Mike Woodson has said repeatedly how good it is to be home.
For the most part, it has meant a return to Indiana University, where he was a four-year star from 1977-1980.
But Friday he was truly back home – in Indianapolis where he grew up and played high school ball at Broad Ripple – for his first appearance at the Big Ten Media Days as the head coach of the Hoosiers.
Woodson was named the head coach in March after Archie Miller was fired following four lackluster seasons and hit the ground running.
After all, Woodson has spent nearly all of the past three decades coaching in the NBA.
“When I took the job, it was on the fly,” Woodson said. “I had to put a staff in place, which I thought the guys that we brought in, they know the college game. They’ve helped me kind of navigate through the recruiting process, the things I can do and can’t do.
“Then just the college game in general from a basketball standpoint; it’s a little different than the pros.”
Woodson got a jump on the season by taking the Hoosiers on a trip to the Bahamas, where they played a pair of exhibition games against a pro team from Serbia.
“That trip was great for me because it gave me an opportunity to put some things in on both sides of the ball, and it gave our team an opportunity to get to the Bahamas and bond.”
Bonding was important this year as Woodson brought in four new players – guards Tamar Bates and Xavier Johnson, forward Miller Kopp and center Michael Durr — to fill holes in the roster he inherited.
“I’m looking at our roster where everybody’s got to step up,” Woodson said. “Everybody’s got to play a role. We just can’t depend on Trayce (Jackson-Davis) to carry the load.”
But Jackson-Davis will play a huge part in how successful the team will be this season. The junior forward led the Hoosiers in scoring (19.0 points per game) and rebounding (9.0) last season.
For the Indiana women’s team, there’s not a lot of holes to fill.
The Hoosiers return all five starters from a team that finished second in the Big Ten last season and made its deepest ever run in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Elite Eight before losing to Arizona.
“We’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like to make a deep run,” eighth-year head coach Teri Moren said. “It only fuels you and only inspires you with returning to Bloomington and starting your work all over again.”
Guard Grace Berger and forward Mackenzie Holmes were named first team All-Big Ten last season, and guard Ali Patberg was named to the second team.
Moren says all three, and the rest of the returning players, aren’t satisfied with making the Elite Eight last season. After all, until recently, the Hoosiers rarely reached the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re always going to play with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” Moren said. “We’re never going to believe we’ve arrived. And that’s what makes this team so special, they understand that. They understand there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
