Loading ...Lack of offense has Curt Miller eyeing the future
17 comments
by Mike Miller | Friday, January 25, 2013 - 5:40 pm UTC
The tie wrapped around Curt Miller’s neck hung loose — about an inch below his collar — as it usually does in the minutes after a game. He hunched over the dais in the Assembly Hall press room, thumbed through a book of stats and explained why Thursday’s 61-43 loss to No. 23 Michigan hurt a little more than most this season.
It wasn’t for a lack of effort or preparation. No, effort and preparation were on full display and, more importantly, to Miller’s liking in the days leading into the Michigan game.
Rather, it was a lack of talent, particularly on the offensive end, that did in the Hoosiers once again during the Big Ten season. Indiana’s two starting post players, Linda Rubene and Simone Deloach, combined to go 1-for-14 on the night, while the team as a whole produced only eight points in the paint.
It’s a scenario and a result that Miller is slowly, begrudgingly, growing used to this year. It’s also something that has Miller, he of 268 career wins in 12 seasons, looking toward the future.
“We don’t have kids that came out of high school as big-time scorers,” Miller said after Thursday’s game. “We have kids that played hard (in high school) or were good at rebounding or were good defenders. We don’t have a lot of kids on this roster that we’ve inherited that were just prolific high school scorers. That’s just not what they’ve been considered. That’s not what the former coaching staff went out and was attracted to.
“I’m attracted to shooters, and this program will change that way. We may not be as big, we may not be as athletic and we may be sitting here next year and the years after complaining about rebounding or complaining about something else, but we will not be complaining about people who can make shots three or four years from now. We’ll have a lot of kids that can make shots. Can they do other things? That will be the question. But we’ve got to be more confident. We’ve got to step up and want the ball and make shots.”
This is what the coach has stressed all year long even when they got off to a really good start. All you have to do is watch this team play and you can easily see that they are deficient on the offensive end of the floor! They simply have very few options shooting the ball. The incoming class and the redshirts sitting out this year will offer more options in the upcoming years for sure! This year’s team works as hard as it possibly can and deserves our support! Please come out and watch these girls play, they work extremely hard!
This is what the coach has been saying from the start of the season even when they got off to a good start. It is quite apparent when watching this team that they are extremely deficent at the offensive end of the floor. With the incoming class and the two red shirts that will be playing next year and beyond, IU’s future looks bright. Please come out and watch these girls play this year, they leave it all on the floor. Effort is not an issue. Go Hoosiers!
Sorry about the repeat.
MikeC, your post was worth repeating.
This group of young women reminds me a lot of Bill Mallory’s first IU team.
There is no quit in them.
I will continue to support them 100%.
I love watching the girls they always play as hard as possible support the ladies
Wait until the scoring machine from Mt. Carmel [Tyra Buss] gets here. Should be a lot of offense then.
I agree with ILLHustle you guys have to stop hyping Buss you may think your helping but putting pressure on her does not help.
OK, I’m calling time out on this. Buss may or may not be overhyped, we’ll find out in two years. But to say anybody is putting undue pressure on her is laughable when she has her own dedicated web site and twitter account for the sole purpose of self-promotion. She’s creating plenty of her own pressure, if anything.
Your right Jeremy, Buss has more love me sites than anyone but do you really think that she is behind it? they are putting a little girl in a no win situation, they need to stop.
It is my understanding that the website is orchestrated by here family, mostly dad. While she plays at a small school against other small schools, her athletic ability can’t be questioned! She is an incredible athelete as evidenced by her dominance in several sports. All you have to do is watch her on u-tube and you can see her speed and pure basketball ability. her speed is one of her biggest assests. Her all around basketball skills will greatly help IU in the near future in more ways than one! Along with next year’s recruiting class, the future looks bright!
She is clearly very quick and has a great right hand… I wonder what would happen if someone sat on that and made her go left?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnyQQoS48ZA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Just watched another highlight clip… That girl has range I’ve never seen before. Skinny little sophomore was knocking down 30 ft shots with a totally normal stroke. Come down, take 2 dribbles on the other side of half court, and then just pull up from 5 ft behind the NBA line… Swish!
That is unguardable at the HS level.
The reality is that I can name many small school ball players who avarage a ton of points. My question is has she been tested against big time players? Can she score like that with say Courtney Moses (Purdue) in her face? More important can she defend the physical guards in the Big Ten?
Dad or whomever has opened this conversation and all others good or bad by flooding the social media with look at my daughter hype. I agee with Indy girl are they inadvertantly putting pressure on her?
Geoff, watched a 13 minute video of her shortly after she said she was IU bound. She went to her left time and time again in the extended video, her ball handling is top notch. IIIHustle, agreed that she is playing against small school competition in her conference but, the video I saw was summer AAU ball against varied competion and one game was against an all black team that was loaded with athelets and she dominated, scoring at will. Very impressive! The video showed her stealing the ball over and over again. I think she is the “REAL DEAL”!!!
I watched the same video, I assume. It starts by showing her knocking down those ridiculously deep 3′s and then goes on to show a myriad of other skills…
It does show her using her left hand, but it’s also clear to me that she isn’t comfortable going hard to her left. It’s not that she can’t do it, it’s that’s she not D1 calibre driving left yet. Most of the time she only went one or two dribbles before going back right. On a couple occassions she went all the way to the hoop with the left and finished with her left… It’s clear the skill is there, just not at full speed. I’m not sure when that video was made. Clearly she’s no older than a junior, and could possibly even be a freshman in many of those clips, so there could be significant improvement before she ever steps foot in Bloomington. However, I stand by my statement that as of every video clip I’ve seen to this point her left isn’t ready for D1.
Other than that she is very impressive.
Her release is awfully low (at the shoulder) but then so is Jordy’s.
I hope she is the real deal but I am still gong to be cautious and I am not a fan of hype.
Lets talk about the awesome 2013s and transfers coming in.
Larryn Brooks… is a super speedy unselfish point who has played against big compitition projected starter once she figuers out the system.
Taylor Agler… is as smart as they come she can shoot the lights out and has played against the best. Should compete with Hulls to start at the 2 spot.
Kaila Hulls… fantastic shooter high basketball IQ who has been hampered by injuries if she can stay healthy should compete with Agler to start at the 2 spot.
Lyndsay Leikem … can guard the post shoot the three, pass and handle. Is the most proven talent having played against a who’s who at the national level. Starter.
Claire Jakubecik Maac freshmen of the year proven steady player who will be hard to keep off of the floor look for her to be the leader. Starter
Alexis Gassion athletic hard nose player who can score as well. Might be an adjustment period but look for her to be a spark coming off of the bench.
Karlee Mcbride plays mostly inside but love her toughness and mentallity. May take her awhile to adjust to speed of a Big Ten big guard but she has it in her.
Jenn Anderson big steady big with upside a player who can muscle with the best may take awhile to adjust to speed of the game the Big Ten.