A troop of guards will pace the Hoosiers’ 2009-10 season

They walked off the court, their jerseys drenched as the wear on their faces faded the youth with which the season had begun.

After 25 losses, it was finally done. A year filled with adversity had ended.

IU’s 66-51 loss to Penn State in the Big Ten tournament signaled the culmination of last season, but it allowed for the start of a second attempt from a more experienced team.

IU is still unproven but has added guards, recruited wing players and retained last year’s 3-point shooters. Each group will bring IU closer to playing the brand of basketball that IU coach Tom Crean said he’d like to see.

More passes than dribbles and a freer style with fewer set plays will highlight the approach used by the 2009-10 version of these Hoosiers, who start their season Friday against Howard.

“It’s going to be much more exciting to watch,” sophomore guard Verdell Jones said. “Last year, we only scored, like, 50 points a game. This year, we’ll score in the high ’70s or ’80s. We’re really getting out and pushing it.”

Leading the change of pace will be the same troop of guards, with a few additions, who sullenly left the court March 12. One of the additions was in a suit for the contest, and the others had yet to graduate high school.

IU has eight guards on its roster. Four of them saw significant time last year, and many of them are challenging to start on this season’s team.

With so many guards competing for the same jobs, IU will need variation among the players to get them all on the floor. Crean has said each does something well, but they have room to improve.
 
Step by step
IU did a lot of growing last season, but Jones improved from game to game more than any other.

Then-junior guard Devan Dumes was out with a knee injury for the second consecutive game in the Hoosiers’ season ending loss to Penn State, and Jones tried mightily to take on Dumes’ portion within the offense.

He had 23 points in the final game of his freshman season, and the next-highest total for an IU player in the game was five points.

The contest was a mirror of the season, as Jones continued to show improvement. No matter how hard a screen hit him or how bad his ankles hurt, he went on to average 11 points per game and led the team in assists with 100 on the year.

Two-a-day practices with his father and summer workouts have teammates and coaches raving about Jones’ development.

When Jones hit campus in 2008, he was frail and lacked a consistent outside shot.

Crean called him one of the most improved players on the team, and junior guard Jeremiah Rivers said he has grown by bounds during the past year.

“He might not appearance-wise, look like he put on 30, 40 pounds like we wanted him to, but when he’s got you on the post you’re going to feel it,” Rivers said.

The addition of new players to the lineup will allow for Jones to spend more time on the wing.

“We have two other great point guards in Jeremiah Rivers and Jordan Hulls,” Jones said. “I can play the one to the three. That’s the advantage of being a 6-foot-5 guard.”

Jones was one of the players leading the Hoosiers’ scrappy identity, and he said he’ll continue that this season.

“Wherever I need to be is where I’ll be,” he said.  

The smart guy
Coaches always talk about a basketball IQ and having someone as an extension of the staff on the floor.

As IU lost its final game last season, Rivers, the team’s most knowledgeable player, sat fully dressed on the bench because of an NCAA rule regarding transfers.

Crean said Rivers has practiced and played a lot better because he now has a season to look forward to.

“The biggest thing is the body’s different, and that allowed him to do so many different things,” Crean said. “We want him to explode through defenses and try to make it hard for them to set up.”

Although he didn’t play last season, Rivers said he played a leadership role for his younger teammates when they went through the throes of their 6-25 season.

He had a different view of IU’s ability than his teammates because he spent a lot of time on the sidelines last season. Rivers said the addition in talent from a year ago is noticeable.

“We’re that much faster on defense, that much sharper on offense,” Rivers said. “Obviously, we’re still young and we’re learning, but I think we’re a much better team.”

The team is still feeling each other out, and Crean said no one has stepped up as an unquestioned leader yet.

“The leadership comes out down four two minutes to go,” Crean said. “That’s when you really know who they are. Right now, it’s not there yet. It’s far too much from the coaches.”

However, there was one stat Crean is sure will change with Rivers in the lineup and as the other guards progress.

“We don’t want to lead the country in turnovers again,” Crean said. “I promise you that.”  

The shooters
There is a picture of sophomore guard Matt Roth sitting in the locker room after his team’s loss to Penn State.

He sits with one hand on his head, his jersey still intact and his face covered.

Had he been more open in the game, IU’s fortunes may have been different.

Roth was a sure shot from outside for IU last season. He hit 37 percent of his shots from 3-point range and was 80 percent from the free-throw line.

But there is a caveat: He only attempted 25 free throws.

He spent more time at the 3-point line than anywhere else on the court, and he said he has worked on improving other parts of his game for the upcoming season.

“It’s going to keep coming every day,” Roth said. “It’s something we addressed and I worked on all summer. It’s something I’m much more confident in.”

His partner outside the arc doesn’t lack confidence.

Dumes took 155 3-point shots, a team high, and completed 38 percent of them. He spent some time in the paint, but he said he has tried to become more of a slasher to better fit Crean’s free-flowing offense.

“The 3-point shot has been a big portion of my game, but that’s really what I worked on in the offseason; to make my driving ability more complete so people can’t key on me as just a 3-point shooter,” Dumes said.

While both are adding to their skill sets, don’t expect Roth or Dumes to hold off on an open shot. The increase of threats in IU’s offense will make for open shots, Dumes said.

“A lot of defenders play aggressively to their actions where they would toward me last year,” he said. “So now I can just play my game and take what they give to me.”

New edition
This year’s freshmen vary in many ways from last season’s batch.

Guard Maurice Creek and forward Christian Watford came to Bloomington with as much, or more, clout as any recent IU recruits. Home-state guys Derek Elston and Jordan Hulls decided to stay on when things weren’t so stable in the recruiting process.

Despite the cloudy circumstances they faced when coming to IU, each has excelled thus far, Jones said.

“The freshmen came in with a lot of hype and potential, and so far they’re living up to it,” Jones said. “They’re playing great in practice and they’re playing great in the games.”

They also offer a variance in size, something IU hasn’t had. Only Hulls stands shorter than 6-foot-5, and each of the taller players can also run the wing and help facilitate in IU’s full-speed approach.

But new faces with higher profiles doesn’t mean Crean wants to change the identity developed by last year’s group of freshmen and first-year players.

“We’re better than what we were a year ago,” Crean said. “There’s better talent, there’s more of it, but we’re still a very young team that does not know the value of how hard you have to play and work and compete everyday yet.”