Author: Mike Schumann

Whenever IU coach Curt Cignetti saw Michigan State wide receiver Nick Marsh, he came away impressed. That includes watching Michigan State film to prepare for the Spartans, and to prepare for other Big Ten teams. Oh, and on the field against Indiana too. Marsh scored touchdowns against Indiana in each of the last two seasons.  He had seven catches for 64 yards and a score in Bloomington this past season, and five catches for 78 yards and a score in 2024 in East Lansing. “I’ve seen Nick Marsh two years in a row, up close and personal,” Cignetti said last…

Although his brother was playing with the Hoosiers in 2024, Fernando Mendoza says he had never been to the state of Indiana before his official visit to IU. And while many believe Alberto Mendoza’s presence in Bloomington made his brother’s transfer from Cal to IU a lock, Fernando says it wasn’t that simple. “There’s a lot of other spots I was looking at seriously,” Fernando said on a Dallas radio interview this week. In fact, Fernando was uncomfortably close to becoming a Georgia Bulldog. “Really what it came down to was Indiana and Georgia,” Fernando said.  “Kirby (Smart), great recruiter,…

There was a time when a young Curt Cignetti felt the cards were stacked a bit against the have nots. Before the transfer portal, before NIL, programs like Alabama, Ohio State, and others could simply stack talent. Cignetti got an early taste of that as an assistant coach at Rice, dealing with the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, Arkansas and others. “I was coaching the Southwest Conference. I was 23 years old. That was a premier conference back then,” Cignetti said on the Bison Drop podcast.  “I was with some teams that weren’t very good for a while. And I…

Safety Bryson Bonds is foregoing a potential additional season of eligibility to join the IU football staff as a special teams assistant. He shared the following post on his social media accounts Monday afternoon. Bonds suffered a season-ending injury on kickoff coverage in week one against Old Dominion.  He could have filed for a medical hardship waiver to return for the 2026 season. The longest-tenured safety on the roster in 2025, Bonds was with Indiana since 2020. Bonds played in 48 career games and had 43 career tackles. Most of his action has been on special teams, and he was…

With Selection Sunday now less than four weeks away, we are once again taking a weekly look at IU basketball’s chance to make the Big Dance. Indiana remains solidly in the NCAA Tournament after a 1-1 week in the Big Ten.  But they’ll need more wins to stay comfortably in the field. Once again, the NET rankings serve as the primary sorting tool for Division I men’s basketball, and they play an important role in establishing a team’s resume. The 2025-26 men’s basketball season marks the eighth year of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, which replaced the RPI prior…

Indiana was reminded it’s a notch below the nation’s best on the road. The Hoosiers kept the margin within single digits throughout the entirety of the first half, and were down just five on multiple occasions in the final four minutes before the break.  But an 11-0 second half Illinois run gave the Illini a 54-36 lead with 12:33 left.  And that was all she wrote. Let’s take a deeper look at how Indiana lost 71-51 in Champaign with our latest edition of The Report Card. The Hoosiers (17-9, 8-7) will travel to Purdue on Friday. —————————————- OFFENSE (D) At…

No matter who IU had available on Sunday afternoon, No. 2 UCLA on the road was going to be a significant challenge. But when Big Ten leading scorer Shay Ciezki injured her ankle in the first quarter, a tall task became a mountain. Indiana lost 92-48 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, dropping to 14-13 overall and 3-12 in the Big Ten. With Ciezki on the bench, UCLA (25-1) poured it on in the second quarter, outscoring Indiana 30-10 to put the game out of reach. IU shot just 31.3% from the field overall including 20% from three.  They added…

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Indiana lost to Illinois Sunday afternoon at State Farm Center by a final score of 71-51. The three keys to the game, highlights and final stats are below. Illinois led 38-31 at halftime.  The Hoosiers were led in the game by Lamar Wilkerson with 21 points. For Darian DeVries and Sam Alexis postgame, GO HERE. Indiana (17-9, 8-7) returns to action Friday evening at Purdue. THREE KEYS TO THE GAME 1. Bad second half start.  Illinois scored the first five points of the second half, and outscored the Hoosiers 16-5 over the first 7:27 coming out of…

All of the sudden, Sam Alexis can’t miss. Over his last five games, which includes four Indiana wins, the 6-foot-9 forward has made a staggering 24 of 25 shots from the field What changed? Darian DeVries was probably covering for his big man a little bit when asked that question Monday night following Indiana’s 92-74 win over Oregon. “He’s given us these last two games some low presence that maybe we haven’t utilized enough to be honest with you,” DeVries said.  “Sometimes as coaches you got admit your mistakes.” Indiana has struggled at times this season when teams have switched…

Tayton Conerway started the first 19 games of Indiana’s 2025-26 season. But after suffering an ankle injury during IU’s Jan. 17 game against Iowa, and then an illness last Saturday ahead of the Wisconsin game, the Indiana guard, who is now healthy, will come off the bench. It isn’t typical for a starter to lose his role when dealing with relatively minor setbacks like what Conerway has had to contend with over the last month. But his replacement in the starting five has had an atypical run of success that really left IU coach Darian DeVries with no choice. Junior…