Four Hoosier seniors will be honored tonight as the No. 18 Hoosiers host Minnesota in the final home game of the season.\nGuard Adam Ahlfeld and forwards Lance Stemler, Mike White and D.J. White will suit up for the last time at Assembly Hall against the Gophers and will each participate in the traditional post-game farewell speech to fans.\nHeading into tonight’s contest, the departing class of 2008 has posted a 79-42 record, including a 2-2 mark in the NCAA tournament, with D.J. White being the only player to play in all four seasons. \nAhlfeld and D.J. White have endured two controversies surrounding the resignations of former coaches Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson. In his first season, Sampson recruited Mike White and Stemler as junior college transfers after becoming the program’s leader in 2006.\nThis graduating class has had more turnover than most in recent memory, as four players who joined the team as freshman are no longer with the Hoosiers. Guard Robert Vaden followed Davis to UAB in 2006, forward James Hardy stopped playing basketball to focus on football after one season, forward Lucas Steijn transferred after redshirting his freshman season and guard A.J. Ratliff quit the team this season for personal reasons.\nEven though there has been a lot of turnover and controversy, Ahlfeld said he will be excited to take the floor for one last game at Assembly Hall.\n“It’s definitely been a wild four years, but I definitely don’t have any negative thoughts about it,” he said.
IU needs help for chance at Big Ten Championship
The Hoosiers are currently one game behind conference leader Wisconsin with two games remaining, meaning for the first time in weeks, IU does not control its destiny in the race for the Big Ten Championship.\n“We are going to need a little help,” IU interim coach Dan Dakich said. “For the first time in a long time we are going to need a little help and hopefully we will get it.”\nWisconsin seems to have the inside track at a piece of the championship as it has to face Penn State and Northwestern, who have a combined 7-25 record in conference play.\nIf IU were to share a piece of the championship, it would be the first for the program since 2002. The Hoosiers have never won the Big Ten tournament championship in its 10 years of existence.
Dakich honeymoon over with loss at Michigan State
Dakich took full responsibility for the team’s 103-74 loss to Michigan State last Sunday.\n“If I’m going to be the guy that everybody pats on the back when things go well, then I have to be the guy that accepts when things don’t,” Dakich said after the loss to the Spartans.\nThe loss dropped the team’s record to 2-1 since Dakich took over for Sampson, but the loss also marked the Hoosiers first test against a ranked foe under Dakich.\nThe players have been through a lot since Sampson’s resignation, which may have caught up with the Hoosiers against the Spartans, Dakich said. He added that regardless of what is happening off the court, the Hoosiers need to rally for the rest of the season.\n“The players have been through a lot, and it’s my job to have them ready to compete in this basketball game,” he said.
