For IU men's basketball seniors, there was a light at end of the tunnel

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Michigan did it before it was in style. Kentucky pulled it off. Even Ohio State has done it before, and with a couple of Indiana kids.

All these teams had freshmen instantly revive their programs. Why not IU? Why couldn’t 2009’s ESPN.com’s No. 8 recruiting class pull off what these programs did?

Throw in Georgetown transfer Jeremiah Rivers gaining eligibility, the return of Verdell Jones III and Tom Pritchard to the starting lineup, and why not IU in 2009-10?

Crean’s first real recruiting class was the silver lining following IU’s worst season in school history. But IU fans who thought it would be a one-year turnaround were in for a rude awakening.

A season-ending injury to IU guard Maurice Creek — who was the leading freshman scorer in the country — quickly spiraled into a familiar slide. Though IU had the help of freshmen Christian Watford and Jordan Hulls, the once-highly touted recruiting class realized the harsh realities that lay ahead.

Matt Roth, who had become IU’s go-to 3-point threat off the bench, also went down with a season-ending foot injury. Daniel Moore went from starting games in 2008-09 to averaging seven minutes per game in 2009-10. Pritchard averaged 4.2 points per game in 2009-10, fewer than half his total a season before.

Even the IU faithful labeled Pritchard the scapegoat for his offensive regression.

“It was tough,” Pritchard said. “Losing games and getting singled out about not being a great player was obviously tough.”

Though IU fans were treated to a few more wins at Assembly Hall, a 4-14 conference record was not what they had in mind. IU barely snagged double-digit wins and was light-years from postseason play.

“It was very frustrating, especially how hard we were working in the first couple years and all the extra time we put in and not being able to see what would happen in the future,” Pritchard said.

Unlike in 2008-09, IU’s near future didn’t feature a highly ranked recruiting class. If this team wanted to taste any ounce of success at IU, it would have to come from within.

The slow movement

Assembly Hall was ready to explode.

The 2010-11 campaign hadn’t been what IU fans had hoped for, but at this moment, that didn’t matter.

On Jan. 27, 2011, IU trailed No. 21 Illinois 49-48 with 48 seconds left to play.
With the shot clock winding down, Hulls rimmed out a jumper that would’ve given IU the lead. But Pritchard flew in from the top of the key, collected the board and threw up a putback attempt.

By a mix of touch, inept defense and luck, it went in.

The same player who was constantly criticized for his declining offensive production provided the game-winning basket in a historic IU victory.

It was the first win against a ranked foe in the Crean era. It was a win against the same Illinois Coach Bruce Weber who said “Indiana will suck” in 2008.

A 2-6 Big Ten record didn’t stop IU fans from rushing Branch McCracken Court. Crean didn’t dwell on IU’s inevitable lack of a postseason when he had a postgame pep rally in the south lobby of Assembly Hall. It didn’t matter that the national media debated the over-celebration that took place that night.

That moment was for everybody who experienced 2008-09.

Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, 2010-11 was filled with more flashbacks than they wish to remember. The hangover of the Illinois win eventually wore off, and IU returned to reality.

The end-of-season nosedive IU fans had become all too familiar with played out again. This time, IU dropped 10 of its final 11 games and finished with even fewer conference wins than in 2009-10.

An 8-46 Big Ten record was what the five members of IU’s 2008 class had to show. Going into the seniors’ final season, Jones said they knew this all couldn’t be for nothing.

“There was just no way we weren’t going to turn it around,” he said. “I believe there’s a law in the universe of sowing and reaping. You reap what you sow, and we sowed some strong seams. I knew sooner or later, they better reap.”

The sweet

They could’ve thrown in the towel.

IU went into the media timeout having just let North Carolina State go on a 7-0 run to lead, 63-56, Nov. 30, 2011. The seniors found themselves in a familiar position — losing on the road in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Yes, they were 6-0, but that was the same record they had before it all turned sour the year before.

Yes, they had already broken their road losing streak that spanned nearly 22 months, but it was at Evansville, where the in-state IU squad was welcomed with a sea
of red.

