Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner joined the Club 520 Podcast, which is hosted by former Pacers guard Jeff Teague, and discussed several parts of his Pacers tenure as well as the high that was the 2024-25 season.
Teague and Turner were teammates for a year, and the two had productive on-court chemistry. Teague had 188 assists to the big man that season, more than he had to any other individual, including star wing Paul George.
“We started scrimmaging, hoopin’, I’m like ‘this motherf***er can do everything!’ And I didn’t know like ‘d**n, he can dribble? He can shoot? He got bounce? What the hell? He’s the best player on the team!” Teague remembered of seeing Turner play prior to that campaign, which was Turner’s second in the NBA. The point guard recalled an early conversation about pick and rolls and forming an early connection. “Our chemistry just like rolled right away… that’s why when I see you play now, like how y’all play spreading the floor, I’m like ‘d**n, if (head coach) Nate [McMillan] would have just let him play like this.”
Turner was early in his time with the blue and gold back then. He now embraces Indianapolis and views it as a major part of his life, but he was in just his second season when he played with Teague. The ex-Pacers guard still lives in Indianapolis, and Turner remembered his initial thoughts on the city. “I definitely fell in love with it right away… I didn’t need to be anywhere else.” he said. “I needed a slow-paced city for me to grow up in… it was the ideal situation for me.”
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When the two played together, Indiana had a +3.2 net rating. In situations when just one or fewer of the pair were on the hardwood, that Pacers team had a negative net rating. They made each other better, and the blue and gold needed that duo to work.
Now, Turner plays untethered in a wide open system. He’s in the ideal role on a team that can make him look great, and he loves the freedom. “I’ve been fighting with that my whole career. I finally started to be more confident in myself and my game,” Turner said. “Going on year 10, just kind of reflecting, if I would have had that confidence a bit earlier, the trajectory of my career would have been different. But God doesn’t make mistakes.”
Last season, with more space and responsibility, Turner averaged 17.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Per minute, it was the best scoring and rebounding season of his career, and he received All-Defensive team votes, too. The Texas product did that across 77 games as he stayed healthy — altogether, it was the best season of his career.
“It was amazing… but then bro (after past seasons), all I asked for was a guard that could get me the ball, and I wanted to play the five. The Pacers came through, and I was able to put my full talents on display. This season was special,” Turner said. Those things came together to make it a memorable campaign for Turner, and it helped that Indiana kept winning and taking down some of the league’s best teams. “The playoffs, I was so used to just going home. Four or five months of time off. But it was a different aura around the city. It was a different energy. [We] were locked in,” Turner said.
Indiana went all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. It was the first time the franchise made it out of the first postseason round since 2014-15, and they went on a special run. It was the first time Turner made it out of the first round in his career.
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The nine-year pro averaged 17.0 points and 6.6 rebounds per game on good efficiency during the postseason. He was sensational against the Milwaukee Bucks in games three and four, which was the turning point in the series. Indiana protected home court and rolled to a first-round victory.
“That Milwaukee season was fun because of all the antic s**t that happened during the season,” Turner said. Between the In-Season Tournament and game ball controversy, there was a lot of friction between the Bucks and Pacers. Turner said a story was created during those battles. “It made for a really great series,” the big man added. Teague was impressed by the Pacers performance in that series but also praised Milwaukee wing Khris Middleton for how he played in the best-of-seven set.
The Pacers went on to beat the New York Knicks in the second round, with Turner scoring 21 points and pulling in 10 boards in the series-changing Game 3. He helped Indiana avoid falling down 0-3 in the series, and they went on to beat the Knicks in seven games.
The seventh game was outstanding, with Indiana winning on the road in Madison Square Garden. They were on fire all night and won by 21 points — Turner was 7/11 from the field.
“It was special for me man,” Turner said of the final game in that series. “My dad, he’s from New York. He’s from Queens… for him to be able to be there and witness with all of his childhood friends. The whole ‘I told you so. I told you my son was like that’. I was just happy for him… It was a good moment.”
