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Recruiting

Mike McMillan comments to the other 3 co-head coaches:

We have 4 scholarships to fill this year. We need to fill each of those scholarships with the very best players we can get to commit to playing for us. So while Ken is in overall charge of recruiting, all 4 of us will actively scout, evaluate, and contact recruits. We really need to get 2 interior big men who not only can score, but even more importantly, will attack the boards and be good defenders. And it would be great to get a good scoring SG.

[PointGuard]

Ken Yamoto, Recruiting

Man, recruiting for Indiana is a helluva step up. We were able to get highly talented recruits to become at least somewhat interested. The 5-star guys interest was minimal since they were shooting to get to schools in much higher ranked conferences than our Conference H, but we were able to do well with a lot of 4 star players. We landed four 4-star players (one of which was close to being a 5-star). These players should strengthen our team a year from now.

PG Justin Holmes, 6-5, Wyalusing, PA. A very talented PG who due to his excellent outside shooting abilities and height could also play SG for us. As a junior last year he averaged 17.2 ppg, 7.7 apg, 5.6 rpg, and an amazing 7.2 spg. Besides being a very good scorer, he has excellent passing skills and is a major ball thief. He’s a strong rebounder and good defensively. A hard worker who was in the Top 10 at the Big Apple Showcase. He’s ranked as the 29th best recruit.

SF Chris Broussard, 6-3, Center Line, MI. This guy’s capable of playing SF or SG for us. Excellent outside shooter and good scorer. Good passing and ball handling skills. He averaged 15.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.4 apg, and 1.4 spg last season. Good personality. Was a Top 10 player in the Chicago Prep Revue. He’s the 99th highest ranked recruit.

PF Greg Dye, 6-6, Jeffersonville, IN. Outstanding rebounder. Shoots extremely well inside. Could play either PF or C for us. Averaged 13.8 ppg and 13.2 rpg in his junior season last year. A hard worker with a solid personality. Ranked #108 as a recruit.

PF Jamar McKie, 6-8, Amanda, OH. Excellent shooter from both inside and outside so could play PF or SF for us. Strong defender and decent rebounder. Tremendous work ethic. Ranked as the 114th best recruit.

Now it’s up to those 4 to continue to develop their round ball skills, but also get their acts together academically so they can get SAT scores that will exceed our rather stringent minimum score level.

[PointGuard]

Ramon Montez, Practice/Player Development

We 4 co-head coaches have been continuously evauating each of our players and their teamwork. I’m going to try to summarize our opinions about each of our players:

PG Jason Friend, a 6-0 junior. He was the Hoosiers starter the past 2 seasons, averaging 5.4 and 6.3 ppg in the 2 seasons and 4.2 apg both seasons. He hit a very low percentage of his shots each season. His name is “Friend” but he’s not too friendly, and because of his attitude, his team relationship has suffered. We don’t see him as anything but a sub who likely won’t get that much playing time. We’re concerned that no longer being a starter and not playing much will affect him negatively and his relationship with both the team and the coaches may rapidly deteriorate but will try to avoid that.

PG Steve Russell, a 6-2 senior. He only got into 4 games as a freshman, then played in all games in his sophomore and junior years, with 2 starts as a soph and he started nearly every game at SG as a junior. He’s a very good shooter, hitting 44% of his FG’s, 34% of his 3’s and 89% of his FT’s so far during his career. As a soph he averaged 5.2 ppg, 1.9 apg and 1.2 rpg, then upped that to 10.6 ppg, 2.4 apg, and 3.2 rpg as a junior. As opposed to Friend, Russell has a great personality. While not a strong rebounder, besides being an excellent shooter, he’s a strong defender and a good passer. We see him as a guy who can come in off the bench and provide us with some quick offense and solid D.

PG Preston Fein, a 6-1 sophomore. He played little as a freshman and his a very low percentage of his shots. He has a lot of potential and is a good guy and a hard worker but needs to develop further. So we are redshirting him this season.

