Indiana needs a Ball in the family

On Tuesday night Hoosier fans watched as their squad was absolutely dismantled by Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils owned the game from the start to the finish with very little let up in between.

One of the most glaring weaknesses for Indiana in the loss was their shooting. If you remove Evan Fitzner, IU’s one proven shooter who went 3-fo-3 from downtown on Tuesday, from the equation, the rest of the Hoosiers went 2-for-13 from three-point land—a measly 15 percent shooting night.

Sure Juwan Morgan’s shot is improved and Al Durham has had a hot start from downtown this season, but even then that’s still probably not enough. Indiana needs a shooter and there might be one available not too far away.

LaMelo Ball should be a Hoosier.

The former UCLA 5-star commit recently said that he wants to play college ball at a top school and he has scoring ability in spades. Let’s not forget that just under two years ago he dropped 92 points in a high school game.

Now he’s at the SPIRE Institute in Ohio finishing out his high school career and he’s still capable of scoring at a high level and he can pass too.

Of course, he’s still pulling up from deep as well and hitting.

Normally a high school senior isn’t a player that can help a college team in November or December, but nothing is normal about Ball, from dropping out of Chino Hills to playing in Lithuania to playing in the JBA. Would it really be a surprise to see him graduate and enroll in college in January if given the chance? It’s something that isn’t unheard of. Hamidou Diallo did it not too long ago.

If that’s not the way that things shake out then shooting will probably still be an issue for the Hoosiers again next year, especially since Fitzner and Morgan will be graduated, so Ball should still be an option for the Hoosiers.

If there’s any reason to be worried about the Ball family that could be solved as easily as hiring somebody to be their university liaison. One potential candidate could be Ken Nunn—he does love IU basketball. If he’s not available maybe The Bison could handle it.

LaMelo Ball would be an excellent addition to the Indiana roster, whether he was to enroll early or join Armaan Franklin and Trayce Jackson-Davis in next year’s freshman class and to be honest, all basketball related things aside, there’s really nothing that I need to see quite as much as LaVar Ball in a pair of candystripe pants.