IU Basketball

Last night Cal texted us that he had met Dean Garrett at Kilroy's.  For a fleeting moment I had visions of meeting Garrett and fellow IU star, Keith Smart, at a frat party in 1988 after a weekend game.  I laughed as I thought of Krystal hugging the center while I kept saying over and over to his teammate, "You're Keith Smart!  You're Keith Smart."  Thankfully, Cal and his friends were a lot more composed than my cousin and I were back then.  Later in the evening he sent us a group picture and let us know that one of our favorite Hoosier basketball players had even bought them a round of shots.

Today was filled with more nostalgia for IU basketball as Coach Knight returned to Assembly Hall after a twenty year hiatus to honor the 1980 team.  It was that event that brought Garrett into town as well as dozens of other Hoosier standouts.  We watched the halftime activities unfold on our way to Bloomington, secretly wishing we were in attendance, knowing that the $3000 price tag on the tickets was well beyond our weekly budget.  Even though we couldn't be there, we had fun watching and talked of nothing else the rest of the trip.  IU basketball was a huge part of our life when we were in college.  Back then campus was a ghost town on game days and discussions of winning a national championship were always a topic of choice.  Although that was not in the cards for IU while Doug and I were in Bloomington, the teams did win the Big Ten Championship twice, made it to the Final Four, and produced the all-time leading scorer in Big Ten history during our tenure.

Reminiscing about all of the fun times we had following IU basketball, watching former players reunite, seeing Coach Knight back on the court and hearing how excited Cal was to meet Dean Garrett, made today's loss to Purdue even more disappointing.  The team looked absolutely terrible and the lack of excitement made for a boring two hours.  Even Cameron, who was once Archie Miller's biggest supporter, finally agreed that the Hoosiers lack of success these past three years could only be blamed on his coaching style (or lack their of).  If IU was ever going to be pumped up enough to beat their rival, today was the day.  The history, the excitement in the crowd, the fact that Purdue was an average team at best, all made it nearly impossible for the Hoosiers to lose.  But, lose they did and by double digits.

I decided after today that it is time for something new or someone new to revitalize the program.  I hope that it happens soon as Cameron looked ahead at their schedule and wasn't sure that they would win another game this season.  Cal was right.  He called in it in November when IU basketball was beating a bunch of mediocre teams.  He said that he will be the second class in Indiana University history that would not see their beloved basketball team receive an NCAA tournament bid.  How incredibly disappointing.