BLOOMINGTON — Mike Woodson emphatically indicated when he arrived in Bloomington in the spring if he planned to play four-and-one basketball in Indiana, Race Thompson might not be the fourth perimeter player in the equation.
Thompson, a 6-8, 235-pound junior player in a red jersey, consistent with the perfectly effective back-to-the-basket game for Archie Miller, who has most often used two men over the past two seasons at Indiana. Thompson averaged 9. 1 consistent game problems and shot 51. 5% in the box, being one of the Most Sensitive Rebounders and Defenders for the Hoosiers. He is one of only two players on IU’s roster, the other being All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis, to start each and every game last season.
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But even assistant coaches and members who switched from Miller to Woodson nutrition and had witnessed Thompson’s overall versatility were skeptical that he could go from an outdated classic to a stretch 4 with all the perimeter skills it requires.
“You know, I’m a wonderful listener,” Woodson said. I like to decide on (the brain) of my coaches, I ask questions about the career. Some coaches (said)” Well, he can’t take care of the ball very well You probably don’t need him to take care of it. I can’t shoot to the ground.
But Woodson isn’t interested in being told something is impossible, just what needs to be done to make Thompson the player the Hoosiers needed him to be.
“I just crushed all of that because I don’t,” Woodson said. “As a coach, I feel like I can take a player, like Race, who everyone says can’t do 3, who can’t take the ball to the floor and make plays. It’s my job, and your job as my team’s coach, to get him to do that. That’s what we do as coaches.
So, right now, Woodson is committed to molding and shaping what appears to be a peg so that it can slip into an extremely giant circular hole.
IU’s ability to play the modern, open game Woodson wants to play is largely based on Thompson’s ability to evolve, as in each and every player on the roster, it’s his role that he wants to replace the most dramatically between the 2020-21 season. and this one.
The purpose of a 4-out one-in-one attack is to draw defenders to the perimeter to leave more area to chase the dribble and more area for the only guy at the post, in IU’s case, regularly Jackson-Davis. This means that the other 4 players have to function in front of the basket and relatively far from it to pull the defense. Defenders only keep their men up to the 3-point line, however, if they can shoot from there. a total of six triples in 28 attempts in 65 school games. Based on those numbers, a defender protecting Thompson has any and all explanations for why to collapse in the paint to help with dribbles and double the position that honors the risk of the 3.
But Woodson believes in Thompson’s ability to expand his game, as does Greg Miller, who trained Thompson at Armstrong High School in Plymouth, Minnesota.
And most importantly, Thompson too.
“That’s what I was doing in high school,” Thompson said. “It’s a return to my roots. “
In fact, Miller has been preparing Thompson to play this taste for basketball since the fourth year. Miller’s son had the same elegance as Thompson, so he began running with him long before high school. Although he was almost the biggest player on the field. , Miller promised Race’s father, former Green Bay Packers ball carrier Darrell Thompson, that he would coach Race to be a complete player.
“We may have just put it inside,” Miller said. “He’s the tallest guy, he may just dominate. And believe me, we went to see him when he was younger. But we let him take the ball and go out since he was young. “small. He was a very intelligent smuggler. He may have simply led a counterattack. Really smart vision. Good ball handler.
And as he became older, he had even more perimeter responsibilities. Miller’s high school offense was five outs, which meant that each and every player in the area started from the perimeter even as they attacked the basket.
As a junior at Armstrong, Thompson averaged 19. 6 problems and 8. 9 consistent game problems. Many problems came in the dribblers and also in 3 problems. He has finished 32 of his 76 3-point attempts this season (42. 1%) and has only shot about 40% off the field.
“He can just throw himself at the post, but he can also go in and kick,” Thompson said. “He shoots himself from the perimeter. He made 3 winning shots. He’s smart for that.
