BLOOMINGTON – Devonte Green couldn’t point to one moment when the switch flipped in his head last season — one conversation with coaches, practice or game where everything changed.

The ebbs and flows of his first season after a coaching change weren’t kind to the now-junior guard. The switch from Tom Crean’s system to Archie Miller’s saw Green flash at times but too often flounder and see his minutes and production suffer. Green questioned his status, Miller said at Wednesday's media day. And Green questioned Miller’s coaching and style of play.

Am I at the right place?

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But by February the uncertainty passed and Green started the final seven games. What Green referred to as “a bunch of moments” cemented his role with the Hoosiers.

“The one thing that he came to grips with at the end of the season was, ‘I’m going to dive in and embrace and I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do here, and let’s just see how it works,’” Miller said. “With a six- to eight-week period of time from the end of the season, he did a great job. Not only on the floor, but he did a great job in the weight room. He did a great job in the locker room.”

Miller has placed the onus on players to force him to give them the minutes they want. And with the Hoosiers' abundance of skill and energy at guard this season, Green must ensure the minutes he wants aren’t used elsewhere. Miller added a true point guard in freshman Robert Phinisee, and Romeo Langford and sophomore Al Durham, also figure into the rotation of primary ballhandler.

That work started in the spring and continued with what Miller called possibly the team’s most consistent summer performance. Senior forward Juwan Morgan even named Green, alongside Durham, as a returning player whose work ethic impressed him this offseason.

“How that translates as we start practice and games start looming and minutes start to be handed out, that’s where as a junior you’d hope (Green) would be the guy that could really see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Miller said. “He’s got a great opportunity to have a great role on this team, and he’s just got to embrace what we’re asking him to do.”

Green averaged 22.5 minutes, 7.6 points and 2.5 assists per game last year. His most efficient and productive play came mostly from the end of January through the Hoosiers’ lone game in March. IU needs the player who scored 18 points and dished out six assists in 31 minutes Feb. 17 in an 84-82 win at Iowa, not the one who scored three points off only free throws in 25 minutes when IU lost at home to Indiana State in the season opener.

During Saturday's Hoosier Hysteria scrimmage, Green guided his side’s offense to easy points early. Senior forward and transfer Evan Fitzner nailed a 3-pointer for the scrimmage’s first points off a pass from Green. Next time down the court, Green split two defenders with a bounce pass to find redshirt freshman forward Race Thompson open under the basket.

Green took a couple ill-advised 3s later on from the top of the arc and committed a lackadaisical turnover, but the positives outweighed the negatives.

“Devonte has just become more under control, not making home run plays but making more singles than he has before,” Morgan said Wednesday.

“It’s the biggest adjustment I made to my game,” Green said in response to Morgan’s comment. “I think it shows.”

Miller refers to the last four minutes of a game as “winning time,” and in those final moments, he wants to be able to trust his guards to make plays. Whether or not Green will be on the floor for IU this year to do that has yet to be seen, but Miller wasn’t shy about what it meant for the Hoosiers last year when he wasn’t that guy.

The difference between a couple, maybe three, more wins.

“When he played well last year, our team was a lot different,” Miller said. “We had some really, really good wins and we had some really, really good performances when he played well.

"When he didn’t play well or we didn't have that other guard on the floor at times, that’s when I thought we really struggled.”

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Jordan Guskey on Twitter at @JordanGuskey or email him at jguskey@gannett.com.