Indiana Hoosiers Basketball

Archie Miller's continued rebuild of the Indiana basketball program landed a major piece Tuesday, as 5-star guard Khristian Lander announced his commitment to the Hoosiers.

https://twitter.com/khristianlander/status/1232485320177803268

Lander is a class of 2021 recruit but is considering reclassifying into the 2020 class, per Jeff Borzello of ESPN. He is currently considered the No. 11 overall player and top-ranked point guard in 2021, per 247Sports. 

A Francis Joseph Reitz School product in Evansville, Indiana, Lander was also considering Memphis, Louisville and Michigan.

Lander complimented the Indiana fanbase as one of the best he's experienced.

"The fanbase is crazy there," Lander told Chris Evans of Rivals in October. "The student section goes until forever and it is pretty exciting there."

Lander would be Indiana's first commitment of the 2021 recruiting class. If he reclassifies to the 2020 class, he would be Miller's fourth commitment and first 5-star player. Lander would massively improve a group that currently ranks 28th in the country and has no players currently ranked inside the top 100 nationally, per 247Sports. 

Hall of Fame coach Bobby Knight returned to Indiana University's Assembly Hall on Saturday for the first time since he was fired as the Hoosiers' men's basketball coach in 2000.

Knight, who was present as part of the celebration for the 1980 Big Ten championship-winning Indiana team, received a hugely positive response from the crowd:

Warm welcome back for Bob Knight's long-awaited return to Assembly Hall 🙏

(via @BigTenNetwork)pic.twitter.com/FXH0vnZUoY

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 8, 2020

As the 79-year-old Knight made his way through the tunnel and onto the court, fans chanted his name in unison:

Bobby Knight returns. @IndianaMBB x #Hoosiers pic.twitter.com/924VNHKKkG

— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) February 8, 2020

Knight also showed some of his trademark fire and intensity during the ceremony:

They act like to two legends cannot co-exist. @IndianaMBB x #Hoosiers pic.twitter.com/HkHrWH9cN0

— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) February 8, 2020

Bob Knight still had some intensity in him. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Cjhrql1Ar9

— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) February 8, 2020

During his 29 seasons as the head coach at Indiana, Knight went 662-239 and led the Hoosiers to 11 Big Ten titles, five Final Four appearances and three national championships.

The decision to fire Knight in 2000 created a schism between the legendary coach and Indiana University, and according to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), Knight turned down many opportunities to appear at events over the years.

Knight even opted against being present for his induction into the Indiana University athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.

The decision to fire Knight came shortly after video that showed him choking player Neil Reed during a 1997 practice surfaced in 2000. Knight was then hired to be the head coach at Texas Tech in 2001, and he spent seven years at the helm for the Red Raiders.

Overall, Knight went 902-371 during his college coaching career when also taking into account his time at Army prior to joining Indiana. Among Division I men's basketball coaches, Knight is third on the all-time wins list behind Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim.

Knight was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Despite the energy that Knight's return gave the crowd Saturday, the Hoosiers fell 74-62 to the rival Purdue Boilermakers, dropping their record to 15-8 on the season.

It's been 20 years since Bob Knight stepped foot in Assembly Hall to see the Indiana Hoosiers play. 

That streak is expected to end Saturday.

The Hall of Fame coach who led the Hoosiers to three national titles during his 29-year tenure has made plenty of appearances around Bloomington since moving back last year, but attending an IU basketball game has remained a long shot—until now, according to Tom Brew of Sports Illustrated. 

Knight will likely attend Saturday's rivalry game between Indiana and Purdue at 2:00 p.m. ET. 

Seth Davis of The Athletic noted that while the school is expecting Knight to return, there have been instances in the past where he has committed to show up to Assembly Hall only for the coach to change his mind at the last minute. 

Knight was fired in 2000 for violating a zero tolerance policy the school put in place after video emerged of the coach choking then-Hoosier Neil Reed.

