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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Coach Crean and Players Talk Howard Blowout

See what Coach Crean and the players had to say about the Howard blowout victory.




See what Verdell Jones, Christian Watford and Will Sheehey had to say about the win.

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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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IU Players talk Kentucky Win (Video)

See what Chrisitan Watford, Jordan Hulls, Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller, Verdell Jones and Will Sheehey had to say about this huge win!

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Don Fischer's Call of Watford's Buzzer Beater (Video)

Don Fischer says it best!

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Gm 8: +/- Player Analysis - Stetson Edition

Welcome back to another addition of the +/- Player Analysis for your 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers! This was a story of two halves today in Assembly Hall.  IU came out into the game lethargic and nonchalant which allowed the Hatters of Stetson to hang close at the half.  Coach Crean did some lineup adjustments at the half; only returning 2 starters, to start the second half.  This was only the second time this year Coach has opted to start the second half with a different lineup than he did in the first half.  The insertion of Daniel Moore, Will Sheehey and Derek Elston proved to do the trick as the Hoosiers ended with a 84-50 victory.

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Moore, Oladipo and VJIII talk about Stetson Win (Video)

Check out what the key players in the Hoosiers' victory had to say right after the game! Also make sure to check back for our +/- Player Analysis in the next few hours!

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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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Immediate Post Game Reaction: IU vs NC State

Rapid Reactions:

• Jordan Hulls was aggressive taking threes and driving the ball. He was the first player on either team in double figures.
  
• Victor Oladipo was solid on defense stuffing his statsheet with steals, rebounds, and a couple of emphatic nice dunks.
  
• Christian Watford looked steady. He didn't throw the ball away as often and made some quality shots.
  
• Cody Zeller was the “savior” that we all thought he would be. Rebounding, hustling after loose balls, and break away dunks led to a very encouraging eleven point lead.
  

Then the wheels came off...
North Carolina State started rebounding everything in sight (or Indiana forgot how to box out). After the final ten minutes of the first half I felt lucky to only be down one point.

The second half started out with Indiana playing with great confidence. Unfortunately, after the first TV timeout, Indiana played like the team in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Verdell Jones III threw the ball away and took fade away shots in the lane, while Oladipo tried to foul out. This earned Victor a nice little session on the bench.

NC State went up seven and the Hoosiers were down and out....

...at least the teams of the last three years would have been done.

But this isn't your same old Hoosier squad! The Hoosiers of the first ten minutes of the game showed up and kicked ass!!! I have not been that excited since the Illinois victory last year. Hulls hit huge shots, Zeller kept up the pressure, and Oladipo was the Oladipo that jumped over the middle schoolers during Hoosier Hysteria.

There were some things to complain about as an alumnus, but this was an all-around amazing game. I am not going to say that we are back like some people are saying on Twitter, but we are back from the embarrassing level that we have been stuck at for the past three years. I predicted that we would finish fifth in the Big Ten before the year started and I think we are right on track for that. Amazing job HOOSIERS!!!!

Next up: vs Stetson on 12/4

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Gm 6: +/- Player Analysis - Butler Edition

Welcome back to another addition of the +/- Player Analysis for your 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers! IU took it's first step of reclaiming the state of Indiana tonight with their 16 point victory of the Bulldogs of Butler. IU struggled to put the ball away in the first half; a great credit to Butler and their defense. The Hoosiers overcame their offensive struggles in the second half led by Will Sheehey and Cody Zeller.

Key Players:

• Will Sheehey - Will continues to show his improved game. All summer we heard about his solid play and improved jumper. As the season continues, we are seeing Sheehey improve. It's a great thing to see for Hoosier fans.
• Cody Zeller - Cody was a non factor in the first half as the Hoosiers struggled to get the ball to him. The second half was another story as Cody broke out of the funk and Hustled harder than anyone on the court. Great effort out of Cody tonight.
  

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

+/- Player Analysis vs Butler
*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:

• Derek Elston took the title of Best of the Night in terms of Plus-Minus per minute. Elston only played 14 minutes tonight, but he made those count by helping IU outscore Butler by 11 points.
• Just watching the game, you could see Will Sheehey had a major impact. The stats here will back that up. Sheehey was an outstanding +0.71 pts/min.
• Watford had arguably one of his worst games as a Hoosier. His shot wasn't falling (2-10), he had a loose handle (3 TO - (that is the official box score... feels like he had 100)), and he seemed to be stuck on Watford Island tonight. To Watford's credit, he did make some great moves to get to the bucket. He just couldn't finish the bunnies.
  
