It’s not ‘do or die’ time … yet. But where does Indiana basketball turn to in the transfer portal now?

As the final week of April approaches, the Indiana basketball program now sits at a bit of a crossroads. It was a very effective first few weeks of the transfer portal when Indiana landed commitments from Ball State forward Payton Sparks and Oregon center Kel’el Ware.

Now, Indiana has come up short on its next few targets. It hit the peak on Wednesday when the Hoosiers missed out on its top transfer target in Harvard forward Chris Ledlum — who committed to Tennessee.

Indiana also missed on guard Nick Timberlake who committed to Kansas. Minnesota wing Jamison Battle who committed to Ohio State. And, it’s likely Indiana also misses on wing Dalton Knecht.

El Ellis of Louisville and Nahiem Alleyne were two other guards Indiana was connected with. Both have gone elsewhere.

The expectation and priorities that Indiana had coming into the offseason was front court depth and shooting. It has definitely secured some of the front court depth needed, but the miss on Ledlum is one that will sting. And sting more than people think.

There is still the potential of VCU forward Jalen Deloach, but he’s a much different player skill wise than Ledlum. It will be interesting to see where the Hoosiers decide to go with Deloach after missing on Ledlum. After the commitment from Kel’el Ware, it was expected Deloach and the Indiana basketball program would go their separate ways while it was all-in on Ledlum.

IU head coach Mike Woodson was already expecting to put a new system in place and with no Trayce Jackson-Davis. It was likely one that would revolve around guards.

“Trayce Jackson-Davis is the first center that I’ve ever coached in my career where I had to utilize my center as a post-up player,” Woodson said earlier this season. ” … it’s the first time in my coaching career that I’ve had to coach a young man starting out on the block and expanding his game. I don’t know where we’re going to be next season in terms of how our style of play will be. But we’ve got to get better. I do know that.”

But, with Indiana basketball missing on some of its notable guard and wing targets, the question is who will it go to and when?

There are two perimeter players that Indiana has been tied too. Notre Dame wing Cormac Ryan and Florida State wing Matthew Cleveland. Ryan, however has already visited North Carolina. Cleveland is also highly sought-out by numerous other big name programs, also including North Carolina.

Ryan is the ideal fit for Indiana. He is a career 35.2 percent three-point shooter on 5.2 attempts per game. In 116 career games across four seasons, Ryan has averaged 1.8 made 3s a game. He is coming off of a career-high 12.3 points per game in 2022-23. He can create off of the dribble and easily make plays for himself. Ryan can also be a spot up shooter. Both ideal for the skill Indiana needs on the perimeter.

Cleveland, on the other hand, is not a perfect fit for Indiana but a talented player. He is a career 12.7 point per game scorer in 59 games. He is just a 28.7 percent three-point shooter on 1.6 attempts per game.

Indiana shot 36.8 percent from three this season but ranked 353rd nationally in attempted 3s per game (15.5) and 334th in made 3s per game (5.7). Those numbers translated into the fourth best percentage in the Big Ten, but the least amount of made 3s on the season.

Indiana needs high-volume shooters on the perimeter.

Yes, there are still going to be other transfer targets available, but the main targets Indiana sought out, are now gone.

It’s not do or die time for the Hoosiers yet … but the pressure is on to make some significant moves in the portal to sure up the perimeter and guard positions.

It needs to do so in order to keep the momentum of the last two seasons.

The Indiana basketball program currently has three open scholarships for the 2023-24 season.

The transfer window closes May 11.

(Update: Cormac Ryan committed to North Carolina on Thursday)

SEE ALSO: ‘We’ve got to get better from a personnel standpoint’: Indiana basketball set to begin a new era

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