Trayce Jackson-Davis and the Indiana Hoosiers Ready for Basketball in the Bahamas – BCSNN – Best College Sports News Network

Trayce Jackson-Davis can't wait.

Can you blame him?

The Bahamas are calling, a pair of exhibition games against a pro Serbian team are looming and the 6-9 junior forward gets a chance -- finally -- to play in a new Indiana basketball era.

"Going to the Bahamas, being able to get away with my teammates, that's going to be good because we've been going at it the last three months," he says. "It's been a long summer. Playing against a good team in Serbia. They're going to bring a challenge for us. It's really going to test ourselves to see where we are, what we need to work at, what we're good at.

"It's going to be good for us, so... I just can't wait to get out there and play."

Jackson-Davis is coming off an All-America season in which he averaged 19.1 points and 9.0 rebounds. But his shooting percentages dropped from his freshman to sophomore seasons (56.6 to 51.7 from the field, 68.5 to 65.5 from the line), and he has yet to take a college three-pointer.

That will likely change under coach Mike Woodson, whose first recruiting coup after getting the job was convincing Jackson-Davis to stay a Hoosier. Woodson says Jackson-Davis has excelled this summer, which is what you want from your best player.

"He's one player that was always intriguing," Woodson says. "When I took the job, I was desperately trying to get him to stay and we were able to get that done.

"From the time we started to where we are now, he's made some improvement in terms of how he's running and playing. He's playing much more aggressive than he did in some of the tapes that I watched from last season. We're going to need him to be that guy who plays aggressive. If he can average 20 points and double-digit rebounds, that's a major bonus."

It starts, Jackson-Davis says, with getting in better shape.

"The biggest thing I worked on this summer from last summer is my conditioning. Last summer I wasn't in the best shape I could be like my freshman year. I thought my freshman year I was in shape for the most part. But this year I've gotten a lot better."

Improved conditioning is critical to thrive in Woodson's free-flowing offense that will feature four perimeter players and one inside. That does not mean four guards. Expect forward Race Thompson to play with Jackson-Davis along with guards such as Rob Phinisee, Khristian Lander, Xavier Johnson, Tre Galloway, Anthony Leal, Parker Stewart and Tamar Bates.

"It's basically four-out, one-in, but at the same time it's not," Jackson-Davis says. "I can start on the block, set an up screen for Rob, play out on the perimeter. Race can do the same thing. Me and Race are interchangeable at the four and five. It means basically one through five are playing all places on the floor."

Beyond that, Jackson-Davis adds, "There's a lot of different types of cuts, dribble hand-off actions, back-cuts on the backside, the backdoor. It's just really playing free-flowing basketball, just taking what the defense gives you.

"Being able to space the floor out a little bit more because our offense is going to be mostly position-less basketball. Just being able to just make plays for my teammates and be able to hit open shots is really big for me this coming season."

As for Woodson's impact on the Hoosier program, Jackson-Davis says, "From the moment he got here, he brought the family aspect. That's the big thing with him, he's a family guy. He's a player's coach.

"Him coming out the first day and telling us how things are going to be, how it's going to be a family atmosphere, how you can go to him for anything, I think that was the biggest element for all of us.

"Then just being on the court with him for the last two, three months, he gives you confidence. He wants you to be the best player you can be. He has a vision for each and every one of us. He loves all of us. We break it down with family every day.

"I think he truly means that."

Meaning now turns to this weekend's Bahamas trip. IU will play on Friday and Sunday at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort against BC Mega.

This is the fourth such overseas trip the Hoosiers have made, following an 18-game, around-the-world adventure in 1985 under coach Bob Knight, then a three-game swing to the Bahamas in 2007 and a five-game trip to Canada in 2014.

Preparation includes 10 practices, critical when you're building a new program, as Woodson is doing, when you're blending a new staff with six new-to-the-roster players, and eight veterans you've never coached before.

Woodson needs to see what they can do. They need to see what he and his staff have devised.

Going against another team will provide insight practices can't.

If it works, when it works, a return to program glory could be the reward.

That's the future. For now, it's the nuts and bolts of putting a team together, building chemistry, and devising offensive and defensive approaches that will thrive at the highest levels.

For players such as Jackson-Davis, it's all about making the most of it.

"We have to make plays, and everyone is a play-maker on the floor," he says. "That's big for us, just being able to showcase that."

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Trayce Jackson-Davis and the Indiana Hoosiers Ready for Basketball in the Bahamas - BCSNN - Best College Sports News Network