My Two Cents: We Weren't Supposed to See This Garbage From Indiana Anymore

All those 20-point losses last season were supposed to be a thing of the past for Indiana after its big transfer portal haul. But in their first real test of the season, they got clobbered by Louisville in the Bahamas. This disgusting behavior apparently didn't go away.

Indiana Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson reacts during the first half against Louisville on Wednesday. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

NASSAU, Bahamas — There were a lot of things we didn't like about last year's Indiana basketball season, but the one thing that was most difficult to swallow were the constant blowouts by 20 points or more.

It was embarrassing, the routs. And it was hard to stomach because, like Tom Crean used to say, ''This is Indiana.''

The Hoosiers lost five of their 14 games by 20 points or more a year ago. They were non-competitive, and it stunk. The last straw was a 93-66 loss to Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament in mid-March, and the Hoosiers folded their tent. They surrendered, passing on an NIT postseason bid in hopes of recruiting a whole new team so this stuff would never happen again.

And they did. Indiana brought in seven new players, many with fantastic resumes, thanks to a lot of recruiting tenacity and huge bucket full of NIL money. These 2024-25 Hoosiers were supposed to be different, Big Ten title chasers, nationally ranked and allegedly fun to watch.

The blowouts were supposed to be over.

But after four easy wins to start this season, the Hoosiers finally played someone decent on Wednesday, opening the Battle 4 Atlantis against a Louisville team that's been rebuilt in the portal as well. We were all excited for Indiana's first big test, even if it was at lunch time on a Wednesday.

And it took all of two hours to completely deflate an entire fan base after the Hoosiers were walloped 89-61. And that score doesn't even do it justice. It was FAR WORSE than that. They were down 38 at one point in the second half, and they looked like they didn't care one bit.

You can round up all of the worst adjectives, and they would apply to this loss. For as embarrassing and disgusting as all those blowout losses were a year ago, this was far worse for one simple reason:

It wasn't supposed to happen anymore.

It was embarrassing. Our starting five of adjectives would also include disgusting, disheartening, disturbing and worrisome.

Worrisome fits the most at the moment, because we thought all those fresh bodies would make a huge difference. We really thought two high-profile guard transfers — Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle — would make Indiana competitive. They were supposed to be difference makers for an Indiana team that had the worst guard play in the Big Ten a year ago.

But the performance of Indiana's guards on Wednesday was far worse than any outing a year ago. Rice was 1-for-11 from the field, missing his first 10 shots. His last shot went in only after bouncing off the rim and backboard about four times.

Carlyle failed to score at all and had four turnovers in 14 minutes. He was so bad that Woodson had to bench him.

But Trey Galloway, a fifth-year senior, didn't do anything, either. He played 20 minutes and didn't score a single point. Rice, Carlyle, Galloway and freshman Bryson Tucker were a combined 0-for-13 in the first half. Tucker had a couple of baskets in the second half, and that was it.

It's one thing to struggle to score in games. We don't have to like it, but it happens. But that wasn't nearly as bad as the effort to defend the three, which was nonexistent. Louisville made 10 threes.

And the turnover total, which wasn't supposed to be a problem this year, was disturbing in a big way. Indiana had 23 turnovers, and a lot of them were really ugly. Passing was so bad that it looked like they had never been on a floor together before. Sure, there are a lot of new faces on this roster and they're trying to get used to each other — but that cannot be used as an excuse anymore.

And you know why? Because Louisville, who has even more new faces than Indiana, looked like a smooth-running machine. They looked great. Indiana looked horrible. Two teams in the same situation, one doing it right. And another doing it very wrong.

Woodson has a real problem on his hands right now. Many of the fans in Hoosier Nation started to turn on him last year when all the double-digit losses started to pile up. Many wanted him fired.

And with good reason, in their eyes.

The mandate, though, was to fix this roster and, to be fair, Woodson and his staff did just that. Their transfer portal haul was ranked No. 2 in the country by 247 Sports, second only to John Calipari's haul at Arkansas when he took a lot of his Kentucky players with him.

No. 2 in the country. Let that sink in.

The Hoosiers were ranked No. 17 in the country in the preseason Associated Press poll, and were up to No. 14 this week. They were considered Big Ten contenders and a deep team capable of making a postseason run.

And all that blew up in smoke in about two hours in the Bahamas.

Sure, it's just one loss, but it seems like a lot more than that, doesn't it? I mean, the South Carolina win by 16 points at home a few Saturdays ago was nice, because they are a middle-of-the-pack SEC team at least.

Louisville is primed for a quick turnaround with new coach Pat Kelsey, but they are a middle-of-the-pack ACC team themselves, picked No. 9 in the 18-team league preseason polls. This should have been a fun, entertaining, tight game. Indiana was a 2.5-point favorite.

It was nothing of the kind. It was an unmitigated crushing

Here's how bad. With 4:36 to go in the first half, Louisville's lead was only four points, at 31-27. But in the next 17 minutes of playing time, the Cardinals outscored Indiana 47-13.

47-13!

That's flat-out embarrassing.

Indiana has one of the easiest nonconference schedules in the country this season and outside of the South Carolina game, their only true test were supposed to come in the Bahamas.

But it wasn't supposed to go this way.

Indiana was supposed to beat Louisville in the first round, then test their mettle as a national power against No. 3 Gonzaga in the second round and maybe Arizona, a preseason top-10 team, in the finals.

That's not happening now.

And here's what makes matters worse. Indiana now has to play Gonzaga after all on Thursday after the Bulldogs was stunned by West Virginia in overtime a few hours after Indiana's loss.

What if the Hoosiers lose by 30 or more again Thursday? Seriously, Gonzaga is very good and it could happen. Could Indiana's season completely implode in the span of about 30 hours?

It's stunning to believe that could be true. Mike Woodson, we think, is going to have a hard time sleeping tonight.

Thursday can't get here soon enough. But that might not be good. We feel like we learned a lot about the Hoosiers in the Louisville loss. We might know everything we need to know by this time Thursday.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• WHAT WOODSON, RENEAU SAID: Here's the video and full transcript of Mike Woodson and Malik Reneau's postgame press conference after Indiana's 89-61 loss to Louisville in the Battle 4 Atlantis. CLICK HERE

• INDIANA-LOUISVILLE GAME STORY: Indiana traveled to the Bahamas and got thoroughly dominated by Louisville Wednesday in the Battle 4 Atlantis. The Hoosiers shot just 33.3% from the field, committed 23 turnovers and struggled to defend the Cardinals. CLICK HERE