Even in shortened season, Indiana basketball could not escape its cycle of mediocrity
Fast-break points from the medical quarantine:
21. Indiana men’s basketball. In Archie Miller’s third season as IU head coach, the Hoosiers went 20-12.
20. Glass half full. The 20 victories — in a season shortened by the cornoavirus pandemic and the efforts to contain it — were the most for Indiana in Miller’s three seasons as head coach.
19. Glass (more than) half empty. The 12 defeats — in a shortened season — meant Indiana has now suffered double-digit losses in 21 of the past 26 years (starting in the 1994-95 season). That mark does not hold up well at all against IU’s “peer group” among the most traditional powers in NCAA men’s college basketball history.
18. Louisville. After Chris Mack’s Cardinals went 24-7 in 2019-20, U of L held at 15 double-digit loss seasons since 1994-95 — seven under Rick Pitino, six under Denny Crum, one each under David Padgett and Mack.
17. UCLA. After going 19-12 in Mick Cronin’s first season coaching in Westwood, the Bruins have had 14 double-digit loss seasons in the past 26 years.
16. North Carolina. Having produced a horrid 14-19 record in 2019-20, the Tar Heels now have 12 seasons with 10 defeats or more in the past 26 years.
15. Michigan State. The men of Izzo went 22-9 in the just-concluded season. MSU has 10 years with double-digit losses since 1994-95.
14. Kentucky. The Wildcats went 25-6 in 2019-20. UK also has 10 seasons with at least 10 defeats — five under Tubby Smith, three under John Calipari and two under Billy Gillispie — in the past 26 years.
13. Kansas. Bill Self’s Jayhawks finished the season 28-3; KU has had only four double-digit loss years since 1994-95.
12. Duke. The men of Krzyzewski went 25-6 in 2019-20, and also have only four seasons with 10 or more losses in the past 26 years.
11. Indiana’s plight. It never ceases to perplex how the state university representing Indiana — a hoops-mad state that churns out ample home-grown, high-level basketball talent — cannot pull out of what is now a more-than-two-and-a-half-decades cycle of mediocrity.
10. College basketball’s all-time wins battle. In 2019-20, there was some slight movement among the top two — and a big drop for No. 3 — in the never-ending battle to be the men’s college hoops victory leader.
9. Kentucky. Number one on the list, UK won 25 games in 2019-20 and now has 2,318 all-time victories.
8. Kansas. The No. 2 all-time Jayhawks won 28 this past season, gained three games on Kentucky and now have 2,302 all-time wins.
7. North Carolina. Number three all-time, North Carolina won only 14 in 2019-20. UNC lost 11 games in the all-time standings to No. 1 Kentucky and 14 to No. 2 Kansas and now has 2,275 all-time victories.
6. Duke. The No. 4 Blue Devils won 25 this past season and gained 11 on No. 3 North Carolina. Duke now has 2,201 all-time wins — 1,084 of them with Mike Krzyzewski as head coach.
5. Chris Mack. Since coming to Louisville from Xavier, the Cardinals head coach has been highly reliant on graduate-transfer point guards.
4. Christen Cunningham. For Mack’s first U of L team (2018-19), Cunningham grad transferred from Samford. At Louisville, the ex-Henry Clay High School star averaged 10.1 points, 4.8 assists and helped the Cards win 20 games (20-14) and make the NCAA Tournament.
3. Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble. This past season, Kimble started 17 of 31 games for U of L and the graduate transfer from St. Joseph’s averaged 5.0 ppg and 2.7 assists as the Cardinals went 24-7. Cards backers likely expected more punch from a player who averaged 15.5 points a game as a sophomore and 15.6 as a redshirt junior at St. Joe’s.
2. Carlik Jones. On Sunday, the now-former Radford Highlanders point guard announced he, too, was grad transferring to Louisville. A 6-foot-1, 170-pound product of Cincinnati, Jones is considered one of the top players available on the men’s college hoops “waiver wire” for 2020-21.
1. Best one yet? This past season as a junior, Jones averaged 20 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists while leading Radford to a 21-11 record. He hit 51.5 percent of his two-point field-goal tries, 40.9 on three-point attempts (a huge improvement from 24.7-percent accuracy behind the arc as a sophomore) and had a better than 2-to-1 (5.5 to 2.3) assist to turnover ratio.
The step up in class from the Big South Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference is huge. Nevertheless, Jones appears to be the most accomplished of the grad transfer point guards Mack has brought to Louisville.
