On Wednesday afternoon, Indiana issued a press release with the headline: “(Liam) McNeeley named high school All-American.”
In a season full of not-so-good news for the program, sharing forward-looking, positive story about the program’s lone signee in the class of 2024 made perfect sense.
With its head coach under pressure amidst an underwhelming season, Indiana saw an opportunity to highlight how things could get better next winter by pointing to the future with a McDonald’s All-American in McNeeley, who is having one of the best seasons of any high school player.
A little more than a day later – after news broke that Mike Woodson would be back for a fourth season – McNeeley asked for his release from his National Letter of Intent.