Indiana Basketball Newcomer Focus: Senior center Dallas James

The Indiana basketball program is going to look a whole lot different with many new faces coming in this season, with all 13 scholarships filled for the upcoming year.

In total, Indiana basketball will bring in 7 new faces, replacing 6 departures from a season ago. Mike Woodson and his staff did a phenomenal job in the transfer portal addressing the needs of guards, shooting, and front court depth.

We have already looked at all of the returning players from a season ago in our “Indiana Basketball Returner Focus” series now, it is time for our “Indiana Basketball Newcomer Focus” series to continue our trend of looking at each player of the 2024-25 roster and preview what they bring for the Hoosiers.

Today, we look South Carolina State transfer senior center Dallas James and look at where he comes from, and what his role will be for Indiana basketball this season.

Other players in the series: Oumar Ballo, Langdon Hatton

Where He Comes From

Before making his way to the Indiana basketball program, the legit 7-foot big man came from the South Carolina State program, spending four years with the Bulldogs. He averaged 1.4 points and 1.7 rebounds to go along with 46 blocked shots with the Bulldogs  while shooting 56.2% (41-of-73) from the floor during his four-year career.

James, a Artesia, California native, appeared in 70 total games for South Carolina State, starting in 35 of them. His best season with South Carolina State came during his junior season where he averaged 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.

Before his college career, he played his prep basketball at Inglewood High School while attending City Honors Prep Academy.

While he may not have career that exactly stands out in the amount of time he has been at the college level, James does in fact come from a basketball family with his father being former NBA veteran, Jerome James. His father, Jerome, played 11 years in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings, the Seattle Supersonics, and the New York Knicks. He was selected in the second round of the 1998 draft by the Kings after playing college basketball for Florida A&M.

A fun fact about Dallas James’ father Jerome is that during the 1998 NBA lockout, he traveled with the Harlem Globetrotters before joining the Kings in 1999.

With the NBA ties that the James family has along with Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson, there was likely a connection there, which ultimately led to Dallas James to Bloomington.

After four years with South Carolina State, James entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. He graduated with a 4.0 GPA with a major in electrical engineering technology.

More: Talkin’ Bout The Hoosiers Podcast reacts to Indiana basketball landing Dallas James in the transfer portal

Role for 2024-25 Season

Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

I think you can speak for everyone when it is said that the addition of Dallas James to the Indiana basketball program for the 2024-25 season was without question the most random news of the offseason for the Hoosiers.

Before the addition of James, it felt all but certain that Mike Woodson was going to go into this upcoming year’s Indiana basketball season with an open scholarship, just as it was last season. Before James was added, Indiana basketball had even wrapped up a full summer of workouts so the California native missed all of that, as well.

When it was announced that James would be coming to the Indiana program, he took the 13th and final scholarship for the Hoosiers.

It is also worth saying that when it was announced that James would be joining the Indiana basketball program, it really did not make a whole lot of sense at first. From a font court standpoint, the Hoosiers were already pretty loaded with Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako, Oumar Ballo, and Langdon Hatton. There seemed to be really no fit for Dallas James there, especially with the fact that he is not a proven player at the college level given his lackluster career with South Carolina State.

Watch: Video Highlights of IU basketball transfer center Dallas James

When you start to really do a deep dive on the addition of James however, it does make sense to a certain extent. For starters, Indiana probably used just another body in the front court given the idea of possible injuries or extreme foul trouble from game-to-game. Indiana basketball was also pretty heavy in the guard/wing spots so adding another front court player balanced out the roster just a little a bit.

The main reason that James was likely added to the Indiana basketball roster — this being all speculation — is that Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau needed another, yet bigger, body to go up against at practice. Throughout the summer, you can almost guarantee that the trio of Ballo, Reneau, and Hatton just straight up battled against one-another. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, Indiana needed another front court body to throw in there.

Strictly sticking with Ballo in this circumstance, he is a monster of a big so he needs fellow monster big man to go up against in practice settings in order to get ready for the type of bigs he will go up against in the Big Ten conference. In that regard, Dallas James is the perfect player to have on the roster. He is an experienced big man and can give Ballo a legit battle.

That is the likely the primary role that James is going to play for Indiana basketball this upcoming year. Even though Mike Woodson does love his big guys, there is just really no chance that we see James playing valuable minutes and really, not even spot minutes.

He is the 13th guy on this roster and is along for the ride.

James does have a chance to be a part of playing on a championship level squad while continuing his education at one of the top universities in the country. He has chance to end his college basketball career on a high note while being a valuable practice player for the Hoosiers.

Notable Quotes

“Dallas is an incredibly intelligent young man that will provide us with some depth across our front line,” Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson said when the program signed Dallas James. “He is a tall kid with long arms that can contest and alter shots at the rim. He comes from an NBA background with his father spending a decade in the league and we are excited to bring the James family to Bloomington.”

SEE ALSO: One question facing all 12 Indiana basketball players entering the summer

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