#IUBB Media Day Transcript
9/26/2018 5:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - On Wednesday, Indiana head coach Archie Miller and members of the team met with the media to preview the 2018-19 season. Below is a transcript from the event.
Head Coach Archie Miller
Thanks, everybody, for coming. I guess this would be the annual kickoff for media day, which sets us up for a really good weekend this weekend with Hoosier Hysteria for our fans and our players, their families, our staff and generally just kickoff week so to speak. So it's exciting.
We begin on Monday with less fanfare on Monday the 1st, which will be our first official day of practice. So it's a good time to come in mid-week, set it up for this weekend, and obviously get ready to go for next week.
Q. I want to ask you about the freshman class. What have you seen from them so far in the off-season, and what are you expecting from this group of players?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, the five freshmen have done a nice job fitting in. I think they had a busy summer, six strong weeks here getting acclimated in school, getting acclimated with the team, and workouts, et cetera, also, getting themselves situated physically.
I think the one thing that stands out about the five freshmen, genetically, physically, they're gifted. There's size, there's strength, there's athleticism. It's a group that can come in and compete in college physically, which is always a good thing.
Not that they don't have room to grow or they don't have a lot of ground to cover in certain areas, but I think just as a talented group athletically, they bring an influx of talent. Each of them has an opportunity to really impact our team. Each of them has an opportunity to define their own niche, so to speak, their own role here early. How much of that is up to them, but clearly I think all of them are confident guys, and through our fall in particular getting to watch them in five-on-five settings and practice settings and drill work and things that they've never been involved with before, you get to see the level of detail and understanding of the game that they have.
That's been good to see, to sort of see where guys have to sort of speed up in certain areas and where some guys are ahead and where you can see them fitting in maybe earlier in the year than others. But we're very pleased with them. All of them are great guys, and like I said before, they've added value in a lot of ways but one. I just think from a talent perspective they make us bigger and stronger and deeper.
Q. Looking at the roster, seems like you've got 12, 13, 14 guys who could play, have a niche, whatever. How much do you put it on them to make clear who gets any sort of minutes, who gets in the rotation?
ARCHIE MILLER: It has to be that way. When you don't have it that way, you're sort of strapped as a coach and you kind of live and die with the results, and when you have depth and you have competition level that I think we can have, every day you're going to have to earn it, and that's how teams really grow. We talked a lot about how this team has to progress, and part of it is if you are maximizing your effort level, your concentration level, you're giving everything you have, you're pushing yourself to a new limit individually, then obviously you're going to push somebody next to you to do the same, because if not, then the guy is going to stand out in a negative fashion.
But if you can ever get a group of, like you said, 10, 12, 13 guys always doing that, trying to push themselves to be the best, which results in others around them having to respond in that type of manner, your environment becomes one of which is very competitive. When you have that every day, you get better. When you have that, you generate a mutual respect for one another.
How you earn minutes is obviously through production, and if you can get it done every day in practice, typically with the way we do things, I think it translates to the floor. When it translates to the floor when you have your opportunities, you continue to grow your role.
But without question, competition is going to be something that we hold dear to our heart this season. Not that we don't do it every season, but this is a season in particular where there's a lot of guys with expectations.
Q. Juwan talked at this time last year about being a leader, being more vocal, all those sorts of things, and he kind of lived a lot of that last season as a junior. How have you seen him grow from that experience and what are your expectations for him this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, Juwan is really -- he's a senior now. He went through a career-best year last year on the floor, and I think he gained a ton of confidence. I think he's carried that confidence into the off-season in his actions and his leadership ability. I think everyone on the team kind of understands where he's at right now at this stage of his career compared to even 12 months ago.
My expectation for Juwan really, to be honest with you, is to be about the team and be about his senior season, be about his two-year legacy with transition, and find an opportunity, find a way for him to be the driving force behind a team that reaches its maximum potential, has an opportunity to compete for the top of the Big Ten, has an opportunity to compete for an NCAA Tournament bid.
But none of that's possible unless he does it every single day the right way like he did a year ago where he really didn't have any concerns about the outside world. If he can do that again as a senior, I think that he'll show some of the added dimensions that he's added, without stress, and I also think he'll be able to carry our team in big games here early in the season because I do think he has a confidence level.
Q. I know a lot was new for you last year, first year here, but now that you have a year under your belt, how much are you personally and with this team looking forward to the upcoming season?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, much different. You go from month to month, really trial-and-error with you and your staff and your players. You never know, even when you get into December, January, February, everything is all new. Once you get to the end of your first year, you take inventory, you look back on what needs to be done, and you go right to work on it, which we did.
But I think as we start college basketball season, tip-off this season, there's just such a different familiarity with everyone. There's such a different comfort level with everybody. That's with me all the way down. Just understanding who you deal with every day and who you talk to every day, how your family is doing every day. It's a huge adjustment, whether you want to admit it or not, and once you get through it, you get through it, and as you start to approach the second coming or second season together, you're obviously much more relaxed in things that you never would have really worried about a year ago.
We're in a much different place. I do like our returning guys. I think that's the most comforting thing is our returning guys really understand sort of how we do things, what we're doing, the steps that need to be taken. And our younger guys have people that they can watch where you're not having to teach not only your coaches but every player. Right now it's more or less along the lines of trying to do things we've done in the past the best we've ever done them, and then having everybody roll in the same direction where we can get sped up with our younger players sort of viewing by example at times, which no one had a chance to do a year ago.
Q. Kind of following up on that, had some defensive issues early in the non-conference, but you guys ended up fourth in the league in defensive efficiency by the end of the year. So how much better is it going into year two defensively having laid that foundation?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, you never really -- one thing you do learn is you never really hold your hat to things that have done in the past. That team a year ago started at ground zero. I think everybody knew that, and I think we finished playing in a very competitive, spirited way.
I think we learned how to battle together. We did things together all season long, and that team finished the season last year with a much, much better understanding of how we have to do things.
Now, the key is for those eight returning guys to not regress back to where the beginning was again. It's to start at a much higher level. The expectation is much different, and they should be ahead of our younger players. Our younger players, our freshmen in particular, should not be in the same boat, where a year ago everyone kind of looked the same at times until guys started to climb the ladder.
You know, that's all part of it. That's all part of building a program is having consistency and some continuity. A lot of our older players now are going to be held accountable at a much higher standard early in the year. That should put pressure on our younger guys to be better. But definitely without question, there was a lot of improvement a year ago, which is something to really keep in your back pocket, so to speak, that you can always get better.
Q. With Justin Smith, we saw the athleticism and stuff last year. What are you guys focused on with him to help him make jumps? What are maybe steps one, two, three for him?
ARCHIE MILLER: I think the biggest thing for Justin in my mind is to obviously use that great talent and athleticism and get points on the board. So many times I think a year ago you saw the explosive jump but you didn't see the two points get on the board, or you didn't get the and-one, you had to go to the foul line and maybe make one, which to me was a very young -- a guy who was very young and talented, but at the same time adding the value of style over production, and I think that's something we've really hammered home with him in terms of his concentration level because he could probably put four to five more points on the board for us this season with the amount of repetitions he's going to get, the amount of minutes that he'll get, where Justin has a chance to really be one of the best finishers in our league. He has a chance to put more points on the board for us, and for him in general, I think that's the difference between averaging six or seven and maybe 11 or 12, maybe 13 on a deep team.
We've also really focused in on his skill level, becoming more perimeter oriented, spending a lot of time on his shot, like we always do, becoming a better just perimeter-oriented player.
But just in knowing him, he's a great kid. He's really, really intelligent. He did show signs last year where he really belonged, and I think now it's more consistency. It's more approach of production, especially, like I said, finishing, but maybe finding a way this year where he's a lot more skilled on the perimeter, especially if he's open shooting the ball.
Q. What have you seen from Romeo's development? We all saw what he looked like six months ago; what does he look like now?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, he's 15 pounds heavier, which with a guy like him is a huge deal. The bumps that he takes, the amount of drives that he has at the basket, his ability, obviously, to leap and get in the air and take contact. He's roughly 6'6", 215 right now as a freshman, so that's not a little guy. So I think just being stronger is something that you're going to see.
From a game perspective, I've really enjoyed being around him. He's a guy that I think is so used to really being perfect in many ways or at least trying to approach being perfect in many ways, that making mistakes and some things like that here as he's been away from us and out of his comfort zone, it bothered him, whether he missed a couple shots in a row on a drill or whether he's been in practice and he struggled defensively early. You could see almost a pressure or almost a, wow, this isn't as easy as I maybe once thought, to a guy that has learned week by week that it's okay to make a mistake. It's okay to understand that you're not going to be perfect and make every shot.
But the rapidness that he can grow will only really stay within his framework of concentrating on just getting better and being one of the guys. And we've really tried to approach that with all of our players, coached him the same way we've coached every guy here so far in the first however many months we've been here, and from week one to sort of feeling it out to week to, maybe feeling a little better, week three taking a jump, then all of a sudden week 4 and 5 in our preseason I think he's been at his best.
To say the least he's gotten better. He's embraced the system. He's embraced what we've tried to get through to him. But he's got a long road ahead like the rest of them, and we look forward to coaching him, to be honest with you. I think he's really, really in a good place in terms of being here, getting coached, being with his teammates, getting pushed. He's having a good time. Obviously it's a great place to go to school. We feel good about where he's at.
Q. How big of an off-season acquisition was Evan Fitzner, in terms of maybe fulfilling that three-point need that you guys were maybe missing?
ARCHIE MILLER: Evan is a fantastic kid. He's a fantastic player. Couldn't be more excited he decided to join us, and I would say of all of our additions, he may be the most important just due to the age that he comes with, the experience level in college basketball's big scene, by winning as many games as he's won, and he brings an offensive skill set that maybe, like you said, was lacking a little bit from the ability to maybe have a fourth shooter on the floor, fifth shooter on the floor. I definitely think he's a bona fide game three-point shooter. His percentages stay that way, and then watching him work out, he's very serious about his game. He just brings another mature winning approach, and I think he'll be a home run in terms of to our fan base and to his teammates and everyone. He's just a really, really likable guy that we're excited to have.
Q. Last year Devonte Green was a guy that showed flashes of what he can do. What's the biggest difference with his mindset and his game after the off-season and the fall?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, I think Devonte, like a lot of guys when they go through their first year with change, it goes in ebbs and flows where things are going well for you and then they aren't. I think when that happens through the course of a year with change, you question things. You question coaching; you question am I at the right place; you question the style of play. You start to question everything that goes into it, and you're not as easy to just dive in and embrace.
I think the one thing that he came to grips with at the end of the season was I'm going to dive in and embrace and I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do here, and let's just see how it works. With a six- to eight-week period of time from the end of the season, he did a great job not only on the floor but he did a great job in the weight room, he did a great job in the locker room. So he had a great six- to eight-week period of time there.
His numbers in terms of the spring really, really stood out as a guy that really embraced the challenge and he got better.
I think as we got into the summer, he put another really good 10 weeks together where he was just as consistent as he was the last 16.
If you ranked our players top to bottom in consistency, it would be very hard for me to tell you that Devonte didn't have as consistent as an off-season as any guy. How that translates as we start practice and games start looming and minutes start to be handed out, that's where as a junior you'd hope he would be the guy that could really see the light at the end of the tunnel. He's got a great opportunity to have a great role on this team, and he's just got to embrace what we're asking him to do.
When he played well last year, our team was a lot different. We had some really, really good wins and we had some really, really good performances when he played well. When he didn't play well or we didn't have that other guard on the floor at times, that's when I thought we really struggled.
We came down to so many games in the last four minutes, and that's usually when it comes down to winning time, and I always say if you've got great guards the last four minutes of the game, you trust those guys to make the plays.
We just didn't have that a year ago in terms of being able to make crucial stops or at the end of the day, not have a crucial turnover or make the correct read with two minutes on the clock. Sometimes it goes unnoticed, but you could go two, three wins, take two, three losses off the schedule if you just did a little better job finishing games, and I think Devonte could be a big reason why if he's locked in and consistent that hopefully maybe we pull one of those games out a little bit this year.
Q. What do you think a guy like Rob could learn from playing with Devonte?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, I think Rob has got to learn the ropes just like every other guy does, but I think Rob's game is Rob's game and Devonte's game is his game. They're different players. But if you ask me what you can learn, I think one of the things that Rob can really take from Devonte is the pick-and-roll game. I think when Devonte is playing at his best, he's the one guy on our team that can really deliver sort of an assist-type pass, get an easy bucket, whether that's the pick-and-roll bounce pass or whether that's just making the proper read. I think Devonte has really got a pretty good feel when he's playing the right way on how to attack off those ball screens and some stuff, but making people better.
