Mike Woodson used an old NBA approach, which led Indiana basketball to find success in the transfer portal this offseason

This without question was the biggest offseason in the Mike Woodson era for Indiana basketball. After a very lackluster season that saw them finish in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten while also missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years, thing needed to change before they got even worse.

But what exactly was that change that needed to happen? It wasn’t a drastic change of a head coach or anything severe like that. The simple answer was roster construction. Indiana basketball had to get better all around while maintaining their key pieces from the 2023-24 season.

In total, the Hoosiers lost 6 different guys from last year’s squad for multiple, different reasons. You had players that opted to go elsewhere like CJ Gunn, Kaleb Banks, and Payton Sparks, you had two graduates in Xavier Johnson and Anthony Walker, and then you had your biggest departure of star center Kel’el Ware putting his name in the NBA draft.

The Hoosiers however, brought back an outstanding core of Trey Galloway, Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako, Gabe Cupps, Anthony Leal and Jakai Newton. To be completely honest too, these were the guys you needed to be bring back without question. The ones that left, even if it did sting to an extent, were guys that you could afford to replace.

When you bring back a great core of that nature in this new era of college basketball, it makes it somewhat easier to know just exactly who and what you need to fill in the gaps. There were a lot of gaps to fill yes, but Mike Woodson went back to an old trick when it came to that.

“We sat down at the end and I kind of treated it like I was when I was back in the NBA,” Mike Woodson told the media at Huber’s Winery this week. “I make our guys rank the top-10 players at their position. Then I make the decision on who I’m going to go get. If it’s the best player, then we got to give it a shot because all they could do is tell us no.”

So did that approach work? It sure did and then some because arguably, Indiana basketball had the top transfer portal class in the country.

In the transfer portal, Indiana brought in guards Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle, wing Luke Goode, and big men Oumar Ballo and Langdon Hatton. All players that were highly sought after once they became available this offseason.

More: Ranking the six offseason additions for Indiana basketball

In the past few years with Mike Woodson as the head coach of Indiana basketball, there were a lot more of misses in the transfer portal compared to the hits they had. This offseason was extremely crucial because Woodson had no choice but to hit in nearly every one of his attempts if he wanted Indiana to get back to the NCAA Tournament while also competing for a Big Ten championship.

A big part of the success was the resources that Indiana basketball had this offseason as well. The biggest resource of course was NIL which very obviously helped the Hoosiers land these high-profile players.

“Well, it’s gonna help,” Mike Woodson added. “I think anytime you got additional money that goes towards recruiting it’s going to help. I mean we are in different times now man.”

“This summer was a busy summer me and my staff in terms of entertaining the portal and just a lot of work, man. It’s not gonna change, it’s going to be that way for years to come. I mean it is what it is.”

“I just think as long as the playing field is even for everybody, it should be very competitive and recruiting and get talent to come in to help you win.

The success that Indiana basketball had this offseason comes from the mindset in which Mike Woodson and his staff approached the portal while also using their resources to the fullest. It paid off in the offseason but now the real work comes the rest of the summer when it comes to developing this team and to become one cohesive unit.

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

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

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