Hello and welcome to Midweek Madness! This is The Floor Slap’s weekly CBB article from our CBB expert, Jordan Beckley… Hi, that’s me. Every Thursday, I will be recapping the week that was, the weekend ahead and doing so in a variety of recurring segments and superlatives. So, follow us (@thefloorslap) and have our site bookmarked to make sure you don’t miss a moment of the Madness all season long!
by Jordan Beckley
The Iso
Time to clear out and go 1 on 1 on this week’s Isolated Team.
This week we are sending the screen away and driving right at the Hoosiers.
It has been a tough year for the cream and crimson. Indiana sits at 12-7 and 4-4 in Big Ten play, but even Hoosier faithful know that those numbers don’t tell how bad the season has been.
Indiana is averaging 74.2 ppg (191st in College Basketball) and are giving up 74.3 (251st in College Basketball) for a slightly negative point differential. Mike Woodson’s team has squeaked by opponents with 7 of their 12 wins being by less than double digits including close calls to Army, Florida Gulf Coast and Morehead State. At the same time, Indiana hasn’t belonged on the same floor as their best opponents with 6 of their 7 losses coming by 9 or more points.
Indiana has been lucky to even be where they are as KenPom ranks them the 12th luckiest team in Division 1 and the 4th luckiest team among Power 6 programs.
The Hoosiers are experiencing a hangover after losing not just Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino to the NBA, but missing 6 of their top 8 in minutes last season. TJD and JHS surely have an outsized impact (especially offensively), but losing experienced core players like Race Thompson, Miller Kopp, Tamar Bates, and Jordan Geronimo has hurt the Hoosiers.
So what was Mike Woodson’s hangover cure?
Returning players of Trey Galloway and Xavier Johnson needed to step up as leaders. An injection of new transfers would need to gel quickly in Anthony Walker, Payton Sparks and Kel’el Ware. Some combination of rising Sophomores Kaleb Banks, Malik Reneau and CJ Gunn would need to make leaps. Finally, the Freshmen in Mackenzie Mgbako, Gabe Cupps and Jakai Newton would hopefully be ready right away to contribute.
Obviously not all of that has happened. So, let’s quickly breakdown what’s gone wrong with Woodson and the Hoosiers with the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from this season.
The Good
The best part of this season has been Malik Reneau. In his second season in Bloomington, Reneau has elevated to the starting lineup for all 19 games and leads the Hoosiers in scoring at 16.5 points per game. He has increased his numbers across the board including 2 point %, 3 point % and his playmaking nearly doubling his assists per 40 minutes.
Reneau should make an All-Big Ten team and is likely a four year kind of guy to look forward to building around for a couple more years. He was singlehandedly the player fighting to keep them in the Wisconsin game with a career high 28 points.
Another bright spot has been the Oregon transfer Kel’el Ware. The former 5-star recruit has lived up to his billing after a disappointing freshman season in Eugene. Ware is averaging 14.2 ppg, 9.8 rpg, and 1.6 bpg on 56.6% 2pt% and 41.7% from long range. NBA teams have certainly noticed too. Ware is back on track to be a pro player after correcting his career in Bloomington and in an eye-of-the-beholder draft like this one, he could go anywhere from the lottery to the early 2nd round. One thing is certain: this will be Ware’s only season in Bloomington.
Maybe the only other remaining good part of this season has been Trey Galloway. The senior has been promoted from glue guy to the guy running the offense. Galloway has increased his scoring up to double digits one seemingly impossible swooping layup at a time and has basically doubled his assists numbers. He also has been one of the few leaders on a team lacking them. Which leads us to the bad…
The Bad
One of the underwhelming aspects of the season has been 5-star freshman Mackenzie Mgbako. The former Duke commit joined Indiana late and seems to be a late bloomer too. After an underwhelming first 15 games, Mgbako has averaged 16 ppg on 50% from 2 and 43% from 3 in his past four games. Maybe, Mgbako will join the good here soon enough after having growing pains to start the season.
Part of the hangover cure was supposed to be transfers Anthony Walker and Payton Sparks being veteran presences to stabilize the departures in experienced players. That hasn’t happened. Both have struggled to make a positive impact in largely bench roles.
Further disappointments came with no sophomore leap for CJ Gunn or Kaleb Banks. Gunn has earned more minutes, but his inconsistent shooting and loose elbows have often hurt the Hoosiers. Banks is an unfortunate casualty of the roster construction having 5 forwards but also hasn’t earned more run in his limited opportunities.
Perhaps the most upsetting part of the bad category is the Hoosier’s defense. Indiana has all the tools with huge size and length, great rebounding, a rejection heavy anchor in Kel’el Ware, etc. to have a good defense and they don’t. The Hoosiers have given up 75+ points in all but one of their losses so far. Indiana needed to win games this season on the defensive end this year and are no. 86 overall in adjusted defensive rating according to KenPom.
