The developments are coming at us fast in the class of 2024 as the November early signing period approaches.
Today we’ll count two more high school seniors as formally off the IU recruiting board.
2024 wing Tyler Betsey visited IU over the summer but the Hoosiers faded from the picture at some point along the way after that. He will announce his decision on Oct. 6, and multiple national reports have said in recent days that’s a Cincinnati vs. Alabama battle at this point.
Rakease Passmore, another 2024 wing, visited IU a year ago and there seemed to be mutual interest going into the spring, but that one faded as well. He announced a final four this week that didn’t include Indiana.
2024s Travis Perry, Dylan Harper and Patrick Ngongba are still technically on the board, but they should all be viewed as longshots at this point.
As we’ve been saying for a while now, IU is focused primarily on 5-stars Liam McNeeley, Derik Queen and Boogie Fland in the 2024 class. They still have no 2024 commits, so that’s a pretty small field to work from. And while there’s generally positive vibes out there as it relates to McNeeley, the recruitments of Queen (IU, Maryland, Houston) and Fland (IU, Kentucky, Alabama) are still highly competitive.
So IU could end up going into the spring with some roster holes. Of course that’s pretty much the default setting in this era of college basketball. So it isn’t necessarily time to panic.
Let’s talk about the Indiana roster outlook for 2024-25 real quick.
The scholarship players we know for sure will be gone after this season are Xavier Johnson and Anthony Walker. They’ll bring the scholarship player count down to 10 upon their departure.
The main wildcards are Mackenzie Mgbako and Kel’el Ware, who both can solidify their standing in the NBA Draft with strong seasons at Indiana. If they both left, IU would be down to eight scholarship players going into 2024-25. Those eight would be Gabe Cupps, Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal, Jakai Newton, C.J. Gunn, Kaleb Banks, Malik Reneau, and Payton Sparks.
Of course some of those current players could transfer too, but that’s impossible to predict at this point.
But if Indiana can land two of the McNeeley-Queen-Fland trio this fall, they’d enter the spring in a pretty good place, with three scholarship openings. Landing just one of those three would leave a bigger job in the spring, but it still wouldn’t be insurmountable.
IU has hit home runs landing high school seniors in the spring three years in a row, and of course the transfer portal will be there to address needs as well.
While they did swing and miss on transfer portal wing prospects this year, this Indiana staff seems comfortable going into spring college basketball “free agency” with holes to fill. That could explain why they seem to have been fairly selective when it comes to high school seniors this time around.
In the era of NIL, Indiana has become a more attractive destination, and if IU is credited with placing four players in the NBA Draft in two years, their appeal to prospects will only be enhanced.
For a complete recap of IU basketball’s 2024 targets, including top schools, timelines, highlights and the latest on their recruitments, GO HERE. For all of our IU basketball recruiting coverage, GO HERE.
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