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#30 Indiana Basketball 2023-2024

Key Departures: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Race Thompson, Miller Kopp, Tamar Bates, Jordan Geronimo

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG: Xavier Johnson (GS.)

SG: Trey Galloway (Sr.)

PF: Mackenzie Mgbako (Fr.)

PF: Malik Reneau (So.)

C: Kel’el Ware (So.)

Key Reserve Players:

PF: Kaleb Banks (So.), SG: C.J. Gunn (So.), PF: Anthony Walker (GS.), C: Payton Sparks (Jr.), PG: Gabe Cupps (Fr.), SG: Jakai Newton (Fr.)

Discussion:

The Hoosiers earned a four seed in the NCAA tournament, the highest seed that they have earned in a decade. They lose four of their top five scorers, which is a ton of production that will need to be replaced. However, Mike Woodson added some big time talent in the offseason including Oregon transfer Kel’el Ware and five-star freshman Mackenzie Mgbako. Indiana has a lot of potential to be great and the ceiling is pretty high with the incoming talent, but there are some things that will need to line up for them in order to reach their peak.

Xavier Johnson is back for his sixth season of college basketball. He missed significant time last season due to injury, but is the leading returning scorer. Johnson is the ultimate wild card and he will be one of the main factors that determines what Indiana can become. Trey Galloway led the team in 3-point shooting last season with an incredible 46.2 percent clip. However, this was on a fairly low volume, so he will need to maintain being a 40 percent 3-point shooter with higher volume as a senior.

One of the big splashes in the offseason was the addition of former Duke commit and McDonald’s All-American Mackenize Mgbako. He is a hybrid forward with the chance to really shoot the ball at a high level. Like Galloway, the Hoosiers are going to rely on his outside shooting (they lose a 44.4 percent 3-point shooter in Miller Kopp). With the departures of Trayce-Jackson Davis and Race Thompson, Malik Reneau should have an expanded role as a sophomore. He played in all 35 games as a freshman and started in three. The other big splash of the offseason was the addition of former McDonald’s All-American Kel’el Ware, who was seen as a potential lottery pick in the 2023 NBA draft prior to arriving at Oregon. An inconsistent freshman season led Ware to transfer elsewhere for a fresh start and you better believe there is a still a load of untapped potential in his game on both ends of the floor. This frontcourt of Mgbako, Reneau and Ware could be unbelievably good, but it could get crowded quite easily, which is why Johnson, Galloway and Mgbako need to be consistent outside threats.

The bench should have a good mix of guys. Kaleb Banks and C.J. Gunn should see some more playing time as sophomores and Woodson also brings in freshmen Gabe Cupps and Jakai Newton, in addition to Mgbako. Anthony Walker transfers in from Miami and could take on a Jordan Geronimo type of role and Payton Sparks comes in from Ball State, where he started in 62 games the past two seasons. Last year, he averaged 13.3 points and 8.7 boards. He earned Freshman of the Year honors in the MAC in 2021-2022.

For Indiana to reach a high ceiling, they will need consistent and reliable play from their point guard Xavier Johnson. They will also need to have consistent perimeter shooting to really open up space for their bigs in the frontcourt. There is no denying that this team has the talent for Coach Woodson to work with. The Hoosiers round out the top 30.

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#14 Indiana Basketball 2022-2023

Key Departures: Parker Stewart, Rob Phinisee, Khristian Lander, Michael Durr

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG: Xavier Johnson (RS Sr.)

PG: Jalen Hood-Schifino (Fr.)

SF: Miller Kopp (RS Sr.)

PF: Race Thompson (RS Sr.)

PF: Trayce Jackson-Davis (Sr.)

Key Reserve Players:

SG: Trey Galloway (Jr.), SG: Tamar Bates (So.), PF: Malik Reneau (Fr.), SF: Jordan Geronimo (Jr.), PF: Kaleb Banks (Fr.), SG: Anthony Leal (Jr.), SG: C.J. Gunn (Fr.)

