Indiana basketball has spent the last decade fighting its way out of a rut, and the recruiting track record hasn’t always helped. The Hoosiers have reached the NCAA Tournament only twice in the past 10 years, a stretch that has fallen well short of what the program expects. And while Indiana has long been a place where top in-state talent wants to land, not every prized recruit has turned into the difference-maker fans pictured.
A few of those names arrived in Bloomington with real buzz, only to leave behind more frustration than production.
Bryson Tucker came in as one of the biggest gets in Indiana’s 2024 class. A 5-star prospect and the No. 30 player nationally according to 247Sports, he chose the Hoosiers over Michigan State, Duke, and Kansas, giving fans plenty of reason to believe the future was starting to tilt back in the right direction.
But the Arlington, VA native never got rolling in Bloomington. He played in 23 games as a freshman, didn’t make a start, and finished with averages of 5.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.
After that season, head coach Mike Woodson was fired, Tucker entered the portal, and he wound up at Washington, where he averaged 5.7 points over 21 games.
Khristian Lander was another highly touted name who never quite delivered on the scale Indiana hoped for. The Evansville native was the centerpiece of the Hoosiers’ 2020 class, a consensus 5-star recruit who re-classified from 2021 to 2020 before starting his college career.
His freshman year produced 2.1 points and 1.2 assists per game across 26 appearances, and he initially entered the transfer portal after Archie Miller was fired. Lander then returned for his sophomore season under Mike Woodson, but that year brought more turbulence.
In February 2022, Woodson suspended Lander and four other players for violating team rules. Lander missed one game and ended up appearing in only 13 games that season, averaging 2.9 points and 0.9 assists.
He later transferred to Western Kentucky, finishing his Indiana career with 39 appearances, no starts, and averages of 2.4 points and 1.1 assists per game.
Tamar Bates arrived with a different kind of spotlight, but the result was still underwhelming in Bloomington. Rated a 4-star recruit and the No. 30 player in the 2021 cycle, he flipped from Texas to Indiana in June 2021, giving Woodson his first major recruiting victory at the school.
Bates, an IMG Academy product, spent two seasons with the Hoosiers before transferring to Missouri. Over 67 games at Indiana, he averaged 5.1 points and 1.2 rebounds per game.
His move to Missouri brought a much bigger payoff, as he averaged 13.4 points and 2.8 rebounds over two seasons and 66 games with the Tigers.
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Indianas 2022 recruiting class was supposed to be the kind that changes a programs ceiling, and in some ways it did. The group gave the Hoosiers a mix of early contributors, future transfers and a few players who eventually found better fits elsewhere, while also serving as the benchmark for how far the program has come in recruiting. Even with the 2027 class adding another blue-chip name, this one still looks positioned to stand as Indianas highest-ranked class in program history.
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Charlie Becker Earns National Recognition That Says A Lot About IU
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For a program that has leaned on Beckers growth on the field, the honor adds another layer to his profile and, in a broader sense, to what IU wants its players to represent. The final team will be announced in September and will feature 22 student-athletes and one honorary head coach, leaving Becker in a crowded field as the next round of recognition approaches. [Read more 🡒]