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Jim French Stepstool

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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool

  1. Jim French Stepstool
    Whether you want to laud GG or the players, that stretch in the 1st half where they lost McGee, then went down nine yet came back to make it a 1pt game at halftime was humongous. And I agree getting Tonje some rest, rotating bigs, going a small stretch w/o Winter after he was slightly hobbled & doing all of this w/o McGee was masterful coaching. Agreed, not a Crowl sort of game. I thought we may have found something when he hit the 3pt shot, then followed with a really pretty high-low feed to Winter for a bucket. But I'm just glad he's putting in some real concentrated effort in the paint & not letting his lack of offense be a bother. Only one rebound today but 3 helpers & no TOs.
  2. Jim French Stepstool
    Hadn't seen the stats yet & didn't realize that. Holy crap.
  3. Jim French Stepstool
    Fifty-eight points in a half for an opponent in Mackey Arena. The answer is 'probably' since the building's been around since the 60s, but I have to wonder if that's ever happened. How much fun is it to have a run where you take control & have Jack Janicki be in the middle of it? His turn to have a 'Gilmore moment'. This coaching staff, wow. How many times have they gone into the locker room at halftime, figure something out & come out like gangbusters? Among the obvious heroes, let's not forget Klesmit w/a superb 2nd half. Also Winter & Blackwell. Crowl & Gilmore with some impressive dirty work as well. Loved the defense on Braden Smith. Without having access to the bench or locker room, I'd bet there was some kind of monumental circling of the wagons after McGee was removed from the game. Just so, so impressive to do what they did in that place. 94-84. So much for my "rock fight" prediction.😛
  4. Jim French Stepstool
    Yeah. Looked a little like a 9-pt lead ready to become 14. Terrific resolve.
  5. Jim French Stepstool
    Big credit to the team for pulling back to within 1 at the half minus McGee & Blackwell. Janicki & Amos deserve attaboys. The story so far to me is that we're making them uncomfortable w/our halfcourt defense some of the time, and they're making us uncomfy pretty much all the time, and allowing no runouts either. I think we're mostly defending Smith pretty well. I get Crowl not posting a lot; you want the middle to be open for drives. Sometimes I'd like to see him set up at the FT line, like you would if facing a zone. Take advantage of the passing ability. But a bit more selective aggression might work. Blackwell took himself out of the later stages of the half w/two fouls, both committed by fouling a jump shooter. Have a better half young man. Nice finish to the half for Tonje after a regrettable start. Please continue.
  6. Jim French Stepstool
    I know how you feel. Very difficult environment & Purdue is coming off a loss. As good as they are though, they're a little more conventional w/o Godzilla anchored in the paint. Not necessarily an easier matchup for Crowl but a vastly different one. I agree re forcing PU to get down the floor & defend. And the TOs of course.
  7. Jim French Stepstool
    Yep, that seems apparent. If DeJong is the alternative, it's easy for me to trust Durbin, and the front office, on this one.
  8. Jim French Stepstool
    To pull off an upset on Saturday, I think UW needs to do a consistently good job defensively on Loyer & Smith, especially Smith, not only trying to force tougher shots but in the case of Smith, try to keep him from getting the ball back once he gives it up. He plays a lot of minutes, so different defenders on him, and run him through screens on the other end. Wear the guy out. Whoever guards Kaufman-Renn needs to be active & hopefully make him a jump shooter. An experienced, sound team. Michigan did us no favors when they beat PU this week; they'll come in hungry. Wouldn't mind if the game is called closely re fouls as PU isn't overly deep; but I doubt that happens in their place. If we can defend well the game will be a rock fight, and our 'rocks' will be Blackwell & Tonje trying to get downhill & draw contact, Klesmit getting into the lane & being active (he's shown signs of getting back to that), and hopefully Gilmore continuing to disrupt things & maybe even knock down a couple shots. I'm sure the word is out re Winter & securing the ball in the paint & on rebounds. This would be a good day to exorcise the fumble-itis. Might feel strange for Crowl facing this group w/o giving up 5 inches in his matchup.
