Indiana Basketball Radio Show: Woodson Recaps Losses, Previews Wisconsin; Hartman Talks NIL

On Monday's "Inside Indiana Basketball" radio show, play-by-play announcer Don Fischer met with coach Mike Woodson to discuss the Hoosiers' recent losses to Nebraska and Penn State, then look forward to Tuesday's game against Wisconsin. Former Indiana basketball player Collin Hartman joined the show discuss the NIL landscape at Indiana.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Coach Mike Woodson joined play-by-play announcer Don Fischer on the "Inside Indiana Basketball" radio show Monday night at the Chop Shop Market and Table restaurant in Bloomington.

They opened the show by recapping Indiana's recent losses to Nebraska and Penn State, then looked ahead to Tuesday's game against Wisconsin. Later on in the show, former Indiana basketball player Collin Hartman joined the show discuss the current NIL landscape at Indiana. 

Here are the highlights.

• Indiana is on a four-game losing streak, which Woodson said, “It kind of reminds me of the first year when I got here when we went through a stretch where we couldn’t put a full 40 minute ball game together and then we finally figured it out.” During the 2021-22 season, Indiana went on a five-game losing streak from Feb. 5 to Feb. 21 then four of its final seven games, including two in the Big Ten Tournament, to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
• Woodson mentioned missed free throws and poor 3-point shooting as two of Indiana's biggest issues. "That’s been a bad combination for our ball club when you talk about close ball games," he said.
• In terms of defending the 3-point line, Woodson said getting the team up to touch and switching correctly are things, “I gotta get us doing as a coach." Woodson mentioned Indiana was No. 1 in the Big Ten for a stretch in defending 3-point shots, but that’s fallen off recently.
• Woodson cites inexperience as another reason the team has struggled, and that, "Gallo’s the only guy that’s played significant minutes." With Xavier Johnson injured, Indiana starts two freshmen in Gabe Cupps and Mackenzie Mgbako, plus two sophomores in Malik Reneau and Kel'el Ware, who played 14.9 and 15.8 minutes per game last season, respectively. CJ Gunn and Kaleb Banks played sparingly last season as sophomores, and Anthony Leal is playing a career-high 12.9 minutes per game this year. This is Payton Sparks' first season at the Big Ten level. Anthony Walker is the most experienced bench player, with 125 games across four seasons at Miami under his belt.
• Regarding Xavier Johnson, Woodson said, “I’d like to think if we had him, things would be a little bit different."
• Asked if he senses frustration with the team, Woodson said, “Frustration is not going to get it done. You keep coaching ... Cut all the noise that’s out there, you can’t worry about that."
• Fischer asked Woodson about social media playing a factor in the players' mindsets, which elicited a long response. Here's the full quote: "Again, social media is not going anywhere. You have the right to play the social media game, or do like I do. I'm not on social media. I deal with the media because I have to, but I don't listen to that. I've learned a long time ago as a player and all the years that I've been coaching, my job and my responsibility is to my players and to the fans of Indiana and my coaches, they work around me. That's where I put all my emphasis on, and I wish my players would do the same thing. But again, they love playing the social media, they like being on it, and sometimes you hear things that you don't want to hear and you've got to deal with it."
• Fischer asked Woodson if he encourages players to get off social media. "Absolutely, I do," Woodson said. "Absolutely. Your focus should be on school and playing basketball, those two things, and leave social media alone. Concentrate on those two things and you might be better off."
• Regarding Indiana's 85-70 home loss to Nebraska, Woodson said, “They shot the ball extremely well, and I thought the second half it was kind of our half ... They made shots early, they couldn’t miss.” Indiana outscored Nebraska by five in he second half after trailing by 20 at halftime.
• Asked about Indiana's 83-74 loss at Penn state, Woodson said, “You can’t go 3-15 from the 3pt line and 14-24 free throw line” said penn state junks it up with their press, but thought they handled it “extremely well” but likes the way penn state competes
• Fischer said he though Galloway got mugged a few times during the Penn State game. “You’re right about that," Woodson responded. "And I don’t know what you can do about that. I can go get technicals and do all the crazy things that sometimes we as coaches do ... One time, it was so bad that he struggled to get up and they had to stop the game."
• “When you lose, you kind of lose some of that confidence and as a coach I’ve got to help them get some of that back” Fischer asked Woodson how he tries to build up players' confidence. "We gotta keep working, man," Woodson said.
• Fischer asked Woodson if college student athletes are a different breed than they were when he was in college, and Woodson gave a long answer. "No I wouldn't – I mean, they're talented kids. I don't mean this in a negative way, when we came out of high school and when I came out of college, I was very fundamentally sound in terms of a basketball player. And you know, the game is played differently than when I played. We didn't shoot threes. The three-ball wasn't in play when I played in college, and even when I went to the NBA, you only shot a three as a necessity, when you needed a three. So you always tried to get the high percentage two, or get fouled and get to the free throw line and make free throws. But it's different, and players, they've learned to dribble and maybe not pass enough and think a little outside the box in terms of how the game is played. You gotta share the ball, and you gotta set screens, and you gotta cut and move without the basketball. And if somebody's open, you've gotta give them the ball so they can shoot it. So I mean, it's different. The three-ball has changed the game because everybody's shooting it, and we just gotta start making some."
• Looking ahead to Tuesday's home game against Wisconsin, Woodson said, “We’ve beaten a lot of teams here in the last year few years, unfortunately we’ve had our struggles here of late." Indiana outscored Wisconsin in the second half of the first matchup, but Woodson said, "You can’t give up 90 points and beat anybody.” 
• Kel'el Ware didn't play in the first matchup in Madison, but he'll get a chance to face them Tuesday. “For a young man that hadn’t played a lot of basketball, he’s had a phenomenal season for us,” Woodson said. 
• Woodson called Wisconsin point guard Chucky Hepburn "the head of the snake," and that shooting guard Max Klesmit, "He had the big game against us up there, he couldn’t miss." Klemsit scored 26 points that game.

Former Indiana basketball player Collin Hartman, who played from 2013-18 for Tom Crean and Archie Miller, joined the show to discuss Indiana's NIL resources. Hartman is the vice president of partnerships for Hoosiers Connect, an official NIL collective of Indiana athletics.

• Hartman explain that the main NIL collectives at Indiana are called "Hoosiers For Good" and "Hoosiers Connect. 
• Hoosiers for Good raises awareness for local charities through partnerships with Indiana student athletes. Athletes are connected with charities, which they promote through public appearances and social media posts. Indiana has partnered with over 30 different charities, and at least one player from every sport at IU has partnered with Hoosiers For Good.
• Hoosiers Connect allows fans to purchase memberships, where they can receive signed memorabilia, apparel, attend events, and engage with players. Hoosiers Connect also recently released a sponsored vodka, which sends 25% of profits back to Hoosiers Connect. Through Hoosiers Connect, fans can choose how much money they wish to donate and allocate that money directly to a chosen athlete.
• Hartman estimated that close to 1,000 people have donated to Indiana's NIL collectives in one way or another. He said they “try to engage the masses," even if a fan is willing to pay $10 per month.