Things you're most curious to see this basketball season

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Will we actually play when the season starts the way we're hearing they're practicing or do we revert to Woodyball?

Can we stay healthy and not have any of our top 8 suffer serious injury?

Can Malik play better defense and avoid foul trouble?

Can Omar play more minutes/game than what his track record has been?

Just how good of a coach can Woody show us he is with this roster?

Can we beat PUke twice?

[str8baller]

9 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Can we stay healthy and not have any of our top 8 suffer serious injury?

obviously nobody wants to see an injury but this team is deep enough to hopefully not miss a beat if a guy happens to miss a couple games with a sore ankle or back or something. 

[str8baller]

This is non-Indiana but I’m interested in how the unbalanced schedule in conference shakes out. Seems likely to me the conf title could be decided by that considering how often there is a few teams bunched at the top. 

[Kentuckysucks]

39th.  

https://x.com/insidethehall/status/1845778194160288007?t=hE9k6nkyCoVCCGNkkYShJA&s=19

 

 

[HoosierCoop]

A consistent 3pt shot threat

Being the "dog" and not the underdog

An actual fast break transition

Punching Purdue in the face both games

Coaches that have a good game plan that utilize the talent of the team (not just the low post)

[Stuhoo]

54 minutes ago, Kentuckysucks said:

39th.  

https://x.com/insidethehall/status/1845778194160288007?t=hE9k6nkyCoVCCGNkkYShJA&s=19

 

 

Kenpom incorporates the last five season’s results into their methodology. 

[J34]

A leader at point guard 

[Demo]

Interested in most of the same things everyone else is, but #1 for pure curiosity and there is no close 2nd, as the biggest Jakai Newton fan around here by a mile, is where is that kid physically?  Pre-injury he was a Russell Westbrook-level athlete.

[Stuhoo]

1 minute ago, J34 said:

A leader at point guard 

^^ Winner ^^

[Home Jersey]

So many great responses in here. 

9 minutes ago, J34 said:

A leader at point guard 

This might be the one I'm most excited about 

7 minutes ago, Demo said:

Interested in most of the same things everyone else is, but #1 for pure curiosity and there is no close 2nd, as the biggest Jakai Newton fan around here by a mile, is where is that kid physically?  Pre-injury he was a Russell Westbrook-level athlete.

This is probably what I'm most "curious" about ... he could be the difference between a good team and a really good team. 

2 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Will we actually play when the season starts the way we're hearing they're practicing or do we revert to Woodyball?

Can Malik play better defense and avoid foul trouble?

Just how good of a coach can Woody show us he is with this roster?

Can we beat PUke twice?

All of the ones you posted were gems, but these especially resonate.

The bold one may be a requirement after last year, IMO. 

[Home Jersey]

2 hours ago, str8baller said:

obviously nobody wants to see an injury but this team is deep enough to hopefully not miss a beat if a guy happens to miss a couple games with a sore ankle or back or something. 

As long as that injury is not in the front court... 

We do not have good depth at the 5 spot, considering Malik's foul tendencies. 

Him fixing that is a big key for his personal and the team's success this year. 

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, Home Jersey said:

As long as that injury is not in the front court... 

We do not have good depth at the 5 spot, considering Malik's foul tendencies. 

Him fixing that is a big key for his personal and the team's success this year. 

Hatton is third string at the 5. No team wants to play their third string 5 for 30+ minutes a game, but Hatton’s resume is really excellent for a third string 5.

 

[Home Jersey]

35 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Hatton is third string at the 5. No team wants to play their third string 5 for 30+ minutes a game, but Hatton’s resume is really excellent for a third string 5.

 

True, but our back up 5 is also our starting 4. We’re putting a lot of load on Ballo and a lot of trust in Malik to not only stay out of foul trouble, but rebound and defend the other team’s 5 for probably 10-15 mins a game. There are worse weaknesses to have but it still is one as of now until we see how Malik and Hatton play this year IMO. I look forward to seeing Hatton play in a limited role, hopefully he shows something. I’m sure he will be better than Sparks, who is a great kid by all accounts. 

