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Happy holidays! If you’re a Christmas-present pro-crastinator like me, chances are you’re hustling to squeeze in those last-minute online orders for family and friends (or even braving the parking situation at the Fashion Mall, Godspeed) before this weekend concludes. While the Pacers and Colts haven’t given locals much reason to be jolly this year, it is still the season for giving, so whether it be Santa, Rudolph, or , here are some much-needed gift ideas for each of them:
Indianapolis Colts: Direction
The Colts were certainly in a giving mood in Denver on Sunday, turning the ball over five times, including two of the worst gaffes you’ll ever see, with Jonathan Taylor’s premature touchdown celebration and AD Mitchell’s trick-play calamity, and may have gifted an AFC Wild Card spot to the Broncos in the process. Barring a near miracle in the final three weeks, Indianapolis appears to be heading for yet another middle-of-the-pack finish outside of the NFL playoff bracket.
This will almost certainly be the eighth time in the last 10 seasons that the Colts miss the postseason outright. They’ve hovered around .500 in six of those seasons (2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2023, likely 2024) without anything to really show for it, failing to win the division and taking home just one playoff victory (2018 season) over the past decade overall.
There just doesn’t appear to be any direction with the franchise right now. The Colts have a lot of the same pieces from the last few seasons, including several highly paid returnees who have not lived up to their extensions. The early returns on Anthony Richardson have not been stellar, Shane Steichen has looked in over his head at times in his second season, and Chris Ballard’s celebrated process has not yielded any tangible results in eight years at the helm.
It’s hard to envision things drastically changing in the short term, but even if a rebuild is on the horizon and things need to go down for the franchise before they come back up again, Colts fans are clearly fed up with the arrow pointing sideways.
Indiana Pacers: Consistency
The Pacers have collected wins over the two NBA Finals participants last year, beating Boston and winning on the road in Dallas, while also losing to three of the four worst teams in the Eastern Conference, and it all happened before the deluge of Black Friday deals even began. Fun!
Entering this week at a mediocre 12-15, Indiana has mimicked the play of the face of the franchise, Tyrese Haliburton: When’s he’s been good, he’s been very good; when he’s been bad, he’s been abysmal. The Pacers’ offense, perhaps the best in the entire league a season ago, just hasn’t played with the same juice in a more physical NBA this year and their defense has remained a liability on most nights.
It’s been a light month of December for the Blue and Gold, who just completed an abnormal stretch of only three games in 12 days, and thanks to the recent return of Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith slated to follow shortly, the Pacers should get a much-needed boost. The breather comes at a good time, as Indiana finishes 2024 with a western road swing through California and some of the league’s best to conclude December with Boston (twice), Oklahoma City, and the suddenly resurgent Milwaukee Bucks.
Indiana Fever: Keeping Kelsey Mitchell
Coinciding with Caitlin Clark’s rise, the Fever was a different team over the second half of the season, turning in a 20-20 campaign after seven consecutive losing seasons. Indiana couldn’t quite keep up with the league’s elite and could use upgrades in depth and on the wing, but the team’s biggest need is retaining Kelsey Mitchell.
Mitchell, an unrestricted free agent, had a career year in 2024, averaging just a tick under 20 points per game for the season and earning her second straight All-Star nod. She was just as critical to the team’s success as Clark or Aliyah Boston were, especially following the Olympic break. Indiana can place a core designation—the WNBA’s equivalent of the NFL franchise tag—on Mitchell, and that one-year, super-max deal is probably her preference as player salaries are expected to rise once a new collective bargaining agreement is hammered out following the 2025 season. However, you’d love to see the 29-year-old Mitchell remain in Indiana for the long haul while maintaining the Fever’s three-headed monster at the top of the roster.
Indiana football: A playoff win
Entering December, there is a real element of house money for an Indiana program enjoying the best season of its century-plus existence—just don’t tell that to Curt Cignetti or his players. Heading into their hotly anticipated College Football Playoff matchup with Notre Dame, Indiana will be out to prove the naysayers, many of whom reside below the Mason-Dixon line, wrong on the national stage and prove themselves worthy of their placement.
Can you imagine what a win in South Bend against one of the historical gold standards of the sport would do? Heck, even a competitive loss (and further SEC media and fan bellyaching) couldn’t possibly dampen what the last three months have meant to the Hoosiers’ program.
There will undoubtedly be questions about what Indiana does for an encore in 2025 after capitalizing on a likely irreproducible transfer portal hit rate last spring and a schedule that finally broke their way after being trapped for over a decade in the Big Ten’s dreaded East division. However, when it comes to sustainability, the program has a navigator with a lengthy and bulletproof track record of success in Cignetti, gobs of NIL backing flooding into its coffers, and, perhaps for the first time ever, real momentum and brand-power nationally. Bet against that at your own peril.
Indiana men’s basketball: Cohesion
Chomping on holiday cupcakes and league doormat Minnesota at home hasn’t been enough to overcome a seventh-place finish in the Battle 4 Atlantis and fourth-straight loss to Nebraska in the early going for the Hoosiers. Coming off a disappointing year 3, this season’s inauspicious start has turned the temperature up for Mike Woodson in his fourth season as he tries to piece together a talented but unfamiliar roster.
Like so many IU teams of this century, the problem isn’t talent—it’s fit. Guys like Oumar Ballo, Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako, Myles Rice and heralded freshman Bryson Tucker are all super skilled players, but meshing this roster together has been a challenge. Woodson has taken heat for an offensive system that is viewed as archaic, and Indiana has continued its outside shooting struggles, entering this week ranked 179th nationally in 3-point percentage (33.6% as a team). If the Hoosiers fail to meet their lofty preseason expectations, they’re likely facing a sixth coaching change since 2000.
Purdue men’s basketball: Toughness
Toughness? Purdue hoops? Huh? As shocking as it may seem, especially given the program’s long-standing modus operandi, the Boilermakers have been pushed around too easily at times in the early weeks of the season. To be fair, their slate has been a gauntlet as Alabama, Marquette, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss all entered the week firmly entrenched inside the nation’s Top 20 in both polls, but Purdue was out-toughed by Texas A&M in front of a partisan crowd in Indianapolis and harassed by Marquette and Penn State away from home, a rarity for recent squads.
Trey Kauffman-Renn and Braden Smith are all-conference talents, and intriguing sophomores Myles Colvin and Camden Heide have shown considerable growth. But as a team, Purdue has been taken out of their comfort zone by high-level opponents too often. Their core identity will have to return by the time the calendar turns to January as a rugged and wide open Big Ten race awaits.
Purdue football: A savior (I mean, ‘tis the season, right?)
To call the 2024 season a catastrophe would actually be underselling it. After a seemingly fine debut season, the bottom fell out for Ryan Walters and his staff in year 2, as one-win Boilers ended up as one of the worst squads in all the entire 134-team Football Bowl Subdivision. To add insult to injury, Purdue began its FBS season by suffering the worst loss in program history (66-7) to traditional in-state rival Notre Dame in September and ended it by topping that mark with a new dubious loss record (66-0) at the hands of top rival Indiana in November.
Now for the good news: This is still a Big Ten job for a program with loyal fan support—Purdue actually set an attendance record at Ross-Ade Stadium this season—and a history of overcoming tall odds. Also, quick turnarounds in West Lafayette are possible. The task that awaits new head coach Barry Odom is not an easy one—but it is not an impossible one, either.•
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From Peyton Manning’s peak with the Colts to the Pacers’ most recent roster makeover, Schultz has talked about it all as a sports personality in Indianapolis for more than 15 years.
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