3 Greatest Concerns for IUBB's Rejuvenated Roster

1. SHOOTING

If there was 1 aspect of the game that had the strongest impact on shaping the overall negative outcome of last season in Bloomington, it was far and away the team's inability to hit jump shots on any type of consistent basis. Of the 363 qualifying teams in D1 hoops, Indiana slotted in at 352nd in terms of 3-pointers made per game in 2023-2024 (an even 5 makes a night). They were not much better in terms of outside efficiency, hitting just 32.4% of the team's collective triple tries (273rd).

We get the whole "that was then, this is now" thing, and there is no denying that this team should/will shoot the ball better in the season to come. Realistically, the bar is so low in the shooting department that these guys could probably toss their trey balls at the rim while blindfolded and still connect at a higher rate than last year.

Regardless, the 2023-2024 team's tragic marksmanship leaves us no choice but to pull the "believe it when we see it" card.

That being said, this updated version of the cream and crimson undoubtedly holsters some new and improved gunners. Luke Goode's shot chart consists almost exclusively of triples, and he was immediately anointed to team flamethrower status the moment that his pen hit the commitment papers.

But while Goode's right hand will surely create a strong gravitational pull from opposing defenses, is 1 certified sharpshooter sufficient on a modern basketball team?

Aside from a super small sample size of sniping from Anthony Leal (9/19 from downtown all season) the returnees were very subpar last year, and we should not need to dive into the individual percentages when you look back at the aforementioned team shooting splits.

The non-Goode newcomers should also help in this department, but it is difficult to gauge exactly what to expect from them as outside threats.

While Myles Rice (27.5%) and Kanaan Carlyle (32.0%) are electric scorers from an overall perspective, they exuded highly volatile shooting woes throughout their freshman campaigns on the West coast. Bryson Tucker (and Jakai Newton) brings a lot of special athletic gifts to the table on both sides of the ball, but knockdown shooting is not one of them. Oumar Ballo's next 3-point attempt will be the 1st of his NCAA career (132 games played).

Needless to say, this is a team with a lot of work to do in order to re-insert itself back into the mix of the top shooting squads in college basketball.