Despite that, Knight has remained beloved by many IU fans with school officials trying to convince him to return to campus for years now. 

Indiana is honoring the 1979-80 team Knight coached to a 21-8 record before losing in the Sweet 16. Also expected to attend the game is former Purdue coach Gene Keady and former Hoosier Scott May, who distanced himself from the school after Knight's firing. 

Jordan Geronimo committed to Indiana on Monday, he announced on Instagram.

Geronimo, a 4-star recruit, is the No. 98 player and No. 22 small forward in the 2020 recruiting class, per 247Sports' composite rankings. Georgia, Penn State, Virginia Tech and Texas A&M were among the programs that offered him a scholarship, and he had an unofficial visit with Virginia earlier this month.

Geronimo is the third commit for the Hoosiers in 2020, joining shooting guards Anthony Leal and Trey Galloway.

ESPN's Adam Finkelstein provided a snapshot of Geronimo's game:

.@spsmbb & @RivalsNation wing Jordan Geronimo committed to Indiana following his official visit.

Still very new to the game but massive upside with great length & athleticism, defensive tools, & shooting touch to develop.

— Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) September 3, 2019

A native of Concord, New Hampshire, the 6'6" forward participated in the Adidas Gauntlet Finale, where 247Sports' Brian Snow considered him one of the standout performers:

"A true July breakout performer, Geronimo again showed why he is reeling in high-major offers at a high rate. While he can be inconsistent, Geronimo has all the physical tools you could want in a hybrid forward. He stands around 6-foot-6, has excellent length, is a very good athlete, and then also has the ability to make shots from deep. The next step for Geronimo is to be more consistent with his production, and that definitely seems like an attainable goal. With back to back impressive showings, look for Geronimo to make a huge leap in the next batch of rankings."

Since hiring Archie Miller in March 2017, Indiana is 35-31 overall with a 17-21 record in the Big Ten. Nobody is putting Miller on the hot seat right now, but the Hoosiers' performance hasn't exactly met expectations under his watch.

The results have been similarly mixed on the recruiting trail.

Miller assembled the No. 10 class—a group headlined by Romeo Langford—in 247Sports' team rankings for 2018, but the 2019 class slipped to 53rd. Indiana sat 18th ahead of the 2020 season prior to Geronimo's commitment.

Although Miller doesn't yet have the Hoosiers on even footing with Kentucky and Duke, he's attracting the kind of talent that will make the program a tournament mainstay again.

Geronimo in particular is a valuable addition with Devonte Green approaching his senior year. At 9.4 points per game, Green is the team's leading returning scorer from 2018-19 following the departures of Langford and Juwan Morgan.

When Green graduates, Miller will need somebody to fill the void offensively from the wing. That's a role Geronimo could play once he arrives on campus.

Bob Knight is heading back to Indiana—not in a coaching capacity, however.

The legendary college basketball head coach reportedly bought a home with his wife, Karen, just three miles away from Assembly Hall, where the Indiana Hoosiers play basketball, according to Dana Hunsinger Benbow of the Indianapolis Star.

Per that report, the Knights "signed property records last week for a 4,840-square-foot home in Bloomington in the Shadow Creek subdivision across from College Mall on Moore's Pike, according to Monroe County Assessor's records."

The 78-year-old Knight coached Indiana for 29 seasons, going 659-242 with three national titles and five trips to the Final Four from 1971 to 2000. He was a legend with the Hoosiers, though his return to Indiana will perhaps send shivers down the spines of chairs everywhere in the state.     

In a sign he may have buried the 19-year grudge against Indiana University, Bob Knight was on the campus Saturday to take in the Hoosiers' baseball doubleheader versus Penn State. 

The Big Ten Network tweeted video of Knight riding around the campus in a golf cart:

Great to see the 🐐 back on campus!

