Vanderbilt ends IU's season

Somewhere, the NCAA Selection Committee was sitting Wednesday night shaking their head, knowing they made the right decision.\nAll debate, all questions, all what-ifs were laid to rest as the Hoosiers proved why they weren't pretty enough to be in the round of 65 with a 67-60 loss to Vanderbilt at home in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. \nIn front of a crowd of 5,113 -- 12,144 below Assembly Hall's capacity -- IU trailed for all 40 minutes, making the Commodores look like the NCAA-worthy team they claimed to be.\nThe loss caps the Hoosiers' season at 15-14 -- one game better than where they ended last year. Despite the loss, all focus after the game was aimed at whether or not IU coach Mike Davis and Bracey Wright would be back next season.\nAs for the question about Wright returning to a Hoosier squad that many have predicted as a top 25 team next year, he remained mum.\nWright finished with 17 points and four rebounds, leading all IU scorers. \nThe Hoosiers were lit up by senior Commodore Corey Smith, who shot 8-14 en route to 25 points.\nThe Hoosiers' lackluster performance carried over from their poor showing in the Big Ten tournament, where they lost to Minnesota by 16 points. Wright said the Hoosiers fell into the NIT mindset -- that of playing in a second tier tournament. \n"Everybody always talks about who's not making the NCAA, and that's what all the talk was around here," he said. \nWhen asked if IU didn't come out for this game, Wright was blunt with his answer.\n"It looked like it, didn't it?" he said. "Yeah it did." \nDespite the dull effort on the court by the Hoosiers, Davis took all the blame for their loss. \n"We tried to prepare them the best we could for this game, but I thought we did a poor job of getting our guys ready to play," Davis said.\nDavis said he and his staff talked about the home upsets in the NIT, that saw the likes of Notre Dame, Missouri and Marquette go down in the early rounds. \n"We tried to motivate our guys about other teams that lost last night at home, knowing that having home court wasn't really the key, it was the mindset. I did a poor job just getting our guys ready and excited about the NIT," he said.\nIU finished the game shooting a dismal 37.5 percent from the field, which included 22.2 percent from behind the arc.\nWright's help Wednesday came from freshman Robert Vaden and Marshall Strickland, who scored 13 and 10 points respectively. \n"They're a really tough team," Strickland said. "They kind of beat us up today."\nDespite all the bullying Strickland talked about, both teams came out even on the rebounding scale with 32 a piece. \nThe loss broke the Hoosiers 10 game home winning streak, dating back to the win over Oral Roberts New Years Eve. Even Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings couldn't believe his team came into Assembly Hall and left victorious.\n"It's not often you get to come here and experience victory," he said.