Indiana men’s basketball’s tumultuous 2023-24 season, which included no postseason berth for the first time in three years and the need to publicly confirm head coach Mike Woodson’s return, hasn’t affected the program’s recruiting efforts this spring.
For a moment, the Hoosiers had nothing but uncertainty — seven roster spots to fill and no high school or transfer commits. This moment was a month ago.
In the span of 23 days, Woodson and staff added four players, starting with 5-star high school recruit Bryson Tucker on March 28 and finishing with Stanford University transfer guard Kanaan Carlyle on Saturday.
In between, the Hoosiers landed transfer commitments from Washington State University guard Myles Rice and University of Arizona center Oumar Ballo, filling four of the team’s seven available scholarships.
But Indiana isn’t bringing in placeholders — it’s signing the best transfer portal class in the country, according to 247sports. Ballo is rated as this off-season's best transfer, while Carlyle (No. 10) and Rice (No. 18) follow suit inside the top 20.
When factoring in Tucker, the Hoosiers rank No. 15 nationally and No. 2 in the Big Ten in overall player acquisitions, via On3.
Indiana returns three full-time starters from this past season, including senior guard Trey Galloway, freshman forward Mackenzie Mgbako and sophomore forward Malik Reneau.
Additionally, senior guard Anthony Leal and freshman guard Gabe Cupps, who started 22 games after twice replacing the injured Xavier Johnson, announced their intention to come back to Bloomington.
Still, this is the same Hoosier core that went 19-14 and lost Kel’el Ware, who led the team with 15.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, to the NBA Draft.
After the season came crashing down against Nebraska on March 15 in the Big Ten Tournament, Woodson said he and his assistants had lots of work to do this offseason to add talent and get better.
In just over a month’s time, he found a 7-foot center in Ballo to fill the void left by Ware, added one of the top unsigned high school seniors and remade the Hoosiers’ back court.
With Rice, who averaged 14.8 points and 3.8 assists per game as a redshirt freshman, and Carlyle, who scored 11.5 points and dished out 2.7 assists per contest in his true freshman season for the Cardinal, Indiana suddenly has a deep stable of guards capable of creating shots both for themselves and others.
The Hoosiers still have needs — one or two steady 3-point shooters and a backup for Ballo — but their roster has added considerable talent in the past month and still has room for more.
And at least according to 247sports’ points-based metric, nobody’s done the transfer portal better than Indiana.
Follow reporters Will Foley (@foles24) and Matt Press (@MattPress23) and columnist Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball offseason.