Coach Bobby Knight takes in @IndianaBASE's game today vs. Penn State!#GoIU pic.twitter.com/OS1XRSkBq6

— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) April 6, 2019

Knight even talked to Jim Coyle of ESPN 97.7 in Evansville about his return to Bloomington for the first time since 2000:

https://twitter.com/agrahamIU/status/1114587672352313344

In a 2017 interview on The Dan Patrick Show (h/t CBS Sports' Kyle Boone), Knight said he had "no interest in ever going back to" Indiana because of the university's hierarchy at the time of his firing. The legendary coach added "I hope they’re all dead" in reference to the administrators who dismissed him. 

Time, it seems, heals some of those wounds. Knight went 659-242 and won three national titles in 29 seasons with the Hoosiers from 1971-2000. 

The Indiana Hoosiers will be without their leading scorer for Tuesday's NIT game against the St. Francis Red Flash.

According to Mike Miller of the Herald Times, guard Romeo Langford was in street clothes before the game and will not play. Zach Osterman of the Indianapolis Star noted he was dealing with a back injury.

It is not unrealistic to think Langford won't play another game in an Indiana uniform after it missed the NCAA tournament and with this injury.

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman projected the freshman as the No. 9 overall pick in his last mock draft and pointed to his ability as a ball-handler in the pick-and-roll and isolation situations.

Langford averaged 16.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists a night in 32 games this season. While he needs to improve his outside shooting to thrive in the NBA after hitting just 27.2 percent of his three-pointers, his upside as someone who can score attacking the basket and use his physicality in the lane and on the boards at 6'6" stands out.

The Hoosiers are a No. 1 seed in their NIT bracket but may have to go through a combination of Providence, Arkansas, Clemson or Furman to reach the Final Four in Madison Square Garden.

That will be a tall task if Langford is sidelined throughout the tournament.

Indiana is a good team that has had a bad season. Maybe. Or maybe Indiana is a mediocre team that has had a mediocre season. IU probably is not a bad team that has had a kind-of-good season, although that is an available interpretation too.

The 2019 Hoosiers are the quintessential bubble team—a confounding mix of good wins, a pile of losses, a star player and a blue-blood history that, like it or not, always plays a role in these things.

Indiana lost its 15th game of the year Thursday, exiting the Big Ten tournament with a 79-75 defeat to the now 19-14 Ohio State. Under most circumstances, a 15-loss team would not get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, but Indiana is the ultimate stress test for the men's selection committee.

On the one hand, that's a whole lot of losses—would a team with a different name on its chest even be considered at 17-15? On the other hand, you don't have to squint to see a good team hiding inside that awful record.

In the last three weeks, Indiana has beaten two ranked teams, No. 19 Wisconsin and No. 6 Michigan State. In November, IU blew out No. 24 Marquette and followed that with quality wins over Louisville and Butler. The Hoosiers got demolished by Duke during the nonconference season, but entering the new year, Indiana was 11-2 and looked like it had the horsepower to compete for the Big Ten championship.

Then the engine blew up.

The Hoosiers went 1-12 between Jan. 6 and Feb. 22 and got the No. 9 seed in the Big Ten tournament.

So what do you do with that if you're the selection committee? If the goal is simply to reward the most accomplished teams with at-large bids, Indiana probably doesn't qualify. But if you're looking to put the best possible teams in the field, the question gets more complicated.

In Romeo Langford, Indiana has one of the best NBA prospects in college basketball, and sweeping Michigan State proves the Hoosiers are capable of beating any squad in the country when they're playing well...which is about half the time.

Statistically, there is evidence IU is better than its record indicates. The Hoosiers were the second-best shooting team in the Big Ten this year (45.9 percent from the field), and they finished sixth in the league in scoring (71.5 points per game), third in blocks (4.44) and fifth in steals (6.53). Their biggest deficiency is their 31.4 percent three-point shooting, which is a concern of some significance in the modern space-and-pace era.

It would be rare and controversial to put a team with Indiana's resume in the tournament, but it does have a recent precedent. In 2016 and 2017, Vanderbilt got at-large bids with records of 19-14 and 19-16, respectively.

