IU Insider mailbag: Fan gripes, future guard help, names on jerseys, football optimism

BLOOMINGTON – You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers. The bye week provides a reasonable break to take stock.

The Insider Mailbag is back. Let’s get to it.

∎ @johnemoore25th asks: “Looking at the current state of IU basketball, was it a mistake to fire Tom Crean? Was Woody an upgrade?”

I understand the thought process here, so please don’t take my answer as dismissive. I just don’t think these kinds of questions can be so simply reducible.

First of all, of course, Mike Woodson wasn’t hired to replace Tom Crean. Archie Miller sat in that seat for four years in between, four years that colored a lot of the context backdropping the program Woodson took over in 2021.

Coaching tenures have life spans. They’re constantly shifting with performance and both public and internal opinion. When Tom Crean was fired in 2017, there was a sense the swings between success and failure in his time in charge had become untenable. Maybe that was right, maybe it was wrong, but when the change was made, any professional survey of IU fans, donors and alumni would probably have found significant support for the decision.

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And there’s always the context of time, too. Tom Crean’s entire tenure looks very different if he starts in 2008 with NIL and the transfer portal and general player freedom of movement all in their present state. There’s probably no yearslong rebuild. The ability to compete immediately for impact transfers shapes the early part of Crean’s tenure differently to what he and his staff ultimately had to endure.

I know it can be frustrating for the answer to be some version “I just don’t see it that way” or “I’m not sure I agree that it can be so one-to-one comparable,” so forgive me for leaning into that. But that is the way I see it.

∎ @RonaldChronsoon asks: “Is IU basketball going to show up for Illinois after a week of prep?”

Will get into my thoughts on this a little bit more in Talking Points on Thursday, but wanted to include it here since someone asked.

There should be no question of whether Indiana needed some soul searching, after a pair of chastening defeats last week. The Hoosiers are very clearly running out of road to keep their NCAA tournament resume and opportunity in their own hands. A win at Illinois, while perhaps not an absolute must, feels like one of their last real chances to take back firm control of their season.

Having said all that, with eight days to rest, reflect and prepare, this at very least becomes a must-perform game for IU. Another limp defeat like Purdue and Wisconsin would represent a real problem.

∎ @jack08793623 asks: “What is the IU basketball plan for adding guards next season? None committed from high school right now. How many through the portal and how many from high school?”

Good question. It will be a clear position of need come spring, and at this point, the portal seems a much more likely route.

Indiana has been fairly strongly linked to Daquan Davis, the Overtime Elite point guard most recently committed to Providence. Nothing meaningful has moved publicly there in a while, but it could always gain traction again come spring.

But even if we assume zero unforced backcourt attrition this offseason — a dangerous assumption in the portal era — that leaves the Hoosiers with Trey Galloway, Gabe Cupps, Anthony Leal, CJ Gunn and Jakai Newton heading into next season.

Galloway and Leal will each have just one year of eligibility left. Cupps will be a sophomore, but also the only out-and-out point guard on roster. Gunn’s offensive game is beginning to come around. Injuries leave Newton a mystery until he can get healthy enough to get on the floor.

It is difficult to imagine Indiana not needing at least two impact guards next season. One that can both shoot and score with some volume (easier said than done) would go a long way. And there’s a clear need for point guard depth.

If we assume, as we probably should, Kel’el Ware is gone after this season, IU will have three open scholarships. Any further transfers would create more space. Based on current projections, the Hoosiers could probably stand to fill most of those spots with guards of one impact or another next season.

∎ @tymcclure asks: “A little random but will IU basketball consider adding names to the jerseys? With roster turnover it takes me a while to figure out who is who each season, plus with NIL it could only help players get their name out there. Tradition is tradition but it may be time to update to 2024.”

Not at all random. This comes up more often than you’d think.

The short answer is I don’t think so. It’s worth saying it is possible now to buy a jersey personalized with a player’s name and number, either in one of the team stores in Bloomington or in IU’s online shop. That stems from a group licensing agreement between members of the men’s and women’s programs, and The Brandr Group, a brand management agency, so the NIL piece is already accessible to a point.

Thinking on these things can change. But whenever this has been raised a matter of standard practice, thought process I’ve been privy to has always been keeping names off the jerseys is a cornerstone of IU’s basketball brand, and changing that would be no small thing.

It’s a good question. And that’s the best answer I have right now.

