After five players graduated, three transferred and one left for the NBA Draft, there are plenty of questions hanging over the heads of the IU men’s basketball program heading into the 2019-20 season.
With Hoosier Hysteria taking place next Saturday and the lone exhibition game scheduled for Oct. 29, some questions will be answered in due time.
Before the public gets its first glance of the team, here are three takeaways from the second session of IU’s media day featuring head coach Archie Miller at the podium.
Trayce Jackson-Davis will be asked to contribute early.
The incoming recruiting class for IU this season is small but meaningful. Jackson-Davis is a consensus 4-star forward McDonald’s All-American and was ranked No. 30 overall by 247Sports. Joining him is 3-star guard Armaan Franklin.
Senior forward De’Ron Davis and junior forward Joey Brunk will see time at the center position mostly which means Jackson-Davis has an opportunity to fill the Juwan Morgan sized hole at power forward.
“Trayce is going to have to earn it the old fashioned way by doing it every day, but he’s doing that right now,” Miller said. “He’s a gifted young guy, and he’s coachable. He’s improved as a player, but he’s going to go through some really hard times.”
In high school, Jackson-Davis was listed at 230 pounds but the college weight training program led to him gaining 15 pounds to put him at 245. Miller mentioned how he’s been able to get in much better shape with his athleticism and conditioning. His mobility will give him a lot of flexibility down low but he’ll need to continue working on defending the perimeter.
Al Durham will see more time with the ball in his hands.
With sophomore guard Rob Phinisee as the lone true point guard on the roster, it’s yet to be seen who will receive a majority of the ball handling duties when he’s not on the floor.
Last season saw then-freshman guard Romeo Langford and now-senior Devonte Green bringing the ball up court to relieve Phinisee most of the time. In 2018-19, Durham started in 30-out-of-34 games and averaged 8.3 PPG, 1.9 RPG and 1.6 APG.
While running the offense more often, Durham will also have the opportunity to get to the free throw line more frequently where he led the Hoosiers at 74% last season.
“He takes a lot of pride in his individual development and he works at it,” Miller said. “He’s a much better player. Now he’s experienced a lot of minutes in a two-year period. We count on him to do a lot. Definitely without question I see him playing a lot more of point guard for us this year.”
Devonte Green will lead a scoring by committee approach.
As the leading returning scorer and known fearless shooter, Green will be given the keys to the offense for the most part this season.
Last season, Langford and Morgan were relied on heavily for most of the offense. Now, Green will be asked to play more like he did at the end of last season when he made eight three-pointers for 26 points against Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament.
“He’s our most talented offensive player,” Miller said. “When he’s playing free and confident, he feels like he can beat the world. You need guys like that. To be able to get the most out of him, you’re going to have to live with him doing some things at times that you would probably like to take back.”
After Green, it’s yet to be seen who’s capable of being the second leading scorer. Miller mentioned freshman forward Jerome Hunter’s greatest strength is his shooting as he comes back from injury.
Hunter along with the likes of Phinisee, Jackson-Davis, Durham, Brunk, Davis and junior forward Justin Smith could all score in the double-digits any given night.