IU again found itself surrounded by a sea of red, but this time it was NC State fans. What made this different than any of IU’s 30 road losses in the Crean era? What suggested this wasn’t the beginning of another IU nosedive? What made this group for real?

“For me, that moment that said that we’re here, we’re ready, was at the Big Ten/ACC Challenge this year,” Roth said. “We came to that under-eight timeout, and we’re down five or seven, and we just all had that same mindset, that same look that we’re here, we’re going to be fine, we’re going to win this game.”

The rout was on.

IU came out of the media timeout firing on all cylinders and went on a 30-12 run to cruise to an 86-75 win. On paper, IU beat a team predicted to finish in the middle of the ACC.

But this was more than an average nonconference win.

Three years prior, the now-seniors were embarrassed in their first road game at Wake Forest.

That final 7:38 represented the rebirth of IU basketball.

When Watford threw the ball in the air to end the game, many said afterward they should’ve acted like they had been there before.

They hadn’t.

It was the first time the seniors got to celebrate in somebody else’s packed house.

For Roth, the win in Raleigh, N.C., showed the nation IU was finally back.

“Just being a part of that moment told us all, hey, we’re going to achieve some great things this year,” Roth said.

As he usually is from 3-point range, Roth was right on the money.

Ten days later, Watford’s buzzer-beating three-pointer lifted IU against No. 1 Kentucky.
Thought it was just “some lucky shot”?

Three weeks after the historic upset, IU knocked off No. 2 Ohio State.

Still not sold?

IU defeated No. 5 Michigan State Tuesday, 70-55, which marked the first time in program history the Hoosiers defeated three top-five teams in the regular season.

“The journey for us has been damn near impossible,” Jones said. “For us to finally see some light is a great feeling. Each game that we win, it just feels that much better because we know that the Michigan States and the Kentuckys have pounded us in the past years. For us to get over that top is a great feeling.”

IU has had the largest season jump in wins of any Division 1 school this
season.

Kory Barnett said he didn’t think his senior year would play out like it has.

“Obviously, I didn’t think it was going to be to the extent it’s been this season,” Barnett said. “It’s been special. It’s been a special ride. To be able to go from where we were to now has made it more special.”

Not one senior is in the IU starting lineup.

Jones went from averaging as much as 14.9 points per game to becoming IU’s
sixth-leading scorer.

Moore went from starting against future pros, such as Jeff Teague, as a freshman to averaging less than a minute per game in Big Ten play as a senior.

Roth went from averaging 21 minutes per game as a freshman to 11.7 minutes per game as a senior.

Barnett stayed true to his nickname, the “Human Victory Cigar,” entering when the game is no longer in question.

But instead of that cigar being smoked only in nonconference games, it’s now smoked because of IU’s conference blowout wins.

Pritchard went from putting up double-doubles as a freshman to becoming a defensive specialist to back up freshman sensation Cody Zeller.

No longer is Pritchard ridiculed by IU fans for his declining offensive production. To his surprise, fans in Assembly Hall applaud his newfound role.

“Freshman year, no one knew who we were,” Pritchard said. “Sophomore and junior year, they really hated us and me personally. Now, apparently, I’ve become that fan favorite.”

What these five seniors endured cannot be measured by wins and losses. They were the core of the worst three-year stretch in IU history.

They were the face of shame with home losses to teams such as Northeastern and Lipscomb. They spent three years in the Big Ten basement, fighting to get IU back to what it once was.

When IU’s five seniors “get to the mic” after the Sunday game, they’ll speak of a journey that had more pain than success. The moments of triumph after wins such as Illinois and Kentucky were few and far between.

The vast majority of their four years on Branch McCracken Court were moments filled with agony and defeat. But Sunday, it’ll all be worth it.    

“It’s like the old saying, ‘the sweet is never sweet until you’ve tasted the sour,’” Barnett said. “We’ve definitely tasted the absolute sour.”

But oh how sweet it is.