Indiana University Athletics
‘I Can Do This’ – Duncomb Finding His Game
11/2/2022 9:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Logan Duncomb didn't know. Not really. Doubt was one anchor. Needing to refine the necessary skill, and not understanding the required effort and resilience were others.
Then there was the almost total lack of freshman playing time.
Add it up and this 6-10 sophomore center spent a year wondering if he was Indiana basketball material.
Wondering is over.
After a year in coach Mike Woodson's system, after a summer and fall of vigorous work and strength gaining, after a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) effort in Saturday's Marian exhibition victory, Duncomb knows.
"I can do this."
Now comes the big key -- can he do it for an entire season?
The answer starts with the driving forces of playing and practicing with maximum energy.
"I always thought, if there's one thing I can do, it's hustle," he says. "If my shots aren't falling or if I'm struggling offensively, I can work my hardest to do what I can, whether that's defense or rebounding. Putting my body in screens. Whatever I can do to help the team."
Saturday's help included 5-for-8 shooting in 21 minutes (two more minutes than he played all of last season), and if it came in an exhibition against a good NAIA team and not Big Ten-caliber competition, no matter. It's a promising start.
"I'm more confident in my ability, more confident in my size and what I can do on the court," Duncomb says.
"It's all about playing hard and doing what I have to do for the team. Being willing to do whatever Coach wants me to do."
Woodson has waited a year to see this kind of performance.
"I told him after the game and in front of everybody," Woodson says, "that I was so proud of him because he's hung in there with me. He's caught a lot of heck, and he responded."
Woodson's praise comes with this coaching demand:
Do more.
"He's putting in work," Woodson says, "but he's got to work more. I'm on him about that."
While Woodson says basketball work can't take priority over academics -- "Class is first" -- great time management is crucial.
"When you have a minute, 10 minutes,15 minutes where you can get in the gym and get shots and do things that can enhance what you do to help us, do that," Woodson says. "That's what I'm on him about."
Duncomb admits doing more wasn't a last-season strength. He was injured some, sick some and didn't impress with his work habits.
Woodson noticed.
"I didn't get a ton of playing time because I didn't put in all the work I needed to, do all the things I had to," Duncomb says.
College reality rocked Duncomb -- an Ohio all-state player out of Cincinnati Moeller with a state title and a No. 73 national rating on his resume -- as soon as he arrived in Bloomington in the summer of 2021. He was a freshman going against Trayce Jackson-Davis, a junior All-America. The mismatch rattled his confidence.
"I played against good competition in high school," Duncomb says, "but no one quite like him. Getting used to playing strong, skilled guys like that who are much bigger than high school was tough.
"I had to improve my basketball skills. I had to learn how to play here, the different moves, defending bigs. It took a little bit to get my confidence up that I belong here."
Last season, Duncomb never played more than four minutes in a game, and barely played after mid-December. In nine games and 19 total minutes, he scored six points and had six rebounds.
"I was behind Trayce," he says. "I did what I was asked to do. I felt I could do whatever Coach wanted me to do."
Mostly what Woodson wanted came in practice rather than games. As it is for so many freshman, the bench was an unfamiliar and unwelcome experience.
"You come in wanting to play and you're not playing and the confidence goes down," Duncomb says. "You start to think, I'm not sure I belong here."
Rather than transfer, as so many college players do in this transfer-portal era, he kept working, kept improving, kept telling himself, "I do belong here."
"It was wanting to be on the court to contribute to our team, to do something to help out."
And then, over the summer, "I began playing a lot better. I started to think, 'I can do this.' "
Jackson-Davis started thinking the same thing. Duncomb had fully bought into strength coach Clif Marshall's strength-and-conditioning plan. Jackson-Davis noticed the difference.
"At the end of the summer, all of a sudden, he was like 245 pounds, and I thought, 'What's going on?' I'm trying to move him back and he's holding his ground. I was like, 'all right!"
Forward Race Thompson had a similar experience with a hard practice shove in the back
"I was wondering who pushed me," Thompson says. "I turned around and it was Logan. I was like, 'All right, Logan, here we go.'"
It was not, Thompson adds, a one-time thing.
"He really locked in this summer and focused on his body. He took the weight room seriously. He took the protein shakes seriously. He took putting on weight seriously.
"He knows he can hold his own. It's only up from here."
Next comes Thursday's second exhibition against Saint Francis of Fort Wayne, and then the Nov. 7 season opener against Morehead State. There will be fierce frontcourt playing-time competition with Jackson-Davis and Thompson as starting veterans, with Jordan Geronimo as the still-developing factor, with heralded freshmen Malik Reneau (14 points, 11 rebounds against Marian) and Kaleb Banks as emerging forces.
Still, now more than ever, Duncomb knows what he can do.
"Being able to play real minutes in a real game," he says, "makes you more comfortable for the games ahead. I feel better about where my game is, but you do what you can with the minutes you're given. You do what the coaches ask you to do."
And then you keep on doing it.
