Column: Integrating new parts into team will be key to season success

The No. 6 Indiana men’s basketball team is a team in transition.

At this point, the roster additions and subtractions of the last two weeks have left IU with a lot of moving and injured parts.

After regaining Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Peter Jurkin last Saturday, the Hoosiers revolving roster – which has already lost Austin Etherington to a season-ending knee injury – continued to spin with another injury and another addition against Mount St. Mary’s.

Before the game, it was announced that the injury-stricken Maurice Creek would be out indefinitely with a foot injury.

During the game, the Hoosiers welcomed back senior forward Derek Elston as he made his 2012-2013 debut with two points, two rebounds and a block.

While it looks like we won’t see Creek’s return in the immediate future, Mosquera-Perea, Jurkin and Elston will all need minutes in the last non-conference games to get back into the swing of things.

Wednesday’s 93-54 victory over Mount St. Mary’s illustrates how the Hoosiers will have to use the remaining non-conference games on the schedule to gel these parts together into a dominant team.

IU’s chemistry on the fast break and on the defensive end is based on timing and an understanding of where the rest of the team will be.

It’s going to take time for these guys to get on the same level as the rest of the team, but with their athletic ability and Elston’s experience, the transition should be fluid and without major hiccups.

“The big thing for this team is trust,” Elston said. “If we can’t trust you, Coach Crean will see it and he won’t put you out on the floor. For me to be able to talk through situations with these guys, and to have these guys trust me when I get on the floor, that’s the biggest key for me.”

Despite having a number of new guys to work into the rotation, the Hoosiers can still count on their steady core of Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, Christian Watford, Jordan Hulls, Will Sheehey, Victor Oladipo, Remy Abell and Cody Zeller to lead them through this transitional period.

Against Mount St. Mary’s, five Hoosiers scored in double figures (Sheehey 16, Zeller 16, Watford 15, Oladipo 14 and Abell 12). Ferrell added eight points and nine assists and Hulls chipped in eight points and five assists himself.

Crean said Ferrell has spread the ball around, while still feeling comfortable to shoot as a freshman.

“He has been incredibily consistent in his 11 college games and his demeanor, his attitude, his improvement level, his becoming a two-way player have all been great while never getting away from being able to find the open player,” Crean said.

With only two games – Florida Atlantic (5-6) and Jacksonville (4-7) —remaining at Assembly Hall before the Big Ten schedule, IU could not have asked for a better portion of the schedule for this transitional period to occur.

Winter break provides student-athletes a chance to relax from the double life that they lead between academics and sports when school is in session.

With some distractions out of the picture, more time can be devoted to practices and extra time can be put into working out at Cook Hall.

Sheehey said practices after the Butler loss were “not fun”, but that extra work is what translates into success on the court. For example, IU shot 70.6 percent from the floor against MSMU, which marks the fourth best team shooting performance in program history.

After defeating Mount St. Mary’s, Elston said the team needed those hard practices.
“Like Will (Sheehey) said, it was one of those practices where it was just a battle,” Elston said. “Everyday was just a battle. Whether we came in the first time or the second, we battled the entire time. You know it was just something that we had to do. We had to get that grit back that we are used to playing with and it showed tonight.”

So as the Hoosiers continue this transition from the final part of their non-conference schedule into the grueling Big Ten schedule, the key to their success will be how well they come together.

Even when practices aren’t fun.