My Two Cents: In Era of 'Old Men' and 'One-and-Dones,' It's Win Now For Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Mike Woodson and I arrived at Indiana University in the fall of 1976, the peak of greatness in Hoosier basketball history. Indiana was the perfect national champions earlier that spring, going 32-0 and are still — a long 47 years later — the last NCAA team to win every single game.

During our freshman year, Woodson and his Hoosiers lost their second game of the season, ending a streak of 58 straight regular season wins. They would go just 16-11 that year and, while disappointing, it was just a start.

Woodson and his recruiting class didn't fret, because they had four years to get it right. That's how college basketball worked back in those days.

It doesn't work that way any more.

Woodson, now the coach at Indiana, is entering his third season as the leader of his proud program. He doesn't have that luxury of building a program with four-year players. In an era where a great player like Woodson only stays one year now, teams change rapidly from year to year.

Throw in the one-and-dones with the transfer portal and the occasional ''sixth year'' of college basketball, and it's now a situation where you have to win NOW with your team, because it will be completely different next year.

That's certainly the case this year for Indiana. Woodson has two recruits — freshman Mackenzie Mgbako and sophomore transfer Kel'el Ware — who are already listed high in 2024 NBA mock drafts. Mgbako already talks about being a one-year player at Indiana, and if all goes well for Ware, it's the same for him, too.

And when you recruit great players, then you better win with them quickly. Like right now.

"I took this job to win Big Ten titles and national titles and I've fallen short the first two years,'' Woodson said. In his defense, he didn't inherit a lot, but still made two NCAA Tournaments, the first in six years for IU.

"I'm always optimistic as a coach when I go into a season. This season is no different. We've got to go and win a Big Ten title, and then once we're fortunate to get into tournament play, then we figure it out there.

"You have to be patient with a lot of these young guys. I understand that, but then on the flip side, I've got to be myself and I've got to coach and push and try to get guys to do things at a higher level than probably they're used to doing. That's going to be important moving forward, I think.''

That's the hard part of this modern era. You really can't be patient. If you don't win this year, many key players are gone and you're reloading. The same is true for Indiana with point guard Xavier Johnson, who was granted a sixth year of eligibility after missing almost all of last season with a foot injury that required surgery.

He has to win now too, or it's all over.

"I think he's hungry This is his last go-around,'' Woodson said of Johnson, who just turned 24 on Oct. 14. "He can't come back. Hell, how many years is this, six years for him? He's an old man. Hell, he can't come back for seven, so he's got to give us all he can give us this year to make it right.

"But I do think he's hungry, absolutely I do.''

Johnson concurs. He spent three years at Pittsburgh, and now three years at Indiana. He still hasn't won a conference title of any kind.

"My goals aren't individual, it's more team-wise. I want to win,'' Johnson said. "That's the last thing on my list to do in college is to win.''

Indiana's first public appearance is Friday night for Hoosier Hysteria at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The regular season starts on Nov. 7. Johnson, a team captain along with Trey Galloway, is the leader of this team.

"I thought two years ago, make no mistake about it, we got in the (NCAA) tournament because of Xavier Johnson and his play coming down the home stretch,'' Woodson said. "Last year was a setback year for him. We didn't come into last season thinking that we would lose our starting point guard, and that was a blow for us in the stretch where we struggled to win games.

"This year, X has played more basketball games in college than anybody on our ballclub, so I expect him to lead, be a point guard and be a leader on and off the floor and put us in position to win basketball games. That's what it's all about. I'm hard on captains. I've always been that way. Bob Knight was hard on me as a captain when I was here. You're not given that title just to be given it. You've got to earn it, and you've got to be held accountable in terms of not only putting yourself in position to help us win, but getting guys to play at a high level around you. That's important.''

The Hoosiers relied heavily on Trayce Jackson-Davis the past four years, but four starters are gone — including one-and-done guard Jalen Hood-Schifino. Johnson and senior Trey Galloway have experience at the guard spots, but Ware and Mgbako are all new up front and sophomore Malik Reneau will be counted on for a lot this year, not just spot minutes off the bench.

How quickly can all of that come together, especially with a difficult nonconference schedule in the early going?

"I think all our guys are curious. They're eager. They come to work. They accept coaching. That's important when you're talking about building a team,'' Woodson said. "Only time will tell. I mean, it's hard to sit here and predict anything. I would never do that anyway. But at the end of the day, hard work, guys dedicated to what we're trying to get done will put us in position to win basketball games, I think.

"There's always urgency on my part. I mean, I want to win now. Yeah, losing Jalen and Trayce, that's huge. But hell, it gives other guys an opportunity to step up and play and be noticed and make a difference and help your team win basketball games. Tthat's what it's all about. I mean, I like our players that we've landed. It's on me; I've got to coach them up and get them ready to play basketball. That's what it's all about.''

The players know it, too. Woodson drives them hard. They were 21-14 in his first year, and 23-12 a year ago. They've beaten Purdue times in four tries after his predecessors lost nine in a row.

That's better, but still not nearly good enough. And every single person in this program knows that.

"He's all about winning, and that's been the thing since day one when he got here,'' Galloway said. "He wants to win and so do we, so it's got to be everybody coming together and doing the right things every day and bringing our guys along so we can be successful and win.

"The new guys have done a great job really just listening. I feel like the younger guys have really bought into our system so far because it's not an easy system to learn, especially defensively. It's one thing that we're really focused on is our defense and it's our identity. I think just having them come every day prepared, ready to learn, because we're going to make mistakes, all of us are, so it's just part of the program coming together and really truly learning the system, so it'll be good to have them get it.''

The preseason Associated Press poll came out and Indiana is not in the top-25. There's too much talent here for that to be the case later, but it's all still very much in the air.

That sense of urgency? Oh, it's here. Potential stars like Mgbako and Ware are ready to prove just how good they are. And the old guys, like Johnson and Galloway, want more, too.

Woodson is 65 now — I'm there next month — and he knows his coaching clock is ticking, too. He wants to win, and win now. And I want to see it.

And who can blame us all? This all comes and goes way too fast.

"I just didn't get them over the hump, man, and that's something that I live with every day of my life,'' Woodson said. "Somehow I've got to get them over the hump. I'm the coach, and I've got to get them over the hump where we can hang another banner in here.

"That's all I think about, man. I don't think about anything else. It's not about me. It's about these student-athletes that I've fielded this year for our ballclub, and I've got to try to put them in the best position possible to be successful.''

Another season of Indiana basketball is almost here. And it should be a really fun and interesting ride.