Indiana Basketball Preview: Third Year Under Archie Miller is Different

This is the first of a three-part series previewing the Indiana college basketball season.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Archie Miller didn't come to Indiana three years ago with blinders on. He knew what he was getting in to as the boss of one of America's most historic basketball programs.

The first two years have been kind of rough, to say the least. To be honest, he didn't inherit the greatest of situations — not terrible, but not terrific either —when he was hired from Dayton on March 27, 2017. There have been some nice moments, but there's also been plenty of things that haven't worked out so well. Zero NCAA Tournament bids sums that up nicely.

And at Indiana, that's never good enough. With great experiences come great expectations. It comes from the fan base for sure, but it also comes from these Indiana coaches and players.

And to a man, they say Year 3 under Miller will be different. It will be better.

"I feel like it's just a different vibe, feel like we have upped it a notch,'' said junior guard Al Durham, who was recruited to Indiana by former coach Tom Crean and has seen it all in his two-plus years under Miller in Bloomington. "I feel like everybody is on the same page now, and it just feels different. There's just a lot of different energy here now, and I feel like we're ready to go to war for each other.

"I feel like we've been prepared by coach and the staff, and I can't wait to get it started.''

It gets started Tuesday night with a home game against Western Illinois. It's the first of seven straight November home games inside the friendly confines of Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, all against unranked teams where the Hoosiers should be favored to win every game.

It's a schedule built for this team to grow and gain confidence, and that's a good thing, because there are already several hurdles to overcome. Injuries have been an issue during preseason practices in October, especially to the backcourt, where three of the four guards on the roster have missed a substantial amount of practice time.

That makes it tough.

"Each season presents different challenges, but I feel like this group and this staff that we have right now is very locked in arms and also very centered in on how this team has to play,'' Miller said Monday. "Each season, you kind of go into it with an expectation of what's known. We have a little bit of an unknown with this group with three new players and guys coming off injury.

"I think from a preparation standpoint, we've very, very comfortable and confident that our system can be tweaked at times, and I think we've tweaked it. Offensively we've tweaked a bunch. We're very comfortable with what we are doing. Development, trusting your depth, putting it on them in practice where those guys have to do it every day has been the biggest thing that we've held our hat on as a staff.

"I think we've shown that the guys that do the right things every day and come to work, they're going to get an opportunity to help the team.''

A more complete roster for the first time

During Miller's first two years at Indiana — and in Crean's last year really, in 2016-17 — Indiana's roster was unbalanced and had obvious gaps. Miller is just 35-31 overall and has a losing record (17-21) in Big Ten games. Crean was 18-16 and 7-11 in the Big Ten during his final season, which led — among many other reasons — to his firing.

For the first time under Miller, there are enough big men to play inside and compete. The additions of 6-foot-9 freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis — the Indiana Mr. Basketball in 2019 — and graduate transfer Joey Brunk from Butler has fixed that issue overnight, and they've probably been Indiana's two best players during preseason practices, Miller said.

There was no concern about the guard situation coming into the year, because senior Devonte Green, Durham and sophomore point guard Rob Phinisee were the three leading returning scorers. The plan was to play three guards often and up the tempo, playing at a quicker pace.

But injuries have thrown that for a loop in October, so much so that the three of them have barely practiced together all month. Green has a hamstring issue that has sidelined him most of the month, and he will not play in Tuesday night's opener.

Phinisee has a rare lower abdominal injury that comes and goes, and his appearance in last week's exhibition game against Gannon "was really the first five-on-five action that he's seen since the beginning of October,'' Miller said. He's expected to play Tuesday night, but for how long is uncertain, and this might be a lingering issue all year long.

Even Durham has been out for a while, He banged his knee in a closed-door scrimmage with Marquette two weeks ago and missed some practice and the exhibition game. He said Monday that he's 100 percent and ready to go.

With the three of them out a lot, true freshman Armaan Franklin has been thrown into the fire, and he's responded well. He needs to, because the Hoosiers will need him right out of the gate.