But Rob is going to be a guy I really think that's going to grow. I think Rob's biggest asset here early as I've seen him is right where we expect. He's got a high IQ. He's really intelligent. He's competitive. He's 185 pounds as a freshman, which gives him an added advantage in strength defensively. I think off the ball defensively watching him here early he's got a chance to help our team.
So I think Rob has just got to work to keep his feet on the ground, do it every single day, and he'll create his own niche. But definitely as you watch older players, as you watch other guys on the team, having the ability to kind of take a couple parts from Devonte, I would say really being creative with the ability to get the assist.
Q. Can you update us on De'Ron Davis, where he is? Has he been able to keep his weight down without being able to put weight on the foot, and how far is he from full contact and so forth?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, really De'Ron is taking it slow. He was here all spring and summer doing his rehabilitation. He wasn't really cleared to start running until maybe June I would say, so he was slow in terms of his recovery.
As we've gotten here into the fall, we've really started to increase him. He's participated in not only our five-on-five non-contact, but he's also participated in some two-on-two, three-on-three half-court contact, so he's starting to elevate to where you can get a chance to see him play a little bit, and I don't think that he's that far off.
His biggest battle will be conditioning and getting his weight back down because he just hasn't had the ability to consistently condition every single day. But slowly but surely he's coming around.
I think the one thing we'll be interested to see as we start practice on Monday is as he gets elevated in his activity, how does he feel on a back-to-back, or does he have to take a day off in between a three-day period of time when we practice just because of the stiffness, the soreness.
But he's going to have to deal with that, and a lot of times when guys come off these injuries, you really don't get a chance to see them maybe recover and feel good about themselves in almost a year. So you're looking at January 1 when he did it, and to me, he's on schedule, but in terms of looking like a De'Ron that played in November and December a year ago, he's not there yet. But we're hopeful that every week he'll get a little bit better and he'll keep progressing without resistance because clearly he's a bigger, stronger, older guy that has shown glimpses you can throw him the ball and he can get a basket for you every once in a while.
So we've got to just hope and cross our fingers and keep him on the everyday approach, and I think he'll get there eventually.
Q. You often talk about conditioning, and obviously coach Clif Marshall has had a tremendous impact on this team. How do you expect to see that translate onto the floor this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, the biggest thing is preventative. I don't think that -- obviously as we train, we try to do things in a manner where as we start the season, guys are feeling pretty good, and you're not dealing with a ton of knickknack stuff, and knock on wood, I think that's been our off-season. We've had a lot of good stuff happen in terms of development, physically, stronger, weight gains, weight losses. Whatever it may be, our team physically is looking good, but they're feeling pretty good coming into the year when we're not dealing with a ton of just maintenance issues. That's always important as we start.
And really, the month of October is a huge test to the body. You start to go back to back, you start to get physical, and then that's where you hope that you can use your practices to really start to energize your conditioning level towards not even games but just scrimmages and things like that, because scrimmages get you to the games, and maybe your first couple exhibitions obviously are leading you into that opener.
So our approach is slow in, and the hope is to always be at your best at the right time of year, and for us that's January, February, March. That's when you've got to have that ability to really push through and finish strong.
But Clif has really, really been monumental for us. I think our players gravitate to his style, and from a strength and conditioning element, I don't think that we're really lacking there in terms of the development side of things.
I think just taking a look at guys being here for 16 months with him or a year being here, year to year, our sophomore class in general has really changed physically, which should really help their games. If you look at Juwan just being where he was when we first got here to where he is now, by far and away the most explosive he's been since he's been in college, and I think you go down the line and sort of see the gains, but we're pleased with the development this season coming into the year.
Q. Talking about Romeo, I imagine you were kind of keeping an open mind about him, but you'd also evaluated him when he was in high school. Are there ways he's surprised you as you've worked with him here since he got on campus in the summer?
ARCHIE MILLER: Just how talented and gifted he is athletically. I think you can probably say he's very athletic or watch him play and say, wow, but he just does things so easy and so smoothly. If he was a football player he'd be Randy Moss. If he was a track athlete, he'd probably be Usain Bolt or one of those guys. Just the stride, the elevation, quick jumps, second jumps, the -- just the knifing through people, covering ground from rim to rim, things just like that that just -- he probably takes for granted but in most cases you watch him and he really makes it look easy.
I think he's a better scorer than he is shooter. I think he's a better in-the-game five-on-five lights-are-on than he is five-on-zero and around. He just seems to be a guy that has the ability to play with others around him, against him, rather than just kind of going in the gym, and he's just going to look like a million bucks in an individual workout. I think he's more of a player than he is a skill demonstrator. He's got a lot of feel to him, as well.
The thing about him, I think the other thing that's been very unique is he can pass the ball. He can make guys better. He's not afraid to make guys better, and that will be a big attribute to him with the amount of attention that maybe he'll see in terms of being able to drive into traffic and whatnot.
Q. Jerome Hunter, what are your impressions of him since he's been on campus, and how will his versatility maybe help him get into the rotation this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Jerome loves the game of basketball, more than any guy that I've probably been around in a long time. He can't get enough of the gym, which is a great sign as a young player. It's a great sign, an attribute to deal with me or our staff. You've got to love the game. Jerome loves basketball. He is 6'7", probably 210, 212 pounds as a freshman. He's got to get bigger and stronger. He's going to develop from that combo forward to more of a wing perimeter-oriented guy, which that's a tough change in terms of ball handling and guarding smaller players. So he's going to go through a bunch of that, but he has as much upside and talent as any guy that we've got, and I think within time here, he can develop into a terrific Big Ten player, all-conference type player in his time. He's a much better three-point shooter than I ever imagined he would be coming in.
So I think he's got some good things going for him. But just in terms of understanding the game, seeing it as a guard more so than seeing it as maybe just a kind of a guard, I'm kind of a big -- one of those combo guys that really we're going to try and move, because the key is size of your team just in general, especially at the wing spots. When you're 6'7", that's a lot different than being 6'2", which we were at times last year.
Q. With the amount of size and athleticism that y'all have on the wing and at forward spots, do you feel like switching is something you might be able to do more of on defense this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, it's actually one of the things we talked about a lot in the off-season is being able to play a smaller lineup and being able to do more complementary switching, so to speak, on the ball, not as much off, but definitely on the ball where we're not in rotation as much, just dealing with the certain styles of play that we see throughout the course of the season, especially in the Big Ten.
There's times when you're playing against four guards or five guards, whether that's Nebraska or Penn State at times at the 4 with Stevenson, and there's different guys and different teams that you play against where you do think that our traditional way of doing things, which I don't think is right or wrong, I think when you're aggressive and you can be the team that you want to be and get away with it, that's always the best, but if you had to throw maybe a curve ball in there every once in a while, it's to provide a different way of doing it, and I think switching with our like sizes is something that's been talked about a lot.
Q. You have touched a lot on Romeo and his athletic ability and all of that type of stuff with his talent, but how have you seen him kind of affect the team and the team chemistry and just the camaraderie of the group so far, and how do you see him affecting that throughout the season?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, I think he's getting used to the team, and the team is getting used to him, just like all freshmen have to do. They have to find their groups, their cliques. Everybody kind of figures their way out, but I think the one thing about Romeo that's very unique is he's a quiet guy, but once he starts to feel some things out, especially with his peers, he's a fun guy. He's a good guy to be around, and I think that's what's been good with our team.
He hasn't come in here and trying to, so to speak, run the show or stand out in any different way. I think one thing that's good about him is he's just going about his business, doing what we're asking him to do, and at the same time, when he's gotten more comfortable and as he's gotten a little bit more time to be on campus with the guys, you can kind of tell that he's just a regular guy that likes to be in the locker room.
Q. Race Thompson is obviously coming off a redshirt year. How do you see him fitting in this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Race took the redshirt year, and he did a nice job with it. He really changed his body, and he got healthy, so I think you'll see -- you probably won't see it as much, but we as a staff have seen a much more fluid athlete and a much better conditioned athlete. He's in a much different place than he was a year ago at this time. He had just gotten here a year ago at this time.
He's not afraid to mix it up. He proved that last year in practice every day. He'll get in there and rebound. He'll get in there and bang. And he's got a really good IQ in terms of being able to think the game where he can pass it. He can move it. He's not an unskilled player in terms of not being able to play facing or with his back to the basket.
He's got to shoot the ball, especially from the three-point line at certain times here in his career where that's going to be his biggest gift is being able to stretch the floor because he's not really above the rim, so to speak, around the basket.
But I think he's a guy that's a great team guy, he's very popular. Did another great job last year really just fitting in and working hard, and I think if Race just stays the course here, he'll have a chance to really find himself on the floor at times because, like I said, he's physical, he's not afraid to mix it up. He's got a good IQ, and as the season starts of evolve, hopefully offensively, his niche can start to be more of a perimeter face-up guy than he is more of a back-to-the-basket guy.
Q. How much of a balance is there, if at all, to understanding Romeo as a freshman has some adjusting to do versus the need for him to score and kind of create for you guys?
ARCHIE MILLER: There will be give and take. I mean, there's a growing period for young players in college. There's very few that can just get off to a good start and just seamlessly start making it look easy. He's going to have to work through it like everybody else.
But Romeo's gift is scoring. His gift is obviously offensively. He's always been a very gifted scorer at all levels, whether that's from the three, the basket or in transition. I think he'll have the opportunity in all three of those areas to be as aggressive as he possibly can. We want him to attack, and I think he's smart enough to understand that winning is a big part of what's going on right now here at Indiana. I think he's looking at it much less of, hey, I'm going to get out there and score 25 and we'll see how it goes more so than understanding that his imprint on what's going on here really changes in the win column if that happens.
I think all of our guys are sort of understanding that. There's going to be some sacrifice this year, and painting that picture for them sometimes isn't easy for them to see until sometimes their first game and only five of them take the floor. But there's going to be some serious sacrifices, not just from Romeo but Juwan to every single guy that just wants to contribute. This has to be a team of depth and togetherness this year. It really does. If we're not playing nine, ten guys, then we're not getting the maximum out of everybody on the team.
So with that being said, you play nine, ten guys, there's going to be a little give and take, but over the course of a season when more people can help you impact games on a given night, the more chance you have of being a team that can win more games. And that's what we're going to try to strive for.
Q. What kind of an impact can Forster bring to the front court and maybe what does he give you this year that maybe you didn't have last year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, Jake is a livewire. He really is. He is a livewire. He as energetic, as vocal, as high-strung of a guy as I've had come into college in a while. He provides instant energy. He provides instant energy, he provides instant talk. He can be the life of the room, and in practice just more so than anything, you really need life in practice, which I love. With that motor, he's also a guy that's not afraid. He's going to challenge you on both ends of the floor, whether he's trying to dunk on you or whether he tries to block your shot, which is another great attribute to have.
He's got to learn to slow down. He's going to have to learn that he's going to be guarding bigger, stronger guys for the first time, and he's going to have to do less -- more technique, more learning than just energy level. But he's a guy that if he can ever really just start to maneuver around, he's almost like a -- I don't want to say a Dennis Rodman or somebody that -- he's going to be an energy level guy that I think the crowd will be behind him, and he's a guy that's going to make energy plays, whether it's tipped dunks or offensive rebounds or blocked shots. That's going to be his identity for our team, to bring that toughness level, bring that energy.
He's a guy that when you bring those things to the table, you jump in the forefront pretty early because you're not afraid.
Over the course of his career here and what he's trying to do with his game, he's got a great work ethic, and I think he'll be a guy that really you can see really evolve, and as he leaves here one day, see as a much different player. But he's coming in with an energy level that we didn't have last year.
INDIANA PLAYER QUOTES
Juwan Morgan and Romeo Langford
JUWAN MORGAN: Just going from the spring on, we put up a lot of shots, did a lot of work in the off-season, just working on our bodies, working on our game, and I think it goes for everybody that everybody is just significantly better than what we finished off at, and I think that's a good thing for us going forward with the momentum into the season, and I think it's important to get that started early.
Q. Juwan, if you don't mind, what does Romeo look like? What kind of player, team has he been two, three months into this thing?
JUWAN MORGAN: He's been a great teammate, just not what is usually portrayed of a five-star going in, being pretty much like a savior of a team or anything like that. But he's just a real down-to-earth guy. He's always making the extra pass. We all know he can score, and he shows that ability, but he also is able to see passes and plays before it even happens, and I think that is just something that you build over time, and I think he's really put in the extra work. As good as he is, he's only getting better.
