Author: Jason Sanders

Whenever you see any photo of LeBron James’ shot that broke the NBA’s all-time scoring record, you’ll probably see former IU center Thomas Bryant in the frame. And there are a lot of photos of that moment. The sixth-year pro was out the left wing as James drove from the right elbow to the left. Whatever the moment, Bryant knew instinctively what to do as James looked his direction on the set. “You know what was crazy?  We went through that same play in practice, and whenever LeBron sees me on that wing he tells me to cut, and if…

IU basketball coach Mike Woodson said on a podcast released Wednesday freshman guard Jakai Newton has been hurt, and implied his availability for the upcoming season is unclear. If Newton did turn out to be unable to go at the start of the 2023-24 season, IU would be down to just five guards — Xavier Johnson, Gabe Cupps, Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal and C.J. Gunn. And obviously just two of those five have a proven track record at the high major level of college basketball. The IU staff had a number of lines in the water when it came to…

Most recruiting stories today have a transactional feel. How much playing time and how much NIL? When Mackenzie Mgbako decommitted from Duke, those certainly seemed like two of the more relevant issues that would be front and center for any school that tried to recruit him. But things started out a little different when it came to IU and Mgbako. According to IU assistant coach Kenya Hunter, it was Mgbako’s mother who started out being the recruiter, and Indiana the recruited. “Mackenzie’s deal is kind of unique because the crazy thing is Mackenzie’s mom reached out to coach Woodson with a…

Will Indiana try one more time? Former North Carolina guard Caleb Love has decommitted from Michigan and is back in the transfer portal. Multiple reports indicate there was an admissions issue at Michigan related to credits not transferring from North Carolina. IU tried to recruit Love as a high school product out of St. Louis, and again when he entered the portal following the 2022-23 season. Adam Zagoria, who is a respected and well connected journalist who covers college basketball, said on Wednesday to watch out for Indiana and Missouri as possible destinations for Love. Those are two schools that…

Tom Crean knew he was walking into a difficult situation at Indiana in the aftermath of Kelvin Sampson being fired and looming NCAA sanctions. But he said this week it was worse than what he ever could have imagined.  And much of that had to do with the roster he inherited. “I had no idea what I was walking into there (at Indiana),” Crean said this week on The Rex Chapman Show. “I took the job on a Tuesday, by the following Monday, a vice president (of Marquette) said why don’t we treat this like a bad April Fool’s joke…

Class of 2024 5-star big man Derik Queen says he had a good visit at Indiana a week ago, but his recruitment seems to be broadening, and staying on the longer track. In a report by national 247Sports analyst Travis Branham on Tuesday, Queen spoke briefly about his Indiana visit. “It was fun,” he told Branham. “I like the coaches and I like the school. Two of my teammates go there. I liked the experience. I hung out with the team and me and the coaches were talking, they told me their plans, we watched film of myself and that…

The IU basketball team has been mostly healthy during this offseason as they prepare for a season full of expectations. But the lone major exception has been junior guard Trey Galloway, who had surgery on June 14 to repair a groin injury suffered during the 2021-22 season. The expectation going into the procedure was Galloway would be back to 100 percent when the team begins practicing in October, and that still appears to be the case. “I’m actually feeling really good,” Galloway said on a podcast released on Thursday.  “These past couple weeks I’ve taken some big time steps in…

Each week we’ll took a quick look at some of the top performers and perhaps not so effective players according to football grading service PFF. Below are some of the more noteworthy aspects of Indiana’s week one game against Illinois. It should be noted — PFF says it grades the play, not its result.  So grades may not line up with stats, necessarily. In PFF’s example to illustrate this point, the quarterback that throws the ball to defenders will be downgraded whether the defender catches the ball to notch the interception on the stat sheet or not. OFFENSE Overall Indiana…

Indiana has taken a couple recruitments on the chin recently going head-to-head with Maryland as that Big Ten peer seems to be re-energized with local recruits under new head coach Kevin Willard. The Terrapins are in the mix for Baltimore, Md. product Derik Queen as well, but the Hoosiers hope they have their own ace-in-the-hole when it comes to the 6-foot-8 big man. While he’s from Maryland, Queen plays high school basketball at Montverde Academy.  That’s a place where IU has had its own recent run of recruiting success, landing point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino and forward Malik Reneau in the…

National recruiting outlet Rivals continues to roll out new and updated basketball rankings this week. For the first time the resource has published rankings for the class of 2025 — those players just starting their sophomore year of high school. The state of Indiana has produced two players in the Rivals top-33, with Fishers, Ind. (Fishers H.S.) guard Jalen Haralson coming in at No. 26, and Santa Claus, Ind. (Heritage Hills, H.S.) forward Trent Sisley at No. 33. The pair were teammates throughout the spring and summer playing for the 2024 Indy Heat Nike EYBL squad.  The IU staff had…