Jalen Hood-Schifino would have been the ideal player for Purdue and Braden Smith would have been the ideal player for IU, last year. For the Indiana readers, JHS better for Purdue, Smith better for Indiana.
This past year, Smith was a better player than Hood-Schifino. If you have no basketball knowledge and just watched the one Purdue IU game, then this might seem absurd.
Here are the numbers to back up my claims.
Hood-Schifino averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists off of 49.2% true shooting. Smith averaged 9.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists off of 58.6% true shooting.
I know, Hood-Schifino scored more points. But there is more to basketball than scoring. He got out-rebounded by Smith, he averaged nearly an assist less and was considerably less efficient.
Efficiency matters a lot. Hood-Schifino got these gaudy-looking box scores off of numerous shots. Smith was calculated, only taking open layups and threes.
Smith was also the better defensive player. Kenpom.com has Smith’s steal% in the top 500 at 2.5 while Hood-Schifino is at 1.4.
And while it is incredibly hard to track defense in stats, especially for college basketball, there are still stats that show Smith was a much better player in that category.
On Sports-reference.com Smith had a defensive box plus-minus of 4.1 while Hood-Schifino was a measly .3. Evanmiya.com one of the best sites for tracking individual players' defense, had Braden Smith at a defensive score of 1.52 while Hood-Schifino was .93.
If you just compare Purdue and Indiana on kenpom.com at team defense, Purdue was 24th while Indiana was 45th. Purdue fans would rate Braden Smith as the 3-5th best defensive player on the team and I imagine Indiana fans would the same for Hood-Schifino if not lower.
BBUUHHUBUUBBBBUT WHAT ABOUT WHEN HOOD-SCHIFINON COOKED SMITH AT PURDUE AND SCORED 35?
Did you watch that game? Braden Smith did not cover Hood-Schifino, Ethan Morton did. And even then, IU often utilized ball screens to pit Hood-Schifino against Zach Edey in drop coverage.
The reason he went off for 35 points is because Matt Painter is a complete idiot that refused to adjust his game plan. He came into the game wanting to give up the mid-range shots and floaters, but to Hood-Schifino’s credit, he kept hitting them.
Painter never adjusted ultimately losing that game, prompting me to write the following article claiming Purdue was going to lose in the tournament and should fire Painter. https://rockethaverland202.wixsite.com/rocketwriteup/post/no-final-four-future
In that article, I point out a critical point. Smith is a very productive player, but not a talented one. He doesn’t create any scoring of his own, he isn’t quick enough to beat the press.
I claimed we would lose to a 10 seed in the second round but it turned out to be much worse than that, a fucking 16 SEED!!!
What Purdue needed in order to have a shot at the Final Four was talent. A player like Jalen-Hood-Schifino may have carried Purdue to the final four, with his ability to create scoring on his own and break the press.
But Painter only recruits in his words, “Productive” players that fit his system.
Purdue needed a player like Hood-Schifino this past season. Conversely, Indiana needed a player like Smith.
Indiana needed a better floor general, one to move the ball around and more importantly, PLAY DEFENSE.
Even if you still believe Hood-Schifino was the better player, he’s gone. He left Indiana for the NBA and without Trayce Jackson-Davis, the outlook for that team isn’t good.
If Indiana finishes in the top half of the Big Ten next year, that should be considered a massive success.
Indiana needed a long-term productive player like Smith to help their regrowing program. One bad season this coming year might just put Mike Woodson on the hot seat.
This war that I started on Twitter showed me one thing, the dysfunction of both programs.
Purdue is a rigid system-oriented program, that is filled with productive players. But it is lacking key talent to carry it in March.
Indiana is a fruitful program with plenty of talent coming in, but no productive team-oriented players or a coach to maximize its players potential.
I hope, maybe, possibly, potentially, eased your mind a bit with this article. If not, go ahead and post any gifs you want, I don’t really care. But one person did post a pic of me at the Correc which was really creepy.
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