  9. Jim French Stepstool
    I'd temper the rankings of Pearl & Pitino a little just based on the talent & resources they have to work with, but that's a pretty good list. I might put McCollum somewhere in the top ten; Drake is going to have a heckuva time trying to retain him. Maybe Dusty May too.
  10. Jim French Stepstool
    Before being acquired Dunn only played in seven games at the AAA level. I share your optimism regarding Durbin, though.
  11. Jim French Stepstool
    I also prefer the idea of Dunn getting regular time in Nashville. But with Boeve probably ready for a bump there, it makes for an interesting dynamic at 3B in AAA. Provided no one else is acquired Durbin looks like the frontrunner to me.
  12. Jim French Stepstool
    All good points. I'd add that they seem to be terrific at targeting guys that are also good fits AFA being willing to work, open to improvement & being part of a team. Those sound like cliches, but I think many programs don't always put that stuff in the forefront & it comes back to bite them.
  13. Jim French Stepstool
    Heading into WL, you take any edge you can get. Agreed this is a pretty good time to have the week off to prep while PU goes into Ann Arbor Tuesday to deal with Michigan & their bigs.
  14. Jim French Stepstool
    Under 30% overall shooting for Iowa in the 2nd half, 3-12 from 3pt. Up 57-51, UW gave up a fairly decent look from 3, then a real good one, both makes. Other than that the defense in the 2nd half was great. Loved seeing Tonje just take over & help seal the game from the line. Agree re the early minutes of the 2nd half. Even with Crowl drawing double teams & mostly being shut down, I wanted to see more post touches coming out of the locker room. But I love seeing Crowl stay positive & contribute even when the scoring numbers aren't there. Tied for game honors in rebounds, a block, three😲 steals and only one TO in 30 minutes.
  15. Jim French Stepstool
    116 pts last time notwithstanding, Iowa needs to be taken seriously, especially over there. If Michigan can lose at Minnesota........ I want to see UW guard/run them off the 3pt line, which is critical to Iowas' offense. We seemed to clean up the TO issues vs Indiana, but I expect Iowa to throw in the press/halfcourt trap which is maybe the one thing they do fairly well defensively. Would love to see Crowl get lathered up in the paint, get the ball & finish. Seems to be a big advantage there.
  16. Jim French Stepstool
    For someone getting next to no playing time, he seems to be very engaged on the bench. But, so did Essegian. Whether it's here or somewhere else, there's a lot of sloppiness that needs to be corrected. I hope he sticks around & goes through his learning curve here. They've had guards who barely played their 1st year & had very good careers.
  17. Jim French Stepstool
    Fair assessment. IMO his overall game might suffer if he relied just on athleticism, but I think anticipation & overall understanding of the game can help equalize that. Many people compare him to Josh Gasser. From what I've seen, I see more of a Ben Brust w/ a little better ball skills, which sounds like it may be more in line with how you also view him. I think his early success depends on any adjustments to the speed of the college game.
  18. Jim French Stepstool
    ESPN reported earlier this evening that Woodson is indeed stepping down, but will finish out the season. Booster support (or lack of) is always a big deal, but I suspect it is particularly potent with Hoosier hoops. I think it took the form of a grass-roots sort of groundswell that kept Bob Knight there longer than the administration wanted. Apparently Zrnos' top four along with IU were UW, Virginia & Creighton. So, two of those four will be looking for new hires (I'm assuming UVA joins Indiana on that list). Speaking of Virginia, I think Tony Bennett would be a great fit at IU & I would at least call him if I were them. But I believe he's had his fill. I also believe they'd (wrongly) pan him for not being a 'younger hire'. Maybe they'll shout out to Tom Crean😁.
  19. Jim French Stepstool
    Some of the stuff I hear/read speculates that Woodson is more of an "NBA guy" & not suited for the college game. Not sure if that's true, but I agree his team didn't exactly look over-motivated on Tuesday. I guess an administration can be less concerned about letting someone finish out the season when developing a relationship with a recruit takes a backseat to just writing out a check (Zrno is a foreigner but there are still ways to get him paid). My gut tells me Greg Gard is in the Ryan-Alvarez mold, where he's here for as long as they want him. Hope I'm right. I love how he's built the staff, too. Randall & Penney are great adds, Wodajo can (maybe) re-establish some ties to Milwaukee. And I get the feeling Stiemsma is going to be a great teacher for Greppi & Garlock. I wonder if Krabbenhoft is on the verge of landing a HC job somewhere in the Dakotas or Minny.
  20. Jim French Stepstool
    Have to admit I know very little about Jones. From what I've read he rebounds really well, goes & gets balls out of his area, really attacks the glass. If he does that, can play the wing & also handle some PG duties that's a lot of versatility. Nice to have Kirk Penney to open some of those doors in Australia & Zealand. I see Zack Kinziger taking advantage of some openings in the backcourt right away. He shoots it more than well enough, and has enough of the defensive rudiments down that I think he can survive as a freshman. Coaches' son. Probably better off the ball in college but has handled PG. If Jones can also handle the point as you speculate that would give them a continued 'positionless' look, which would be great.
  21. Jim French Stepstool
    I agree with this. If Peralta to Baltimore was a serious thing, I'd definitely start by talking Mayo. But I don't believe the Birds would go for that.
  22. Jim French Stepstool
    Even with a lack of consistent 3pt shooting, that's a talented enough frontcourt that you'd think they would get more done, on a more consistent basis. Any group that would rip off 5 wins in a row, then look as bottom-of-the-barrel horrible as they did vs Iowa & Illinois, then go toe to toe with OSU, Maryland & Purdue followed by what they turned in during the first ten minutes Tuesday---It has to be maddening to the hardcore fans of such a hoops-crazy state. I wouldn't be surprised if, with another loss or two, certain guys on that team start to mentally check out. Who knows, a couple might've already after falling short in West Lafayette. I think next season, we'll see their seventh new coach since Bob Knight left. And maybe it benefits UW. Harun Zrno, a 6'7" forward who averaged 20ppg in Bosnias' top league committed to the Hoosiers but UW appeared to be in his top 3 or 4 schools. Although why Woodson would be the main reason for Zrno choosing Indiana is beyond me.🤷‍♂️
  23. Jim French Stepstool
    Yet another good reason to not force the issue if the runout isn't there. Iowa defending in the halfcourt shouldn't be a deterrent, especially with Freeman out for the remainder of the season. This could be a good game for Crowl to re-establish his low post offense.
  24. Jim French Stepstool
    I've said it before, if there was someone else running point---if Hepburn had stayed, if Freitag was ready from day one, or even Cam Hunter was available to sop up some PG minutes as a combo guard---I remember Blackwell working off the ball last season, cutting, slashing off the wing or going baseline, and keeping defenders honest by also making threes. It was beautiful to watch. I give him a lot of credit for taking a large share of the PG responsibilities & still incorporating much of his strengths into the offense. And it allows McGee to be a sparkplug off the bench, which has worked wonderfully. @Playing Catch may be correct about his batteries maybe running a little low. Lots on his plate this season. When you have the ball in your hands as much as he does, there are times you need to let the game come to you a bit. As well as last night went, we forced a few runouts that weren't really there.
  25. Jim French Stepstool
    I feel this has something to do, in large part, with Blackwell running point & not being overly experienced at it. Given that lack of experience I think he's mostly doing a fine job. But a lot of the really good college PGs have been in that role since the beginning of their HS days & have a 'feel' for the flow of the game that can be taught but doesn't happen overnight. But they've also really embraced the faster pace--even when a more experienced lead guard like McGee is on the floor they're still pretty hopped up. But I agree, there are times when I feel it would benefit them to make people defend a bit longer, like I alluded to at halftime. You definitely want to make Indiana show that they can defend in the half court. Same thing when they go into Iowa City on Saturday.
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