A Game to Remember

I am sure that all college teams have an evening dedicated to graduating players, but somehow, I feel that IU basketball does it the best.  Senior night has been a Hoosier tradition for as long as I can remember and one that I look forward to every year.  It has always been held following the last home game of the season with each senior being recognized by the coach and then given some time to say a few words.  Not every game on senior night has been a victory, but almost all of them have been hard fought.  Even so, it has been a long time since I remember a senior night being as fantastic as the one this evening.  Doug and I enjoyed watching it very much and were extremely glad that Cameron was able to be there in person.

Tonight's game brought Ohio State to Assembly Hall with both teams needing the victory to earn the coveted ninth spot in the Big Ten Tourney which would give them the last bye in the first round.  The importance of that and the hard-fought overtime game in Columbus a month ago, only added to the intensity of today.  With all of the hype surrounding the home game, I really thought that IU would come out on fire and win easily.  I soon realized that I was wrong.  The offense played extremely poorly and couldn't seem to hit anything.  Thankfully, the defense held tight, and the Hoosiers were surprisingly only behind by four points at the half. 

At halftime, Doug reminded me that IU had been down against the Buckeyes by fifteen the last time they played them and had come back to win.  That gave me great hope, but with ten minutes to go in the game, we were down by double digits.  I couldn't believe it as I was 100% positive that we would win.  Soon after OSU climbed to their biggest lead of the game, we started our own run.  That along with some phenomenal defense by one of our seniors led to a Buckeye flagrant foul and a tie game. Unfortunately, Ohio State didn't give up and fought back to a six-point lead.  Tenacity and an unbelievable three pointer by another senior gave IU the lead and eventually the six-point win.  Doug and I were ecstatic as was the rest of our family and the seventeen thousand fans in attendance.  

Although, the senior speeches weren't televised, we were able to listen to them on the radio.  It was really nice to hear all that they had to say as well as listen to Mike Woodson's words as he coached his last game in Bloomington.  After the speeches were over, Doug and I left for dinner at Cheddar's.  The meal was wonderful, but the best part was talking about our favorite IU players over the past forty-five years. Most played during the years that we were Hoosiers. I really enjoyed reminiscing about those days and all of the games that we attended.  IU basketball made for some wonderful memories and our college days a lot more fun.