Gm 11: +/- Player Analysis - Howard Edition

Welcome back to another addition of the +/- Player Analysis for your 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers! There isn't really much to say about this game as it was a complete domination from start to finish. Howard didn't stand a chance from the start. Check out Coach Crean and the player's thoughts of the blowout.

Key Players:

• Indiana's entire team. Did anyone play bad?
• Special shout out to Remy Abell who played his best game of the year.

With that being said, let's jump into the +/- Player Analysis

+/- Player Analysis vs Stetson
*Just in case you forgot, here is a quick breakdown as to what the +/- Player Analysis is looking at. Example: Here is a quick example of how the +/- stat is determined. Zeller, Watford, VJIII, Hulls and Sheehey start the game for IU. Therefore the score is 0-0. Coach Crean makes his first substitution at 15:00 with the score IU up 15-10. Oladipo comes into the game for Sheehey. For this stint in time, Sheehey would earn a +5 (while Sheehey was in, IU increased their lead by 5 points). The Lineup of Zeller, Watford, VJIII, Hulls and Sheehey also earned a +5. This will continue throughout the game.

Game Overall

Key Takeaways:

• As you can see, anyone who played significant minutes is extremely high in the green.
• 10 players were +1.0 pts/min.
• Oladipo (Check His Dunk Session) and Zeller were +50 and +48 respectively which is the highest I've ever seen in this statistic.
• Remy Abell - Abell had a great game tonight. This is represented in his +/- for the game. Remy will continue to see more minutes as the competition increases.
• I cannot stress this enough, anything in the GREEN, means the player had a positive impact on the game and helped IU get to their blowout win.

Lineups of the Night:

Key Takeaways:

• Here you can see the game flow throughout the night. The chart reads from the beginning of the game to the end from top to bottom.
• Overall, Coach Crean used 26 different combinations of players in the game. Of his 26 combinations, 16 were positive, 5 were neutral (0) and the remaining 5 were negative.
• Of all the stints in this game (28), there were 18 positive, 5 neutral and 5 negative.
• Only 1 unit played multiple times tonight. (Hulls, Jones, Oladipo, Watford, Zeller)

Best Lineup of the Night: The best lineup of the night (+16) belongs to Hulls, Jones, Oladipo, Watford and Zeller. This group played together 3 times tonight going +7, +3, +6. This group was the only group to play multiple times tonight so it makes sense that they received the highest plus/minus.

Worst Lineup of the Night:
Overall, there were 5 lineups that went negative. On a night like tonight, there really isn't any reason to point out which lineups went negative. If you must know, look above at the chart for Red to see which lineups went negative.

Season to Date:
As many people like to point out, looking at the +/- for one specific game is not entirely telling. Tracking this over the course of the year, will give a much clearer picture as to what each player brings to the team. Below is the updated season to date +/- for each player.

• Cody Zeller took over the top spot with his +48 tonight.
• All players improved with the exception of Moore who went negative on the night.

Lineup Combinations Here are some quick stats related to the Lineups Tom Crean has used throughout the season:

• Coach has used 152 different lineups this year.
• Of those 152, only 42 are negative year to date. (Did not change this game)
• Best lineup is +61 (went +16 vs Howard; Crean's favorite unit (31 times) of Hulls, Oladipo, VJ3, Watford, Zeller)
• 2nd Best Lineup is +25 (New Lineup of Hulls, VJIII, Oladipo, Elston and Zeller who went +7 vs Howard)
• Worst lineup is -6. (Consists of Hulls, Watford, VJIII, Sheehey and Pritchard)
• 42 (Increase of 5 this game) lineups have been used multiple times this year.

Lineup Creator! Here is your chance to play Coach Crean!What you can do is go to this link, "+/- Lineup Generator" and it will open an Excel file for you. Using the filters already on the page, you can filter the lineups for the year to see how all the different combinations of players play together.For instance, if you wanted to see how the team does when Oladipo and Sheehey are in the game together, filter both their columns. This will return all lineups for the year that Oladipo and Sheehey have been on the floor together!

