Mike Woodson learned you ‘win with good guards’. He emphasized that this offseason so Indiana basketball ‘didn’t get caught’ in similar situations again

Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson had a difficult 2023-24 season, missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his three years at IU. It was the first crack in his roster construction and system as he whiffed on a few key targets he was actively pursuing as well as saw some of his key pieces to previous success leave the program for the NBA. So, this offseason was going to be the first real test if he would be able to adapt to the ‘new game’ while still utilizing his system that has been successful at the college and NBA level for years.

Guard play was number one for Woodson and Indiana. The lack of success Indiana has had over the last few years has been due to inconsistent guard play. There’s now way around it. Whether it shooting the ball, making plays off the dribble, or making plays for teammates, IU’s guards have lost more games than won — especially last season.

While injuries have certainly derailed Indiana the past two years, most notably last year, it showed Woodson that he can’t lean on just one player to have that major of an impact without having depth and talent around him.

“The one thing I have learned is we had to be deeper in certain positions. We came in last year not knowing, we didn’t think Fino (Jalen Hood-Schifino) would leave. We knew we had Gabe (Cupps), I didn’t come into the season expecting Gabe to come in playing the minutes he did … we really counted on Xavier coming back after all his injuries. And that crushed us,” Mike Woodsons said at Indiana’s annual offseason event at Huber Winery. “We never really rebounded from that and were playing catch up.

“We tried to mix and match and try to make Gallo (Trey Galloway) a point guard and Gallo did a hell of a job for us and grew in that area in terms of making plays for himself and his teammates. I didn’t want to get caught in that position again and didn’t think we had to after we saw the guys in the portal we liked and got involved. They seemed to like us and now are in an Indiana uniform.”

‘They’ are transfer guards Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle. Rice averaged 14.8 points and 3.8 assists per game for Washington State, while Carlyle averaged 11.5 points and 2.7 assists per game for Stanford. They come to Indiana with a much different ability than a lot of the guards in IU’s past. They both can make plays off of the dribble and create for teammates. Indiana hasn’t had two dynamic playmakers like this in quite some time.

Indiana had the potential for it two years ago with Xavier Johnson and Jalen Hood-Schifino but just 11 games into the season, those plans were derailed as Johnson missed the rest of the year with a broken foot. It had potential last year with Johnson and Galloway, but once again Johnson was in and out of the lineup for the majority of the season, and inconsistent when he was on the court.

“You think about our guard play over the last three years … no knock on them, but we couldn’t keep anybody healthy,” Woodson said. “I’ve learned in the short period of time I’ve been in college, you win with good guard play. It’s great to have big guys who can play and do the things we’ve had over the last three years we’ve coached but you win with perimeter and good guard play and that was something we came out of this past season, with the games X missed, that we needed to amp up our backcourt and I thought we did that.”

Now, Indiana is loaded with the most talent, skill and depth it’s had at the guard position in Woodson’s tenure. Joining Rice and Carlyle are Galloway, Cupps, Anthony Leal and Jakai Newton as true guards. Then you have Bryson Tucker and Luke Goode on the wing. All bring much different skills to the floor.

It’s a look back at how Woodson wanted to play and did in New York with the Knicks. He had numerous guards and numerous playmaking guards on the floor at all times. Now, he’ll be able to do that same thing — headlined by Rice and Carlyle.

“I try to build our team around how I played in New York. We had guys like Jason Kidd, Raymond Felton, (Pablo) Prigioni. Guys who can create and make plays not only for themselves but for their teammates,” Woodson added. “That was one of the things when we (as a staff) sat down at the end of the season — when we evaluated guys who entered the portal. That was going to be an emphasis. These two guys (Rice and Carlyle) are capable of making plays off the bounce, making plays for their teammates, capable of putting the ball in the hole.

” … I’m pleased with the guys that we’ve brought in. I just got to put it to work now to get them ready to play.”

SEE ALSO: Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson provides offseason injury update on Trey Galloway

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