Because of all the injuries, Indiana may be forced to play a bigger lineup through much of November. Sophomore Damezi Anderson (6-foot-7) started at the two-guard in the exhibition, and with Justin Smith (6-foot-7), Jackson-Davis (6-9) and Brunk (6-11) all out there at the same time, the Hoosiers are big and long.

The same applies when Jerome Hunter (6-7) and Race Thompson (6-8) — two guys who missed all of last year with serious injuries — come off the bench and play the wing spots.

It's also different, with more size out there but less quickness. That wasn't the plan, and a big lineup, though it has advantages, also creates some issues.

"From a defensive standpoint, at times you look out there and you see Justin and Jerome, those guys are guarding 6-foot guards and that's the first time they have probably ever done that,'' Miller said after the Gannon exhibition, which the Hoosiers won 84-54. "We weren't applying as much pressure as you would want to, but you also realize you have forwards in there guarding perimeter players. So the stickiness and toughness that we needed on the ball wasn't there.''

That's going to be the most interesting thing to watch through this stretch in November. The pieces are there for Indiana, but they are also going to be placed in different places often.

How will they react? We'll have to wait and see.

What Miller likes the most is that all 11 scholarship players are ready and capable to contribute. That's a good thing, but the young guys are still learning on the fly, too. It all needs to mesh, and that doesn't happen overnight.

"You have guys coming off injury a year ago, some freshman like Damezi and Jerome, who didn't play as much,'' Miller said. "You're kind of hoping your older players, De'Ron (Davis), Devonte, Al, Justin, those guys are your anchors so you're trying to mesh it.

"I think what we figured out is we have a group that hopefully there is very little dropoff, which is what we anticipated being from one through eight, through nine, through 10, and so on. At any given time, nine, 10, eight, seven are going to play as big of a role as one, two, three on this team. That's what we've conveyed, and the plan has really been to allow that to grow.

"I think that's a big thing here in November, is how this team evolves chemistry-wise, development-wise. Is everybody on the page. Are you seeing good production even in little minutes or a lot of minutes. So that's been good.''

Hanging their hat on defense

The formula to reach the NCAA Tournament this season is to play sound, solid defense at every level and be a good rebounding team. Those two areas are going to be critical.

"Most definitely, we have to rebound, have to be able to guard one-on-one, and defend the pick and roll,'' Durham said. "I feel like we'll be fine, most definitely, with those three things and bringing aggressiveness and toughness.''

Adjusting on the fly already has been a good thing for this team.

"Defensively, I think we're learning playing bigger lineups and what not, how we're going to struggle, and at times being able to maneuver into a smaller lineup,'' Miller said. "Those are things I think we're very comfortable with right now.

"I think this team knows if we hang our hat defensively with the numbers we have, that's our best chance of becoming a really good, consistent team. So defensively, in all areas just getting better, and rebounding, it's important. We have to continue to rebound the ball. It's got to be a great emphasis for this team on both sides of the board. We have to be able to do that from an execution standpoint, and all the little tedious things you're going to go through each day and each week and to get better at, we've done that.''

As tipoff nears, there's a lot to look forward to with these Hoosiers. It's going to be an interesting November to track growth, both individually and collectively. It's time to go.

"I think as we prepared for the season, as we prepared for this team, there have been a very few surprises,'' Miller said. "If there have been surprises, they've been on the positive. Each game, each week will present something. I'm confident though in this group and in our plan that we're a 100 percent locked in.

"I they our guys know that we have a ton of confidence in what we do that works.''

The rest of our season preview series

Part II: Indiana player profiles and outlook: Who they are, what they've done, and what's expected from each of Indiana's 11 scholarship players.

Part III: Who fits where in the Big Ten: A look at the always-tough Big Ten conference and where Hoosiers might fit. COMING SOON

Indiana's 2019-20 men's basketball schedule: CLICK HERE