However, Thompson did not play a senior season at Armstrong, as Archie Miller convinced him to reelegance himself to be part of Miller’s first recruiting elegance in 2017 and take a red shirt. He weighed only two hundred pounds at the time and needed time in weight. room before him in a position for the Big Ten. Since then, his body has changed drastically and his game has been replaced by him to get on the floor and adapt to what IU needed at the time.
Thompson missed the maximum of the 2018-19 crusade thanks to an especially unsightly concussion. When, despite everything, he started playing, he didn’t have much of an offensive role, however, he had put in more than 20 pounds of muscle and may only supply In just 63 minutes that season, he controlled 19 rebounds. It was enough for Archie Miller to see that Thompson could hit inside, so for the next two seasons, that’s the most he commonly did.
In 2019-20, he has become the Hoosiers’ most trusted position option on the bench, replacing Jackson-Davis and Joey Brunk when they left the area. Drunk missed all of last season with back surgery, so Thompson took over the start. position in the front position when Jackson-Davis in the box and took over the half-life jobs when the All-American went to the bench.
Thompson has become one of the Hoosiers’ most flexible players, finishing third on the team in overall minutes (761), fourth in scoring (9. 1 consistent with play), moment in rebounds (6. 2 rpgs), moment in box purpose consistent with percentage (51. 5%), first in steals (28) and moment in blocks (34), fifth in the team in assists (37) and had the fewest maximum ball losses of all starters (31).
But there is very little variety in the notation. He made just 3 of 15 three-point attempts and only Jackson-Davis, who didn’t take a three-pointer, took a smaller percentage of his shots beyond the arc than Thompson’s 8. 9 percent. For the research site hoop-math. com, 52. 7% of Thompson’s shots reached the rim. Jackson-Davis and sophomore winger Trey Galloway were the only players to hit a higher percentage of their shots there.
“Running in one position to do what Indiana needed from him,” Miller said. “And he played that role well. You have to give credit to Archie Miller and his staff because they gave him a lot of strength, and he didn’t necessarily show as much in high school, but I think there’s more to his game.
Thompson was one of many players who entered the moving portal when Archie Miller was fired. When Woodson promised to open the offense and Jackson-Davis would stay another year, Thompson seemed like a player for whom it would make sense to locate a new home. However, Woodson was adamant, seeking him to stay and saying that he would have the option of making his game bigger if he wanted to.
“He said, ‘If you show me, you can do it, then you can do it and I’ll let you do it,'” Thompson said. “He said, ‘As long as you show me, you can do something, I’m going to restrict your game. »
Thompson made the decision to stay and Woodson took him to paint everything imaginable in his outdoor game. You need it in your head when you have the opportunity to pull out a 3, your legal responsibility is to do so.
“It just gives me a lot of confidence to play,” Thompson said. All coaches do. I think I’m getting better throughout the day. At the end of the day, he asks, “What do we need you to do?do here Race? Shoot. Shoot, shoot. It’s as if every day he gives me more confidence, he will take care of the ball on my back. Play basketball. “
Woodson has other features if Thompson doesn’t turn out to be able to drive and shoot in games. He can force Jordan Geronimo, also a great frame with a shooter pedigree, into more action. For now, Woodson considers Miller Kopp to be a small forward. however, at 6-7, 215 pounds, he is at least able to bet 4.
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But none of them have Thompson’s experience as a defender and rebounder, so Woodson can go back to Thompson’s high school roots as a bet ahead unless, and until he knows he can’t. Thompson doesn’t want to be the best on the team. Productive shooter, however, if he can shoot the same clip he did in the Hoosiers’ two exhibition games against BC Mega in the Bahamas in August, when he made 1 of 3 attempts and turned up the volume a bit, Woodson’s religion can pay off. .
“I can take a step back,” Woodson said. But Race has to be able to shoot on the court and feel smart throwing the ball. “
Follow herald-times IU Insider Dustin Dopirak on Twitter on @DustinDopirak or him on DDopirak@gannett. com.