Hoosiers deserve more than pity applause

Yes, it’s true. As Lionel Ritchie once said, we’ve come to the end of our rainbow.

And while the ride surely hasn’t been quite as colorful as the language some fans might use to describe Big Ten officiating, it’s surely been a new experience for most of you out there in Hoosier nation.

I think – while IU’s chance of winning the Big Ten Tournament is about as good a chance as I have of finding a job in newspapers when I graduate – it’s hard not to reflect on this season and give it a brief, collective applause.

The causes vary, but what was asked of IU coach Tom Crean and his team this year was both unprecedented and monumental.

Tonight, the Hoosiers play what will perhaps be the last game of their season when they face Penn State, which, like seven other Big Ten teams, beat the Hoosiers in both of their meetings this season.

Like 10 other Big Ten teams, the Nittany Lions also present matchup problems across the board in depth, size, experience and talent.

And like 10 other Big Ten teams, Penn State will likely be a wide favorite to advance past Thursday’s first-round game.

At the beginning of this season, I made a prediction that looked mildly bold then and wildly dumb now. I said the Hoosiers would win 10 games.

This was before I saw just how raw the Hoosiers were, and also before I saw the improvements made by certain Big Ten doormats – Penn State among them.

It should be noted that I have a sterling 0-18 record in picks this Big Ten season, having tipped IU to beat Northwestern, Wisconsin and Ohio State but lose to everyone else in my pregame predictions.

So if that proves anything to you – and my girlfriend could have told you this last fall – I’m wrong far more often than I’m right.

So forgive me, dear friends, for what I am about to do. I’m about to tell you what I think.

First, I think Samuel Goldwyn was right: The harder you work, the luckier you get. Well, the Hoosiers, by all accounts and understanding, have worked hard.
The luck? Not so much.

I think in the course of any high-level college basketball season, it is awfully hard to beat any team three times – actually, in any basketball season at any level.

I think Penn State just won’t know quite how to play on the bubble, with Selection Sunday peering out from behind door No. 2. Even Penn State coach Ed DeChellis has only been to one NCAA Tournament, and that came via automatic berth during his days at East Tennessee State.

I think IU has come closer to beating Penn State than almost any other Big Ten opponent, and the 61-58 loss in State College, Pa., was probably IU’s best performance on the road all season.

I think Conseco Fieldhouse will be painted red and white tonight, heavy with IU fans. I also think there won’t be any Purdue fans cheering against them tonight, since the Boilers don’t play until tomorrow.

And finally, I still think, even after 24 losses, this team will get a moment in the sun. All they’ve had to work through, with, over and around this season will get them more than one conference win and a dump truck full of pity applause from all corners of the conference.

A minor tenet, my job is to make pre-game predictions on how the Hoosiers will fare, and I think my record, laid out above, speaks for itself.

So this might be my last prediction, the last time I cast forward into the future in hopes of some small level of clairvoyance to make up for a long list of journalistic shortcomings.

But I don’t think so.

Osterman’s prediction:
IU 69 – Penn State 64