Both have an extra year of eligibility should they choose to use it.
Indiana men’s basketball’s senior night is tomorrow against Michigan State. Xavier Johnson and Anthony Walker, having exhausted their collegiate eligibility, will be honored and address the crowd.
The Hoosiers have two other seniors, Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal, but there’s a catch. Both have an additional year of eligibility from the COVID-19 pandemic should they choose to use it.
It’s currently unknown if either intends to make that decision. Mike Woodson said he had yet to sit down with either regarding the decision during media availability on Friday.
Q. “Yeah, Mike, with Senior Day on Sunday, happy that Xavier gets a proper sendoff and play in the game. Have you talked to Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal? Will they be participating in that? Have you had conversations about their future yet?”
MIKE WOODSON: “I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to sit down and see what they going to do in terms of Senior Night, so I’ll know more today when I sit down with them about that.”
“I know X is going to go through Senior Night. He doesn’t have a choice. But Galloway and Anthony, they do have choices. They could come back another year. So I don’t know what they are going to do. We’ll have to sit down and discuss that and see what they’re going to do.”
Now, a lot has to be considered there. The women’s program was in a similar situation with Chloe Moore-McNeil, who ultimately opted to return and use that fifth year ahead of senior night. That too was at the eleventh hour.
A lot goes into these decisions and players occasionally take their time to decide. Jumping to blame Woodson wouldn’t be fair with this in mind.
Those two also double as the only remaining members of Archie Miller’s final recruiting class, having stuck with the program when Woodson was hired in 2021.
Galloway has emerged as the team’s de facto point guard and could set the program record for total assists in a Big Ten season tomorrow. Leal is a hometown hero and former Indiana Mr. Basketball who has made the most of his minutes this season with key plays on each end of the floor, especially in late game situations.
It’s an important decision because, as of now, Indiana has no incoming freshmen. If one assumes Kel’el Ware declares for the NBA Draft, that makes three spots vacated by the current roster. Add in the unused scholarship spot? That’s four.
There’s also the looming possibility of current players entering the transfer portal. It’s not fair to anyone to speculate without info on certain members of the roster, so we’ll refrain from doing that. But just about every roster in college basketball has some level of transfer exit these days, so it must be considered.
But right now, Indiana almost for sure has four open scholarship spots next season and nobody immediately filling any.