One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for IUBB

Just when Mike Woodson and the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team had the vibes back on the upswing, prized incoming 2024 freshman Liam McNeeley's sudden de-commitment came out of nowhere to rain on the cream and crimson's parade.

The Hoosiers are currently in the midst of a 3-game winning streak following the team's ugliest stretch of the 2023-2024 campaign (4-game skid in the game's immediately preceding the present late season push). While the team's hot streak still does not yield much hope in terms of championship aspirations this season, at least the fanbase had a potentially stacked roster primed to make some serious noise to look forward to in 2024-2025.

Now, those daydreams have been put on pause, and the entire program and fanbase alike must keep all focus on closing out the remainder of the present season (where the focus should be anyways) as strongly as possible. This team is no stranger to adversity, as they have dealt with various obstacles such as injuries, calls for coaching changes, unsportsmanlike behavior from the players and more throughout the entire duration of what has been a roller coaster of a campaign.

Through all of the twists and turns, the squad has stuck together and has never looked better than they have the past few games. They have pushed through all of the noise and all of the nonsense just to get to this point, and now they will have to get back up from what feels like a haymaker of a change of heart.

With so much forward momentum and things seemingly turning around heading into the final game of the regular season (Sunday vs. Michigan State), this was not the type of news that is going to bring about any type of happiness inside of the Indiana locker room. Hopefully, it will ignite a fire inside of the team and spark sustained steps forward as the entire program collectively catches it's breath from the devastating loss of Liam McNeeley.