Indiana basketball hasn't played in the NCAA Tournament in five years and that means a full senior class has now gone through their entire career without experiencing March Madness.
A historically rich program has been seemingly left out of the national conversation for much of the last four years, thus, creating a 'dark' cloud around the program. On Friday, however, the news of Trayce Jackson-Davis returning to IU for his junior season brought a new light to Bloomington to pair with the buzz that new head coach Mike Woodson has had.
"I think that the mood here is really, really, really, really positive," Jackson-Davis said. "I feel like there's a light. I feel like we've been in the dark for a while. There wasn't any energy. Like, there was no energy here. Like all the life after the season was sucked out of us.
"Ever since Coach Woodson got hired, I feel like it's been almost like a new positive vibe has come... I think there's a positive energy here right now honestly."
The Indiana All-American forward averaged 19.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game last season. Following the year in which Indiana went 12-15, most of the talk revolved around Jackson-Davis leaving for the NBA, potentially leaving a huge hole in the program.
"When the coaches got fired, my mindset was honestly I didn't know who they were going to bring in. I was going to wait anyways. But I was almost dead set on entering the draft and hiring an agent. That was probably two weeks ago," Jackson-Davis said. "Then the hiring of Coach Woodson, I wanted to see what he had to say, what he had thoughts about the team, about me and my development, how he can help me. So I sat down with him and we talked a little bit. I really liked him."
That conversation turned into another big recruiting win for Woodson and one that could now send rippling effects around the program.
