Close Menu
The Daily Hoosier
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • “Maybe biggest culture change in history of the sport”: What anonymous Big Ten coaches said about IU football
    • More bison clues: DeVries, Cignetti and Parrish all get into the act as mascot announcement nears
    • Here’s what IU football’s CFP path would have looked like under the new seeding format
    • 2026 target Sammy Jackson narrows to four, sets commitment date ahead of IU basketball visit
    • A look at IU football and the Big Ten in ESPN’s post-spring SP+ model
    • IU basketball will head to Puerto Rico for a foreign tour August 5-12
    • Class of 2026 IU basketball recruiting target profile: Center Arafan Diané
    • Clemson’s Brad Brownell confirms he had discussion with Indiana about job opening
    • Sign Up
    • About/Support
    • Jobs
    • Tickets
      • IUBB Tickets (Stubhub)
      • IUFB Tickets (Stubhub)
    • Shop
      • Official IU Store
      • IU Adidas Store
      • Amazon: Support TDH
      • IU Memorabilia
      • IU Press (Books)
      • The Daily Hoosier T-Shirt
    • Radio/Podcasts
      • East 17th Street
    • Pro IU
      • IUBB NBA
      • IUFB NFL
      • IUBASE MLB
    • Forum
      • Disqus Forum
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    The Daily HoosierThe Daily Hoosier
    Friday, May 23
    • IU Basketball
      • Latest IU Basketball News
      • Offseason roster activity tracker
      • 2025-26 IU Basketball Roster
      • DeVries’ new staff
      • Scholarship Chart
      • Future Schedules
      • IU Basketball 2024-25 Schedule
      • 2024-25 Big Ten Standings
      • 24-25 IU Basketball Stats
      • Rankings & Bracketology
      • IU Basketball Media Guide
    • IU Football
      • Latest IU Football News
      • Roster updates by position
      • 2025 scholarship tracker
      • Current roster
      • Curt Cignetti’s staff
      • Future opponents through 2032
      • IU Football 2024 Schedule
      • 2024 B1G Standings
      • 2024 IUFB Stats
      • IU Football 2024 Record Book
    • IU Recruiting
      • IU Basketball Recruiting News
      • IU Football Recruiting News
      • IUBB 2026-28 Prospects
      • Recruit Interviews
      • Recruit Highlights
      • IU Football Recruiting Commits
    • IU Women’s Basketball
      • IU Women’s Basketball News
      • 24-25 Schedule
      • Big Ten Standings
    • IU Men’s Soccer
      • 2024 Schedule
      • Indiana Men’s Soccer: Program History
    • More Hoosiers
      • Fan and Business NIL options
      • IU Baseball
        • Baseball Schedule
        • Statistics
        • Big Ten Standings
      • IU Swim & Dive
      • IU Olympic Results
    • Hoosier History
      • March Madness Classics
      • Basketball History
      • Football History
      • IUFB Best Seasons
      • IUFB All-Time Top 10 Players
    The Daily Hoosier

    IU Basketball: Midseason Changes are Necessary to Avoid Another Big Ten Meltdown

    Mike SchumannBy Mike SchumannJanuary 6, 2020 IU Basketball 15 Comments
    Photo by Mike Schumann / The Daily Hoosier
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Throughout the entirety of Bob Knight’s coaching career, his teams had only allowed an opponent to go over 100 points one time.

    And then it happened.  Three times.  In ten days.

    The year was 1988, and the game, they speculated, was starting to pass him by.

    Indiana started the 1988-89 season 3-4 and gave up more than 100 points to Syracuse, North Carolina and Louisville.

    From that point Knight’s Hoosiers won 22 of 25 games.

    Often erroneously thought of as stubborn and unwilling to adapt, it was a midseason change that dramatically altered the course of that season.

    Specifically, Knight changed his starting lineup, benching larger players and moving to a three-guard unit of senior Joe Hillman and sophomores Jay Edwards and Lyndon Jones.

    A few months later, Indiana was the Big Ten champion in a league that sent two teams to the Final Four, and Knight, the national coach of the year.

    No, this isn’t another attempt to relive the glory days.  That’s the last thing this Indiana program needs right now.  The 1988-89 anecdote is merely a reminder that things can change midstream.  Coaches can find solutions that alter the course of a season — if they are willing to adjust.

    Yes, this 2019-20 version of Indiana basketball is starting to look eerily similar to last year’s team that lost 12 of 13 in Big Ten play.

    But it is only early January, and if head coach Archie Miller can find solutions today, the story of the season that we write in March might just look a lot different than the 2018-19 account.

    GO SMALL OR GO HOME

    Photo via Wayne Viener for The Daily Hoosier

    The three forward lineup of Trayce Jackson-Davis, Joey Brunk and Justin Smith has run its course.

    Jackson-Davis is the foundation here.  For so many reasons on both ends of the floor, the true freshman is the most impactful player on this Indiana roster right now.

    “He’s a 34 minute guy to me, and I honestly don’t care how many mistakes he makes,” former IU player and color commentator Todd Leary told me today on Indiana Sports Beat with Coyle and Leary.  “He’s that good.  He’s got to be on the floor.”

    I agree with that sentiment, so the question becomes who do you take off the floor between Justin Smith and Joey Brunk?

