Right now IU is +3 scholarships over. I hate over signing but not in a coaches first 3-4 years. Also, with the current transfer portal rules, it sort of compels always being full, if not +1.
To get down to 13 players, I easily see Lander, Phinisee and Stewart being gone. Lander for obvious reasons. He's either not a HM player, which has always been questionable in my mind, or he's just not a good fit with Woodson. Neither Miller or Woodson used him. They can't both be wrong.
Phinesee, with Hood-Schifino coming in, he's going to get a load of minutes (if he earns them). It wouldn't be bad for Rob to have a change of scenery, dropping down to a Ball State or Indiana State and being the best PG in a MM league. Among those three, he's the one I don't want to leave, but I think it would be cool if he could go out being totally relied upon.
Stewart still has his free transfer. I admire his improved effort on defense, but it turns out he's big stat/bad team guy. Unless he can change his body and get noticeably quicker, he's not a guy who can go get a bucket like he was at UT-Martin. Even at his best effort this year he was a subpar defender, thriving only against Wyoming's Maldonado who's M-O was just to back his defender down.
I could also see Leal leaving. I could see Woody being willing to keep him around, and if Leal could grow into a Todd Leary roll that would be super. However, a team that sorely needed shooting couldn't find minutes for him.
I hope Duncomb doesn't leave. He has incredible instincts with the basketball, and I see him being a skilled big, much like Kirk Haston. Problem is during Haston's redshirt year, reports started coming out he was IU's best player, certainly their best big. Duncomb not getting much clock on a team that needed size isn't great, but much of that could be a body issue. His body has changed since last year. Now he needs to get stronger.
I have TJD coming back. More and more, even among lottery picks, your floor is as important as your ceiling. Players left early to maximize draft position. That's not an issue with TJD. He's a second rounder at best right now, and to a point, he might be better off not getting drafted, allowing him to pick his spot. Leaving early was about $$$$$$$. Money isn't an issue with TJD. Not that he won't want to get paid, but change your life money at the NBA level means having a prolonged career. The best way to do that is to maximize your floor in college and enter the NBA ready to make a rotation, at least by the middle of your second year. Otherwise, it's journeyman status. Still a good living, but he can have that and still take full advantage of college.
I have Race coming back. I guess he could transfer out if he didn't like how he was used. Lack of success be damned, I still see leaving IU as nothing better than a lateral move. Armaan Franklin went to Virginia, where he shot 26% from 3PT. (Posted here a lot not to rely on what he shot last year for IU, that he was a floor raiser and not a ceiling raiser.) Al Durham saw an uptick in his counting stats, but his %'s were a mess this year for Providence.
The grass isn't always greener.
So I still have...
PG - Johnson, (Hood-Schifino)
SG - Bates, (Galloway), Gunn
SF - (Geronimo), (Kopp)
PF - Thompson, Banks
C - (TJD), Durr, Duncomb
Starters are first. (*) = can play multiple positions
If TJD is still locked in only at center...won't be good.
That would leave IU with room for one more player. It needs to be a wing from the transfer portal who raise IU's shot making abilities.
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