| The Shot |
Forgive me if I sound like a hardcore Indiana Hoosier fan throughout this post. I am not, and probably never will be, but I love college basketball and Saturday night was a night that almost all of college basketball could smile about. The Indiana Hoosiers, a once-proud program, have recently been the laughing stock of the Big Ten and college hoops. All the glory and honor that was built by Bob Knight was torn down in a matter of days by Kelvin Sampson. The program was in ruins after Sampson's short stint as head coach that lasted from 2006-08 and was marred by illegal recruiting violations. Tom Crean was hired to clean up the mess and in his first season the Hoosiers struggled through a 6-25 season that included just one Big Ten win. The road back to prominence isn't easy, as many in Bloomington have found out. But with Christian Watford's clutch three pointer at the buzzer to defeat #1 ranked Kentucky, Indiana took a major step forward.
Walk into Assembly Hall on the campus of Indiana University and it's hard to miss the five red banners hanging from the rafters that commemorate IU's five national championships. The last one is from 1987 when Bob Knight patrolled the sidelines. 2002 was the last time Indiana qualified for the national title game and it's also the last time that they advanced to the Sweet 16. It's been rough for Indiana fans since that title game appearance. Four years since then they have failed to make postseason play and Crean's record through his first three seasons is just 34-66. Adding to the embarassment is the fact that IU's biggest rivals have all had recent success. Illinois has been in the top half of the Big Ten for several years in a row and was national runner-up in 2005. Purdue just said goodbye to two of it's greatest players and they have won at least one game in the Big Dance the past five years. Even in-state mid-major Butler has been national runner-up two years in a row. Other traditional powers such as Kansas, Duke and North Carolina have won titles since 2002 while Indiana's greatness has become just a thing of the past. The road is indeed a rough one.
However, Crean has finally been able to recruit the players he needs to be successful and that is highlighted by fab freshman Cody Zeller. Crean inherited a team that had just one scholarship player returning but now has a group of players hungry for success that have seen the bottom and would rather not stay there. IU only has two seniors that see any sort of time and the junior and sophomore classes are made up of highly-talented players. Players like Watford, Jordan Hulls, Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey have helped the team improve in the win column every year since Crean's arrival, and with a few more wins, IU will have already topped last year's win mark of 12.
Still, it hasn't been anything close to easy. Perhaps the team's most talented player, Maurice Creek, has sat out multiple seasons due to knee injuries and his latest one sullied the most excited thoughts Hoosier fans have had in years. Not to be defeated, though, Indiana has won it's first nine games and stands at number 20 in the latest ESPN/USA Today Poll. Are they back? It may be too early to tell but it sure seems so.
Indiana has proven that, once again, Assembly Hall is a scary place to enter if you're an opponent and they can compete with the best in the nation. Zeller has lived up to the hype and leads the team in scoring with 15.0 points per game. Four other players average in double figures and to think that Zeller is the only one worth note on this team is ludicrous. This is a complete team that will finish in the top five of the Big Ten.
And then what about next year when Crean gets his hands on one of America's best recruiting classes? Three top 100 recruits will invade Bloomington to team up with Zeller, Watford and the rest of the core group of Hoosiers. It's not a crazy thought to think that Indiana could be in the top three of the Big Ten next year. Tom Crean has rebuilt this program from the ground up. Fans and university heads have been patient with him and now they are getting what they want and deserve. College basketball is better when traditional powers are good. Remember how refreshing it was to see UCLA in the Final Four three years in a row just a few seasons ago? Sure, Butler is a nice story and we love to see those but there is something about Indiana going up against Kentucky in a clash of college basketball titans. Both teams are highly skilled and it makes the rivalry more fun than it's been in years. College basketball needs IU to be competitive and they are once again.
Indiana fans are excited as they should be after knocking off the number 1 team and let's allow them to be excited. Look at what they have endured. There will always be the handful of Purdue and Illinois fans who can't give respect when respect is due and there will be those Kentucky fans who will search for every excuse in the book, but IU played a great game and got the job done. It's not a bad thing to say good for them, no matter what team you root for. A competitive Indiana team only spices up NCAA basketball and we can benefit from that. Because after all, we're all fans of college basketball.
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