6-Banner Sunday: Big Ten single and double plays announced for 2024-25 season
Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, and presented by our friends at Trueblood Real Estate, where 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.
With the rosters mostly set for both the men’s and women’s basketball, other news items jumped to the forefront this week. The highlights were Big Ten opponents being announced, an all-IU alumni TBT squad coming to fruition, and Adidas continuing to be Indiana Athletics’ primary sponsor.
In lesser headlines, Inside the Hall has several off-season series, and weekly shows were recorded. We will as usual conclude with a look at other Hoosiers sports led by a staff shakeup for women’s basketball.
In a brief, OG Anunoby is the final former IU player standing in the NBA playoffs. His New York Knicks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in their series to move onto the second round. Anunoby will now have to compete against the team from the state where he played his college basketball. This is because the Indiana Pacers advanced past the opening round for the first time in a decade by taking out the Milwaukee Bucks. As a result, some Hoosier fans may now have a conflict about which side to root for when the squads face off.
Here is what’s in this week’s edition:
• Single and double plays announced for the 2024-25 Big Ten season
• IU to have TBT and TST team
• Indiana extends partnership with Adidas
• Inside the Hall’s offseason series updates
• Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup
Banner #1 – Single and double plays announced for the 2024-25 Big Ten season
While the 2024-25 season is still far off, one piece of the puzzle is now known. With the Big Ten having 18 teams beginning next fall, the frequency of playing each conference rival will decrease. League play will continue to be 20 games, meaning everyone will only compete against a trio of squads for a home-and-home. The remaining 14 contests will be against opposition on the road or in Bloomington.
As for IU, they drew Ohio State, Penn State, and Purdue for double plays. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers will host Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Rutgers, UCLA, and USC. Finally, Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin are the opponents Indiana will travel to face off against.
Banner #2 – IU to have TBT and TST team
After several years of attempts, IU will finally have an all-Hoosier alumni squad in the annual TBT Tournament. The team will appropriately be known as ‘Assembly Ball’ and begin play within the state of Indiana at Hinkle Fieldhouse on July 19. The winner of the entire event will share a one-million-dollar prize.
So far, Miller Kopp, Juwan Morgan, and Troy Williams are committed to playing for “Assembly Ball,” and more player announcements will follow. Tickets to see the players in action can be bought here with the bracket revealed on June 20.
Also, for the second straight year, the sister event involving soccer in the TST will have an IU alumni team featuring multiple former Hoosiers. This competition will occur in Cary, N.C. beginning June 5 with tickets at this link.
Banner #3 – Indiana extends partnership with Adidas
The Hoosiers have had Adidas as their primary apparel partner for the previous 20 years. Now that will continue for at least 10 more, as Scott Dolson announced an extension with the company.
Banner #4 – Inside the Hall’s offseason series updates
With 2023-2024 now over, Inside The Hall continued a series looking at the IU team and their contributions from last season. This week featured Xavier Johnson, the squad’s offense and defense, and coach Mike Woodson.
Also, ITH looked at where other Big Ten teams are at from a roster perspective. Finally, they hypothesized how Indiana might fill its final couple of roster spots with a transfer portal watch list.
Banner #5 – Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
Podcast on the Brink and The Back Home Network had several new shows in the last few days. POTB had the IndyStar’s Zach Osterman on to discuss the transfer portal.
Meanwhile, Assembly Call had AC Radio on Thursday to talk about lineup combinations. Finally, TBH had new episodes of both Xs and Joes and Right Up Meridian.
Banner #6: Hoosier Roundup
• Women’s basketball shook up its staff with Amber Smith out as an assistant coach and recent IU great Ali Patberg being promoted to Smith’s role. Finally, another program alumni, Keyanna Warthen, will fill Patberg’s former job.
• Baseball topped Rutgers for a sweep last weekend. They then split with arch-rival Purdue in the first two games of that series yesterday and today to keep their postseason hopes alive.
• Softball lost a series against struggling Wisconsin last weekend, putting a couple of bad defeats on the resume of a squad right on the NCAA tournament bubble. However, a split so far with ranked Northwestern in the last couple of days helps mitigate the results against the Badgers somewhat.
• Water polo fell to Arizona State to close their season.
• Men’s golf finished sixth at the Big Ten championship, good enough for a bid to the NCAA tournament. Their top competitor, Drew Salyers, was named to the all-Big Ten team.
• Track and field competed in Bloomington at the Billy Hayes Invitational.
• Men’s and women’s soccer released their schedules for the fall of 2024.
• Swimming and diving will have an athlete compete in the upcoming Paris Olympics.
• Rowing had a Big Ten Boat of the Week.
• The athletic department recognized all of its spring graduates as part of IU’s year-end graduation.
Now go enjoy yourself a 6-banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor
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