Indiana basketball season in review: Jordan Geronimo

Independently of Indiana’s roller coaster of a season as a team, Jordan Geronimo’s 2022-23 season was characterized by some high highs and low lows. Add in some lingering injuries, and the season becomes even harder to evaluate on the whole.

In his best games, Geronimo played a huge part in helping Indiana turn its season around after the three game losing streak in mid January. Following the loss to Penn State, Geronimo scored 12 and 13 points respectively in wins against Wisconsin and Illinois.

The win in Champaign was one of Geronimo’s best game as a Hoosier, falling just short of his career high of 15 points last season against Wyoming. Geronimo was 6-8 from the field against the Illini and brought a calming presence to a defense that was still reeling from the loss of Race Thompson.

Unfortunately for Jordan, he suffered a leg injury on January 25th against Minnesota that forced him to miss the next three games before returning in a limited role. Before the injury, Geronimo had played 10+ minutes in 16 of Indiana’s first 19 games. After, he would surpass the ten minute mark just once.

On the whole, Geronimo’s playing time ended up being about the same as what he saw last year (12.6 minutes in 2021-22 to 12.4 in 2022-23), though it was accompanied by some concerning drops in rebounding and 3-point shooting. Statistically, his biggest improvements came in blocks and 2-point field goal shooting.

These stats don’t tell the whole story though, as Geronimo was on track for notable increases in playing time and productivity before his January injury, which never seemed to go away. For a player with such jaw-dropping athleticism, it’s hard not to wonder what could have been.

Geronimo announced that he would enter the transfer portal last week, which means Indiana fans will not get to watch his continued development in the candystripes. At this point, it’s hard to forecast where he may land.

Will teams recruit him based on his potential, or as a guy who never really cracked the rotation in three years at Indiana?

Personally, I think whoever gets Geronimo will be getting a steal. There simply aren’t many players in the country with his athleticism, which can lead to highlight reel plays that change the course of a game.