Author: Mike Schumann

Preseason college basketball recognition season is here, and IU big man Oumar Ballo was honored in multiple ways by the Blue Ribbon Yearbook released this week. The sixth-year senior center was named Preseason Big Ten Newcomer of the Year, Preseason All-Big Ten, and Preseason All-America Fourth Team by Blue Ribbon. “Oumar is a dominating post presence on both ends of the floor with a winning background,” IU coach Mike Woodson said when Ballo signed with the Hoosiers.  “His experience playing at the highest level will elevate our program. He is a big fella with soft touch around the rim, good…

Indiana will play a road game in early January at one of college basketball’s most historic venues. The Hoosiers’ road game at Penn State will be held on Jan. 5 at the Palestra in Philadelphia.  That’s according to a report by Jon Rothstein. The Nittany Lions started a tradition of hosting games in the “Cathedral of College Basketball” in 2017.  Penn State has played 62 total games in The Palestra dating back to 1927. The historic Palestra, on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, opened on Jan. 1, 1927. The Palestra has hosted more games, more visiting teams and…

As the CEO of IU football, Curt Cignetti is right to address poor attendance at Indiana football games, and the time-honored tradition by the fans who do show up of leaving at halftime. The first year head coach was initiated into that aspect of the program Saturday, when Indiana had roughly 8,000 unsold seats and a less than half-full second half stadium. It’s a stain on the program that spans generations, and its current leader has no choice but to address the issue head on.  After all, it’s his job to fix it. The topic has come up multiple times…

Indiana is once again slated to have three priority class of 2025 recruiting targets on campus the weekend of Sept. 20. Top-40 center Eric Reibe, who was originally scheduled to come Oct. 4-6, has decided to move up his visit two weeks.  His new weekend aligns with previously scheduled visits by fellow 2025 IU targets Braylon Mullins and Trent Sisley. Former IU target Malachi Moreno, now a Kentucky commit, was previously scheduled to join Mullins and Sisley on the same weekend. Yesterday the news broke Reibe canceled visits to Kentucky and North Carolina.  The latter of those two visits fell…

IU basketball survived another apparent cut by class of 2025 top-40 center Eric Reibe. After announcing a total of six official visits a few weeks ago, the 7-footer will no longer visit Kentucky and North Carolina. That leaves Kansas, UConn, Indiana and Oregon as the four most likely destinations for the native of Germany. Reibe visited Kansas this past weekend, and has the remaining visits scheduled: UConn: September 6-8 Indiana: October 4-6 Oregon: October 11-13 He also previously visited Creighton. According to a Monday report by Adam Zagoria of Zags Blog, Reibe is looking to move up the dates of…

Indiana’s defense was the headline unit in their 31-7 week one win over Florida International. The Hoosiers allowed just 182 total yards and posted eight tackles for loss and four sacks. According to PFF, here’s how Indiana’s week one effort graded out compared to all 134 FBS teams: Overall Defense: 25th Run Defense: 20th Tackling:  23rd Pass Rush:  49th Coverage:  32nd Here’s an overview of the week one snaps counts and PFF standouts on the defense.  For the week one offensive results, GO HERE. SAFETY There was some uncertainty regarding who would see the majority of the snaps at safety,…

Indiana University men’s basketball head coach Mike Woodson announced on Tuesday the addition of graduate managers Nathan Childress and Jackson Taylor. Nathan Childress Childress enters his first season as a Graduate Manager with the Hoosiers. He spent four seasons as a walk-on with Indiana before transferring to NAIA power Indiana Wesleyan for his additional season of eligibility. He appeared in 16 career games across four seasons with the Hoosiers and was named Academic All-Big Ten twice. Childress starred at Indiana Wesleyan during his final season of college basketball. The Wildcats went 29-6 and advanced to the NAIA Quarterfinal matchup. He…

The college basketball calendar flips to a “recruiting period” on Wednesday, signifying authorized athletics department staff may make in-person, off campus recruiting contacts and evaluations. This means of course the IU basketball staff is hitting the road in the days, weeks, and months to come. It should come as no surprise they’ll focus on their priority class of 2025 targets first. So far, reports of plans by Indiana to travel this week to see 2025 targets Bryson Tiller, Jalen Haralson, Mikel Brown, Braylon Mullins, and Trent Sisley have surfaced by multiple outlets.  The list of 2025s they’ll visit will likely…

The IU basketball program held a former player reunion over the weekend. Players as recent as Trayce Jackson-Davis were there, and a player from the 1953 national championship squad was in attendance as well. Phil Byers came to IU from Evansville, Ind. in 1951.  He played both football and basketball for a year for the Hoosiers before deciding to focus just on hoops after one season. Byers was one of nine Hoosiers to play in the 1953 national title game, when Indiana beat Kansas 69-68 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. Indiana had all of their championship trophies…

Donaven McCulley was not on the field as Indiana’s offense started their first drive of the 2024 season. That was notable after first-year coach Curt Cignetti made comments during the offseason suggesting he was at times frustrated with the 6-foot-5 senior wideout from Indianapolis. But McCulley’s absence from the field became permanent against Florida International when he took a hit to the head and neck area in the first half.  Cignetti shared after the game McCulley was not medically cleared to return after suffering that blow. Now Indiana is on a short week, with a Friday night game in Bloomington…