When IU takes the court Friday at Assembly Hall against Eastern Illinois, it will still be working on improving certain facets of its game.
“I think our guys are excited, but at the same time they know they have to get a lot better, and the film shows that,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “The bottom line is we can improve a lot of the controllables.”
Those “controllables” Crean mentioned include crashing the boards for rebounds, getting back on defense to stop the break, awareness of where the ball is and anticipating screens on the defensive end.
Crean said he wants his team to be more creative on offense or play what he calls random basketball.
That means constant movement of the basketball and making the Hoosiers’ fast break offense look a lot like their motion offense.
“Our fast break is like our motion offense when we’ve got it going because we have so many players who can play different places,” Crean said. “What we’ve got to do is continue to make a quick pass with a lot of movement. That just keeps the game moving.”
While the Hoosiers are still improving their play on the court, some players are just trying to improve to stay on the court for longer periods of time. That isn’t due to stretches of bad play, rather overall health and trying to get back in the flow of the game.
In Monday’s 73-62 victory in the exhibition game against Bellarmine, freshman center Thomas Bryant played limited minutes, not because he wasn’t playing well, but because he still isn’t up to the level Crean wants him to be at after missing some time from a minor foot injury in the preseason.
After missing multiple practices, Crean limited Bryant’s minutes, as he said he felt he wasn’t prepared for Bellarmine’s moves. Part of the limitation means Crean is still not set on any particular starting lineup.
After starting all but one game last season, sophomore guard Robert Johnson came off the bench in both of IU’s exhibitions.
Nothing’s different for him, Johnson said. He’s still trying to improve his game just like every other player and still trying to win. Coming off the bench does not affect the way he plays.
“It’s just the beginning, so you try not to get caught up in who’s starting and things like that,” Johnson said. “Just for me, I try to come in and do the same things I was doing when I was starting. Give energy, play defense, look for opportunities to score and things like that.”
The same goes for senior guard Nick Zeisloft, another player on the bench in the two-guard IU starting lineup it used in the exhibition season.
He’s still trying to play well once he gets in the game, same as if he were a starter.
Most of all, both are excited to start the season, a season that will have higher expectations than their first in Bloomington.
“It’s always fun to go out and play with those type of expectations and have something to live up to,” Johnson said.