Q. Romeo, through high school you've come through a lot of pressure situations, but now you come to Indiana as one of the most talented freshmen since Damon Bailey. How is it coming in here with all that pressure on your shoulders? What do you do to let that go and just play your game?
ROMEO LANGFORD: I really don't feel pressure. I'm just coming here to play basketball and do my job, and that's all I'm focusing on, having a successful season with my teammates.
Q. Juwan, not just with Romeo but the incoming players as a group, what have been your impressions of them so far and the energy they've brought to the program?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think just first off their willingness to learn and get better. I think for the previous classes they kind of was a little timid coming in, didn't really want to ask questions, but they're not afraid to ask questions, and they'll do things wrong, but they'll do it going as hard as they can, and I think that's just a good -- pretty much good mentality to have, especially on the defensive end. If you're just going hard sometimes, just going hard will be the right play to do.
Q. Romeo, we were talking to Coach, and he was just talking about your style of leadership and how you didn't come in here acting like you were going to run the show, you didn't come in here acting like you were the star of everything. Is that kind of your way of leading, leading more by example, what you do on the court, than acting like you're the big man on campus?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Yeah, that's just who I am, like on and off the court I'm not the most vocal person on the team. But I like to lead by example, and coming as a freshman, I knew that there was seniors, and they know a little bit more than me -- well, they obviously know more than me because of being watched for a year, so really Juwan, Devonte, and Zach, the upperclassmen.
Q. Do you feel any kind of need to talk to them about what it means to be at Indiana, the attention, the focus, obviously just kind of the breadth of what Indiana basketball is, or do you think that's something they all kind of figure out themselves?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think it's a little bit of both. I think they all know what they got themselves into, but at the same time, it doesn't hurt to tell them exactly what's expected of them, and I think going forward, just saying those things, making it plain and cut, just doing those things for them, I think it will just make everything on the team easier.
Q. Juwan, what are some things that you learned from the NBA people, and how do you plan to apply those things both this previous off-season and now during the season?
JUWAN MORGAN: The main thing I learned is just not to listen to everything they say and not try to do exactly what they say but still stick to what I've been doing. But just try and add a few other things to it, and then also changing my body. That was a big thing that each place had told me, and I think I took the steps as far as doing those things correctly.
Q. Have you lost weight?
JUWAN MORGAN: A little bit of both, I guess. Lost some fat, added some strength. A little bit of both.
Q. Missing the tournament the last couple of years, going through the whole transition, how much do you expect winning this season?
JUWAN MORGAN: I expect it a lot. Not even just saying -- just trying to be overly confident, but I think the work we've put in and just how hard we go at each other in practice, I just can't wait to see how it is when the person across from us isn't wearing the same colors.
Q. Romeo, Coach said that you had added some weight since you've been here. How much of an emphasis was that for you before this first season to get a little bigger and stronger for what you're going to face?
ROMEO LANGFORD: That was a big emphasis for me, just knowing -- playing in the Big Ten, there's big guards, so I've got to be ready from the first game to match up with them physically wise.
Q. What did you do to try to make that happen?
ROMEO LANGFORD: I just did what Coach Clif told me to do in the weight room. I've put on like 15 pounds since I've been here.
Q. Romeo, this is so different for you being surrounded by guys about as big as you. What is that like for you on a daily basis to be with athletes like this as opposed to in high school?
ROMEO LANGFORD: First it was something to get used to, playing with and playing against guys of my talent and my height and capabilities. It was kind of different, but now I'm kind of getting the hang of it, and it's kind of fun to be able to play with guys that can do the same things that I can do.
Q. Juwan, how much easier is it for you to lead now that you've spent a year with Coach Miller and learned, for example, to get across what he wants defensively and whatnot?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think it's a lot easier because last year we were all learning it. But there was really -- he was really the only teacher out there and the other coaches. But this year I think being a player-led team will be easier just because I know the system, I know what he expects, and I can express that to the younger guys in a different way than Coach Archie will.
Q. Juwan, how will you challenge your teammates in practice, and what's it been like on days when you guys kind of really went at each other and it was like, okay, who's guarding me, let's go?
JUWAN MORGAN: I just challenge them to be the best they can be every day, and whether I have to do that myself and tell them that they have to guard me personally or if I just guard them and I'm in them the whole practice, then I just think that will go from top to bottom. I think it'll be a domino effect and everybody will just want to bring it each and every day.
Q. Romeo, what's it been like being on campus, just walking to class every day? How do people treat you on campus?
ROMEO LANGFORD: They treat me like any other student. It's not as crazy and hectic as you would think, like being stopped going to class. I think I've probably been stopped maybe like once or twice this whole time since I've been going to class, but I'm enjoying myself on the campus and having a fun experience.
Q. You're the two that I think a lot of fans are going to be looking at for the most production, sort of the most success this season. As a senior and a freshman, how do you deal with that, and do you talk to Romeo about any of that?
JUWAN MORGAN: I would kind of say it's unspoken. I mean, we're both coming from a pretty much winning programs as far as high school goes, and then I think we've been -- we've both dealt with winning before, Romeo at the high school level, me with Yogi freshman year, and I just think walking in and being able to just be confident, without trying to sound too boastful or anything like that, I think that's just a big key. So I think going forward, I think just keeping each other's heads straight and then keeping everybody else's head level, too.
Q. Romeo, what's been the biggest adjustment basketball wise that you've had to make? You mentioned that early on it was different getting used to playing against guys that were more athletic, stronger, but basketball-wise what's the biggest adjustment you've had to make so far?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Biggest adjustments would probably be the speed of the game and also the terminology that coaches use to like say different cuts, different reads and stuff like that, so just the physicality, speed and terminology of the game.
Q. Juwan, how much of a missing piece has Evan Fitzner been able to bring to this team?
JUWAN MORGAN: What do you mean missing piece?
Q. I mean, a good perimeter shooter, maybe three-point shooter that you guys didn't have?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think it's going to be real good for us this year, especially we didn't really have -- we had shooters but we didn't shoot as efficiently as we could have, and I think Evan being 6'10" and being able to shoot that will open up a lot of opportunity for other players, and I think with that, he'll get even more shots from that. So I think it'll be good for us.
Q. Romeo, Juwan kind of touched on it, the desire to win with this team, but for you, what are your realistic expectations maybe prematurely for this season, and what is it exactly that you do want to bring to Indiana with your presence here this year?
ROMEO LANGFORD: My expectation is to win a National Championship. I don't go into any season just trying to win a couple games. I go in trying to win the whole entire championship. Really my expectation for myself for bringing to the team is just be whatever -- be the best I can be, and I feel like me doing that is going to help the team be successful down the road.
Q. Juwan, when it's all said and done, what do you want your IU legacy to look like?
JUWAN MORGAN: I haven't really thought about that. I just want to be remembered for just being a tough kid, being somebody that everybody wants on their team, that you never want to go against. Once we get in between those lines, you know exactly what you're going to get from me, and just a culture of winning here at IU.
Q. Juwan, what does having a guy like Romeo who can handle the ball, shoot from the outside, what kind of elements does he bring to the offense that you didn't have last year, and Romeo, what do you feel you can bring to the offense that's different?
ROMEO LANGFORD: It opens up a lot. I think just defenses having to key in on all those things that you just mentioned will open up things for say Devonte driving and kicking to Evan for a shot, Al driving, drawing the foul, anything like that. I just think the more that one person can bring and defenses have to key in on more things, the harder it is for them.
ROMEO LANGFORD: I think just me being a scorer is going to open up a lot for my teammates like Juwan, Devonte, just open up driving lanes, and also they're going to open up shots for me just with the games they have. It's going to open up shots for me, too. But me being a scorer is going to open up a lot for others as well as myself.
Q. Romeo, in practice when you have to guard Juwan or maybe you've seen other guys have to guard against him, what are like two or three things that really stand out that you say, okay, this guy is really good at A, B, C?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Really he's probably one of the strongest people I know I went against. It may not look like it, but he's real strong, so just his physicality. And then his ability just to make broken plays look good, if that makes sense. I don't know if that makes sense or not, but just his ability just to make broken plays look good, and also his ability just to drive at his size and kick. Really his passing ability is probably one of his best aspects of his game is his passing, so those two things.
Q. Juwan, you had some success last year playing at the center position, a small ball lineup a little bit. Have you been practicing that a lot this off-season, and do you think that's a lineup you guys kind of excel at?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think at times we excel a lot at it. Especially when teams want to play fast, we're able to get up-and-down, and I wouldn't say I practice at it, I would just say that it's something that once De'Ron went out we kind of had to do it, and when you have to do something, you find a way to do it. I just think that's what it was, and whatever position I'm put in to have to do, I'll do it.
Q. Romeo, Coach said it wasn't really about scoring 25 a night for you. It'll be more about winning games here in Bloomington. Is that easy for you to embrace, especially coming from high school where you had to score a bunch of points in order to win?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Yeah, that's always been my mentality. I mean, I had to score points like that, but when I didn't score that many points, as long as we won, that's all that matters to me. It's not really about my individual performances. I know if I have a bad game, I'm going to be bad, but really all it boils down to is getting a win.
Q. Romeo, you, of course, are a long-awaited prospect here at Indiana. What are your expectations for that first fan experience when you go out there on Saturday?
ROMEO LANGFORD: I mean, I really don't know what to expect. I expect a lot of people to be there, but I'm really not going to know until the day of.
Q. Juwan, could you tell us who of the guys coming back has impressed you most this summer based on their work ethic and how hard -- how much they've improved, and at the same time, of the freshmen outside of Romeo, who's impressed you the most?
JUWAN MORGAN: Of the returners? I would say Al, Devonte -- Justin has just become more confident in his game, but I would say Al and Devonte for sure, just because Al is a lot more confident in his game, and he's added so many aspects to his game, and then Devonte has just become more under control and not making home run plays but making more singles than he has before.
Then of the freshmen, I would say Rob has impressed me the most, just from his ability to read the game, especially adjusting to the pace of the game. He just pretty much got it as soon as he came in, and I think he'll get like more of the reads and terminology as we go on to say with all of them. But I think he's come the most far so far.
De'Ron Davis, Clifton Moore and Rob Phinisee
Q. De'Ron, what exactly do you have there?
DE'RON DAVIS: Just a little vlog. It's nothing big.
Q. Coach talked about your recovery process at this point, that you started running again in June, you started to be able to do some contact stuff. Where do you feel like you are and where do you feel like you want to be by let's say the start of the season?
DE'RON DAVIS: I feel pretty good. I'm just trying to experience a little discomfort, but other than that, this process has been smooth. Really I'm just planning on being back by the first game. I don't know how healthy I'll be just yet. The timetable is still kind of weird looking. But I'm just trying to contribute to anything and everything I can.
Q. Juwan was just saying that he felt like you came in and caught on quickly that you were a quick study. I heard that even when you were still at McCutcheon that you came down occasionally to watch practice and study some Indiana game tape and whatnot. Is that true?
ROB PHINISEE: Yeah, every time I did I tried to pay attention to what they were doing in the game, just how each coach was coaching the players during the games.
Q. After being here with the team for a month or so, how do you see your game fitting with the team?
ROB PHINISEE: Really well. We play a lot of transition ball and using ball screens, so I feel like that's my game.
Q. Rob, what are the key things that you felt like you needed to improve on to be as ready as possible to contribute right away as a freshman?
ROB PHINISEE: Just getting a lot stronger and really just listening to whatever Coach tells me, and like on defense, I feel like I can play.
Q. De'Ron, given the way Juwan kind of came on last season and Justin emerged in the front court and you add Romeo into the mix, how do you foresee your role changing this year if at all?
DE'RON DAVIS: Honestly, my role just probably continue to do what I'm doing, be dominant in the post. I feel like I'm a great passer, so I can draw the double-team, kick it out. Romeo is a great shooter, offensive player, so he's going to open the floor up a lot more, and J-Mor has actually expanded his game way to the three-point line, so he's kind of a do-it-all player, so I feel like my role is not going to change at all really, just to become a better leader and grow in that area.
Q. Where do you feel like your game is or what are the biggest steps forward you feel like you've taken from this point a year ago?
CLIFTON MOORE: I feel like the biggest thing for me is becoming more comfortable in the core principles we teach every day and just going out there and playing more confidently and having a year of strength under my belt and just adding more to my game. They do a great job of development, and I feel like I'm a better player than last year.
Q. De'Ron, how much talent do you see on this team maybe compared to the other ones you've played on here? Just seems like there's talent at every position.