• 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: (click to enlarge)

• 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 19 different combinations of players in the game (smallest amount used so far this year). Of his 19 combinations, 10 were positive, 3 were neutral (0) and the remaining 6 were negative.
• 7 different units played multiple times these evening. The previous high was 2.
  

Best Lineup of the Night:
The best lineup of the night (+8) belongs to Hulls, Sheehey, Oladipo, VJIII and Zeller. This unit played 4 different times throughout the night (the most). They did their most damage at the 18:36 mark in the 1st half. Led behind an Oladipo 3 and a few free throws from Zeller and Oladipo, this unit got IU off to a 6-0 lead.

Worst Lineup of the Night:
This is why I love this analysis. The worst group of the night (-9) just so happens to be Crean's favorite lineup of the year and statistically best lineup of the year (from a +/- perspective). The lineup of Hulls, VJIII, Oladipo, Watford and Zeller takes the honors of worst lineup. You might think they just had one bad stint, that'd be wrong. Coach Crean played them 3 times. Right after Sheehey subbed in for Watford (Best Lineup), Watford came back in for Sheehey. Here the lineup recorded a -5. This group also started the second half and recorded a -4. They also played the first 1:30 of the game (0-0 score).

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.

• In this tough fought battle, only 3 Hoosiers improved their season averages during this game. Elston, Sheehey and Pritchard all improved year to date. This can be referenced from IU's strong performance when they were on the court together tonight.
  
• There wasn't much movement, but Elston moved from 9th best to 6th. Oladipo dropped from 6th best to 8th, and Pritchard moved from 12th to 10th.

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

• Coach has used 110 different lineups this year.
• Of those 110, only 31 are negative year to date.
• Best lineup is +26 (Also tonight's Worst Lineup. Crean's favorite unit of Hulls, Oladipo, VJ3, Watford, Zeller)
• Worst lineup is -6. (Consists of Oladipo, Sheehey, Moore, Abell, Elston)
  
• 21 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, 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!

+/- Lineup Generator

Overall
IU will have a big test this week traveling to NC State for the B1G/ ACC Challenge. I think we will learn a lot about this team from that game. IU was supposed to beat Butler tonight. While the scoreboard said 15 points, the feelings of Hoosiers made it seem like 30. Great win tonight!

Also make sure you follow us on Twitter to be a part of our #IUpickem Challenge!

+/- Analysis for All 2011-2012 Games

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Immediate Post Game Reaction IU vs Butler

Rapid Reactions:
In the beginning, I am not sure if it was great defense or extremely sloppy play by both teams. The game turned into a great defensive effort on Indiana’s part in the second half. I was very proud of how Indiana turned up the intensity in the second half.

Statsheet Stuffers:
One of my favorite players from last year, Will Sheehey, came to play tonight. Sheehey and Zeller’s play turned this game from a nail-bitter into a blow out. Hulls showed great leadership and Oladipo continued to show his unbelievable athletic ability.

Not so Great...
Watford and Jones III. What in the world were they doing? They both forgot that this isn't the 2010-2011 season. They didn't pass the ball, they forced shots, and they seemed to pretend as if they were the only players on the court. If I was Coach Crean, I would have sat them down and explained how to play like a team. If they cannot play as a team, they will be sitting the bench.

Overall it was another great win for the Hoosiers. Be sure to check back soon for the +/- Player Analysis. IU will travel to NC State for their next game! Go Hoosiers!

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Gm 4: +/- Player Analysis - Savannah St.

Welcome back to another addition of the +/- Player Analysis for your 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers! IU took on the Tigers of Savannah State on Saturday evening and continued to show why this Hoosier squad is NOT your Hoosiers of the last three years. IU came out and established Big Ten Freshman of the Year Cody Zeller (I realize it hasn't been announced yet... but come on...) and the offense took off through him.

