Column: Breakdown of Bryant-IU

Who
Bryant University (2-28 in 2011-12)

What
Opening night of the 2012-13 IU basketball season

When
8 p.m. Friday

Where
Assembly Hall, Bloomington

How
Watch on Big Ten Network or listen to WIUX

Head Coach
Tim O’Shea (fifth season at Bryant 20-99; 140-194 career record in 12 seasons as head coach)

Last season’s leading scorer
As a sophomore, Alex Francis averaged 16.7 points per game in 2011-12. Francis is a physical 6-foot-6-inch forward from Harlem, N.Y., who likes to use his body to make his own shot. Last year, he shot 173-of-333 from the field (.520) and pulled in 63 offensive rebounds — by far the most on his team.

Last season’s leading rebounder
Not only did Francis gobble up baskets, he also grabbed the most rebounds for the Bulldogs as a sophomore, averaging 7.3 rebounds per game. By grabbing 205 boards out of the team’s 870 rebounds on the season, Francis totaled 23.5 percent of the Bulldogs’ rebounds in 2011-12.

Last win
Jan. 7 v. Saint Francis 59-56

How last year ended
The Bulldogs ended the 2011-12 campaign on a 13-game losing streak and finished the season at 2-28.

What they do well
The Bulldogs have five guys returning who had double digit steals: Francis (22), Frankie Dobbs (25), Corey Maynard (21), Raphael Jordan (19) and Claybrin McMath (11). The Bulldogs forced 126 steals last season, but the team also gave up 207 opponent steals.

What needs work
Coming off of a two-win season, it would be easy to say a lot of work needs to be done for Bryant. But if you look at a lot of the Bulldogs’ losses from last season, there are a lot of close games that could have gone either way that add-up to a 28-loss season.

Bryant has some good pieces in place with Dobbs and Francis, but two players won’t change them from a two-win team to a 20-win team. What needs to change the most for Bryant is the consistency from every one on the roster from top-to-bottom.

My Take
Bust out the candy stripes because IU basketball is officially back when the Bulldogs and Hoosiers tip off.

Overall, the Hoosiers have major advantages in height and athletic depth, but Bryant does have talent on the roster.

Francis has the ability to clean up on the offensive glass to create second-chance
opportunities, and Dobbs can shoot from downtown. He would have ranked second on IU’s roster, behind only senior guard Jordan Hulls, last season after hitting 63 three-pointers in 2011-12.

For the Hoosiers, make sure to watch how IU Coach Tom Crean utilizes the second line of big men behind sophomore center Cody Zeller and senior forward Christian Watford after the nine game suspensions of freshmen forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea and center Peter Jurkin.

Expect freshman forward Jeremy Hollowell to receive more playing time and to be active rebounding all night. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hollowell matched against Francis, because his strength and length could neutralize Francis on the glass.

IU will start the season as the No. 1 team in the nation, the first time the Hoosiers have been No. 1 since the final regular season poll of 1993.

Despite losing three players to injuries and suspensions before the season started, IU has too much talent and depth for Bryant and will start the season off on the right foot. Hoosiers win 94-55.  

­— mdnorman@indiana.edu