A season down the sink

So this is how it ends.\nWith a whimper. With a limp. With eyes glazed over. Who could have imagined such a collapse five months ago? Heck, five weeks ago? It was as if the Hoosiers spent the last month of the season unlearning everything about the game they were supposed to be dominating; a sad and incredible fall to behold.\nIn its 86-72 first-round loss to Arkansas, IU did just enough to keep it interesting, but not enough to put the outcome in doubt. They were thoroughly beaten on both ends of the court.\nOnce again, the Hoosiers couldn’t find a third scorer, but it wasn’t D.J. and EJ carrying the offense. It was D.J. and sophomore guard Armon Bassett. Both players scored more than 20 points. Gordon, the player White once called “the other half of the best duo in college basketball,” turned in his worst performance of the season, tying a season-low eight points on 3-of-15 shooting. You could almost see his draft stock plummet with every off-balance jumper and misguided pass.\nAs amazing as Gordon’s IU career began – a 33-point record-breaking performance – that’s how badly it ended for the former North Central standout. Even his free throw stroke betrayed him against the Razorbacks. He made 2-of-6. \nAnother season of college basketball couldn’t hurt Gordon (although with the program in shambles, you can’t blame him when he leaves). For all of his upside, he still has plenty of bad habits – turning over the ball being first and foremost. There’s that toughness factor missing, too.\nAgainst the Razorbacks, Gordon settled mainly on long jumpers for much of the game. When he drove to the basket, he was looking for the foul call. On one second-half play, however, the freshman took the ball from the 3-point line and exploded to the rim, slicing through a couple Arkansas players for the dunk. He has that other level. He just can’t summon it often enough.\nIf there is one person to be absolved of this pitiful end, it is White. White poured his heart into what turned out to be his last game for the cream and crimson. He leaves as one of the most beloved figures to ever don the candy-striped pants. It’s a shame that his career ended the way that it did. He deserved better.\nFriday concluded the most bizarre season in the history of IU basketball – and that is saying something considering the colorful tenure of Robert Montgomery Knight. There was excitement. There was scandal. There was drama. And in the end, there was tragedy. How does a team with the conference’s best player and best freshman finish the season with zero titles, zero postseason victories and zero confidence? That’s what people will ask 10 years from now as they flip through the history pages of Indiana basketball. How could a team be that talented and have nothing to show for it?\nThen a wizened, old IU fan will pipe up and say, “Oh, that was Kelvin Sampson’s last year.”\nKelvin who? Or at least, let’s hope that’s the reply. The sooner the Sampson years are brushed under the rug, the better for this program. The illicit dialer has set the program back at least one season, possibly more depending on the outcome of the NCAA Infractions Committee hearing in June. There’s no quick fix this time.\nIU interim head coach Dan Dakich made his case to become the permanent head coach after the loss, but the team’s 3-4 post-Sampson performance didn’t do him any favors to be retained for the position. If smiles could win the job, then Dakich would be the man. There isn’t a more entertaining guy around. But it’s winning that has always held the most sway around these parts, and that won’t change anytime soon.\nAnd let’s add another requirement to the next coaching heir: character. The next IU coach should make a priest look unscrupulous. Character goes beyond winning and losing. Character is what is left after all is said and done. Character can heal a program. God knows there’s a lot of healing to be done.