This year’s IU basketball team is very different, yet also very similar to last years.
IU is entering the season with another Mr. Indiana Basketball recipient in freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis to replace Romeo Langford, senior guard Devonte Green is expected to shoulder a large load on offense and junior forward Justin Smith needs to take another step forward. What else is new?
IU will enter the season with high internal expectations from its basketball crazed fan base but on a national level are expected to be heading toward a second straight National Invitation Tournament. The only way that changes is if Green and Smith outperform their already high expectations.
On the perimeter, IU will need Green to practically be a knock-down shooter from the outside, something he’s shown flashes of being capable of, but hasn’t been able to do for longer than a three-game stretch during the NIT last season.
“I feel like I’m a natural scorer,” Green said about being asked to take on an even larger offensive role. “It’s just a really good opportunity.”
Last season, Green shot 40.2% from the field which ranked No. 51 for shooting percentage in the Big Ten last season, not great but not awful. His three-point shooting was much better at 41.9% which was the eighth-best in the conference.
It’s hard to imagine that either of those percentages will improve enough to make up for the loss of Juwan Morgan and Romeo Langford’s offense the Hoosiers are now missing this season. In fact, both of those numbers are higher than his career averages.
Green mentioned most of his offseason work has been focused on his shot and shot selection. Hopefully for IU, that focus translates to consistent buckets from Green during the season or the Hoosiers may be looking at another 2019 season where the perimeter offense was almost non-existent.
Down low, IU has a lot of options between senior center De’Ron Davis, junior center Joey Brunk, Jackson-Davis, and Smith. The big cloud hanging over that group is that only one of those players has shown the ability to play the power forward position in college.
Smith has shown he can be a lockdown defender, often being tasked with guarding the opponents best scorer, but his offense has been hit or miss in his IU career.
“I’ll be better at shooting, rebounding, dribbling, and defense this season,” Smith said.
Even though Smith may have been joking, the truth behind it is that IU needs all of those to improve if they are going to make any kind of tournament run this season.
Smith shot an abysmal 23.8% from deep last season despite consistently showing the willingness to pull up from beyond the arc. He also had turnover troubles, averaging just shy of two turnovers per game, which was one of the many things that sunk IU at times last season.
It may be unfair to expect Smith to be a top performer on the offensive end while defending the best opposing player most nights, but that’s the unfortunate reality IU faces.
Scoring 8.2 points-per-game isn’t going to cut it from Smith if the Hoosiers have real postseason aspirations. Even if he were to average 10, it still might not be enough.
“It’s going to be a sight to see when it all falls into place,” Green said.
Maybe, but even if it all falls into place it might not be enough without Green and Smith going above and beyond already sky-high expectations.
