He has a lot of company there.
The Hoosiers are everybody’s top-5 team for this
season, with many putting them at No. 1. Sophomore forward Cody Zeller is
considered an All-America for sure, and a strong contender for national player
of the year. Few expect him to stay for a third year, but stranger things have
happened.
“Cody was the most fundamentally sound player I’ve
ever seen at 18,” Crean said. “He was so
well coached. He came in with strong fundamentals. What he’s good at, he’ll
stick with. He has to lead the way with stretching those fundamentals.
“We have to get to the point that no matter what
anybody does at Purdue, at Notre Dame, that he can go above and beyond. We’ve
had him doing as much ball screens and pick and rolls as Jordan. We’ve got to
get him to the point where he can get to the rim in three dribbles.
"If you’re best players are getting better,
everybody else is falling in line.”
Yogi Ferrell projects to being one of the nation’s
top freshmen. He’s an instant impact guy whose only glitch is learning to play
great defense all the time against great players. That’s true of every
freshman. He’s improving, so if his defense matches his offensive skills, look
out.
In other words, there’s plenty for Crean to talk
about as we approach the Oct. 12 start of practice, and then the Oct. 20
Hoosier Hysteria event.
Here are more of Crean’s thoughts gleaned during a
recent public talk with students at the IU Auditorium.
In order for Indiana to play to the hype, it has to
defend far better than it did last year. Opponents shot better than 42 percent
against the Hoosiers last season. That needs to get below 40 percent.
“I lay awake at night thinking about the defense,”
Crean said. “We’ve got to get that field goal percentage defense down. Great
teams do that. Top teams defend at a high level.
“We made so many jumps offensively last year. We
cut down our fouling. We had to be a great three-point shooting team and get to
the foul line. We did that. We don’t want to lose that, but we have to make the
same jumps defensively. We need to create more turnovers.”
As far as the offense, Crean said he wants to make
it so “you’ll need a neck brace to watch us if we play as fast as we want to
play.”
“We’ll play faster on offense. We have to. We have
to rebound better, defensive rebound better, create more turnovers, get on the
fast break better. We have to get to the point where we have eight or nine
starters.
“We’ll probably start a freshman. The battles are
on now. I don’t know if all the players know it. A good portion do. You’ve got
to bring it every day. If you can’t carry your weight, if you can’t play at a
fast pace, it will be hard to get you in there.”
Crean talked about four things last year that
turned Indiana into a 27-win, Sweet 16 team: forward Christian Watford’s ability
to guard a point guard; guard Victor Oladipo becoming unguardable in the pick
and roll; freshman guard Remy Abell, who barely played the first half of the
season, improving so that he was “ready when called upon” the last month of the
season; Zeller’s continued improvement.
“He never leveled off,’ Crean said.
Oladipo and fellow junior Will Sheehey have
developed into big-time players with NBA potential. That’s impressive
considering they weren’t considered elite prospects coming out of high school.
“When Victor gets his outside shooting to match
everything else, he’s looking at a NBA level,” Crean said. “The same with Will.
They were ranked in the 130s to 140s. People were looking at us like we had
three heads when we signed them. They improved and came in with the right
attitude.”
Abell continues to develop. Look for him to be a
major contributor this season.
“He had a great spring and summer,” Crean said. “It
will be hard not to have him on the floor.”
Watford has battled some minor
injuries, but should be good to go for practice.
“The next step for him is improving his rebounding
and defense if he wants to play where he wants to play,” Crean said.
In other words, the NBA.
Senior
guard Jordan Hulls has improved his mid-range shooting. He’s already one of the
nation’s top free throw shooters and three-point shooters.
“Jordan
is getting better at creating and the pick and roll,” Crean said. “It’s hard to
find somebody to match up to him shooting that 3.”
Crean
said forward Derek Elston has lost weight which has improved his quickness and
fitness.
“He
needs to make open shots, talk more on defense and be able to rebound,” Crean
said.
Sophomore
guard Austin Etherington barely played last season. Look for a bigger impact
this season as he takes over Matt Roth’s sharpshooting role.
“Austin
has to believe in himself the way I believe in him,” Crean said. “He can be a
guy who can help us, especially with his ability to shoot. He’s got to look at
it like, I’ve got to be so good at shooting, (Crean) has to play me. He has a
lot of talent.”
Ferrell
figures to make the most immediate impact as a freshman, but Jeremy Hollowell,
Hanner Perea (now healthy after a foot injury left him in a boot for part of
the summer) and Peter Jurkin also figure to make big contributions.
“They
have the work ethic, the talent, they’ve won and they are like sponges when it
comes to picking things up,” Crean said. “If that continues, we’re going to get
a lot of things done.”
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