INDIANAPOLIS — The suit, complete with pocket handkerchief decoration, provoked stares and blinks, as well as admiration for its sartorial splendor. The timing was the cusp of the college basketball season, but Indiana University guard Rob Phinisee’s wardrobe was a vision of spring blooming.

IU’s official school colors are crimson and cream. Phinisee wore a white suit accessorized with a bright red, folded hanky that seemed more comparable to a rose in a lapel than a cloth one might blow his nose in. If Indiana, the flagship basketball program in a basketball state, seeks to exude class, Phinisee did his best to convey the message when he raided his closet.

The coolness factor probably drove Phinisee’s dress, but the historical white suits of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s summer wardrobe, and mobsters in “The Godfather”, spoke to others as background for his out-sized attention at Big Ten Media Days at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

What might be one-and-done attire for a young man who will spend much of the winter running around in short pants was a breath of fresh air, much like what the IU athletic department hopes will be brought by new coach Mike Woodson, a famous basketball alum with an NBA resume as long as I-65.

Phinisee, a returning point guard who averaged 7.1 points and 2.9 assists per game last year, is a veteran linchpin for a Hoosier program that is in a recovery stage. This is a school that has won five NCAA titles, but is hurriedly consigning all paperwork related to the 2017-2021 Archie Miller era to a crate to be stored in an out-of-the-way warehouse such as in the scene in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Indiana hoops is at a crossroads with the hire of Woodson. This is a school and fan base with zero tolerance for anything short of national recognition. Woodson had been on a long leave of absence from Indiana. He played high school ball in Indianapolis and played for IU between 1976 and 1980 under legendary coach Bob Knight. A 10-year pro playing career followed and then he served as an assistant and head coach in the NBA ever after. Until summoned home in March to resuscitate the family business.

Softer spoken and more measured in speech than many high-velocity major college coaches, the one-time coach of the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks will not be intimidated by schedules, travel or flighty players. At 63, with a lifetime in the game, Woodson really has seen it all. He understands the sport, the guys, the environment and the mission.

Once one of Knight’s on-court guys, Woodson has reached out to the long-alienated former coach, now 80, and said to be in fragile health, with a fresh embrace to demonstrate he remains integral to the big picture. Over the summer, Woodson presided over a massive gathering of about 180 ex-IU players and coaches at a French Lick resort.

“It was one big, family reunion,” Woodson said, and having Knight present, “it was perfect.”

So is the record, at 0-0, approaching the 2020-21 season’s start at home Nov. 9 versus Eastern Michigan.

Starting over

After his whirlwind recruiting and re-recruiting, bringing in fresh faces and coaxing those threatening departure to stick around, Woodson began rebuilding fragile egos bruised by last season’s 12-15 performance that included a 7-12 league mark.

What he did, playing psychologist, was urge the Hoosiers to gaze around the gym each time they walk in for practice and drink in the banners celebrating national championships and Big Ten titles. The goal? Be inspired by teams of the past and aspire to match them.

“I’ve got to push them in that direction,” said Woodson, who has a shaved head, mustache and goatee, and looks younger than his years. “It’s no good for them to think any other way.”

Woodson said he wasn’t as much of a long-time stranger to the Bloomington campus as people think, visiting periodically. Since he again became a full-time presence in his alma mater’s town, he has been warmly greeted, offered congratulations, and encouragement for the job ahead.

“It’s been great,” Woodson said. “People are excited. I came back for one reason, to put this team back on the top.”

The top is Himalayan high. IU won two national crowns under Branch McCracken and three under Knight, the last one in 1987. IU has won 22 Big Ten titles, the last one in 2016, two coaches ago under Tom Crean.

The recent failure to hang more banner had fans grumbling, and although it cost millions of dollars, raised by boosters, that led athletic director Scott Dolson to buy out Miller. Losing the good will of the base was untenable and now expectations are big-league among fans, alumni and former players.

Indiana is one of a handful of schools which have become identified with eternal basketball success.

“Indiana, to me, along with UCLA, North Carolina and Duke, those are the schools that are basically basketball strong,” said Steve Downing, a one-time Hoosier star who is now athletic director at Marian University. “There is pressure to stay there.”

This is the state that gave the world “Hoosiers,” the real-life Milan team and the unforgettable movie. IU provided candy striped warm-up pants. It is still the place where hoops matter the most.

“I’m sure that IU, IU history, has something to do with it,” Downing said.

Downing, who played for the Hoosiers between 1970 and 1973, said he helped recruit Woodson, who played a few years later, to Bloomington when Downing was student teaching at Woodson’s high school.

Busy with his own school’s sports activities now, Downing said he will figure out ways to see Woodson’s IU team play this winter.

“I’m going to make some time now that Mike Woodson is there,” Downing said. “He’s one of your own.”

After the exit of Miller and the arrival of Woodson, an upbeat, we’re-starting-over mood pervaded Bloomington. The only concern was Woodson’s long-time separation from the college game. So IU also hired Thad Matta as associate director of athletics for basketball administration, both a clunky title and somewhat unusual role.

Matta was a prominent coaching success at Ohio State, Butler and Xavier. To some, Matta seems like an emergency back-up in the wings in case Woodson does not adjust to college ball.

However, Woodson seems quite comfortable in his own skin and having Matta around.

“Coach Matta is in a lot of our meetings every day,” Woodson said. “I lean on (Matta) because he’s been in the trenches. He’s been through it.”

Being a Division I basketball coach seems to require as much selling as an automobile dealer. It involves recruiting freshmen and their parents, junior college prospects, and now transfers, plus interaction with the media.

Woodson’s basketball sales pitch stresses that Indiana is an iconic team, plays in a proud league, and his personal contacts, background and knowledge can help a player mature into an NBA draft pick. Oh, and if anyone cares, that he represents a school where a young man can get a good education.

