Time is running out on Indiana basketball for the ‘youthfulness’ and ‘newness’ of the roster to blend together

Indiana basketball came into the season with the words ‘untapped potential’ connected to it. There was talent on the roster — there’s no denying that. But, the biggest question was, how would everyone fit together? Well, sitting here in mid-February, it’s clear — it hasn’t worked.

Indiana lost All-American forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jalen Hood-Schifino and two other veterans who had 287 career games under their belt in Miller Kopp and Race Thompson.

That group was replaced by an unproven sophomore and former five-star center Kel’el Ware, five-star freshman Mackenzie Mgbako, four-star guard Gabe Cupps and a few role players.

On Saturday against Purdue, the struggles this season hit its peak. Indiana was clearly outmatched because of continuity, chemistry and cohesion.

“Well, I thought our team the last two years was right there. I think we beat Purdue the last three out of four outings prior to this season. So I thought our team was pretty special last season and the season before. They (Purdue) have grown together,” Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “We revamped our team this summer with 10 new faces on our ball club and we’re young. I’m not using that as an excuse, I still expect to win. But it’s kind of caught us a little bit. But we’ve still got a lot of basketball still left.”

Indiana knew all too well what it was losing from its previous roster this offseason. Unfortunately, it was unable to add the necessary pieces to counter the losses and continue with the program-building momentum that Mike Woodson had in his first two seasons in Bloomington.

Instead, Indiana basketball sits outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble 24 games into the season, with a record of 14-10 overall and 6-7 in Big Ten play.

The ‘youthfulness’ and ‘newness’ of this roster has been a constant topic of conversation and one that on February 13, should not be a conversation.

“It’s not cohesion, it’s just the youthfulness or the newness,” Indiana assistant coach Kenya Hunter said on Monday. “But at some point we’ve got to figure it out and get better.”

Indiana has lost its 10 games by an average of 15.7 points per game. Eight of the 10 losses have been by double-digits.

It’s not due to the lack of some significant individual performances throughout the season, however. Six players have either set or tied career-highs this year. That also includes significant increases in overall production from numerous players.

Malik Reneau has seen his scoring jump from 6.1 points per game to 16.0 per game this year. Kel’el Ware went from 6.6 a game to 14.6 points this season. And, Trey Galloway increased his scoring from 6.7 points to 11.1 points per game.

But the lack of consistency from the surrounding pieces have unfortunately failed Indiana.

“It’s tough when you have a young group,” Hunter said. “We’ve been emphasizing putting 40 minutes together — not just one half … With a young group — I’m not using this as a crutch or anything, they just don’t have the understanding of help the helper sometimes and we’ve fallen short in that area”

“We’re putting a young group in a situation where they’re getting opportunities, but this is a game of inches and if you come in and make a mistake, it gets harder.”

Indiana ranks 96th overall in the KenPom ratings — its lowest since the 2009-10 season when Indiana finished 194th in Tom Crean’s second season. The following year Indiana finished 82nd despite a 12-20 record.

Indiana is just 1-8 against Quad 1 opponents in the NET rankings.

The Hoosiers also haven’t had a two-game or more winning streak since December.

“I get it. Nobody wants to win in a worse way than Mike Woodson with this ballclub. But I think when you put a team together, you’re hoping that that team can get through a season or be there just to see exactly what kind of team you do have,” Woodson said earlier this month. “That’s been the frustrating part for me from a coaching standpoint because I do think if we’re pretty healthy and guys do what they’re asked to do, we could be a pretty decent basketball team.”

Part of the issues have been injuries, yes. Not having Xavier Johnson for a large chunk of this year — the second season in a row — hasn’t helped. But, injuries are part of the game and in order to be successful, you need to have the depth and the talent to overcome that.

Indiana basketball hasn’t and doesn’t have that.

“We are just not playing hard enough and smart enough on the defensive end,” IU senior guard and team captain Trey Galloway said after the Penn State loss this month. “We had a lot of unnecessary fouling and then just a bunch of miscues that’s really just on us that we can’t have this late in the season.”

Indiana ranks 220th in D-1 experience and 264th in minutes continuity. While those are not ideal numbers, there are still 100+ teams ranked much worse in those categories.

“We have a lot of young guys playing a lot of minutes.” Hunter said. “In the past we’ve had older guys that when we’ve struggled, they knew what spots to be in and how to help each other out”

In this day and age with NIL and the transfer portal, the ‘newness’ of a roster each year is bound to happen. The days of bringing back your entire starting lineup from one year to the next is gone. it’s about building the right roster and being able to land the guys who fit within the confines of your system the best.

Indiana basketball failed that this season and unfortunately, there isn’t much time to try to turn that around, with just seven regular season and one Big Ten Tournament game on the schedule.

SEE ALSO: ‘We’re gonna have to add some pieces’: Indiana basketball facing critical few months ahead as it’s clear how far it is from where it needs to be

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