Author: Mike Schumann

In just over three months, Indiana will open the 2024-25 regular season with a home game against SIU Edwardsville. The game will tip on Wednesday, Nov. 6.  The time and television details have not yet been announced. The Cougars are led by a former IU basketball staff member. SIUE head coach Brian Barone was the Hoosiers’ director of basketball operations/video coordinator when he worked under former IU head coach Tom Crean.  Barone followed Crean from Marquette and spent two seasons (2008-09 and 2009-10) in Bloomington. The 2023-24 season will mark Brian Barone’s sixth season as SIUE’s men’s basketball head coach.…

The list of schools expected to get an official visit from in-state 2025 5-star guard Jalen Haralson has grown this week. According to a report by national 247Sports analyst DuShawn London, Haralson has added the following three visits to his previously announced stops: Missouri: September 21st Purdue: September 28th Kansas: October 19th These visits will be in addition to previously announced trips to Indiana (Aug. 31), Notre Dame (Sept. 7) and Michigan State (Sept. 14). The only three of his current top nine not slated to get a late summer or fall visit right now are Duke, Gonzaga and Auburn. …

There have been good runs. Bill Mallory in the late 80s and early 90s, John Pont in 1967-68, Lee Corso in 1979-80, and Tom Allen in 2019-20 all come to mind. But not since Bo McMillin in the 1940s has any coach of the IU football team amassed an overall winning record during his time in Bloomington. In the latest illustration of how Indiana’s 2024 season is the college football version of the immovable object vs. the unstoppable force, enter Curt Cignetti. You know, the “I win, Google me” guy. You’ve no doubt read some of the stats that back…

Blake Pieroni’s decision to forego retirement and swim in Paris paid off with his fourth all-time Olympic medal. The 28-year-old IU alumnus earned silver as part of Team USA’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay Tuesday.  Pieroni swam in the preliminary rounds. Pieroni previously won two medals at the Tokyo 2020 Games, gold in both the 4 x 100m freestyle relay and the 4 x 100m medley relay.  He also won gold in the 2016 Olympics at Rio de Janeiro in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. In his collegiate career at IU, the Valparaiso, Ind. product earned 19 All-American honors,…

Indiana has added a 13th scholarship player to the 2024-25 roster. Via release, IU head coach Mike Woodson announced the addition of transfer center Dallas James to the Indiana men’s basketball program on Tuesday. James will utilize his fifth year of eligibility at Indiana after spending four seasons at South Carolina State. The 7-0, 200-pound big averaged 1.4 points and 1.7 rebounds to go along with 46 blocked shots with the Bulldogs. He shot 56.2% (41-of-73) from the floor during his four-year career. James graduated from South Carolina State with a 4.0 GPA with a major in electrical engineering technology.…

22. That’s the number of players Indiana added from the transfer portal this offseason from Group of Five (G5) conferences, or even lower levels of college football. 13 of that total followed new head coach Curt Cignetti from James Madison, while players from UMass, Old Dominion, Ohio, Kent State, Austin Peay and elsewhere have also arrived in Bloomington. And these aren’t just depth pieces to round out the roster. Players like quarterback Kurtis Rourke (Ohio), wideout Elijah Sarratt (JMU), linebacker Aiden Fisher (JMU), cornerback D’Angelo Ponds (JMU), defensive end Mikail Kamara (JMU), tight end Zach Horton (JMU), offensive lineman Nick…

Since Indiana’s 2023-24 season came to an end, all of the focus turned to filling holes on the roster via the transfer portal. But the Hoosiers have six players returning from last year’s squad, so it’s time to look back at how they performed, and the outlook for 2024-25. Next up in the series is 6-foot-8 and 217-pound Mackenzie Mgbako, who is returning to IU for his second season with the program. WHAT WENT WELL The best trend for a freshman is improvement over time, and after a choppy start, Mgbako was named the Big Ten’s co-Freshman of the Year. …

In the event that brought her international fame, Lilly King finished fourth on Monday evening in Paris. The former IU star missed the Olympic medal podium in the 100-meter breaststroke final by a painfully close margin.  King tied for fourth, just one hundredth of a second from third. King, who set the world record time of 1:04.13 in the event in 2017, finished in 1:05.60 Monday.  In a tightly contested race, she was just one-third of a second from winning. Tatjana Smith of South Africa won gold with a time of 1:05.28.  She was followed by silver medalist Qianting Tang…

If pressed, both Joe Tipton and Jamie Shaw of On3 would give Indiana the edge to land 5-star Jalen Haralson right now. Let’s be clear, these aren’t hardcore predictions by either analyst. Think of them as more of a pencil to the eye, if predictions had to be made right now, kind of thing. But as Haralson begins to take visits and narrow his recruitment, IU is in a good spot in the eyes of the two well-respected national reporters. Shaw made his pick for IU with 25% confidence two weeks ago, and Tipton chose the Hoosiers as the favorite…

Indiana will conclude their 2024-25 nonconference slate with a home game against Winthrop during the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. The Sunday, Dec. 29 contest will take place at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, with the tip-time still to be announced. According to Bart Torvik’s preseason rankings, Winthrop is in the middle-of-the-pack nationally, coming in at No. 174 out of 364 teams.  Torvik’s model likes Winthrop’s offense (No.  145) better than their defense (No. 214). Winthrop returns 60.2% of their minutes from a season ago.  They are the 69th most experienced team in the nation. The Eagles return…