Indiana basketball 2023-24 season preview: No ‘exact science’ navigating overhauled roster

BLOOMINGTON — Mike Woodson’s more veteran counterparts in the Big Ten coaching ranks are familiar with the challenge Indiana basketball will face this season.

The Hoosiers will officially debut a new look roster on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall in their season-opener against Florida Gulf Coast.

Not only does Woodson have to replace Trayce Jackson-Davis, one of the program’s all-time greats, he lost three others starters (Jalen Hood-Schifinio, Miller Kopp and Race Thompson) along with a pair of key bench contributors (Tamar Bates and Jordan Geronimo).

It’s the most significant overhaul for Woodson at the collegiate level. He’s replenished the roster with a mix of highly touted prospects (Mackenize Mgbako) and top transfer targets (Kel’lel Ware), but he freely admits he’s not sure how quickly the group will come together.

"It’s not an exact science,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said.

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Why patience needs to be a virtue for Woodson

Illinois coach Brad Underwood’s biggest roster overhaul came between his first and second year. He added six new recruits and three transfers in hopes of establishing a culture change in the locker room.

The team finished with a slightly worse record at 12-21 that year, but won 21 games in 2020-21 and made the tournament the following season. Ayo Dosunmu, the centerpiece of Underwood’s first full signing class, played a pivotal role in the improvement.

"Patience needs to become a virtue, and that's not one of my strong suits," Underwood said, of what he learned that year.

Underwood laid out the near daily challenges Woodson can expect to face, especially with a team that’s relying on so many young faces. Xavier Johnson, Trey Galloway and Anthony Walker are the only upperclassmen expected to play significant minutes for the Hoosiers.

“With a veteran you know everything about them, how they learn, what you need to teach them, the quirky things about them then all of a sudden you don't know any of that,” Underwood told The Herald-Times at Big Ten Media Days. “How do they handle a bad game? How do they handle bad calls? How do they handle life on the road? That's a lot of what we went through last year too."

Underwood said an easy way to avoid those growing pains is to prioritize relationship-building.

“You need to understand them and they need to understand you as a decision-maker and leader,” Underwood said.

That’s something of a speciality for Woodson.

He’s tried to mold his style after his former coach and mentor Bob Knight, who was a revered figure for most of his former players. The subject came up last week in the wake of Knight’s passing away at the age of 83.

“I'm going to continue to push guys and make sure that they do all the things necessary on the court as well as off the court,” Woodson said. “That's how I learned…That's something he instilled in me when I played here, and while I'm coaching this Indiana team, I'm going to do the same thing.”

He’s already navigated an early test during the preseason when Mgbako was arrested on misdemeanor charges at a local Taco Bell. Woodson opted not to suspend Mgbako and quickly put the incident behind them.

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IU can’t be afraid of fall down moments

Gard graduated leading scorer D'Mitrik Trice in 2020-21 and lost five of the eight players who averaged double-digits.

In 2021-22, the new look Badgers went 25-8 and won the Big Ten regular season title with a roster that has some things in common with IU’s current roster.

“We had the best leader I've ever been around in Brad Davison coming back,” Gard said

Indiana has a backcourt with a decade of experience with Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway, who were named co-captains. Johnson is one of the more experienced players in college basketball as a sixth-year guard with 126 career starts between his time with IU and Pittsburgh.

Woodson said Johnson’s experience rehabbing his way back from the season-ending foot injury he suffered last year has “put him in a better place to lead.”

“He put the work in to get back mentally,” Woodson said. “That's why I made him the captain. And having that title, it bears a lot of responsibilities. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's just are you willing to accept it and do all the necessary things on and off the court to help this team win because that's what it's all about.”

But Gard’s main takeaway from that experience was the success he had just “letting them play.”

He had 11 players play in 22 or more games while averaging more than six minutes, something that’s happened only once (his first season) during his eight-year tenure.

"We had some fall down moments, but I watched their evolution,” Gard said.

Gard said giving players down the bench consistent opportunities helped them develop the “swagger and moxie” they relied on that season. Wisconsin was 6-1 in one-possession games that season.

Indiana might go that deep when healthy.

The Hoosiers played nine players double-digit minutes in each of their exhibition games and weren’t at full strength in either. Kaleb Banks missed the win over the University of Indianapolis and Payton Sparks missed the Marian game.

Highly touted freshman Jakai Newton is also out indefinitely.

“It's kind of how I put it together, and the second unit, they're going to play,” Woodson said, on Monday. “...They've shown it and earned my respect in terms of earning minutes, and they're going to play.”

If things go to plan for Woodson and company this season, the sort of turnover Indiana faced this year will be a regular occurrence.

Both Mgbako and Ware are hoping to use Bloomington as a pit stop for the NBA.

"We've had guys be really good and go through the draft process, when you multiply that with the transfer portal it gets to be a little dicey knowing what your roster is,” Underwood said.

That’s a problem Woodson would likely welcome as long as success came with it.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on Twitter @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU coach Mike Woodson navigating uncharted waters with new look roster