Factors That Left Indiana Without Enough Guard Depth, Talent

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Mike Woodson gained commitments from three young guards just two games into his coaching tenure at Indiana. That was supposed to help establish a foundation for the future, but in season three it hasn’t gone according to plan.

Woodson’s first commit was Tamar Bates, a top-30 recruit in the class of 2021 who flipped from Texas to Indiana on April 19, 2021. Jalen Hood-Schifino, a five-star recruit in the class of 2022, committed to Indiana on Aug. 24, 2021. Less than three months later, on Nov. 16, 2021, class of 2023 recruit Gabe Cupps committed to Indiana. That gave Woodson three young guards in three consecutive classes who could be backcourt building blocks for a re-energized program.

The Hoosiers snapped a five-year NCAA Tournament drought in Woodson’s first season, with Bates as a freshman and Hood-Schifino and Cupps ready to join the program later on. Trayce Jackson-Davis was the star that year, but Indiana wouldn’t have made the run it desperately needed to make the Big Dance without Xavier Johnson playing like one of the Big Ten’s best guards down the stretch. Add Trey Galloway’s development, and Indiana looked to be in a good spot with guards.

In year two, Woodson opened the season starting Hood-Schifino as a freshman, alongside Johnson in the back court. After a 7-0 start, that plan quickly fizzled out, as the two would play just 97 minutes and 42 seconds together across parts of eight games. Hood-Schifino dealt with an early-season back injury, and then Johnson broke his foot in Hood-Schifino’s first game back on Dec. 17, 2022, at Kansas. That ultimately had a two-season ripple effect for the Hoosiers.

Most directly, it took away a veteran ball-handler, tough perimeter defender and double-digit scoring threat from Indiana’s offense that season. The Hoosiers earned a No. 4 seed and lost in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 without Johnson, but a deeper run could have been in the cards had Indiana had another high-level guard to pair with Hood-Schifino. It would have been a deeper team, too, with Galloway coming off the bench.

Instead, the injury put control of Indiana’s offense in the hands of Hood-Schifino, who made the most of his opportunity by averaging 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

Several games throughout Hood-Schifino’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year season, plus his overall potential, contributed to his draft stock rising. But Purdue coach Matt Painter joked this month that Hood-Schifino’s 35-point performance last year ensured the Boilermakers wouldn’t have to see him again.

“Hood-Schifino was so good here last year,” Painter said. “I think we helped him get to the NBA with the way we defended him. So, that was the silver lining of that game, right?"

Hood-Schifino was absent from the top-60 in NBA.com 2023 mock drafts on Nov. 23, 2022, and Dec. 23, 2022. But by the end of his freshman season, he was seen as a surefire first-round pick, and he ultimately became the 17th overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bates decided to enter the transfer portal and continue his career at Missouri, closer to home. He never fully panned out at Indiana, averaging 5.1 points per game and shooting 37% from the field across 67 games and two starts. Now he’s averaging 13.7 points for an 8-18 Missouri team.

The combination of Johnson’s injury, Hood-Schifino’s subsequent emergence, and Bates’ departure impacted Woodson’s future planning.

“When I recruited Gabe, the deal was everyone thought Jalen wouldn't be a one and done,” Woodson said Tuesday. “That was the whole deal.”

Instead of having Hood-Schifino for a sophomore season in 2023-24, Indiana got another year of Johnson, who received a medical hardship waiver for the injury suffered at Kansas. Even with Johnson coming back, Woodson looked to further reinforce Indiana’s backcourt after the unexpected departure of Hood-Schifino.

“When we knew Jalen was leaving, we desperately tried to find a backup point guard, starting point guard, to go along with Xavier and Gallo,” Woodson said. “So we explored, we talked to different guys, and guys went other places based on they thought that was a better fit.”

In some manner, Indiana was connected to more than a dozen guards and wings, both in the transfer portal or late-cycle high school recruits, including Caleb Love, Dalton Knecht, Cormac Ryan, Chris Ledlum, Jamison Battle, Nicolas Timberlake, Jordan Dingle, El Ellis, Kowacie Reeves, Matthew Cleveland, Mike Sharavjamts, Keshon Gilbert, Quincy Olivari, Julian Phillips, Joey Hart, Chris Johnson and Simeon Wilcher.

Indiana ultimately did not land any of those players and left a scholarship open. Perhaps this was due to recruiting targets seeing too few minutes available with returning starting guards Johnson and Galloway.

Given Johnson’s success as the Hoosiers’ point guard in 2021-22, plus Galloway’s development as a junior, there was a feasible path to having a successful season with that starting backcourt, especially with all the talent Indiana had up front. But that gave the Hoosiers no margin for error, and the misses in the transfer portal left a deep hole in the back court.

“We basically came into this season hoping like hell that X didn't get hurt,” Woodson said. “And Gabe would get an opportunity to learn slowly. But that hasn't been the case.”

Johnson’s sixth season has been marred by injuries, depleting Indiana’s backcourt. He’s played in just 14 of Indiana’s 25 games due to foot and elbow injuries. He’s missed the last four games, a stretch in which Indiana has gone 1-3. And when healthy, Johnson did not play at the high level he proved capable of reaching earlier in his career, aside from an 18-point performance to beat Ohio State.

In addition to Johnson's injury, freshman guard Jakai Newton has missed the entire season with a knee injury and sophomore CJ Gunn has been inconsistent. Senior Anthony Leal hit a few clutch shots in wins over Iowa and Ohio State, but he hasn't impacted most other games. That has forced Cupps into a much larger role than Woodson planned for his freshman season.

“He's been thrown to the wolves basically as a freshman,” Woodson said. “I think he's had a good freshman season considering. He hadn't shot the ball very well, but the other night he made two threes and defensively he's been solid from day one in trying to deal, especially in the Big Ten where every team's point guard is pretty damn good. He's pretty much held his own from a defensive standpoint.”

Cupps had perhaps the best defensive game of his college career in Sunday’s loss to Northwestern.

Guarding potential first-team All-Big Ten and All-American point guard Boo Buie, a fifth-year senior, Cupps held Buie to 3-for-14 shooting, including an 0-for-8 start. That was Buie’s second-worst shooting game of the season from a percentage standpoint. Buie was coming off a 27-point game at Rutgers on Thursday and scored 25 points in an overtime loss at Purdue on Jan. 31.

“He's been one of the hottest point guards in the league,” Woodson said. “And to hold the young man to 3-for-14 shooting and some different times down the floor where he was able to keep him in front, which has been a task for a lot of teams, I was really impressed with that.”

Though Cupps still has a ways to go offensively, he showed signs of development against Northwestern, scoring eight points and knocking down 2-of-3 3-point attempts. With Johnson gone after this season and five-star small forward Liam McNeeley the only 2024 recruit signed to Indiana, Woodson will likely have to turn to the transfer portal again to help Cupps and Galloway, should they return, in the backcourt next season.

This time around, Woodson can’t come up empty.

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