Much of the narrative around the Indiana men’s basketball team for the last month has been who won’t be back for the Hoosiers in the 2024-25 season.
First Liam McNeeley backed out of his commitment in early March. Xavier Johnson and Anthony Walker ran out of eligibility. After the season ended, Kaleb Banks, C.J Gunn and Payton Sparks entered the transfer portal. On Tuesday, Kel’El Ware declared his availability for the NBA Draft.
Their departures left seven scholarships open for Indiana to re-make its team. On Thursday, that process began.
Bryson Tucker, a 6-foot-7 small forward originally from Baltimore and who currently calls Virginia home, announced his intention to play basketball for the Hoosiers on his Instagram account.
Tucker, who is currently at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Va., is one of the top prospects in the country and is considered to be the top prospect from Virginia.
Bishop O’Connell has recent Indiana lineage as Johnson played there in high school.
A wing, Tucker has played at three high schools in his career: Bishop O’Connell, IMG Academy in Florida and Mount St. Joseph High School in Baltimore.
Statistics from Tucker’s recently-completed season at Bishop O’Connell were unavailable.
“Nothing in his game seems to ever be rushed; he plays at his own pace. He understands change of pace, and he makes good decisions with the ball,” said On3.com’s Jamie Shaw in a scouting report.
“He is good on the ball in the half-court, makes solid decisions, and doesn’t put the ball in trouble off the bounce. Tucker has good length, and he is a good athlete. He can make shots with a confident pull-up,” On3’s report continued.
Tucker was part of a gold medal USA Basketball FIBA Americas U16 championship team. Tucker averaged 9.5 points and 4.3 rebounds in the competition.
Tucker’s father, Byron, began his career at North Carolina State in 1988. Byron Tucker transferred to George Mason and played for the Patriots for three seasons. In his final season there, he averaged 20.7 points and 9.6 rebounds.
Michigan State, Villanova, Iowa, Duke, Illinois, Louisville and Kansas were among the schools interested in Tucker at various stages of his recruitment.
According to multiple reports, Tucker was leaning towards playing for the G League Ignite team, but the NBA elected to fold the Ignite earlier this month. The Ignite will cease to exist after the current G League season ends.
Tucker is a McDonald’s All-American and will be the 34th player in the game to sign with Indiana.
In securing Tucker, Indiana took some sting out of the loss of McNeeley. As it turns out, the Hoosiers replaced one McDonald’s All-American with another, but Indiana has quite a few more pieces to add to complete the puzzle of its offseason.
