Which roster is better — Indiana basketball or Purdue? College basketball analysts break it down

Indiana basketball has improved its roster greatly over the last two months, thanks in larger part to the No. 2 overall transfer class it will be bringing to Bloomington this summer. On paper, it has one of the top rosters around not only the Big Ten, but also the entire country.

At the end of the day, however, Indiana and Mike Woodson will also be measured by the success it has against in-state rival Purdue. Moving into a different era without Zach Edey, its roster is going to look different in a certain manner. But, it does bring back the majority of its core from the last two years — and adds a top-10 recruiting class.

So, which roster is ‘better’ at this point?

“This is not an easy one, not easy at all,” Field of 68 co-founder Jeff Goodman said. “I like Indiana’s roster better. I think I like it better. They’re just men. You look at them and they are bigger, stronger, more experienced. You look inside and have Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo. Myles Rice coming in with the year he had at Washington State was incredible. You have some guys back from that team, Trey Galloway is more of a piece now with the addition of Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle. Luke Goode can come in and shoot it.

“I like Purdue’s roster, it’s good all the way around. It’s deep, I just don’t know if they have that high-end dude (to take them to the next level).”

In addition to Ballo, Rice, Carlyle and Goode, Indiana basketball also brings in top-30 prospect and McDonald’s All-American Bryson Tucker. So, it’s not difficult to believe that Indiana has more overall talent on the roster.

A main reason for that are the perimeter weapons that the Hoosiers have not had in years. Both in depth and talent.

But there are some questions about the front court fit and if Mike Woodson will be able to adjust to the versatility on his perimeter.

“I like the Indiana roster more myself,” Field of 68 co-founder Rob Dauster added. “… he (Mike Woodson) has more perimeter weapons at his disposal. So I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and maybe he’ll be able to figure it out and realize the best lineup will be Mackenzie Mgbako at the four and Myles Rice at the one with two shooters around him.

“If we give Oumar Ballo 20 minutes and Malik Reneau 20 minutes and give them five minutes a game on the floor together, that may be the best case scenario for the Indiana Hoosiers overall.”

Indiana finished 19-14 last season and failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Mike Woodson’s three years.

Talent will not be the issue for Indiana this year — and it will be the most talented team in Woodson’s tenure. While questions about style of play have been a hot topic, especially after last season, the roster that Woodson put together seems to show his understanding of what was needed in order to get back battling for Big Ten titles and making noise in the NCAA Tournament.

Now, it’ll be on him to prove he can make the pieces work and work well together.

“Let’s put it like this, if you switch the coaches with these two rosters, I probably right now have Purdue closer to 10 and Indiana closer to 15 and I would flip flop that with the coaches if Matt Painter had Indiana, I’d have them closer to 10 and Purdue closer to 15.”

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