Loss wasn’t so smelly

This one wasn’t so bad.

Yes, it was at home. Sure, the crowd was raucous, perhaps even a bit desperate. Obviously, the Hoosiers had their chances and could have won the game had they made only half of their 10 missed free throws.

But you know what? This one really wasn’t so bad. For the first time this year, the Hoosiers didn’t lose because they lacked focus, fire or mental fortitude.

Minnesota was just a better team, plain and simple. And no matter how loud you cheer or how white your T might be, better teams usually win.

“This is one of the tougher ones to swallow,” IU coach Tom Crean said at the outset of his postgame press conference, adding he felt Sunday was the first time he could feel his team’s “belief” that they could win.

Never was this game too far one way or the other – in fact, IU held the largest lead of the day when it was up eight in the first half.

Three-point shooting and an unexpectedly large performance from freshman guard Malik Story, scorer of 14 points, kept the game tight for the boys in white.

The same sour notes that have played on repeat this year – missed free throws, turnovers, the inability to keep momentum in crucial moments – followed IU down in defeat.

“There’s gonna be a day where we don’t kill our own momentum,” Crean said, “and right now, we do that.”

That might be the understatement of the year, but it’s also reality for this team. This team’s shortcomings, some of which are mentioned above, are understandably frustrating to you out there in Hoosier Nation. But they are their own.

Turnovers are this team. Missed opportunities are this team. Missed free throws are this team. This is just not a very good team.

The Hoosiers play hard – I won’t take that away from them – and they have improved impressively over these last months.

But despite the banners in the rafters, the stripes on the pants or the shirts at the door, the Hoosier are still young, small and overmatched by pretty much everyone. To lose by four to Minnesota, a team almost assuredly headed for the NCAA Tournament, really isn’t that bad.

I’m not saying it shouldn’t bother you, William T. IUFan, to come so close and lose yet another Big Ten game. But realistically, if the only thing holding this team back from beating Minnesota on Sunday was five free throws, then consider for one moment how far these Hoosiers have come.

Blown out by Notre Dame, St. Joseph’s, Illinois and Ohio State, IU missed out on beating a ranked opponent, a dark horse for the Big Ten title, by just five free throws. Not that smelly, eh?

There are no moral victories – that should be universally understood.

But this season was going to be riddled with losses anyway, no matter what the score. So again I say – this one wasn’t so bad.

See you Wednesday.