After missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in coach Mike Woodson's three-year tenure, he revamped the roster. Woodson brought in seven players from the transfer portal, added a junior college player and recruited a McDonald's All-American. The result: The oldest, deepest and most versatile roster of Woodson's college career. He can lean on familiar faces such as 6-foot-9 forwards Malik Reneau and Mackenzie Mgbako or fifth-year guard Trey Galloway. No. 17 Indiana was picked second in the Big Ten's preseason poll.
Oumar Ballo (7-foot C, 12.9 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 1.3 bpg): The two-time first team all-Pac 12 selection at Arizona brings a strong, experienced post presence and believes Woodson's NBA experience can help him improve his draft stock.
Luke Goode (6-7 SF, 5.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg). He wanted to find a school that would better utilize his shooting skills than Illinois did over the past three seasons. So he returned to his home state, adding a desperately needed 3-point shooter to the roster.
Reneau (6-9 SF, 15.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg). After starting 33 games and posting career numbers last season, Reneau wasn't necessarily expected back for his third season. But he wants to win a championship, extend his shooting range and become a better facilitator — all of which could help him add to his NBA resume.
Ballo and Goode might be the most familiar names among this season's transfers, but they're certainly not the only prominent players. Guard Myles Rice was the Pac 12 freshman of the year at Washington State. Kanaan Carlyle, a 6-3 guard, averaged 11.5 points with Stanford. Bryson Tucker, a 6-7 forward from Maryland, is Indiana's lone first-year player and a highly touted recruit. It should be more than enough to replace center Kel'el Ware, who left for the NBA, and PG Xavier Johnson, who graduated.
Nov. 6 opener, vs. SIUE; Nov 27, vs. Louisville at the Battle 4 Atlantis; Jan. 8, vs. Southern California; Jan. 31, at Purdue; Feb. 14, vs. UCLA; Feb. 23, vs. Purdue; March 4, at Oregon.
Five national championship banners hang in Assembly Hall, but Indiana hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 since 2016. ... The Hoosiers have four redshirt or super seniors on their 19-player roster (Ballo, Galloway, guard Anthony Leal and 7-foot center Dallas James, a transfer from South Carolina State). ... Rice missed the 2022-23 season to undergo chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. His final treatment was March 2023.
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FILE - Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) dunks during the second half of a Sweet 16 college basketball game against Clemson in the NCAA tournament, March 28, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
FILE - Indiana forward Malik Reneau (5) drives past the defense of Wisconsin forward Tyler Wahl (5) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Feb. 27, 2024, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler, File)
Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel on Tuesday, setting off air raid sirens in the country’s most populated areas but causing no apparent damage or injuries, a few hours before U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in the region on a mission to restart stalled Gaza ceasefire talks.
The Israeli military said five projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel and said most were intercepted by Israel’s missile defense system. One landed in an open area.
The rocket fire came as Israel stepped up its strikes in Lebanon, targeting a Hezbollah-run financial institution, and as the U.S. pushed to resume cease-fire talks in Gaza following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to annihilate Hamas and recover dozens of hostages held by the group. Hamas says it will only release the captives in return for a lasting cease-fire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish combatants from civilians. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.
Here's the latest:
The death toll from an Israeli airstrikes late Monday that destroyed several buildings facing one of Beirut’s main hospitals climbed to 13. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 57 others were wounded in the strikes, including seven who were in critical condition.
It said the airstrikes caused significant damage to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the country’s largest public hospital, located on the outskirts of southern Beirut. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
TEL AVIV, Israel — The U.S. is making an 11th-hour effort to resuscitate some aspects of the halted cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas weeks before the presidential election and as Israel’s invasion of neighboring Lebanon intensifies, according to a senior State Department official.
Since negotiations fell apart over the summer, Americans have shifted to focus on a post-war plan for Israel and Gaza. The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity late Monday to preview Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s strategy, said that stakeholders have reached consensus on some aspects of the so-called day-after plan and that the U.S. is hopeful that this progress will create goodwill to get parties back to the table on a ceasefire.
The source added that the decision to go to Israel before meeting with Arab partners was a shift in the U.S.'s negotiation strategy.
The U.S. has long pushed for a postwar settlement in which a reformed Palestinian Authority would govern Gaza with help from Arab states and Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel.
But Arab leaders insist such plans would depend on a pathway to Palestinian statehood, something to which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is deeply opposed. He has ruled out any postwar role for the PA and says local Palestinians will administer Gaza, with Israel maintaining open-ended security control.
Blinken also planned to reiterate concerns about the humanitarian aid crisis in Gaza outlined that U.S. officials laid out in a recent letter to Israel, the official said.
But official said that an anticipated Israeli retaliation against Iran is looming over the meeting, which will likely be the last time Blinken and Netanyahu meet before the U.S. presidential election.