Key Players:

• Cody Zeller - He came out early and dominated Savannah St. The Hoosiers kept feeding Zeller the ball, and he just kept scoring. If you want to know how good Zeller is, think about this second half play: Zeller was on the baseline on defense, went up to contest a shot, Oladipo got the rebound, Zeller beat EVERYONE down the court for an easy layup. Yes, that is your 7 footer out running the team d
  own the court for an easy lay in. Future Freshman of the Year for the B1G and maybe Nation.
  

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

+/- Player Analysis vs Evansville
*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:

• It is pretty impressive the our top 6 (rounding up Hulls) were all over 1 pt/min. That is pretty incredible. When you see that you will see a significant victory.
• Zeller - Are you catching a theme about how good this kid is? Well he led the Hoosier again for +/- on Saturday Night.
• Moore - The love/hate fans for Moore will get to argue again! Moore again showed his value for the Hoosiers recording a solid +13 for his 11 minutes of game time.
• 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: (click to enlarge)

• 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, 15 were positive, 4 were neutral (0) and the remaining 7 were negative.
• 3 units played multiple times these evening (2 each).
  
• Coach Crean ensured through his subbing, that there were not two straight lineups that gave up points. (were negative)
  

Best Lineup of the Night:
The best lineup of the night (+8) belongs to Moore, VJIII, Sheehey, Watford and Zeller. This unit came in at the 7:43 mark in the second half with IU winning 71-47. They played until the 4:16 mark and left with IU winning 88-56.

Worst Lineup of the Night:
The worst lineup of the night came in right before the Best Lineup of the Night. The lineup of Watford, Sheehey, VJ3, Roth and Zeller were -5 in the short span from 8:37 to 7:43. At this point, Crean decided to make a move and brought Moore in for Roth which sparked a +8 stint.

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.
The stats below are only related to Stony Brook, Chattanooga and Evansville.

• Quick reminder - the far right column shows the difference in Overall +/- from last game to this game. In short, it shows how this game affected their season to date +/-.
  
• 8 Hoosiers improved their season averages during this game. This would be expected based on the blow out nature of the game.
  
• The biggest significant drop of the night belongs to Matt Roth. After leading the +/- last week (limited minutes), he fell significantly due to the -11 he recorded for Savannah State.
  
• Zeller is closing in on Moore as the overall leader for the Hoosiers. I wouldn't be surprised to see if Moore can hold on to the title though, due to his limited minutes. Moore will need to continue a +11 for his 11 minutes of game time while Zeller would have to continue +30. One of which is more likely.
  

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

• Coach has used 83 different lineups this year.
• Of those 83, only 21 are negative year to date.
• Best lineup is +28 (only unit to play in all four games, been on the floor together a high 9 times) (Crean's favorite unit of Hulls, Oladipo, VJ3, Watford, Zeller)
• Worst lineup is -6. (Consists of Oladipo, Sheehey, Moore, Abell, Elston)
  
• 11 lineups have been used multiple times this year.
• Cody Zeller is now present in the top 10 lineups for +/- this year. The next highest presence is Watford (8 of 10).
  

Overall
This was the coming out party for Cody Zeller. Another fun stat which I should start tracking, is Technical and Flagrant fouls which Zeller was a part of. So far we have 3 Flagrants and one Technical. Good job Cody!

Also make sure you follow us on Twitter to be a part of our #IUpickem Challenge!

+/- Analysis for All 2011-2012 Games

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Gm 3: +/- Player Analysis - Evansville

Welcome back to another addition of the +/- Player Analysis for your 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers! IU took on the Purple Aces of Evansville on Wednesday evening and put the game out of reach within the first 15 minutes of the game. I've said this in prior games write-ups, but I'll say it again... This isn't the same old team as they won convincingly 94-73.

Key Players:

• Watford - rebounded nicely from a couple of dismle games. Showed alot of heart.
  
• Zeller - I feel like I could say the same great stuff every night. He commanded the low post to start the game. IU looked to feed him early and often. This resulted in a huge lead for the Hoosiers.... A Zelleresque performance
• Hulls - 5/7 from the floor for 14pts
• VJIII - 17pts, 4/4 3pt, 5 reb, 7 ast, 2 blk, 2 TO. The guy was an animal. One of his best performances.

