The 2019-20 Indiana University men’s basketball season is right around the corner. To help get you ready, The Daily Hoosier is profiling every player on the 2019-20 IU roster. You can see all of our player profiles in one place here. If you are looking for the 2019-20 IU basketball schedule, you can find that here.
When it comes to previewing the season, it’s best to save the true freshmen for last.
Narratives can change quickly, and that’s exactly what happened after Sunday’s closed scrimmage against Marquette.
With Devonte Green and Rob Phinisee unable to participate, Armaan Franklin got an extended look against the Golden Eagles, and by all accounts he delivered.
In nearly 30 minutes of action, Franklin was IU’s leading scorer with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. He also got a chance to check Marquette’s All-American guard Markus Howard.
Of course we cannot get ahead of ourselves here. It was just a scrimmage, and Green and Phinisee would have claimed most of those minutes in a game that counted.
But when you listen to his coaches and teammates it becomes clear that Franklin is ahead of where most would have expected. Already, the notion that Franklin will outplay his recruiting ranking is being bandied about.
A top 150 three-star according to the recruiting services, Franklin averaged 23.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.2 assists per game as a high school senior.
ESSENTIALS
- Height: 6-foot-4
- Weight: 195
- Position: Guard
- Class: Freshman
- Hometown: Indianapolis
- High School: Cathedral
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Head coach Archie Miller on Franklin’s work ethic —
“To come in the door and find a way to make his mark early, he made his mark. He set the tone for how he works. The standard that he has for himself. There were no days off. And that’s a great thing as a young player, very few young guys come in and don’t struggle early with something or don’t have to learn how to work through it. His work capacity, his work ethic, that’s impressive.”
Fellow true freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis on Franklin’s progression —
“Armaan has been really good. He’s been shooting the ball at a really high rate. He’s been playing really well. I just think that he just wants to keep improving and earn his time on the floor.”
Franklin on making the jump from high school to college —
“It’s always an adjustment moving up levels. We just have a great group of guys who took us in, showed us the ropes, and then just showed us what it’s going to be like to play in the Big 10 and what we can get away with and what we can’t.
So we just had a great group of guys to come into and help us out a lot.”
VIDEO
Video credit – The Hoosier Network
WHAT 2019-20 SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
With only four scholarship guards on the roster, it seems clear that Franklin is going to play regularly.
Miller confirmed that opportunity exists at the Big Ten’s media day.
“He has a chance to really be a part of what we’re doing right now early in the year,” Miller said.
Of course as a true freshman, Miller has plenty of areas to work on with his newcomer, one of which is playing with a bit more of an edge.
“He’s not mean enough, he’s not tough enough, right now, he doesn’t talk enough,” Miller added. “That’s my thing to him.”
When I asked Franklin’s fellow guard Al Durham what one thing his new teammate could add on the court, the team’s co-captain instead pointed to several potential contributions.
“It could be shooting, defense, it could be attacking the basket,” Durham said. “I feel like he can do a lot of things as a freshman and he’ll be really good for us this year.”
Durham hit on what seem to be the consistent themes for potential skills that fans can look for from Franklin in year one.
He isn’t an elite shooter, but Franklin’s perimeter shot has been improving consistently over the last couple years to the point where he is a legitimate threat from long range.. If he can adjust to the speed of the college game and the length of defenders, Miller should be able to count on Franklin to come into games and knock down three-pointers.
Franklin already has a sturdy frame for a freshman, and that should allow him to have moments with two of his calling cards from high school — attacking the rim and on the ball defense. He is a true two-way player that will likely energize crowds with his effort on both ends of the floor.
Predicting numbers for freshmen is tricky, and Franklin is no exception.
If he can play around 10 minutes per game on average and contribute around 4 points per contest while becoming a reliable defender and shooter, year one will be a success for Franklin.
PREVIOUS PREVIEWS:
- De’Ron Davis
- Devonte Green
- Justin Smith
- Al Durham
- Joey Brunk
- Race Thompson
- Damezi Anderson
- Rob Phinisee
- Jerome Hunter
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