Archie Miller Provides Numerous Indiana Hoosiers Basketball Updates

Indiana basketball coach Archie Miller was in Evansville on Tuesday evening to participate in the "Shoulders Family Lecture Series" at Harrison High School.

Miller addressed a couple hundred Hoosier fans in attendance with refreshing candor. He carried the room with his enthusiasm for his team. Coming off a slow-burning offseason with a team that still faces so many unanswered questions, Miller showed why this edition should be a lot of fun.

Each topic Miller addressed, including several members of the 2019-20 squad, is summarized below:

Miller gave an encouraging update on the former four-star recruit prior to his public lecture. IU held its first team workout of the fall on Tuesday and Hunter "did a nice job," according to Miller.

"He's nervous. He's anxious. He's excited," the coach told Bloomington Herald-Times reporter Jon Blau.

While Hunter isn't out of the woods and remains under limitations, Miller seemed hopeful Hunter may have turned a corner. Read the full statement on Jerome Hunter here:

Miller told the crowd that Hunter, who now lists at 6-8 and 225 pounds, can play inside or out while providing a much-needed perimeter threat. If he's healthy and available all season, the Hoosiers could be dangerous.

"It's simple," Miller said. "There's a long, decades-old list of people you are the caretaker of, to ensure not only they're proud of the place they went, but also the place they can come back to."

The coach told the audience that his third Indiana squad would play "a unique style due to its size."

He didn't elaborate, but then gave his thoughts on "old-school motion" making a comeback in college basketball one day soon.

He then segued into his team's need for more passing and less dribbling in the offense. Miller emphasized movement away from the ball.

"We have to have pace and inside-out [action]," he noted. "More pass-and-cuts and less dribbling."

The Evansville native came up once during the program when Miller told the crowd he "loves coming to Evansville," an overt reference to the prized junior point guard he's visited no less than 25 times already.

Miller spent 45 minutes signing autographs, taking pictures and kissing babies after the lecture concluded.

As he headed down the steps in front of the stage, one of the last few stragglers pointed to a teenager and yelled, "Hey coach, his best friend is Khristian Lander!"

Miller didn't miss a beat.

"And he's my best friend, too," he quipped.

Miller delivered the line of the night when he reported that "Romeo Langford is in Bloomington a ton" and "sleeps on Rob's [Phinisee] couch" because, as Archie half-jokingly implied, Langford's frugality won't let him get a hotel room.

Miller went on to say that Langford genuinely likes to be around his old teammates.

"It's pretty special when you think about. He could train anywhere but he chooses to be in Bloomington."

When asked his personal thoughts on a prime breakout candidate heading into this season, Miller wasted no time in answering. He mentioned, by name, redshirt junior forward and Butler transfer Joey Brunk, junior forward Justin Smith and junior guard Aljami Durham.

"I expect a lot out of my third-year players. They must produce," he said.

Miller acted as if this series could be resumed again in the near future. He told the audience he understood the significance of the rivalry.

"It's still on the table," he said. "Both schools want to see this happen."

Miller surprised some people in the room when he stated the Hoosiers could end up adding "four to six players" to the roster from the 2020 class. IU already has a pair committed in four-star Anthony Leal and three-star Trey Galloway, both in-state products ranked among the best 35 shooting guards in the land by Rivals.com. Leal checks in as the nation's No. 113 overall prospect.

Based on Miller's comments, adding as many as four more in 2020 is a real possibility.

• Junior Guard Aljami Durham: Miller plans to use Durham more at the point this season.

• Senior guard Devonte Green: "Devonte is going to have to shoot and score the ball for us," Miller told the audience.

Then he laughed.

"Devonte will love reading these quotes tomorrow. He's the kind of kid … the more rope you give him, the more he takes," Miller joked.

• Senior forward De'Ron Davis: "The challenge with De'Ron is his conditioning," Miller noted. "He was never 100 percent healthy last season."

• Freshman guard Armaan Franklin: "We're going to be 11-deep," Miller declared before praising Armaan Franklin's growth since arriving in Bloomington. "He came in 11th, 10th, whatever, and he's going to play now."

• Junior forward Justin Smith: Miller called Smith "versatile" and added "he could be the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year."

• Redshirt sophomore forward Race Thompson: "He's a big kid that's going to play," Miller said of the 6-8, 235-pounder.

Miller had called former National Player of the Year and IU All-American Calbert Cheaney (1990-93) earlier in the week to ask about his availability for last weekend's IU fantasy camp. But Calbert had plans. He was going to Cincinnati, as Miller relays it, and probably couldn't make it, but he told him he would try.

Sure enough, not only did Cheaney show up in Bloomington on his way through, he spent 60 minutes with the group.

He also made sure Miller knew he was visiting his school on Tuesday when he came to Harrison.

"He's a great friend," proclaimed Miller.

"It's a very difficult schedule especially heading into December," the coach said of the pre-Big Ten slate released last week. "It's built for the numbers, it's built for the [NCAA] Tournament."

Miller took a question from the crowd on IU's shooting woes. He said he told his team: "I don't know what to say. I just caught it and shot it and it went in. I never had that problem."

Just outside a month until practice kicks off for the college basketball season, it's hard to know what Miller has under the hood just yet.

But it should be fun finding out.

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