Hoosier favorite number 31? Picking Your Favorite Indiana Basketball Players, Number One at a Time

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