In this new era of liberal transfer rules, where 1,000 players a year enter the NCAA transfer portal, keeping athletes is as much of a challenge as finding them, particularly when a program changes direction with a new coach. Woodson promptly dove into that situation.

His most successful pep talk was delivered to wary junior Trayce Jackson-Davis, an athletic 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward who averaged a team-leading 19.1 points and 9 rebounds a game last year while shooting 51.7 percent from the floor.

It was believed Jackson-Davis had one foot out the door right behind Miller. Woodson made a good impression, explaining what skills Jackson-Davis, who is from Greenwood, needs to polish to make himself a serious commodity for pro ball. Jackson-Davis stuck.

“(Woodson) convinced me to stay in like 10 minutes,” Jackson-Davis said. “The transition (from Miller) was so smooth. He was a positive vibe right from the get-go.” Those hanging banners were an incentive. “He says, ‘That’s our goal.’”

Jackson-Davis was a first-team Big Ten selection and a third-team All-American last season. More is expected of him now. Yet it was acknowledged, by Woodson, and Jackson-Davis, there are areas he can improve on, such as extending his shooting range. These days everyone takes three-pointers. Jackson-Davis was not asked to do so during his freshman or sophomore seasons.

“He (Woodson) wants me to shoot the ball whenever I’m open,” Jackson-Davis said. “If they give me the opening, I’m going to let it fly.”

Woodson’s lengthy NBA resume shouted credibility to Jackson-Davis because that’s where he wants to go.

“You’re talking about someone who has been around the NBA longer than you’ve been alive,” Jackson-Davis said.

A lot to live up to

Sculptures in the Assembly Hall lobby commemorate notable school basketball individuals and moments — and there are many of them contributing to IU basketball lore.

Coaches: Branch McCracken, 1938-1965, IU coaching record 364-174, national champions 1940, 1953. Bob Knight, 1971-2000, IU coaching record 662-239, national champions 1976, 1981, 1986.

Players: Don Schlundt, Bob Leonard, Calbert Cheaney, Walt Bellamy, Jimmy Rayl, Steve Alford, Damon Bailey, Kent Benson, Scott May, Tom and Dick Van Arsdale, Steve Downing, Quinn Buckner, Bill Garrett, George McGinnis, Isiah Thomas, Woodson himself.

They lifted Indiana to elite status. They were legends within the program, legends around the state, and are names synonymous with IU basketball long-term greatness.

Bob Leonard, who passed away in April at 88, was the point guard for the 1953 champs, aka “The Hurryin’ Hoosiers.” An All-American, later famous as coach of the Indiana Pacers’ ABA championship teams, and as a long-time broadcaster, Leonard scored the game-winning point as IU beat Kansas, 69-68, for the crown.

He was awarded two free throws after being fouled on a layup attempt with 27 seconds left, but missed the first try.

“I never spent a lot of time dribbling the ball, or waiting at the free-throw line,” Leonard recounted years later. “When the referee gave me the ball, I shot it pretty quickly.”

The second shot was good.

As broadcasters repeat each March, when IU went 32-0 during the 1975-76 season (including an 18-0 mark in the Big Ten), that is the last time there was an undefeated NCAA champion

The 6-foot-10 Benson, who is from New Castle, was one of seven players from that squad drafted by the pros (him in 1977). He was a two-time All-American and played 11 years in the NBA.

Benson was cheered by the hiring of Woodson, whom he played with, and thinks bringing in a former player to lead was long overdue. He blames administrators and trustees over the last two decades for an anti-Knight bias he was controversially terminated.

“And look at what it got them,” Benson said of the national title drought and recent disappointing seasons. “Nothing. They finally hired an ex-IU basketball player.”

Even though he is 66, with his Hoosier playing days far in the rear-view mirror and that unbeaten campaign recorded 45 years ago, Benson said, “It’s like it happened yesterday. I get to live it every day. People are always asking me what it was like to go undefeated, what it was like to play with those guys.”

He relishes being a living embodiment of Indiana basketball history and represented in one of the vivid sculptures honoring the program.

“That’s Indiana basketball nostalgic at its finest,” Benson said. “It’s the legacy that’s been left to these players. We established the legacy.”

The future is now

This year’s Hoosiers, who express great fondness for one another, and tout their team chemistry, caught a break with a pre-season trip to the Bahamas. They got a head start playing the Mike Woodson Way in two exhibition games they won.

Phinisee, Jackson-Davis, Xavier Johnson, Parker Stewart, Michael Durr, Anthony Leal, Miller Kopp, Race Thompson, Trey Galloway, Jordan Geronimo, Tamar Bates, and others hope they will some day be remembered for success as winners on Woodson’s first team.

They have been drenched in Hoosier lore, at the reunion in French Lick, listening to Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, from the ’81 title team. Phinisee, the sharp dresser, who complemented his outfit with red shoes, a la Judy Garland’s Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” said the message about Indiana being a special place gets repeated.

“The guys always tell you stories,” he said, “how much they love IU and how much Coach Knight meant to them.”

Jackson-Davis called Phinisee’s white-suit look “stylin’,” but his own threads at Big Ten Media Days were as elegant, though as blue pinstripes a bit more understated. He joked Phinisee was dressed as a player whose name was going to be called by commissioner Adam Silver as a No. 1 NBA draft pick.

The reality is Jackson-Davis is more likely to live that top selection scenario. But if he is to reach that status it will be because he, Phinisee, and the others lived up to the pressures and traditions of Indiana basketball.

It is worth remembering Dorothy’s ruby slippers possessed magical properties, and when she clicked her heels together wishes came true. You can almost hear Phinisee saying, “There’s no place like the NCAAs.”