BLOOMINGTON – If he has to, Archie Miller will spend the rest of this season nursing a post-practice headache.

“I think I'm going to have to be a raving lunatic every day, regardless whether you win by 30 or lose by 30. It's got to be the same,” Miller said after Indiana’s 28-point win against Tennessee Tech on Thursday. “Probably going to have a lot of headaches over the next couple of months.”

There’s another way, of course, one perhaps requiring less Tylenol. Amid calls from sections of his fan base to bench his seniors and hand their playing time to younger teammates, Miller sees things the opposite.

“Your best players at the end of the day have to be your oldest players,” Miller said. “What I mean by best players, the guys that get it done in the tough moments, the guys that require, are requiring the other guys on the team to follow their lead.”

Miller’s first Indiana team has endured a season of stark mood swings through its first 13 games. The Hoosiers opened their campaign with a 21-point home loss to Indiana State, then gathered themselves enough to offer Duke a 40-minute fight, beat Iowa and come from behind to upset Notre Dame.

Two days after that overtime win against the Irish, IU was run out of their own gym again by an in-state mid-major, this time Fort Wayne.

Miller’s disappointment wasn’t limited to his senior class after the Fort Wayne defeat. But given it was IU’s second loss to the Mastodons in as many seasons, it appeared to start there.

“There's got to be much more of sort of like an alpha dog approach to the upperclassmen. They just can't let that happen. And it's almost perplexing,” Miller said. “Part of the first game against Fort Wayne (last season), it's almost perplexing that the approach wouldn't have been different from the upperclassmen.”

Among Indiana’s five-man senior class are two regular starters and two key reserves. A point guard, a shooting guard, a do-it-all forward and a sturdy post defender. Two of the four played major minutes for a Big Ten champion just two seasons ago. Two are actually in their fifth years of college.

So it’s not surprising fans’ ire has been directed first at that group, as this season has hit its lows. Miller himself says he needs more than he’s getting.

Benching them would mean canceling their impact entirely. There’s greater value, both now and for the future, in the opposite.

Lean on those seniors. Let them set the course of the program they’ll leave next spring. Teach them what Miller demands, so they in turn can lay those demands on younger teammates.

Like Josh Newkirk, who finished Notre Dame and Fort Wayne with more combined fouls (nine) than points (eight), but scored 20 in the Tennessee Tech win.

“I think those guys get driven harder,” Miller said. “Josh Newkirk, he had a couple of hard couple of practices, in forcing him to compete, forcing him to get out of his, so to speak, foul trouble and just not being able to lead us out there more. And I thought he was very good (against Tennessee Tech).”

Road bumps seem pre-destined. Whether there’s another Fort Wayne in store, Indiana is a program in transition to a new foundation, and it’s clear now to Miller the challenges that will present.

“There's an approach here that it’s easy to come off of a high and make you feel good,” Miller said, “and a lack of responsibility to understand how every game is important.”

It’s easy to see IU’s most-experienced players as the problem, one easily solved simply by moving on. But the better course of action was illustrated by Miller’s words, as well as Newkirk’s performance Thursday:

Indiana will be far better off, now and later, if its seniors play an active role in solving its problems.

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

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