DE'RON DAVIS: Yeah, I feel like my freshman year we was actually pretty talented with the guys I had and the guys I had to look up to, but I feel like this year we're just a bigger team, we can spread the floor a lot more, and we run the floor well. Overall I just feel like this team compared to all the other teams is just the size difference is probably the biggest thing I noticed.
Q. Rob, you probably know Romeo the best. What has surprised you having played with him now every day? Is he a guy that also can help with the point guard position and handle the ball? Juwan talked about how good he's been passing the ball.
ROB PHINISEE: Yeah, he's a do-it-all player. He's really smart and he can pass. Pretty much he can do it all. So he's not stuck at one position.
Q. Clifton and De'Ron, De'Ron, you just mentioned it's a bigger team. A guy like Evan Fitzner comes in; talk about him a little bit, and guys like Race Thompson that the fans haven't seen yet, some of the guys you share the front court with. Talk about those guys.
DE'RON DAVIS: Well, I know that Evan, he's real smooth on and off the court, and the way he plays his game is real nice. He's got that soft jump shot. He gets to the rim real smoothly. I think he's going to be able to -- like another guy like Romeo is going to be able to spread the floor, and I think people underestimate his postgame, too. He has a real smooth and like majestic postgame. I feel like this team is like a mixture, like we can really -- there's really no limits right now. Everybody is just playing trying to build chemistry and trying to learn their roles.
Q. Talk about Race Thompson?
CLIFTON MOORE: I feel like Race is very strong in the post and he's got great post moves, and just like me, he's become more comfortable, and he's playing more confidently and becoming a player that I see is going to be very good. And Jake, he's learned very well, and he's got a lot of energy attacking the glass for rebounds, and just -- he's just been picking up on the concepts very well.
Q. After the last couple of years not making the tournament, the whole coaching transition, coming into this year now, how much more now do you guys expect winning this season?
DE'RON DAVIS: Honestly, we just focus on the day-to-day. Our mind -- our goal is to win a National Championship, but we're not focused on that, we're focused on getting better each and every day, building chemistry and just trying to be ready for the first game. I feel like we're going to take one game at a time and shoot for small goals. I feel like the Big Ten championship, win the Big Ten Tournament, just work our way up, so just focusing on ourselves and getting better as a team.
Q. Clifton, you and Jake are both from a very similar area. Did you guys know each other, have a relationship before he got here, and how has that relationship developed?
CLIFTON MOORE: I definitely knew Jake before he came here. We never really had like a close connection, but we knew of each other, and I just feel that as soon as we knew we were from the same area, we connected more from the very start.
Q. Clifton, what are the big keys for you to make more of an impact this year and kind of how do you envision your ideal role this year would be what?
CLIFTON MOORE: I believe that I just need to play the game that I know I can play, and by doing that, I need to follow the game plan that we do every day in and out of practice and how we play and the transition that we play, and I feel that I need to be more versatile.
Q. You talked about what you've seen from Romeo on the court, but when I see you around campus you're always with Romeo. What's your relationship like off the court?
ROB PHINISEE: We're pretty close. We're roommates and we have a couple classes together.
Q. Rob, who wins in Fortnite?
ROB PHINISEE: I mean, I'm better than him, but -- I'm better than him.
Q. How would you characterize your freshman class if you can, generalize on the court what do you expect it to bring, then off the court what kind of dudes are they?
ROB PHINISEE: Off the court everybody is well connected, especially in the summer. Everybody -- we're all clowns, obviously. But on the court we bring energy, and everybody is just really together. We play as a team, and nobody has a big head.
DE'RON DAVIS: You know, my class is definitely better, but that's okay.
Zach McRoberts, Jake Forrester and Aljami Durham
Q. Jake, everybody talks about the energy you bring. How does that translate for you on the floor?
JAKE FORRESTER: I'm definitely just trying to bring the most energy I can to the team this year, do as much as I can for the team, for everybody, so the energy I bring is just to try to give out to the rest of the team.
Q. One of the things we asked Coach about and a couple other players about is having been with Coach Miller and his staff for a while now, is it easier to be a leader, for example, on the defensive end now than say a year ago at this time?
ZACH McROBERTS: Yeah, I think being more comfortable in the system obviously helps you out a little bit. One thing I said before, it's more teaching than learning, so the new guys coming in, you're able to teach it a little easier because you understand it a little more fully. Obviously we can always get better and always learn, but having an understanding helps a lot.
Q. Zach and Al both, you guys are two of the returning veterans. You've been in the system for a year. You know what it's going to take. What do you guys have to do different individually and as a team to greatly improve upon last season, especially with the incoming guys that you have?
ZACH McROBERTS: The thing we're focused on, hard work, togetherness, toughness. I think those are three big themes for us, so taking those themes, carrying them into every day, every workout, every practice, every game. If we have those three things, I think we'll be able to improve every day, and we'll be at our best when it counts.
ALJAMI DURHAM: Bringing those things every day to practice and making sure we're picking each other up and making sure we're teaching the young ones about what the culture is at Indiana.
Q. Zach, Coach has noted that you've really spent a lot of time working on your outside shot. Is that something you put a higher emphasis on this off-season maybe?
ZACH McROBERTS: Yeah, just working on it. I know in the spring we started getting a lot of shots up and then carrying that throughout the summer, and then in the fall now I've been working on it continuously. Just wanted to improve that aspect of my game, and I've been working at it.
Q. Your playing time obviously increased kind of steadily over the last season to the point you were a regular starter by the end. What have you carried from last season in terms of experiences and things you felt like you wanted to get better at through this off-season as you work on your game?
ZACH McROBERTS: I think that year is just a learning experience. Obviously playing in the Big Ten another year, having another year in experience under my belt, learning the game a little differently, just carrying those things that I've learned into working out every day, something like being more comfortable shooting the outside shot, just being a student of the game and continuously learning.
Q. Zach and Jake, on Juwan, how tough is he to handle on those days when he comes into practice with that whole, who's-guarding-me-today mentality, and what are those practices like on a competitive level?
ZACH McROBERTS: Yeah, he's a competitor every day I'd say. There's no specific practice I can really point to where it's like he's amped it up because he's always amped up. I think he's coming in every day working hard, and he's on a mission, so it's been -- he's obviously a good leader, vocally and then by example. So he's been good for us.
JAKE FORRESTER: Yeah, back off that, every time he comes in and works really hard, it just makes us better, as well.
Q. Al, Juwan mentioned you as one of the returning guys he felt like improved a lot or the most over the off-season. What were some of the things that maybe you felt like you wanted to focus on or tried to focus on during workouts this summer?
ALJAMI DURHAM: I just tried to amp my game up completely from last year, bring certain things to the table that I just wasn't comfortable with last year, just making sure I was expanding my game all around, even in the weight room, on the court, and just bringing different things to the team, just so we could be a better team as one.
Q. Jake, how much have you changed your body since you've been here, and what kind of role do you think you can envision carving out this year?
JAKE FORRESTER: I've definitely changed a lot since coming from west town. Our strength coach, Clif Marshall, put on about 15 to 18 pounds on me, fluctuates, but definitely made me a much stronger player all around, and I'm trying to see where I fit in the team this year. We'll find out during these practices.
But I'm fine being whatever. Every time I get on the court, I'll just bring as much energy as I can and just do the job that I always do.
Q. Zach, any of the newcomers surprise you, maybe have done something or been a better player than you expected them to be right now?
ZACH McROBERTS: I don't think any surprises. I think I knew how good they were coming in, and they've done a great job adjusting to the college level, weight room-wise, practice-wise. They've been great and willing to learn, willing to listen, so it's really been great to be around.
Q. I know you played with a lot of talent at Westtown, pretty good guard going down to Duke, for example, and you played at a high level. But what is it like being here now? What kind of talent level do you see here? Does it surprise you, or what do you think about it?
JAKE FORRESTER: Yeah, definitely playing with a lot of big names in high school sort of got me prepared for what's going on up here, but just the workouts and just the energy and just the amount of just effort that you have to put in every single day is way different than high school. I mean, I would say I was ready, but I was not ready. I'm getting -- I'm still adjusting to everything right now, but I mean, it helped playing against good competition up here, as well.
Q. Al, you mentioned you're more comfortable with certain things. What are two, three, four things you feel you're more comfortable with now?
ALJAMI DURHAM: Just being vocal on the court with the team. I'm getting more consistent with my shot, my outside shot, and just handling the basketball, as well, during the offense, and just applying all those different things we worked out in the summer till now.
Q. Zach, there seems to be like a dozen, 13 guys on this roster that could play, should play or at least earn a niche in some form or fashion. Do you have a sense maybe that guys understand there's going to be some sacrifice involved to getting guys on the floor and creating all the roles that need to be shaped for this team to be successful?
ZACH McROBERTS: Yeah, I think that's important for a successful team, understanding it's a team aspect and guys can bring different things to the table and just be ready when your number is called to go out there and perform. But might be -- it should be good. The competition is healthy competition for us.
Q. Jake, you mentioned thinking coming in that you're ready but not really being ready when you got here. What have been the biggest adjustments from a basketball perspective or just the strength and conditioning that you've had to make?
JAKE FORRESTER: Well, just the schedule part of things. Just the amount of workouts that we have every single day. I wasn't used to that. I mean, I got in the gym a lot in high school, but this is just different, and just the amount of effort you have to put in, plus you're playing in front of like -- every practice there's always coaches around, so you always have to perform at the highest level you can, even in workouts.
Q. Just overall, the adjustments that you've had to make.
JAKE FORRESTER: Yeah, just putting on the weight that I had to put on. That's also like a job because I came in not that heavy, but now I'm up to where I need to be.
Q. Was it hard to put on the weight?
JAKE FORRESTER: Yeah, it was -- I had to eat like 7,500 calories a day. Like it was difficult. But I'm still working on it, and me and Coach Clif are working on it, and I'm going to be there.
Q. How do you eat 7,500 calories a day?
JAKE FORRESTER: It's like a lot of breakfast and then you have to have -- snacking is a big part of it. Like you have to snack in between the day a lot, and then just literally eat until you can't eat, and then once you can't eat, you still have to eat.
Devonte Green, Race Thompson and Jerome Hunter
Q. Devonte, Coach said you really had among the most consistent off-seasons of anybody. What went into that? How did you kind of go into this off-season expecting to perform, and are you seeing those consistent results yourself?
DEVONTE GREEN: I am seeing results. All of May I've been working, the whole summer I've been working, and just trying to improve my game. I think that the work shows.
Q. Race, I know the plan was always to redshirt last year, but what do you feel like you can prove about yourself or what do you want to show after a year to kind of work behind the scenes?
RACE THOMPSON: I want to show like why I'm here. Also like the main thing is just doing whatever I can to get wins. That's the main thing.
Q. Devonte, what are two or three big things that you've learned from your first two years here?
DEVONTE GREEN: I think more mental than anything, talking, little things that show leadership, and controlling the pace of my game.
Q. Jerome, I remember talking to you last year at Southport, the high school game. You were very excited about getting here. Now you've been here getting acclimated. What's it been like moving up to the college level and coming to a team with all this talent on it?
JEROME HUNTER: I mean, it's very different. High school I was the best player on my team, so coming to a team where there's a lot of other players just makes me work hard every day, off days, when it comes to practice and playing with my teammates.
Q. Devonte, Juwan was saying that he felt like you were a lot more under control this year. He said you weren't going for the home run ball, you were going for a lot more singles. Is that something that's been something that you've been focusing on?
DEVONTE GREEN: I think so. Like I said, mentally, I've been -- it's the biggest adjustment I made to my game, and like I said, also, I think it shows.
Q. Jerome, what's the process been like as you've sort of worked your game out? You were a post player earlier in high school, then you're kind of a combo forward, now you're adding the three ball and more. Where are you in that process, and what kinds of things do you work on to continue to build your game?
JEROME HUNTER: I mean, I work on a lot of ball handling, and I work on a lot of film watching. I mean, film is the biggest thing for me because I can see what I need to work on, what the guards are doing now, and just trying to adjust from a big to a guard, so just watching a lot of guards and how they come off screens, how they read screens, stuff like that.
Q. Devonte, you mentioned a mental switch; was there a conversation you had, a moment that you can kind of look back on and say, this is when something changed, or is it kind of a process that took weeks or months for you to get to?
DEVONTE GREEN: I don't think it was one big moment. I think it was a bunch of moments.
Head Coach Archie Miller
Thanks, everybody, for coming. I guess this would be the annual kickoff for media day, which sets us up for a really good weekend this weekend with Hoosier Hysteria for our fans and our players, their families, our staff and generally just kickoff week so to speak. So it's exciting.
