This originally appeared in Zach Osterman's weekly IU Talking Points, which you can read in full here.

Given this season could end as soon as Indiana exits the Big Ten tournament, triggering an early start to an enormously important offseason, a check-in of the Hoosiers’ scholarship situation seems warranted.

IU carried 12 scholarship players into this season, of a possible 13. Two, Xavier Johnson and Anthony Walker, will exhaust their eligibility when that season is over. Two more, Anthony Leal and Trey Galloway, are seniors holding a COVID year if they wish to use it.

Numerous players could explore NBA opportunities. Kel’el Ware sits atop that list, his name appearing consistently anywhere from mid-first round to high second round across a quick survey of mock drafts. Underclassmen including Mackenzie Mgbako and Malik Reneau could at least test the waters for feedback.

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Then there is, of course, the likelihood one or more players will opt to transfer. We won’t speculate on names without hard information behind it, but it’s always safe in the present climate to expect attrition there.

IU has one player, Liam McNeeley, signed in 2024. The Hoosiers’ last established target in the class, Derik Queen, announced his commitment to Maryland on Wednesday.

So, one incoming and two guaranteed outgoing knocks Indiana down to 11 scholarships for next year. If Ware leaves for the draft, that number dips to 10. Any further attrition — be it draft declarations, transfers or even simply players declining their COVID year — pushes the scholarship portion of the roster into single digits.

Mike Woodson and his staff have proven adept in quick-turnaround spring recruitments. Tamar Bates, Reneau and Mgbako all signed with the Hoosiers in the spring of their senior years, after reopening their recruitments for various reasons.

And the portal is an obvious option for any program, much less one needing experience, depth and production, and holding the NIL resources necessary to be aggressive there.

While, again, working to avoid guesswork speculation, it’s not hard to envision a scenario wherein IU needs to add at least four players — be they prep prospects or portal targets — in the spring. Woodson will have serious work to do on his roster if he wants to ensure this season is the exception, not the rule.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball scholarship count for 2024-25 Hoosiers roster