Overall
IU looked incredibly focused tonight for a game that could have easily been an oversight. IU came out and established their game plan and executed at the highest degree. Howard was the worst team IU played so far this year, and it showed on the court. Holding an opponent to 15 points in a half is remarkable. IF IU can continue this type of play, it will be a good year to be an Indiana fan.

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Gm 10: +/- Player Analysis - Notre Dame

Welcome back to another addition of the +/- Player Analysis for your 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers! To be considered a good basketball team, you must be able to win the ugly games.  This would qualify as an ugly game.  Indiana started the game off shooting 0-6 from the field while allowing ND's Alex Dragicevich to start 3-3 behind the arc.  IU finally started to settle into their game, and put Notre Dame away.

Key Players:

• Cody Zeller - The Hoosiers went to Cody early and often.  Without Cody in this game, The Hoosiers probably would not have kept the game close enough to make a comeback and win.  It was nice to see IU feed Cody the ball as much as they did this game.
• Derek Elston - Elston had a beautiful arching pass from 40 feet with 6 seconds left in the 1st half that bounced nicely off the backboard and rim into Remy Abell's hands who completed the assist with the buzzer beater jumper.  That's not exactly what happened, but it was nice to see Derek still have the explosion he has had earlier this year.  Many fans were concerned when he did not play against Kentucky that he was injured again and wouldn't come back the same.
• Will Sheehey - This might surprise you to see Will in the Key players for the game.  While he did shoot 1-7 from the field, he grabbed 9 rebounds (4 offensive) which led to IU's 17 second chance points.  Will did a great job on the defensive end for the Hoosiers this game and that is reflected by his +/- for the game.

With that being said, let's jump into the +/- Player Analysis

+/- Player Analysis vs Stetson
*Just in case you forgot, here is a quick breakdown as to what the +/- Player Analysis is looking at.
Example: Here is a quick example of how the +/- stat is determined. Zeller, Watford, VJIII, Hulls and Sheehey start the game for IU. Therefore the score is 0-0. Coach Crean makes his first substitution at 15:00 with the score IU up 15-10. Oladipo comes into the game for Sheehey. For this stint in time, Sheehey would earn a +5 (while Sheehey was in, IU increased their lead by 5 points). The Lineup of Zeller, Watford, VJIII, Hulls and Sheehey also earned a +5. This will continue throughout the game.

Game Overall   

 Key Takeaways:

• The first lineup of the game (Hulls, Jones, Oladipo, Watford, Zeller) started the game with a -7 from a +/- perspective in the first 6 minutes of the game.  This means, over the final 34 minutes of the game, Cody Zeller went +23, Hulls +15, Watford and Jones +11, and Oladipo +7
• Cody Zeller - In Cody's 27 minutes, he accumulated a +16.  Cody was outstanding in every facet of this game.  The true test for the Hoosiers will be when Cody gets in foul trouble.
• Derek Elston - Elston came back with a solid contribution of +!0 in his limited 11 minutes.  Elston came in and provided some energy for the team which is reflected in this statistic.
• Christian Watford and Verdell Jones - Both did not have their best games, as reflected above.  Watford couldn't seem to find his game from last Saturday going 2-9  FG as Verdell went 1-5 FG.
• It's interesting to see Victor Oladipo as even from a +/- perspective.  Normally VO scores relatively high in this measure.  His low minutes due to foul trouble could play a primary role in this.
• I cannot stress this enough, anything in the GREEN, means the player had a positive impact on the game and helped IU get to their blowout win.

Lineups of the Night:  

Key Takeaways: 

• Here you can see the game flow throughout the night. The chart reads from the beginning of the game to the end from top to bottom.
• It is important to note, at the end of the game starting in lineup 255, Coach Crean when Offense/Defense with Zeller and Sheehey.  This would increase Zeller's +/- and decrease Sheehey's +/- for the game.
• Overall, Coach Crean used 19 different combinations of players in the game. Of his 19 combinations,  9 were positive, 5 were neutral (0) and the remaining 5 were negative.
• Of all the stints in this game (33), there were 16 positive, 8 neutral and 9 negative.
• Five units played multiple times tonight.