Discussion:

You could definitely say year one under Mike Woodson was a successful one. The Hoosiers finally got back to the NCAA tournament, the first time since 2015-2016. Now that the Hoosiers have serious expectations on their shoulders for 2022-2023, how far will they be able to go?

Xavier Johnson is back for a second season at Indiana after averaging 12.1 points and 5.1 assists (third in the Big Ten) in year one. He is probably the x-factor for this team. He can make some awesome plays, but also some erratic plays as well. A consistently good Xavier Johnson is one of the better point guards that we have in college basketball. Indiana’s incoming recruiting class is headlined by two former Montverde stars. Jalen Hood-Schifino committed last August and then after Florida had their coaching change, Malik Reneau reopened his recruitment and followed his high school teammate to Bloomington. I was surprised Reneau chose to go to Indiana since they will have a loaded and experienced duo down low in Race Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Reneau would probably start at most other places. We all know how productive Jackson-Davis is, but Thompson is also super valuable for this program. He definitely flies under the radar in college hoops. When it comes to Jackson-Davis, obviously the 58.9 percent shooting mark from the field is impressive along with the 18.3 points and 8.1 boards per game, but his defense is what stood out last year. His rim protection capabilities entered a different level and he really took ownership on that end. His 2.3 blocks per game was good for second in the Big Ten. With guys like Johnny Davis, Keegan Murray, E.J. Liddell, Jaden Ivey, Trevion Williams and Kofi Cockburn no longer in the conference, Jackson-Davis will be the main face for the Big Ten (along with Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson).

The Hoosiers will need consistent shooting on the perimeter and that will start with Miller Kopp, especially with the departure of Parker Stewart. Xavier Johnson will also need to shoot the ball well (38.3 percent from downtown last year).

Indiana also returns important role players like Trey Galloway and Jordan Geronimo from last season, along with Tamar Bates who should be due for a much bigger season in year two. He only averaged 14.5 minutes per game as a freshman, but could be a breakout candidate as a sophomore. Like Galloway and Geronimo, Anthony Leal will also be back for his junior season.

Hood-Schifino and Reneau are the two prized recruits from the 2022 class, but Mike Woodson will also bring in Kaleb Banks and C.J. Gunn to round out the class.

Mike Woodson did a good job in year one. However, we know that Indiana fans are never satisfied. The pressure is high and expectations are through the roof. Getting back to the NCAA tournament is a good step, but that is not enough.

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Next 15 for Top 45

31. West Virginia Mountaineers: Miles McBride will now be suiting up for the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, but Bob Huggins does bring in Malik Curry from Old Dominion to fill the point guard spot. Sean McNeil and Taz Sherman return on the perimeter and Jalen Bridges is a potenital breakout player in the Big 12.

32. USC Trojans: Yes, Evan Mobley is gone, but Isaiah Mobley is back for his junior season to lead an experienced frontcourt. A healthy Ethan Anderson plus the addition of Boogie Ellis could form a really good backcourt. And, Drew Peterson, Isaiah White, and Chevez Goodwin are all back. The Trojans will be right behind the Bruins and the Ducks in the Pac 12.

33. Mississippi State Bulldogs: Ben Howland adds three big time transfers in Garrison Brooks, Rocket Watts, and D.J. Jeffries. Plus, the Bulldogs have one of the best stars in college basketball that no one knows about in Iverson Molinar. Mississippi State will be back in the NCAA tournament.

34. Indiana Hoosiers: Year one of the Mike Woodson era begins in Bloomington. Can he make the switch from the NBA to the college game? He inherits a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate in Trayce Jackson-Davis. Helping him expand his overall game will be huge for his development. Keep an eye on IMG Academy’s Tamar Bates, who rose up recruiting boards this past year (former Texas commit). Indiana will also have Parker Stewart eligible and Miller Kopp comes over from Northwestern. Woodson has enough to get his Hoosiers to the NCAA tournament in his first season.

