Answering Fan-Submitted Questions About Indiana Basketball

Indiana is tied for sixth place in the Big Ten, with a crucial upcoming stretch of games against Illinois and Iowa to close out January. Below, we answered questions from Indiana fans on a variety of topics.

Jack Ankony | Jan 24, 2024

Answering Fan-Submitted Questions About Indiana Basketball /

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Indiana Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana is in the midst of a week-long break between games, so it's time to answer some fan-submitted questions about this season and the future.

The Hoosiers are 12-7 overall and 4-4 in Big Ten play, tied for sixth in the conference standings. Following a 91-79 loss at Wisconsin on Friday, Indiana travels to No. 10 Illinois on Saturday for a 3 p.m. ET tipoff.

Below, we discuss everything from in-season topics like defense and 3-point shooting, to future outlooks like coach Mike Woodson's approach to high school recruiting and the transfer portal.

“How do you define a “success” from now to the end of the season? I count 8 or 9 very winnable games from here on out. How many do they get?” Joel Beasley asked.

Anything short of an NCAA Tournament appearance would be an unsuccessful season. While this team was flawed from the beginning without enough quality guards or 3-point shooting, it still has two potential NBA draft picks in Kel’el Ware and Mackenzie Mgbako, plus an All-Big Ten caliber player in Malik Reneau. That should be enough for an NCAA Tournament trip, but the Hoosiers are 0-6 against Quad 1 opponents and don’t have a resume worthy of making their third consecutive tournament appearance as it stands now.

Indiana has five more opportunities at Quad 1 wins in the regular season, based on current NET rankings. It probably needs to win at least three of those. The Hoosiers could get another chance or two in the Big Ten Tournament. Indiana made the NCAA Tournament in Woodson’s first season with just a 9-11 Big Ten record, but because this year’s team didn’t win any big nonconference games and the Big Ten is weaker than normal it could need 11 or more conference wins to feel good about making the Big Dance. With six home games and six road games left, Indiana still has plenty of winnable games.

“Was recruiting over [Tamar] Bates and [Jordan] Geronimo a good idea?” Nick Chochos asked.

Bates transferred to Missouri at least partly so he could be closer to home and his daughter, who was born in March 2022. No one can blame him for that. Bates is having a strong season for the Tigers, averaging 12.7 points and shooting 47.7% from 3-point range, but Missouri has an 8-10 overall record. Bates shot 37% from the field in his two seasons at Indiana, and he’s shooting 56.3% this season. It’s possible Indiana thought freshman Jakai Newton would help replace Bates, but he has missed the entire year with a knee injury. Still, it’s looking like Woodson should have added another transfer guard to replace Bates.

As for Jordan Geronimo, Indiana’s front court is doing just fine without him. Malik Reneau has taken a major jump as a sophomore, and Kel’el Ware is one of the better transfers in the Big Ten. Miami transfer Anthony Walker is the most direct replacement of Geronimo, and he’s averaging 6.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game on 50.6% shooting. Geronimo averaged 3.8 points and 2.7 rebounds in his three-year Indiana career, and he’s averaging 6.2 points and 3.7 rebounds at Maryland this year. I don’t think recruiting over Geronimo turned out to be a mistake.

“Recruiting and transfers is the big question with this program. Who’s staying, who’s leaving?” Troy Pace asked.

The only players Indiana is guaranteed to lose for next season are Xavier Johnson and Anthony Walker. Anthony Leal and Trey Galloway are seniors, but they have a fifth year of eligibility available if they’d like to use it next season due to COVID-19. It also seems likely that Kel’el Ware will be a first-round pick based on his development as a Hoosier and sky-high potential as a versatile 7-footer.

What Mackenzie Mgbako decides to do will play a big role in Indiana’s future outlook, as he’s a borderline draft pick based on recent NBA mock drafts. After a slow start, Mgbako has made a strong case for the Big Ten All-Freshman team in recent weeks, and he’s clearly more comfortable in the college game now. Though Woodson still wants to see him improve defensively, getting Mgbako back for his sophomore year would be huge. Like everyone nowadays, he also has the option to transfer without sitting out a year.

