IU Talking Points: Hoops' Atlantis trip, Mike Woodson's $1 million raise and QB1 is picked

BLOOMINGTON – IU will wear out the path from Bloomington to The Bahamas again next season, when the Hoosiers participate in the prestigious Battle 4 Atlantis nonconference tournament for the first time.

Don’t be surprised if it’s not the Hoosiers’ last trip to Nassau.

Indiana won’t confirm its inclusion in the Atlantis field until all relevant contracts are signed and certified. But Mike Woodson’s plan to take his team back to Atlantis, as first reported Tuesday by Jon Rothstein, is two years in the making.

Woodson first took the Hoosiers to the sprawling seaside resort in August 2021, as part of a preseason tour ahead of his first season in charge at his alma mater. IU thoroughly enjoyed its Bahamian experience — accommodations, activities, amenities and ease of travel — and a return was always on the cards. It wouldn’t even be surprising to see the Hoosiers back in The Bahamas for a future preseason tour, though that would be a ways off, since you can only take one at minimum every four years.

This will mark IU’s first swing through the Battle 4 Atlantis, which has come to rival the Maui Invitational in scale and importance. Per Rothstein’s report, Arizona, Gonzaga, Louisville, Creighton, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Davidson make up the balance of the 2024 field.

Tuesday’s news also serves as the latest example of Woodson making good on his promise to beef up Indiana’s nonconference schedule and keep it that way. There does not appear to be a replacement for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge — a victim of the conference’s new media-rights deal — in the pipeline. The league will want its schools challenging themselves of their own accord, marquee programs like IU most of all.

Indiana is still committed to return to Maui in 2026. The Hoosiers voluntarily added Arizona and Kansas to their schedule last winter. They’ll go to the Empire Classic in New York, host Kansas and play Auburn in Atlanta this winter. And now, they have a trip back to The Bahamas to look forward to.

This looks like the pattern with which IU fans should become familiar in nonconference scheduling going forward. Woodson isn’t shying from a challenge, and not just his fans, but also his conference, will be happy to see that.

Mike Woodson gets a raise

Indiana handed Woodson a $1 million-per-year raise, announced officially last week, bumping Indiana’s coach up to third in the Big Ten and ninth in the country in guaranteed annual compensation.

The move was interesting in a few ways.

1) It underscored how little, relatively speaking, Woodson had been making previously. He actually earned less on the contract he signed in 2021 than either Tom Crean or Archie Miller were making at the time of their firing. Per a USA Today database of men’s basketball coaches’ salaries, Woodson wasn’t even in the top 30 nationally, with about half of the Big Ten ahead of him. This changes his station in both brackets considerably.

2) It did not come with additional years, as is common when a contract is reworked. Woodson still has the four years remaining on his original deal, just at improved terms.

3) It is the most money Indiana has ever paid a men’s basketball coach in guaranteed compensation. There’s always an element to any contract of compensating your coach for their work. But there’s the parallel desire to make sure that job is seen as attractive and competitive. This raise took Indiana up a tier in that respect as well.

In terms of impact, I’d probably reverse these three points from most to least important. In any event, this was an unusual contract revision, relative to 20 years of convention.

QB 1

Tom Allen has a starting quarterback. He won’t tell you or me who it is, but that person has been told, their teammates have been told and their preparation for Ohio State has begun.

History tells us not to get too hung up on it being one person over another.

Allen and his staff chose between Brendan Sorsby and Tayven Jackson. Either one will be the youngest IU starter named at that position since Michael Penix won the job in 2019.

And should he last the season, he’ll be the first quarterback since Peyton Ramsey, in 2018, to go an entire campaign unseated. In fact, since 2010, only Ramsey, Richard Lagow (2016) and Ben Chappell (2010) have managed to spend a full season sitting first chair.

At times, those changes have been performance related. More often, injuries forced the coaching staff’s hand.

There was Tre Roberson’s broken leg in 2012. Nate Sudfeld’s shoulder in 2014, and his ankle in 2015. Ramsey’s problems in 2017 and Penix’s myriad issues between 2018-21. Even last season, the Hoosiers cycled through Connor Bazelak and Jack Tuttle before landing on Dexter Williams, who himself suffered a major injury in the Purdue loss.

Williams is actually back practicing now, with Allen eyeing a midseason return to normal activity for the redshirt junior. The eagerness with which Allen talks about Williams potentially seeing the field this season suggests IU’s coach genuinely sees a path to it at some point in 2023.

That path may be one of necessity eventually. Indiana’s recent luck with quarterback health tells us the Hoosiers will need more than one to get through the season.

Trivia

Six former IU baseball players have gone on to hit at least 20 home runs in the majors, but only one is originally from the state of Indiana. Who is it? (Answer below.)

Odds & Ends

>> Keep an eye on Nico Radicic in Indiana’s placekicker battle. Radicic was limited by an injury during part of fall camp but has surged back into the conversation recently. With Chris Freeman remaining on kickoff duty, Radicic, a high school All-American, could become Indiana’s first true freshman to start at kicker in at least 20 years.

>> Allen said Wednesday Cam Camper (ACL tear) has participated in live-tackle portions of practice in recent days. That’s an important step in Camper’s recovery, with Allen declaring Camper should be ready to start vs. Ohio State.

>> IU added a pair of intriguing walk-ons to its basketball roster, Jackson Creel and Jordan Rayford. Creel comes to Indiana from Rend Lake College, a community college program with whom he averaged close to 13 points per game last season. Rayford transfers in from Air Force, where he sat out his freshman season last winter through injury. An All-NEPSAC performer in high school, Rayford was spotted on a campus visit in Bloomington earlier this summer.

>> Tight end Ryan Miller announced his decision to retire from football for medical reasons this week, a decision Allen reaffirmed during a Wednesday Zoom with media. Miller, a top-30 prospect in Ohio in the 2022 class, received a medical exception, meaning he can stay on scholarship with IU but not count toward the program’s 85-man cap.

>> Allen announced Indiana’s team-elected captains for the coming season Wednesday: Camper, offensive guard Mike Katic, defensive lineman Andre Carter, linebacker Aaron Casey and defensive back Noah Pierre.

>> IU will get CBS’ A team for Ohio State. The season opener, set for 3:30 p.m., Sept. 2, will see longtime commentator Brad Nessler on play-by-play, with Gary Danielson providing color and Jenny Dell reporting from the sideline.

Answer

Josh Phegley.

Six Hoosiers have hit at least 20 homers in the majors, but Phegley (35 home runs) is the only player from in state among the group. Ted Kluszewski (279) grew up west of Chicago, Kyle Schwarber (232) hails from Ohio, Alex Dickerson (40) played at Poway High School in California, and both Mickey Morandini (32) and Kevin Orie (22) came to IU from Pennsylvania.

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball in 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis, Tom Allen picks a QB