BLOOMINGTON – Indiana will have to contend with a full-strength Illinois on Saturday, after a judge’s ruling forced the university to lift Terrence Shannon’s suspension and coach Brad Underwood elected to restore his leading scorer to the rotation.

Shannon scored 16 points in 27 minutes, in an 86-63 home win against Rutgers on Sunday.

The Hoosiers will probably be worried foremost about themselves, and about starting the process of picking back up from an ugly week leading into their bye. Double-digit losses to Purdue and at Wisconsin have left Indiana searching for direction in a season that will careen beyond the Hoosiers’ control if some isn’t found soon.

IU MAILBAG: Fan gripes, future guard help, names on jerseys, football optimism

With only a visit from Iowa (NET No. 52) remaining this month after Saturday’s game, IU is on track to begin February with zero Quad 1 wins, and just two (at Michigan, Ohio State) in Quad 2.

That’s the NCAA tournament side of any discussion of this team. There is, of course, also the less tangible.

IU has now lost four of six since Big Ten play resumed. The closest of those defeats was by nine at second-bottom Rutgers, a game in which the Hoosiers trailed by as many as 13. Their past two losses have come by 21 at home to an in-state rival, and allowing 1.4 points per possession on the road at Wisconsin. Three times in the past four games, an Indiana player has been whistled for a flagrant foul.

We talk a lot across the course of a season about opportunity vs. pressure. Teams with a strong sense of themselves and a connectedness even in tough situations tend to land the kinds of wins that make difficult games down the road — like, say, a late-January road trip to face a conference-title contender — opportunities.

Indiana has managed the opposite. The Hoosiers need, if not to win Saturday, then at very least to deliver a performance that reassures themselves as much as any fan.

They will have had a week and a day since the loss at Wisconsin to rest, heal and prepare. Any soul searching (and some surely has been necessary) will have had the proper space to stretch out and take place. And the runway for adding quality to anything resembling an NCAA tournament resume is growing perilously short.

If IU cannot win Saturday in Champaign, it must at least show signs of steadying itself for a significantly better February. Or that runway will run out faster than expected.

Liam McNeeley makes McDonald’s roster

Liam McNeeley was confirmed a member of this year’s McDonald’s All America class Wednesday, handing the Hoosiers a second honoree in the annual all-star game in as many seasons.

The nod is not surprising. One of the best players on one of the best teams in America, McNeeley was also named to the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy player-of-the-year midseason team this week. He’s averaging 12.7 points per game for Montverde (Fla.) Academy, and shooting an eye-popping 50% from behind the arc.

Q&A with Liam McNeeley: Why IU and pitching Hoosiers to friends

A few notes on McNeeley’s selection and the wider context:

∎ McNeeley becomes Mike Woodson’s second high school signee named to the McDonald’s team, and the first signed with Indiana at time of announcement. Mackenzie Mgbako was a McDonald’s All American last year.

∎ If we include former McDonald’s All Americans who arrive as transfers — and in the portal era it feels like we probably should — Woodson has now recruited three such players to Bloomington. Kel’el Ware was on the 2022 roster. Three McDonald’s All Americans moves Woodson past both Archie Miller (Romeo Langford, Trayce Jackson-Davis) and Mike Davis (Bracey Wright, D.J. White) among IU coaches since Bob Knight. Tom Crean signed five McDonald’s All Americans, one per year from 2011-15.

∎ Should the Hoosiers also land Derik Queen, McNeeley’s Montverde teammate, in 2024, it would mark just the fourth time in the 47-year history of the game IU signed multiple honorees in one class. The Hoosiers also managed the feat in 1977 (Tom Baker, Ray Tolbert), 1989 (Greg Graham, Pat Graham) and 1994 (Andrae Patterson, Neil Reed).

∎ If we’re grouping Ware with Mgbako and McNeeley, this is Indiana’s longest run of out-of-state McDonald’s All Americans since Patterson (Texas), Reed (Louisiana) and Jason Collier (Ohio) signed with the Hoosiers in the mid-1990s. That’s accounting for Reed having moved to Louisiana from Indiana in high school.

