BLOOMINGTON – On Thursday, Oregon transfer center and Indiana sophomore center Kel'el Ware was named the No. 7 potential breakout star candidate by The Almanac.
Ware, a 7-foot big man with fluid movement, arrived in Bloomington after spending his freshman season with the Ducks. Ware totaled averages of 6.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game in his one season in Eugene, but came into the season with first-round potential in the NBA Draft.
Now, Indiana's new force in the frontcourt is garnering national attention as a possible candidate to find the form and reach the ceiling his frame and skillset perceivably affords him.
The biggest knock surrounding Ware has been his motor and drive, some speculating it to be the reason his draft stock fell a season ago and he now finds himself in Bloomington.
"Well, when I recruited that young man I told him, you cannot go back and get what happened the year before," said Indiana head coach Mike Woodson at media day last week. "You can't. The word is out; they knocked you and said, hey, you're lazy, you don't work hard, and if you make a commitment to me, that's got to change."
A main attraction for potential to recruits for Indiana is not only Woodson's expertise and coaching style, but the massive strides in development that the likes of Trayce Jackson-Davis, Race Thompson, Jalen Hood-Schifino and others took under his guidance. For a big man like Ware, Jackson-Davis is the key pointer.
"I'm not always the easiest coach to play for, but I'm in your corner and I'm fair and I want what's best for you and my ballclub, and he made the commitment to me, and I'm going to push him to play at a higher level to help us win basketball games," Woodson continued.
"I can't think or worry about what happened in Oregon. That's gone. He's got to move forward and build a new life here with the Indiana basketball team. That's what it's all about to me."
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