Author: Mike Schumann

Indiana guard Myles Rice played a starring role in Indiana’s 87-71 win over South Carolina on Saturday. The redshirt sophomore point guard posted 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and he added four rebounds and three assists. South Carolina was intent on limiting Rice’s effectiveness by keeping him out of the paint and forcing him to shoot pull-up jump shots.  The method utilized by the Gamecocks was a ball screen defensive tactic known as drop coverage. First, what is drop coverage?  It’s when the help defenders on ball screens don’t extend out to the perimeter to take away jump shots, and…

Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke is still wearing something on his right thumb.  Whether it’s tape, a bandage or something else that could be seen when he met with the media on Tuesday evening isn’t entirely clear. But the 24-year-old has clearly progressed from the injury he suffered against Nebraska a month ago. When Rourke first played following his broken thumb at Michigan State, he wore a glove and utilized a stint.  The gameday setup was clearly scaled down against Michigan the following week. And now with the benefit of a week off, Rourke is happy with where things stand with…

Indiana vs. Ohio State will officially be a top-5 matchup on Saturday. The Hoosiers held at No. 5 in the latest update of the CFP rankings released by the Selection Committee Tuesday evening live on ESPN. IU will face No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus this Saturday (Noon ET, FOX). Two projected conference champions — Miami and Boise State — are ranked lower than IU but each claim one of the top four spots in the bracket.  That bumps No. 5 ranked IU to the No. 7 seed in the bracket. In the latest projection, IU would host No. 10…

It seems nothing gets the teeth of college football’s old guard gnashing like a good season by Indiana. You’re probably old enough to remember 2020, when the CFP Committee gave the Hoosiers no respect, while the Big Ten broke their own rules to keep IU out of the Big Ten Championship game. Fast forward to 2024, and Indiana has folks steaming once again.  The 10-0 Hoosiers are No. 5 in the CFP, clearly lower than any power-brand Big Ten team would be ranked with an unblemished record.  Look no further than the two one-loss Big Ten teams above them in…

Coming into the Michigan game, Indiana was one of the best teams in the country when it came to protecting the quarterback. IU is still No. 14 nationally with just 11 sacks allowed through 10 games, but four of those came in one game — against the Wolverines in IU’s last outing. Michigan recorded 16 total quarterback pressures — half of Kurtis Rourke’s 32 drop backs — including five hits on the indispensable IU star quarterback. Was this a case of Indiana’s offensive line being out of sorts after losing starting guard Drew Evans for the season during the week…

If Curt Cignetti can flip Indiana from 3-9 to 10-0, imagine what he could do at Florida, Oklahoma or Auburn? That’s what a lot of people were thinking as Indiana continued to rack up impressive win after impressive win. And IU AD Scott Dolson knew every top program in America looking to make a change would have Cignetti at or near the top of their list. What if Cignetti got an offer that more than doubled his IU salary at one of the game’s traditional power brands? Dolson wanted to defuse the situation by getting ahead of the poachers.  The…

Indiana continued to expand their class of 2027 offer list over the weekend. Mike Woodson and staff formally offered Illinois-based guard Davion Thompson, he announced on his X account. Thompson attends Bolingbrook H.S. in Bolingbrook, Ill.  The 6-foot-2 lefty combo guard was incredibly efficient for his age in 2023-24.  He averaged 19.2 points per game as a high school freshman while shooting 59 percent overall and 45 percent from 3-point range.  Thompson added five rebounds and led his team to the sectional finals and a 27–5 record. On film Thompson has high-level shot mechanics and gets to his spots off…

The eyes of the college football world will be on Indiana Saturday. No. 5 Indiana vs. No. 2 Ohio State is one of just two games this weekend involving two ranked teams, with the other being No. 24 Army at No. 8 Notre Dame. With the game in Columbus being the marquee matchup of the weekend, the premiere college football pregame shows will be on location. Indiana (10-0, 7-0 B1G) travels to Ohio State (9-1, 6-1 B1G) on Saturday for a noon ET kickoff on FOX from Ohio Stadium. And the game will be the site of both FOX’s Big…

IU basketball continues to have a one man class of 2025. Top-25 forward Bryson Tiller announced a commitment to Kansas on Saturday, ending a nearly three-year recruitment of the Atlanta-based product by the Hoosiers. Indiana native Trent Sisley remains Indiana’s lone commit in the 2025 class.  A 6-foot-7 forward, Sisley is playing for Montverde Academy this season before he arrives in Bloomington next summer. IU coach Mike Woodson doesn’t have many class of 2025 targets left.  Guard Mikel Brown, forward Nate Ament and center Fridrik Leo Curtis are the three high seniors with offers to this point. Brown visited Indiana…

Despite having the week off, Indiana moved up a spot in the new coaches poll released on Sunday.  They held steady at No. 5 in the updated AP Poll. The Hoosiers are now a consensus No. 5 team across the AP Poll, the Coaches Poll and the College Football Playoff rankings. Up next for IU is consensus No. 2 Ohio State. The game will mark the first time Indiana has played in a game when both teams are ranked in the top five since the 1968 Rose Bowl.  In fact, that game is the only time the Hoosiers have played…