Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor, April 10, 2013
As expected, Cody Zeller joined Victor Oladipo in entering the NBA draft. Coupled with the graduations of Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford, the early departures mean Indiana will attempt to defend its Big Ten crown without its four leading scorers, and arguably best players.
Just how much production has Indiana lost? Four 1,000-point scorers, for starters. I crunch all the numbers in this post.
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POINTS
2012-13 team total: 2,831
Points from departures: 1,897 (Zeller, 594; Oladipo, 491; Watford, 443; Hulls, 348; Elston, 21)
Percentage lost: 67 percent
Leading returner: Will Sheehey (343)
FIELD GOALS
2012-13 team total: 951
Field goals from departures: 629 (Zeller, 199; Oladipo, 182; Watford, 127; Hulls, 115; Elston, 6)
Percentage lost: 66 percent
Leading returner: Will Sheehey (126)
REBOUNDS
2012-13 team total: 1,378
Rebounds from departures: 843 (Zeller 290; Oladipo, 228; Watford, 225; Hulls 84; Elston, 16)
Percentage lost: 61 percent
Leading returner: Will Sheehey (127)
ASSISTS
2012-13 team total: 515
Assists from departures: 263 (Hulls, 107; Oladipo, 74; Zeller, 47; Watford, 31; Elston 4)
Percentage lost: 51 percent
Leading returner: Yogi Ferrell (147)
STEALS
2012-13 team total: 255
Steals from departures: 171 (Oladipo, 78; Zeller, 37; Hulls 30; Watford 22; Elston 4)
Percentage lost: 67 percent
Leading returner: Will Sheehey & Yogi Ferrell (28)
BLOCKS
2012-13 team total: 130
Blocks from departures: 95 (Zeller 45; Oladipo, 28; Watford, 17; Elston 4; Hulls 1)
Percentage lost: 73 percent
Leading returner: Jeremy Hollowell (12)
3-POINTERS
2012-13 team total: 257
3s from departures: 172 (Hulls, 80; Watford, 60; Oladipo, 30; Elston, 2; Zeller, 0)
Percentage lost: 67 percent
Leading returner: Will Sheehey (28)
FG%
2012-13 team total: 48.2 percent
FG% from departures: 51 percent (Oladipo, 60%; Zeller, 56%; Hulls 44%; Watford, 43%; Elston, 29%)
FG% without these 5: 43.5 percent
Leading returner: Will Sheehey (49 percent)
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So, as you can see, the Hoosiers lose a lot of the production that led them to the Big Ten crown and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney. Does that mean Indiana is doomed? Of course not.
Tom Crean is a great recruiter, and not only does he have another strong class coming in, he returns Yogi Ferrell and Will Sheehey, in addition to intriguing sophomore-to-be Jeremy Hollowell. Also, more seasoning is exactly what Hanner Mosquera-Perea needs.
That said, Indiana won't be as efficient or prolific as it was in 2012-13 (48.2 FG% ranked 8th in nation; 78.6 ppg ranked 5th in nation); it can't be. But that's fine, because this will be a different team, one that knows it will have to find a new way to win.
About Brent Yarina | BTN.com web editor Brent Yarina covers football and men's basketball for BTN.com. He writes the popular uniform feature "Clothes Call," which also focuses on the latest cosmetic changes across Big Ten arenas and stadiums. Read all of his work here. You can subscribe to Yarina's RSS feed and follow him on Twitter @BTNBrentYarina. |