What a week
Despite being in the midst of a three-game winning streak and just two days removed from the announcement that Mike Woodson would be back as head coach, things have quickly gotten out of hand for Indiana men’s basketball.
Last night, Liam McNeeley – the lone signing for the class of 2024 – announced that he had requested out of his NLI to reopen his recruitment. Kansas appears to be the favorite for landing the five star wing, projected to be a lottery pick in next year’s draft.
Then came the news today that Woodson is unsure of whether Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal will be going through senior day ceremonies this coming Sunday.
Indiana basketball Mike Woodson: Isn’t sure yet if Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal will participate in Senior Day, will sit down with them to discuss, they have COVID year left and could come back
— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) March 8, 2024
The first thing that jumps out to me about the wording of this Tweet and Woodson’s comments is that, as of Friday, Woodson had not discussed with Leal or Galloway whether they would be returning or not.
I assumed that the decision to retain Woodson could be taken as a sign that he had articulated some kind of plan for the future, but right now it doesn’t even look like he has a good idea of what the roster will look like next year.
Perhaps more concerning is the prospect of Leal and Galloway actually leaving. Leal is a former Mr. Basketball in Indiana, born and raised in Bloomington and in his fourth season with a team that has never given him much playing time.
Galloway is also an in-state player, who has been teammates with Leal since the high school AAU circuit. The way he’s consistently given his all and then some for each of the last two coaching staffs should tell you everything you need to know about what Indiana means to him.
If high school signees and potential current Hoosiers don’t want to play for Indiana, as it currently exists, who will?
Even before the McNeeley decommitment, this was an urgent question for Mike Woodson and company. Any hope of turning things around next season depended on an exceptional portal haul of guards to compliment the pieces we thought would be returning.
Now, with 0 incoming players in 2024 and a total question mark as to who returns, the question looms larger. Who will be playing for Indiana next season?
There are a number of reasons that McNeeley may have decommitted, with rumors swirling online. I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly what happened, but none of the possibilities could be positive for Indiana.
He may have been turned off by Indiana’s style of play, which doesn’t create many opportunities for the few shooters it has. If the perception of the program is that it’s a place where shooting goes to die, Indiana will not get the portal pieces it needs.
The impression I get is of a program without a clear vision for the future.
Woodson deserves his share of the blame for being at this point, but the problems appear to be much deeper than one person. Decisions will have to be made soon and I don’t know what reason we have to trust the people making them.