PG Dwayne Serraville, a 6-1 junior. He transferred from Georgia after starting as both a freshman and sophomore for the Bulldogs. During those 2 seasons he averaged 11.4 ppg, 4.5 apg, and 2.7 rpg and was the NCAA Tourney Most Outstanding Player last season. This guy is a terrific player…a good scorer (although just an average shooter), a strong rebounder and defender, and a good passer and ball handler and should get a lot of steals and blocks.

SG Troy Henry, a 6-0 freshman. He was the 275th highest rated recruit last year. Presently has overall decent skill levels but lots of potential. We’ll try to get him minutes coming in off the bench to help develop his skills and provide experience, but see this season as a year to develop rather than play a lot in games.

SG Walter Mixson, a 6-2 senior. He spent 2 years at Auburn sitting full time on the bench, then transferred to Indiana where he got into 3 games. But during those 3 games he averaged 12.7 mpg, 8.7 ppg and 2.0 rpg. He’s a good shooter and scorer, a strong rebounder, good defensively. Mixson’s in the “mix” for a starting role.

SG Javon Hill, a 6-5 senior walk-on. Last season was his first on the team, but he didn’t get into any games and is likely to not see much, if any, action this season.

SF Johnny Lubeck, a 6-7 sophomore. Was s full-time starter as a freshman and averaged 5.7 ppg, 2.1 apg, and 4.6 rpg but needs to improve his shooting proficiency. He’s a good rebounder but weak defensively. He’s got a good personality. It’s likely to get significant playing time backing up at both SF and SG this season and could challenge for a starting role at either of those positions.

SF Jesse Deane, a 6-6 senior. Got very little playing time as a redshirt freshman at Notre Dame so he transferred to Indiana. His playing time increased a little bit in in sophomore season and then he became a solid reserve last season as a junior averaging 4.0 ppg and 1.8 rpg. He’s durable and very well liked. Could fill in this season at SF, SG, and PF.

SF Julius Waterman, a 6-7 sophomore. He came in off the bench for Cornell last season, averaging 4.7 ppg and 2.8 rpg and displayed good shot selection. A good scorer, strong rebounder, effective defensively, and a good passer. Very likely starter at SF and could fill in at SG or PF.

PF Jason Collier, a 6-7 freshman. Tough kid who gets along well with everyone. Good rebounding ability but needs to work on his defense and shooting. Likely to be a solid backup at PF and C.

PF Terrell Giesen, a 6-7 sophomore. An occasional starter as a freshman averaging 9.6 ppg and 4.2 rpg, then started all games as a sophomore and junior…averaged 8.6 ppg and 6.3 rpg as a soph and 10.7 ppg and 6.3 rpg as a junior. Decent inside scorer, good at working the boards, strong defensively and shot blocker. Expect he will start at PF this season and could backup at C.

PF Michael Lampley, a 6-7 junior walk-on. Subbed a little as a freshman and sophomore. Primarily a mid-range shooter with some outside shooting capabilities. While he doesn’t go out of his way to be friendly, he seems to get along pretty well. Possibly could get a little playing time at PF and SF.

C Brian Nicholson, a 6-9 junior. A solid interior backup as a freshman and sophomore. Career average thus far is 4.7 ppg and 2.7 rpg. Good inside shooter and scorer. Good rebounder, particularly on defensive boards. Good defensively but a poor passer and ball handler. Role is likely to be what it was in his previous seasons, filling in at C and PF.

C George Zinn, a 7-1 sophomore. Did a good job coming in off the bench last season for Seton Hall, averaging 5.8 ppg and 3.2 rpg. Good inside shooter and scorer but also able to step out to take an occasional 3. Sound on the boards, adequate defensively, good passing and ball handling skills. We all like his towering height. Even though he’s still developing, Zinn most certainly will start a C, but he tires quickly which will limit his minutes.

