Hoosiers Set to Start Campaign

11/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

November 23, 2004

HOOSIERS OPEN 04-05 CAMPAIGN
The 105th season of Indiana basketball officially gets underway on Tuesday, Nov. 23, when Indiana State visits Bloomington for a 6 p.m. contest against the Hoosiers at Branch McCracken Court at Assembly Hall.
Indiana owns an 84-20 (.808) record in season openers. The Hoosiers have won six straight and 19 of their last 26 lid-lifters, and IU coach Mike Davis has won all four of his previous season openers.

ON THE AIR
Each Indiana basketball game can be heard live on the IU Radio Network. WHCC (105.1 FM in Bloomington) is the flagship station for the network that has more than 50 stations broadcasting Hoosier basketball all season long. Don Fischer (play-by-play), former Indiana guard Todd Leary (color commentary) and Joe Smith (pregame, halftime and postgame host) call all of the action.
ESPN Plus (WTTV-Channel 4 in Indianapolis) will televise the Indiana-Indiana State game, with Tom Hamilton and John Laskowski providing color commentary.

AT HOME IN THE HALL
This is just the fifth time since 1990 that Indiana has opened its season at Branch McCracken Court at Assembly Hall. Indiana is 17-2 in season-opening home games, and it owns a 389-60 overall mark in the building.

NOVEMBER SUCCESS
Indiana has enjoyed considerable success during the 11th month of the calendar year, recording a 58-22 (.725) record. More impressively, IU is 27-2 in November home contests, and head coach Mike Davis owns an 11-5 record in the month of November.

INDIANA VS. THE MISSOURI VALLEY
Indiana owns a 39-11 record against Missouri Valley Conference programs
Bradley 2-2
Creighton 1-2
Drake 6-2
Evansville 6-0
Illinois State 3-0
Indiana State 15-4
Northern Iowa 1-0
Southern Illinois 3-1
Southwest Missouri St. 1-0
Wichita State 1-0

IU INKS TWO RECRUITS
Ben Allen, a 6-10, 250-pound center from Melbourne, Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport and Joey Shaw, a 6-6, 170-pound guard from Glendale, Ariz. and Deer Valley High School, Allen will enroll at IU in the fall of 2005 and will be eligible to compete for Indiana in the 2005-06 season.
Davis believes Allen could have an immediate impact.

"When you add Ben to the guys we will have back next year, we will be one of the most talented teams in the Big Ten," Davis said. "My staff, especially (Associate Head) Coach (Kerry) Rupp, deserves a lot of the credit for this. Whether it is on the floor coaching or recruiting, Kerry, Donnie (Marsh) and Thad Fitzpatrick bring a lot of energy that has paid off."

The Indiana coaching staff plans to utilize Allen much the same way that former All-Americans and eventual first round NBA draft picks Kirk Haston and Jared Jeffries fit into the Hoosier system. A member of Australia's 18-and-under and 21-and-under national teams, Allen is equally comfortable on the perimeter or in the low post.

"If Ben Allen was a high school player in the United States, he would be a top-10, top-15 player nationally," Davis said. "With his ability to play both inside and outside at his size, he is a special talent. Coach Rupp has established some great recruiting connections in Australia, and Ben's signing is just one example of that."
The addition of Allen means that the Hoosiers will have one of the deepest frontcourts in the country next year. Former Auburn star and All-Southeastern Conference forward Marco Killingsworth will be eligible to play next season after sitting out this season as a transfer, and the Hoosiers also return D.J. White, Pat Ewing, Jr., Sean Kline and Lucas Steijn.

Just as Indiana foresees Allen filling a role similar to Haston and Jeffries, Shaw is viewed as a (IU All-American candidate) Bracey Wright-type player - a long, athletic, shooting guard. Considered the top senior shooting guard on the West Coast and one of the premier shooters on the national AAU circuit, Shaw averaged 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists as a junior at Chandler High School in Phoenix. He has since moved and will play his final prep campaign at Deer Valley.

