t have foul trouble — I just think all Purdue really needs is a bucket-getter.”
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