Indiana basketball named ‘biggest riser’ in ESPN way-too-early top 25

There is no question about it — what Indiana basketball has been able to accomplish in the early waves of the transfer portal has put them back in the national conversation as one of the top 25 teams in the country, and a likely Big Ten favorite.

Indiana, coming off of a 19-14 season and missing the NCAA Tournament, needed to upgrade its talent in a major way. Not only because it had zero incoming recruits by the end of the season, but also because the talent on the roster wasn’t good enough to even compete near the top of the Big Ten.

Everyone knew it, including Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson.

“The bottom line is we’ve got to get better,” Woodson said at the end of the season. “From a talent standpoint, this summer will be spent watching a lot of film on players because we’re going to lose some players, I’m sure, and we’re going to have to build around the core guys that are coming back.

“We’ve just got a lot of work to do this summer to get better. I don’t want to sit here this time next year and not be playing in the (NCAA) tournament.”

What he did was total revamp the roster in ways Indiana desperately needed. He needed to replace Kel’el Ware — an All-Big Ten Second Team selection who was off to the NBA, and needed to upgrade the backcourt talent significantly. Check off both boxes.

Woodson landed the top overall prospect in the transfer portal in Arizona center Oumar Ballo and landed Pac-12 Freshman of the Year point guard Myles Rice and former top-60 recruit and freshman guard Kanaan Carlyle.

That paired with a returning core including Trey Galloway, Malik Reneau and co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year Mackenzie Mgbako. Indiana also added McDonald’s All-American wing Bryson Tucker as a late signing as well.

Because of that, Indiana was named the ‘biggest riser’ in ESPN’s updated ‘Way-Too-Early’ top-25 rankings.

“The winners of the first wave of portal season,” ESPN college basketball analyst Jeff Borzello wrote. “The Hoosiers landed Arizona transfer Oumar Ballo, the top-ranked player in the portal, as well as top-15 guard transfers Myles Rice (Washington State) and Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford). Three starters also return: Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako and Trey Galloway. Without adding more shooting, though, Indiana could run into some of the same offensive issues as last season.”

Indiana comes in at No. 16 in the rankings, the second Big Ten team behind Purdue.

What’s next for Indiana? Shooting.

While the additions of Rice and Carlyle help, Indiana is still lacking true knockdown wing shooters. That could change this weekend. Indiana is hosting Illinois wing Luke Goode, coming off of a junior season when he had 61 3s and shot 38.9 percent. 87.7 percent of his shot attempts this season came from three. In his three years at Illinois, he shot 38.8 percent. There’s also Florida Gulf Coast transfer wing Zach Anderson. He visited Indiana this week and shot 45.9 percent from three last year and hit 51 3s.

So, needless to say, Indiana’s not done yet.

Indiana basketball still has three scholarships remaining and will likely us up at least two of them going into the summer months.

SEE ALSO: Indiana basketball has hit a home run in the transfer portal thus far — What’s next and who to keep tabs on?

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