Indiana Season Preview: After Decade of Misery, Hoosiers Ready to Chase Titles

For the first time in a decade, Indiana basketball fans are heading into a season with high expectations for their beloved Hoosiers. The regular season begins Monday night at home against Morehead State, and the Hoosiers have the talent to chase postseason titles in 2022-23.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It's not fair to compare this year's Indiana basketball team to its predecessors from a decade ago. The 2012-13 Hoosiers were preseason No. 1, homegrown hero Cody Zeller was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and there was legitimate hope that Tom Crean's team could bring that ever-elusive sixth banner to Assembly Hall. 

It didn't happen, of course, but the thoughts were sure real in November.

There is one similarity, though, a decade later. The rabid Indiana fan base is all-in again. After a decade of frustration through the end of the Crean era and the four years of basketball ugliness during Archie Miller's run, Hoosiers fans are off-the-charts excited about what this Indiana team can do in Mike Woodson's second year.

And why not?

The Hoosiers, ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press preseason poll and the favorite to win the Big Ten, return four starters, mostly notable preseason All-American forward Trayce Jackson-Davis. It was a pleasant surprise that he decided to come back to Bloomington for his senior year, and he's the consensus preseason Player of the Year in the Big Ten. Race Thompson, Xavier Johnson and Miller Kopp are back, too.

But what makes the difference is that Indiana has added a great recruiting class, top-five in the nation in some services. Five-star guard Jalen Hood-Schifino and 6-foot-9 forward Malik Reneau won high school national championships together at Montverde Academy in Florida, and they have been ranked the best 1-2 punch among freshmen in the Big Ten. Guard C.J. Gunn and forward Kaleb Banks have a lot of talent as well.

Jackson-Davis has seen enough at Indiana in his three-plus years to know that this team is different. He's just 53-41 in his three years, but he's been the best player on some seriously flawed teams all three seasons, too.

This year, he said, that's not the case. The 2022-23 Hoosiers, Jackson-Davis said, are far and away best team he's played on. The season opener in Monday night against Morehead State.

"We've got a squad,'' Jackson-Davis said. "They guys who are back, we're all better. And the new guys? They can play, and we saw that right from the beginning this summer. They really work, and they completely buy in to everything that we're doing. They are really good.

"This year, we're so much deeper than we have been. I think we're going to be tough to beat for 40 minutes a game this year, which hasn't really always been the case since I've been here.''

Jackson-Davis has scored 1,588 points in his career, good for No. 15 all-time on the Indiana scoring list. A normal season— which means terrific on the offensive end — and he could end up as high as No. 3 on the all-time list behind only Steve Alford (2,438) and Calbert Cheaney (2,613). Next up to pass on Monday night is Greg Graham (1,590) and Scott May (1,593). Here's the complete Indiana scoring list. CLICK HERE

Jackson-Davis, a Greenwood, Ind., native, is well versed in Indiana basketball history and he's appreciated moving up that list of 1,000-point scorers since last season. He thoroughly enjoyed teasing with former Hoosier great Randy Wittman last March during the NCAA Tournament when passed him for No. 15, because Wittman, a former teammate of Woodson's, was traveling with the team.

He's not the only 1,000-point scorer on this team. Point guard Xavier Johnson, who played his first three years at Pittsburg, has scored 1,565 career points himself in four years. The 6-foot-3 guard from Woodbridge, Va. could very well reach 2,000 points as well with a successful 2023 campaign.

Senior forward Miller Kopp is in this group, too. He's scored 1,041 career points during his three years at Northwestern and his one season at Indiana a year ago. And it's likely that Race Thompson (746 points) will join them this year, too. 

Indiana has plenty of depth returning as well, with sophomore guard Tamar Bates, juniors Trey Galloway, Jordan Geronimo and Anthony Leal, and sophomore forward Logan Duncomb all set to contribute. Finding minutes for everyone won't be easy. They will have to be earned.

"It's hard to say, man,'' Woodson said when asked his thoughts on some kind of a rotation. "I wish I could play everybody 30 minutes on this team, but it's impossible. When you're building a team, and I've said this, when you get minutes, you've got to make the most out of those minutes. You've got to help us win.

"If you don't play, you've still got to be a good teammate because you never know when your time will come. Somebody gets hurt and you're grumbling and mumbling about not playing, and then now you're not ready to play. I don't think we have that amongst our team. I just think we've got a good team that everybody is going to have to sacrifice and be willing to buy in to do what we need to do to get where we need to go.''

Hood-Schifino started both exhibition games, and looked good. Reneau started one, and played off the bench in the other. The biggest storyline heading into the season is how well those two freshmen meld into the rotation.

Hood-Schifino and Johnson on the floor at the same time gives Indiana a dual passing attack. Hood-Schifino didn't come to Bloomington with the reputation as a sharp-shooter, but he made all three three-point attempts in Thursday's exhibition win over Saint Francis, which had everyone excited.

His arrival will finally give Indiana that luxury of having a quality point guard on the floor at all times. That hasn't been the case since Yogi Ferrell left, to be honest, but we'll see that this year for sure. 

Johnson and Hood-Schifino, who's very long, will be tough on the defensive end, too.

"It gets preached to us every day, playing defense,'' Johnson said. "I've worked hard every day (all summer), and I feed off of that. That's who I am. Playing for Coach Woodson, it's difficult, because he puts a lot on the point guard, but I love that. I love the challenge, and I'll love what we're going to do this year. I can't wait for this season to start.''

Jackson-Davis and Thompson are the likely starters at the beginning of the season, but Reneau is expected to add a lot to the front line, as well. Jackson-Davis said the 6-foot-9, 235-pound forward is ready for the wars to follow.

"He's got a great body for a freshmen. He's strong and very athletic,'' Jackson-Davis said. "We've gone against each other a lot, and he can hold his own. We've also played together a lot, and it's been fun, He can do a lot of things, all over the floor. And he'll free me up to do a lot more all over the floor, too.''

Trayce Jackson-Davis is back for his senior year at Indiana, and he's already No. 15 on the school's all-time scoring list. (USA TODAY Sports)

Indiana was 21-14 a year ago, making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years. The goals are set even higher this year. Indiana hasn't won a Big Ten title since 2016, has never won the Big Ten Tournament and has won a game in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2002.

So there's a lot to be excited about, without question. And that excitement starts on Monday night. There are also a handful of huge games early in the season, something that hasn't happened in a while. Indiana has huge road games at Xavier (Nov. 18) and defending national champion Kansas (Dec. 17), plus a home game with national runner-up and current No. 1 North Carolina on Nov. 30 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. There's also a huge neutral court game with Arizona on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.

Throw in a tough Big Ten road trip in December too — the Hoosiers open. the conference season at Rutgers on Dec. 3 — and America is going to learn quickly just how good this Indiana team is.  

"I love the challenges (of playing a schedule like this,'' Woodson said a few weeks ago. "We have big goals, and when you do, you want to play the best. I'm looking forward to it, but we've still got a lot of work to do. I'm still learning this team, learning who plays best with each other.

"But that's the only way you learn about your team, to get out there and compete. I'm ready to see that happen.''

Indiana senior Xavier Johnson is back for a second season with the Hoosiers, and he's looking forward to taking the next step in his fifth and final college season. (USA TODAY Sports)

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