With games left on the schedule, how will Indiana respond to the Mike Woodson news?
It’s official, Indiana head coach Mike Woodson will depart from the program upon the conclusion of the season.
With this move comes a lot to discuss. We’ve already had our fill with a reflection on Woodson’s legacy at Indiana, a look at names to keep in mind for the job and a perusal of a specific candidate (yes, that one).
Not to be lost in all of this, there’s still basketball games left to play for these Hoosiers, starting with one against Michigan in Assembly Hall on Saturday.
Woodson will coach this team for the remainder of the season. Which is interesting given other recent parting of the ways in men’s college basketball such as Tony Bennett at Virginia and Jim Larrañaga at Miami saw both coaches depart their programs effective immediately with an interim put in place.
This also isn’t the only time the program has dealt with something like this. Former head coach Mike Davis did something similar, announcing his resignation effective upon the conclusion of the season back in February 2006.
Even more interesting, Indiana improved following Davis’ announcement and made it to the second round of that year’s NCAA Tournament.
As of this writing, there are a total of eight games remaining in the regular season for Indiana with KenPom having the Hoosiers favored in just two.
How might the Hoosiers respond to the news of their coach departing at the end of the season? Will they rally and pick up some wins here down the stretch? It’s not likely, but there exists a path to the NCAA Tournament with what Indiana has left on the schedule.
That wouldn’t mean Woodson retains the job, just like it didn’t for Davis before him. But it’d certainly help him go out on a more positive note than where they’re at right now.
Indiana under Mike Woodson is no stranger to something of a late season surge. The Hoosiers went on a mini-run in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament that landed them in the first four and pulled off a winning streak down the stretch of last year’s regular season.
It’s not too out there to suggest that these Hoosiers could pull off something similar especially with most of their toughest matchups coming at Assembly Hall with the notable exception of a trip to the Breslin Center to face off with Michigan State.
As far as accomplishments go, there’s still a shot at a tournament berth as described previously and a home game against rival Purdue on deck. Getting either one of those would be something for this team to hang its hat on over this final stretch.
The players have support for Woodson, as Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal made pretty evident during last year’s senior day festivities. Will that show in games?
Overall, it’ll be interesting to see how the Hoosiers respond on the court and in postgame press conferences from here on out.