We begin on Monday with less fanfare on Monday the 1st, which will be our first official day of practice. So it's a good time to come in mid-week, set it up for this weekend, and obviously get ready to go for next week.
Q. I want to ask you about the freshman class. What have you seen from them so far in the off-season, and what are you expecting from this group of players?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, the five freshmen have done a nice job fitting in. I think they had a busy summer, six strong weeks here getting acclimated in school, getting acclimated with the team, and workouts, et cetera, also, getting themselves situated physically.
I think the one thing that stands out about the five freshmen, genetically, physically, they're gifted. There's size, there's strength, there's athleticism. It's a group that can come in and compete in college physically, which is always a good thing.
Not that they don't have room to grow or they don't have a lot of ground to cover in certain areas, but I think just as a talented group athletically, they bring an influx of talent. Each of them has an opportunity to really impact our team. Each of them has an opportunity to define their own niche, so to speak, their own role here early. How much of that is up to them, but clearly I think all of them are confident guys, and through our fall in particular getting to watch them in five-on-five settings and practice settings and drill work and things that they've never been involved with before, you get to see the level of detail and understanding of the game that they have.
That's been good to see, to sort of see where guys have to sort of speed up in certain areas and where some guys are ahead and where you can see them fitting in maybe earlier in the year than others. But we're very pleased with them. All of them are great guys, and like I said before, they've added value in a lot of ways but one. I just think from a talent perspective they make us bigger and stronger and deeper.
Q. Looking at the roster, seems like you've got 12, 13, 14 guys who could play, have a niche, whatever. How much do you put it on them to make clear who gets any sort of minutes, who gets in the rotation?
ARCHIE MILLER: It has to be that way. When you don't have it that way, you're sort of strapped as a coach and you kind of live and die with the results, and when you have depth and you have competition level that I think we can have, every day you're going to have to earn it, and that's how teams really grow. We talked a lot about how this team has to progress, and part of it is if you are maximizing your effort level, your concentration level, you're giving everything you have, you're pushing yourself to a new limit individually, then obviously you're going to push somebody next to you to do the same, because if not, then the guy is going to stand out in a negative fashion.
But if you can ever get a group of, like you said, 10, 12, 13 guys always doing that, trying to push themselves to be the best, which results in others around them having to respond in that type of manner, your environment becomes one of which is very competitive. When you have that every day, you get better. When you have that, you generate a mutual respect for one another.
How you earn minutes is obviously through production, and if you can get it done every day in practice, typically with the way we do things, I think it translates to the floor. When it translates to the floor when you have your opportunities, you continue to grow your role.
But without question, competition is going to be something that we hold dear to our heart this season. Not that we don't do it every season, but this is a season in particular where there's a lot of guys with expectations.
Q. Juwan talked at this time last year about being a leader, being more vocal, all those sorts of things, and he kind of lived a lot of that last season as a junior. How have you seen him grow from that experience and what are your expectations for him this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, Juwan is really -- he's a senior now. He went through a career-best year last year on the floor, and I think he gained a ton of confidence. I think he's carried that confidence into the off-season in his actions and his leadership ability. I think everyone on the team kind of understands where he's at right now at this stage of his career compared to even 12 months ago.
My expectation for Juwan really, to be honest with you, is to be about the team and be about his senior season, be about his two-year legacy with transition, and find an opportunity, find a way for him to be the driving force behind a team that reaches its maximum potential, has an opportunity to compete for the top of the Big Ten, has an opportunity to compete for an NCAA Tournament bid.
But none of that's possible unless he does it every single day the right way like he did a year ago where he really didn't have any concerns about the outside world. If he can do that again as a senior, I think that he'll show some of the added dimensions that he's added, without stress, and I also think he'll be able to carry our team in big games here early in the season because I do think he has a confidence level.
Q. I know a lot was new for you last year, first year here, but now that you have a year under your belt, how much are you personally and with this team looking forward to the upcoming season?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, much different. You go from month to month, really trial-and-error with you and your staff and your players. You never know, even when you get into December, January, February, everything is all new. Once you get to the end of your first year, you take inventory, you look back on what needs to be done, and you go right to work on it, which we did.
But I think as we start college basketball season, tip-off this season, there's just such a different familiarity with everyone. There's such a different comfort level with everybody. That's with me all the way down. Just understanding who you deal with every day and who you talk to every day, how your family is doing every day. It's a huge adjustment, whether you want to admit it or not, and once you get through it, you get through it, and as you start to approach the second coming or second season together, you're obviously much more relaxed in things that you never would have really worried about a year ago.
We're in a much different place. I do like our returning guys. I think that's the most comforting thing is our returning guys really understand sort of how we do things, what we're doing, the steps that need to be taken. And our younger guys have people that they can watch where you're not having to teach not only your coaches but every player. Right now it's more or less along the lines of trying to do things we've done in the past the best we've ever done them, and then having everybody roll in the same direction where we can get sped up with our younger players sort of viewing by example at times, which no one had a chance to do a year ago.
Q. Kind of following up on that, had some defensive issues early in the non-conference, but you guys ended up fourth in the league in defensive efficiency by the end of the year. So how much better is it going into year two defensively having laid that foundation?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, you never really -- one thing you do learn is you never really hold your hat to things that have done in the past. That team a year ago started at ground zero. I think everybody knew that, and I think we finished playing in a very competitive, spirited way.
I think we learned how to battle together. We did things together all season long, and that team finished the season last year with a much, much better understanding of how we have to do things.
Now, the key is for those eight returning guys to not regress back to where the beginning was again. It's to start at a much higher level. The expectation is much different, and they should be ahead of our younger players. Our younger players, our freshmen in particular, should not be in the same boat, where a year ago everyone kind of looked the same at times until guys started to climb the ladder.
You know, that's all part of it. That's all part of building a program is having consistency and some continuity. A lot of our older players now are going to be held accountable at a much higher standard early in the year. That should put pressure on our younger guys to be better. But definitely without question, there was a lot of improvement a year ago, which is something to really keep in your back pocket, so to speak, that you can always get better.
Q. With Justin Smith, we saw the athleticism and stuff last year. What are you guys focused on with him to help him make jumps? What are maybe steps one, two, three for him?
ARCHIE MILLER: I think the biggest thing for Justin in my mind is to obviously use that great talent and athleticism and get points on the board. So many times I think a year ago you saw the explosive jump but you didn't see the two points get on the board, or you didn't get the and-one, you had to go to the foul line and maybe make one, which to me was a very young -- a guy who was very young and talented, but at the same time adding the value of style over production, and I think that's something we've really hammered home with him in terms of his concentration level because he could probably put four to five more points on the board for us this season with the amount of repetitions he's going to get, the amount of minutes that he'll get, where Justin has a chance to really be one of the best finishers in our league. He has a chance to put more points on the board for us, and for him in general, I think that's the difference between averaging six or seven and maybe 11 or 12, maybe 13 on a deep team.
We've also really focused in on his skill level, becoming more perimeter oriented, spending a lot of time on his shot, like we always do, becoming a better just perimeter-oriented player.
But just in knowing him, he's a great kid. He's really, really intelligent. He did show signs last year where he really belonged, and I think now it's more consistency. It's more approach of production, especially, like I said, finishing, but maybe finding a way this year where he's a lot more skilled on the perimeter, especially if he's open shooting the ball.
Q. What have you seen from Romeo's development? We all saw what he looked like six months ago; what does he look like now?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, he's 15 pounds heavier, which with a guy like him is a huge deal. The bumps that he takes, the amount of drives that he has at the basket, his ability, obviously, to leap and get in the air and take contact. He's roughly 6'6", 215 right now as a freshman, so that's not a little guy. So I think just being stronger is something that you're going to see.
From a game perspective, I've really enjoyed being around him. He's a guy that I think is so used to really being perfect in many ways or at least trying to approach being perfect in many ways, that making mistakes and some things like that here as he's been away from us and out of his comfort zone, it bothered him, whether he missed a couple shots in a row on a drill or whether he's been in practice and he struggled defensively early. You could see almost a pressure or almost a, wow, this isn't as easy as I maybe once thought, to a guy that has learned week by week that it's okay to make a mistake. It's okay to understand that you're not going to be perfect and make every shot.
But the rapidness that he can grow will only really stay within his framework of concentrating on just getting better and being one of the guys. And we've really tried to approach that with all of our players, coached him the same way we've coached every guy here so far in the first however many months we've been here, and from week one to sort of feeling it out to week to, maybe feeling a little better, week three taking a jump, then all of a sudden week 4 and 5 in our preseason I think he's been at his best.
To say the least he's gotten better. He's embraced the system. He's embraced what we've tried to get through to him. But he's got a long road ahead like the rest of them, and we look forward to coaching him, to be honest with you. I think he's really, really in a good place in terms of being here, getting coached, being with his teammates, getting pushed. He's having a good time. Obviously it's a great place to go to school. We feel good about where he's at.
Q. How big of an off-season acquisition was Evan Fitzner, in terms of maybe fulfilling that three-point need that you guys were maybe missing?
ARCHIE MILLER: Evan is a fantastic kid. He's a fantastic player. Couldn't be more excited he decided to join us, and I would say of all of our additions, he may be the most important just due to the age that he comes with, the experience level in college basketball's big scene, by winning as many games as he's won, and he brings an offensive skill set that maybe, like you said, was lacking a little bit from the ability to maybe have a fourth shooter on the floor, fifth shooter on the floor. I definitely think he's a bona fide game three-point shooter. His percentages stay that way, and then watching him work out, he's very serious about his game. He just brings another mature winning approach, and I think he'll be a home run in terms of to our fan base and to his teammates and everyone. He's just a really, really likable guy that we're excited to have.
Q. Last year Devonte Green was a guy that showed flashes of what he can do. What's the biggest difference with his mindset and his game after the off-season and the fall?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, I think Devonte, like a lot of guys when they go through their first year with change, it goes in ebbs and flows where things are going well for you and then they aren't. I think when that happens through the course of a year with change, you question things. You question coaching; you question am I at the right place; you question the style of play. You start to question everything that goes into it, and you're not as easy to just dive in and embrace.
I think the one thing that he came to grips with at the end of the season was I'm going to dive in and embrace and I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do here, and let's just see how it works. With a six- to eight-week period of time from the end of the season, he did a great job not only on the floor but he did a great job in the weight room, he did a great job in the locker room. So he had a great six- to eight-week period of time there.
His numbers in terms of the spring really, really stood out as a guy that really embraced the challenge and he got better.
I think as we got into the summer, he put another really good 10 weeks together where he was just as consistent as he was the last 16.
If you ranked our players top to bottom in consistency, it would be very hard for me to tell you that Devonte didn't have as consistent as an off-season as any guy. How that translates as we start practice and games start looming and minutes start to be handed out, that's where as a junior you'd hope he would be the guy that could really see the light at the end of the tunnel. He's got a great opportunity to have a great role on this team, and he's just got to embrace what we're asking him to do.
When he played well last year, our team was a lot different. We had some really, really good wins and we had some really, really good performances when he played well. When he didn't play well or we didn't have that other guard on the floor at times, that's when I thought we really struggled.
We came down to so many games in the last four minutes, and that's usually when it comes down to winning time, and I always say if you've got great guards the last four minutes of the game, you trust those guys to make the plays.
We just didn't have that a year ago in terms of being able to make crucial stops or at the end of the day, not have a crucial turnover or make the correct read with two minutes on the clock. Sometimes it goes unnoticed, but you could go two, three wins, take two, three losses off the schedule if you just did a little better job finishing games, and I think Devonte could be a big reason why if he's locked in and consistent that hopefully maybe we pull one of those games out a little bit this year.
Q. What do you think a guy like Rob could learn from playing with Devonte?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, I think Rob has got to learn the ropes just like every other guy does, but I think Rob's game is Rob's game and Devonte's game is his game. They're different players. But if you ask me what you can learn, I think one of the things that Rob can really take from Devonte is the pick-and-roll game. I think when Devonte is playing at his best, he's the one guy on our team that can really deliver sort of an assist-type pass, get an easy bucket, whether that's the pick-and-roll bounce pass or whether that's just making the proper read. I think Devonte has really got a pretty good feel when he's playing the right way on how to attack off those ball screens and some stuff, but making people better.
But Rob is going to be a guy I really think that's going to grow. I think Rob's biggest asset here early as I've seen him is right where we expect. He's got a high IQ. He's really intelligent. He's competitive. He's 185 pounds as a freshman, which gives him an added advantage in strength defensively. I think off the ball defensively watching him here early he's got a chance to help our team.
