IUBB’s Biggest Potential Roadblocks to a Renaissance in 2024-2025

All signs seem to indicate that a renaissance is on the horizon for the Indiana men’s basketball team in 2024-2025. With Mike Woodson back to lead a revamped/rejuvenated roster jam-packed with talent, there are simply not a lot of reasons to be pessimistic about the Hoosiers’ outlook.

But while there may not be an abundance of obvious uh-oh’s when you look up and down this team, the small sample of potential issues could realistically prove lethal to the overall mission. That being said, the 3 tallest hurdles that Woody and his team will have to overcome will combine to try to sway your mind in favor of the Hoosiers faltering once again. Do not budge. We believe that they will prevail over these potential problems.

In good knee-related new, Jakai Newton appears to be fully back on the court and ready to make a name for himself in Bloomington.

In bad knee-related news, human spark plug Trey Galloway is currently on the mend from an operation he recently had done on his meniscus. While Gallo has been spotted with the team and on campus, the timeframe for his return to the court seems suspiciously vague. We hope that he will be able to rejoin his teammates soon, but more importantly wish Galloway a major comeback from this minor setback.

Last season, Indiana finished the season as the 265th best 3-point shooting team out of 351 qualifying teams. The addition of Luke Goode should help mask some of these deficiencies, but who else on this roster has proven the ability to hit a steady dosage of shots on a consistent basis?

Both Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle looked legitimate during their respective freshman campaigns, and they also shared inefficient shooting splits. Trey Galloway makes a lot of winning basketball plays, he just does not make a ton of jumpers. Mackenzie Mgbako came into his own by the end of last season, but was wildly unpredictable when it came to hitting shots. Bryson Tucker has NBA potential, but also has a ton of work to do on his jump shot.

Fortunately, there are numerous guys capable of leading the team in scoring on any given night. Catch this team on a night when everyone’s feeling confident with their outside shot and you may as well wave the white flag and call it a night.

With all due respect to newcomer Langdon Hatton, who should provide some nice backup center minutes behind Oumar Ballo, it feels like IU could still use another big body. Hatton’s 6’10”, 240 pound frame, subtle agility, and respectable shooting range make him a viable candidate for minutes sparing Ballo.

In 31 games played last season (all starts), he strung together solid averages of 27.8 MPG, 10.5 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 1.3 APG and 0.8 BPG on shooting splits of 48% FG/33.3% 3(made 15 total)/67.5% FT. He made vast improvements in his game as a junior at Bellarmine (ASUN), but unfortunately the team finished the season with an ugly 8-23 record.

Ballo should have a solid 25-30 MPG in him, and it would not be shocking to see Mike Woodson experiment with Malik Reneau at the 5 similar to how he did as the season waned on in 2023-2024. Between Reneau, Hatton, and potential small-ball 5’s Goode, Tucker, and Mgbako the rest of the frontcourt corps will need to band together to fill out those additional 10-15 MPG at the center spot each night.

One bright spot in regards to this potential dilemma is the fact that Ballo has shown an ability to stay out of foul trouble on a consistent basis. Last season, he averaged just 2.1 fouls per game in 25.9 MPG. In the season prior to that, he averaged 2.3 fouls per game in 27.6 MPG. If nothing else, it is encouraging that his foul tendency appears to be on a downward trend.