Hoosiers Primed for Final Four Run

The highlight of Christian Watford’s shot over Marquis Teague and Darius Miller this past December will not be forgotten any time soon. Absolute pandemonium struck not only Bloomington, but the entire nation as the once-floundering Indiana Hoosiers took down the nation’s top team in the Kentucky Wildcats. Many players on the Hoosier roster enjoyed individual success with Watford and Cody Zeller leading the way. A lot of questions were asked about what kind of team the Hoosiers would be if Watford and Zeller decided to enter the NBA Draft. Lucky for Indiana fans, they don’t have to worry about that just yet.

           

The two declared this morning that they would return to campus next fall and attempt to bring Indiana back to the Final Four for the first time since 2002. Some people still believe that Indiana will be too young to enjoy that kind of run through the tournament. Last season proved that Tom Crean’s team was struggling to find consistency and was still finding a way to climb back to the top of the Big Ten. Yet with wins over Kentucky and Ohio State, what’s not to love about the team Indiana will have next year?

           

Indiana loses four seniors, the most valuable being Verdell Jones, but will bring back all five of their starters. To join the young roster that Tom Crean can call his own, three top 100 recruits (Yogi Ferrell, Jeremy Hollowell, Hanner Mosquera-Perea) will don the candy cane pants and provide a jumpstart off the bench.

           

With all this talent coming in and returning to Bloomington, it’s hard to see any Big Ten team competing for the regular season title. Not one big man comes to mind that can hang with Zeller the more his game develops. Jared Sullinger, Draymond Green, and Meyers Leonard are all gone which gives Zeller, in my opinion, the title of the best big man in the conference.

On ESPN.com, Andy Katz has the Hoosiers as his preseason number one. I’m not sure if I would go that far just yet. But a top five team? I wouldn’t hesitate to do that. Tom Crean has developed a culture at IU that will not only guarantee success for this coming year, but for the future, too. As you can see from the recruiting class they have coming in, Crean’s ability to recruit is always going to be a strong point in his program. It’s hard for me to say this, being that I’m an Illinois fan, but I don’t see any rhyme or reason why Indiana can’t win the Big Ten and follow that up with a run to Atlanta.