So I think Rob has just got to work to keep his feet on the ground, do it every single day, and he'll create his own niche. But definitely as you watch older players, as you watch other guys on the team, having the ability to kind of take a couple parts from Devonte, I would say really being creative with the ability to get the assist.
Q. Can you update us on De'Ron Davis, where he is? Has he been able to keep his weight down without being able to put weight on the foot, and how far is he from full contact and so forth?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, really De'Ron is taking it slow. He was here all spring and summer doing his rehabilitation. He wasn't really cleared to start running until maybe June I would say, so he was slow in terms of his recovery.
As we've gotten here into the fall, we've really started to increase him. He's participated in not only our five-on-five non-contact, but he's also participated in some two-on-two, three-on-three half-court contact, so he's starting to elevate to where you can get a chance to see him play a little bit, and I don't think that he's that far off.
His biggest battle will be conditioning and getting his weight back down because he just hasn't had the ability to consistently condition every single day. But slowly but surely he's coming around.
I think the one thing we'll be interested to see as we start practice on Monday is as he gets elevated in his activity, how does he feel on a back-to-back, or does he have to take a day off in between a three-day period of time when we practice just because of the stiffness, the soreness.
But he's going to have to deal with that, and a lot of times when guys come off these injuries, you really don't get a chance to see them maybe recover and feel good about themselves in almost a year. So you're looking at January 1 when he did it, and to me, he's on schedule, but in terms of looking like a De'Ron that played in November and December a year ago, he's not there yet. But we're hopeful that every week he'll get a little bit better and he'll keep progressing without resistance because clearly he's a bigger, stronger, older guy that has shown glimpses you can throw him the ball and he can get a basket for you every once in a while.
So we've got to just hope and cross our fingers and keep him on the everyday approach, and I think he'll get there eventually.
Q. You often talk about conditioning, and obviously coach Clif Marshall has had a tremendous impact on this team. How do you expect to see that translate onto the floor this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, the biggest thing is preventative. I don't think that -- obviously as we train, we try to do things in a manner where as we start the season, guys are feeling pretty good, and you're not dealing with a ton of knickknack stuff, and knock on wood, I think that's been our off-season. We've had a lot of good stuff happen in terms of development, physically, stronger, weight gains, weight losses. Whatever it may be, our team physically is looking good, but they're feeling pretty good coming into the year when we're not dealing with a ton of just maintenance issues. That's always important as we start.
And really, the month of October is a huge test to the body. You start to go back to back, you start to get physical, and then that's where you hope that you can use your practices to really start to energize your conditioning level towards not even games but just scrimmages and things like that, because scrimmages get you to the games, and maybe your first couple exhibitions obviously are leading you into that opener.
So our approach is slow in, and the hope is to always be at your best at the right time of year, and for us that's January, February, March. That's when you've got to have that ability to really push through and finish strong.
But Clif has really, really been monumental for us. I think our players gravitate to his style, and from a strength and conditioning element, I don't think that we're really lacking there in terms of the development side of things.
I think just taking a look at guys being here for 16 months with him or a year being here, year to year, our sophomore class in general has really changed physically, which should really help their games. If you look at Juwan just being where he was when we first got here to where he is now, by far and away the most explosive he's been since he's been in college, and I think you go down the line and sort of see the gains, but we're pleased with the development this season coming into the year.
Q. Talking about Romeo, I imagine you were kind of keeping an open mind about him, but you'd also evaluated him when he was in high school. Are there ways he's surprised you as you've worked with him here since he got on campus in the summer?
ARCHIE MILLER: Just how talented and gifted he is athletically. I think you can probably say he's very athletic or watch him play and say, wow, but he just does things so easy and so smoothly. If he was a football player he'd be Randy Moss. If he was a track athlete, he'd probably be Usain Bolt or one of those guys. Just the stride, the elevation, quick jumps, second jumps, the -- just the knifing through people, covering ground from rim to rim, things just like that that just -- he probably takes for granted but in most cases you watch him and he really makes it look easy.
I think he's a better scorer than he is shooter. I think he's a better in-the-game five-on-five lights-are-on than he is five-on-zero and around. He just seems to be a guy that has the ability to play with others around him, against him, rather than just kind of going in the gym, and he's just going to look like a million bucks in an individual workout. I think he's more of a player than he is a skill demonstrator. He's got a lot of feel to him, as well.
The thing about him, I think the other thing that's been very unique is he can pass the ball. He can make guys better. He's not afraid to make guys better, and that will be a big attribute to him with the amount of attention that maybe he'll see in terms of being able to drive into traffic and whatnot.
Q. Jerome Hunter, what are your impressions of him since he's been on campus, and how will his versatility maybe help him get into the rotation this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Jerome loves the game of basketball, more than any guy that I've probably been around in a long time. He can't get enough of the gym, which is a great sign as a young player. It's a great sign, an attribute to deal with me or our staff. You've got to love the game. Jerome loves basketball. He is 6'7", probably 210, 212 pounds as a freshman. He's got to get bigger and stronger. He's going to develop from that combo forward to more of a wing perimeter-oriented guy, which that's a tough change in terms of ball handling and guarding smaller players. So he's going to go through a bunch of that, but he has as much upside and talent as any guy that we've got, and I think within time here, he can develop into a terrific Big Ten player, all-conference type player in his time. He's a much better three-point shooter than I ever imagined he would be coming in.
So I think he's got some good things going for him. But just in terms of understanding the game, seeing it as a guard more so than seeing it as maybe just a kind of a guard, I'm kind of a big -- one of those combo guys that really we're going to try and move, because the key is size of your team just in general, especially at the wing spots. When you're 6'7", that's a lot different than being 6'2", which we were at times last year.
Q. With the amount of size and athleticism that y'all have on the wing and at forward spots, do you feel like switching is something you might be able to do more of on defense this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Yeah, it's actually one of the things we talked about a lot in the off-season is being able to play a smaller lineup and being able to do more complementary switching, so to speak, on the ball, not as much off, but definitely on the ball where we're not in rotation as much, just dealing with the certain styles of play that we see throughout the course of the season, especially in the Big Ten.
There's times when you're playing against four guards or five guards, whether that's Nebraska or Penn State at times at the 4 with Stevenson, and there's different guys and different teams that you play against where you do think that our traditional way of doing things, which I don't think is right or wrong, I think when you're aggressive and you can be the team that you want to be and get away with it, that's always the best, but if you had to throw maybe a curve ball in there every once in a while, it's to provide a different way of doing it, and I think switching with our like sizes is something that's been talked about a lot.
Q. You have touched a lot on Romeo and his athletic ability and all of that type of stuff with his talent, but how have you seen him kind of affect the team and the team chemistry and just the camaraderie of the group so far, and how do you see him affecting that throughout the season?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, I think he's getting used to the team, and the team is getting used to him, just like all freshmen have to do. They have to find their groups, their cliques. Everybody kind of figures their way out, but I think the one thing about Romeo that's very unique is he's a quiet guy, but once he starts to feel some things out, especially with his peers, he's a fun guy. He's a good guy to be around, and I think that's what's been good with our team.
He hasn't come in here and trying to, so to speak, run the show or stand out in any different way. I think one thing that's good about him is he's just going about his business, doing what we're asking him to do, and at the same time, when he's gotten more comfortable and as he's gotten a little bit more time to be on campus with the guys, you can kind of tell that he's just a regular guy that likes to be in the locker room.
Q. Race Thompson is obviously coming off a redshirt year. How do you see him fitting in this year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Race took the redshirt year, and he did a nice job with it. He really changed his body, and he got healthy, so I think you'll see -- you probably won't see it as much, but we as a staff have seen a much more fluid athlete and a much better conditioned athlete. He's in a much different place than he was a year ago at this time. He had just gotten here a year ago at this time.
He's not afraid to mix it up. He proved that last year in practice every day. He'll get in there and rebound. He'll get in there and bang. And he's got a really good IQ in terms of being able to think the game where he can pass it. He can move it. He's not an unskilled player in terms of not being able to play facing or with his back to the basket.
He's got to shoot the ball, especially from the three-point line at certain times here in his career where that's going to be his biggest gift is being able to stretch the floor because he's not really above the rim, so to speak, around the basket.
But I think he's a guy that's a great team guy, he's very popular. Did another great job last year really just fitting in and working hard, and I think if Race just stays the course here, he'll have a chance to really find himself on the floor at times because, like I said, he's physical, he's not afraid to mix it up. He's got a good IQ, and as the season starts of evolve, hopefully offensively, his niche can start to be more of a perimeter face-up guy than he is more of a back-to-the-basket guy.
Q. How much of a balance is there, if at all, to understanding Romeo as a freshman has some adjusting to do versus the need for him to score and kind of create for you guys?
ARCHIE MILLER: There will be give and take. I mean, there's a growing period for young players in college. There's very few that can just get off to a good start and just seamlessly start making it look easy. He's going to have to work through it like everybody else.
But Romeo's gift is scoring. His gift is obviously offensively. He's always been a very gifted scorer at all levels, whether that's from the three, the basket or in transition. I think he'll have the opportunity in all three of those areas to be as aggressive as he possibly can. We want him to attack, and I think he's smart enough to understand that winning is a big part of what's going on right now here at Indiana. I think he's looking at it much less of, hey, I'm going to get out there and score 25 and we'll see how it goes more so than understanding that his imprint on what's going on here really changes in the win column if that happens.
I think all of our guys are sort of understanding that. There's going to be some sacrifice this year, and painting that picture for them sometimes isn't easy for them to see until sometimes their first game and only five of them take the floor. But there's going to be some serious sacrifices, not just from Romeo but Juwan to every single guy that just wants to contribute. This has to be a team of depth and togetherness this year. It really does. If we're not playing nine, ten guys, then we're not getting the maximum out of everybody on the team.
So with that being said, you play nine, ten guys, there's going to be a little give and take, but over the course of a season when more people can help you impact games on a given night, the more chance you have of being a team that can win more games. And that's what we're going to try to strive for.
Q. What kind of an impact can Forster bring to the front court and maybe what does he give you this year that maybe you didn't have last year?
ARCHIE MILLER: Well, Jake is a livewire. He really is. He is a livewire. He as energetic, as vocal, as high-strung of a guy as I've had come into college in a while. He provides instant energy. He provides instant energy, he provides instant talk. He can be the life of the room, and in practice just more so than anything, you really need life in practice, which I love. With that motor, he's also a guy that's not afraid. He's going to challenge you on both ends of the floor, whether he's trying to dunk on you or whether he tries to block your shot, which is another great attribute to have.
He's got to learn to slow down. He's going to have to learn that he's going to be guarding bigger, stronger guys for the first time, and he's going to have to do less -- more technique, more learning than just energy level. But he's a guy that if he can ever really just start to maneuver around, he's almost like a -- I don't want to say a Dennis Rodman or somebody that -- he's going to be an energy level guy that I think the crowd will be behind him, and he's a guy that's going to make energy plays, whether it's tipped dunks or offensive rebounds or blocked shots. That's going to be his identity for our team, to bring that toughness level, bring that energy.
He's a guy that when you bring those things to the table, you jump in the forefront pretty early because you're not afraid.
Over the course of his career here and what he's trying to do with his game, he's got a great work ethic, and I think he'll be a guy that really you can see really evolve, and as he leaves here one day, see as a much different player. But he's coming in with an energy level that we didn't have last year.
INDIANA PLAYER QUOTES
Juwan Morgan and Romeo Langford
JUWAN MORGAN: Just going from the spring on, we put up a lot of shots, did a lot of work in the off-season, just working on our bodies, working on our game, and I think it goes for everybody that everybody is just significantly better than what we finished off at, and I think that's a good thing for us going forward with the momentum into the season, and I think it's important to get that started early.
Q. Juwan, if you don't mind, what does Romeo look like? What kind of player, team has he been two, three months into this thing?
JUWAN MORGAN: He's been a great teammate, just not what is usually portrayed of a five-star going in, being pretty much like a savior of a team or anything like that. But he's just a real down-to-earth guy. He's always making the extra pass. We all know he can score, and he shows that ability, but he also is able to see passes and plays before it even happens, and I think that is just something that you build over time, and I think he's really put in the extra work. As good as he is, he's only getting better.
Q. Romeo, through high school you've come through a lot of pressure situations, but now you come to Indiana as one of the most talented freshmen since Damon Bailey. How is it coming in here with all that pressure on your shoulders? What do you do to let that go and just play your game?
