Indiana State basketball fans will always remember the 2023-24 season. But that’s all that’s left — memories. The coach and team that rejuvenated the Hulman Center are gone.

Josh Schertz left for Saint Louis. Robbie Avila and Isaiah Swope followed. Jayson Kent and Julian Larry transferred to Texas. Ryan Conwell landed at Xavier. Masen Miller picked North Dakota State. Augustinas Kiudulas chose VMI. Jake Wolfe and Xavier Bledson graduated.

Only Aaron Gray, Jayden Daughtry, Derek Vorst and Cooper Bean remain from last year’s NIT runner-up team. Bean redshirted and the other three combined for 6.1 points per game last season.

New coach Matthew Graves has been busy on his root-and-branch rebuild adding eight new players so far. Here’s a look at who Sycamores fans will need to get to know ahead of the 2024-25 season.

Merritt Alderink, F, Zeeland, Mich.

Alderink committed to the Sycamores when Schertz was in charge and stuck with the Sycamores after Schertz left for SLU. Ranked the No. 3 player in Michigan in the 2024 class, per 247Sports, the 6-6 Alderink checks in as a three-star prospect and No. 64 power forward in the class. He led Zeeland West to the best season in program history, with district and regional titles, and earned Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Best of the Best and Detroit Free Press all-state honors this season.

Picked ISU over offers from Kent State, Toledo, Miami (Ohio) and others.

Bobby Cannon, F, Lewisville, N.C.

Cannon originally signed with New Orleans to play for Mark Slessinger. After 13 years at UNO, Slessinger decided to return home to Indiana and joined Graves’ staff as associate head coach. Cannon followed the coach to Terre Haute.

“Bobby is a dynamic player with a dynamic personality,” Slessinger said when Cannon signed with UNO. “He plays with great energy and passion. With his size at 6-10 his ability to shoot the ball and spread the floor is tremendous. He has great skill level offensively handling and passing the ball beyond scoring.

“His length also gives him opportunities defensively to change a lot of shots.”

Cannon averaged 11 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as a junior. Before committing to UNO, he had offers from East Carolina, Old Dominion and Winthrop.

Tyran Cook, Milwaukee (VMI)

He started 23 of 32 games last season as freshman for the Cadets, averaging 12.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. A 6-2 guard, he shot 34% from behind the arc. He scored a season-high 28 points vs. Chattanooga on Feb. 8 when he went 6-of-6 from deep.

He graduated as Waukesha South High School’s second all-time leading scorer (1,913) and rebounder (650) and he finished second in the state in the high jump.

Markus Harding, F, Toronto (Central Michigan)

A 6-10, 255-pounder, Harding averaged 10.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and shot 53.3% from the field last season for the Chippewas. He junior forward started 39 of 46 games over the past two seasons. He hit 21 3-pointers at a 30% clip in 2022-23, but saw that number shrink to just seven 3s at a 19% rate last season.

He arrived at CMU via Eastern Florida State College by way of Toronto after only starting to play basketball at 14 years old.

Jahni Summers, G, Evansville, Ind. (Coffeyville Community College)

The Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference freshman of the year, Summers averaged 18.2 points, 4.5 rebounds a game and shot 37.1% from 3, earning second-team All-KJCCC honors. He also had offers from Appalachian State, Eastern Kentucky, UC Riverside, Winthrop, IU Indianapolis, FGCU and others.

A standout at Evansville Harrison, schools contacted him or his coach weekly. Division II programs couldn’t believe he didn’t have more offers. Division I schools wanted to watch his film. But between the transfer portal and the extra year granted because of the pandemic, no one provided him a chance.

“I had to come to the realization that it takes time,” he told Courier & Press reporter Kyle Sokeland in 2022. “Patience is something I had to go through. I’m just letting it sink in day by day. Trying to be in the gym every day and go hard.”

Samage Teel, G, Greenville, N.C. (Presbyterian)

Teel started 21 of 32 games for Presbyterian last season as a junior, averaging 13.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He shot 41.5% from behind the arc, with 54 makes from deep. The 6-2 guard scored over 20 points five times last season, finishing last year with a season-high 28 points in a CBI first-round loss to Montana.

He started his college career at Winston-Salem State, scoring 594 points over two seasons. In high school, he helped lead Farmville Central to two North Carolina state championships.

Camp Wagner, G, Dallas (Rice)

A 6-6 guard, Wagner played in 18 games last season as a freshman for the Owls, averaging 3.5 minutes a game (1.2 points). Coincidentally, he scored a career-high 11 points against… yup, you guessed it, Indiana State, hitting three 3s.

