‘Starting to figure it out’: Why Tamar Bates is newest member of IU starting lineup

The bump euro was giving Tamar Bates trouble.

It was a day during this past offseason, between Bates’ freshman and sophomore seasons at IU. Bates was working with trainer Aaron Washington. Bates was trying a bump euro, a nuanced move that includes bumping a defender and then stepping past them.

At first, Bates couldn’t get it down.

These sessions with Washington weren’t uncommon during the offseason. Bates, being the maniacal worker he is, reached out to Washington to inquire about training. Washington tried to put Bates in game-like situations. Shots he’d practiced before were translated to a 3-v-3 scenario, where a play would be drawn up for Bates.

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“He just goes hard, man,” Washington said. “I can’t say it enough. His approach. He comes in there with high energy. He comes in there focused. He’s not goofing off and playing around. He’s doing his stretching and his routine to warm up and get his body going. And once the workouts starts, he’s locked in. He’s being communicative. He’s encouraging himself. Like I said, he’s very vocal. I love working with him just because he gets me fired up.”

This work wasn’t so much laying a foundation as it was building off of it. An up-and-down freshman season didn’t erase Bates’ undeniable potential. And now he is showing it. Bates has scored in double-figures three times in the past five games — with two of those being 19-point performances. He is also shooting better than 41% from 3 this season. His has — in many ways — started to look like the highly-touted prospect he was expected to be.

Because of that, Mike Woodson announced Bates would be moving into the starting lineup for Thursday's game at Iowa, replacing Trey Galloway, who replaced the injured Xavier Johnson.

In ways both tangible and intangible, Bates holds a key part for IU this season. He has dawg in him, something that IU has shown it lacks during stretches this season. Plus, with how teams are defending Trayce Jackson-Davis, the perimeter shot-making of IU’s guards could determine this team’s fate.

"You saw that coming this summer in his summer play," Woodson said on his radio show Monday. "He was just starting to figure it out and we're starting to benefit a little bit from it. Because he's had some pretty damn good games for us."

Perhaps, though, it is best to learn about how Bates got here through the struggle rather than the success.

That’s why it’s important to know about that day during the offseason. Initially, Bates couldn’t quite figure the bump euro out.

What happened next was telling.

***

Bates puts his hands in front of his face, turned so the footprint tattooed on each are visible.

They are his daughter’s footprints. Bates has her first name tattooed onto his body, as well.

“Just getting her named tattooed on me,” Bates said in November, “kinda just carrying her with me always, in a sense.”

Bates, who became a father in 2022, has already been through a variety of life changes in the past few years. Bates was set to attend Texas, but his recruitment took a turn when Shaka Smart left the Longhorns for Marquette. He was a splashy addition for newly-hired coach Mike Woodson, igniting more excitement for the new era of IU basketball.

His freshman season, though, was rocky. He showed obvious flashes of potential, but they were far too fleeting. Bates' role diminished toward the end of the season, even to the point where he didn’t appear in IU’s win over Michigan in the Big Ten tournament. There were other factors throughout the season, too. Bates missed IU’s matchup with Notre Dame to attend a family funeral. In February, Bates was one of five players suspended for IU’s game at Northwestern. He finished the season averaging less than four points per game, a far cry from what was expected of a prospect of his caliber.

“I feel like the only thing that could really prepare you for college basketball is college basketball,” Bates said. “… So I feel like just going through that storm and I came out… obviously just a stronger basketball player... I came out just stronger mentally.”

Shortly after IU’s loss to Saint Mary’s in the NCAA tournament, Leilani Nicole Bates was born.

“I feel like just me saying that I have a new purpose… ‘cause before, I was just — all my motivation and everything, obviously like from losing family members and just like me wanting to accomplish my dreams,” Bates said in July. “But now my dreams become her dreams, so and the rest of my family’s, and, just knowing it’s not just myself that I’m trying to do this for. I’m doing this for not only Leilani but my girl, my family, my parents. And, the fact that she’s mine — like I already have my family — but this, she’s my responsibility. So it’s on me to make sure that she’s taken care of.”

This season, Bates and his daughter have been out and about. During Hoosier Hysteria, Bates brought her out for his introduction. During a postgame news conference, she was with him, as well. Even at an open gym during the offseason, Leilani watched her father play.

There is also the physical part of improving. Putting in the time. Before IU’s game against Arizona, Bates was asked about what had led to his success.

“It’s not really a secret recipe or formula to it — it’s just taking your craft seriously and putting the work in,” Bates said.

It might be cliche, but it’s also reality. Even before his time at IU and before his lone season at IMG Academy, this was the case. During his junior season at Piper High School in Kansas City, the team’s fall workouts were set for 6 a.m. Then-Piper coach David Birch would show up around 5:40-5:45. Almost every time, there was Bates, waiting in a car for the gym to open. “He’s in full sweat before we even begin at 6,” Birch said.

During Piper’s first game of that season, it fell into a steep deficit. It was Birch’s first game as a head coach, still feeling unsure about what his squad was made of. But during a timeout, Bates went into a metaphorical “phone booth, put on his Superman cape,” Birch said. Bates took over. Piper won the game.

“Coming in, (as a) first-year coach… he (Bates) was bought in, so it made my job about a million times easier,” Birch said. “He had respect from all the players. Not just because he was vocal, but he was the best player, he was the hardest worker. So he had respect from all of his teammates.”

***

It is revealing to see how someone responds in the face of adversity. Like struggling to get that bump euro move down. Or Bates’ freshman season at IU, which went far from what was expected. In the modern landscape of college sports where it is easy to run from problems, Bates faced them.

“When kids now get those challenges, they want to blame people,” Birch said. “They want to blame the coach, they’re playing the wrong lineups, they’re playing me out of position, it’s a different style than I want to be playing. I want to transfer. I want to go to a new school. I want a new coach. And that’s just not him… All he treats it as — I’m gonna get better.”

So Bates is here now, working with Washington. There is no secret recipe to figuring out the bump euro. So quickly, Bates asked questions. Washington broke it down, going step by step. He explained when the move would be used.

After about five minutes, Bates was successful.

Bates’ brother was there working out, as well, struggling to pick up the bump euro. It’s fitting what Bates did after figuring it out.

“Tamar, the leader that he is,” Washington said, “he was over there helping his brother, as well, to pick up on the concept of the move.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball: Why Tamar Bates will start for Hoosiers vs. Iowa