Bloomington, Ind. – Welcome to our Summer Series where hoozier basketball fans can vote for their favorite Indiana players to wear every number ever. Today, we start again with all the best to wear number 31.
Hoosier favorite?
Every day we’re going to give you four options with a short player bio to choose your favorite Hoosier who wore a certain number.
Here are your four number 31 jersey alternatives in alphabetical order so we don’t show bias. Be sure to vote via Twitter below.
(Editor’s note: We’ll take the results for 48 hours on the poll and then share the results on this story the next day, so keep coming back to see the results.)
Tony Brown (1979-83)
Guard Tony Brown out of Chicago, Ill. Played under former head coach Bobby Knight for four seasons. During Brown’s time in Indiana, he made it to the NCAA Tournament every year, including the Hoosiers’ 1981 championship win over No. 2-seeded North Carolina.
As a Hoosier, Brown shot 45.9 percent off the field and a respectable 70.5 percent off the Charity Stripe. In his senior season, Brown started 18 of 29 games and was a part of a 1983 Sweet 16 appearance versus Kentucky that defeated Indiana for the second time in eight years in the NCAA.
The Hooziers were the Big Ten regular season champions for Brown’s freshman, sophomore, and senior season.
Tony Brown
IU Athletics
Thomas Bryant (2015-17)
Thomas Bryant of Rochester, NY, played and started all 35 games as a freshman. In the Sweet 16 round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament, the center scored 12 points and a total of eight rebounds against North Carolina who defeated Indiana 101-86.
Bryant was named by coaches to the Third Team All-Big Ten and an honorable mention All-Big Ten by the media. He was also a part of the Big Ten All-Freshman team. Bryant finished the season with Indiana’s single-season field goal percentage record with 68.3 percent in all games.
Bryant was named a Precision All-American by NBCSports.com and Blue Ribbon Magazine to begin his sophomore season, which included seven double-doubles and Third Team All-Big Ten honors.
He finished his Hoosiers career with a 59.2 field goal percentage and shot 71.8 percent from the free-throw line.
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Bryant was drafted 42nd overall by the Utah Jazz in the 2017 NBA draft. He was assigned to the South Bay Lakers G League team before the waiver was claimed by the Washington Wizards in 2018.
After playing four seasons with Washington, Bryant returned to the Lakers in 2022.
Thomas Bryante
Amber Sears – USA TODAY SPORTS
John Laskowski (1972–75)
Sixth-man guard John Laskowski of South Bend, Ind., came off the bench scoring 20s six times and double figure 40s during his Hoosiers career, earning him the nickname “Super-Sub”.
Laskowski advanced to the 1973 Final Four game with the Hoosiers, but was knocked out by UCLA to play and win a third-place finish over Providence.
His senior season included an undefeated regular season and another deep NCAA Tournament run, which was cut short by Kentucky. The Wildcats won by two points to send the No. 1 seeded Hoosiers packing in the Elite Eight round.
Laskowski was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the second round of the 1975 NBA Draft and played two seasons with them. Following his playing career, he worked as a play-by-play and color commentator for Indiana basketball games on the Big Ten Network and was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.
He also wrote the book “Tales from the Hoosier Locker Room”, published in 2003.
John Laskowski
IU Athletics
All-time number 31’s in Indiana
Here are all the players who wore number 31 in Indiana:
- Thomas Bryante – (2015-17)
- kem dinko – (2005-06)
- Daryl Pegram – (2002-03)
- dave miner — (1986-87)
- Tony Brown – (1979-83)
- Scott Eels – (1975-79)
- John Laskowski – (1972-75)
- Bill Deheer – (1966-69)
- Jim Sutton – (1961-64)
- Dick Sparks – (1961-62)
- Norb Witte – (1957-60)
- Jim Hinds – (1956-58)
- Pete Obremsky – (1955-58)
- Paul Poff – (1952-55)
- Dick Farley – (1951-54)
Vote for your favorite number 31 on Twitter
You will be able to vote for your favorite player on Twitter with each number. Here’s the link to today’s poll for No. 31.
‘hoosier’ Preferred result
Watch this story every day to see which players won the vote for each respective number.
‘Hoosier’ Favorite Result Story Click Here