Three Indiana basketball bold predictions: Myles Rice will be a game-changer for Hoosiers

Posted by Admin November 6, 2024 Basketball

BLOOMINGTON — The Indiana basketball team opens the 2024-25 season on Wednesday night at Assembly Hall with a game against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

The No. 18 Hoosiers enter the year having assembled one of the country’s more talented rosters through the transfer portal.

Indiana coach Mike Woodson’s success in reeling in some of the biggest names available, from Oumar Ballo to Myles Rice, helped fans overcome their disappointment over not reaching the tournament last year.

Woodson has expressed confidence in the new-look roster in recent weeks with more firepower and depth, and strong showings in exhibition wins over Tennessee and Marian added to the team’s good vibes.

Will IU remain a feel-good story? Or should fans prepare for another letdown? Here are our bold predictions for the 2024-25 season:

Indiana basketball guard Myles Rice will win Big Ten Player of the Year

Purdue’s Braden Smith is the heavy preseason favorite to win the award, but life without Zach Edey will be an adjustment for the Boilermakers while Rice will benefit from playing with what’s arguably the most talented roster in the Big Ten.

Rice would be IU’s first Big Ten Player of the Year in the Big Ten since D.J. White won the award in 2007-08.

He will have to improve his woeful 3-point percentage — he shot just 27.5% last year — but just a modest jump in production elsewhere should make him a contender. He averaged 14.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals as the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year last year.

It was a remarkable season for Rice, who spent the previous year receiving treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He went into remission in June 2023 and told reporters at Big Ten Media Days that he’s put on more weight and feels like he’s in the best condition of his career.

Another reason to be bullish on Rice’s prospects for this season is his level of maturity — he’s going into his third collegiate season — and the way he’s taken the reins of the team. That’s a struggle for some transfers, but Rice established himself as a locker room leader right off the bat.

“It’s amazing to see,” Indiana guard Trey Galloway said. “There’s no one like him that I’ve played with ever. The way he’s able to talk to guys and be that influencer on the court is very special to see.”

Indiana basketball will still be one of Big Ten’s worst 3-point shooting teams

Indiana’s 3-point shooting has been a source of frustration for fans during Woodson’s tenure. The Hoosiers ranked 12th in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting last year (32.4%) and dead last in 3-point attempts (15.5).

That’s nothing new — IU has ranked last in the conference in 3-point attempts in each of Woodson’s three seasons.

Will Indiana shoot more 3-pointers this season? Probably, the addition of Luke Goode will be a volume shooter off the bench, but he won’t be able to lift the Hoosiers team average all by himself.

They shot 22.7% (10 of 44) from 3-point range in a pair of exhibition games and much of the success they had against Marian came in the second half when they were just running up the score.

The difference for the Hoosiers this year is that they are better positioned to make up for that lack of production. Rice is going to push the tempo and that should mean more possessions and points off fast breaks.

Indiana basketball will reach the Sweet Sixteen

Indiana should be in the mix for a Big Ten title, but they are better positioned to make a tournament run in March.

The Big Ten will debut a new 20-game scheduling model this year as it expands to 18 teams. Each member school will face three opponents both home and away and the other 14 teams once. Those games are split evenly with seven at home and seven on the road.

Indiana’s conference schedule looks fairly daunting with a run of road games running from January into February — IU plays six of nine games on the road after facing Rutgers on Jan. 2 — and that could make it hard for the program to compete for the regular season title.

The timing of the Hoosiers’ West Coast swing in March isn’t ideal either with it coming so late in the year with little time to rest on either side of the trip.

Indiana’s reward for that punishing schedule should be a battle-tested team in the tournament capable of going toe-to-toe with whoever they draw in the early rounds.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.