While the season is still young, there are already a litany of questions and problems surrounding the Indiana University men’s basketball team. With the start of Big 10 play and a tougher non-conference schedule around the corner, I will attempt to analyze each of these main issues facing the Hoosiers and assess the severity of these issues using a scale of how mad Bob Knight would be. 

Rebounding

The Hoosiers should be objectively good at rebounding with players such as Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau in the frontcourt, but for whatever reason IU has struggled to crash the glass effectively. The Hoosiers have only outrebounded the opposing team in half of the games this season. Their only loss came against a very talented UCONN team but in that game UCONN gathered 22 more boards than IU did. The Hoosiers have been especially atrocious on the defensive end of the floor. In the first four games of the season (against much smaller teams, excluding UCONN) IU allowed each team to exceed ten offensive rebounds. At some point it is less of a skill issue and more of a lack of effort. In no world should someone as big as Reneau only come up with 4.3 rebounds a game. Only three players are averaging more than three rebounds a game and Ware is the only one who averages more than five. It’s pathetic and the Hoosiers will get blown out by good teams if this is not fixed. 

 Verdict: Bob Knight hurls a chair across the court 

Three-Point Shooting

When the entire college basketball world has decided to go small and prioritize outside shooting, the Hoosiers have done the opposite. With the aforementioned Ware and Reneau, IU is making an effort to exploit teams in the painted area. This playstyle has worked well as Ware and Reneau have each had monster games throughout the season, but it has resulted in the Hoosiers taking and making very few three-pointers thus far. IU is barely averaging three successful three-point-shots a game, a number that just won’t cut it if the Hoosiers want to be competitive come March. The funny thing is that IU has plenty of good shooters. Trey Galloway, CJ Gunn, and Mackenzie Mgbako are all excellent shooters, but their numbers don’t reflect it thus far in the season. You must think at some point their shots start to fall because if they don’t, IU could be in a lot of trouble. 

Verdict: Bob Knight gets up and yells but sits back down because he knows that this should fix itself 

Miscues

This issue encompasses many things from turnovers to a lack of defensive communication. To me this is the most understandable of all the issues this season. The Hoosiers starting five for much of last season was Jalen Hood-Schifino, Galloway, Miller Kopp, Race Thompson, and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Only Galloway remains and this is the root of many of these miscues. The Hoosiers not only lost those four starters but also bench contributors such as Tamar Bates and Jordan Geronimo. The absence of continuity means that the team will have these growing pains as they get more familiar with each other. Granted, some of the mistakes are egregious and these athletes had all offseason to get to know their teammates, but the fact that there are so many new faces means something. At least once in every game an opposing team has gotten a wide open three as the result of poor communication coming off a screen. That is the small stuff that needs to be fixed right away but sometimes can’t be. The Hoosiers don’t yet have a feel for all their teammates and that has resulted in some ugly, ugly possessions. This problem isn’t incurable; proper communication will lead to some of these silly mistakes going away, but as it stands, IU continues to shoot themselves in the foot with these boneheaded sequences.  

Verdict: Hits scorer’s table in frustration after a wide open three but isn’t too mad