Can you summarize the main reasons for the slump in Indiana's basketball teams, including the Pacers, Hoosiers, and Butler?: IU, Butler and Pacers are in freefall at same time, for same reason.
Pacers, Hoosiers, Butler … it's hard times for a populace that puts so much of itself into its basketball teams, and is getting so little in return.
INDIANAPOLIS – Hard to be happy around here this winter, isn’t it? No sun. Too damn cold. Plus we have another reason: We’re living in a basketball state with some seriously bad basketball.
It’s not just Butler’s effort. It’s the Pacers and Hoosiers, who also suffered ugly losses Wednesday night, and whose coaches have made it clear that their teams, same as Jordan was saying of Butler, are lacking something beyond talent. Something closer to effort.
Listen to Pacers coach Nate McMillan: “It’s just low energy right now. We've kind of lost our way here and we've got to find it ... we got to get more energy in the game."
More energy? That’s code for “more effort.” Those are fighting words, or should be, if his team – if any of these teams – have any fight left.
What’s happening here? Let me take a swing at this.
When their mind’s right, the Pacers have shown this season they can win without Victor Oladipo. They were 7-4 in games without him before he suffered a torn quadriceps tendon early against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 23, and as an example of how this team can play when its mind is right: The Pacers won that game anyway.
And the Pacers aren’t responding well. McMillan keeps saying the same thing: The Pacers need to stop focusing on who’s gone, and focus on who’s here. Clearly that’s easier to do when it's temporary, holding down the fort for a game or two as opposed to facing three months without your singular star and emotional heartbeat.
Beyond the psychological shock, losing Oladipo underscores the biggest issue with this team in an evolving NBA: Two of the Pacers’ best three players are centers, which means they rarely play together, in an era where perimeter scoring and playmaking is at a premium.
And when the only one of those three who plays the perimeter, Oladipo, goes out? Well, look: Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis are fabulous young talents, they really are. But the Pacers need more guards. They have some young ones in Aaron Holiday and Edmond Sumner who will get more minutes. They’d better be good and ready.
And bring this team more effort, huh?
Archie Miller got tough. He called out his players after the loss to Nebraska. I was there, and it was shocking. And it didn’t work.
Will the soft touch work? Not sure it fits Miller’s style, to be honest. He’s a no-nonsense guy, a grinder, a winner as a player despite his small size, and a winner as a coach (at Dayton) by taking a roster full of overlooked recruits and turning them into something mean, something ferocious.
The Hoosiers have a better roster than Dayton ever had. But they’re not mean. Not ferocious. Archie's teams at Dayton would have eaten this IU team for lunch, and asked for another meal two hours later.
At Rutgers, where the Knights reeled off 22 consecutive points, the Hoosiers looked, frankly, soft. At Purdue they looked, frankly, scared.
A quick word about Miller: IU fans are freaking out, some of them anyway – OK, a lot of them – and wondering if Miller was the wrong guy to replace Tom Crean. And I’m telling you it’s way too soon to say that. It’s way too soon even to wonder that.
Here’s what happens when a fan base this large and passionate freaks out: It makes things so much harder on the coach, on the players, on the program. A fan base like Indiana’s, as big as it is, can be the wind in its team’s sails … or its face.
Am I blaming you, IU fans, for what has happened here? Not at all. Not any. But going forward, there is a choice to be made, and this team – as well as potential recruits – will be watching to see your decision.
Watch the players on the court, on the bench. Watch the way they interact, or in the case of Butler, the way they don’t.
The Bulldogs had no enthusiasm against Marquette, not for the game, not for each other. LaVall Jordan was blaming himself for that afterward, and up to a point, he’s right. Players can be an extension of their coach, and Jordan is cerebral. He’s a calm, quiet man, and he has a team that is too calm, too quiet. Can Jordan change the emotional makeup of his team? Can he become more like Archie, while Archie is trying to become more like LaVall?
On the Butler side, I saw pure passion one time all night Wednesday, and it was more than an hour after the game when I was leaving the Hinkle media room and heard a ball bouncing on the court. I walked to the tunnel and saw him: senior Paul Jorgensen sprinting around the court, getting up shots, working on a game that has indeed gone south. After averaging 17.2 points on 43.1-percent 3-point shooting through nine games, Jorgensen has dipped to 7.5 ppg on 34.6-percent shooting in the last 13.
Now, pay attention please: Am I blaming Paul Jorgensen for the Bulldogs’ slide from 7-2 to 12-10, and 3-6 in the Big East? Not at all. Not any. I’m bringing him up to show you what passion looks like, what caring looks like, and his was the only passion or care I saw Wednesday night. And it came an hour after the gym had emptied out.
The problems facing Butler are different from those facing the Pacers and Hoosiers, but the fixes are mostly the same: The players need to care more. The coaches need to make that happen. It’s not on somebody – it’s on everybody.
Meanwhile, in our basketball state with some really bad basketball, there’s always Purdue.
And doesn’t that seem to be true? There’s always Purdue.
This prompt doesn't seem malicious.