Hoosier Roundtable, Season 4: Welcome to Another Season of Our Sports Illustrated Indiana Podcast

It's time for another season of the Hoosier Roundtable here on our Indiana Hoosiers on SI website. Our fourth year of video podcasts kicks off with a preview of the 2024 football season, plus some basketball chat with publisher Tom Brew and reporters Jack Ankony and Todd Golden.

Hoosier Roundtable, Episode 1 with Indiana Hoosiers on SI publisher Tom Brew and reporters Todd Golden and Jack Ankony. Video podcast published Aug. 24, 2024. / Sports Illustrated Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — We're just a week away from football at Indiana University, with the Curt Cignetti era starting on Aug. 31 when the Hoosiers take on Florida International at Memorial Stadium.

There are plenty of new faces in Bloomington, and we've got one of our own here too at Sports Illustrated Indiana. We're thrilled to have veteran Indiana sportswriter Todd Golden joining our team, and he and Jack Ankony make a great team. Both of them join our first ''Hoosier Roundtable'' podcast this week along with Indiana Hoosiers on SI publisher Tom Brew, who launched this site six years ago.

We've got a lot to talk about in our first show. Here are the highlights of our football and basketball talk:

— on all the new faces on the football team:

JACK ANKONY: "The quarterback spot is very important, and they brought in Kurtis Rourke from Ohio. ... Curt Cignetti said he's separated himself from the group. He's a big guy, real tall and the stereotypical pocket passer. There's new faces all throughout the roster, and it's going to take some getting used to, but there are a lot of guys who are going to have an impact.''

— on Cignetti's confident, boastful tone in Year 1

TODD GOLDEN: "If you had to grade his offseason in terms of public perception, you have to give him an A because he's got people talking about Indiana football again. He's been open about how this was always part of his plan. He's come out throwing punches, whether his opponents are keeping receipts on that, we'll see. Tom Allen was a nice guy, but the change in tone is more brash, more arrogant. But he's said it's all about getting attention. But since fall camp, it's been much more business-like. It's all about the football. He understands talk is cheap.''

— on returning players, and the changes at Indiana

ANKONY: "IU fans will remember Donaven McCulley, the wide receiver. Cignetti and his staff are not afraid to show them some tough love. Omar Cooper said he sees Donaven playing at his best when he's angry, and he said he's seen a lot of that. And Carter Smith is back. He started all 12 games at left tackle last year, and he's going to be a very important piece.''

— Jack and Todd make their (surprising) Indiana football predictions

GOLDEN: "I'm on record that I think Indiana can win seven games this season. Their schedule helps them quite a bit. They only play two ranked teams, and of the bottom five in the Big Ten, they're one of them, but they play all four of the others. They play Maryland and Purdue at home, and those are winnable games. Washington is a whole new team, and UCLA on the road is winnable, too. There are other games on the road that are winnable too. A bowl season should absolutely be a goal for this team. I'm more bullish on Indiana than the outsiders are.''

ANKONY: "I'm on the same page with a lot of what Todd said. The way the schedule is spread out, it's much better. They aren't opening with Ohio State, not opening at Iowa. They have a much better schedule in September. They can get some wins and build some confidence. I think seven wins is possible, if I had to make a prediction now. Eight home games is a very unique aspect, and they got the two weakest Pac-12 teams this year.''

BREW: "I am letting the two of you cover this football team this year while I prepare for basketball and handle several other business things, so I am going to avoid making a prediction myself, being the coward and chicken that I am. I'll be honest though. I really need to see this team play. I don't know how they're going to look, on either side of the ball. It will be interesting to see, but I don't know what I'm going to see. I'm in wait-and-see mode to see how good this team can be.''

— Let's talk basketball. What's the latest on Trey Galloway, who's back for his fifth and final season?

ANKONY: "He wasn't able to participate in a lot of the summer stuff (after knee surgery) but he's said he's expecting to be 100 percent when the season starts. He said he's on track, which is big because I see him being the guy who can be a leader with all these new guys. We'll see where he is in October.''

— on the best collection of guards in the Mike Woodson era:

GOLDEN: "For the first time since I've been around Indiana basketball, they final have some options (on the perimeter). They are much better than they've been. I'm curious to see what Rice and Carlyle can do, and guys like Galloway can get back to form. He's shooting fell way off last year. It'll be interesting to see how Mike Woodson puts the puzzle pieces together.''

Watch the full 38-minute podcast here

Related stories on Indiana football

• FIRST-YEAR COACHES: With Curt Cignetti's arrival at Indiana, we take a look back at how first-year coaches have done at Indiana. We're up to Terry Hoepper now, and we have links to all of the other stories at the end. It's a great history lesson, so please read them all. CLICK HERE

• HIGH PRAISE FOR KURTIS ROURKE: Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke has caught the eye of the experts at Pro Football Focus. He's ranked in the top half of Big Ten quarterbacks. Here's the story. CLICK HERE

• ROURKE, LAWTON ON SAME PAGE: Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke and running back Ty Son Lawton agreed that the Hoosiers needed a jolt after first scrimmage. CLICK HERE.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• INDIANA'S BEST NIL SITUATION: In a CBS Sports survey of over 100 men's college basketball coaches asking which programs they believe have the best NIL situations, Indiana received the fifth highest percentage of votes. CLICK HERE

• BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS BRACKET: The Indiana men’s basketball team will have a familiar foe to open the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in November. CLICK HERE

• GALLOWAY INJURY UPDATE: Following knee surgery last spring, Indiana guard Trey Galloway is hopeful he can return to action when the Hoosiers open the regular season on Nov. 6 against Southern Illinois Edwardsville. CLICK HERE