Insider: Underdog no more — IU's new challenge is measuring up

BLOOMINGTON – Yogi Ferrell is right. The buzz is already out.

Those were his exact words earlier this month when asked about the burgeoning expectations surrounding Indiana University basketball ahead of next season.

On the court, Ferrell and the Hoosiers shouldn't have to do much to feed that buzz. Adapting McDonald's All American signee Thomas Bryant into an otherwise static starting lineup is a luxury addition.

But there's an adjustment — beyond schemes or rotations — critical to this offseason: Can a team that so embraced its casting as an underdog last season thrive when that label no longer applies? Because high expectations have returned to Bloomington, and the Hoosiers had better be ready to shoulder them.

To say Indiana relished its position as an outsider last season would be unfair. But as they progressed deeper into the season and eventually landed in the NCAA tournament, the Hoosiers happily pointed out that they weren't expected to do what they did: win 20 games, finish in the top half of the Big Ten, reach the field of 68.

An NCAA tournament appearance this coming season isn't a question of if, but of how high the Hoosiers will be seeded. They are a near-consensus top-15 team preseason, according to several national polls, and though Maryland appears the likely Big Ten favorite right now, Indiana cannot be far behind. When the conference announces its preseason top three (it doesn't compile a full projection), coach Tom Crean's team has every chance of being listed.

How does this team deal with that drastic shift?

"We didn't believe the expectations last year, and we can't believe the expectations this year. It's the same mentality," associate head coach Tim Buckley said. "We believed in ourselves, and we felt like we could be a good basketball team. Now, we can't believe that we're too good."

IU certainly has the talent on hand to meet the big expectations.

Ferrell is an early frontrunner for preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, and he'll have a shot at a slew of program records during his senior season. Robert Johnson and James Blackmon Jr. are talented scoring guards, Troy Williams a potential first-round-pick wing player.

Bryant fills a massive hole in the middle, and the bench as constituted (Nick Zeisloft, Emmitt Holt, Collin Hartman) is versatile enough to provide constructive depth. Indiana might also still fill one or both of its open scholarships, with Michigan grad transfer Max Bielfeldt and five-star forward Thon Maker, a potential midyear enrollee, on the wish list.

Personnel won't be the problem. Nor should be sewing it all together, given that the core of last year's team remains intact.

"We've just gotta pick things up a little bit quicker. Not really listen to what anybody else is saying," Ferrell said. "We've got to click from the very beginning."

As a senior and Indiana's point guard, that will first be up to Ferrell, but he'll have help. The inexperience that chased Indiana last season won't be such a concern this winter.

Improving a defense that finished 214th nationally last season in adjusted efficiency, according to KenPom.com, should be an offseason priority, and Crean has said repeatedly that it is.

That's all on the court. Indiana's biggest challenge might be off of it — in the public eye, where much will be expected of a group that can make no more claims to underdog status.

Ferrell's right. The buzz is out. How Indiana shoulders the burden that comes with that will determine its success in 2015-16.

Follow Star reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.