BLOOMINGTON — IU men’s and women’s basketball kicked off their seasons on Friday at Hoosier Hysteria at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
The full rosters and staff for both teams were introduced to the crowd, followed by some on-court interviews, competitions, and eventually a short scrimmage with the men’s team. The annual pep rally gave fans their first look at the 2024-25 Hoosiers teams and pumped them up for the seasons ahead.
Here are some notes and thoughts from the festivities.
Team introductions
- Sharnecce Currie-Jelks walked out with her baby, which drew a nice hand. She missed nearly all of last season for a previously undisclosed reason, which she later shared was her pregnancy. She is fully back in action now.
- Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil, the final two IU women’s basketball players introduced, received the loudest cheers of the entire team.
- IU women’s basketball doesn’t have any walk-ons. The men’s team has seven. That was a striking difference during the team introductions.
- Between “Luuuke,” “Ouuu-mar,” and “Ren-eauuu,” expect a lot of sounds from the crowd that sound like boos during lineup introductions this year — if those players are starting.
- The men’s team — among scholarship players — had its transfers introduced first, followed by the key returnees. Some of the loudest roars came for Oumar Ballo, Trey Galloway, and Anthony Leal. Ballo did a little dance when he emerged from the tunnel.
- Malik Reneau wore glasses when he walked out. It wasn’t clear whether they were prescription or purely for style, but that was a new look, regardless.
Teri Moren quote from on-court interview
“We never put a number on how many games we want to win because I just don’t want to ever limit this group, because I think there’s so much great potential that we have. So each year we go into it and we just kind of take one game at a time, but I can tell you that this group is hungry. Last year, we had a bitter defeat to the national championship team in South Carolina. We haven’t forgotten about it. But it serves as motivation for us every day, and it’s inspiration for us to get up the next day and try to just get a little bit better. Our sights are set high once again, our expectations for this program have always been high. That’s the way it’ll always be. But I really love this team.”
Mike Woodson quote from on-court interview
On what he sees in this IU team: “An opportunity to win the Big Ten title. Thanks to my coaching staff and all the managers and GAs, my strength coach, all the people that are involved in my day to day work, front office people, we have been able to go out and put a team together for this season. And I love our basketball team. We’ve got a lot of work. But I love our basketball team. I really do.”
Skill contests
- These were originally slated to be removed from the Hoosier Hysteria, but made their way back. There was a skills competition, a women’s 3-point contest, and a large knockout game.
- Shay Ciezki can shoot the lights out. She won the 3-point contest — which isn’t necessarily indicative of anything, but she definitely has the “shooter’s touch.”
The scrimmage
- The starting lineup for the crimson team — Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle, Mackenzie Mgbako, Malik Reneau, and Oumar Ballo — certainly feels like a group that could start for Indiana on opening night. Mike Woodson has plenty of different combinations he could roll out.
- Ballo has the potential to be a great interior defender. His length can cause major problems for opponents, and he has the size to match up with pretty much any other center in the Big Ten.
- This is a preseason intrasquad scrimmage, so takeaways should be particularly tempered. But Indiana’s floor spacing looked much better here than it did for much of last season.
- Langdon Hatton played well!
- Trey Galloway didn’t play in the scrimmage, but he told the crowd during an on-court interview that he’s been participating in live drills in practice and is getting closer to being fully ready to roll for the season.
- Luke Goode could be a really important piece for this team. His shooting ability, in whatever role Woodson utilizes him, could be crucial. He drilled a couple 3-pointers during the scrimmage.
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