ROMEO LANGFORD: I really don't feel pressure. I'm just coming here to play basketball and do my job, and that's all I'm focusing on, having a successful season with my teammates.
Q. Juwan, not just with Romeo but the incoming players as a group, what have been your impressions of them so far and the energy they've brought to the program?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think just first off their willingness to learn and get better. I think for the previous classes they kind of was a little timid coming in, didn't really want to ask questions, but they're not afraid to ask questions, and they'll do things wrong, but they'll do it going as hard as they can, and I think that's just a good -- pretty much good mentality to have, especially on the defensive end. If you're just going hard sometimes, just going hard will be the right play to do.
Q. Romeo, we were talking to Coach, and he was just talking about your style of leadership and how you didn't come in here acting like you were going to run the show, you didn't come in here acting like you were the star of everything. Is that kind of your way of leading, leading more by example, what you do on the court, than acting like you're the big man on campus?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Yeah, that's just who I am, like on and off the court I'm not the most vocal person on the team. But I like to lead by example, and coming as a freshman, I knew that there was seniors, and they know a little bit more than me -- well, they obviously know more than me because of being watched for a year, so really Juwan, Devonte, and Zach, the upperclassmen.
Q. Do you feel any kind of need to talk to them about what it means to be at Indiana, the attention, the focus, obviously just kind of the breadth of what Indiana basketball is, or do you think that's something they all kind of figure out themselves?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think it's a little bit of both. I think they all know what they got themselves into, but at the same time, it doesn't hurt to tell them exactly what's expected of them, and I think going forward, just saying those things, making it plain and cut, just doing those things for them, I think it will just make everything on the team easier.
Q. Juwan, what are some things that you learned from the NBA people, and how do you plan to apply those things both this previous off-season and now during the season?
JUWAN MORGAN: The main thing I learned is just not to listen to everything they say and not try to do exactly what they say but still stick to what I've been doing. But just try and add a few other things to it, and then also changing my body. That was a big thing that each place had told me, and I think I took the steps as far as doing those things correctly.
Q. Have you lost weight?
JUWAN MORGAN: A little bit of both, I guess. Lost some fat, added some strength. A little bit of both.
Q. Missing the tournament the last couple of years, going through the whole transition, how much do you expect winning this season?
JUWAN MORGAN: I expect it a lot. Not even just saying -- just trying to be overly confident, but I think the work we've put in and just how hard we go at each other in practice, I just can't wait to see how it is when the person across from us isn't wearing the same colors.
Q. Romeo, Coach said that you had added some weight since you've been here. How much of an emphasis was that for you before this first season to get a little bigger and stronger for what you're going to face?
ROMEO LANGFORD: That was a big emphasis for me, just knowing -- playing in the Big Ten, there's big guards, so I've got to be ready from the first game to match up with them physically wise.
Q. What did you do to try to make that happen?
ROMEO LANGFORD: I just did what Coach Clif told me to do in the weight room. I've put on like 15 pounds since I've been here.
Q. Romeo, this is so different for you being surrounded by guys about as big as you. What is that like for you on a daily basis to be with athletes like this as opposed to in high school?
ROMEO LANGFORD: First it was something to get used to, playing with and playing against guys of my talent and my height and capabilities. It was kind of different, but now I'm kind of getting the hang of it, and it's kind of fun to be able to play with guys that can do the same things that I can do.
Q. Juwan, how much easier is it for you to lead now that you've spent a year with Coach Miller and learned, for example, to get across what he wants defensively and whatnot?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think it's a lot easier because last year we were all learning it. But there was really -- he was really the only teacher out there and the other coaches. But this year I think being a player-led team will be easier just because I know the system, I know what he expects, and I can express that to the younger guys in a different way than Coach Archie will.
Q. Juwan, how will you challenge your teammates in practice, and what's it been like on days when you guys kind of really went at each other and it was like, okay, who's guarding me, let's go?
JUWAN MORGAN: I just challenge them to be the best they can be every day, and whether I have to do that myself and tell them that they have to guard me personally or if I just guard them and I'm in them the whole practice, then I just think that will go from top to bottom. I think it'll be a domino effect and everybody will just want to bring it each and every day.
Q. Romeo, what's it been like being on campus, just walking to class every day? How do people treat you on campus?
ROMEO LANGFORD: They treat me like any other student. It's not as crazy and hectic as you would think, like being stopped going to class. I think I've probably been stopped maybe like once or twice this whole time since I've been going to class, but I'm enjoying myself on the campus and having a fun experience.
Q. You're the two that I think a lot of fans are going to be looking at for the most production, sort of the most success this season. As a senior and a freshman, how do you deal with that, and do you talk to Romeo about any of that?
JUWAN MORGAN: I would kind of say it's unspoken. I mean, we're both coming from a pretty much winning programs as far as high school goes, and then I think we've been -- we've both dealt with winning before, Romeo at the high school level, me with Yogi freshman year, and I just think walking in and being able to just be confident, without trying to sound too boastful or anything like that, I think that's just a big key. So I think going forward, I think just keeping each other's heads straight and then keeping everybody else's head level, too.
Q. Romeo, what's been the biggest adjustment basketball wise that you've had to make? You mentioned that early on it was different getting used to playing against guys that were more athletic, stronger, but basketball-wise what's the biggest adjustment you've had to make so far?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Biggest adjustments would probably be the speed of the game and also the terminology that coaches use to like say different cuts, different reads and stuff like that, so just the physicality, speed and terminology of the game.
Q. Juwan, how much of a missing piece has Evan Fitzner been able to bring to this team?
JUWAN MORGAN: What do you mean missing piece?
Q. I mean, a good perimeter shooter, maybe three-point shooter that you guys didn't have?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think it's going to be real good for us this year, especially we didn't really have -- we had shooters but we didn't shoot as efficiently as we could have, and I think Evan being 6'10" and being able to shoot that will open up a lot of opportunity for other players, and I think with that, he'll get even more shots from that. So I think it'll be good for us.
Q. Romeo, Juwan kind of touched on it, the desire to win with this team, but for you, what are your realistic expectations maybe prematurely for this season, and what is it exactly that you do want to bring to Indiana with your presence here this year?
ROMEO LANGFORD: My expectation is to win a National Championship. I don't go into any season just trying to win a couple games. I go in trying to win the whole entire championship. Really my expectation for myself for bringing to the team is just be whatever -- be the best I can be, and I feel like me doing that is going to help the team be successful down the road.
Q. Juwan, when it's all said and done, what do you want your IU legacy to look like?
JUWAN MORGAN: I haven't really thought about that. I just want to be remembered for just being a tough kid, being somebody that everybody wants on their team, that you never want to go against. Once we get in between those lines, you know exactly what you're going to get from me, and just a culture of winning here at IU.
Q. Juwan, what does having a guy like Romeo who can handle the ball, shoot from the outside, what kind of elements does he bring to the offense that you didn't have last year, and Romeo, what do you feel you can bring to the offense that's different?
ROMEO LANGFORD: It opens up a lot. I think just defenses having to key in on all those things that you just mentioned will open up things for say Devonte driving and kicking to Evan for a shot, Al driving, drawing the foul, anything like that. I just think the more that one person can bring and defenses have to key in on more things, the harder it is for them.
ROMEO LANGFORD: I think just me being a scorer is going to open up a lot for my teammates like Juwan, Devonte, just open up driving lanes, and also they're going to open up shots for me just with the games they have. It's going to open up shots for me, too. But me being a scorer is going to open up a lot for others as well as myself.
Q. Romeo, in practice when you have to guard Juwan or maybe you've seen other guys have to guard against him, what are like two or three things that really stand out that you say, okay, this guy is really good at A, B, C?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Really he's probably one of the strongest people I know I went against. It may not look like it, but he's real strong, so just his physicality. And then his ability just to make broken plays look good, if that makes sense. I don't know if that makes sense or not, but just his ability just to make broken plays look good, and also his ability just to drive at his size and kick. Really his passing ability is probably one of his best aspects of his game is his passing, so those two things.
Q. Juwan, you had some success last year playing at the center position, a small ball lineup a little bit. Have you been practicing that a lot this off-season, and do you think that's a lineup you guys kind of excel at?
JUWAN MORGAN: I think at times we excel a lot at it. Especially when teams want to play fast, we're able to get up-and-down, and I wouldn't say I practice at it, I would just say that it's something that once De'Ron went out we kind of had to do it, and when you have to do something, you find a way to do it. I just think that's what it was, and whatever position I'm put in to have to do, I'll do it.
Q. Romeo, Coach said it wasn't really about scoring 25 a night for you. It'll be more about winning games here in Bloomington. Is that easy for you to embrace, especially coming from high school where you had to score a bunch of points in order to win?
ROMEO LANGFORD: Yeah, that's always been my mentality. I mean, I had to score points like that, but when I didn't score that many points, as long as we won, that's all that matters to me. It's not really about my individual performances. I know if I have a bad game, I'm going to be bad, but really all it boils down to is getting a win.
Q. Romeo, you, of course, are a long-awaited prospect here at Indiana. What are your expectations for that first fan experience when you go out there on Saturday?
ROMEO LANGFORD: I mean, I really don't know what to expect. I expect a lot of people to be there, but I'm really not going to know until the day of.
Q. Juwan, could you tell us who of the guys coming back has impressed you most this summer based on their work ethic and how hard -- how much they've improved, and at the same time, of the freshmen outside of Romeo, who's impressed you the most?
JUWAN MORGAN: Of the returners? I would say Al, Devonte -- Justin has just become more confident in his game, but I would say Al and Devonte for sure, just because Al is a lot more confident in his game, and he's added so many aspects to his game, and then Devonte has just become more under control and not making home run plays but making more singles than he has before.
Then of the freshmen, I would say Rob has impressed me the most, just from his ability to read the game, especially adjusting to the pace of the game. He just pretty much got it as soon as he came in, and I think he'll get like more of the reads and terminology as we go on to say with all of them. But I think he's come the most far so far.
De'Ron Davis, Clifton Moore and Rob Phinisee
Q. De'Ron, what exactly do you have there?
DE'RON DAVIS: Just a little vlog. It's nothing big.
Q. Coach talked about your recovery process at this point, that you started running again in June, you started to be able to do some contact stuff. Where do you feel like you are and where do you feel like you want to be by let's say the start of the season?
DE'RON DAVIS: I feel pretty good. I'm just trying to experience a little discomfort, but other than that, this process has been smooth. Really I'm just planning on being back by the first game. I don't know how healthy I'll be just yet. The timetable is still kind of weird looking. But I'm just trying to contribute to anything and everything I can.
Q. Juwan was just saying that he felt like you came in and caught on quickly that you were a quick study. I heard that even when you were still at McCutcheon that you came down occasionally to watch practice and study some Indiana game tape and whatnot. Is that true?
ROB PHINISEE: Yeah, every time I did I tried to pay attention to what they were doing in the game, just how each coach was coaching the players during the games.
Q. After being here with the team for a month or so, how do you see your game fitting with the team?
ROB PHINISEE: Really well. We play a lot of transition ball and using ball screens, so I feel like that's my game.
Q. Rob, what are the key things that you felt like you needed to improve on to be as ready as possible to contribute right away as a freshman?
ROB PHINISEE: Just getting a lot stronger and really just listening to whatever Coach tells me, and like on defense, I feel like I can play.
Q. De'Ron, given the way Juwan kind of came on last season and Justin emerged in the front court and you add Romeo into the mix, how do you foresee your role changing this year if at all?
DE'RON DAVIS: Honestly, my role just probably continue to do what I'm doing, be dominant in the post. I feel like I'm a great passer, so I can draw the double-team, kick it out. Romeo is a great shooter, offensive player, so he's going to open the floor up a lot more, and J-Mor has actually expanded his game way to the three-point line, so he's kind of a do-it-all player, so I feel like my role is not going to change at all really, just to become a better leader and grow in that area.
Q. Where do you feel like your game is or what are the biggest steps forward you feel like you've taken from this point a year ago?
CLIFTON MOORE: I feel like the biggest thing for me is becoming more comfortable in the core principles we teach every day and just going out there and playing more confidently and having a year of strength under my belt and just adding more to my game. They do a great job of development, and I feel like I'm a better player than last year.
Q. De'Ron, how much talent do you see on this team maybe compared to the other ones you've played on here? Just seems like there's talent at every position.
DE'RON DAVIS: Yeah, I feel like my freshman year we was actually pretty talented with the guys I had and the guys I had to look up to, but I feel like this year we're just a bigger team, we can spread the floor a lot more, and we run the floor well. Overall I just feel like this team compared to all the other teams is just the size difference is probably the biggest thing I noticed.