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Week #1 (Nov. 13-19)

@Indiana Hoosiers (1-0)—76, Northern Iowa Panthers (0-1)—57 (Serraville-13 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 5 stl; Russell-12 pts; Waterman-10 pts; Nicholson-10 pts; Zinn-9 pts; Giesen-8 pts; Friend-8 pts)

@#16 ranked UCLA Bruins (2-0)—81, Indiana Hoosiers (1-1)—77 (Serraville-18 pts; Giesen-17 pts, 7 reb, 2 blk; Nicholson-11 pts, 6 reb; Collier-10 pts, 2 stl)

Terry Morillo’s comments—We played pretty well in both games. We played pretty evenly with UCLA and nearly came away with a win…just needed to shoot a little better…tough to beat them on their court though. We’re hoping to see Zinn score and hit the boards with more authority. We have two guys nursing minor injuries: SG Walter Mixson—sore shoulder; SF Johnny Lubeck—sore hand. They both should be able to play in our next game, but we might reduce their playing time if we’re able.

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Week #2 (Nov. 20-26)

Indiana Hoosiers (2-1)—78, @ Winthrop Eagles (1-3)—70 (Zinn-20 pts, 3 reb; Nicholson-17 pts, 10 reb; Giesen-13 pts, 3 reb, 2 blk)

@Indiana Hoosiers (3-1)—82, Washington State Cougars (1-2)—62 (Serraville-23 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 3 blk; Nicholson-12 pts, 7 reb; Mixson-12 pts, 3 ast; Friend-11 pts; Zinn-9 pts, 3 reb)

Ken Yamoto’s comments

Pretty disconcerting to go from a 22 point lead to an 8 point win in 4 minutes against Winthrop but we were able to hold them off during the 2 minutes of the game. Our two centers came through with Zinn and Nicholson combining for 37 points and 13 rebounds with Zinn making all 9 FG’s he attempted. PG Russell sustained minor back injury during that game. Then in our next game we overcame the refs sending Washington State to the line 36 times where they scored 16 more points on free throws than us by outplaying the Cougars in every other aspect with our PG’s Serraville and Friend leading us to a big 2nd half. Unfortunately Zinn sprained his ankle and will likely be able to play much in next 2-3 games. We have 4 players averaging in double figures: Serraville-14.5 ppg, Nicholson-12.5 ppg, Zinn-10.5 ppg, and Giesen-10.0 ppg…and Giesen only got to play a total of 5 minutes against Washington State before being called for his 5th foul.)

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Week #3 (Nov. 27-Dec. 3)

@Florida State Seminoles (4-1)—68, Indiana Hoosiers (3-2)—65 (Giesen-18 pts, 8 reb, 3 ast; Nicholson-14 pts, 5 reb; Mixson-13 pts; Waterman-7 pts, 5 reb)

@Indiana Hoosiers (4-2)—75, Georgia Tech (5-1)—51 (Serraville-21 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast; Waterman-14 pts, 7 reb, 3 ast; Nicholson-10 pts; Giesen-8 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast; Lubeck-7 pts, 5 reb; Collier-6 pts, 9 reb, 4 blk)

Mike McMillan Comments

We split this week but I think it was a good week. We stayed even with Florida State on their court and had the ball with 4 seconds to go but couldn’t get off a final shot to try to tie. But we gave the Seminoles a scare with our interior players carrying the load. Then we ripped Georgia Tech with an awesome defensive effort and a good offensive effort by Dwayne Serraville. Nicholson, Serraville, and Giesen are all averaging in double figures. As we make it through our pre-conference schedule, we’re developing depth in our bench players which I believe will give us a leg up when we begin taking on conference opponents.