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The entire podcast features more from Turner on his career, his teammates, and other topics. It can be found here.
Alabama football completed Step 1. The Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 34-24 on Friday, earning its first College Football Playoff victory.
With the first round completed, UA has a tougher test ahead. No. 1 Indiana awaits in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal, on Jan. 1 in Pasadena. As Alabama celebrates its victory and begins to prepare, here’s what to know about the 13-0 Hoosiers.
The coach
To say that Curt Cignetti has done a good job at Indiana is perhaps college football’s largest understatement. Cignetti, who took over last season, has turned the Big Ten’s ultimate doormat into the nation’s top team.
Cignetti joined up from James Madison before the 2024 season. He immediately took a program that had grown stale under Tom Allen to the CFP, then turned around and did even better this year.
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“I just know that winning lifts all boats,” Cignetti said after the playoff field was announced. “In terms of fan support in the stadium, donations, all parts of the university, downtown when you pack the stadium, bring a lot of people to Bloomington, it helps their sales. A lot of pride in Hoosier Nation. The largest alumni base in America, over 800,000 people. I’d say right now the arrow is pointing up. We probably got a lot of momentum going in those kind of areas.”
Cignetti has a connection to Alabama as well. He worked as the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Nick Saban from 2007 through 2011, helping set the groundwork for Saban’s dynasty in Tuscaloosa.
In addition to Indiana in James Madison, he was a head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Elon after leaving the Tide.
The quarterback
For the first time in program history, Indiana has a Heisman Trophy winner. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza beat out a group of finalists that included Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin.
Mendoza has thrown for 2,980 yards this season, with 33 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has completed 226 of his 316 passes so far.
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“Our focus right now is winning the College Football Playoff,” Mendoza told reporters Monday in Bloomington. “That’s what would make this trophy so much sweeter. I believe this trophy is a little bit of a push of confidence on us, on the team, that we’re making history for the IU team in history to be 13-0 and also to bring home a Heisman Trophy to Bloomington.”
The junior, who hails from Florida, transferred into Indiana from Cal this year. He spent two seasons in Berkeley before joining the Hoosiers.
The season
Indiana was the losingest program in the Football Bowl Subdivision entering this season. Some predicted it would be a step back for the Hoosiers, who lost several key players from last season’s playoff team.
Instead, IU won its first Big Ten title since 1967. It enters the CFP undefeated.
“I think that if we hooked everybody up in this room on a lie detector test and told them, hey, do you think Fernando Mendoza is going to win the Heisman this year and we’re going to be 13-0, Big Ten champs, the team has a lot of self-belief and unwavering belief, but I think it’s tough to make those predictions,” Mendoza said Monday.
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To cap off the season, Indiana, which had faced criticism for its strength of schedule throughout the year, pulled off a huge upset in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers beat then No. 1 Ohio State, earning the top seed in the CFP and a spot in the Rose Bowl.
Months after being named the 2024 Indiana Thoroughbred Owner’s and Breeder’s Association’s Horse of the Year for 2024, multiple stakes winner Demolisher was euthanized after a bout with laminitis.
“We went from the highest highs as Indiana Horse of the Year to the lowest low ever when we had to say goodbye,” said Resia Ayres, who bred and raced Demolisher with husband Ken.
Unraced at 2, Demolisher proved worth the wait as he won the first five starts of his career in 2024, topped by stakes wins in the Governor’s Handicap and the To Much Coffee Handicap. All five of those wins came at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He closed out the season with an unplaced start in the Bryan Station Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland.
In March the son of Dominus was honored as ITOBA’s top Indiana-bred 3-year-old male and its Horse of the Year.
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“It’s about as high as we ever expected to have any of our horses,” Ken Ayres said at the time. “It’s hard to put words to it. Obviously, we’re super excited about it.”
For several years, the common refrain among some state lawmakers has been that they had no desire to tackle the issue until the federal government reclassified the drug. That argument will be removed if the president’s order receives federal regulatory approval as directed.