Q. Rob, you probably know Romeo the best. What has surprised you having played with him now every day? Is he a guy that also can help with the point guard position and handle the ball? Juwan talked about how good he's been passing the ball.
ROB PHINISEE: Yeah, he's a do-it-all player. He's really smart and he can pass. Pretty much he can do it all. So he's not stuck at one position.
Q. Clifton and De'Ron, De'Ron, you just mentioned it's a bigger team. A guy like Evan Fitzner comes in; talk about him a little bit, and guys like Race Thompson that the fans haven't seen yet, some of the guys you share the front court with. Talk about those guys.
DE'RON DAVIS: Well, I know that Evan, he's real smooth on and off the court, and the way he plays his game is real nice. He's got that soft jump shot. He gets to the rim real smoothly. I think he's going to be able to -- like another guy like Romeo is going to be able to spread the floor, and I think people underestimate his postgame, too. He has a real smooth and like majestic postgame. I feel like this team is like a mixture, like we can really -- there's really no limits right now. Everybody is just playing trying to build chemistry and trying to learn their roles.
Q. Talk about Race Thompson?
CLIFTON MOORE: I feel like Race is very strong in the post and he's got great post moves, and just like me, he's become more comfortable, and he's playing more confidently and becoming a player that I see is going to be very good. And Jake, he's learned very well, and he's got a lot of energy attacking the glass for rebounds, and just -- he's just been picking up on the concepts very well.
Q. After the last couple of years not making the tournament, the whole coaching transition, coming into this year now, how much more now do you guys expect winning this season?
DE'RON DAVIS: Honestly, we just focus on the day-to-day. Our mind -- our goal is to win a National Championship, but we're not focused on that, we're focused on getting better each and every day, building chemistry and just trying to be ready for the first game. I feel like we're going to take one game at a time and shoot for small goals. I feel like the Big Ten championship, win the Big Ten Tournament, just work our way up, so just focusing on ourselves and getting better as a team.
Q. Clifton, you and Jake are both from a very similar area. Did you guys know each other, have a relationship before he got here, and how has that relationship developed?
CLIFTON MOORE: I definitely knew Jake before he came here. We never really had like a close connection, but we knew of each other, and I just feel that as soon as we knew we were from the same area, we connected more from the very start.
Q. Clifton, what are the big keys for you to make more of an impact this year and kind of how do you envision your ideal role this year would be what?
CLIFTON MOORE: I believe that I just need to play the game that I know I can play, and by doing that, I need to follow the game plan that we do every day in and out of practice and how we play and the transition that we play, and I feel that I need to be more versatile.
Q. You talked about what you've seen from Romeo on the court, but when I see you around campus you're always with Romeo. What's your relationship like off the court?
ROB PHINISEE: We're pretty close. We're roommates and we have a couple classes together.
Q. Rob, who wins in Fortnite?
ROB PHINISEE: I mean, I'm better than him, but -- I'm better than him.
Q. How would you characterize your freshman class if you can, generalize on the court what do you expect it to bring, then off the court what kind of dudes are they?
ROB PHINISEE: Off the court everybody is well connected, especially in the summer. Everybody -- we're all clowns, obviously. But on the court we bring energy, and everybody is just really together. We play as a team, and nobody has a big head.
DE'RON DAVIS: You know, my class is definitely better, but that's okay.
Zach McRoberts, Jake Forrester and Aljami Durham
Q. Jake, everybody talks about the energy you bring. How does that translate for you on the floor?
JAKE FORRESTER: I'm definitely just trying to bring the most energy I can to the team this year, do as much as I can for the team, for everybody, so the energy I bring is just to try to give out to the rest of the team.
Q. One of the things we asked Coach about and a couple other players about is having been with Coach Miller and his staff for a while now, is it easier to be a leader, for example, on the defensive end now than say a year ago at this time?
ZACH McROBERTS: Yeah, I think being more comfortable in the system obviously helps you out a little bit. One thing I said before, it's more teaching than learning, so the new guys coming in, you're able to teach it a little easier because you understand it a little more fully. Obviously we can always get better and always learn, but having an understanding helps a lot.
Q. Zach and Al both, you guys are two of the returning veterans. You've been in the system for a year. You know what it's going to take. What do you guys have to do different individually and as a team to greatly improve upon last season, especially with the incoming guys that you have?
ZACH McROBERTS: The thing we're focused on, hard work, togetherness, toughness. I think those are three big themes for us, so taking those themes, carrying them into every day, every workout, every practice, every game. If we have those three things, I think we'll be able to improve every day, and we'll be at our best when it counts.
ALJAMI DURHAM: Bringing those things every day to practice and making sure we're picking each other up and making sure we're teaching the young ones about what the culture is at Indiana.
Q. Zach, Coach has noted that you've really spent a lot of time working on your outside shot. Is that something you put a higher emphasis on this off-season maybe?
ZACH McROBERTS: Yeah, just working on it. I know in the spring we started getting a lot of shots up and then carrying that throughout the summer, and then in the fall now I've been working on it continuously. Just wanted to improve that aspect of my game, and I've been working at it.
Q. Your playing time obviously increased kind of steadily over the last season to the point you were a regular starter by the end. What have you carried from last season in terms of experiences and things you felt like you wanted to get better at through this off-season as you work on your game?
ZACH McROBERTS: I think that year is just a learning experience. Obviously playing in the Big Ten another year, having another year in experience under my belt, learning the game a little differently, just carrying those things that I've learned into working out every day, something like being more comfortable shooting the outside shot, just being a student of the game and continuously learning.
Q. Zach and Jake, on Juwan, how tough is he to handle on those days when he comes into practice with that whole, who's-guarding-me-today mentality, and what are those practices like on a competitive level?
ZACH McROBERTS: Yeah, he's a competitor every day I'd say. There's no specific practice I can really point to where it's like he's amped it up because he's always amped up. I think he's coming in every day working hard, and he's on a mission, so it's been -- he's obviously a good leader, vocally and then by example. So he's been good for us.
JAKE FORRESTER: Yeah, back off that, every time he comes in and works really hard, it just makes us better, as well.
Q. Al, Juwan mentioned you as one of the returning guys he felt like improved a lot or the most over the off-season. What were some of the things that maybe you felt like you wanted to focus on or tried to focus on during workouts this summer?
ALJAMI DURHAM: I just tried to amp my game up completely from last year, bring certain things to the table that I just wasn't comfortable with last year, just making sure I was expanding my game all around, even in the weight room, on the court, and just bringing different things to the team, just so we could be a better team as one.
Q. Jake, how much have you changed your body since you've been here, and what kind of role do you think you can envision carving out this year?
JAKE FORRESTER: I've definitely changed a lot since coming from west town. Our strength coach, Clif Marshall, put on about 15 to 18 pounds on me, fluctuates, but definitely made me a much stronger player all around, and I'm trying to see where I fit in the team this year. We'll find out during these practices.
But I'm fine being whatever. Every time I get on the court, I'll just bring as much energy as I can and just do the job that I always do.
Q. Zach, any of the newcomers surprise you, maybe have done something or been a better player than you expected them to be right now?
ZACH McROBERTS: I don't think any surprises. I think I knew how good they were coming in, and they've done a great job adjusting to the college level, weight room-wise, practice-wise. They've been great and willing to learn, willing to listen, so it's really been great to be around.
Q. I know you played with a lot of talent at Westtown, pretty good guard going down to Duke, for example, and you played at a high level. But what is it like being here now? What kind of talent level do you see here? Does it surprise you, or what do you think about it?
JAKE FORRESTER: Yeah, definitely playing with a lot of big names in high school sort of got me prepared for what's going on up here, but just the workouts and just the energy and just the amount of just effort that you have to put in every single day is way different than high school. I mean, I would say I was ready, but I was not ready. I'm getting -- I'm still adjusting to everything right now, but I mean, it helped playing against good competition up here, as well.
Q. Al, you mentioned you're more comfortable with certain things. What are two, three, four things you feel you're more comfortable with now?
ALJAMI DURHAM: Just being vocal on the court with the team. I'm getting more consistent with my shot, my outside shot, and just handling the basketball, as well, during the offense, and just applying all those different things we worked out in the summer till now.
Q. Zach, there seems to be like a dozen, 13 guys on this roster that could play, should play or at least earn a niche in some form or fashion. Do you have a sense maybe that guys understand there's going to be some sacrifice involved to getting guys on the floor and creating all the roles that need to be shaped for this team to be successful?
ZACH McROBERTS: Yeah, I think that's important for a successful team, understanding it's a team aspect and guys can bring different things to the table and just be ready when your number is called to go out there and perform. But might be -- it should be good. The competition is healthy competition for us.
Q. Jake, you mentioned thinking coming in that you're ready but not really being ready when you got here. What have been the biggest adjustments from a basketball perspective or just the strength and conditioning that you've had to make?
JAKE FORRESTER: Well, just the schedule part of things. Just the amount of workouts that we have every single day. I wasn't used to that. I mean, I got in the gym a lot in high school, but this is just different, and just the amount of effort you have to put in, plus you're playing in front of like -- every practice there's always coaches around, so you always have to perform at the highest level you can, even in workouts.
Q. Just overall, the adjustments that you've had to make.
JAKE FORRESTER: Yeah, just putting on the weight that I had to put on. That's also like a job because I came in not that heavy, but now I'm up to where I need to be.
Q. Was it hard to put on the weight?
JAKE FORRESTER: Yeah, it was -- I had to eat like 7,500 calories a day. Like it was difficult. But I'm still working on it, and me and Coach Clif are working on it, and I'm going to be there.
Q. How do you eat 7,500 calories a day?
JAKE FORRESTER: It's like a lot of breakfast and then you have to have -- snacking is a big part of it. Like you have to snack in between the day a lot, and then just literally eat until you can't eat, and then once you can't eat, you still have to eat.
Devonte Green, Race Thompson and Jerome Hunter
Q. Devonte, Coach said you really had among the most consistent off-seasons of anybody. What went into that? How did you kind of go into this off-season expecting to perform, and are you seeing those consistent results yourself?
DEVONTE GREEN: I am seeing results. All of May I've been working, the whole summer I've been working, and just trying to improve my game. I think that the work shows.
Q. Race, I know the plan was always to redshirt last year, but what do you feel like you can prove about yourself or what do you want to show after a year to kind of work behind the scenes?
RACE THOMPSON: I want to show like why I'm here. Also like the main thing is just doing whatever I can to get wins. That's the main thing.
Q. Devonte, what are two or three big things that you've learned from your first two years here?
DEVONTE GREEN: I think more mental than anything, talking, little things that show leadership, and controlling the pace of my game.
Q. Jerome, I remember talking to you last year at Southport, the high school game. You were very excited about getting here. Now you've been here getting acclimated. What's it been like moving up to the college level and coming to a team with all this talent on it?
JEROME HUNTER: I mean, it's very different. High school I was the best player on my team, so coming to a team where there's a lot of other players just makes me work hard every day, off days, when it comes to practice and playing with my teammates.
Q. Devonte, Juwan was saying that he felt like you were a lot more under control this year. He said you weren't going for the home run ball, you were going for a lot more singles. Is that something that's been something that you've been focusing on?
DEVONTE GREEN: I think so. Like I said, mentally, I've been -- it's the biggest adjustment I made to my game, and like I said, also, I think it shows.
Q. Jerome, what's the process been like as you've sort of worked your game out? You were a post player earlier in high school, then you're kind of a combo forward, now you're adding the three ball and more. Where are you in that process, and what kinds of things do you work on to continue to build your game?
JEROME HUNTER: I mean, I work on a lot of ball handling, and I work on a lot of film watching. I mean, film is the biggest thing for me because I can see what I need to work on, what the guards are doing now, and just trying to adjust from a big to a guard, so just watching a lot of guards and how they come off screens, how they read screens, stuff like that.
Q. Devonte, you mentioned a mental switch; was there a conversation you had, a moment that you can kind of look back on and say, this is when something changed, or is it kind of a process that took weeks or months for you to get to?
DEVONTE GREEN: I don't think it was one big moment. I think it was a bunch of moments.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballFB: Under the Hood with Indiana Football - Week 4 (Illinois)
Wednesday, September 17
FB: Kellan Wyatt Media Availability (9/16/25)
Tuesday, September 16
FB: Mikail Kamara Media Availability (9/16/25)
Tuesday, September 16
FB: Curt Cignetti Media Availability (9/15/25)
Monday, September 15