6-Bannersøndag is Inde i Hallen’s weekly newsletter in collaboration with The assembly call. Nearly 10,000 Indiana fans receive the newsletter each week. In addition to appearing each week on the site, you can also choose to receive 6-Banner Sunday via email. A form to subscribe by email is available at the bottom of this week’s 6 Sunday banner.
Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The assembly call and Inside the halland presented by our friends at Trueblood Real Estate Agentwhere we highlight the five most essential IU basketball stories of the past week, plus take a look at how the other IU sports programs are doing.
While the week on the calendar has changed, the biggest stories in Hoosier Nation have not. Once again, the NBA’s Summer League and recruiting take center stage as the big news that will interest IU fans.
In addition to this, Inside the Hall started a new series looking at Indiana’s incoming freshmen, some new schedule details became known, and the elite play of the Hoosiers’ big star classes was confirmed. As usual, we’ll wrap up with a look at other non-basketball topics, led by a shot at the transfer portal on the diamond.
In brief updates, IU again made a player available to the media, and Inside the Hall and assembly Call had new shows.
• Hoosiers in the NBA update
• Recruitment of updates
• Inside the Hall’s Freshmen Focus series
• Schedule updates
• Jackson-Davis and Holmes named IU Athletes of the Year
• Hoosier Roundup – IU softball star Taryn Kern transfers to Stanford
Banner #1 – Hoosiers in the NBA Update
The NBA summer league is now over. That means the next time Jalen Hood-Schifino and Trayce Jackson-Davis will see the field is when training camp begins.
For Hood-Schifino, he sat out the final contest in Las Vegas and finished averaging 13.7 points in six games for the Los Angeles Lakers. For his work, he entered into an endorsement deal with Adidas.
Meanwhile, Jackson-Davis finally took the field for the last few games after sitting out most of the competition with an injury. Jackson-Davis proved his worth by averaging 16 points per game. competition in the limited action. This included 18 points in the Golden State Warriors’ Finals.
Banner #2 – Recruiting Updates
Recruiting was the other topic of interest locally this week. This is because three key targets for the Hoosiers in the 2024 class trimmed their list to eight schools, and IU was included in all of them.
The biggest of those was top-10 guard Boogie Fland, who Indiana remains heavily involved with and took an official visit to campus this summer. Also, including the Hoosiers, was top-50 prospect Austin Swartz as he confirmed he will come to Bloomington for a trip next month. Also, Indiana announced in the inclusion of his list was 2024 top-40 frontcourt player Annor Boateng.
Finally, Liam McNeely has not eliminated any teams from play in the last few days. However, the top-10 forward confirmed he will take an official visit to IU in September. This is after he visited Indiana last season as the cream and crimson remain among the top suitors for his services.
Banner #3 – Inside the Hall’s Freshmen Focus series
Inside the Hall started a series focusing on all of Indiana’s incoming high school prospects. The highly touted class includes Gabe Cupps, Mackenzie Mbako and Jakai Newton.
The big winner among these 2023 players is Mgbako, a top-10 player nationally. He switched his college choice from Duke to IU late this spring when the Hoosiers beat out Kansas for his services when he reopened his recruitment.
Banner #4 – Schedule Updates
After the big news last week that the women’s team would have a Thanksgiving night game on network television against national power Tennessee, an equally big matchup was revealed in the last few days.
This time, Inside the Hall reported that IU would travel to powerhouse Stanford on Nov. 12 for a showdown. Former Hoosier Tara VanDerveer coaches the Cardinal. The contest will also feature a matchup between arguably the top two post players in the country in the form of Cameron Brink and Mackenzie Holmes.
The other game of interest according to ITH’s report is a Nov. 30 game in Holmes’ home state of Maine against the Portland Black Bears. Other exposures included much lower caliber opponents which are home contests against Eastern Illinois on November 9th, Murray State on November 17th and Evansville on December 18th.
On the men’s side, the non-conference schedule was already released a while back. However, Inside the Hall was able to achieve the amounts paid by the Hoosiers in their nine guaranteed games (seven pre-conference and two exhibition games). The most paid Indiana was $105,000 for the opener against Florida Gulf Coast.
Banner #5 – Jackson-Davis and Holmes Named IU Athletes of the Year
It was widely believed that IU had the top two bigs in the country on the men’s and women’s squads. This was further confirmed when both Holmes and Jackson-Davis received the Athlete of the Year award for their sports, which includes all athletes across the entire athletics department.
On the men’s side, the Hoosiers will need to replace Jackson-Davis’ production. The primary candidate is former five-star recruit and Oregon transfer Kel’el Ware.
For the women, Holmes returns for a final COVID season as IU once again had to contend for a national title. In fact, they are among them favorites to do so in the early intervention lines. Holmes has turned the Cream and Crimson into a national power, and since her arrival on campus four years ago, the squad has never spent a week outside the AP top-25.
Banner #6 – Hoosier Roundup – IU softball star Taryn Kern transfers to Stanford
• After one of the greatest seasons in softball program history, elite freshman pitcher Taryn Kern announced her departure shortly after the final game. While the Hoosiers will still be one of the better conference teams in 2024, Kern confirmed she’s heading home to an elite team from Stanford, leaving Cream and Crimson without their top player. Indiana brings in another highly ranked newcomer in Aly VanBrandt, who was named Miss Softball in Michigan.
• Baseball, on the other hand, held on to all of their best bats after the draft and the closing of the transfer portal. In fact, Carter Mathison, Devin Taylor and Brock Tibbitts will all be back next spring and were named Summer League All-Stars for outstanding performances. In addition to that trio, the Hoosiers will return Tyler Cerny and Josh Pyne and bring in top transfer Nick Mitchell and elite freshman Andrew Wiggins. With all the talent, IU is expected to be among the favorites in the Big Ten and should be in contention for a top-16 spot as a regional host.
• Water polo announced a update to the coaching staff.
• Track and Field also provided Information on his new trainers.
• Indiana had 13 CRCA Scholar Athletes.
Thank you for your continued support of The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall. We’ll be back next weekend with a new overview.
Now go and treat yourself to a 6-Banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Contributes to assembly calls
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