— By Farnoush Amiri
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday on his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, as the U.S. hopes to revive cease-fire efforts after the killing of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Blinken is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials. Following Israel, he’s expected to visit a number of Arab countries, likely to include Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Here more here.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran kept up pressure Tuesday on Israel as Jerusalem is expected to launch a threatened retaliatory strike on the Islamic Republic, insisting Tehran’s neighbors wouldn’t allow their territory to be used for such an assault and that it would strike back just as hard.
The comments from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi come as speculation grows over how Israel will retaliate for Tehran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel.
Speaking in Kuwait as part of a Mideast tour, Araghchi insisted that Gulf Arab neighbors he’s spoken to wouldn’t allow their territory to be used.
“All the neighbors assured us that they will not allow their lands and air to be used against Iran,” Araghchi said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. “This is an expectation from all friendly and neighboring countries and we consider this a sign of friendship.”
However, many Gulf Arab nations host major U.S. military installations, like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as a hedge against any possible attack by Iran. Washington also has based aircraft carriers around the region as tensions have persisted in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the subsequent wars raging across the Mideast.
Gulf Arab nations have not made any public pledges like those described by Araghchi.
There have been tensions in the Persian Gulf and among Gulf Arab countries since Tehran launched a series of attacks targeting shipping in the region in 2019 over the U.S.'s unilateral withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers as well.
Separately, Pezeshkian warned that Israel will face a “corresponding answer” for any attack it carries out.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state news agency says another Israeli airstrike has targeted the country’s main border crossing with Syria, leaving a second large crater on the highway running through it.
The National News Agency reported that the early Tuesday airstrike was closer to the Syrian side of the crossing, known as Jdeidet Yabous. Syrian TV also reported an airstrike in the border area.
An Israeli airstrike on Oct. 5 blocked a highway and left a giant crater near the Lebanese side of the crossing, known as Masnaa, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Beirut.
That strike prevented vehicles from going through the crossing, which tens of thousands of people have used to flee to Syria.
People now have to walk by foot in or around the two large craters several kilometers (miles) away.
The Israeli military has accused the Hezbollah militant group of using the Masnaa crossing to truck in military equipment from Syria. There was no immediate comment on the latest strike.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel on Tuesday, setting off air raid sirens in the country’s most populated areas but causing no apparent damage or injuries.
The Israeli military said five projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel and said most were intercepted by Israel’s missile defense system. One landed in an open area.
Israeli police said there were no reports of damage or injury following the salvo.
The Israeli military said that at the same time, about 15 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.
Earlier Tuesday, air raid sirens went off in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after a rocket was launched from Lebanon, the Israeli military said. Damage was caused to homes in the Palestinian village of Shuqba.
The rocket fire came as Israel stepped up its strikes in Lebanon, targeting a Hezbollah-run financial institution, and as Israeli troops push ahead in their invasion of southern Lebanon.
Israeli soldiers close the gate of Erez Crossing after trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Women from the Israeli Druze minority mourn during the funeral of Israeli Colonel Ehsan Daxa in Daliyat al-Carmel, Israel, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. Daxa, 41, was killed during Israel's ground operation in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army has been battling Palestinian militants in the war ignited by Hamas' Oct. 7 2023 attack into Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers carry the flagged-covered coffin of Israeli Druze Colonel Ehsan Daxa, in Daliyat al-Carmel, Israel, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. Daxa, 41, was killed during Israel's ground operation in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army has been battling Palestinian militants in the war ignited by Hamas' Oct. 7 2023 attack into Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Men from the Israeli Druze minority mourn during the funeral of Israeli Colonel Ehsan Daxa in Daliyat al-Carmel, Israel, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. Daxa, 41, was killed during Israel's ground operation in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army has been battling Palestinian militants in the war ignited by Hamas' Oct. 7 2023 attack into Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A bust of the late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani stands in front of a destroyed branch of the Hezbollah-run Qard al-Hassan, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People displaced by Israel's war on Hezbollah leave a building after scuffle with members of the Lebanese security, after dozens of policemen arrived at the building to evict the displaced from the private property, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
People displaced by Israel's war on Hezbollah scuffle with members of the Lebanese security, after dozens of policemen arrived at the building to evict the displaced from the private property, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
People displaced by Israel's war on Hezbollah gesture after scuffle with members of the Lebanese security, after dozens of policemen arrived at the building to evict the displaced from the private property, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Middle East latest: Hezbollah fires rockets into central Israel
People take cover as a siren warns of incoming rockets during the funeral of Alexei Popov, who was killed during a rocket attack fired from Lebanon last weekend, at the Tel Regev cemetery in the outskirts of Haifa, northern Israel, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Middle East latest: Hezbollah fires rockets into central Israel
