Just Now: Indiana men’s basketball Rule Out For……

After a huge eight day span for Mike Woodson, during which he and his staff landed three top-20 portal players, we are starting to have an idea of what the team might look like next season.

Kanaan Carlyle’s commitment filled out the rest of the probable starting lineup, but there are still three open scholarships to build a roster with. So how should Indiana use them?

First, let’s look at what Indiana has now. I used Bart Torvik’s funalytics tool to add Carlyle and Bryson Tucker to the roster that already had Oumar Ballo and Myles Rice. With no further additions, Indiana would have finished around 15th nationally last season.

Given Indiana’s offensive struggles last season, the popular trend seems to be calling for a proven shooter to come off the bench, but I’m not so sure that’s what Indiana needs. There are a number of reasons for that.

First of all, Woodson’s offense has not generated a ton of shots for players who cannot create for themselves. In a combined three seasons at Indiana, Parker Stewart and Miller Kopp never averaged more than 4.1 3-point attempts per game. Both Mackenzie Mgbako and Kanaan Carlyle averaged more than that in their freshman seasons.

Which is a great segue to the next reason – Indiana now has three guys who are likely to make strides as sophomore shooters. Not only will Mgbako, Carlyle, and Rice have the benefit of their experience, but they will all have less pressure to create for themselves by virtue of playing next to each other. That should make a leap in shooting percentage much easier.

And let’s not forget what Indiana now has on the bench with Gabe Cupps, Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal, and Jakai Newton all available for backcourt minutes. Galloway is an especially interesting piece, having emerged as a solid distributor last season.

Suddenly, Indiana is at least two deep at:

Point guard (Rice, Galloway, Cupps)
Shooting Guard (Carlyle, Galloway, Newton)
Wing (Mgbako, Tucker)
With all of these options and varying skillsets, this could be the year we finally see some extended run of three guards at once. Galloway, Rice, and Carlyle would be a lineup of three players with at least one season’s worth of point guard experience.

Even with just two of those three on the floor, Indiana should be able to create space in a way that it has not in years. Having two guards and a wing who can penetrate and score off the dribble is at least as effective at creating space and open shots as having a lineup of knockdown shooters.

People may not like the lack of emphasis on creating shots in Woodson’s offense, but we’ve seen it work with less talent and fewer options in the backcourt. In the 2022-23 season, Woodson wanted a two guard backcourt, but lost Xavier Johnson to injury and still finished the year with a top-30 offense behind Jalen Hood-Schifino’s freshman campaign.

That Indiana team didn’t shoot a ton of 3-pointers, but hit on over 36% of its attempts to finish in the top-40 percentage wise from behind the arc. This year’s team should have more shooters and more creators, so it’s reasonable to think it will be more efficient.

What Indiana lacks most right now is frontcourt depth. Somebody who is willing to play behind Ballo and Malik Reneau while still being able to contribute to winning in the Big Ten.

I’d love for this player to be a more modern big like Kel’el Ware who can stretch the floor, but rebounding and defense will probably be the priority in looking for late additions. The Hoosiers have enough talent up and down the lineup that it doesn’t Need another scorer as of now.

A guard or wing with a track record of shooting well in college basketball would be ideal, mostly for knowing that we have somebody who won’t hit a sophomore slump at a bad time.

The reality is that there aren’t a ton of minutes at those spots though, while neither Ballo nor Reneau can play a full 40. Having somebody who isn’t a negative for the minutes that those two sit is Indiana’s biggest need now.

With all of the other additions, Woodson can afford to be a little picky now, too. The foundation is finally there.