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

+/- Player Analysis vs Evansville
*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:

• Remy Abell - I know this will be a hot topic for Hoosier fans as many fans are frustrated with Abell's play. I have to say once I finished crunching the numbers for this game, I had to go back and double/triple check Abell's +/-. I realized while watching the game that he was struggling, but I never would have imagined he would have ended up -16 in 7 minutes for a team that was up by 33 at one point. That is troubling.
  
• Christian Watford again is right at the top of the list for the second game in a row. Watford really came out and played his game tonight. We can see by the stats above that he had a great impact on IU while in the game.
  
• Cody Zeller -Another top 3 finish for Cody. The trend continues...
  
• Matt Roth - Roth led the team in +/- tonight due to a strong stint in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Roth was a part of the unit that went on a 11-0 run. A 3pt specialist like Roth is always interesting in these anlysis. Generally speaking, he won't get many minutes each game, but can result in getting a very high +/- due to his abililty to shoot the long ball. When Roth is in, we see some plays set up to get him shots. If he hits these shots, he will produce a very high +/- like he did this evening.
  
• 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 25pt win.

Lineups of the Night:


Key Takeaways: (click to enlarge)

• 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.
• In the first two games of the year, IU started out very slow. That was definitely not the case here as 12 of their first 14 lineups were even or positive.
  
• Overall, Coach Crean used 24 different combinations of players in the game. Of his 24 combinations, 11 were positive, 6 were neutral (0) and the remaining 7 were negative.
• Only one unit played multiple times these evening (2). They shared the Best Lineup of the Night award.
• Remy Abell, was on 6 of the 7 negative lineups for the game.
  

Best Lineup of the Night:
The best lineup of the night (+11) was a tie between Crean's favorite unit of Hulls, Oladipo, VJ3, Watford, Zeller and VJ3, Roth, Sheehey, Watford and Zeller. Crean's favorite unit was the only unit used multiple times again this game. Coach Crean named this group the Starters of the game. They earned a +8 for their first 8.5 minutes in the game. They also started the second half and went +3 in 4 minutes.

The group of VJ3, Roth, Sheehey, Watford and Zeller played one stint tonight that ended +11. This group started their stint at the 7:37 mark in the 1st half with IU leading 31-23. IU exploded over the next 1:53 as IU went on a 11-0 run. The run consisted of 2 Zeller layups, Roth and Watford 3's and a Zeller free throw. This group left at the 5:30 mark with IU leading 42-23.

Worst Lineup of the Night:
The worst lineup of the night came at the end of the game with IU leading 86-59. Obviously at this point of the game, the game was all but wrapped up. This group featured Moore (our previous season leader for +/-, Sheeladipo, Abell and Elston. The group ended their 1 min stint without scoring points while allowing 6. Again this wasn't a big deal as IU had this game soundly put away.

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.
The stats below are only related to Stony Brook, Chattanooga and Evansville.

• I have added another column to the season long stat which shows the change from the previous game. This is the cumulative +/- for the season so you can see how the Pts/Min was affected based on the Evansville game.
• I think the most important takeaway from this chart is seeing 4 out of the top 6 positions belonging to our starters. Crean has shown a lean towards one lineup so far this year, and if they can continue to produce like they have been, it will be a great year.
  
• The biggest significant drop of the night belongs to Remy Abell. His -16 +/- on the night dropped his season to a -11 and his overall +/- dropped .72 pts/min.
• Roth being a part of that 11-0 run benefited the most and improved his specialist +/- for the year. He has now surpassed Daniel Moore (dropped 0.49) as the top player for +/-.

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

• Coach has used 65 different lineups this year.
• Of those 65, only 16 are negative year to date.
• Best lineup is +21 (only unit to play in all three games) (Crean's favorite unit of Hulls, Oladipo, VJ3, Watford, Zeller)
• Worst lineup is -6. (mentioned above)
  
• 7 lineups have been used multiple times this year.
• Hulls, Oladipo, Watford, VJ3 and Zeller have been on the court together 7 separate times this year are statistically the best Lineup for IU right now.
• Cody Zeller is now present in the top 9 lineups for +/- this year. The next highest presence is Watford (7 of 6).
  

