Mike Woodson thinks he finally has an IU team capable of playing how he coached in NBA

BORDEN – Mike Woodson isn’t done with bully ball. But he’s got more on his mind this summer.

More depth. More skill. More diversity. More, in Woodson’s mind, like what he had in New York.

Speaking Wednesday during his annual appearance at what’s now an NIL benefit at Huber’s Orchard and Winery in southern Indiana, Woodson talked at length with reporters about his remade roster. The Hoosiers open summer workouts in the coming days, with the balance of Woodson’s team expected back in Bloomington and (for the most part) on the floor.

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It will be there Woodson begins to sort out questions of roles and rotations, and putting together the pieces of a team that welcomes as many new scholarship players for next season as it returns from the last one. IU’s fourth-year coach will have a deepened guard rotation to polish, and two bigs to weave together with the return of Malik Reneau and the arrival of Arizona transfer Oumar Ballo.

“I’m going to try to play two bigs,” Woodson said, “just to test it.”

Woodson has larger ambitions on his mind though. Running back last year’s frontcourt rotations isn’t the limit of his thinking.

Ballo is one of the country’s best centers, as good six feet and in — at either end of the floor — as any player in the country. And Woodson said Wednesday he believes Bellarmine transfer forward Langdon Hatton can open his range up as far as the 3-point line in time.

But Woodson also has the healthiest stable of wings he’s enjoyed in his four years in Bloomington, with the retention of Big Ten co-freshman of the year Mackenzie Mgbako and the arrival of five-star freshman Bryson Tucker and Illinois transfer Luke Goode.

Mgbako finished last season greatly improved at both ends of the floor. He scored in double figures in all but two games from the start of…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mike-woodson-thinks-finally-iu-083621529.html

Author : Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2024-06-03 08:36:21

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