Thomas Bryant prayed.
The sophomore center prepared to make the biggest decision of his life. His two options: return to IU for another season, or enter the NBA Draft. After careful consideration, he chose to come back to Bloomington.
“I knew I needed to return for my sophomore year before I even finished the season,” Bryant said. “I thought that would go better for me as a player for the long term because I want to be ready if I want to make that jump to the next level.”
He didn’t make the decision alone. He talked with his parents and the IU coaching staff about the right course of action. IU Coach Tom Crean was right there for Bryant as he figured out what his next step was.
“When it comes to running your own race, Thomas is a great example because he had to do exactly what was absolutely going to be the best for his long-term career,” Crean said. “He made a long-term decision.”
What IU gets back is a player who averaged 11.9 points per game to go along with 5.8 rebounds per game last season.
He was efficient around the rim, finishing fifth in the nation and first in the Big Ten as he scored just on 68.3 percent of his two-point attempts.
However, that efficiency wasn’t always there.
“It started in practice,” Bryant said. “Just being an aggressive team in practice, just playing aggressive and not calling as many fouls. Going up strong to finish. That’s what really started it off because we all weren’t too aggressive at first, so we needed to get more aggressive getting to the basket and finishing as well.”
Blossoming late in the season, his 19 points helped IU upset Kentucky in the Round of 32. But he knew he still had things to work on.
“He’s a very honest person in what he needs to get better at,” Crean said. “He understands how far he’s come. But I think he’s one of those rare kids that really, really gets how much better he can get.”
Focused on the little things, Bryant worked on conditioning and strengthening his lower body, aspects of his game that could pay off down the road. Crean said Bryant’s squat has gone up 200 pounds since he arrived at IU.
Another area he worked on the most this offseason was his lateral movement. He spent hours on footwork drills such as speed ladders and speed steps to help him be able to move his feet quicker.
He knew it was something that needed improvement.
“I saw it in myself as it was something that I needed to work as much as Coach Crean saw it,” Bryant said. “As soon as we saw that the problem was there, we tried to fix it right then and there.”
After an offseason of work, his teammates are already noticing improvements.
“I think he’s definitely improved as far as his lateral movement,” junior guard Rob Johnson said. “I think the biggest aspect where you see that is when he guards the ball screens. I think he does a way better job of getting out there and getting low on his hedges and not letting the guard turn the corner.”
That improvement will help him and the Hoosiers this season, and while Bryant’s NBA future looms large, Crean’s vision for the sophomore follows the narrative of other big men like Cody Zeller and Noah Vonleh who have come through Bloomington during Crean’s tenure.
“The other times he was kind of in the mode with everybody else where he was working on his shooting, working on the ball handling, working on the pick-and-roll and working on coming off screens,” Crean said. “It was just completely training him like a guard which we did with Cody and we did with Noah and like we want to do with him.”
