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Indiana Basketball: 2017-18 season preview for the Hoosiers

By Tristan Freeman

BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 15: A Indiana Hoosiers cheerleader performs during the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Assembly Hall on January 15, 2017 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 15: A Indiana Hoosiers cheerleader performs during the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Assembly Hall on January 15, 2017 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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BLOOMINGTON, IN – JANUARY 15: A Indiana Hoosiers cheerleader performs during the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Assembly Hall on January 15, 2017 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN – JANUARY 15: A Indiana Hoosiers cheerleader performs during the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Assembly Hall on January 15, 2017 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

With a new head coach and culture coming in, Indiana basketball seems to be rebuilding. What does this 2017-18 season have in store for the Hoosiers?

In a lot of ways, it just never felt as if Tom Crean was fully accepted by the Hoosiers faithful. There were questions as to whether Crean could take the program to the next level. While he certainly had some flaws as a coach, many were just waiting for the bottom to fall out before grabbing the pitchforks and torches.

Then Fort Wayne happened. Losing on the road to a middle-of-the-road Summit League team as the No. 3 ranked team in the country created headlines for days. Those were not good headlines for the basketball team, as their fortunes only got worse with the season ending injury to future NBA first round pick OG Anunoby. That injury started a downward spiral that ended with missing the NCAA tournament.

Even though the season started out with top-five wins against Kansas and North Carolina, the losses to Nebraska and Iowa didn’t help towards the end of the season. With Indiana only two games over .500 at 18-16 and under .500 in conference play (7-11), the coach wasn’t going to be able to save his job. After nine years at the helm, Cream was ultimately let go.

Indiana is a top-ten basketball job, so there were plenty of suitors. They decided on Archie Miller, the former Dayton coach who took the Flyers on multiple runs in the tournament. The A-10 squad has seen their fair share of success of this past decade, but only time will tell if it was a great hire.

Miller will be coming into the season without three of the previous season’s top four scorers, including Anunoby, center Thomas Bryant, and James Blackmon, who all went pro. There are not many proven scorers on this season’s rosters, so it will be a grit and grind team this time around, something Miller is accustomed to.

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