8 things learned from Indiana basketball media day
BLOOMINGTON, Ind (WISH) — Media day for Indiana men’s basketball was on Wednesday, and there were a lot of things that were learned about this year’s team from Mike Woodson’s press conference.
More small ball lineups
With Mackenzie Mgbako (6’8), Luke Goode (6’7), and Bryson Tucker (6’6), the Hoosiers have some height on the perimeter at the wing position.
In Woodson’s three years at Indiana so far, he has ran almost all of his lineups around two bigs, whether it was Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson or Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau.
While they have two talented bigs in Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau this season, Woodson wants to play more small ball lineups with Mgbako or Goode at the 4.
He said they experimented with it a little bit over the summer and in the fall. He wants to play more small ball to get up and down the court and rely less on “pounding the ball.”
Improved speed
Woodson said that there is more speed on this team, and that will change the way that IU attacks the game offensively.
“I’d like to play a little quicker this year, where we’re not walking it up,” Woodson said.
He said that they have been working on playing quicker in summer and fall practices.
IU has been in the top-100 in average offensive possession length only once in Woodson’s three seasons, which was the 2022-23 season when they were a four seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Myles Rice’s speed
“His speed, it changes the game for us,” Woodson said.
Rice’s teammates echoed that sentiment from Woodson. Gabe Cupps and Jakai Newton have been impressed with his speed with the ball. They compared his speed to Xavier Johnson.
Cupps was more specific, saying that while their speeds are similar, the way they attack the game is different. He said Johnson was more physical and would attack straight through defenders, while Rice is more slippery and slides off defenders.
Woodson added that his biggest challenge right now is being a point guard and understanding there are players around him that can help too.
Improved depth
With six transfers and one freshman joining the roster, there are a lot of newcomers and a lot of talent coming to Assembly Hall this season.
Towards the end of last season, Woodson only played six to eight players legitimate minutes.
With the talent and depth that this roster has heading into the season, Woodson wants to play a deeper bench.
“I wish I could play 12 guys, but it’s just not the nature of this business” Woodson said.
Woodson said that it is really competitive at practice and everybody is fighting to play.
Moving Malik Reneau away from the basket
Reneau has primarily been a post player in his time at Indiana. He has stepped out to shoot three-pointers on occasion (53 attempts at a 32.1% clip), but the bulk of his work has been done in the paint.
Woodson said they tried moving him away from the basket a bit this summer, playing inside-out and outside, and Woodson said he held his own out there.
“His biggest challenge is going to be guarding smaller players at that position,” Woodson said.
Reneau and Ware played a lot together last season, but Ware was a more dynamic player with the ball and has more shooting capability than Reneau’s frontcourt teammate Oumar Ballo this season.
More ball handlers
Last season, Indiana lacked players that could handle the ball. Xavier Johnson was their only veteran point guard, and he only played 20 games due to missing time with injuries.
The bulk of the ball handling then fell into the hands of Cupps, who was a freshman, and Trey Galloway, who did not handle the ball much in his career at Indiana before last year.
This year, Woodson is more confident in the amount of ball handlers he has.
“The way we play, everybody is capable of handling the basketball, and we struggled in that area a little bit last season” Woodson said.
He listed Galloway, Kanaan Carlyle, Rice, Cupps, and Bryson Tucker as players that can handle the basketball this season. He also added that Goode is starting to handle the ball now and Mgbako has improved.
Offense dominated over the summer, but now that’s changed
“I thought this summer, our offense was so ahead of the defense because we hadn’t put all of our things from a defensive standpoint in,” Woodson said. “And now that we’re starting to put defense in, it’s been a struggle for guys to really score.”
In Woodson’s first season, the defense was better than the offense, ranking in the top 25 on KenPom. In his second season, the offense was better, ranking in the top 30 on KenPom. Last year, both ends of the court were lackluster, but the defense ranked ahead of the offense.
Woodson has repeatedly said that he cares a lot about defense and thinks that defense wins games.
Bryson Tucker showing he belongs
With all of the playmakers that Indiana brought in through the transfer portal, their McDonald’s All-American freshman that they picked up late in the recruiting cycle has flown under the radar.
“Bryson (Tucker) has come in and shown that he belongs,” Woodson said.
His teammates have been impressed with his athleticism as well.
Indiana will play two exhibition games, including one against Tennessee in Knoxville, before the regular season opener against SIU-Edwardsville on November 6.