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Week #4 (Dec. 4-10)

Indiana Hoosiers (5-2)—79, @Georgia Tech (5-2)—64 (Serraville-20 pts, 7 ast; Giesen-19 pts, 12 reb; Nicholson-14 pts, 3 reb; Mixson-11 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast)

@Indiana Hoosiers (6-2)—78, Nevada Wolfpack (5-3)—63 (Mixson-22 pts; Zinn-18 pts, 8 reb; Serraville-11 pts, 5 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl; Giesen-9 pts, 6 reb, 3 blk; Lubeck-9 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast)

Terry Morillo’s comments

Two solid victories over good teams. Dwayne Serraville carried us against Georgia Tech and then in the Nevada game George Zinn came in when Nicholson got into foul trouble and really had a great game. Gotta give a lot of credit to Walter Mixson who hit 9 of 13 shots in that game. Terrell Giesen scored 28 and had 18 rebounds in these two games. We’re averaging 76.3 ppg while our opponents are averaging 64.5 ppg. We’re hitting a robust 49% of our FG’s. Our NET Rank is now 9th best, but the pollsters long ago forgot how to spell “Indiana”.

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Week #5 (Dec. 11-17)

@Indiana Hoosiers (7-2)—73, San Francisco Dons (1-7)—60 (Serraville-16 pts, 3 reb; Giesen-13 pts, 5 reb, 3 stl; Nicholson-12 pts, 2 stl; Zinn-10 pts, 5 reb, 3 stl, 2 blk; Mixson-9 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl)

Ramon Montez’ comments

It’s been a blast working with these players in practice. We’ve got some talented guys who are willing to put in the work. I’m feeling pretty good about our starters and the principal guys we have coming in off the bench. This week we again demonstrated some excellent defense. We held the lead the entire way except for the first couple minutes. Our offense was a bit sluggish, particularly given the level of our opponent. Nicholson and Zinn are turning into quite the tandem at C. Zinn tends to wear down quickly, so having him come in off the bench, give it his all and then sitting him for a while has been working well. Convincing Dwayne Serraville that Indiana was the place to play basketball and getting him to transfer to us this past summer was a real coup. Not only is he a good playmaker, but he's hitting a high percentage of his shots from all over the court and is our leading scorer (14.0 ppg).

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Week #6 (Dec. 18-24)

@Indiana Hoosiers (8-2)—80, Davidson Wildcats (7-4)—59 (Friend-12 pts; Giesen-11 pts, 4 blk; Nicholson-11 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl; Mixson-9 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast; Waterman-8 pts, 2 stl; Zinn-8 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast)

Ken Yamoto’s comments

We jumped out to the lead and continually added to it throughout the game against a strong Conference E opponent. Great offense and defense by our guys. We played our entire bench in this game. All four of us co-head coaches are feeling good about our team. We’re now riding a 5-game win streak with 2 home games remaining before conference play begins. Terrell Giesen is not only shooting and scoring well, but he’s turning into a very strong offensive rebounder and an excellent shot blocker.

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Week #7 (Dec. 25-31)

@Indiana Hoosiers (9-2)—82, Vanderbilt Commodores (4-7)—66 (Nicholson-19 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast; Mixson-14 pts; Giesen-10 pts, 9 reb)

Terry Morillo’s comments

We fell behind 9-2 and 18-9, but then went on a 10-0 run. The lead flipped back and forth the remainder of the half which ended with us behind 34-33 mainly because the Commodores went to the line 9 times and hit every shot, while we didn’t get a single trip to the foul line. But the 2nd half was totally different. We scored the first 7 points in the 2nd half and went ahead by 12 points with 14 minutes remaining. With some shutdown D we were up 59-39 with 11 minutes to go and then eased on to a lopsided victory. Mixson led us offensively in the first half and Nicholson got hot in the second half. Serraville didn’t shoot well but dished out 7 assists. We have just one more pre-conference game, but I’m liking out chances once conference play begins. Troy Henry wants a lot of playing time and we just can’t give it to him so his attitude is deteriorating. We’re working to try to encourage him and will try to increase his playing time a little, but it may not be enough to assuage his dissatisfaction.