35. Texas Tech Red Raiders: The Mark Adams era officially begins in Lubbock and he will look to continue the success that Chris Beard was able to have. Two key returnees will be Kevin McCullar and Terrence Shannon. McCullar will be a key playmaker and defensive piece. Shannon could easily be the leading scorer and will look to improve his draft stock. Also, keep an eye on K.J. Allen, who is a top ten juco propsect according to 247 Sports and Kevin Obanor, who comes over from Oral Roberts. With plenty of transfers coming in, Adams will have more than enough.

36. Xavier Musketeers: After Villanova and UConn, the Big East is pretty much up for grabs. Paul Scruggs and Zach Freemantle form a nice duo and Colby Jones should have a big sophomore season. They also add Iowa transfer Jack Nunge. Expect Travis Steele to lead his program to his first March Madness.

37. Rutgers Scarlet Knights: Not only did Steve Pikiell get to the NCAA tournament last season, they also won their first round game and nearly beat Houston in the second round. They return their two leaders in Geo Baker and Ron Harper. Plus, Cliff Omoruyi is expected to have a monster sophomore season.

38. Louisville Cardinals: I am not as high on the Cardinals as others are, but they will still be in the top half of the ACC. Malik Williams, Sam Williamson, Dre Davis and Jae’Lyn Withers are all back. Chris Mack also adds grad transfers Jarrod West and Mason Faulkner and transfers Matt Cross and Noah Locke. Plus, the addition of two top ten juco prospects according to 247 Sports in El Ellis (number one overall) and Sydney Curry (former Kansas commit). This team will be much deeper than last year.

39. St. John’s Red Storm: The return of Julian Champagnie gives St. John’s a real chance to get to the NCAA tournament. He is a frontrunner for Big East Player of the Year and will form a nice one-two punch with Posh Alexander. The addition of Aaron Wheeler was one of the more underrated offseason additions.

40. Arizona Wildcats: It is Tommy Lloyd time in Tucson. The former Gonzaga assistant inherits two stars in Azuolas Tubelis and Ben Mathurin. Kerr Kriisa and Dalen Terry will be important pieces as will Pelle Larsson from Utah and Oumar Ballo who follows Lloyd to Arizona.

41. Loyola Chicago Ramblers: Porter Moser is now in Norman after doing an unbelievable job at Loyola, but Drew Valentine looks to be the man for the job. Cameron Krutwig is gone but Lucas Williamson and Braden Norris will be back to lead the Ramblers back to the top spot in the MVC.

42. Belmont Bruins: Belmont finished 18-2 in the OVC, but lost to Morehead State in the conference championship game, destroying their hopes of going dancing. The good news? Everyone is back. Casey Alexander and company will be hungrier than they have ever been.

43. Colorado State Rams: The Rams are a team that many college basketball junkies are super excited about. They have a real chance to get to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012-2013. Similar to Belmont, everyone returns.

44. Florida Gators: Expectations are high for the Florida basketball program and Mike White has been fairly mediocre since taking over the job. I think this is an important year for the Gators. Colin Castleton, Tyree Appleby, and Anthony Duruji are all back. Phlan Fleming and Brandon McKissic are two incoming grad transfers, plus the Gators add Myreon Jones and C.J. Felder. Kowacie Reeves is a good freshman talent. The key question is whether Keyontae Johnson will be back or not.

45. Wichita State Shockers: The Shockers have one of the most under appreciated stars in college basketball in Tyson Etienne. After Memphis and Houston, I think Wichita State has the chance to make the most noise in the American.

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#25 Indiana Basketball 2020-2021

Key Departures: Devonte Green, Justin Smith, De’Ron Davis, Damezi Anderson

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG: Khristian Lander (Fr.)

PG: Rob Phinisee (Jr.)

SG: Al Durham (Sr.)

PF: Trayce Jackson-Davis (So.)

C: Joey Brunk (GS.)

Key Reserve Players:

SF: Jerome Hunter (RS So.), SG: Armaan Franklin (So.), PF: Race Thompson (RS Jr.), SF: Jordan Geronimo (Fr.), SG: Trey Galloway (Fr.), SG: Anthony Leal (Fr.)

