Author: Mike Schumann

Bob Knight always had a large white U.S. mail basket on his desk. Like the kind you see at the post office. Why? “That was just how much mail he got,” former Indiana player and Knight assistant at Texas Tech Stew Robinson said.  “Everyone is writing him, trying to find him.  Every day he had this huge white basket of mail.” One day when they were sitting in Knight’s office at Texas Tech, the coaching legend caught Robinson off guard. “Your mother’s name was MaryAnne,” Knight said matter-of-factly to Robinson. By that time Robinson’s mother had passed away, and he…

Indiana is involved early with the top incoming sophomore in West Virginia, class of 2023 guard Maki Johnson. Johnson spent his freshman season playing on a stacked Huntington Prep roster that included more than a half dozen high major bound upperclassmen including former IU recruiting targets A.J. Hoggard, Jaemyn Brakefield and Zach Loveday. The 6-foot-4 Johnson received his first Division One scholarship offer before his freshman campaign from Akron.  Since then high majors have followed with offers coming in from Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Auburn.  Indiana joins several other programs in showing early interest according to a report…

Legendary journalist Bob Hammel recounts some of his early experiences with the game of basketball on the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame podcast. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996, Hammel was the Sports Editor of the Bloomington Herald-Times from 1966-1996 where he covered the IU Athletics beat. Prior to covering the Hoosiers, Hammel was with newspapers in Huntington, Fort Wayne, Kokomo and Indianapolis. Hammel covered more than 1,000 IU athletics contests including three men’s basketball national championship games and the school’s first eight football bowl games. The now 83 year old Hammel is still a regular at IU…

Indiana Pacers All-Star Victor Oladipo will not be joining the Pacers in Orlando next week. Instead, Oladipo told Shams Charnia of The Athletic that he will sit out the rest of the NBA season. “I really want to play, and as a competitor and teammate this is tearing me apart,” Oladipo told The Athletic. “I feel like I’m at a great place in my rehab and getting closer and closer to 100%. With all the variables, from how I have to build my 5-on-5 workload back up, to the increased risk of a soft tissue injury which could delay my…

IU Athletics announced in a press release on Friday that it was moving into Phase II of its plan to return student athletes to campus for voluntary workouts. Under the plan, the IU basketball teams and football team returned to campus in June.  To see the complete restart plan, go here. The full release from IU Athletics follows. Bloomington, Indiana – Based on the Indiana University Athletics Medical Advisory Group Phase Two Restart Plan, Indiana University Athletics is continuing the process of returning groups of its students who compete in intercollegiate athletics to campus for voluntary workouts. To promote the…

Cody Zeller had a big game when Indiana hosted Michigan in a top five matchup on February 2, 2013. The 7-foot Zeller had 19 points (on 8-of-10 shooting) and he added 10 rebounds and two blocks on the night to help lead IU to an 81-73 win in front of a raucous crowd at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. By any reasonable measure, Zeller was a dominant force as he led the Hoosiers in both scoring and rebounds in front of a prime time ESPN Gameday audience. Michigan forward and Indiana native Mitch McGary drew the assignment of trying to slow…

With local legend Bruiser Flint on the staff, Indiana dips into the Philadelphia area regularly for potential recruits. On Thursday IU reached for one of the city’s biggest stars.  The latest City of Brotherly Love talent that IU has offered a scholarship is 2022 guard Justice Williams. Recruiting analyst Pat Lawless was the first to report the offer on his Twitter page. https://twitter.com/daily_hoosier/status/1278750649845526528?s=20 The 6-foot-3 Williams is a five-star guard according to the 247Sports Composite.  He is rated the No. 25 player overall in the 2022 class and the No. 6 shooting guard according to that service.  Combo guard might…

Update:  Indiana offered Graham a scholarship on Thursday. Graham reported the offer on his Twitter page. https://twitter.com/JamesGrahamIII2/status/1278740749337722880?s=20 The original profile follows. Class of 2021 wing James Graham III has gone from relative unknown to prized recruiting target during the pandemic. According to multiple reports, including Jake Weingarten and Jake Lieberman on Twitter, Indiana is one of more than a dozen schools that has gotten involved with Graham during the last few months. The 6-foot-8 Graham led Nicolet High School in Milwaukee to a 22-3 record before the state playoffs were canceled due to the pandemic. Graham averaged 20.2 points per…

If you are an Indiana basketball fan you likely have heard of Uwe Blab, and if you are old enough you may recall his IU career. But the stories of how he arrived in the U.S. from Germany, how he chose to play at IU, and several other aspects of Blab’s life are fascinating. WAND-TV’s Gordon Voit produced a three-part series on Blab covering his high school, college and professional career. The 7-foot-1 Blab averaged 11.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game over his four year career from 1982-1985 at Indiana.  He scored 1,357 points during his IU…

What’s that you say?  Sports? Major League Baseball is on track to be the first professional league in the US to resume play this summer, and several former Hoosiers should be a part of the action. The league finalized a 60-game schedule for the 2020 season last week.  Players are expected to report to their camps by July 1, and the league says it will start the season on July 23 or 24. With organizations announcing their 60-man player pools on Sunday and 30-man rosters to be determined ahead of Opening Day, there are more opportunities than usual for former…