6-Banner Sunday: IU to play charity exhibition at Tennessee in October
Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, where we highlight the five most essential IU basketball stories of the past week, plus take a look at how the other IU sports programs are doing.
Once again, a scheduling announcement was the top story this week. This was led by the final piece of the pre-Big Ten slate being revealed with a charity exhibition game against a high-level opponent. Also, the Battle 4 Atlantis matchups were announced on the women’s side.
Besides this, Inside the Hall and UMHoops continued their series on the top players in the Big Ten, coach Mike Woodson appeared on a national podcast and weekly shows rounded out the basketball portion of 6-Banner. As usual, we will conclude with a look at other Indiana sports, starting with football rolling to a win in their opener.
Here is what is in this week’s edition:
• Indiana to play charity exhibition at Tennessee
• Women’s Battle 4 Atlantis matchups announced
• Inside the Hall and UMHoops top 40 Big Ten player series
• Mike Woodson appears on the College Hoops Today podcast
• Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup
IU men’s basketball will play several games this upcoming season on Peacock and the women will play a few as well, making the streaming service essential for IU basketball fans. Sign up for Peacock using Inside the Hall’s link to help support the site and also enjoy Big Ten hoops all season long! (The link is an Inside the Hall affiliate link, so a commission will be paid to ITH if you click and subscribe to Peacock. Alex and the ITH team appreciate your support!)
Banner #1 – Indiana to play charity exhibition at Tennessee
While it will not count towards their record, Indiana added a marquee opponent to the schedule. The Hoosiers will face Tennessee in a charity exhibition game in their first competition of the 2024-2025 season.
The matchup will take place on Sunday, October 27, in Knoxville. Time and TV info are still TBA. However, tickets will be available on allvols.com beginning September 16 for anyone wanting to make the trip. The proceeds from the contest will go to the John McLendon Foundation.
The Volunteers finished 2023-2024 with a 27-9 record and advanced to the Elite Eight. They did lose six rotation players from last season but have a highly-ranked portal class coming in.
Banner #2 – Women’s Battle 4 Atlantis matchups announced
The final piece of the women’s non-conference schedule was released earlier this week. It was already known the slate was highlighted by a trip to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis. However, while the matchups for the men were announced almost two weeks ago, the women’s side was not revealed until a few days ago.
The revelation of the first opponent for IU was Ivy League power Columbia on Saturday, November 23 at 1:30 pm. The Lions finished 23-7 in 2023-2024 and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as part of the First Four.
With relatively weak pre-Big Ten opponents outside of Stanford, beating Columbia is important. A victory would likely give Indiana a signature matchup with national power Baylor the next day. However, a defeat would almost certainly pit them against Southern Mississippi, which missed out on March Madness last season.
Also, the first two rounds are streamed exclusively on FloHoops.com, which is $30 a month or $150 for the entire year. If the Hoosiers win their two matchups, they will move to an ESPN network for the third game. If they are defeated in the opening round, all three will stream exclusively on FloHoops.
The other squads in this tournament on the opposite side of the bracket are Ball State, North Carolina, Texas A+M, and Villanova. Indiana will face one of these teams on the final day of competition.
Either way, IU will play three games in consecutive days. This will result in the toughest contests and opponents the Hoosiers will see early on and prepare them for the postseason in March when games are spaced close together.
Banner #3 – Inside the Hall and UMHoops top 40 Big Ten player series
Inside the Hall and UMHoops concluded their preview of the Big Ten as a whole that looked at the top-40 players in the conference. This week number 25 all the way down to the top-ranked person was revealed in the form of Purdue’s Braden Smith. Incoming transfer Myles Rice was the highest-numbered Hoosier at four.
Banner #4 – Mike Woodson appears on the College Hoops Today podcast
IU coach Mike Woodson appeared on the College Hoops Today podcast recently. Woodson sat down with Jon Rothstein last Monday afternoon to discuss a variety of topics. Inside the Hall provided a transcript of the discussion at this link.
Banner #5 – Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
Podcast on the Brink was on the air again this week. On it, UMHoops’ Dylan Burkhardt gave his thoughts on the top-40 player list he helped Inside the Hall compile.
Also, The Back Home Network was on-air several times. Austin Render’s Dribble Drive Podcast and Crimson Cast had episodes as did Doing The Work.
Banner #6 – Hoosier Roundup
• Football got the Curt Cignetti era off to a strong start with a dominating 31-7 win over FIU.
• Men’s and women’s soccer had a doubleheader on Thursday night in Bloomington. Assembly Call was on-site and had a full recap of the women’s 6-0 win over Wright State and the men’s 2-2 tie against Notre Dame.
• Volleyball got its 50th season off on the right note by knocking off Kennesaw State and Wichita State.
• Field hockey beat Kent State to open 2024 but fell to ranked Liberty as well.
• Cross Country opened up their fall with strong results at the Sam Bell Invitational that they hosted.
• Baseball will have fall tryouts for potential walk-ons on September 19.
• Softball announced its fall exhibition schedule.
Thanks for your continued support of The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall. We’ll be back next weekend with a new roundup.
Now go enjoy yourself a 6-banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor
To receive 6-Banner Sunday in your inbox each week, enter your email address and choose the free subscription option from our friends at The Assembly Call.
Filed to: