The 2013-2014 season got underway with Indiana's annual tip-off event - Hoosier Hysteria - Friday night in Assembly Hall. Here’s a look at five takeaways from Indiana's first public practice: · The youth must come through: Yes, Will Sheehey and Yogi Ferrell both return and played starter's minutes a season ago. And Evan Gordon arrives as a graduate senior with plenty of experience after stops at Liberty and Arizona State. But the reality beyond that is this: Indiana is very thin on experience. The Hoosiers have six freshman and three of their returning sophomores have played limited minutes. Peter Jurkin and Hanner Mosquera-Perea barely played a season ago and Jeremy Hollowell, who will be counted to shoulder a much bigger role, only averaged 9.7 minutes per game as a freshman. There will be bumps in the road early for this team, but the young talent is there to mold into a tough out come March. · Injuries aren't a major concern, yet: It wasn't a surprise that Troy Williams and Luke Fischer were held out of Hoosier Hysteria. Williams is nearly back from a right hand injury and Fischer, who's had tough luck all offseason in terms of staying healthy, is battling a shoulder injury that will keep him out a few more weeks. What we didn't know is that Noah Vonleh is out with a mild ankle injury, which kept him out of the scrimmage portion of last night's festivities. And then late in the scrimmage, Stanford Robinson went down with what Tom Crean described as a knee bruise. None of these injuries figure to linger on long enough to force anyone to miss significant time, but Indiana needs to get all four players back sooner rather than later with the season opener just over four weeks away.
Tom Crean and Yogi Ferrell met with the media following Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria at Assembly Hall. Watch and listen to their reaction in the embedded media players below:
Sophomores Yogi Ferrell and Hanner Mosquera-Perea were among the standouts in Friday's Hoosier Hysteria dunk and 3-point shooting contests. Ferrell made 30 of 50 shots over the course of two rounds to capture the 3-point contest and Mosquera-Perea finished as the runner-up in the dunk contest to Devin Davis due to scoring in the finals, but had the better performance of the two overall.
In a televised announcement on ESPNU, class of 2014 forward-center Goodluck Okonoboh announced his commitment to UNLV. Okonoboh, the No. 24 prospect in the 247Composite, also considered Duke, Florida, Indiana and Ohio State. The Wilbraham and Monson Academy (Mass.) took ...
With Hoosier Hysteria set to tip off the 2013-2014 season on Friday night, Indiana released final details on the season-opening event via a press release on Thursday. Here is the full release: The 2013-14 college basketball season begins when Indiana ...
Tonight during halftime of an ESPNU college football broadcast Indiana, Ohio State and UNLV will learn where class of 2014 forward Goodluck Okonoboh will play next season. Okonoboh, a senior at Wilbraham and Monson Academy in Massachusetts, will announce his intentions a little after 9:00 p.m. ET (assuming the first half of the Louisiana-Monroe and Western Kentucky first half doesn't run long) from a studio in Bristol, Connecticut. Here’s our primer for the announcement with everything you need to know: The Essentials Forward/Center, 6-9, 220-pounds, Wilbraham & Monson Academy (MA), Mass Rivals 247Composite: 4-star (24); ESPN: 5-star (21); Rivals: 4-star (32); Scout: 4-star (37) Schools: Duke, Florida, Indiana, Ohio State, UNLV Official visits: Indiana, Ohio State, UNLV
With the start of college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next month. Today, we look at freshman Noah Vonleh. For the third ...
With the start of college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next month. Today, we look at freshman Devin Davis. Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria ...
The Inside the Hall Mailbag is a collection of questions tweeted to us via Twitter (@insidethehall) and sent to us via our Facebook page. Submit your questions and we’ll answer as many as we can. Aaron Miller writes: Hey guys, love the site and appreciate all your hard work. I wanted to get your take on the attitude of this year's team compared to last year's. I absolutely loved Hulls, Watford, Zeller and Oladipo leading last year's team and they will all be revered as all-time great Hoosiers, but did you ever get the feeling that they were almost too nice? All four were very stoic during games, and it occurred to me that the more aggressive and outspoken attitudes of this year's leaders, Sheehey and Yogi, could bring a beneficial edge to the entire unit. Thoughts? Thanks for the question. I don't agree that the four players you mentioned were stoic, but maybe some perceived it that way because of on court personalities. All four were intense competitors who really helped transform the program's culture back into one of winning. Their body language might have been different from a guy like Will Sheehey, but it's not fair to say that Cody Zeller was stoic just because he was quiet at times on the court. That's just his personality. I just don't buy the narrative that any of the four guys you mentioned could be considered "too nice."
With the start of college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next month. Today, we continue our look at the Big Ten with the Wisconsin Badgers. The brand of basketball in Madison may not always be easy on the eyes, but the results cannot be called into question. Over 12 seasons at Wisconsin, Bo Ryan has two Big Ten championships and the Badgers have never finished outside of the top four in the conference standings. That's consistency. Of course, that begs the question: Is this finally the year Wisconsin falls into the middle of the pack in the league? A quick survey of preseason prognostications says no. That optimism is centered largely around the upside of Sam Dekker, pictured above, and a solid nucleus of returning players in the backcourt. Dekker, one of four true freshman to start under Ryan, appears poised for a huge year. Ryan Evans is no longer going to take minutes from Dekker and his elite athleticism, motor and ability to shoot from the perimeter make him one of the more exciting players to watch in the league. As a freshman, he shot nearly 40 percent on 3-pointers and posted an offensive rating of 116.7, the highest mark among regulars in Wisconsin’s rotation.
With the start of college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next month. Today, we continue our look at the Big Ten with the Michigan Wolverines. After a improbable run to the national championship game that ended in defeat to Louisville, Michigan is once again back on the national scene despite losing national player of the year Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. to the NBA. That's largely because of the two guys pictured above, Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III. Both turned down spots in the first round of June's NBA Draft in favor of returning to Ann Arbor. Whether returning to school was the right decision was the right call for either guy with a monster 2014 draft looming is a debate for another day. The story for now is that Michigan has one of the best young duos in college basketball. McGary's monster NCAA tournament has landed him on plenty of preseason All-American lists despite an otherwise underwhelming freshman campaign. Over the season's final six games, McGary averaged 14.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game and his presence transformed Michigan from a trendy upset pick to a national runner-up. Robinson, meanwhile, was one of the nation's most efficient offensive players as a freshman. His offensive rating ranked 10th nationally and he shot 65.2 percent on 2-point field goals. Robinson has work to do in terms of making his game more consistent from the perimeter, but there's no questioning his elite athleticism.
Class of 2014 guard Robert Johnson is off the board. The 6-foot-3 combo guard from Benedictine College Preparatory in Richmond, Virginia, announced that he’ll attend Indiana in a ceremony this afternoon in his school’s library. Johnson, the No. 79 recruit ...
After announcing a list of five schools earlier in the week, class of 2014 Lincoln (N.Y.) guard Isaiah Whitehead ended the recruiting process in a press conference on Thursday afternoon at his high school. The five-star guard announced that he'll play for Seton Hall next season. Whitehead, the No. 17 player in the 247Composite, also considered Indiana, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and St. John's. The 6-foot-4 guard took an unofficial visit to Bloomington in late August.
On Friday afternoon, Florida State, Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia will learn where class of 2014 guard Robert Johnson will play in college. Johnson, a senior at Benedictine College Preparatory in Richmond, Virginia, will announce his intentions at 3:30 p.m. ET in the school library. Here's our primer for the announcement with everything you need to know: The Essentials Guard, 6-3, 190-pounds, Benedictine College Prep (VA), Boo Williams 247Composite: 4-star (79); ESPN: 4-star (NR); Rivals: 4-star (42); Scout: 4-star (54) Schools: Florida State, Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia Official visits: Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida State The Primary Contenders Johnson has four finalists and he's taken official visits to each school in the last month. Publicly, he's spoken positively about each experience, but most believe Indiana and North Carolina are the primary contenders with Virginia as a potential wildcard.
With the start of college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next month. Today, we continue our look at the Big Ten with the Iowa Hawkeyes. For the first time in the Fran McCaffery era in Iowa City, there are expectations for the Iowa Hawkeyes. After landing on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble a season ago and then making a run to the finals of the NIT, the Hawkeyes have the pieces in place to field a very good team in 2013-2014. Nine of Iowa's top 10 scorers are back including junior Aaron White and senior Roy Marble, one of the better tandems in the Big Ten. White is a bit unheralded nationally, but is one of the best frontcourt players in the Big Ten. Last season, he attempted 258 free throws and had a free throw rate (FTA/FGA) of 86.3, the highest mark of any Big Ten player. He was also one of just four Big Ten players to average at least 12.8 points and 6.2 rebounds, joining Zeller, Victor Oladipo and Deshaun Thomas.
Two class of 2014 prospects who had announced intentions to take official visits to Bloomington this fall - Ahmed Hill and Stephen Hurt - will not see Indiana's campus. Hurt (pictured), who was visited by Indiana at Northwest Florida College on Tuesday night, decided on Wednesday night that he would not visit Indiana after concerns about fitting into Indiana's up tempo style of play, according to a source. The 6-foot-10, 280-pound big man is expected to choose between Kansas State, Miami (FL) and Wichita State. He's already taken official visits to all three schools.