Best Lineup of the Night:
The best lineup of the night (+5) belongs to Hulls, Sheehey, VJIII, Elston and Zeller. This group played together 4 times tonight going +4, 0, -1, +2.  They did their damage at the 12:13 minute mark of the first half where they went +4 in 2 minute 30 seconds. They entered with IU trailing 8-15 and left with IU trailing 12-15.

Worst Lineup of the Night:
When you have a lineup that starts the game at -7, you would expect them to be the worst lineup of the game.  That definitely was the worst STINT, but not the worst lineup.  The starting group of Hulls, VJIII, Oladipo, Watford and Zeller bounced back from their -7 start to go Even (0) for the game.

The worst lineup of the night (-4) consisted of VJIII, Oladipo, Sheehey, Elston and Pritchard.  This lineup going the worst should not surprise anyone as this doesn't appear on paper to be a solid lineup.  This lineup came in during the second half with IU winning 48-35 with 9:27 remaining in the game.  They didn't last long, only playing 85 seconds and going -4.  Coach Crean quickly subbed Zeller and Hulls back into the game.

Season to Date:
As many people like to point out, looking at the +/- for one specific game is not entirely telling. Tracking this over the course of the year, will give a much clearer picture as to what each player brings to the team. Below is the updated season to date +/- for each player.

• Tom Pritchard is moving closer back to even for the year after his -4 against Notre Dame.
• Cody Zeller continues to impress in this stat as he is +210 for the year.  The next closest to him in points is Hulls with +164.
• Daniel Moore played for 1 minutes this week and went +2 so his Pts/Min increased again.

Lineup Combinations
Here are some quick stats related to the Lineups Tom Crean has used through the three regular season games:

• Coach has used 138 different lineups this year.
• Of those 138, only 42 are negative year to date. (Increased by 1 this game)
• Best lineup is +45 (went Even (0) vs Notre Dame; Crean's favorite unit (31 times) of Hulls, Oladipo, VJ3, Watford, Zeller)
• 2nd Best Lineup is +22 (DNP vs Notre Dame: Consists of Hulls, Oladipo, Sheehey, Watford and Zeller)
• Worst lineup is -6. (Consists of Hulls, Watford, VJIII, Sheehey and Pritchard)
• 37 lineups have been used multiple times this year.
• The top 4 used lineups contain these players: Hulls, Oladipo, Sheehey, Jones, Watford and Zeller.  Only Hulls and Zeller are in all 4 lineups together.

Lineup Creator!
Here is your chance to play Coach Crean!
What you can do is go to this link, "+/- Lineup Generator" and it will open an Excel file for you. Using the filters already on the page, you can filter the lineups for the year to see how all the different combinations of players play together.

For instance, if you wanted to see how the team does when Oladipo and Sheehey are in the game together, filter both their columns. This will return all lineups for the year that Oladipo and Sheehey have been on the floor together!

Overall
IU came out and did something they had to do... Beat a team they should beat.  This was another great step for this ball club as they continue to improve.  There were many questions going into this game on how IU would fare, it appears those questions were answered Saturday afternoon.  Look for IU to improve their rankings in the next weeks leading up to the big showdown in Bloomington vs top 5 team Ohio State.

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Post-game reaction: IU vs. Notre Dame

Rapid Reactions
This game started slowly for IU as they struggled for the first part of the first half against Notre Dame. I was half expecting a slow start coming after a week off following the win versus #1 Kentucky, but this was a little much. They could have also been a little excited about Purdue blowing yet another double digit lead in the second half against a team that IU previously beat by sixteen.

Whatever the reason #TGFC (Thank God for Cody) in the first half. At one point, Cody Zeller had 10 of the team’s 12 points. If it wasn’t for him, I am not sure that IU sticks close enough to be in it at half. At one point I was thinking that Coach Crean should put Daniel Moore in the game for a spark! I am still curious about what in the world Elston was doing at the end of the half with five seconds left on the clock and launching a half court shot, but thanks to Remy he was bailed out.