Overall
IU put on a show in Evansville tonight. They came out from the get go and showed they were stronger, more athletic, quicker and finally an all around better team. If IU has postseason hopes, they will need to continue this type of play on the road. Check back to the site for a preview of the IU vs Savannah State on the 19th.
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+/- Analysis for All 2011-2012 Games

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Immediate Post Game Reaction-Evansville

Rapid Reactions:
The game started out at a much faster pace than the first two games that IU has played this year. The team seemed focused on feeding Cody Zeller early and often. This not only gave him more looks, but also let the double team come to him which allowed Zeller to pass the ball out to the open perimeter look. My brother-in-law and I texted each other at the same time talking about how good Zeller looked early. Besides Cody, the entire team looked great in the first half. Verdell Jones III was going inside and out and controlled the ball while hitting some quality buckets. Indiana pushed the ball down the court in transition and played quality defense throughout the first half.

The second half started slowly and Indiana was a little sloppy, but Evansville never came close to making it a game. Christian Watford looked like the Watford of old. He made long three pointers, grabbed rebounding, and looked like he actually wanted to be out on the court! Indiana almost had a 1 to 1 assist to field goal ratio! The Hoosiers have not been that efficient since I was in undergrad down in Bloomington. All around, Indiana looked good on offense, defense, and transition. Haven’t looked at the television schedule for the rest of the year, but hopefully there are not anymore on ESPN3!

Final Score: IU 94  Evansville 73

Up Next: Savannah State on November 19^th 8:00 EST

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Hoo's Next - Evansville Edition

Who: University of Evansville Purple Aces

When: 8:00pm ET – Wednesday November 16, 2011

Where: Ford Center – Evansville, IN

TV: ESPN3

The Scoop: The Evansville Purple Aces look to defend their 1-0 record at home tonight against our Cream and Crimson who look to advance to 3-0. The Aces are coming off a shocking overtime victory in a game versus the defending national runners-up, the Butler Bulldogs. Though the Hoosiers have never lost to Evansville, it is a bit too early in the season to count anyone out. Coach of the Aces, Marty Simmons, looks to build off of his team’s early momentum tonight, but one can be sure that Coach Crean and the gang won’t make it easy.

What to Expect:

• Cody Zeller - There are plenty of stories to follow throughout tonight's game. As always, continue to look out for freshman Cody Zeller as he comes off of a B1G Ten Co-Freshman of the week award. Naturally, keep on eye his scoring threat and ability to rebound. But also, watch out for Zeller’s defensive presence, as he already has 9 steals through the first couple of games.
• Sheeladipo – Sheeladipo of course standing for the unstoppable sophomore duo of Will Sheehey and Victor Oladipo. The two players have combined for 56 points and 17 rebounds over the course of the first two games. Oladipo recently receiving an award of his own, the B1G Ten player of the week. This hybrid of dominance is one thing that Hoosiers fans hope to see more of throughout the year. Between Sheehey’s poise and Oladipo’s explosiveness, the Hoosiers should have a leg up on the Aces tonight.
• Moderate chance of rain – No, I’m not referring to the state of Indiana’s bizarre weather changes. You should expect a chance of rain, not off, but on the court tonight in Evansville. The Hoosiers stand at 10th in the nation in field goal percentage with a whopping 57.8% average. It is evident that the Hoosiers have spent some time in Cook Hall this off season. Expect players like Hulls, Sheehey, and Jones III to light it up tonight as they have so far this season, but also don’t count out players like Oladipo and Elston to have accurate shooting nights as well. 

However, it is not only the Hoosiers who will be dropping in shots tonight. Indiana has struggled to close out shooters behind the arc thusfar this season. The Hoosiers should look to apply more pressure on outside shooters to avoid giving up the deep threat.

Outcome: The Aces will have to ride their recent momentum to have a chance in this one. I expect the Hoosiers to run away with it after a while. 83-68 Hoosiers.

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The New and Improved Hoosiers

It is still extremely early, but a lot has been learned after the Hoosiers’ first two games. There is more than enough room for improvement, but what I have seen so far is much more than what I had hoped. Cody Zeller has arrived, and he is the real deal. He is very mobile for his size, a tremendous passer, and an unquantifiable value to this team. The pre-season media “experts” who predicted the Hoosiers to finish near the very bottom of the Big Ten are simply wrong. The two main woes from last year, turnovers and fouls, are much closer to being corrected. It is still to be seen just how much we can expect from this squad, but one thing is for sure. Tom Crean’s team will be competitive all season long.

