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 sports stories of the past week. 6-Banner Sunday is written by Ari Shifron.
IU basketball opened its doors to a small group of reporters for practice this week as the program prepares for its July trip to Lima, Peru. A third game in Indianapolis was announced for the upcoming fall. While it is just an exhibition contest, it is against a blueblood.
Also, Inside the Hall continued its summer series on each Big Ten team, Indiana’s season projections and women’s basketball added a couple of recruits. As usual, we will conclude with a look at the weekly shows and the rest of the IU sports scene.
Here is what is in this week’s edition:
• IU basketball practice observations and season projections
• Hoosiers to play North Carolina in exhibition game in Indianapolis
• Inside the Hall’s Big Ten offseason at a glance series
• Women’s basketball adds two recruits
• Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup
Banner #1 – IU basketball practice observations and season projections
IU is expected to be much improved this upcoming fall. On Thursday, the Hoosiers opened practice and Inside the Hall was one of five outlets in attendance. While it’s too early to draw any conclusions from a first look in mid-June, there were several player observations that stood out from the 90-minute session in Cook Hall.
This follows offseason roster changes that saw the Hoosiers bring in an elite transfer portal class that includes Markus Burton, Darren Harris, and several other highly sought-after players.
Projections rank Indiana relatively highly heading into the 2026-2027 season, both in the Big Ten and nationally. Joe Lunardi’s early bracketology has IU safely back in the NCAA Tournament field as a seven seed after the roster overhaul.
Banner #2 – Hoosiers to play North Carolina in exhibition game in Indianapolis
Two premium non-conference games for IU in Indianapolis were previously announced previously for the upcoming year: Syracuse on Nov. 9 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Kentucky on Nov. 20 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Now, a third game in Indianapolis and the second at Gainbridge Fieldhouse was made public this week.
While it will not count towards their record, a tune-up exhibition matchup against fellow blueblood North Carolina will take place on Sunday, Oct. 18. Plenty of tickets for this contest are available at this link directly through the venue. While a time has not been announced yet, it will presumably be late in the afternoon after the Indianapolis Colts’ 1 p.m. ET home game against the Tennessee Titans down the street.
This showdown wraps up a huge weekend for Indiana athletics, coming one day after the Hoosier football vs. Ohio State matchup on Saturday in Bloomington. IU football is expected to be in the running for a second straight Big Ten and national championship, with the Buckeyes arguably their main challenger to these thrones once again.
Banner #3 – Inside the Hall’s Big Ten offseason at a glance series
Inside the Hall continued a series looking at all the Big Ten squads in detail. This week, teams projected to be in the top half of the field were previewed: USC, IU, UCLA, Ohio State, and Nebraska.
Banner #4 – Women’s basketball adds two recruits
While the IU women are in offseason mode, that does not stop them from recruiting. While it is not big names or anyone with much information on them, the team did round out their roster for 2026-207 by adding two international prospects this week.
While not in as comfortable a position as the men to return to the NCAA Tournament, they are nonetheless in decent shape to do so, assuming health and the expansion to 76 teams. This optimism is due to the return of starters Maya Makalusky, Zania Socka-Nguemen, and Lenee Beaumont, as well as the addition of the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history (No. 8 overall), which features the first two players ever ranked inside the top-30 nationally to come to Indiana straight out of high school.
Banner #5 – Back Home Network shows
The Back Home Network has many shows. As a result, it was on air several times this week with programming.
Banner #6 – Hoosier Roundup
• Baseball gave head coach Jeff Mercer an unannounced extension following an elite year in 2023 that runs through 2028. Meanwhile, a former program legend was elected to the Collegiate Baseball Hall of Fame.
• Softball had two players finish in the top 100 nationally.
• Field Hockey announced its fall schedule.
• Men’s Tennis had a couple of its athletes attempting to qualify for the US Open but ultimately failed to do so.
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) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor
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(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
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