First-blush football roster thoughts

We’ll dig into more analytical observations of Indiana’s roster as we get closer to spring camp. But given the sheer amount of turnover this offseason, a few positions seemed worth a sentence or two as the Hoosiers dive into the strength-and-conditioning portion of the calendar.

∎ Quarterback: Probably Kurtis Rourke’s to lose given his experience, but with multiple former four-star prospects behind him, Rourke won’t be anointed. If Rourke wins the job, it’s a fair bet Tayven Jackson, Broc Lowry and even Tyler Cherry will have made him earn it.

∎ Running back: A lot of different options here. Trent Howland is back. Curt Cignetti and staff brought in multiple JMU transfers, as well as Justice Ellison, from Wake Forest. It will be interesting to see which informs the other more — talent determining what the Hoosiers do with the running back spot, or snaps determining whose talent commands the biggest role in the offense this fall.

∎ Defensive line: Cignetti has acknowledged the Hoosiers will be thin along the defensive front in fall camp, but there are in particular a handful of intriguing returners here. Marcus Burris and Philip Blidi will be needed to anchor the interior, while younger players and transfers adjust. At the edges, Lanell Carr, TaDerius Collins and Venson Sneed ensure the cupboard isn’t bare, and JMU transfer Mikail Kamara is intriguing.

∎ Linebacker: If he stays at linebacker, Jacob Mangum-Farrar is the veteran of the group. If not, Indiana will probably lean into transfers Jailin Walker (JMU), Aiden Fisher (JMU) and Jayden McDonald (Troy). The development of younger backers like Isaiah Jones or Kaiden Turner might determine whether the staff pursues depth in the spring portal window.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. But taking a quick snapshot of potential needs and position battles going into spring, these position groups popped off the page first.

TRIVIA

Which member of IU’s undefeated 1945 football team leads all former Hoosiers in wins above replacement (WAR) accrued in the major leagues?

Hint: If you read Wednesday’s mailbag, you’ll know the answer.

ODDS & ENDS

∎ Some housekeeping from last week’s newsletter: Curt Cignetti told Don Fischer last week IU will begin camp the Thursday following spring break (March 21) and practice on a Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedule through the spring season.

∎ Queen’s decision continues to be a moving target. All discussion Talking Points has engaged with still places Indiana and Maryland as the betting favorites among his finalists, though obviously the longer he waits to make a decision, the more room there is for change. Not sure it’s fair to say Queen is in a holding pattern so much as a patient decision-making mode, at least based on what we’ve heard.

∎ A friendly Peacock reminder as we turn toward February: On the men’s side, IU’s Feb. 6 trip to Ohio State, as well as the Hoosiers’ Feb. 27 visit from Wisconsin, will be on Peacock. Indiana’s women will play on Peacock when they travel to Maryland on Jan. 31, when they host Michigan State on Feb. 8, when they play at Wisconsin on Valentine’s Day, when they host Iowa on Feb. 22 and for their March 3 regular-season finale, on senior day against Maryland, in Bloomington.

∎ Per a report from 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong, Indiana is among the schools reclassifying blue-chip quarterback Julian Lewis will consider as he moves from 2026 to 2025. A top-15 player in his new class, Lewis — who plays at Carrolton (Ga.) — is committed to Southern Cal but open to recruitment from other schools. Per Wiltfong’s report, Alabama, Georgia, IU, Michigan and Texas are all in that mix. The Hoosiers would obviously face stiff competition to land Lewis, but even making that list stands as testament to the ambition Cignetti’s staff carries on the trail in the rising senior class.

ANSWER

Ted Kluszewski, who starred in both baseball and football and was an All-Big Ten selection in the latter sport in 1945, holds the school record for career MLB WAR (31.4) across a 15-year professional career. A four-time All-Star, Kluszewski led the majors in home runs and runs batted in in 1954, and hits in 1955. A Cincinnati Red for many of his best years, Kluszewski hit 279 home runs, also a record for a former Hoosier. Kyle Schwarber will begin the 2024 season just 33 home runs off that record.

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball heads to Illinois still searching for Quad 1 win