    Smith’s skill set just simply does not translate to playing on the wing offensively in the Big Ten.  He doesn’t have the perimeter shot and he isn’t strong enough off the dribble.

    But that is not to suggest that Smith should be benched.  The junior forward is a strong defender, and he is elite in transition and diving to the rim on the offensive end.  In the halfcourt however, Smith would be better suited playing even center before the three.

    Against Maryland, Leary saw Smith playing at least at times the way he should be used on the offensive end.

    “He backed his man in, and he at least was trying to play with his back to the basket,” Leary said.  “That’s a super positive.”

    Both Brunk and Smith should be in the rotation, but as for who starts and gets the lion’s share of the minutes, that should probably come down to matchups.

    When a team has a modern stretch-four in the game, that is a great cover for Smith that he might be able to score against on the other end.  If the opposition is going with two traditional big men then Brunk is likely the better fit right now.

    A STRONG FINISH BY PHINISEE

    “At the end of the day, some players are going to have to step up and make shots,” Miller said after the Maryland game.

    When it comes to a guard that isn’t playing to their potential right now, one name stands out above the rest.

    It has been a month now since Rob Phinisee returned to the lineup after a series of nagging issues.  One would expect that the sophomore point guard might be back to 100 percent health and ready to lead this team.

    Instead, Phinisee still seems to be on a pitch count and hasn’t looked like himself when on the floor.

    Never was that more apparent than against Arkansas when Phinisee missed two technical free throws badly and then wasn’t on the floor as the game slipped away down the stretch.

    “We all know he’s the best defensive player that we have and at the end of that ballgame (Arkansas) when you need stops, you don’t even have him on the court,” Leary said.

    Photo by Mike Schumann / The Daily Hoosier

    And then against Maryland, in a game where you might have expected Phinisee to shadow Terrapin point guard Anthony Cowan the entire game, instead he only played 22 minutes.

    It isn’t clear what is wrong with Phinisee, but in addition to his defensive prowess he is a talented scorer and creator.  If he is physically capable, the sophomore point guard needs to be pushed into as many minutes as he can handle, and strongly encouraged to look to score.

    The game plan coming into the season was to have Devonte Green move off the ball, but that hasn’t happened with Phinisee in and out of the lineup and playing a reduced role.

    With scoring the basketball such a challenge right now, Miller should go with his three best shooters — Phinisee, Green and Al Durham — all on the floor together, push the pace, spread things out, and look to create defensive breakdowns in the half court with dribble penetration.

    OLD DOGS.  OLD TRICKS.

    Miller has been with the upperclassmen on this team for three years now.  They are the leaders of the team, but not much has changed since Miller’s first game against Indiana State back in November of 2017.  Simply put, the team lacks an identity and it lacks toughness.

    None of the upperclassmen (De’Ron Davis, Green, Smith, and Durham), save for Brunk, were guys that Miller recruited — for whatever that is worth.  Perhaps he will never be able to get through to them.  Perhaps that is just an excuse.  Perhaps Miller’s inability to foster change highlights an inadequacy he has as a coach.

    Whether it is changing the current players or an infusion of new players that Miller selects, Leary sees the need for a more cohesive group that understands their roles.

    “We need guys who are willing to play as a team,” Leary said.  “And willing to come in and do the little things and do the dirty work, get the ball where it needs to go, play with leadership, and play with basketball IQ.”

    Leary doesn’t absolve the coaching staff either.

    “There’s a part of it, yes you have to hold some blame on the coaching staff,” he continued.  “From Archie Miller all the way down.  Every coach on that staff has the ability to go work with those guys and get them to understand how important they can be in other ways other than just scoring the basketball.”

    Obviously the roster isn’t going to change during this 2019-20 season, and there are still two months left with this particular group.

    There is still plenty of time to find answers, and that is what Miller intends to do.

    It’s what he has to do.

    “You’ve got to navigate the road,” Miller said.  “And that’s what we’re trying to do right now.”


    You can follow us on Twitter:  @daily_hoosier

    Find us on Facebook:  thedailyhoosier

    The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

    Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no additional cost to you.

    Related

    indiana hoosiers
    Mike Schumann

    Keep Reading

    IU basketball will head to Puerto Rico for a foreign tour August 5-12

    Clemson’s Brad Brownell confirms he had discussion with Indiana about job opening

    Former IU basketball forward Race Thompson back for the 2025 Assembly Ball TBT squad

    Latest Hoosier News
    • “Maybe biggest culture change in history of the sport”: What anonymous Big Ten coaches said about IU football
    • More bison clues: DeVries, Cignetti and Parrish all get into the act as mascot announcement nears
    • Here’s what IU football’s CFP path would have looked like under the new seeding format
    • 2026 target Sammy Jackson narrows to four, sets commitment date ahead of IU basketball visit
    • A look at IU football and the Big Ten in ESPN’s post-spring SP+ model
    • IU basketball will head to Puerto Rico for a foreign tour August 5-12
    • Class of 2026 IU basketball recruiting target profile: Center Arafan Diané
    Sign Up



    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    © 2025 The Daily Hoosier, LLC.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Ad Blocker Enabled!
    Ad Blocker Enabled!
    Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please support us by disabling your Ad Blocker.