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Mike Woodson cites IU’s 3-point shooting big men as ‘new for me’ in coaching career
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Mike Woodson appears to have some versatile big men at his disposal this season for Indiana.
That duo comes in the form of Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware. Most notably, Ware is the former 5-star prospect and 7-footer who began his career at Oregon last season.
Those two big men have been knocking down jumpers during exhibition play, and Woodson was asked if the team can expect that consistently throughout the season. The head coach admitted he has no idea what he’ll get from the two quite yet.
“Only time will tell. You can’t predict what teams (will do),” said Woodson. “I coached a New York team that was all 3-point shooters and they were all great over their careers at knocking them down so I knew what I was going to get. I have no idea what I’m going to get yet.”
He went on to call that 3-point shooting from the big men “a bonus” to his offense and said it’s an aspect that he has not had regularly as a head coach. Woodson pointed to Al Horford as his best shooting center during his NBA coaching career.
The head coach did point out he doesn’t want his bigs outside on a regular basis, but Woodson is okay if they take open shots when they do step out:
“It’s a bonus because again all the years I coached in the pros, Al Horford was the only guy that could step out to make about a 17-18 foot shot,” Woodson explained. “And as his career went along, he extended his shot to be able to consistently make 3’s when he shot them. He’s the only center that I’ve had (like that).
“This is new again for me because these two guys can stretch it to the 3-point line. But again, I’m not one of those coaches that consistently want my bigs (outside). If they’re open and got a good look, yeah, I’m not opposed to them taking the shot and knocking it down. But bigs are supposed to play inside too.”
We’ll see how that works out this season, but a consistent shooting touch would be a nice wrinkle for Indiana’s bigs.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.