When former Indiana coach Archie Miller was let go, forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was “almost dead set” on leaving IU and entering the NBA draft.
After the Hoosiers hired longtime NBA coach Mike Woodson, however, the 2019 Indiana Mr. Basketball began to have second thoughts. Following multiple meetings with Woodson, including a two-hour session Thursday that included Jackson-Davis’ still-skeptical parents, the Hoosiers star decided he would put off the NBA and return for one more year in Bloomington. He made the official announcement Friday.
“He really told me the things that I did not want to hear,” Jackson-Davis said of his final meeting with Woodson. “He told me what I needed to work on, he showed me clips of me playing, he showed me my missed shots and what I should have done in this situation, when I needed to take shots.
“That’s all my dad talks about, the things I need to improve on. … That right there was already showing me that (Woodson) wants what’s best for me.”
Jackson-Davis said his development under Woodson will focus on two areas: using his right hand (his off hand) and shooting jumpers from outside the paint.
The 2020 First-Team All-Big Ten selection was unable to play outside the lane much last season because an injury to center Joey Brunk forced Jackson-Davis to fill the center slot instead of working at power forward. He implied, however, that Brunk – who has not announced whether he will be back for a sixth season of college basketball – will return, freeing the 6-foot-9 Center Grove product to play farther from the basket.
“(Woodson) basically wants me to shoot (jumpers) in-game and if I don’t shoot them, he’s going to take me out of the game,” Jackson-Davis said.
Jackson-Davis, who led the Hoosiers in scoring (19.1 points per game) and rebounding (9.0 per game) last season, emphasized that his decision was not all about his own development, however. He talked repeatedly during the season about wanting to change the program’s culture and return Indiana’s program to the heights it once enjoyed. After failing to do so this season, in which Indiana went 12-15, he wants another chance.
“I want to get Indiana basketball back on track,” he said. “That’s my goal. That’s why I came back, because I believe in the tradition. I believe in what we have here. It can be something special, and I want to be one of the reasons why.
“I don’t want to be someone who ran away when it was tough. I believe in Coach Woodson, and I believe in the tradition of Indiana basketball and I know we can get it back.”
Woodson told Jackson-Davis that he doesn’t envision a lengthy rebuild for the program, but rather a quick restructuring that gives the Hoosiers a chance to win immediately.
Part of that process will be introducing a more up-tempo, wide-open offense. Miller attempted to do so prior to last season, but the Hoosiers often remained bogged down and were not able to get out in transition often enough to make up for the lack of flow in half-court sets. Jackson-Davis said the team was somewhat too “set-oriented” and “robotic.”
“Coach Woodson’s really going to let the leashes off and let us actually play our games,” he said.
Jackson-Davis’s announcement Friday follows decisions to stay with Indiana from guard Parker Stewart, incoming center Logan Duncomb and class of 2022 recruit C.J. Gunn, giving Woodson some early recruiting wins in his own program.
There are still four players in the transfer portal: Armaan Franklin, Khristian Lander, Race Thompson and Jordan Geronimo. To them, Jackson-Davis has a simple pitch:
“Those are all my brothers, I want what’s best for them. I really feel like, with the situation we have going here, Assembly Hall being packed again, being able to play under a new style of offense, I really feel like there’s no point to leave. I feel all the necessary tools are right here at our disposal. We got an NBA coach coming in. What else do you want?”
dsinn@jg.net