Crean has spoken often about the importance of a deep team that can challenge each other for minutes. He finally seems to have it. I don’t expect this team to have a consistent top scorer as there are several players who could put up the most points on any given night. The team also seems to have enough discipline defensively this season for players to be held accountable. Perimeter defense will likely be a struggle all season, but strides have been made and will continue to be made on the defensive end. Victor Oladipo appears to have made himself the lock-down defender that Indiana will so greatly need as the season progresses.

Offensively, Oladipo has looked fearless. His ability to get to the rim has always been there, but his shot looks to be much improved. Apparently nothing gets Victor fired up like a Seawolf or a Moc. His energy is contagious, and he has clearly given the Hoosiers a big boost. His athleticism is crucial to the Hoosiers as they must be effective in transition to be successful. Combine this with shooters like Jordan Hulls and Zeller’s ability to run the floor, and Indiana will win games.

After two games, I am projecting the Hoosiers to finish the year 18-13 heading into the Big Ten Tournament. Brace yourselves for this one...I also expect the Hoosiers to finally crack the top 25 once again this season. Yes, you read that correctly but let me explain. I anticipate the Hoosiers to head into the game against Kentucky (Dec. 10th) with a perfect 8-0 record. Highlighted by wins at N.C. State and home against Butler, it should be convincing enough for voters. After that, it’s a mystery how Crean’s team will fare against much stronger competition.

I have heard several players listed as the “X-Factor” for this ballclub. Players like Maurice Creek before his injury and Verdell Jones have been mentioned. In my opinion, the player that will determine just how good or mediocre this team will be is Christian Watford. Will his presence be diminished by that of Cody Zeller, or will the two team up to be one of the most feared front courts in the Big Ten? It is just one of the many questions we will have to wait to learn, but it will be fun to watch nonetheless.

--Travis Cunningham

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Chattanooga Postgame Immediate Reaction

Well this game was a great game to watch. Indiana started off a little slow and kept Chattanooga around early in the game. The Hoosiers, especially Watford and Jones III, were playing out of control and taking early shots, but later calmed down and began to play confidently. Led by the one and only Victor Oladipo!

Oladipo ended the night with a career high 21 points, many of which were scored in high flying fashion. Jordan Hulls hit six three pointers and had a few nice assists to help out the Hoosiers in the second half.

Daniel Moore sparked the Hoosiers coming off of the bench and as @Chronichoosier noted" another “Pepperpot.""

Issues:
Some of the issues I found during this game were the number of turnovers IU had vs. Chattanooga. 18 turnovers against a Southern Conference team are WAY too many. What is going to happen when we play a team from the Big Ten? Also, one word Watford! OK I will stop obsessing and be grateful for the product we are putting out on the court.

Up Next: @Evansville November 16th

-Brian Hall

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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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Zeller, VJ3 and Oladipo Reflect on Friday's Win over Stony Brook

Catch the Hoosier players in their post game press conference. Cody Zeller, Verdell Jones and Victor Oladipo discuss their victory.

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Stony Brook Immediate Post Game Reaction

This was an amazing first game for the Hoosiers! I know that IU fans have been waiting for a team that can pull away and stay away. The first half started slow for the Hoosiers. Zeller looked like a freshmen until the midway point of the first half and was getting bullied down low.

Oladipo picked up exactly where he left off last year. I have always been a huge Victor Oladipo fan and tonight just added to my admiration of his athletic abilities.

One major question I had during the first half is why wasn’t Will Sheehey starting? When he entered the game, the team's play improved immediately. I understand that he didn’t play in the second half because of flu like symptoms, but I still wonder why he didn’t start? Verdell was still wild and inconsistent in the game along with Watford. That was disappointing because I had read they had made improvements in the off season.

Now the best part of the first game is Cody Zeller. Wow, 16 points 10 rebounds in your first collegiate game. I know Stony Brook wasn’t the caliber of a Big 10 team, but extremely it was apromising start to the season.

Brian Hall

@Hoosier_Hall

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