- Lackluster defense (again) - 101st in Adjusted Defensive efficiency on Ken Pom
- Sloppy turnovers (again) - 318th out 351 in turnover %
- Not getting to the free throw line as much as their opponents
- Bad luck (aka close losses) - 333rd out of 351 on Ken Pom
It has been a tough season to watch as a fan. It feels like we have enough talent to compete, especially in a relatively weak Big Ten conference. Hell we were ranked #3 in the nation early in December! So what exactly has happened over the last 3 months? I dug into each players Plus-Minus during all Big Ten games (19 in total) to find some solutions. The results were pretty staggering and starts to highlight which IU players might have come up a little short.
ALL GAMES | |
Player | +/- |
Davis | 62 |
OG | 15 |
Newkirk | 10 |
Green | 10 |
Gelon | 7 |
Mcroberts | 2 |
Priller | -2 |
Rojo | -3 |
Morgan | -8 |
JBJ | -11 |
Jones | -31 |
Bryant | -66 |
Mcswain | -72 |
First off, wowowow Deron Davis. I have been banging the Deron drum from the start of the season, but who would have thought he'd come out looking this good. It looks like he has been far and away our most effective player in the Big Ten season. On the flip side, dang Thomas Bryant. No one ever can fault Bryant for lack of effort, but the bottom line is IU has not been performing well when he has been on the court. Some caveats that could come into play between the contrasting numbers of Davis and Bryant. Generally Crean spells Davis whenever he is tired. So when Davis is in, he's fresh. In contrast, Crean tends to leave Bryant in there no matter what. Looking at the table, it's hard to justify not playing Deron Davis more minutes. In fact this dynamic is a huge key to tonight's game against Wisconsin. Deron plays much better post defense than TB which is greatly needed against Ethan Happ.
Another quick takeaway form this table is Freddie Mcswain probably should not play any minutes if IU is trying to win the game. That -72 is startling considering Freddy is probably averaging around 10 minutes per game in Big Ten play. Crean actually did not play Freddy at all during the first half of last night's game and I thought Crean might have got the message! Instead he subbed Freddy in 4 minutes into the second half. Mcswain does rebound well, but he hurts us in almost every other facet of the game.
1st 9 Big Ten Games | Last 10 Big Ten Games | |||
Player | +/- | Player | +/- | |
Davis | 28 | Davis | 34 | |
Rojo | 18 | Newkirk | 33 | |
OG | 15 | Morgan | 30 | |
Jones | 9 | Green | 23 | |
Gelon | 8 | Mcroberts | 1 | |
Mcroberts | 1 | OG | 0 | |
Priller | 0 | Gelon | -1 | |
JBJ | -7 | Priller | -2 | |
Green | -13 | JBJ | -4 | |
Mcswain | -20 | Rojo | -21 | |
Newkirk | -23 | Bryant | -31 | |
Bryant | -35 | Jones | -40 | |
Morgan | -38 | Mcswain | -52 |
The next two tables show the difference between the first half of the Big Ten schedule versus the second half. Deron again shows his consistency here, but more notably we see some pretty wild swings among other players on the roster. 3 players that have really stepped up in the second half of the season: Juwan Morgan, Josh Newkirk, and Devonte Green. Those 3 and Davis have been our best 4 players by far in the second half of the year. Newkirk was the bane of my existence early on. Constantly playing too fast, careless turnovers, and just generally bringing 0 stability to an unstable team. Newkirk has now become the only IU player that can break down the defense off the dribble. I knew Juwan didn't have a great start to the Big Ten season, but that -38 really highlighted just how bad it was. Lately, he has been great though. He is always in the right spot on defense and is probably our best rebounder. Most of all though Juwan has started to be much more in control on offense. Not over dribbling and probing the defense for his under the hoop layups. Green joins Davis as a freshman who has carried this IU team of late. Green is by far IU's most pesky perimeter defender. Extremely active hands. He has also knocked down some threes when he has been able to get his feet set.
The most disappointing player in the graphic above is Robert Johnson. I am a unabashed Rojo fan. He plays good defense, can stick a 3, and provides just enough of a threat off the dribble. Unfortunately his bad play in the second half has translated to him losing a good amount of confidence. His shot has not been falling and he has started to hesitate way too much on offense. This has lead to him being somewhat of a ball stop on an offense that needs to desperately move the ball more. Rojo did have a really good game last night against Iowa. Here is hoping it is not too little too late. It is also worth noting Curtis Jones did not keep up his hot start. He is a freshman, so I am not worried about this hurting his long term development.
Best Big Ten Teams | Worst Big Ten Teams | |||
Player | +/- | Player | +/- | |
Gelon | 7 | Rojo | 78 | |
Davis | 6 | Davis | 56 | |
Priller | -2 | JBJ | 51 | |
Green | -7 | Morgan | 35 | |
Newkirk | -13 | OG | 29 | |
OG | -14 | Newkirk | 23 | |
Mcroberts | -14 | Green | 17 | |
Jones | -41 | Mcroberts | 16 | |
Morgan | -43 | Bryant | 15 | |
Mcswain | -51 | Jones | 10 | |
JBJ | -62 | Gelon | 0 | |
Rojo | -81 | Priller | 0 | |
Bryant | -81 | Mcswain | -21 |
This last graphic splits out games against the best Big Ten teams vs. the worst Big Ten teams (based off of Ken Pom rankings). My takeaway here is arguably our 3 most talented players have the worst plus-minus against the best Big Ten teams. With OG being injured for most of the Big Ten season, we really needed these 3 guys to step up and that definitely did not happen. This also highlights something that most IU fans know, often James Blackmon looks really good against less talented big ten teams, but his effectiveness drops off precipitously against tougher competition. Blackmon is a lethal scorer, but if you put someone athletic in front of him he has a hard time creating space for himself. Also his defensive deficiencies are very well documented. If JBJ is not scoring, he is not helping you win.
So what did we learn? It seems like either our best players have really taken a step back or we are not using them properly. I would argue it is a little of both. I think Blackmon and Bryant really need someone to create for them and then their offensive skills can flourish. Similar to JBJ, Bryant's lack of awareness on defense is crippling. So if he is not being put in a position to succeed on offense, it is hard to justify him being on court. It's also interesting that the better defenders on our team floated to the top of the plus-minus board in the second half of Big Ten play. Deron, Newkirk, Juwan, and Green all can keep their man in front of them (Deron more so in the post, not on the perimeter). Glass half full: IU should return all of the guys who have been great in the second half of the year. Maybe the off-season could lead to a little addition by subtraction.