[6BS] Basketball Hires New General Manager
Hoosiers Suffer Defeat Defeat To NW That May Burst NCAA Tournament Bubble
Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, and presented by our friends at Homefield Apparel, where we highlight the five most essential IU basketball stories of the past week, plus take a look at how the other IU sports programs are doing.
IU is looking to get better for the future and did so by hiring a new staff member. However, in the meantime, this season is now headed in the wrong direction after a very costly loss to Northwestern, putting their NCAA Tournament hopes in serious question.
Additionally, we will examine Bracketology, and the women’s basketball team had its best week of the season. As usual, we will conclude with a look at the weekly shows and the rest of the Hoosier sports in action, which was led by men’s swimming and diving winning yet another Big Ten Title.
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Here is what is in this week’s edition:
IU Basketball Hires New Staff Member
Indiana Suffers Dreadful Loss to Northwestern To Put March Madness Bid In Serious Jeopardy
NCAA Bracketology
Women’s Basketball Upsets Oregon in Big Week To Clinch Big Ten Tourney Spot
Weekly Shows
Hoosier Roundup-Men’s Swimming And Diving Wins Big Ten Title
Banner #1: IU Basketball Hires New Staff Member
As this season winds down, Indiana basketball made a hire to the staff that appears to be looking towards a better future. This addition is bringing on Ryan Carr to be the team’s executive director of basketball.
Carr is a 1996 IU grad and former undergraduate manager for the basketball squad while in school, and comes from right up the road in Indianapolis after a long stint in the NBA with the Pacers. While with them, he was Senior Vice President of Player Personnel and helped build a roster that was one game from winning an NBA Championship last summer.
With NIL and the transfer portal, Carr will be tasked with helping to construct a squad that is well-balanced compared to the past. This equivalent position is becoming much more common in college sports, given the constant turnover of personnel, and IU’s choice to fill it appears to be met with optimism.
In Carr, the Hoosiers bring on a guy with professional basketball experience in a front office. However, he combines this with previous work at the college level while serving for 10-years as assistant coach at UTEP. This combination would seem to make him a perfect fit, and Carr appears excited to have this new role.
Banner #2: Indiana Suffers Dreadful Loss to Northwestern To Put March Madness Bid In Serious Jeopardy
Tuesday night against Northwestern showed why IU needs a better-constructed roster in future years. While they finally have a modern system that emphasizes the three-pointer and spacing, the lack of post players and backup options when shots don’t fall continues to haunt the team.
The game against the Wildcats was Exhibit A when it comes to this. When shots were falling in the first half, Indiana built a nine-point halftime lead. However, the Hoosiers went ice cold in the final 20 minutes, and even their best scoring options, Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson, couldn’t buy a basket.
When the long shots are falling, IU can play with anyone in the country. However, when they don’t, Indiana can lose to anyone in the conference, as evidenced by Northwestern pulling out a 72-68 win despite being towards the very bottom of the league.
Afterwards, IU coach Darian DeVries spoke, Inside the Hall had a photo gallery, Corazza wrote a Minute After and Film Session, Bozich penned Five Takeaways, and Nick Rodecap put together a column about the defeat putting Indiana’s NCAA Tourney chances in serious question.
The Hoosiers returns to action today at 3:45 pm on CBS. They will face a must-win contest against elite Michigan State at Assembly Hall. While this is a tall task, it is a game IU must find a way to win if they want any chance of salvaging their NCAA Tourney chances.
Banner #3: NCAA Bracketology
At 17-11 overall and 8-9 in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers are right on the edge of the NCAA Tournament bubble after the costly loss to the Wildcats this week. They still have a decent NET near 40.
While their metrics are somewhat improved from the previous versions of this squad due to beating struggling teams by large margins until this week, they lack many high-end wins and have struggled with other postseason squads. To put themselves back in a likely discussion for March Madness, they likely need to sweep this week, which would include two more quad-one wins and get them to 20 victories overall. However, the level of competition makes this a big ask.
Looking at Bracketology, Indiana is still right on the brink of the field at the moment. However, they can ill afford any more losses, given their precarious position as either one of the last couple of teams in or the first few out in most projections.
Inside the Hall and Assembly Call’s own Bracketologist, Andy Bottoms, projected the Hoosiers as an 11 seed earlier in the week, bound for the play-in game in Dayton. However, this was before the defeat to Northwestern, showing how precarious IU’s position is.
Banner #4: Women’s Basketball Upsets Oregon in Big Week To Clinch Big Ten Tourney Spot
Women’s basketball has surged recently and that continued this week. While it is almost certainly too late to make the NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers have now won six of eight and are getting hot down the stretch.
This week, they upset Oregon for their first victory over a projected NCAA Tournament squad this season. They followed that up by beating struggling Rutgers and Penn State. All three victories ensured IU finished above .500 overall, and as a result locked up a Big Ten Tourney berth. This feat also makes them eligible for the second-tier WNIT or WBI Tournaments to participate in some form of postseason play should they choose to accept.
Their run in the conference tourney begins as the 13-seed on Wednesday at 3:30 pm with a moderate challenge. The opponent will be 12-seed Nebraska in Indianapolis who beat the Hoosiers in Lincoln in a close game early in the league year.
Presenting Sponsor: Homefield Apparel
Homefield’s annual Black Friday sale has already begun. Use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout to get 20% off your entire order.
The item of the week for this week is the new “Hurryin’ Hoosiers” snapback hat. Both
Jerod Morris and Tony Adragna have it, and can attest to its quality and fit.
Plus, how cool is it to have an item celebrating the great teams under Branch McCracken?
Banner #5: Weekly Shows
Inside the Hall’s Podcast on the Brink returned this week. On it, Bozich is joined by Scott Agness, who covers the Pacers, to get more perspective on the Carr hire.
The Back Home Network has many shows. As a result, it was on air many times this week with programming.
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Banner #6: Hoosier Roundup-Men’s Swimming And Diving Wins Big Ten Title
Swimming and diving won the Big Ten Championship for the fifth year in a row on the men’s side.
Softball had a huge week, winning six of seven games that included victories over Boston College and USF last weekend, as well as over Charleston Southern, Elon, and UNC Greensboro this weekend.
Baseball had mixed results, this week defeating Xavier but falling to Notre Dame. They also have lost two of three to Western Kentucky so far this weekend.
Wrestling competed at the Last Chance Open.
Track and field competed at the Big Ten Championships.
Women’s golf finished ninth at the Chevron Collegiate.
Volleyball announced it will compete on a foreign tour this summer.
Thanks for your continued support of The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall. We’ll be back next weekend with a new roundup.
Now go enjoy yourself a 6-banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor
The Assembly Call is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.