Indiana basketball lands at No. 17 in Preseason AP-Top 25 poll

Indiana basketball lands at No. 17 in Preseason AP-Top 25 poll.

Other Big Ten teams that were listed in the Preseason AP-Top 25 poll include Purdue (No. 14), UCLA (No. 22), and Rutgers (No. 25)

Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Indiana basketball is currently picked to finish 2nd in the Big Ten this year.

More: Indiana basketball announces tipoff times and TV destinations for 2024-25 season

The Hoosiers are coming off of a 19-14 season last year when it failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Mike Woodson.

“Wasn’t fun, my man. Not at all,” Woodson said of missing out on the NCAA Tournament. “I made it very clear to our ball clan when we realized we weren’t going to make the tournament — ‘I’m not going to sit another year and watch basketball on TV during March Madness’. We had to go out and get better as a ball club and come back and put it all together and we’ve had a good summer, so it’s gotta be a carryover to official practice and the start of the season … you don’t play basketball to watch it on TV during March Madness. you want a shot at it.”

As a result, Mike Woodson completely overhauled the roster adding six players to the roster via the transfer portal. Those additions led Indiana basketball to have one of the best transfer classes in the county. Oumar Ballo, Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle, and Luke Goode were some of the key additions expected to make a major impact this season.

In addition to the transfers, Indiana basketball returned key players like Malik Reneau, Trey Galloway, Mackenzie Mgbako, Gabe Cupps, and Anthony Leal.

“It is. There’s no doubt it’s the best talent and best roster we’ve had,” Said Woodson on the ‘College Hoops Today’ podcast with Jon Rothstein. “And that’s not taking anything away from the last three previous seasons. But we’re deeper than we have been in the past and that’s important. I think when you go through a grueling season, especially the Big Ten, I feel good now if somebody happens to trip a little bit and can’t play, there’s someone there to back him up and give him some support until he’s able to get back.”

Along with the tough Big Ten slate, Indiana basketball’s non-conference schedule was highlighted with South Carolina coming to Bloomington as well as the Battle For Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas late November where they will be play Louisville in the opening round. The Hoosiers will also face Tennessee in Knoxville in a charity exhibition game on October 27th.

Indiana basketball will unofficially kickoff their season with Hoosier Hysteria this Friday, October 18th. You can find all the details about Hoosier Hysteria here.

SEE ALSO: Is Malik Reneau the most important player for Indiana basketball this season? Given all the talk, he may very well be

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