Indiana basketball’s 2023–24 season is rapidly coming to an end and drawing its last breath, barring a postseason miracle.
The Hoosiers still have a lot of explaining to do, even though they probably couldn’t have predicted this season would go as badly as it has—15-13 overall, 7-10 in Big Ten play, and definitely out of the NCAA Tournament picture.
Xavier Johnson, a sixth-year starting point guard who has missed 13 games this season due to injury, is one piece of the jigsaw, but it doesn’t fully explain Indiana’s ongoing problems. But while attempting to sum up IU’s decline, one word has come to light: youth.
Over the past few weeks and months, IU coach Mike Woodson has reiterated that Indiana’s roster is largely “new” and “young,” trying to build cohesion as the season has progressed. Woodson seemingly isn’t alone in that thinking, though, as Johnson, a team captain, echoed Woodson’s sentiments Friday morning.
“I saw some games, the other teams were older than us and they actually know how to win,” Johnson said in a Zoom press conference. “Our young guys, they’re still learning.”
Indiana entered this season with seven scholarship underclassmen and six scholarship transfers. The expectation was that the Hoosiers would need at least several games to gel in the non-conference season, and by the time Big Ten play rolled around Woodson and IU would have most of the growing pains figured out.
But that has not happened, at least not for any successful stretch.
With three regular-season games remaining, Indiana is in 10th place in the conference standings, 105th in the NET rankings and own a disappointing 3-8 combined record against Quad-1 and Quad-2 opponents. Factor in the multitude of double-digit losses, letdown performances at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall and overall lack of consistency, and put simply, Indiana has not been good enough this season when it’s mattered.
“It has been an up and down year. I’m proud of my guys for going out there and competing with what we have,” Johnson said. “We’re a young team, and I really, really feel in a good place about my team. I feel like they competed to where they wanted to win every game.”
Johnson has had as intimate a view of Indiana’s struggles as anyone. Though he’s had two separate injury stints sideline him for multiple weeks, Johnson has sat at the front of the bench for every IU game this season.
There’s no denying that Johnson’s absence has negatively impacted the Hoosiers’ potential this season, but to what extent? In the words of Woodson after IU’s win over Wisconsin last Tuesday, “every day I go to bed thinking about what this team could have been like if we had X earlier.”
Would a fully healthy Johnson have turned around this season, though? Perhaps his presence would’ve made a difference in a few losses, but this is an Indiana team that’s still just two games above .500, with roster concerns that are far greater than any single player.
“I would definitely say it would have to do with dual injuries,” Johnson said. “I was a big, big key to this team to be successful, and I’ve been out for about two months and that wasn’t planned at all. I tried to stay healthy the whole time. I’m still trying to get back to 100 percent.”
Added Johnson: “It’s just certain movements that I can’t really do. You see with my left hand, I can’t really bring the ball back up as much. I dribble most of my dribbles with my left hand. So, it’s kind of been hard, but it’s something that I want to push through, because I want to finish my college career out the right way.”
That Johnson openly admitted to his health status being less than 100 percent is eyebrow-raising. While it’s clear he wants to finish his college career on his own terms — playing alongside his teammates in an IU uniform — it also signals that IU is doing whatever it can to salvage the rest of this season, including playing Johnson despite his less-than-100-percent status.
Perhaps it will work out successfully and Indiana can scrape together a few more wins before the season comes to a close. If that turns out to be the case, then the Hoosiers’ upcoming offseason might be even more intriguing than it’s already shaping up to be.
But for now, Woodson, Johnson and IU’s “young team” will attempt to put together a miracle run in this final stretch. Whether or not it actually comes to fruition is anyone’s best guess.
“The job’s not finished,” Johnson said. “We got to get polished for the Big Ten Tournament because that’s probably going to be our last shot at making the NCAA (Tournament).”
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