"We could not be more excited about Joey Shaw," Davis said. "The great thing about Joey is that we did not really get involved with him until later in the recruiting process, but my staff did such a great job with him on his official visit in mid-October that he committed right away. Joey can flat out shoot the basketball, and when you consider that he is 6-6 and probably still growing, he has the potential to be a defensive stopper on the perimeter."

70- THE MAGIC NUMBER
Under head coach Mike Davis, Indiana is 60-9 when it scores at least 70 points in a game.

DUAL SPORT HOOSIER
Freshman James Hardy is a two-sport athlete at Indiana University. The 6-7, 205-pound Fort Wayne native signed a football scholarship last winter, and he is a redshirt wide receiver for Coach Gerry DiNardo. He also spends three days per week with Coach Mike Davis' basketball team and will move to basketball full-time at the completion of the football season.

AWARDS CORNER
Indiana junior guard Bracey Wright has been chosen to the 2004-05 Preseason All-Big Ten team as selected by the media, the league office announced on Oct. 27. In addition, Wright is a candidate for the Wooden Award, the Naismith Award and the Rupp Award, each presented annually to the nation's top player.
Last season, Wright was an NABC First Team All-District 10 and Second Team All-Big Ten honoree, averaging 18.5 points, 5.4 boards and 2.4 assists per contest. He was also named as a finalist for both The Rupp Award and The Naismith Award, each recognizing the nation's most outstanding player. The Colony, Texas, native closed the season ranked third in the league in scoring at 18.5 ppg, the best finish by a Hoosier since Kirk Haston was second in 2000-01. He also ranked 16th in the league in rebounding (5.4), ninth in free throw percentage (.789) and third in three-point field goals per game (2.41).
In addition, Wright scored at least 20 points 12 times as a sophomore and hit the 25-point plateau on seven separate occasions. He earned three Big Ten Player of the Week honors (Dec. 15, 2003, Jan. 5, 2004 and Jan. 26, 2004) and earned five in his career, joining Glen Robinson as the only players in league history to earn at least five Player of the Week honors in their first two seasons.
Over the summer, Wright competed with the USA World Championship For Young Men Qualifying Team, which defeated Puerto Rico, 97-86, in the gold medal contest in the 2004 FIBA Americas World Championship For Young Men Qualifying Tournament in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Wright averaged 5.5 points per game during the tournament.
Here is where Wright ranks among the Indiana career scoring and three-point charts:

CAREER SCORING
28. Tom Coverdale 1,217 2000-03
29. Jeff Newton 1,203 2000-03
30. Quinn Buckner 1,195 1973-76
31. Vernon Payne 1,101 1966-68
32. Joe Cooke 1,099 1968-69
33. Bob Leonard 1,098 1952-54
34. Daryl Thomas 1,095 1984-87
35. Rick Calloway 1,073 1986-88
36. Jay Edwards 1,038 1988-89
37. Butch Joyner 1,030 1966-68
38. Bracey Wright 1,022 2003-

CAREER THREE-POINTERS
1. A.J. Guyton 283 1997-00
2. Tom Coverdale 200 2000-03
3. Brian Evans 186 1993-96
4. Kyle Hornsby 178 2000-03
5. Damon Bailey 166 1991-94
6. Calbert Cheaney 148 1990-93
7. Jay Edwards 140 1988-89
8. Neil Reed 138 1995-97
9. Bracey Wright 136 2003-

CHALLENGING ROAD AHEAD
Last season, Indiana was the only basketball program in the nation to face six consecutive 2003 NCAA Tournament teams in its non-league schedule. The Hoosiers face a similar task in 2004-05, as a mid-December string of contests against North Carolina (Big Ten-ACC Challenge), at defending national champion Connecticut, and games against Notre Dame, Kentucky, at Missouri and against Charlotte highlight IU's non-league schedule this winter. Overall, Indiana has the toughest schedule in the nation, facing five of the preseason Top 10 and seven of the Top 25. Duke and North Carolina are the only other programs slated to face five of the nation's preseason Top 10.