“Fantastic.”

Healthy after battling through knee pain and a sports hernia last season, Derek Elston is excited to prepare to contribute down low for a team that he says is ready for a breakthrough.

That’s how Derek Elston said he feels now, after he spent his sophomore season battling knee pain, a sports hernia and disappointment. Indiana’s 6-foot-9 forward hurt himself before last year’s Evansville game, and he played through the pain all season long.

“I played last season, and I know I did terrible, and I know probably the fans thought I did terrible, which, I don’t blame them,” Elston said Thursday. “But the fact is I tried to get through it, and even, that’s what’s kind of bothering, they think I played terrible, I think I played terrible. But really, I just had a hernia the entire time.”

Elston underwent surgery for the sports hernia, which was diagnosed through an MRI after the season, on May 26, and he’s been working hard to get stronger ever since. Together with Je’Ney Jackson, Indiana’s strength and conditioning coach, Elston has worked on building muscle on his lower body.

Plagued with knee pain since he was in middle school, Elston said Jackson told him his problem might be that he didn’t have enough lower-body strength.

So Elston committed himself to improving there throughout the summer. Jackson put him through different workouts to strengthen his legs, including lunges and leg presses. At the same time, Elston worked with bands, jump ropes and in a pool to improve his footwork and lateral quickness, thus bettering his defensive game

“The whole time I’ve been there with him, I’ve gotten so much better,” Elston said, admitting that before the summer, when he flexed his leg muscles, he “could just see barely any definition.”

“Definition-wise, strength-wise, coach Jackson is the main reason why I just feel so healthy right now.”

The 6-foot-9 junior has been back on the court for three weeks now, training his way back to 100 percent and working to improving his defense to the point that he would be able to guard any position from the three to the five.

“I want to try to get my body to where I can be a big man. I can guard a five, but I want to be able to guard a three,” Elston said. “I can gain a lot of weight and I’ve always been able to have this big upper body. But coach Jackson was telling me I could gain 15 pounds and just put it in my legs.”

Soon, Elston and his teammates will get a couple of weeks at home, before the fall semester kicks into gear. Even on his break, during which time he’s going to California, Elston said he’s going to try to run on the beach, to further strengthen his legs.

Last season, Elston said his health was so poor that he actually lost height off his vertical jump, and when the team conducted mid-season testing, he wasn’t even physically able to join them, a memory he calls “the low point” in his sophomore campaign.

But with his health now returned and his conditioning perhaps soon with it, Elston said he’s hoping he can add 3-4 inches on his vertical. He said he wants to be ready to contribute down low, as Indiana tries to open a new chapter in its rebuilding process.

“I’ve never seen this team like this,” Elston said, referring to the Hoosiers’ new mental attitude and emerging leadership. “Coming in my freshmen year, it was always kind of: look at the coaches for what to do. And now the coaches are kind of getting in there and asking us what we’re doing and we’re already ready to go.

“So from that aspect of the game, who knows what we could do, honestly? We’re just dreaming big, and just ready to play, ready to start it up when we get back.”