LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — There are multiple miscues a coach can make to get people wondering if he is the guy who can take a basketball program where it aspires to be.
Archie Miller is making them at Indiana.
Lose to your primary rival six straight times — four in your home arena.
Check.
Happened Thursday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, where Miller and IU trailed for more than 36½ minutes before losing to Purdue, 81-69.
This is not a great Purdue team. The Boilermakers are unranked. It’s a team that lost five of its first dozen games. Check the fine print of the Purdue resume. You’ll discover a loss to a Miami Hurricanes team that lost five of its first six Atlantic Coast Conference games.
Here is another coaching miscue: Treat the 3-point field goal line as if it’s painted with poison.
Check.
Purdue outscored Indiana by 24 points from distance, making 7 of its first 9 and 11 of 17. Indiana, meanwhile, went 3 for 18, missing its last six and failing to make two in a row all night.
Make the 3, or defend the 3.
Great teams do both. Good teams do at least one. Teams that lose games they need to win are bad in both categories.
This was not simply a Thursday night problem for Indiana (8-6). I believe I mentioned Miller has lost six straight to Matt Painter and Purdue.
Three-point misery has been written into most of those losses. In six games against Purdue, Miller’s teams have made 27 of 124 shots from distance.
That is less than 22%. That is treating the 3-point shot as if you don’t know what to do with it.
That's impossible to overcome, especially when you also miss 13 of 29 free throws.Â
At its best, Indiana’s 3-point shooting has been ordinary over Miller’s three-plus seasons. At its worst, it has been similar to the shooting the Hoosiers displayed Thursday, an awkward collection of air balls, rim rattlers and wide rights.
From Huntington to Hammond, from Tell City to Madison, from Greencastle to Greenfield, from Loogootee to Indianapolis, in a state that worships basketball, there have to be a few guys who can make jump shots.
Painter’s in-state recruits — Mason Gillis, Eric Hunter, Brandon Newman, Sasha Stefanovic and Jaden Ivy — made 9 of 14 shots from distance.
For three-plus seasons Miller has either failed to develop shooters or failed to recruit shooters. Pick either answer.
Until the issue is fixed, Indiana will flounder against Purdue — and the rivals are scheduled to finish the regular season with another game in West Lafayette March 6. Indiana has not won in Mackey Arena since 2013.Â
Painter’s team was tougher, smarter and more versatile than Miller’s team. IU closed within one possession several times in the second half. Purdue refused to blink.
There are at least two other miscues a coach can make to get people wondering if he is the guy who can take a basketball program where it aspires to be.
One is to fail to win conference championships. The other is fail to succeed in the NCAA Tournament.
For Miller, this is year four.
Nobody should expect Bob Knight results. But at Indiana, Bob Knight is always part of the conversation. In year four, Knight did not lose a Big Ten game and had already been to the Final Four. Tom Crean took down top-ranked Kentucky and made the Sweet Sixteen in Year Four.
Miller is better measured against his Big Ten peers. He came to Indiana from Dayton the same season that Brad Underwood took charge at Illinois and Chris Holtmann became the coach at Ohio State.
Both Illinois and Ohio State are ranked in this week’s Associated Press Top 25. The Illini and Buckeyes and are playing like teams that will not have to sweat Selection Sunday.
Illinois has two of the 10 best players in the Big Ten and has been discussed as a team that could certainly make the Final Four.
Ohio State has won four of its seven Big Ten games, all by double figures. The Buckeyes won’t win the Big Ten. They will make the NCAA Tournament.
Miller’s first three IU teams have finished sixth (tied, 2018); eighth (tied, 2019) and 10th (tied, 2020) in the league.
The Hoosiers will not win a Big Ten championship this season. They’ll struggle to finish in the first division.
The Hoosiers have not played in the NCAA Tournament since 2016, although most projections had IU one of the last teams in the 2020 field before the tourney was canceled by the novel coronavirus.
By losing to Purdue, Indiana slipped into a four-way tie for seventh in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers have lost home games to Northwestern and Purdue. They are about to move into the most grinding part of their schedule.
They’d likely make the 68-team field if the tournament was selected today — unless the Selection Committee watched video of the way Indiana played against Purdue.
Then they’d wonder what everybody else is wondering.
Copyright 2021 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.
