Playing big-time high school football at 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds would be a challenge for anyone. Ultimately, for former Indianapolis Ben Davis quarterback Reese Taylor, it was a non-issue. Taylor led the Giants to the Indiana 6A state title in 2017. He also picked up the Indiana Mr. Football award, which is given to the individual voted as the state’s best high school football player. That sort of success at the high school level could present its own challenges, with understandable expectations, hopes and dreams of big things at the next level. But Reese Taylor knows better. Being a relatively…
Author: Mike Schumann
Indiana University basketball is coming off a challenging 16-15 year one under head coach Archie Miller. Despite that, with a resurgence in recruiting and the return of a solid core of veterans, expectations are back in Bloomington. That got us thinking — what have been the best year over year improvements throughout the history of Indiana basketball? What we found were several such seasons, under several different coaches. It’s a good reminder that we have been here before — and it gives us hope that it can happen again. 1937-38 (10-10) to 1938-39 (17-3) New head coach Branch McCracken got…
According to N.D. Kendrick, Indiana has offered class of 2019 shooting guard Brandon Newman from Valparaiso, Indiana. https://twitter.com/NDkendrick/status/1011357656509018118 The 6-foot-4, 180 pound Newman is a 4-star prospect rated 117th nationally according to the 247 Sports Composite. He is rated as the 81st best player nationally according to Rivals and 141st according to 247 Sports. He holds offers from Purdue, Xavier, Creighton and others. Newman is the fifth in-state player that IU has offered in the class along with Trayce Jackson-Davis, Keion Brooks, Jr., Isaiah Stewart and Armaan Franklin. You can read our full analysis of Newman including video here. You can…
Multiple outlets are reporting statements that Trayce Jackson-Davis gave publicly over the weekend. The five-star Greenwood, Indiana native updated where his recruitment stands, including his plans to use up his allocation of five official visits over the coming months. “Right now, I have two or three officials. I know IU, UCLA and Michigan State are all locked in. They’re going to be officials. I know I’m taking my Indiana visit for Hoosier Hysteria. But other than that, I don’t know when. I know Indiana will be Hoosier Hysteria.” His Nike EYBL Indy Heat teammate Keion Brooks, Jr. is also planning…
-Update June 25: Multiple reports have Brandon Newman visiting Indiana today- Much has been made about some of the forwards that Indiana is targeting in the 2019 recruiting class. And rightfully so. Five stars like Keion Brooks, Jr., Trendon Watford and Trayce Jackson-Davis are game changers, and we know enough to say that IU is legitimately in the running for them. Things aren’t as clear as it relates to the back court in the 2019 class. While Indiana has offered some high profile guards, not as much optimism surrounds where the Hoosiers stand with them. The Hoosiers made D.J. Carton’s final…
The Indiana baseball program will once again be searching for a new head coach as Chris Lemonis is reportedly leaving IU for Mississippi State. Lemonis compiled a record of 141-91-2 in four seasons at Indiana. The Hoosiers reached the NCAA tournament in three out of four seasons under his direction. Lemonis played at The Citadel and was an assistant coach at Louisville prior to taking over at Indiana in 2015 after Tracy Smith left for Arizona State. While he hasn’t made any public statements yet, he did update his photo on his Twitter account. Lemonis was able to continue the…
Periodically over the summer we will check in with a quick look at former Hoosier basketball players to find out what they are up to now. Last week we updated you on Bracey Wright. Today we look at Will Sheehey, who played for IU from 2010 to 2014. Little was known about the core players in Tom Crean’s 2010 Indiana recruiting class. Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey were both relative unknown 3-stars ranked outside of the top 100. Sheehey was more of a complimentary players on his summer circuit team that included Fab Melo, Josh Langford and Damien Leonard. When IU offered…
Recruiting momentum. It’s a phrase that gets thrown around a lot. When Romeo Langford committed to Indiana in late April, fans and analysts alike wondered whether that would somehow open the floodgates for a stream of five-stars to follow him to Indiana. Now we are entering the class of 2019 commitment busy season, as IU awaits word from several high end targets. Some may follow Langford’s lead and wait until next spring, but for the most part commitments will be made over the next 3 to 4 months — and we will find out if Indiana really has something going…
Recruiting services periodically update their individual national rankings, and ESPN and has recently done just that coming out of the spring AAU circuit action. As we’ve previously documented, Indiana is targeting very highly ranked players in the 2019 class. You can follow that link to see videos of each player as well as links to all of our coverage of them. The players are listed in our perceived order of probability of an Indiana commitment. As it stands, Indiana has two open scholarships for 2019. In the likely event that Romeo Langford goes to the NBA after one season, Indiana…
Now that the 2018 NBA Draft has passed, it is time to take a look at which former Indiana basketball stars have thrived in the league once they arrived. Below we summarize the top three former IU stars in several NBA statistical categories. The lists are dominated by a few names from IU’s past. Walt Bellamy played at Indiana from 1958 to 1961. As a senior at IU he averaged a school record 17.8 rebounds per game. He is in the basketball Hall of Fame and was a member of the Indiana All-Century team. He would become the first Hoosier…