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Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, where we highlight the five most essential IU basketball stories of the past week, plus take a look at how the other IU sports programs are doing.
From a news perspective, Indiana basketball’s headlines picked up significantly this week. This was led by the final piece of the non-conference schedule being filled in with the Battle 4 Atlantis matchups. Also, IU announced new sponsorship opportunities in Memorial Stadium and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Besides this, Inside the Hall did more preview articles for the upcoming 2024-2025 season, women’s basketball revealed a roster addition, and weekly shows round out the first five banners. As usual, 6-Banner will conclude with a look at other Indiana sports, led by women’s soccer picking up another victory.
Here is what is in this week’s edition:
• Battle 4 Atlantis matchups announced
• Sponsorship opportunities announced for Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium
• 2024-25 season preview content
• Women add guard from the Czech Republic
• Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup
IU men’s basketball will play several games this upcoming season on Peacock and the women will play a few as well, making the streaming service essential for IU basketball fans. Sign up for Peacock using Inside the Hall’s link to help support the site and also enjoy Big Ten hoops all season long! (The link is an Inside the Hall affiliate link, so a commission will be paid to ITH if you click and subscribe to Peacock.)
Banner #1 – Battle 4 Atlantis matchups announced
The final piece of the non-conference schedule was revealed earlier this week. The slate was already known to be highlighted by a trip to the Bahamas for Battle 4 Atlantis. However, the matchups themselves were not known until last Wednesday.
The revelation of the first opponent for IU was regional rival Louisville the day before Thanksgiving at noon on ESPN. The Cardinals struggled in 2023-2024 but replaced all 13 players and their coach. As a result, they will likely be significantly improved. Bart Torvik ranks them 62 after finishing last season near 200 (The Hoosiers are up to 30 from 83 in these projections).
With relatively weak pre-Big Ten opponents outside of Atlantis, beating Louisville is of the utmost importance. A victory would likely give Indiana a signature matchup with No. 9 Gonzaga 24 hours later and potentially top-60 Oklahoma or No. 10 Arizona in game three the day after.
By contrast, a defeat for IU in game one would almost certainly pit them against No. 83 West Virginia on Thanksgiving. Then No. 60 Providence or No. 166 Davidson would be the most likely opposition.
Either way, Indiana will play three games in consecutive days. This will result in the toughest contests and opponents the Hoosiers will see early on and prepare them for the postseason in March when games are spaced close together.
Banner #2 – Sponsorship opportunities announced for Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium
With athletic departments across the country searching for extra revenue, Indiana has devised a way to involve business with advertising. With inflation and revenue sharing increasing the cost of running college sports by the year, IU announced new opportunities in Memorial Stadium and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Starting immediately, IU Athletics and IU Sports Properties are offering branding logos on the playing surfaces of these facilities. This is the first time Indiana has allowed this type of advertisement on the field and court itself. Interested parties should contact [email protected] for more info about this.
Banner #3 – 2024-25 season preview content
Inside the Hall (ITH) continued its preview of the upcoming season with a look at the players and team in detail and the Big Ten as a whole. This included a feature on rising sophomore Gabe Cupps, as well as a breakdown of the IU defense. Also, ITH began a series looking at the top 40 players in the conference.
Banner #4 – Women add guard from the Czech Republic
IU’s women’s basketball team made a couple of personnel-related announcements last week. This included the late addition of Valentyna Kadlecova to the roster. Kadlecova is 6-foot tall and averaged over 12 points a game at the U-20 European Championships. She hails from the Czech Republic.
The squad has already added two prominent transfers and a few freshmen and returns starters Yarden Garzon, Chloe Moore-McNeil, and Sydney Parrish. With most of its key role players back, it remains to be seen how much Kadlecova contributes. However, at a minimum, she will provide competition in practice and could crack the rotation if all goes well. With her addition, 14 of the 15 allotted scholarships have been filled (women’s basketball is one of several sports where female teams have extra scholarships relative to their male counterparts to offset football and comply with Title IX).
Finally, off the court, it was announced that Kylie Durkee will be the Director of Athletic Performance. Durkee was previously at the University of Houston in a similar role where the squads she worked with had strong results on the court.
Banner #5 – Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
Podcast on the Brink was recorded a couple of times this week. In the first episode, Bart Torvik discussed more about his ranking systems.
The second show previewed the matchup with the Cardinals by speaking with WDRB’s Eric Crawford.
Also, The Back Home Network was on-air several times. AC Radio returned on Thursday after a long absence. Also, Austin Render’s Dribble Drive Podcast and Crimson Cast had episodes.
Banner #6 – Hoosier Roundup
• Women’s soccer won 2-1 at Ball State to improve to 2-0 on the young season. Assembly Call was one of the few media outlets on-site in Muncie and had a full recap.
• Volleyball had an intrasquad scrimmage and announced themes for many of their home matches.
• Men’s soccer struggled in a 2-0 loss to St. Louis on the road that was their season opener. Also, IU was named the favorite to win the Big Ten this fall after emerging at the top of the table in 2023 as well.
• Football head coach Curt Cignetti had media availability this week as did a couple of team members. Also, a player received preseason recognition and IU announced some updates to the gameday fan experience.
• Baseball had summer ball wrap-up for its returning players.
• Cross Country had two athletes on the conference’s preseason watch list.
• Men’s Tennis announced its fall exhibition schedule.
Thanks for your continued support of The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall. We’ll be back next weekend with a new roundup.
Now go enjoy yourself a 6-banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) ShifronAssembly Call Contributor
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