My Two Cents: Indiana's Number Choices Always Have a Bit of History Behind Them

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The old saying goes that it's all about the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back. At Indiana, there are no names on the back — please don't get me started — so the number itself is usually what gets personal for Indiana basketball players.

As is tradition, on the first day of the fall semester, Indiana's basketball roster goes public, with new heights and weights being announced, and new biographies on the incoming freshmen being posted.

And then there's the numbers game.

There's usually an interesting nugget or two, but this year there are a lot of good stories behind the men and their number choices. There's been a lot of switching around — and a lot of flipping of the pecking order.

For decades, there's been some unwritten rules about who wears what number. Seniority rules, for sure, and scholarship guys trump walk-ons. That's always been the case, and probably always will. And the freshmen? Well, they're last to choose, but it worked out just fine this year.

It doesn't always.

That was the case last year when Indiana Mr. Basketball Trayce Jackson-Davis arrived in Bloomington. He had worn No. 23 — the world's most popular basketball number — at Center Grove, but when he got to IU, Damezi Anderson already had No. 23. But the sophomore from South Bend, Ind., transferred to Loyola during the offseason, so Jackson-Davis scooped up his number, and walked away from the No. 4 he wore as a freshman when was the team's leading scorer and rebounder.

That was good news for freshman point guard Khristian Lander, who always wore No. 4 in high school at Evansville Reitz. Now he's No. 4 at Indiana.

It worked out well for fellow freshmen Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal and Jordan Geronimo, too. They all got the numbers they want, and that really means a lot to them.

A whole lot. Because it's personal.

For Galloway, he wears No. 32 because his father Mark, his former high school coach who had a great playing career himself at Bethel College, wore No. 32 in his playing days.

Mark wore 32 because of Magic Johnson. Trey wears 32 because of Mark Galloway.

"He's reminded me many times that he's still the best No. 32 in the family,'' Trey said last winter during one of our interviews, this one at Culver Academies during his senior season. "But I like wearing 32. It's a family thing.''

Galloway has always worn 32 except for one season in youth basketball, when that uniform number wasn't available. His mother Dawn, who coached his youth team and was a two-time national champion volleyball player herself at Bethel, had him wear No. 25, her old number. Trey loved that idea. That's keeping it in the family.

Galloway is the first Hoosier to wear No. 32 since Derek Elston in 2014. A lot of great Indiana Hall of Famers have worn that number, most notably Steve Downing, Landon Turner and Eric Anderson. Kyle Hornsby and Steve Eyl wore it with pride, too.

It's the same thing with Anthony Leal, the family ties attached to his favorite number, No. 3. Leal, the reigning Indiana Mr. Basketball from Bloomington South, gets his favorite number too, but he didn't think that was going to happen when he signed with the Hoosiers, because Justin Smith was still wearing. But now Smith has transferred to Arkansas, and Leal — or L3al — gets it.

Leal wears No. 3 because of his big sister Lauren. She was quite the basketball player herself and Anthony always looked up to her. They are 17 months apart, and he wore No. 3 as a kid because she did, and he always admired and respected her game, especially because she was constantly fighting her way back through injuries and surgeries. (Lauren, who played collegiately at DePauw, is a student at IU now after another injury ended her playing career)

"Her passion for the game is what helped me fall in love with it,'' Leal said back in March. "A lot of times as kids, we played on the same team. Those are some of my all-time favorite basketball moments, her and I doing all that together.''

Several IU fan favorites have worn No. 3, most notably Jay Edwards, Tom Coverdale and D.J. White, and more recently, OG Anunoby and Maurice Creek.

Geronimo wore No. 22 in high school, and he'll wear that at Indiana, too. Walk-on Jacquez Henderson wore it a year ago, but gave it up for Geronimo and he'll wear No. 12 instead. There's been a lot of great Hoosiers to wear that number 22, most notably Damon Bailey, Jimmy Rayl, Archie Dees, Wayne Redford and Dean Garrett.

Indiana has 11 scholarship players and five walk-ons. Here's the complete Indiana roster, with number, name, year, height and weight;

Indiana basketball 2020-21 roster

No. ... Name ... Height ... Weight Year Hometown
0 Cooper Bybee* 6-1 188 Senior Ellettsville, Ind.
1 Al Durham 6-4 185 Senior Lilburn, Ga.
2 Armaan Franklin 6-4 195 Soph. Indianapolis, Ind.
3 Anthony Leal 6-5 210 Freshman Bloomington, Ind
4 Khristian Lander 6-2 185 Freshman Evansville, Ind.
5 Michael Shipp* 6-3 190 Senior Cincinnati, Ohio
10 Rob Phinisee 6-1 187 Junior Lafayette, Ind.
12 Jacquez Henderson* 6-2 185 Senior Winter Park, Fla.
14 Nathan Childress* 6-6 212 Senior Zionsville, Ind.
15 Sebastian Scott* 6-2 185 Freshman Danville, Calif.
21 Jerome Hunter 6-7 215 R-Soph. Pickerington, Ohio
22 Jordan Geronimo 6-6 220 Freshman Newark, N.J.
23 Trayce Jackson-Davis 6-9 245 Sophomore, Greenwood, Ind.
25 Race Thompson 6-8 228 R-Junior Plymouth, Minn.
32 Trey Galloway 6-4 210 Freshman Culver, Ind.
50 Joey Brunk 6-11 255 R-Senior Indianapolis, Ind
* — walk-ons