A very interesting off-season for IU Basketball has led the Hoosiers to a top-20 pre-season ranking. Fans who called for the firing of Coach Mike Woodson, now have to admit the magic he’s performed in transforming a team of sure doom to one that is formidable. The final straws were the decision not to play in the NIT and the loss of the only standing recruit, five-star Liam McNally. It would have been interesting to have played Indiana State in the tourney, and to have been able to build on an incoming Hoosier star. Instead of bemoaning, “Woody” went hunting. 

I admittedly wrote that it was all falling apart. There were no incoming Freshmen, a center that was certainly headed to the NBA, and two or three top players bound for the portal. However, instead of Reneau and Mgbako, who both surprisingly decided to stay, it was Gunn, Sparks, and Bates who bailed. Galloway, Leal, and Cupps renewed their commitments, soon followed by the two big men. Rice, Tucker, and Newton were the next three to commit to the stripes for ’24-’25, while the #1 man in the portal, 7-foot Oumar Ballo transferred from Arizona and Kanaan Carlyle from Stanford to solidify the starting five. Then the Hoosiers began looking for a beyond-the-arc-smith, and landed Illini sharpshooter, Luke Goode, with two more scholarships left to fill, but little playing time yet to offer. 

Goode is a Ft. Wayne Homestead graduate and a basketball student of former IU star, Matt Roth. The last grad transfer to IU was Miller Kopp from Northwestern, who seemingly lost his shooting eye after donning the cream and crimson colors. Let’s hope to hear, “the three-point shot from Goode is Good!” Elsewhere during the off-season, Liam McNeeley chose Dan Hurley and UConn, Derik Queen will go to Maryland, and Boogie Fland has decided against Kentucky after the Coach Calipari move to rival Arkansas.