The 2024-2025 NCAA basketball season is just around the corner, and it is safe to say that the expectations for the the IU men’s basketball team are much loftier than they were this time a year ago. This is a team that should be among the B1G’s best, with some even proclaiming them as THE B1G’s best.
You never want to get too far ahead of yourself, but on paper this could be the most talented Indiana team since the days of O.G. Anunoby. Unfortunately, there is no way to stamp that type of parallel in the preseason. Even more unfortunately, we do not have the type of psychic abilities to foresee the future in full clarity.
Regardless, that will not hold us back from trying our hand at manifesting what lies ahead for the Hoosiers men’s (and women’s) basketball team this season. Here are 6 bold predictions we foresee coming to fruition for IUBB in 2024-2025.
Team Shoots 35-36% from 3
Anything would be an improvement from the dreadful 32.8% this team shot from beyond the arc last season. Luke Goode and Anthony Leal have shown the ability to connect efficiently from deep. It seems safe to expect (super?)sophomore Mackenzie Mgbako will shoot better than freshman Mackenzie Mgbako’s 32.7% from downtown. And if that seems safe, than it is a lock to project improved output in the same area from (Kanaan Carlyle (32.0%), Myles Rice (27.5%) and Trey Galloway (26.0%).
With so many different offensive dynamics (downhill penetrators, low post bruisers, vertical lob threats), Indiana’s shooters should have higher quality looks this season compared to last.
Team Proves to be B1G’s Deepest
From top to bottom, this club is flat out deep. Trey Galloway, the team’s top guard last year who hung 28 on Kansas, now seems poised to trickle down to 3rd in the Hoosier’s backcourt pecking order. Gabe Cupps, arguably the team’s 2nd best guard a season ago who also started 22 games as a true freshman, now finds himself poised for a dog fight with the explosive Jakai Newton for 3&D guard minutes off the pine.
That is just a prime example of how stacked this squad is, as it is in no way either of Galloway or Cupps’s faults for their seemingly inevitable “demotions”. The cream and crimson could/should run 10-11 deep.
Team Earns 4-Seed or Better in 2024-2025 NCAA Tournament
After the turmoil that unfolded in 2023-2024, many forget that just 1 season prior yielded a 4 seed in the 2023 NCAA tournament. It is not difficult to envision the campaign to come producing similar postseason recognition to that run.
Mgbako came into his own as a freshman, and seems destined to pick up right where he left off in terms of his progression as a top shelf wing. Aside from him, there are at least 3 other legitimate threats to overthrow the team’s returning scorer Malik Reneau (15.4 PPG last year) on top of the scoring charts.
The offense should have plenty of firepower right out of the gate, but it could take some time for the defense to come together as a cohesive unit. It certainly took the defense some time to come around last season, but they became a formidable resistance by year’s end. And that was a team with no where near the amount of offensive ammo that the active Hoosiers boast.
Mike Woodson Earns B1G Coach of the Year Award
Regardless of how much talent a team has, it will only go as far as it’s leadership will guide them. We have already previously delved into our bid for Woody being recognized as the top coach in the B1G conference. You can refer to our previous sentiments on this matter at the link in that previous sentence, and you can refer to the work that Mike Woodson and his staff put in this offseason as the cause with the forthcoming bounce back season serving as the effect.
Myles Rice Forces His Way into 2025 NBA Draft’s 1st Round Discussion
Throughout the offseason, it has been Mackenzie Mgbako and Kanaan Carlyle being touted as this team’s top 2025 NBA draft prospects. This is by no means an attempt to disagree with those claims. However, it does feel a bit odd not coming across any mention of Myles Rice within these projections.
After losing a season to a serious medical battle, Rice turned heads as a freshman at Washington State last year. The Pac-12’s Freshman of the Year and 1st-Team all-conference member was electric in his first official NCAA season, and there is no way his name does not start to come up on Big Boards as the season wanes on.
Bryson Tucker Earns Spot on All B1G Freshman Team
Getting/staying on the court is not going to be easy for Bryson Tucker with Mgbako and Reneau locked in at the starting forward slots plus a plethora of perimeter players vying for minutes off the bench. Still, his lanky frame and springy step are the type of characteristics you look for in a modern wing from a tangible perspective. And the collected nature that he showcases on both ends of the floor should bode well for his transition to this heightened level of pace and overall competition.
Tucker does not need to score a bunch of points in order to make his presence felt this season. It is not that he cannot, it is just this squad has enough sources of scoring already. It is not that Woody and his staff do not want the McDonald’s All-American to get buckets, it is just that they need him to play a major part in preventing them.
Whenever the freshman is on the floor, expect a lot of energy from him at the point of attack on D. Branching off of that, expect a guy who can get out on the break and fill lanes swiftly. Beyond that, look for someone who utilizes his bunnies to crash the boards on both ends. We all know how vital the art of rebounding is to the outcome on the scoreboard, and Tucker will be counted on to help control the glass.
If/when Bryson Tucker can master the ability to do the little things consistently, he should turn out to be one of the most important player’s on this team. And the thing is, it is not as if there is much (if any?) pressure on Tucker to come in and put up huge numbers right from the jump. The cast around him will do the bulk of the heavy lifting in terms of numerical output, so there is much less urgency for him to find his rhythm than it was for Mackenzie Mgbako during his first collegiate campaign.
