Indiana basketball has been a topic of discussion for most of the offseason thus far with the addition of Khristian Lander to the 2020 class and most recently the loss of Justin Smith to the transfer portal. Despite that, high expectations are coming back to Bloomington next year.
Dustin Dopirak of the Athletic joined the Indiana Sports Beat to discuss all things Indiana basketball and what the outlook is for the 2020-21 season.
Recently, Dopirak spoke to Khristian Lander's family to see what exactly went in to the reclassification process. As he described, it isn't an easy task even though it happens multiple times a year with high school players.
“I've always wondered, how do kids do this? When I was back in high school and someone told me when I was a junior I had to take all of my senior classes throughout the summer I would have throught you were crazy," Dopirak said. "He [Khristian Lander's dad] basically told me it was just a few classes, some online and e-learning as it was throughout the last part of the school year.
"There was an economic class and he's still working through an English and speech class," Dopirak added. "It’s an ongoing process... he only needed four additional credits to call himself a high school graduate."
As for why Lander decided to officially announce his decision to reclassify a few weeks ago? He had reached the point when he knew for sure he would be able to finish the last part of his course work.
"He just reached the point when he signed his letter of intent that they are saying he will get the work done," Dopirak said. "He is safe in saying he is finished and is sure he will finish. And that’s the point that he reached to announce it."
So now that he is on the roster for the fall, how will it play into Rob Phinisee's role?
“Stepping in and being that guy, obviously he has some better athletic abilities than [Rob] Phinisee but Phinisee is a guy who has already been there for two years. He [Phinisee] is very capable of playing off of the ball and that can help him as he will have better shooter off of catch and shoot opportunities than trying to make plays off of the bounce," Dopirak explained.
While Lander is coming in, Justin Smith is going out. The rising senior announced last week that he would be leaving the Indiana program as a grad transfer.
"It [Smith's departure] just really opens up a lot of different options and three-guard possibilities and allows some of these guys in the freshmen class to play more earlier on," Dopirak said. "He played the most minutes on the team last year and what it opens up are those combinations that are a lot different.
"There are a lot more times that you will see a three-guard lineup with Lander and Phinisee out there and then Al Durham or [Armaan] Franklin at the ‘3’," Dopirak added. "They will have some smaller lineups with a lot of different guys who can play the ‘2’ and the ‘3’.”
Now with two open scholarships, there has been a lot of discussion whether or not Indiana will use one on a graduate transfer. While that is an option, it needs to be a perfect fit.
“Part of the question is what do you need? Another guy that you can throw in there at a ‘5’… that might be an area to look," Dopirak said. "Last season Archie Miller was in the middle of saying ‘we're playing too many guys’ so you need to make sure people are getting enough minutes.
"You may have a grad transfer so you aren’t relying too much on the freshmen but I don’t think they are saying they need someone to come in.“ Dopirak added.
While the 2020 class is ranked No. 11 in the country and Archie Miller has seemingly found his true core group of guys, he has struggled to keep a group together for multiple seasons.
“You’ve had some shakeups and had a weird place to start by not having one big class. You look at the '18 class and Phinisee and Hunter are the only two left from that class," Dopirak explained. "You look at this class and Khristian Lander could be a one-and-done, I've heard people talking about that too so you lose him, Trayce Jackson-Davis and [Al] Durham too.. You haven’t necessarily had that core group of 3 or 4 juniors and 3 or 4 seniors growing old together.”
To hear the complete interview and the entire episode, view the tweet below.
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