Column: How good can IU’s offense really be?

After having an entire summer to digest the full magnitude of some of the last men’s basketball season, the question I have entering this year is, “How good can IU’s offense really be?”

If someone in Bloomington wanted to play a prank on this year’s opposing coaches, he or she should mail some Red Bull, Rogaine, the complete IU basketball roster for this season and the tape of IU’s Sweet 16 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats.

Consider it a friendly back-to-school reminder that with another year under the belts of the team’s core and some of the country’s best freshmen, planning against IU’s offense is going to lead to sleepless nights and hair loss from pulling it out on the sideline.  

In that 102-90 loss to eventual National Champion Kentucky, both offenses performed at an NBA level. Keep in mind six Wildcats who played vital roles in their victory were drafted into the NBA only three months later.

IU’s 90 points were the highest amount of points that Kentucky allowed in a single game all season.

In their five other tournament games, UK’s defense only allowed an average of 65.4 points per game and only allowed two other teams to score at least 70 (Iowa State 71, Baylor 70).

The Wildcats were so good all year that they allowed opponents to score more than 70 points only nine times in 40 games. Two of those were Crean’s crew’s doing.

Moving forward, these numbers won’t mean squat this year, but I think it is the place to start if you want to project how good this year’s offense will be, considering Jordan Hulls, Cody Zeller, Christian Watford, Victor Oladipo, Will Sheehey and Remy Abell totaled the 90 points between the six of them. They all return with tournament
experience.

Last year, the thing fans wanted to talk about most was how much of an instant impact Zeller could have as a freshman. I think it’s safe to say Zeller’s consistency and control against the defense raised the Hoosiers’ level of play every game, while his offensive skills changed the entire complexity of the offense.

Now, Zeller is a potential National Player of the Year candidate as a sophomore, and he has four new big-name freshmen to play alongside in Yogi Ferrell, Jeremy Hollowell, Peter Jurkin and Hanner Mosquera-Perea.

Although I expect Hollowell and Mosquera-Perea to make an impact behind Watford and Derek Elston, Jurkin and Ferrell could influence this year’s Hoosiers’ offense as much as Zeller did last season.

The addition of Jurkin, an athletic 7-foot center, is an upgrade from last year’s back-up center, Tom Pritchard. The depth he adds to both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball instantly eliminates those scary moments from last season when Zeller would get his second foul early in the first half and fans soon realized they  would be seeing a whole lot of Pritchard.  

As for Ferrell, the freshman’s scoring ability needs to excel in the open court to get easy fast-break points for himself and the rest of the team.

While Ferrell needs to make his mark in the open court, his ability to handle the Hoosiers’ half court offense will be even more key for Crean’s team if they are going to take the next step forward.

Before Verdell Jones III suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opening game of last year’s Big Ten Tournament, one of the offensive sets Crean ran the most featured Hulls running around the perimeter in the four position in search of an open look from downtown, while Jones handled the ball as the point guard, even though Jones was not the best ball handler or passer.

When you add Ferrell, a true point guard that has the ability to score, to that equation, the same possessions that might have resulted in a turnover because of Jones’ inability to run the point become more chances for IU to find the basket. Expect Hulls to benefit enormously from Ferrell taking over some ball-handling duties.

So what’s the answer to the question — how good will IU’s offense really be?

The answer is as good as they want to be.
    
   — mdnorman@indiana.edu