The word mercurial was made for Mackenzie Mgbako.

The dictionary definition of mercurial is “subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.” Used as a sports metaphor, mercurial has less to do with mindset than it does with performance.

Mgbako could flash the five-star ability that brought him to Indiana late in the Class of 2023 recruiting cycle. At other times, Mgbako was miles off of that standard.

Whether that’s an indictment of the star-rating pecking order of players before they play a college game is a matter of debate. In Mgbako’s case, his inconsistency was a reflection on the state of the Indiana program at the time.

Mgbako, a New Jersey native, originally signed with Duke but de-committed in April 2023. Indiana won a head-to-head battle with Kansas to get Mgbako, triggering much celebration at the time from Indiana’s fanbase.

With high expectations straight out of the chute, Mgbako started slowly. He was a starter right away, but had one double-digit scoring effort in his first five games. Coach Mike Woodson came to Mgbako’s defense, pleading that fans and media needed to be patient with Mgbako’s development.

Woodson was largely correct. Starting with an 18-point effort at Harvard in late November, Mgbako would only fail to reach double-figure scoring four times for the rest of the season.

However, Mgbako was a defensive liability and often targeted by opposing teams. While Mgbako could score, he gave up his share of points.

It seemed Mgbako had reached a good balance by the last month of the 2023 season. He smoothed some of his roughest defensive edges, and he averaged 15.8 points in the final nine games of the season. There was no freshman wall for Mgbako – he gave rise to high expectations for the 2024-25 season.

A spectacular 31-point opening game performance against SIU-Edwardsville did nothing to tamp down excitement, but then inconsistency reared its head again.

Mgbako’s five 20-point-plus performances were matched by five games with four points or less. Unlike 2023, the up-and-down performances were more scattered, making performance an unknown from game to game.

Mgbako ended up averaging 12.2 points in both of his Indiana seasons. As far as viability for the top 16 of the 2020s is concerned, Mgbako’s 2020s scoring average rated him fifth among qualifying players.

However, Mgbako’s win shares, dragged down by his defensive struggles, rated lower. Ten other Hoosiers had better individual seasons than Mgbako did in terms of win shares.

That mixed data made Mgbako hard to rate, but that seems appropriate. When Mgbako was at his best, he was as good as any player on any team. At his worst, he was barely a presence at all.

When Woodson was not retained after the 2025 season, Mgbako transferred to Texas A&M. In a sign of Mgbako’s ability, he earned an invite to the NBA Draft Combine and performed well enough to have an outside chance of getting drafted. Ultimately, Mgbako elected to go to Texas A&M, where he will try to straighten out the curves that defined his Indiana career.

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