An older but better comparison would be Villanova in 1991. The Wildcats got an at-large bid despite a 16-14 record and a loss in the Big East semifinals. But they beat five ranked teams that year, got a No. 9 seed and still have the distinction of "team with the worst record that won an NCAA tournament game."

And that has to be a factor. No matter what you think of Indiana's team this year, the history of the NCAA tournament suggests a team with this many losses will almost certainly lose its first game and has no chance of making the Sweet 16.

But do you really believe that? Do you really believe this Indiana team is incapable of winning two tournament games? The Hoosiers couldn't get in as a No. 10 seed, beat a No. 7 and then take down a No. 2 seed along the lines of, oh, Michigan State?

Indiana puts the selection committee in a philosophical bind. Doing what's "fair" probably means giving that at-large bid to a team with fewer than 15 losses, and there are plenty of good candidates. But doing what's "best" for the tournament may mean taking a chance on a tantalizing but deeply flawed Hoosiers team.

The safe move for the selection committee would be to leave out Indiana. Nobody is going be saying the Hoosiers got screwed if they don't get in. Nobody will rip the committee for going with some team with a better record.

But if keeping everybody happy is your jam, being on the selection committee is probably not the gig for you. The job is to put the best teams in the tournament.

And on Selection Sunday, Indiana's fate will tell us a lot about how the committee is making that judgment.

The Indiana Hoosiers are one of the greatest programs in men's college basketball history.

Or at least they used to be.

They have played in 39 NCAA tournaments, reaching eight Final Fours and winning five national championships. In all three categories, the Hoosiers rank in the top 10. They are also just outside the top 10 in all-time wins with more than 1,800.

For more than two decades, Indiana practically was college basketball. From 1973-93, the Hoosiers finished in the top 10 of the AP poll 12 times and won a total of 38 NCAA tournament games, including three national championships.

Though there have been a few spirited challengers in recent years, that 1975-76 Hoosiers team is still the most recent to win a title with an undefeated record (32-0). 

Bob Knight's eventual exit from Bloomington was far from amicable, but it'd be next to impossible to relive that era of hoops without remembering Knight's red sweater (and often-red face) patrolling the sidelines of Assembly Hall.

But for the sizable percentage of college basketball fans who are 35 or younger, it's even more difficult to remember a time when Indiana mattered.

Sure, the Millennials have been informed that Indiana is a blue-blood program, but listening to Hoosiers fans talk about when the team was great is akin to hearing grandpa's tales of paying a nickel for a candy bar or walking 10 miles to school every day, in the snow, uphill, both ways.

Aside from one improbable run to the 2002 national championship game as a No. 5 seed, there's nothing about the past quarter century which suggests the Hoosiers are among the nation's elite.

Compare Indiana's play over the past 16 years to that of the other blue-blood programs—Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA—and you're likely to start singing that Sesame Street song in your head: "One of these things is not like the other; one of these things just doesn't belong."

  

Blue-Blood Programs since 2003-04 season:

Duke: 461-108 (81.0%), 15 NCAA tournaments, three Final Fours, two titles
Kansas: 468-103 (82.0%), 15 NCAA tournaments, three Final Fours, one title
Kentucky: 438-131 (77.0%), 13 NCAA tournaments, four Final Fours, one title
UNC: 447-131 (77.3%), 14 NCAA tournaments, five Final Fours, three titles
UCLA: 365-177 (67.3%), 11 NCAA tournaments, three Final Fours
Indiana: 290-224 (56.4%), seven NCAA tournaments, zero Final Fours

Records through Tuesday night.

   

Sum it all up and Indiana has missed more tournaments since 2004 (eight) than the other five teams combined (seven). And barring some sort of miraculous run through the Big Ten conference tournament—an event they have yet to win in 21 tries—the Hoosiers are likely to miss the Big Dance yet again in a few weeks. This fact remains despite IU finally ending a 1-12 streak with a surprise last-second win over Wisconsin on Tuesday night.

