College Basketball

Indiana Basketball: Why the Hoosiers are a hit-or-miss team

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:39 a.m. ET

Fansided, Carmine Carcieri/FanSided via Busting Brackets

Indiana basketball can be an average team or they can beat anyone in the country on any given night.

The Indiana Hoosiers (10-2) have one of the best early season wins in college basketball, as they knocked off the Kansas Jayhawks in a neutral site game. However, the Hoosiers also have a loss to the Summit League’s Fort Wayne Mastodons on the road.

Tom Crean’s squad can be an average team on some nights but on others, they can beat anyone in the country.

The Hoosiers have all the talent in the world. They have four players averaging in double figures (James Blackmon Jr., Robert Johnson, OG Anunoby and Thomas Bryant), have two potential first round picks on their roster in Anunoby and Bryant and support depth at numerous different positions.

They can shoot the ball from deep (40 percent for the season) and score 89 points per game.

On top of their offensive punch, they have numerous players that can handle the ball and initiate the offense. It’s not just point guard Josh Newkirk who can run the point; it’s Juwan Morgan, Blackmon, Johnson, Anunoby, Curtis Jones and even Bryant on occasion.

But the downfall to a team like Indiana is that they rely heavily on threes. If they aren’t firing on all cylinders like they were against Kansas or North Carolina, they very well could lose to an average or just below average team. For example, against Fort Wayne, Indiana shot just 29 percent from beyond the arc. Blackmon was ice cold. Anunoby suffered an injury. And their bench scored just four points beyond Newkirk.

Indiana also tends to struggle with turnovers and offensive creation.

The Hoosiers are turning the basketball over 16 times per game, which could be a major detriment in match-ups against some of the top teams in the nation. Teams in Big Ten conference play are going to take advantage of those consistent mistakes by scoring easy baskets on the other end and controlling the pace of the game.

Crean’s unit also doesn’t have a true creator late in the shot clock or in crunch time. Blackmon has that potential, but he also has injury questions and is more comfortable playing off the ball where he can get in-rhythm jumpers. Anunoby is still developing on that end of the floor and operates better as a catch-and-shoot player. And while Bryant continues to improve in the post and from beyond the arc, his skills haven’t fully grown.

When Indiana is hitting their threes, they can score and defeat any team in the nation, and are a National Title contender. But they are held back by unpredictability. Their defense (beyond Anunoby’s versatility and Bryant’s rim protection) just isn’t elite enough to carry them to victory when their shooting is ice cold.