Luke Goode = Nick Zeisloft 2.0
Remember IU basketball All-Star role player Nick Zeisloft? Well, Mike Woodson may have just reincarnated Zeisloft's silky shooting stroke from back in the day.
Prior to the start of Zeisloft's junior season (2014-2015) at the college ranks, he elected to relocate his net shredding regime to B-Town. That Indiana team was not dim on threats from downtown, with the 3-headed guard attack of Yogi Ferrell (41.6%), James Blackmon Jr. (38.7%) and Robert Johnson (38.8%) leading one of the nation's most pure shooting teams from beyond the arc (40.3% from deep in 2014-15 as a collective squad).
Zeisloft, who shot a scorching 45.0% from 3 during that particular season, somehow only managed to finish 3rd on the team in 3-point percentage behind Collin Hartman (47.5%) and Troy Williams (46.2% on only 13 total attempts, so we will let you be the judge on who the true runner-up in this department was).
Needless to say, the burden to bury buckets from the great beyond was not super heavy on the transfer from Illinois State. Still, his presence on the floor was a deadly weapon for Tom Crean to utilize.
In Goode's case, there will be a bit more pressure on the transfer from Illinois to infuse some sweet string music via his shooting stroke into a depth chart very devoid of it. Here were the 3-point numbers for the returnees from last season's brick-laying efforts:
Malik Reneau | 33.3% on 1.4 attempts per game
Mackenzie Mgbako | 32.7% on 4.6 attempts per game
Trey Galloway | 26.0% on 3.2 attempts per game
Gabe Cupps | 35.9% on 1.2 attempts per game
Anthony Leal | 47.4% on 0.9 attempts per game
*Jakai Newton is a returnee but did not suit up a single second last season due to injury. He is not renowned for having a wet jumper in spite of his explosive scoring package.*
If you find those putrid percentages alarming, we would recommend looking away from the following 2023-2024 shooting figures for the other fellow IUBB newbies:
Myles Rice | 27.5% on 3.7 attempts per game
Oumar Ballo | 0% on 0 total attempts across 4 NCAA seasons
Kanaan Carlyle | 32.0% on 4.3 attempts per game
*Bryson Tucker's exact numbers from outside could not quite be pinpointed, but his scouting report + film suggest that Hoosier fans should not get their hopes up in regards to his shot just yet.*
Each of these guys are undoubtedly going to provide strong contributions to this team, it is just that none of them (aside from Leal, who shot a grand total of just 19 treys last season) have proven that they can be counted on to can triples consistently. Enter the sharpshooter Goode, who has connected on 38.8% of his career 2.9 3-point attempts per game (including 38.9% on 4.1 attempts a night in 2023-2024), and Mike Woodson's ongoing quest to relieve this team's itch for shooting has been (partially) addressed.
Perhaps he will not be able to surpass the surreal 43.2% hit rate on 4.3 attempts from deep per game that Zeisloft produced across his two campaigns in the cream and crimson, but if Goode can replicate at least a portion of that production (say 40% on 4.0 attempts from downtown a night) then he will have successfully done what he came here to do.
Luke Goode's light with Indiana will be greener than the other side, and he would be wise to study film on IU icon Nick Zeisloft repeatedly until the whistle blows and the games begin.