In a year that will ‘define the Woodson era’ at Indiana basketball, it’s also a potential stepping stone for the program

It’s no secret the last 12 months for the Indiana basketball program haven’t gone ‘as planned’. After two straight NCAA Tournaments and coming off of a season that saw two NBA draftees, Mike Woodson and Indiana were clearly looking to use that as a springboard into the ‘new era’ of Hoosier basketball.

But a disappointing 2023-24 season saw the program take a step back in certain ways. Absent from the NCAA Tournament left Indiana fans wanting and needing more.

And for Mike Woodson, he made it clear that the lack of success wasn’t going to happen again.

“The bottom line is we’ve got to get better,” Woodson said after their season-ending loss. “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.”

Thats exactly what they did — increase the talent from top to bottom on the roster.

He went out and secured commitments from three top-20 transfers, including a consensus top-3 transfer in Oumar Ballo.

The biggest question surrounding Mike Woodson has switched from, ‘can he recruit?’. To now, ‘will his system work?’.

With a talent infusion, it has to work.

“I’ve talked about this as an absolutely pivotal season for Mike Woodson before and I’ll say it again here. What happens in Bloomington this year is likely to define the Woodson era at Indiana for better or worse,” Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy wrote. “Another missed NCAA tournament would make two in a row and warm Woodson’s seat to the point of muffling his recruiting power.

“Living up to preseason expectations and competing for a Big Ten crown, however, would have his Indiana resume looking much different.”

Mike Woodson came back to Indiana to bring it back to the table in the national perspective. He’s done so in spurts, but nowhere near consistent enough.

It needs to be consistent this year.

“The Hoosiers have not qualified for three NCAA tournaments in four years for nearly a decade,” Cassidy continued. “Doing so under Woodson, who is armed with NIL cash and a growing reputation for putting players in the NBA Draft, would help the Hoosiers take the next step in winning additional major national recruiting battles.”

While Woodson has made it clear that he will not be discussing his job with Indiana basketball publicly, it’s fair to challenge him.

He may feel good ‘in my skin’. But, it’s also clear to him that the expectations are what they are and he needs to meet them.

“[Expectations] always are high and they should be,” Woodson said this summer. “I mean as a coach, I think when we coach we always go into a season with wonderful expectations … We just got to put a nice system in place and get these guys familiar with one another and get them comfortable playing in an Indiana uniform and we’ll see what happens.”

SEE ALSO: What is the ceiling and floor for Indiana basketball this year? IU has a ‘rare opportunity to compete for a Final Four’

Make sure to follow Hoosier Illustrated, part of the Full Ride Network, on Twitter @Indiana_FRN, Facebook and YouTube to stay up to date on all of the news, updates and coverage of Indiana University athletics. You can also listen to the Talking’ Bout the Hoosiers podcast on Spotify.

Looking for a place to get more Indiana content? Hoosier Illustrated has partnered with Tom Brady’s company ‘Autograph’ to streamline our coverage, so you can continue to do what you do best – follow IU sports. Use the CODE: Indianafr to get started today. For more info, you can start here.