Initially, the big problem was an inability to recruit as well without Knight. From 1977-2000, Indiana signed 21 McDonald's All-Americans—just shy of one per year. But from 2001-10, the Hoosiers inked a grand total of three.

Recruiting improved drastically after the move from Mike Davis to Kelvin Sampson, but that's because he was breaking NCAA rules and got busted for it. Sampson was fired midway through his second season and sanctions were levied against Indiana in 2008, followed by the program going in the tank for Tom Crean's first three years as head coach.

That doesn't explain the current woes, though. That was more than a decade ago, and the Hoosiers even had a brief resurgence shortly thereafter.

Fueled by Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo, Indiana reached the Sweet 16 in 2012 and was a No. 1 seed in the 2013 NCAA tournament. The Hoosiers also had top-10 recruiting classes in 2012 and 2013 and seemed to be rebuilding one heck of a foundation.

However, that momentum vanished just as quickly as it appeared.

Five years and another coaching change passed before Indiana's next top-20 recruiting class. The Hoosiers missed the tournament one year after earning that No. 1 seed. And then before the 2014-15 season could even begin, one Hoosier hit another with a car in what became a microcosm of how anything could and would go wrong within the program.

Key players like James Blackmon, OG Anunoby, Juwan Morgan and Jerome Hunter suffered significant injuries. Other should-have-been-key players like Stanford Robinson, Luke Fischer and Curtis Jones transferred out before ever making a real impact.

This year was supposed to be different, though.

Winning the Romeo Langford sweepstakes by convincing the high school legend to remain in-state for his (presumed) only season of college basketball meant great things were coming for the Hoosiers. Archie Miller—finally surrounded with more talent than he could have dreamed of getting at Dayton—was supposed to have his breakthrough year, validating the school's decision to send Crean packing after the 2016-17 season.

Instead, the Hoosiers have wasted a great start to the year by losing 12 of their last 14 games. They are well on the way to just their fifth .500 or worse season since 1970.

At this point, the team just seems to be cursed.

It's entirely possible that Indiana will be great again one day soon. In spite of needing to replace leading scorers Morgan (senior) and Langford (projected lottery pick), there's plenty of reason to be optimistic about next season.

The Hoosiers have signed a 2019 5-star big man in Trayce Jackson-Davis, and they are still in the hunt for uncommitted 5-star small forward Keion Brooks. They'll also add Hunter as a redshirt freshman, joining his fellow 2018 4-star recruits Rob Phinisee and Damezi Anderson. Factor in the veteran leadership of De'Ron Davis, Devonte Green, Justin Smith and Aljami Durham and that could be a damn fine rotation.

Alternatively, it might be another season of battling for position in the middle (or bottom) of the Big Ten standings due to a combination of injuries, under-performing and general disarray.

If it's the latter and that continues to serve as Indiana's new normal for much longer, it might be time to discuss revoking its blue-blood status.

          

Recruiting information courtesy 247 Sports.

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.

A week ago, Nike stock shares took a hit after Zion Williamson blew out his shoe.

Adidas could be in a similar situation after Indiana's Justin Smith saw his shoe come apart in Tuesday's game against Wisconsin.

Robert Scheer of the Indianapolis Star passed along a photo of the aftermath:

Justin Smith's blown apart Adidas shoe, IU men's game vs. Badgers. pic.twitter.com/m7rumc67Sy

— Robert "Bob" Scheer (@bobscheer) February 27, 2019

Smith was uninjured on the play and had 10 points at the time of publication.

Sometimes shoes break. It happens. It's a bit embarrassing for companies when it happens—not some sort of indictment on their shoe-making process.

Perhaps this could be a lesson for players to wear shoes that better fit their body type. Williamson, a 6'7", 285-pound behemoth, was wearing lightweight PGs. His body type is probably more fit for a sturdier shoe like the LeBrons.

Smith isn't a small guy at 6'7" and 227 pounds, so maybe Indiana's staff needs to look into a pair that better supports him.