My Two Cents: Hoosiers Getting No Respect Nationally, Maybe That's a Good Thing

Indiana opens its 2023-24 basketball season on Tuesday night, and they head into the season unranked and predicted to finish in the bottom half of the league. That doesn't seem right to me, but maybe flying under the radar early is a good thing.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Not even a top-25 team? Barely even a top-50 team? An NCAA Tournament bubble team? This is Indiana basketball? Even this current version of Indiana basketball?

I sure don't think so.

Some will call me a glass-half-full guy, but to that I've always said I'm just grateful to have a glass. But yes, I'm an optimistic person by nature and I try to look for the good things in life. I hate whiners, and crybabies.

But unlike a lot of America, I see a lot of good things with this Indiana basketball team, which starts its season on Tuesday night against Florida Gulf Coast at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. It's the start of a new year and the Hoosiers, who have made two straight NCAA Tournaments, have a lot of interesting pieces on this 2023-24 squad, Mike Woodson's third at Indiana.

Woodson and his staff have recruited well, and all three frontcourt starters — freshman small forward Mackenzie Mgbako, sophomore power forward Malik Reneau and sophomore center Kel'el Ware — have been five-star phenoms or close throughout their respective recruiting processes.

Add to the mix a veteran starting point guard in Xavier Johnson, who's starting his sixth year of college basketball, and senior guard Trey Galloway, and that's a starting lineup that looks pretty impressive to me.

The nation, however, doesn't see it that way. And I just don't get that. 

The Associated Press preseason top-25 poll came out and the Hoosiers were nowhere to be found. They had three total votes, which would rank them 40th.

And the Kenpom.comrankings, which tend to have a bit of Big Ten bias anyway, has them 49th! They are the ninth Big Ten team listed, and Iowa is just a click behind at No. 50.

The bottom half of the league.

One preseason prognosticator said Indiana ''will have losing record in the Big Ten.''

Another told me ''they won't win any of those big non-con games against UConn or Kansas or Auburn.''

A third said ''they have a lot of question marks. Potential yes, but a lot of uncertainty, too.''

The good thing, I suppose, as that Indiana is going to fly under the radar early, not being ranked and all. Don't count on seeing IU highlights on SportsCenter the first few weeks, at least not until the Nov. 19 game with defending champion Connecticut at Madison Square Garden.

But flying under the radar might be a good thing. Indiana coach Mike Woodson couldn't care less about the preseason rankings. 

Maybe we shouldn't either.

"Only time will tell. Again, what you just said, I don't care about rankings,'' Woodson said. "You've got to play the games. We'll start here soon and kind of get a feel for where we are and what we need to continue to grow in. You're talking about 10 new faces, six guys that came from different programs and that are trying to figure out me as a coach and all the things that I'm asking them to do.

"Only time will tell. We've just got to play the games and see where you are.''

The Hoosiers do have a lot of fresh faces with Trayce Jackson-Davis, Race Thompson and Miller Kopp finally finished with college. Together, they combined to play 413 college games, with Jackson Davis playing 126 times, Thompson 130 and Kopp 157.

The new frontline of Mgbako, Ware and Reneau? Well, they all just met for the first time this summer, and they've been trying to learn each other's games quickly. So have transfers Payton Sparks (Ball State) and Anthony Walker (Miami).

It's definitely a work in progress. 

"We got together this summer, the process began, and it's been a lot of work up until this point where these guys have pretty much beat up on each other,'' Woodson said. "I'm kind of anxious to see where we are when we tip it up to kind of give me some indication of things that we need to do to get better and continue to grow. I can't wait to see where we are.''

Reneau saw some time as a freshman, logging 528 minutes, but his classmates — guard C.J. Gunn and forward Kaleb Banks — only saw limited action. Gunn played 150 minutes, Banks just 135.

Woodson said they all need to make that big sophomore jump to give the Hoosiers all the depth they need. 

"CJ and Kaleb and Malik didn't play a whole lot of minutes last year, so it's just as important for those guys to get better, as well as the new guys that have come in,'' Woodson said. "We've done a lot since this summer getting together, so now just from a coaching standpoint, my staff and I, we want to see if they've retained a lot of the things that we've taught them, and does it carry over into a real game. Only time will tell. Then we can see where we are as a ballclub.''

They have three games to get the kinks out before UConn. They have Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday, Army on Sunday and Wright State on Nov. 16. None should be an issue — KenPom rankings are 147 for FGCU, 299 for Army and 132 for Wright State —  but there is also some talent on each roster. 

How quickly this Indiana team can mesh will be the dominant early story line. 

The front line has gotten a lot of attention with all the new blood, but Indiana has an interesting backcourt in sixth-year point guard Xavier Johnson and senior Trey Galloway. They've built solid resumes — even though there are plenty of whiners in the Indiana fan base who think Johnson is too inconsistent and Galloway isn't enough of an offense threat.

Taking the worst of those points does give room for some pause. What's even more interesting to me is what kind of production Indiana will get off the bench at the guard spots. Gunn, the Indianapolis native who was 2-for-24 from three last year, will have to be a scoring threat in his sophomore season.

And most of all, freshman Gabe Cupps will have to be solid at point guard whenever he's in there. Johnson missed the last three months of the season last year after suffering a broken foot that required surgery. He's 100 percent now, but there's still always reason to worry about injuries.

Johnson is not injury prone, never missing any time in his first four years of college ball, three at Pittsburgh and the 2021-22 season at Indiana. He got hurt in the game at Kansas last year in mid-December and did not return.

Cupps, the player of the year in Ohio last year, has impressed everyone since arriving in Bloomington. I asked Woodson on Monday if he had any hesitation about Cupps excelling in critical minutes, and he didn't waver one bit. (Full video attached.)

He's a big Gabe Cupps fan. 

"No doubt he's going to play quality minutes. He's proven that, and that's the reason why we recruited him,'' Woodson said. "He just does all the little things that you're supposed to do.

"He's going to have his ups and downs based on matchups and things of that nature, but he's a tough competitor. Sometimes toughness gets you through it. I'm very pleased with his progress and hope that he just continues to grow and learn the college game because he's got a long way to go.''

Woodson is great for saying ''only time will tell,'' and he's certainly right with all the new faces.

I can buy that. He's right, that only time will tell. But I will say this. That last AP poll in March? I bet the Hoosiers are in it.

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