Indiana’s 2023-24 season is upon us, and head coach Mike Woodson has plenty to say about his new-look Hoosiers.

Tonight, the Voice of the Hoosiers Don Fischer sits down with Woodson for episode one of his weekly radio show, ‘Inside IU Basketball’.

As usual, all notes and quotes are per Woodson, unless otherwise noted.

ON INDIANA’S OFFSEASON ROSTER OVERHAUL:

– Woodson says entering this offseason he knew IU had three “solid starters” in Malik Reneau, Trey Galloway and Xavier Johnson … The focus was adding enough role players and depth pieces to finish out the roster

– “(Anthony) Walker was a nice pick-up for us, and big Payton (Spark) was a nice pick-up. And you start adding pieces, but you just don’t know how it’s going to fair”

– “Race and Trayce, they’re not walking through this door. So you’ve got to find guys who’ve been in a college and done this for a while”

– Re: Anthony Walker … Woodson notes Walker didn’t arrive at IU until after the summer due to school work he had to finish at Miami; really pleased with how he’s fit in over the last few months

ON INDIANA’S SUMMER OVERALL:

– Woodson says most of the team stuck around throughout the summer instead of going home, which he was really happy with

– In scrimmages, Indiana’s white team (role players, reserves) really pushed the red team (starters) all summer and fall practice

ON INDIANA’S SIX RETURNERS:

– Woodson says he wants Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway to be an “extension of me and the coaches” … “I expect a lot out of those two when things go bad and we’re not playing well. They got to step up… and get this team to where we want to go”

– Re: Trey Galloway’s maturity/leadership: “He’s learning” … Woodson says he’s heard from coaches around CBB that say their players don’t communicate well, “you can’t play basketball that way”

ON INDIANA’S EXHIBITION WIN OVER INDIANAPOLIS:

– “I wasn’t excited the first half,” Woodson jokes.

– Woodson says he doesn’t think Indiana didn’t compete in the first half like it needed to … Miscues on defense, lack of execution on offense

– Fischer asks about the halftime locker room vibe: “Well, we talked about it. Coaches got to do what they got to do sometimes, and you hope like hell they respond”

– Woodson applauds IU’s second unit, “I thought they were great all game”

– Woodson says Gabe Cupps was so anxious going into the game that “he probably wanted to play the night before” if he could’ve … Woodson says he “wasn’t shocked” with how well Cupps played given his practice performance

– Woodson says he didn’t get a chance to play Xavier Johnson, Gabe Cupps and Trey Galloway together for more than 2 minutes; wants to give that lineup combo more of a run Friday against Marian

– “There’s a lot of things that were promising” … Woodson says IU’s defensive rotation and closeouts have to be much better; “the new guys and young guys don’t realize how quickly you have to closeout (at this level)”

– Woodson points to IU’s 28 fast-break points, which was “probably the most that we’ve had since I’ve been here” … Likes IU’s assist numbers and low turnover rate

– Woodson says for the most part he was pleased with IU’s defense

ON INDIANA’S STYLE OF PLAY:

– Fischer notes IU had 50 points in the paint vs. UIndy … “Guys, I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to be the greatest 3-point shooting team. We’re gonna make some here and there, and we’re gonna get good looks. And I think we have guys that I feel good about knocking them down. But make no mistake about it, the game ain’t just about living on three-pointers.”

– “You’re going to have to post the ball some. I mean, two-pointers still count in basketball. Let’s not be foolish about this.”

– “I’ve got a 7-2 guy (Kel’el Ware). Hell, I want him out just shooting 3-point shots? No, that’s not going to happen with me. Yes, he can pick and pop — Trayce, he couldn’t do that, he didn’t want to do that. I though he could do it, he just didn’t do it. But he was still great for us”

– “Hey, if getting 50 points in the paint allows us to to win a game, I’m going to take it. I’m not going to let people dictate this team”

– “I think you have to mix it up with transition 3’s and high-percentage 2’s

ON INDIANA’S REMAINDER OF THE PRESEASON:

– Woodson says players got Monday off to rest, will clean up UIndy game and watch film on Tuesday

– Fischer asks what is most concerning to Woodson right now … Woodson says cleaning up backside help defense and rotations has to be a major focus … Also said execution on offense needs to be better, especially in the half-court

“We’ve got to shoot free-throws better… It was just awful last night” … Woodson says the team was shooting around 70-80% on FTs in practice, which was good but didn’t translate to the game

MISCELLELANEOUS NOTES:

– Woodson retells a story about retiring from playing in the early 90’s and taking a few years off before jumping into coaching. Went back to Bloomington, got his real estate business up and running … Woodson was golfing with a friend at the NBA Combine, and the friend said somebody needs to coach the players today. Woodson said he was “bamboozled” and essentially got thrown into coaching on a whim, and never looked back

– Milwaukee Bucks owner asked younger Woodson “do you know Coach Knight?”. Woodson said “Are you joking? Of course I know Coach Knight.” … Owner said if you get Bob Knight on the phone for me within the next 24 hours, you can be an assistant coach for the Bucks. Woodson did just that.

– Woodson says getting to play for Bob Knight, he “couldn’t think about going home and crying”, says his mom would’ve thrown him out of the house if he did that. Woodson reiterates his love for Knight.

– Fischer asks about AAU and how it’s taken over the high school landscape … Woodson says when he was playing, AAU wasn’t a thing. Played a bunch of pickup games during the offseason, high school coaches were their mentors during that time

– Fischer asks about all the big exhibition games that happening around the country … Woodson says he’s had conversations about playing Duke or a big-name team in future exhibitions; “I know this place would be packed for that” … Woodson says he didn’t know anything about the charity exhibitions until he turned the TV on last night and saw Illinois vs. Kansas; “we’ve got to start thinking about doing the same thing”