Hoosier Basketball Has Returned to Normalcy

Indiana University has a rich basketball history, but the past decade was the darkest chapter. It included the Kelvin Sampson scandal, the accompanying NCAA investigation, and a 1-17 conference record that concluded 6-25 2008-2009 season. The storied program hit rock bottom, so the university decided to bring in Tom Crean as head coach to help resurrect the fallen team. That 08-09 season was Crean's first and things started out slowly. In fact, during his first three seasons, the Hoosiers were only 28-66.

But things started to change this year. Indiana's easy schedule started out as expected at 8-0. The Hoosier faithful started to believe and seemingly willed their team to buzzer-beater upset of #1 Kentucky at home. If that wasn't enough, they also beat #2 Ohio State and #5 Michigan State at home as well. Indiana finished 5th in the Big Ten and earned the #4 seed in the South Region of the NCAA tournament bracket. Plenty of folks were still critical of this team returning to the dance for the first time since 2007. The Hoosiers unfortunately lost guard Verdell Jones III to injury in the conference tournament and didn't have an impressive road resume.

Indiana started out the tournament well with a second round win over New Mexico State. Then, tonight, they survived the "havoc" defense of VCU to earn a trip to the Sweet Sixteen, for the first time in a decade. The Hoosiers balanced attack is being led by junior Christian Watford. Now, they have earned a rematch with the #1 overall seed Kentucky. Whether or not they win or lose that game, this team has returned to its place of glory. This team has proved that anything is possible. You just have to believe it can happen.