"This is the first step in a long journey," Duncomb says.
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Logan Duncomb didn't know. Not really. Doubt was one anchor. Needing to refine the necessary skill, and not understanding the required effort and resilience were others.
Then there was the almost total lack of freshman playing time.
Add it up and this 6-10 sophomore center spent a year wondering if he was Indiana basketball material.
Wondering is over.
After a year in coach Mike Woodson's system, after a summer and fall of vigorous work and strength gaining, after a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) effort in Saturday's Marian exhibition victory, Duncomb knows.
"I can do this."
Now comes the big key -- can he do it for an entire season?
The answer starts with the driving forces of playing and practicing with maximum energy.
"I always thought, if there's one thing I can do, it's hustle," he says. "If my shots aren't falling or if I'm struggling offensively, I can work my hardest to do what I can, whether that's defense or rebounding. Putting my body in screens. Whatever I can do to help the team."
Saturday's help included 5-for-8 shooting in 21 minutes (two more minutes than he played all of last season), and if it came in an exhibition against a good NAIA team and not Big Ten-caliber competition, no matter. It's a promising start.
"I'm more confident in my ability, more confident in my size and what I can do on the court," Duncomb says.
"It's all about playing hard and doing what I have to do for the team. Being willing to do whatever Coach wants me to do."
Woodson has waited a year to see this kind of performance.
"I told him after the game and in front of everybody," Woodson says, "that I was so proud of him because he's hung in there with me. He's caught a lot of heck, and he responded."
Woodson's praise comes with this coaching demand:
Do more.
"He's putting in work," Woodson says, "but he's got to work more. I'm on him about that."
While Woodson says basketball work can't take priority over academics -- "Class is first" -- great time management is crucial.
"When you have a minute, 10 minutes,15 minutes where you can get in the gym and get shots and do things that can enhance what you do to help us, do that," Woodson says. "That's what I'm on him about."
Duncomb admits doing more wasn't a last-season strength. He was injured some, sick some and didn't impress with his work habits.
Woodson noticed.
"I didn't get a ton of playing time because I didn't put in all the work I needed to, do all the things I had to," Duncomb says.
College reality rocked Duncomb -- an Ohio all-state player out of Cincinnati Moeller with a state title and a No. 73 national rating on his resume -- as soon as he arrived in Bloomington in the summer of 2021. He was a freshman going against Trayce Jackson-Davis, a junior All-America. The mismatch rattled his confidence.
"I played against good competition in high school," Duncomb says, "but no one quite like him. Getting used to playing strong, skilled guys like that who are much bigger than high school was tough.
"I had to improve my basketball skills. I had to learn how to play here, the different moves, defending bigs. It took a little bit to get my confidence up that I belong here."
Last season, Duncomb never played more than four minutes in a game, and barely played after mid-December. In nine games and 19 total minutes, he scored six points and had six rebounds.
"I was behind Trayce," he says. "I did what I was asked to do. I felt I could do whatever Coach wanted me to do."
Mostly what Woodson wanted came in practice rather than games. As it is for so many freshman, the bench was an unfamiliar and unwelcome experience.
"You come in wanting to play and you're not playing and the confidence goes down," Duncomb says. "You start to think, I'm not sure I belong here."
Rather than transfer, as so many college players do in this transfer-portal era, he kept working, kept improving, kept telling himself, "I do belong here."
"It was wanting to be on the court to contribute to our team, to do something to help out."
And then, over the summer, "I began playing a lot better. I started to think, 'I can do this.' "
Jackson-Davis started thinking the same thing. Duncomb had fully bought into strength coach Clif Marshall's strength-and-conditioning plan. Jackson-Davis noticed the difference.
"At the end of the summer, all of a sudden, he was like 245 pounds, and I thought, 'What's going on?' I'm trying to move him back and he's holding his ground. I was like, 'all right!"
Forward Race Thompson had a similar experience with a hard practice shove in the back
"I was wondering who pushed me," Thompson says. "I turned around and it was Logan. I was like, 'All right, Logan, here we go.'"
It was not, Thompson adds, a one-time thing.
"He really locked in this summer and focused on his body. He took the weight room seriously. He took the protein shakes seriously. He took putting on weight seriously.
"He knows he can hold his own. It's only up from here."
Next comes Thursday's second exhibition against Saint Francis of Fort Wayne, and then the Nov. 7 season opener against Morehead State. There will be fierce frontcourt playing-time competition with Jackson-Davis and Thompson as starting veterans, with Jordan Geronimo as the still-developing factor, with heralded freshmen Malik Reneau (14 points, 11 rebounds against Marian) and Kaleb Banks as emerging forces.
Still, now more than ever, Duncomb knows what he can do.
"Being able to play real minutes in a real game," he says, "makes you more comfortable for the games ahead. I feel better about where my game is, but you do what you can with the minutes you're given. You do what the coaches ask you to do."
And then you keep on doing it.
"This is the first step in a long journey," Duncomb says.
Players Mentioned
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