Indiana has just one commit in the 2024 class, but it’s a big one: Liam McNeeley, a five-star small forward who’s one of the nation’s top 3-point shooters. McNeeley was recently named a McDonald’s All-American alongside his high school teammate, Derik Queen, who has Indiana in his top-four list with Maryland, Houston and Kansas. Indiana has also been recruiting 2024 point guard Daquan Davis. Though they are currently in the class of 2025, top-20 guards Mikel Brown and Joson Sanon have been mentioned as candidates to reclassify and have received Indiana interest.

Indiana is in position to have several open scholarships, allowing for transfer portal and high school recruiting flexibility before the 2024-25 season. Adding guards and replacing Kel’el Ware should be top priorities.

“Before conditioning or season starts does the team go on an overseas trip to get acquainted, become one team anymore?” Darlene Sims asked.

Preseason foreign tours are only allowed once every four years, according to NCAA rules. Indiana went to the Bahamas before Woodson’s first season in 2021-22, so the program will not be able to take another foreign trip until before the 2025-26 season. The Hoosiers will return to the Bahamas for the 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis around Thanksgiving, which is an in-season tournament and does not count as a preseason foreign tour.

“Do you think the transfer portal changes the way Woody coaches or would like to coach?” Tim Malan asked.

I can’t speak for Woodson, but players being allowed to transfer without sitting out a year is a double-edged sword for college basketball coaches. Some coaches would probably love to eliminate the transfer portal in favor of more program stability and long-term planning. On the other hand, those same coaches might also acknowledge the transfer portal significantly enhances their ability to immediately fill roster holes year after year.

Take Indiana, for example. The transfer portal allowed Indiana to add Kel’el Ware, though not a first-team All-American like Trayce Jackson-Davis, and fill a void at the center position. Sure, Woodson would have planned differently in past recruiting classes had the transfer portal not been an option, but adding a player who can immediately join the team and average 14.2 points and 9.4 rebounds is a luxury not previously available.

“When will he get top in-state recruits?” Matt Gaskey asked.

It likely won’t happen for the class of 2024 at this point, but Indiana is involved with several in-state recruits in the class of 2025. Two of them are teammates, guards Jalen Haralson and Darius Adams, who attend La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind. Both are five-star recruits, with Haralson ranked No. 9 in the nation and Adams No. 22.

Indiana is also recruiting guard Braylon Mullins from Greenfield-Central High School. At 6-foot-5, Mullins is a four-star recruit and ranked No. 65 in the nation. He’s averaging 26.3 points on 42% 3-point shooting this season, according to MaxPreps. Trent Sisley is another Indiana recruiting target, a 6-foot-7 forward from Heritage Hills High School who has attended games at Assembly Hall several times in the last two seasons. He’s a four-star recruit, ranked No. 68 in the nation.

The Hoosiers’ coaching staff has also hosted visits for Azavier Robinson, a 6-foot point guard from Lawrence North High School. He’s ranked No. 118 in the nation. Those are four of the top five players in the state in the class of 2025.

“How fast can we get Dusty May?” Patrick Leone asked.

Including the current 2023-24 season, Mike Woodson has four years left on his contract and just received a $1 million annual raise. While the team has struggled this season, I would be shocked if Indiana moved on from Woodson any time soon. He built a lot of good will his first two seasons making the NCAA Tournament and going 3-1 against Purdue. He has another highly-touted recruit signed for next season, with the chance to add more high school talent and transfers.

“How do we get [Mackenzie] Mgbako to stay fired up and be the man along with Malik? Is it too late to find a leader and develop some unity and teamwork?” John Henderson asked.

Mgbako is on a nice run for the Hoosiers, averaging 12.9 points over the last 14 games and shooting 47.4% from 3-point range in his last eight. Early in his freshman year, he looked timid and lost on defense, but his aggressiveness has really ramped up in 2024. He's making stronger drives to the basket and being far more assertive in looking for his own shot, a sign he's more comfortable in the college game. Woodson should continue to make an effort to get Mgbako shots, along with Reneau, who's leading the team with 16.5 points per game.

