Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

College Football

Indiana basketball: Hoosiers fill their most obvious void with Oregon big man Kel’el Ware

Alex Hickey

By Alex Hickey

Published:

With the addition of former Oregon center Kel’el Ware, there will be a temptation to say Indiana has found its replacement for Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Perhaps that’s taking things a bit too far.

There’s no replacing Jackson-Davis, who is the most impactful player to wear a Hoosiers uniform since Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller played together. As was the case with those 2, the program arrow is pointing up thanks to Jackson-Davis’ contributions.

But that being the case, the Hoosiers also haven’t had a hole this big to fill in their lineup for a decade. And that’s what makes Mike Woodson’s pickup of Ware so important. According to 247Sports, Ware ranks behind only Hunter Dickinson as the No. 2 overall player in the transfer portal this offseason.

Kel’el Ware: Man of Steel?

There have been a pair of notable centers who nicknamed themselves Superman: Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard.

But Ware is almost literally named after Superman — or as he was known back on Krypton, Kal-El. So chalk that up as a good sign.

Of course, Ware’s game is far more important to the Hoosiers than his name. And there’s good reason he was a 5-star recruit, McDonald’s All-American and member of the USA U18 team that won a gold medal at the 2022 FIBA Americas Championship.

Though he played only 38% of available minutes at Oregon, there are statistical similarities between Ware and Jackson-Davis on defense.

As a freshman, Ware blocked a shot on 8.9% of possessions and steals on 1.4% of possessions. Jackson-Davis had blocks on 9% of possessions and a matching 1.4% steal rate, per KenPom.com. Jackson-Davis also played twice as much, so the younger Ware might not be able to keep up those rates over the same number of minutes. But it makes for a promising trend.

Offensively, Jackson-Davis’ game is worlds ahead of Ware’s in some regards, most notably passing. Ware’s turnover rate was almost twice as high as his assist rate, while Jackson-Davis was 1 of the best passing bigs in the country. The Hoosiers can’t bank on Ware kicking it out the way TJD could.

However, Ware has an element to his game that Jackson-Davis did not: he’s not married to the low post.

Jackson-Davis attempted 3 3-pointers in his entire 4-year IU career. Ware took 55 attempts from beyond the arc last season. And though he only made 15 of them (27.3%), the threat exists. Defenses need to account for him at all times — especially if he just improves his 3-point shooting by about 5%.

Per BartTorvik.com, 71.5% of Jackson-Davis’ field goal attempts were classified as “at the rim.” And when you can dunk like Jackson-Davis can, that’s how it should be. Ware has more range. Only 37.6% of his shots were at the rim. He had nearly as many mid-range shots (61) as finishes at the tin (70).

Square peg in a round hole?

There’s a popular national reporter who likes to tweet out trademarked catchphrases for various coaches after they win while also hawking the phrases on t-shirts. (Hint: It’s CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.)

Some are clever, others are silly. But when you follow college basketball closely, a lot of them become memorable whether you want them to or not.

Such as the catchphrase for Oregon coach Dana Altman.

“Dana Altman: He Aligns Rubik’s Cubes.”

Perhaps that’s so. But Altman couldn’t get the colors aligned correctly on this year’s cube. The Ducks disappointed, finishing in the NIT for the second straight season.

Ware was on a yo-yo, starting 4 games in late November and early December before being relegated to the bench. But he often still made things happen when he did play, like when he blocked 4 shots in 15 minutes against a Nevada team that reached the NCAA Tournament.

By the end of February, Ware was almost invisible, playing fewer than 10 minutes per game. But come the Pac-12 Tournament and NIT, he once again found himself part of Oregon’s regular rotation.

Perhaps that was Altman’s way of saying, “please don’t go.” But by that time, it was evidently too late. It feels safe to say it wasn’t the right fit for either side.

Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers have to like their chances of being that fit. And at the very least, Indiana has found a player to help fill its biggest void.

Alex Hickey

Alex Hickey is an award-winning writer who has watched Big Ten sports since it was a numerically accurate description of league membership. Alex has covered college football and basketball since 2008, with stops on the McNeese State, LSU and West Virginia beats before being hired as Saturday Tradition's Big Ten columnist in 2021. He is an Illinois native and 2004 Indiana University graduate.