The Ugly
Xavier Johnson. Yeah, it’s been an ugly season for the sixth year senior. Instead of being a stabilizing leader, you could argue nobody has been more of a distraction. Again, Johnson is 24 years old and committing dumb flagrant fouls and getting kicked out of games. Beyond the de-evolution in character, Johnson is also having career worst numbers in scoring, shooting % and assist numbers.
Three Point Shooting. Indiana’s 34.1% three point shooting is actually only the 10th worst in the Big Ten it’s the attempts that are so sad. The Hoosiers aren’t adapting to modern basketball by only shooting 15.4 3PA per game which is 3.5 attempts fewer than any team in the conference. The Hoosiers are falling behind in most of their Big Ten games and they aren’t taking the type of high variance shots that can bring them back in games for potential upsets.
Now, the hangover cure from Mike Woodson not being a successful concoction has drawn the anger from the well-adjusted Indiana fanbase. That anger is probably unfair.
Woodson was in a difficult hole losing the quantity of players that departed this offseason. Most would say that Woodson optimized the options he had via the portal and freshman to at least try to be good this season.
The hardest part of being a College Coach is the roster turnover. We will begin to see how Mike Woodson will build a team for year-after-year success now that the stalwarts of the Trayce Jackson-Davis era are gone. Year one has not been a success, but that also isn’t all on Woody.
This season has been hijacked with the utter ghost job from Xavier Johnson and the underclassmen guards not being ready yet to support Galloway. The below average guard play helps to neutralize one of the best frontcourts in America. Forgiving fans might also bring up the injuries to Jakai Newton, Xavier Johnson, Kel’el Ware, etc. but that happens to everyone.
Could there be adjustments? Sure.
Woodson can try to shoot more threes, drill in better defensive tendencies and take risks with younger players but that might also be the wrong solution too.
Unfortunately, Indiana Basketball is hungover this year and fans might just have to suffer through the headache for the rest of the season.
Good Game Bad Game
Loosely defined as a weekly game where I name one (or more) good game and bad game from a player, coach, ref, mascot, towel boy, jumbotron operator or anybody in CBB.
Good Game: Max Klesmit, Lance Jones, Dylan Disu, RJ Davis
The first two good game nominees are more to celebrate a string of good games as Max Klesmit and Lance Jones have elevated from role player status. Klesmit in his past 7 games is averaging 15.3ppg on 59.4% 3pt% (!!!) and 61.5% from 2s. Again, he is shooting 59% from 3. Quite the hot streak. Klesmit and AJ Storr have taken the Badger offense up a notch creating a smooth rhythm in the continuity ball screen.
Meanwhile the dancing man himself, Lance Jones has burrowed his way into the hearts of Boilermaker fans with his play. Jones has averaged 16.5 ppg in his past 6 Big Ten games while shooting 41% from three. He has been Purdue’s second leading scorer in the stretch behind Edey and has solidified Matt Painter’s starting lineup. All 5 starters have scored 20+ points in a game this season and now if you double the NPOY Edey you leave one of Braden Smith (42.6% 3pt), Fletcher Loyer (43.8%) or Jones open. Purdue lost to FDU going 5-26 from three. This is not the same Boiler Ball thanks to Lance Jones.
Life in the Big 12 is similar to a Roman gladiator schedule of grueling battle after grueling battle. Nobody has personified the night to night difficulty more than the bi-polar results of the Texas Longhorns.
Last week, Texas lost to West Virginia and UCF. This week the Longhorns beat top 10 Baylor and won at Top 12 Oklahoma. It is hard to tell if Texas is good or bad, but it isn’t hard to tell with Dylan Disu because he is definitely good. The 5th-year center dropped 19 points in each win including his first double-double of the season at Oklahoma. It seems like Disu is finally back up to speed for Coach Rodney Terry after missing the start of the season.
This section is just a plea from me to All-American voters to please put RJ Davis as a First Team All-American and not give Kansas two First Teamers in Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar. Davis is averaging 21 ppg while shooting 41.7% from three on 7.3 attempts per game! The Tar Heels have won 9 straight and at 8-0 are two games up on everybody in the ACC. Meanwhile, Kansas is toiling away with everybody else in the middle of the Big 12. It’s okay! Put Dickinson on the 2nd team. Kansas doesn’t deserve two spots. Just ask ACC fans after Davis dropped 36 and eviscerated Wake Forest if he deserves First-Team.
Bad Game: DJ Wagner, Tony Stubblefield
Kentucky dropped another SEC game this week with a loss at better-than-you-think South Carolina. I’m picking on DJ Wagner for shooting 2-10 and scoring 4 points in 30 minutes, but it was more of a team loss. The Team stats between South Carolina and Kentucky were almost identical when it came to rebounds, points in paint, transition points, etc. except for assists. Normally a top 10 assist team, Kentucky only had 8 assists on 40% shooting to South Carolina had 20 assists on 48% shooting. The loss brought the Gamecocks even with UK at 4-2 in SEC play. After Alabama beat rival Auburn in Tuscaloosa last night, the two Alabama schools are in first at 5-1 with Tennessee sitting at 4-1. The SEC Title will be the most exciting conference race this season.
