The Assembly Call Blog

On Saturday afternoon, Indiana dropped its fourth game in a row to Purdue. The Hoosiers shot terribly from 3-point range and the free throw line, and endured Romeo Langford’s worst game as a collegian.

After the game, our crew broke it all down on The Assembly Call IU Postgame Show.

On the mics: Jerod, Andy, and Ryan

Among the topics discussed:

— Why Rob Phinisee showed some positive signs that he’s ready to resume being a consistent force at point guard.
— What went wrong for Romeo?
— Justin Smith delivers his best offensive performance of the season … with a few mistakes off the dribble that still need to be cleaned up.
— The positives and negatives from a day of spurts for Juwan Morgan.
— Why this team’s biggest issues right now may be more about chemistry and cohesion than execution.

We also point out a few meaningful moments you may have missed, go inside the numbers, and hand out our game balls. All of that, and more, on this edition of The Assembly Call.

Listen to the podcast here:

Or watch the video:

[Read more…] about [470] IU-Purdue Postgame Show: Romeo’s Worst Game, Poor Shooting Sink Hoosiers at Mackey

This week on Assembly Call Radio, we highlight a few keys to beating Purdue on Saturday, try to figure out how Indiana can squeeze more efficiency out of the offense, and then discuss the unintended impact of some fans’ irrational and unreasonable reactions on social media.

On the mics: Jerod, Andy, and Ryan

• [00:28] In Segment One, Jerod looks to the future in his Banner Moment, Andy and Ryan deliver their opening remarks, we highlight why you should order a mattress from Comfort Option, and then dive into our keys to beating Purdue — including why taking and making 3s will be so important.

• [21:07] In Segment Two, we look at the catch-and-shoot data from Synergy to see which IU players might be best equipped to handle a heavier load of 3-point volume. Then we look at what the data tells us about play types IU players have been successful in, and how those play types might (or might not) fit into the offense moving forward.

• [37:06] In Segment Three, we use a Twitter exchange between the moms of Armaan Franklin and Keion Brooks to highlight an IU basketball-centric reason for fans to act with decency and reasonableness on social media … you know, just in case generally being decent and reasonable isn’t enough (which it clearly isn’t for some people).

• [47:55] And in our final segment, we get to a couple of questions about what it will take to feel good about IU’s performance in West Lafayette on Saturday and which bench player most needs to step up and produce more.

All of that and more on this week’s edition of Assembly Call Radio.

[Read more…] about [469] Keys to Beating Purdue, Offensive Tweaks, and Social Media Nonsense

In this week’s edition of Basketball 201, Ben and Jerod discuss the impact of shooting on floor spacing in light of last night’s IU-Nebraska game. The ‘Huskers had it, and the Hoosiers did not.

We also spend some time at the end talking about some of Archie’s coaching philosophies and giving our armchair point guard ideas for tweaks that might help this particular group of players.

And a bunch of other stuff that you have to be a hoops nerd to appreciate.

[Read more…] about Basketball 201: The Impact of Shooting on Floor Spacing