∎ @brojhaye asks: “On the IU football front, where do you expect the staff to continue to add to in the spring? What are you watching with the roster as it currently sits around 92 scholarships?”

By my count, the football program currently projects to have 88 players on scholarship once it adds its summer enrollees. That number will obviously need to come down to the limit of 85.

There are two recognized, natural portal cycles in college football: immediately following the season, and immediately following spring practice. There can be special cases, of course, but the bulk of movement happens around then. I would expect to see some out of the program at the end of the current semester as a result, as players go through spring, recognize they aren’t fits for the new staff or aren’t in line for roles they’d hoped for, and move on.

The same can be said in the other direction — staffs will always be on the lookout for players entering the portal in the spring, to be added in summer.

As things stand right now, Curt Cignetti and his staff have addressed a lot of obvious needs. Cignetti told Don Fischer in a sitdown last week he expects to be thin along the defensive line during spring camp, so that could be a spot to add either a transfer or some high school help. The staff might also have an eye on how some young linebackers develop in the coming weeks before deciding whether the Hoosiers are deep enough there. Those would be my two guesses as to potential further additions, provided there’s room.

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∎ @slfbarnett asks: “What’s the biggest reasons for optimism for IU football this season? What’s a realistic record for this team?”

Beginning with the first question first, it has to be Indiana’s outlook on offense. The Hoosiers added depth and experience at virtually every position on that side of the ball, and brought in both a head coach and an offensive staff with a proven track record of building outfits that can move and score the ball.

There’s going to be competition for snaps at quarterback, running back and receiver, at least. Cignetti did a good job of retaining Bob Bostad, and that helped either bring back or restock his line with veterans, behind which the Hoosiers have some promising young players. Indiana might have to outscore some teams this year, but there’s reason to be optimistic that will be possible.

As to your second question, it’s tough to say. The Big Ten is as confusing as ever, thanks to the influx of new teams and a raft of coaching changes. Washington, for example, becomes a less clear-cut proposition (good or bad) for IU now.

With eight home games — and the Louisville series gone — I don’t think bowl eligibility is off the table for this team. Returning to my standard metric, I think there is genuine reason to believe this group can, at worst, be 5-6 heading into the Bucket game the last week of the season at home. But when you change coaches and systems, you can just never say for sure.

∎ @NatJNewell, who some have called the best editor in the history of newspaper journalism, asks: “Who’s the best IU grad to use in Immaculate Grid?”

Great question. As ever, any conversation about the Grid is a horses-for-courses thing.

If you need a player who only ever appeared for one team, there are a host of former Hoosiers to choose from. Sam Travis, Kyle Hart and Ernie Andres could all represent Boston. Jake Dunning and Caleb Baragar could do the same for San Francisco, as could Jonathan Stiever for the White Sox. Merrill May (Phillies), Vernon Wilshere (Athletics), Doug DeVore (Diamondbacks) and Kevin Mahar (Rangers) all fit here too.

If you really wanted to go obscure, Jim French played seven years, all of them for the Senators who became the Rangers (not the Senators who became the Twins), so he’d fit there. And how about Mike Kosman, who was born in Hamtramck, Mich., played at Indiana and made exactly one appearance — as a pinch runner, for Cincinnati, on April 20, 1944 — in his major league career?

As for career achievers, Kyle Schwarber is an obvious winner for not just home runs but also runs scored, and All-Star appearances. Ted Kluszewski, Indiana’s all-time MLB WAR leader and a member of Indiana’s 1945 undefeated football team, ticks any number of single-season and career achievement boxes. And he spent the last season of his career playing for the Angels, if you’re looking for little-known team crossovers.

All in all, there is a veritable cornucopia of Immaculate Grid resource to draw from IU baseball’s alumni base. All you have to do is spend more than a dozen years covering the team and passing time during rain delays reading the media guide and then once you become unhealthily obsessed with playing Immaculate Grid double back and refresh your memory on the university’s Baseball Reference page.

Nothing to it, really.

∎ @austinadams24 asks: “Who has a better shot at a future championship between IU basketball at the Atlanta Falcons?”

I mean, an NFL franchise should probably always be the answer given the controls for competitiveness — salary cap, draft inverted to annual performance, etc. But it’s the Falcons so.

*sighs deeply*

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball: Fan frustrations, guard help, names on IU jerseys