While Indiana has undeniable talent with Reneau and Mgbako, Woodson continues to search for a leader. He named Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway captains before the season, but Johnson's flagrant fouls are not signs of leadership and Galloway is more reserved and seems to lead more by example. Reneau said after the Wisconsin loss that Indiana can be disconnected at times, a big concern moving forward. Six new scholarship players always makes team chemistry a challenge to develop, and on the court, at least, Indiana is still searching.

“When are we going to see the defense ratchet up?” Randy Duane Dinius asked.

Woodson acknowledges he is having a tough time getting this team to fully grasp and execute what he wants done defensively.

“We just expect that when you get new players, that whatever we roll out, they’re supposed to understand. Well, it’s not that way,” Woodson said Monday. "It’s not that way with your studies. When you go to your math class because the teacher rolls it out there, hell, that doesn’t mean you’re going to pick it up right away. It’s been a struggle from a defensive standpoint of them catching on.”

Most recently against Wisconsin, Indiana often trapped the post but failed to rotate over to 3-point shooters. In other games, help-side defenders leaving their opponent and not recovering in time has led to open threes. It hurt that Indiana didn’t have Kel’el Ware’s rim protection down low against Wisconsin, but many of these issues were on the perimeter. Indiana currently ranks 11th in the Big Ten in points allowed per game and 88th in the nation in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric.

It’s hard to say when, if ever, these problems will be solved, but Indiana is certainly working hard to fix them. Woodson has also tried playing zone defense in several games, which could continue to be an adjustment as it's a less complicated approach.

“Are the coaches considering bringing in outside shooting specialists for free throws and threes?” Scott Godsey asked.

The coaching staff already consists of former players who were strong outside shooters in college. Calbert Cheaney shot 43.8% from three at Indiana, Jordan Hulls shot 44.2% from three and Mike Woodson shot 50.5% from the field, just to name a few. Last year, Trey Galloway said Hulls and Brian Walsh helped him make adjustments and shoot 46.2% from three. And this year, Malik Reneau credited Cheaney for helping him improve from a 25% to a 40.2% 3-point shooter.

“Does the team actually practice free throws? Why doesn’t [Anthony] Leal get more playing time?” Julie Hart-Kestle asked.

Yes, it's safe to say every college basketball team practices free throws, and making them tends to be more related to confidence than anything. But something isn't clicking for Indiana, ranking 317th out of 362 teams nationally with a 66.4 free throw percentage.

As for Anthony Leal, he's missed the last two games with an injury while wearing a walking boot and hasn't played since Jan. 9 at Rutgers. When healthy, my explanation for his lack of playing time would be that he doesn't do anything to demand minutes. He's not assertive offensively, and he's shot just 39.1% in his career. He's not a lock-down defender, either. Woodson gave Leal opportunities early in the season, and he'd be playing more had he performed better. I'm not at practice to say how that has gone, but Woodson has often referred to a player's performance there as a path to more playing time.

“Why is [Xavier] Johnson still playing after getting a Flagrant 2 and a Flagrant 1? Not saying he should be kicked off the team but some type of suspension seems warranted,” John Cole asked.

After Johnson's ejection at Rutgers, Woodson started Gabe Cupps and brought Johnson off the bench against Minnesota. Woodson declined to get into specifics about how he handled the in-house matter, which he has every right to do. Johnson continued to come off the bench the following two games, and Woodson said after the Wisconsin loss he has a chance to earn his starting job back based on how he performs in practice.

Indiana simply doesn't have the guard talent or depth to replace Johnson. Cupps isn't a difference-maker offensively yet, and Galloway's shooting numbers are down from last year. CJ Gunn has been inconsistent and got ejected at Wisconsin, and Leal has been hurt or unproductive. Jakai Newton has missed the whole year with injury. That's Indiana's backcourt.

Johnson is Indiana's fastest guard by far and played a key defensive role in past seasons. Plus, he's a 38.1% 3-point shooter across three seasons at Indiana. He's really struggling now, but Woodson clearly knows Indiana doesn't have many other options and needs Johnson to be his best for this team to accomplish anything.

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