[Stuhoo]

12 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

True, but our back up 5 is also our starting 4. We’re putting a lot of load on Ballo and a lot of trust in Malik to not only stay out of foul trouble, but rebound and defend the other team’s 5 for probably 10-15 mins a game. There are worse weaknesses to have but it still is one as of now until we see how Malik plays this year IMO. I look forward to seeing Hatton play in a limited role, hopefully he shows something. I’m sure he will be better than Sparks, who is a great kid by all accounts. 

And if Ballo is injured and can’t go, then Malik plays 25 minutes at the five, Hatton plays 15, and Goode, Mgbako, and Tucker split the 3/4.

No team can afford to lose their big time defensive presence rebounder and be as good, but we have a deep front line.

[Home Jersey]

5 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

And if Ballonis injured and can’t go, then Malik plays 25 minutes at the five, Hatton plays 15, and Goode, Mgbako, and Tucker split the 3/4.

No team can afford to lose their big time defensive presence rebounder and be as good, but we have a deep front line.

Rebounding and interior defense could be a nightmare with some of those rotations, but as you say, no team can afford to lose their best/play multiple players out of position and still be as good as they are at full strength. Hopefully we avoid the worst case scenario with the injury bug. Should be a fun season

[Stuhoo]

8 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Rebounding and interior defense could be a nightmare with some of those rotations, but as you say, no team can afford to lose their best/play multiple players out of position and still be as good as they are at full strength. Hopefully we avoid the worst case scenario with the injury bug. Should be a fun season

If we’re a top 20 team, it’s seems to me that the most indispensable player will be Mgbako. He’s our lone pure shooter that can do something more than catch and shoot.

And if he makes that common freshman to sophomore jump? He’s gonna be really really good.

[Home Jersey]

1 minute ago, Stuhoo said:

If we’re a top 20 team, it’s seems to me that the most indispensable player will be Mgbako. He’s our lone pure shooter that can do something more than catch and shoot.

And if he makes that common freshman to sophomore jump? He’s gonna be really really good.

I’m very excited about what he can do this year. I think he made great progress throughout the course of last season after a slow start. With a season under his belt, I think the game slows down for him considerably this year and we see that with better defense and more attacking the rim to make him a true 3 level scorer. If he can make 3-4 3s a game, I think he will collect a lot of accolades (maybe captain obvious statement). I do think player development is a relative strength of this staff. Will be curious to see if he looks any different physically this year in the same way Malik very obviously committed himself to offseason workouts. 

[Home Jersey]

Barring injury, the consensus for a “good” year seems to be: 

Compete for a B10 title

Top 3-4 seed in March

Make a good run in the tournament

You can’t control match ups, but when we say a good run in the tournament, I’m thinking E8 minimum. S16 would be disappointing, no partial credit for getting a bad draw. We should also beat Purdue twice without Edey this year. I really want to win the B10 title (obviously) but I’m sort of expecting it with this roster and think that should be the expectation. Do that and everything else falls into place. I’m really excited to watch this team, that’s legitimately talented and deep. If the rumors are true about play style, the season can’t get here fast enough. 

[IUFAN1976]

40 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Barring injury, the consensus for a “good” year seems to be: 

Compete for a B10 title

Top 3-4 seed in March

Make a good run in the tournament

You can’t control match ups, but when we say a good run in the tournament, I’m thinking E8 minimum. S16 would be disappointing, no partial credit for getting a bad draw. We should also beat Purdue twice without Edey this year. I really want to win the B10 title (obviously) but I’m sort of expecting it with this roster and think that should be the expectation. Do that and everything else falls into place. I’m really excited to watch this team, that’s legitimately talented and deep. If the rumors are true about play style, the season can’t get here fast enough. 

I think the icing on the cake added to your list is winning the B10 tournament, since we’ve never won it!

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich]

3 point shooting. By far the biggest question of the team.