He played at Link Prep Academy (Mo.) where he averaged 16.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists as a senior.

Jayan Walker, G, Raleigh, N.C.

A 6-6 combo guard out of Charlotte’s Combine Academy (N.C.), Walker had offers from Marshall and Georgia State, and added new offers from Utah State and Kennesaw State. He was offered by Indiana State on April 22, visited campus on May 3 and committed May 4.

The Caitlin Clark era in the WNBA has officially begun, although it got off to a slow start.

Clark went scoreless in the first quarter of the Indiana Fever’s game against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night. She missed her first four shots before finally getting on the board midway through the second period.

The NCAA’s all-time Division I scoring leader stole the ball around the foul line and drove the length of the court before laying the ball in. Clark had said before the game that she thought her first basket would come on a layup since it was a “high-percentage” shot.

She probably just didn’t think it would take nearly 15 minutes for it to happen.

Clark later added two free throws and hit a three-pointer with 29.9 seconds left in the first half to finish the opening 20 minutes with seven points, hitting two of her seven shot attempts.

The Fever went on to lose 92-71 to the Sun as Clark offset her team-high 20 points with 10 turnovers.

Before her first basket, Clark struggled and got into early foul trouble. Her first shot was a drive to the basket that bounced hard off the glass and into Aliyah Boston’s hands for a putback. Clark missed a runner in the lane, and then her 3 from the left wing just rimmed out. She did have an assist on one basket and threw a nifty behind-the-back pass to teammate Boston, but last season’s Rookie of the Year was called for a traveling violation.

Meanwhile, Clark was called for two fouls on the defensive end. The second one drew loud boos from the sellout crowd. The crowd gave the No 1 pick in the draft a loud ovation when she was announced in the pregame introduction.

Before the game, Clark admitted she was eager for her WNBA debut. It was one of four games on the league’s opening night to tip-off the WNBA’s 28th season. New York, which was runner-up in the WNBA Finals, visited Washington to start the evening.

She sat around most of the day at the hotel and had to wait to get on the court when her team arrived nearly 2:30 hours before tipoff.

“I just want to get out there and play,” she said. “I got plenty of time to sit and think about it. Still this is exciting. This is fun. … There’s just a different buzz in the air.”

Even before playing a WNBA game, Clark has left her mark in the pros. The league’s draft had record viewership, and her No 22 Indiana Fever jerseys have been flying off the shelves. There were hundreds of fans walking around the arena in Clark jerseys and t-shirts.

CHICAGO — Kel’el Ware saw what Mike Woodson was able to do with Trayce Jackson-Davis.

That partially is what drew Ware from Oregon to Indiana.

Playing for a former NBA coach who’d just developed an NBA big convinced Ware that Woodson could put him on a similar path.

“He just told me he was going to get me back to where I needed to be,” Ware said. “If I chose to come to Indiana, he would be able to get me back here, he would be able to get me ready for it and I feel like that’s what he did.”

More: Indiana basketball’s Kel’el Ware declares for 2024 NBA Draft

As Ware noted at Tuesday’s NBA Draft Combine, Woodson was correct.

After a freshman season where he struggled at times for Oregon, Ware was allowed to play through mistakes at Indiana.

Ware entered the NBA Draft after one season with the Hoosiers in which he averaged He averaged 15.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.5 assists and shot 56.8%, including 42.5% from 3.

He will likely be a first-round pick next month.

“He was a top high school recruit. He was very athletic and could shoot,” said Connecticut guard Tristen Newton, who played against Ware when he was both at Oregon and Indiana. “That was his thing going into college and he displayed that (during Monday’s combine drills).”

That athleticism included one of the fastest 3/4 court runs as Ware, who measured 6-feet, 11 3/4 inches, blazed a trail in 3.29 seconds. Ware also had a 36-inch vertical.

Ware knows there are still concerns, though.

“The motor aspect of it, what everybody says about my motor,” Ware said. “I feel like I’ve proven that enough, but I still got more to prove.”

More: Indiana basketball’s Kel’el Ware isn’t sure he’s lock to go in first round of NBA draft

Otherwise, it’s easy to see why Ware is projected to go high in the draft.

He’s long (7-foot-4 1/2 wing span) and quick enough that he can guard on the perimeter. Ware can pick and pop, shoot and serve as a lob threat.

“My AAU coach he was telling me to bring the ball up the court sometimes,” Ware said. “I was never just a back to the basket player. I’ve always had the dribbling, shooting, I’ve always been able to do everything because I’ve always worked on it growing up.”

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.