I never was nervous about this game in the second half. Notre Dame kept it close but they never scared the Hoosiers.  Even though Indiana had several key members in foul trouble, the bench filled in nicely and we expanded our lead to mid-teens and held on, unlike Purdue. I was proud of all the members of the Indiana basketball team and I cannot wait until the Big Ten season starts!

I grew up ten miles outside Notre Dame’s campus and currently live in Lafayette, so today was a good day for me being an IU fan!

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Gm 7: +/- Player Analysis - NC State Edition

Welcome back to another addition of the +/- Player Analysis for your 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers! WOW!!!! I don't know about you, but I still have a giant grin on my face. This is the best feeling I've had relating to ANY IU Athletic in the past 4 years. I'm not going to overstate the importance of this game, or declare us a Top 25 team, but I will say this team showed courage on Wednesday night. This team didn't hang their heads when things started going wrong (included "Goal tending" calls!). They stayed focused and came back. This squad is unlike the last three years... they just turned a 7 point deficit with 7:38 to go in the game into an 11 point "We Just Did That" win. That is growth and maturity folks.

Key Players:

• Christian Watford - You might say that Hulls or Zeller should get top billing, and maybe you are right. But I'm giving it to Watford. Watford has been a major talking point all year amongst Hoosier fans as he has struggled to find his new role on this team. I'm not going to declare that he found it, but I will say he played a very solid game for us with 16 pts & 9 rebs. He even had himself a Blk!
• Jordan Hulls - Hulls will continue to lead this team in minutes. IU plays so well with him in the game. Hulls showed up in a big way scoring a season high 20 points. The three pointer he hit late in the second half could be one of his biggest shots as a Hoosier.
• Cody Zeller - Cody, Cody, Cody. He's all he was talked up to be and more. It's still early in the season, but if Zeller can continue to play at this level, Chad Forde won't be crazy for listing him as the #19 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. That being said, I don't think it makes any point including him in those projections until 2014 or 2015 (we hope...)

With that being said, let's jump into the +/- Player Analysis

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Gm 1: +/- Player Analysis - Stony Brook

Welcome back to another addition of the +/- Player Analysis for your 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers! IU took on the Seawolves of Stony Brook on Friday night and prevailed in convincing fasion 96-66.

Key Players:

• Cody Zeller - Wow can this kid play. One of the greatest attributes of Zeller possesses is his ability to let the game come to him. Zeller is the opposite of Bracey Wright, in the fact that he lets the game come to him and doesn't force anything. Zeller will be paramount to IU's success.
• Super Sophs - Sheehey and Oladipo continue to impress Hoosier fans with their inspired play. Back when these guys were being recruited, many fans wondered why... I don't foresee them asking these questions anymore. These Super Sophs have turned their game up to another level, one that was not existent last year.

IU looked like a new team, but we did play Stony Brook. Let's hold the 23+ win comments until we beat someone we shouldn't beat. With that being said, let's jump into the +/- Player Analysis

+/- Player Analysis vs Stony Brook
*Just in case you forgot, here is a quick breakdown as to what the +/- Player Analysis is looking at.
Example: Here is a quick example of how the +/- stat is determined. Zeller, Watford, VJIII, Hulls and Sheehey start the game for IU. Therefore the score is 0-0. Coach Crean makes his first substitution at 15:00 with the score IU up 15-10. Oladipo comes into the game for Sheehey. For this stint in time, Sheehey would earn a +5 (while Sheehey was in, IU increased their lead by 5 points). The Lineup of Zeller, Watford, VJIII, Hulls and Sheehey also earned a +5. This will continue throughout the game.

Game Overall
Key Takeaways:

• For the 2nd straight game in a row, Former Walk-on Daniel Moore led the team in +/-. The impressive thing with Moore in this game, is he was a part of a major run for the Hoosiers in the 2nd half that locked this game up. Moore's +15 in 6 minutes of play is a serious energy boost off the bench.
• Cody Zeller - we talked about him above already, but Cody had the highest +/- of +27 for the night. Cody is the focal point of our offense now, and it is clear to see in the first two games that we are a much better ball club with him on the floor. I think we will continue to see this as the season progresses, especially in the +/-.
• Hulls and Watford finished at the bottom of the roster this week. While might look at this and wonder what happened, remember this: "When Hulls and Watford were in the game, IU increased their lead by 10 and 8 points respectively. I cannot stress this enough, anything in the GREEN, means the player had a positive impact on the game and helped IU get to their 30pt win.