Discussion:

To round out my Top 25, I have another Big Ten team, this time it is in the form of the Indiana Hoosiers. At IU, expectations are high. Although it is has taken Archie Miller some time to build the program his way, he did have his best season in 2019-2020. You have to give him some slack, as there was not much left to work with when Tom Crean was let go. I think the Hoosiers are on a positive trajectory and I think Miller will have his best season yet in 2020-2021.

With Justin Smith off to Arkansas, I think you will see Al Durham slide up to the three and you will see both Rob Phinisee and Khristian Lander in the starting lineup. Getting Lander to reclassify was huge for Archie Miller. He is a crafty lefty with a nice stroke and should form a nice tandem with Rob Phinisee, who was limited last season due to injury. Al Durham is one of those guys who has gotten better each year in Bloomington. He had his best season as a junior, which included a 38.3 percent clip from 3-point range. Miller will have both of his traditional bigs back in Trayce Jackson-Davis and Joey Brunk. Jackson-Davis was sensational as a freshman, averaging 13.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, earning Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors (I don’t know how he did not win Big Ten Freshman of the Year). It was really fun watching Indiana feed him the ball and I really enjoyed watching the lefty big man go to work. Joey Brunk will be back as well for his second and final season in Bloomington after transferring over from Butler.

Jerome Hunter is the guy who could benefit the most from the departure of Justin Smith. Hunter was in the 2018 class with Romeo Langford and Phinisee, but was forced to redshirt after having leg surgery. Last season as a redshirt freshman, he averaged 3.8 points in 14.4 minutes, seeing action in 30 games. Now with a year under his belt, Miller may call on Hunter for a bigger role this year. And at 6’7″, he fits nicely on the perimeter at the three. Armaan Franklin should be the first guard off the bench. He started nine games last season as a freshman. Jordan Geronimo, Anthony Leal, and Trey Galloway round out the 2020 recruiting class behind Lander. Race Thompson will be the third big in the rotation. I have always loved the energy that he brings to the court when he is called upon.

When you are coaching at a historic program like Indiana, people are going to want results immediately. Some people may think Archie Miller should have yielded better results to this point, but I think he has done a solid job in three seasons. I am most impressed with his ability to retain the top talent in the state (Romeo Langford, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Khristian Lander). Although the Big Ten is going to be an absolute monster, the Hoosiers should be able to hang with anybody. Plus, there will be no shortage of opportunity when it comes to playing ranked opponents. I definitely expect Indiana to be dancing come March.

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Duke to host Trendon Watford?

Duke could be working on scheduling a visit with five-star power forward Trendon Watford for their final home game against Wake Forest on Tuesday.

The Alabama native is ranked as the 22nd overall recruit in 2019 according to ESPN. He cut his list to Indiana, Alabama, LSU, and Memphis back in December. He is the younger brother of Indiana great Christian Watford.

Duke’s Chris Carawell and Nate James recently went to watch him play.

This is definitley something to monitor with Duke looking to add another piece to their 2019 class. Matthew Hurt is also heavily on their radar.

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Keion Brooks Jr. Announces Decision Date

Keion Brooks Jr., a 6’7″ forward from Fort Wayne, Indiana, announced on Twitter that he will make his college decision on Friday, March 15th. Brooks is ranked as the 38th overall recruit in 2019 according to ESPN.

Brooks cut his list to six back in September. The schools to make the cut were Indiana, Michigan State, Kentucky, UNC, UCLA, and Purdue.

Being from the state of Indiana, the Hoosiers have been a heavy contender, but Kentucky has come on as of late. The Wildcats leads the Crystal Ball Predictions at 46%, Indiana is second at 31%, and the Spartans are third at 15%.

Trayce Jackson-Davis decided to stay home, will Brooks do the same? If not, Kentucky seems to be the biggest threat to land him. If Brooks ends up in Lexington, you will probably see him slide up to the four, with Kahlil Whitney playing the three.

