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Photo courtesy Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Any other region, any other team, or any other floor and the Indiana Hoosiers would have been looking forward to an Elite Eight match-up. Instead, Indiana ran into the best team in the country on a night when they played like the best team in the country, simple as that.
The result was a 102-90 loss, sending the Hoosiers home after a season that not even the most optimistic fans could expect.
If you want to nitpick, you can nitpick.
Cody Zeller got into foul trouble early, but only after forcing Kentucky’s phenom Anthony Davis to the bench even more prematurely.
25th March 2012
Photo courtesy Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
No matter what happens in Atlanta this Friday, the 2011-2012 season will long live in the memories of the Indiana Hoosiers and their fans. And if you ask anyone else in the country, the outcome of their re-match against the Kentucky Wildcats has already been determined.
But with the amount of times Tom Crean and his team have been written off this year, shouldn’t they have the final say on when their season comes to an end? Not some so-called “experts” that can’t come to grips with the fact that they’ve been wrong about this team all along.
Though it doesn’t seem plausible that Indiana can go onto a neutral floor and knock off the heavily favored Wildcats, the Hoosiers have made a habit of defying logic this year.
March is here again, which means everyone is busy filling out their brackets. Your coworker is just waiting for you to walk by their desk so they can tell you about the fact that they called Montana over Wisconsin in the opening round, failing to mention that this pick was noticeably absent in their first eight brackets.
Believe me, people don’t want to hear about your bracket, but that’s especially true if you’ve filled out four or five of them. You get one chance, one sheet. No one believes that you’re an NCAA Tournament selection savant; no need to try 50 different bracket combinations to pass yourself off as one.
I told you not to try and find the next Butler last year, and they tried to make me look bad, once again. That doesn’t change the formula for this year. Talented teams go far, and those are the teams you should be looking at. I’m not saying to avoid underdogs, picking upsets is part of the fun, just leave them out of your final four.
Photo Courtesy irockcollege.com
It’s official, the Indiana Hoosiers are back in the NCAA Tournament. Indiana drew the no. 4-seed in the South Region earlier today, a region that also features the Duke Blue Devils and the Kentucky Wildcats. If you haven’t seen it yet, here is a look at this year’s NCAA Tournament Bracket:
The Hoosiers will open up on Thursday (Time TBA) in Portland, OR, against the No. 13-seed, the New Mexico State Aggies. The Aggies play in the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) and had an overall record of 26-9 on the season.
New Mexico State earned an automatic bid by winning the WAC Tournament Championship over the past weekend. The Aggies have the 182nd-ranked strength of schedule, according to kenpom.com, and have not played or beaten a top-25 ranked opponent this season.
Photo courtesy Andy Lyons/Getty Images
If the goal is to be peaking at the right time in March, then the Indiana Hoosiers appear to be right on schedule heading into the B1G Tournament.
As the Hoosiers prepare to face the #12-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions on Thursday, Tom Crean has to like the way his team is playing basketball. Since their loss in Ann Arbor on February 1st, Indiana has won seven of its last eight basketball games; winning their last four by an average margin of 16 points.
But the Hoosiers will need to perform on a stage that hasn’t been very kind to them over the years. Indiana has never won the B1G Tournament, which began in 1998, and has only finished runner-up one time in 2001. The Hoosiers overall record in the event is 8-14, which can only be topped (or bottomed) by Northwestern’s mark of 6-14.
