| | By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Time to work on ballhandling during an Indiana practice. Jared Jeffries is in the line with the forwards where he belongs. But he's being defended by Dane Fife, a guard.
The two go back and forth dribbling up court. A few times Jeffries gets by Fife. A few others, Fife contains him. Only once does Jeffries stumble over his feet.
When it's time to run some full-court, Jeffries has the ball again. And he's not inside waiting for a guard to get him the ball on the break. No, Jeffries is bringing the ball up.
|  | | Even at 6-foot-9, freshman Jared Jeffries is used to having the ball in his hands. |
That's right. He's 6-foot-9, but he might just be Indiana's point guard, or rather its point forward.
Pssst ... he plays like Scottie Pippen.
But he better be the Hoosiers' Jordan if Indiana is going to compete for a Big Ten title.
To no one's surprise, the McDonald's all-American from Bloomington North High has taken on a starring role for the Hoosiers two weeks into practice and he's been given a long lead by interim head coach Mike Davis and his staff.
The reason is simple: he's the Hoosiers' best overall player; their best passer, shooter, and believe it or not, ballhandler.
"We need a guy to step forward and say, 'I'm the playmaker.' It might be too much on him to post-up and then try to score as well as bring the ball up," said Davis on Monday during ESPN.com's preseason tour. "But I watched him play and he handled the ball so well in the zig-zag drills. He was making plays and that's what you want at that position."
Jeffries said Davis noticed his handle when he walked by an open gym pickup game last month. Davis knew Jeffries had the play-making skills when he saw him average 23.4 points a game last season. But it wasn't until Davis was named interim head coach on Sept. 12 that he seriously considered putting Jeffries at the point.
The Hoosiers lost guards Michael Lewis and A.J. Guyton off last year's team. Both handled the ball with Lewis acting like the point and Guyton more of a combination guard. But freshmen Andre Owens and A.J. Moye are more shooting guards, and aren't ready to handle the full load of being the only point guards.
Fife will share some of the ball-handling responsibilities as will Kyle Hornsby. But neither has that as his primary responsibility. Their main purpose now is to set up on the wing and be a shooter.
"Having him handle the ball opens up a lot of things offensively," Owens said of Jeffries. "We've got big guys who can handle the ball and that will make it harder to pressure and trap us. We've got good shooters and Jared can kick it out and get us going or get it back."
Davis is concerned that Jeffries might not be able to work the pass-and-cut move, to where he's set up in time to get position for a post-up. But he will definitely draw a defender further out from the basket, freeing up space inside for 6-10 senior Kirk Haston, 6-9 sophomore Jeff Newton and 6-11 redshirt sophomore George Leach. Newton, who just started to practice after a strained Achilles, is a bit more of a face-the-basket scorer, while Haston's domain is in the lane and Leach has perfected a baseline lefty hook shot.
"The advantages for me to have the ball so much is they can't put anyone real small on me," Jeffries said. "That gives me the opportunity to post up. The disadvantage is we may get beat on a rebound that I might not be able to rotate back to. But the offense is working well where I can pass it and cut through to the basket or back outside."
Haston said Jeffries' ballhandling has already taken pressure off the post players. The anticipated matchup problems should benefit Haston, Newton and Leach.
But they've got to focus on rebounding even more with Jeffries on the perimeter.
"Michigan State won the national championship by outrebounding teams and that's why we've got to keep two guys inside all the time," Haston said.
The three outside, and two inside set is more of a pro-style offense. Davis and his staff kept some aspects of Bob Knight's motion offense, but the shift to a playmaker's control isn't entirely new. Haston was quick to point out that the Hoosiers were moving toward this system a year ago with Guyton getting most of the shots.
"We want the ball in the hands of someone who can make plays," Indiana assistant Dan Panaggio said. "We want the other guys to learn to play off of that. The reality is this is a young, but talented team. We've got five freshmen, three sophomores and three juniors.
"We're going to get better. We have a young team and a new staff putting in a new system that may take time. For us to get where we want to be it will take time and patience."
The Hoosiers open Nov. 14 against Pepperdine in the Preseason NIT and Davis will likely tinker with Jeffries' position before the first tip. But he won't change his need to be around the ball.
"I don't think motion is set up for players like myself and Jeff Newton," Jeffries said of the more traditional motion offense under Knight. "It's set up for everyone to move and kick (pass) to the open man. With this offense, you know people are going to drive and get the angles to drive and the spacing to drive."
It can work because the ball will be in Jeffries in his hands.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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