Brooks will announce at 8pm on the 15th.

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Trayce Jackson-Davis to IU

Five-star center Trayce Jackson-Davis has committed to Indiana. He picked the Hoosiers over Michigan State and UCLA. Archie Miller lands a local star for the second year in a row.

Jackson-Davis is ranked as the 17th overall recruit in 2019 according to ESPN and is  ranked as the fifth overall center. He joins four-star shooting guard Armaan Franklin as Hoosier pledges for 2019. Now imagine if Keion Brooks heads to Bloomington?

 

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Trayce Jackson-Davis cuts list to 3

Five-star center Trayce Jackson-Davis has cut his list of schools to three. The Indiana native is ranked as the 16th overall recruit in the class of 2019 according to ESPN and 15th overall recruit according to 247Sports.

The final three schools are UCLA, Michigan State, and Indiana. According to 247Sports, the Hoosiers are the favorite, sitting at 100% to land TJD.

 

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#28 Indiana Basketball 2018-2019

Key Departures: Robert Johnson, Josh Newkirk, Collin Hartman, Freddie McSwain Jr., Curtis Jones 

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG: Devonte Green (Jr.)

SG: Romeo Langford (Fr.)

SF: Zach McRoberts (RS Sr.)

PF: Juwan Morgan (Sr.)

C: Evan Fitzner (GS.)

Key Reserve Players:

SF: Justin Smith (So.), SG: Al Durham (So.), SF: Jerome Hunter (Fr.), PG: Robert Phinisee (Fr.), PF: Jake Forrester (Fr.), PF: Race Thompson (RS Fr.), SF: Damezi Anderson Jr. (Fr.), PF: De’Ron Davis (Jr.)

Discussion:

Year two of the Archie Miller era starts now. The Hoosiers went 16-15 last season, but with an influx of freshmen talent, including a home-state superstar, Indiana has serious March Madness aspirations.

One of the more serious questions with the Hoosiers is the point guard play. Junior Devonte Green is sort of thrown into that role, despite not being a natural point guard. He will share the point guard duties with freshman Robert Phinisee. The point guard spot is often the most important piece for successful teams in college basketball, so we will see how everything unfolds.

The prized gem in this class is Romeo Langford, the five-star shooting guard from New Albany, Indiana. Langford chose to stay home, for what will likely be a one and done freshman season. Langford has a smooth and silky offensive game and can really score at all three levels. Although he isn’t a crazy explosive athlete, Langford has good size and length for the shooting guard position. With his sweet stroke and good release, Assembly Hall is going to be rocking when he hits some deep perimeter shots. Langford won’t be in Bloomington for very long.

I have Zach McRoberts in the starting lineup as a glue guy. He did start 17 games last season and led the team with 1.3 steals per contest. Having said that, I wouldn’t be surprised to see sophomores Justin Smith or Al Durham in there. They both started nine games each last season. Archie Miller also brings in two four-star small forwards in Jerome Hunter and Damezi Anderson, who should both see some tick. Miller is going to have a ton of depth and versatility on the perimeter with these guys.

Juwan Morgan is back for his senior year and is a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate. Morgan led the Hoosiers with 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He also averaged 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals. Morgan is Mr. Versatility on both ends of the court and on the boards, and is a matchup problem for most teams. He brings the energy and hustle and can impact the game in a variety of ways. Miller has the veteran star in Morgan and the freshman phenom in Langford to run the show. Evan Fitzner will most likely start, especially with De’Ron Davis recovering from injury. Davis is a absolute force and a beast, so hopefully he does get healthy soon. Fitzner is a skilled and experienced big, he can stretch the floor as well, so he should make an impact on this team. Jake Forrester is bouncy, athletic, and although still raw, he can really impact the boards. He can be an animal around the rim. After redshirting last season, Race Thompson could have an impact in the frontcourt this season as well.

Led by Juwan Morgan and Romeo Langford, the Hoosiers should find themselves dancing come March. Point guard play is in question, but they got the talent.