Sixty-one games later, the NCAA tournament has become the Peachtree Invitational in Atlanta.
On one side of the bracket, a fabled football school, Oklahoma, is favored to beat a traditional basketball power, Indiana, by six points. On the other side, one Williams, Roy of Kansas or Gary of Maryland, is going to reach the national final. If it’s Roy of Kansas, bring a hankie to the postgame news conference.
As No. 1 seeds, the Jayhawks and Terrapins are supposed to be there. Oklahoma, which clearly deserved a No. 1 seed, is supposed to be there. The Sooners have already beaten Maryland and Kansas, so perhaps they ought to be favored this weekend.
Only Indiana, a humble fifth seed and co-champion of the Big Ten, isn’t supposed to be there.
Given IU’s glorious basketball past, it’s hard to think of the buzz-cut boys in the candy-striped warm-ups as Cinderella. But they are. The Hoosiers are straight out of “Hoosiers.”
Indiana will be the best story in Atlanta, and the worst team.
Before Hoosiers fans object too loudly, they should understand that the NCAA tournament is all about timing.
They don’t call it the Finest Four.
Each Final Four team survived a two-week crapshoot. If Illinois made either of its wide-open shots in the final seconds Friday night, the mighty Jayhawks may well have gone out.
But the Illini’s shots didn’t fall, and neither did Kansas.
Still, there is no question the Hoosiers had the easiest ride to Atlanta. On its way to the Final Four, Indiana defeated top-seeded Duke. It also defeated three double-digit seeds: 12th-seeded Utah, 13th-seeded UNC-Wilmington and 10th-seeded Kent State.
Utah, UNC-Wilmington and Kent State? Sounds like a solid Hoosier Classic field.
By comparison, the other Final Four entries faced a combined total of four double-digit seeds. This proves an NCAA tournament axiom: Seeds mean little after the first round.
It’s all about who’s hot and who’s not.
And it doesn’t matter if you’re the best team in the country, as long as you’re the best team in the building that day.
Fates can turn on the smallest thing–like the best player in the nation blowing a free throw.
Besides, Indiana isn’t the first team to coast through three double-digit seeds on the way to the Final Four. Maryland did it a year ago, defeating No. 14 George Mason, No. 11 Georgia State and No. 10 Georgetown.
Once the NCAA has named its tournament field, strength of schedule no longer matters.
Only the wildest-eyed Hoosiers fans, and there are a few, believe Indiana has any chance of winning its next two games. The rest will simply enjoy the ride, and they won’t worry too much if the Sooners whip the Hoosiers.
It may not make any difference if point guard Tom Coverdale is healthy, although his absence would be a convenient alibi if the score gets out of hand Saturday.
What’s more interesting than the Indiana-Oklahoma game is the rift Indiana’s improbable run has created between two large fan bases–those who support Indiana and those who back Bob Knight.
When Knight was running the show in Bloomington, Knight fans and Indiana fans were virtually indistinguishable. Once Knight was fired, the Knightheads’ loyalty immediately shifted to Texas Tech. Though they probably couldn’t find Lubbock without an atlas, they began buying up Red Raiders T-shirts, caps and car flags, anything to declare their allegiance to Knight.
Knight fans will say Mike Davis is winning with Knight’s players. That argument ignores the fact that Davis, as Knight’s top recruiter, delivered many of the players on this roster. Besides, any coach will tell you it’s much harder to win with someone else’s players.
Could Knight have produced the same results with these players? His recent history of first-round tournament exits indicates he would not have, but that’s mere speculation.
This much is fact: When the Hoosiers returned to campus from Lexington early Sunday, a joyous impromptu rally greeted them outside Assembly Hall.
It was a stark contrast to the last time Indiana basketball fans gathered for a public demonstration. Students mustered to protest Knight’s firing, and police were summoned to guard Indiana President Myles Brand’s house. It was one of the darker moments in the history of a fine university.
Some of those people must be hating every minute of the Hoosiers’ march. But it’s easy to guess what the rest are saying: “Anybody got two tickets?”
