6-Banner Sunday: IU to play Penn State at the Palestra in early January
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 significant scheduling announcement is the top story. This time, it was a reveal involving the Big Ten slate. IU will play at a historic arena rather than on Penn State’s home court.
Besides this, a major publication picked Indiana to win the Big Ten, recruiting updates, coaching staff additions, and weekly shows round out the basketball portion of 6-Banner. As usual, we will conclude with a look at other Hoosier sports, starting with football, which rolled to another win in its second game.
Here is what is in this week’s edition:
• IU to play Penn State at the Palestra in early January
• Blue Ribbon picks IU to win the Big Ten
• 2025 recruiting board update
• IU adds two graduate managers to the coaching staff
• 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.
Banner #1 – IU to play Penn State at the Palestra in early January
While the full Big Ten schedule will be out later this month, a piece of it was reported last week. IU’s opponents and where the games will be played have been known for a while. However, times and dates have yet to be released.
However, College Basketball Insider’s Jon Rothstein leaked some news on Thursday about the matchup with Penn State. Instead of playing on the Nittany Lion’s home court, the contest will take place three hours from State College in Philadelphia at the historic Palestra on Jan. 5.
PSU is expected to be near the bottom of the league and has the lowest Bart Torvik Ranking amongst the conference heading into 2024-2025 at 74. Inside the Hall previewed Penn State as well as no. 73 Washington.
Banner #2 – Blue Ribbon picks IU to win the Big Ten
One major site that covers college basketball picked IU to win the conference in 2024-2025. While several publications have picked the Hoosiers to finish high up in the Big Ten, the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook is the first to project Indiana to come out on top in the league. They also gave several preseason honors to incoming transfer Oumar Ballo.
Ballo was not the only one to receive praise from a national outlet. Rising sophomore Mackenzie Mgbako is featured on the regional cover of Lindy’s Sports college basketball preview. Also, Inside the Hall did a Mailbag which discussed the upcoming year among other things.
Banner #3 – 2025 recruiting board update
While the fall semester has begun at IU, recruiting for future seasons continues. September 4 began a major period for looking at prospects and the staff went all out. Jalen Haralson wrapped up what he told On3’s Joe Tipton was a “great overall visit” to Bloomington last weekend.
The coaches also saw Braylon Mullins and other top targets. Mullins also has an upcoming campus visit later this month. As a result of the activity on the recruiting trail, Inside the Hall updated its September recruiting board.
Banner #4 – IU adds two graduate managers to the coaching staff
IU announced the addition of two staff members as grad managers. One of them is a name Hoosier fans should be familiar with in recent former player Nate Childress. Childress was a walk-on at IU who played sparingly before transferring to Indiana Wesleyan for a final season. With his playing career behind him, Childress returns to his alma mater in a new role.
The other person moving into this job is Jackson Taylor. Taylor served as a team manager during his undergraduate days in Bloomington. He now moves into a similar position as he starts graduate school.
Banner #5 – Back Home Network shows
The Back Home Network was on-air several times this week. Austin Render’s Dribble Drive Podcast and Crimson Cast had episodes as did a new program on BHN called Tuesday Night Bison Chat. Also, Xs and Joes recorded a show.
Finally, some other shows had people with Hoosier ties on them. Incoming transfer Luke Goode appeared on the Players Perspective podcast while former coach Tom Crean talked with the Hoosier Hysterics.
Banner #6: Hoosier Roundup
• Football scored the most points in program history during a 77-3 win over Western Illinois. The 701 total yards on offense were also a record.
• Men’s soccer knocked off Yale for their first victory of the season before tying Butler on the road Wednesday. Also, Tommy Mihalic was honored by the conference.
• Women’s soccer tied Brown and dominated Evansville. Also, Avery Snead was honored by the Big Ten.
• Volleyball knocked off UC Davis in its home opener. However, they fell to elite Texas and Miami (FL) squads away from Bloomington later in the week.
• Field hockey was defeated by Maine in their home opener.
• Women’s golf opened their season with a fourth-place finish at the Boilermaker Classic.
• Baseball announced its fall exhibition schedule.
• Finally, IU Athletics announced another NIL partnership.
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
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