RIP to Tony Stubblefield who was fired this week after going 28-54 in 2.5 seasons at Depaul. The Blue Demons job is definitely one of the hardest jobs to succeed at in the country and Stubblefield was never able to make it work. The good news? You don’t have to be the coach of Depaul anymore Mr. Stubblefield! Now, it is somebody else’s turn to fool themselves into thinking they can turn that program around.
Award Winning Wings
A rotating selection of made up superlatives and awards. Named fondly after how every restaurant has ‘award winning wings’
Wait What? Upset of the Week
After climbing to no.10 in the AP poll, the Memphis Tigers have now dropped back to back games to USF and Tulane by a combined three points.
Memphis and FAU are in the no-win scenario where they have already played a tough schedule in non-conference and now because they are in the American, nobody will give them any credit for winning games. Instead, the Tigers and Owls can only be confirmed as frauds every time they lose a road conference game even though… (checks notes) … everybody loses those games.
Don’t overvalue the losses that FAU and Memphis take in conference this year. Every team is trying tp knock them off and have their court storming moment. That pressure is hard to beat every game.
Watch Out Below Nominees
A new category here but this is just going to be a section of some cool dunks from the week. Case in point who knew Brian Waddell could do this:
We knew that AJ Storr can throw it down, but this angle of his clutch dunk at Minnesota shows how hard of a play the Badgers made look effortless:
The last nominee is for Camden Heide.
Zach Edey is great and all, but man it will be fun when the lane is open more next year for Heide, Myles Colvin and Kanon Catchings. Oh and Brian Waddell too I guess.
This week’s winner is Grant Nelson of Alabama who had two dunks that took the roof off of the Coleman Coliseum. The first was a reverse dunk And-1 that I’m not sure follows the laws of physics:
Then late in the game Nelson came flying in for a rare dagger put-back dunk.
He got the Hardhat Award which I guess is Alabama’s thing now?
but he also gets the first Watch Out Below Award so yeah, big day for him I guess.
All Big Ten Watchlist
The 1st Team All-Big Ten voting is going to be brutal. Beyond the obvious lock of Zach Edey at center we have a bunch of guards fighting for the other spots.
We have Jahmir Young singlehandedly keeping Maryland afloat averaging 23.3ppg in his last 7 Big Ten games and hitting shots like this one:
and we have Tyson Walker doing carry-the-team activities in East Lansing too averaging 19.2ppg in his past 6 Big Ten games and 45% from three including this dagger vs Maryland:
Young answered that three by the way with his own stepback that was a toe on the line away from forcing OT. Jahmir made sure his toe was behind the line against Iowa yesterday.
Plus we have Boo Buie who is just unstoppable in the clutch too.
Buie scored 29 points, grabbed 3 steals and dished 7 assists in the Cats overtime revenge win against no.10 Illinois after losing to the Illini by 30 in Champaign.
If you consider those three guards as locks next to Edey, that means you have one spot left for Braden Smith, Terrence Shannon Jr, Marcus Domask, Kanye Clary, Bruce Thornton, Malik Reneau, etc.
This is definitely a great guard year in the Big Ten and man is it fun to watch Buie, Walker, and Young night in, night out.
Ethan Morton 3 Point Tracker
It was an eventful weekend on the Morton-Vision this week with 6(!!!) total field goal attempts.
Morton scored in both games (Iowa and Michigan) for 5 total points hitting 1 of his 2 three point attempts. The Boilermakers are still undefeated (7-0) when the Butler, Pennsylvania product creases the net.
Did Louisville win a game this week?
No, no, no definitely not!
Louisville got lapped by Wake Forest, Duke and North Carolina in their past three games completing the North Carolina Triple Crown! Get it?
They actually lost to NC State the game before that too so it’s actually the North Carolina Cycle but Louisville doesn’t have a baseball connection like they have a horse race history right? Oh yeah. Ok, sure.
Anyways, Kenny Payne is still bad.
No Explanation Power Rankings
I am just the humble mouthpiece for the No Explanation College Basketball Committee, who release their weekly Big Ten Rankings to me. I provide their rankings with… no explanation.
Some big changes this week. Looks like the committee dropped a sad Ohio State team down to 11 after losing 4 of their last 5. Maryland is sneaking up the charts. Don’t look now, but Michigan State is back in the Top 5. Oh and Michigan is down to dead last after being embarrassed by Purdue.
Personally, I can’t argue too much with the committee’s decisions this week.
That’s it for this week’s Madness. We are on a grind towards some serious conference title races so gear up. We will be back to cover it all next week and to ISO a Big Ten team that wears green!