Born and bred in Indiana

ATLANTA -- The stereotype fits these Hoosiers, even if they didn't win the national championship.\nA basketball goal hanging off the side of a barn or planted in the ground just off the driveway. A blond-haired kid shooting somewhere around 200 jump shots a day, dribbling around chairs or bricks or cracks in the concrete. Seconds run off the imaginary clock…3…2…1…swish. Hoosiers win. (If that fateful shot doesn't go in? He was fouled.)\nDuring the days leading up to the Final Four and Monday night's NCAA championship game, the Hoosiers who are Indiana natives have been drilled about questions of the storied history of basketball in Indiana and at IU. \nThey've answered proudly and willingly. \n"Living in the state of Indiana with basketball being so rich in tradition…we're basically playing a kid's dream and living it out," senior Jarrad Odle said.\nThe tradition now includes a trip to the Final Four and a hero's treatment in Bloomington and across the state. These guys are Hoosier heroes up and down and through and through. \nOdle, Tom Coverdale, Jared Jeffries and Ryan Tapak all graduated from Indiana high schools. Scott May Jr. and Sean Kline are redshirts who grew up in Indiana, and fellow redshirt Mike Roberts lived in Terre Haute before moving to Oregon. \nDuring a five-year span where Indiana high school stars have sneaked over state lines to attend schools such as Wisconsin, Michigan State, Arizona and North Carolina, these Hoosiers stayed put. \n"Once (IU) offered me a scholarship, I didn't even consider any other school," junior point guard Tom Coverdale said. \nCoverdale was the state's Mr. Basketball at Noblesville High School in 1998, playing a steady style that has become the exact stereotype of basketball in Indiana. He isn't the fastest, quickest or most athletic, but he gets the job done through hard work and a dedication to the game. \nOdle and Tapak are of the same mold. But Jeffries, who admits he didn't follow IU basketball until high school, is a little different. He's loaded with natural gifts and even pokes fun at his not-so-athletic teammates -- including Odle, Coverdale and Tapak -- who have a hard time dunking. \nAnd after deciding on IU while at Bloomington High School North, he got caught up in the tradition of Hoosier hysteria and the support that has exploded this season. \n"Once you really get caught up in the tradition of Indiana, you get to see the fan support," Jeffries said. "For the last couple years, they haven't had a lot to cheer for. Right now, you see the pride in us winning."\nThere are certain factors that accompany winning and playing at IU, including history lessons on past championships, conversations with past Hoosier stars and pats on the back from a campus and a state in love with basketball. \n"Indiana is a great program, great basketball program, great school," Coach Mike Davis said. "It's bigger than anyone or anything."\nJeffries doesn't remember watching the 1987 title game, but Coverdale said he could recall it, at least the game-winning shot from Keith Smart. \nCoverdale has become a "good friend" of former Hoosier Tom Abernathy, who played on IU's 1976 championship team. Abernathy stopped by Coverdale's hotel room in Atlanta after the Hoosiers upended Oklahoma in the national semifinal Saturday night and told him to enjoy the run. \nStill, it hasn't hit home just yet for Coverdale, who said he is living a lifelong dream.\n"It will sink in a lot more once the season is over," he said Sunday. \nBut once the team returned to Bloomington, reality is certain to capture the Hoosiers. Especially for those who have dreamed of the candy-stripped pants and simple cream and crimson uniforms -- Davis said Sunday he doesn't foresee including names on the back of the jerseys. \n"To play in the national championship game with a chance to take that banner home, it really says a lot," Odle said.\n2002 Big Ten Champions. 2002 Final Four. 2002 National Runner-up.\nIndiana -- and its favorite sons -- couldn't be happier.