Lineups of the Night:

Key Takeaways: (click to enlarge)

• This is a new chart this year, but the primary purpose is to see the flow of the game. The lineups are in chronological order from top to bottom (Start of the game to the finish). From this chart, we can see how each lineup did while on the floor together.
• Overall, Coach Crean used 21 different combinations of players in the game. Of his 21 combinations, all but 4 lineups were positive. Crean also used two lineups twice in the game.

Best Lineup of the Night:
The best lineup of the night (+7) goes to Hulls, Oladipo, VJ3, Elston and Zeller. This unit was used two different times in the game (see lineup #31, #39 above). Coach Crean put this group on the floor with 9:00 minutes to go in the first half with IU tied 18-18. The group ended their stint two minutes later with a 1 point lead. The big push for this unit came in the second half with 16:20 to go in the game as they were able to increase a 16pt lead to 22 pts.

Worst Lineup of the Night:
The worst lineup of the night came at the end of the worst period of the game for the Hoosiers. The three lineups before this group entered, finished with a combined -3. At the 13:25 to go in the first half and IU leading 12-11. Hulls, Watford, Sheehey, Abell and Elston win the prize of being the worst lineup as in their 2 minutes played together, they ended up -5.

Season to Date:

As many people like to point out, looking at the +/- for one specific game is not entirely telling. Tracking this over the course of the year, will give a much clearer picture as to what each player brings to the team. Below is the updated season to date +/- for each player.There is nothing Earth-shattering here at this point, but it is nice to see Zeller with the highest +/- of +39, although he did this while playing the most minutes.

Lineup Combinations
Here are some quick stats related to the Lineups Tom Crean has used so far this year:

• Coach has used 40 different lineups this year.
• Of those 40, 30 of them are positive year to date.
• Best lineup is +7 (team mentioned above)
• Worst lineup is a 2 way tie for -5.
• 5 lineups have been used multiple times this year.
• Hulls, Oladipo, Sheehey, VJ3 and Zeller have been on the court together 3 separate times which is tied with the lineup of Hulls, Watford, Oladipo, VJ3 and Zeller for most this year.

Overall
IU played a great game tonight, it was one that IU fans needed and brought the excitement back to Assembly Hall. I would expect this to continue until the competition gets a little more fierce. Until next time.... Go Hoosiers!

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Hoo's Next? - Stony Brook Edition

Who: Stony Brook Seawolves
When: 7:00pm ET - Friday November 11, 2011
Where: Assembly Hall, Bloomington Indiana
TV: Big Ten Network

The Scoop:
The Mighty Seawolves of Stony Brook open their American season against your Indiana Hoosiers Friday night in Bloomington. If you are like me, when you saw Stony Brook on the schedule, you thought of the Middle School in Indianapolis. I have confirmed that IU will not be playing the middle school. Stony Brook is an American East Conference school located in Stony Brook, New York.

Stony Brook has actually played 5 games so far this year on their European Exhibition Tour so they should come into Assembly Hall ready to play. (They finished the tour 4-1). Last season, the Seawolves finished 8-8 in the conference and 15-17 overall. For what it's worth they finished the season with an RPI of 240 compared to IU's 191.

What to Expect:
Judging from prior years experience, Coach Crean will use a wide variety of lineups in this game and will continually switch to find his optimal units. We will get our first heavy dose of Cody Zeller. Zeller played 30 minutes in the first exhibition game and I wouldn't expect anything different Friday night. In addition to Zeller, Austin Etherington and Remy Abell will make their Hoosier debut. Limiting turnovers, and controlling the boards will be two primary focuses for the Hoosiers.

Outcome: Stony Brook will keep it close early as they already have 5 games under their belt, but IU will pull away to a convincing season opening win. IU 83 - 65

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